"Your mother is a Diamond Dog, and your father smells like old fruit!" I shouted at the guards in the courtyard below my window. It had been two and a half weeks since Princess Luna had entered my mind and seen the destruction of my hive. In that time, I hadn't seen hide nor hoof of the strange Princess of the Night. The wound in my wing, as well as my cracked chitin, had mostly healed. I wouldn't be flying for a little while, but then again; I was trapped in a cell. The straps keeping me on my bed had been undone, and I was free to move about the now empty room. I learned very quickly that there isn't much to do inside an empty cell other than sleep, daydream, and taunt the guards beyond my barred door and window.

"Shut it!" one of the guards at my door shouted. It was strange, they were pretty dry the last two days. Usually there would be a threat or some form of bragging. It didn't worry me when they would make threats though, we all knew they were empty. The princess had ordered the guards to not harm me until she could figure out what to do.

My taunting of the guards had less appeal every day. Sure, it was fun to annoy the ponies that had been hunting my kind as long as I had been alive, but ever since my... experience... with the princess, something had been off. Instead of the burning anger that I usually felt towards the Royal Guard, I was just frustrated. Something about the princess' behavior before she left bugged me. 'Something does not feel right here, Snapshot', I shuddered. I had gone by many names since I was left on my own; 'Tussle', 'Hickory Smoke', 'Sleetfall', and 'That Apple Thievin' Varmit!' were among my favorites, but that name. The name that only my hive had known me by was one that I had not expected to ever hear again. Snapshot. That was who I was, but it was foreign to hear it from another's lips.

My thoughts were interrupted by my cell door opening behind me, I turned to see Princess Luna standing in the doorway levitating a couple apples around her. "Snapshot," She said, making me cringe, "You and I have much to discuss."

"Oh ya?" I asked, "More socks you want to try on for me?" Her eyes hardened and her cheeks flushed at m
y words. Just because it had less appeal didn't mean that I would stop taunting these ponies.

"No, you may want to take this seriously. I came here to make an offer that would see you free." She levitated one of the apples over to me. I bit it out of the air, being sure to bar my fangs in the process. "Against all better judgement, and the suggestions of my guards, I am going to let you leave this cell." That caused my ears to perk up, "You will, however, remain chained and the inhibitor shall also remain on your horn. I feel that I must remind you that while I do have sympathy for your situation, my guards will not hesitate to destroy you should you attempt anything." She levitated in a pair of manacles. "What do you say?"

I paused for a moment, something was definitely off. Her demeanor was more official than it had been in our other encounters, but I had no reason to trust her. Even if she had seen the memories of what her soldiers had done, she was the co-ruler of Equestria, and she would have to follow her pony's wishes. "Why should I?" I asked, "Why should I believe that you want to help me? For all I know, the only thing outside of this cell for me, is a blindfold and a firing squad." I crossed my hooves and sat down on my bunk.

The Princess looked distraught at my response. "Look," she said, putting the manacles down and stepping towards me, her voice growing quiet, "I swear by the moon in the sky that I am not leading you towards an execution. I cannot talk about it here, for it is not safe, but from what we saw in your memory, I believe that we are both being deceived" She had a look in her eyes that told me she was telling the truth. I was really tired of having to read ponies by sight. I was naturally good at it, but using passive magic to read everypony was so much easier.

I just sat there for a moment, something definitely was off since I saw that memory, but she was still a pony! I had no reason to believe anything that she said. Then again, my only chance at escaping would be outside of my cell. I looked back at her before hopping off my bed, "Sure Princess," I said, "Lets see what you found." She smiled at me and placed the manacles on my hooves. With a nod to the guards, the door was opened again, and we walked out. I noticed something off about the guards at the door. I couldn't tell what, but when you live having to watch everything carefully, you learn to spot things no one else sees. The guards glared at me and started to follow us.

"That will not be necessary," Luna said to the guards, making them stop and look at each other in confusion, "I am more than capable of handling one changeling." She kept walking away from the cell, "Feel free to go to the mess hall and get something to eat" With that, we turned a corner and started off down the labyrinth of corridors that made up Canterlot Castle.

As we walked in silence, I couldn't help but stare at the fancy tapestries and artwork covering the walls. "Quite the impressive collection," The princess said without turning around, "Would you not agree?"

"These have to be worth a pretty bit." I said, amazed at the extravagance of the castle, "Good to know that you princesses know what to spend your kingdom's money on."

"These were mostly gifts actually." She said, pausing for a moment to inspect a vase, "It was originally intended for the castle to be simple, but the nobility deemed that Celestia should live in majesty." She snorted and continued to walk down the hall, "I was... Unavailable... at the time, and had no say in how to decorate the castle."

"Something to do with you going crazy right?"

She stumbled when I said that, and turned to look me in the eyes. "If you would rather live out your life in a cell," She said, her voice ice cold, "By all means, continue. I wish to help you, please do not make me regret that decision." She turned back around and started off down the hall at a quick pace.

That added to my confusion. She shouldn't have had a use for me, she already knew that the other changelings wouldn't accept me. She also knew that I had no desire to aid Equestria. I decided to keep quiet until I found out what was going on. I didn't have much choice either way, I couldn't escape with these restraints on. Besides, she was a literal goddess, I wouldn't have stood much chance in a fight against her.

15 Minutes Later

The rest of the trip had been spent in silence, until we came to a large wooden door. "This," the Princess said, stopping in front of the door, "Is the Archives. Contained inside is every file, report, and order ever issued by the Equestria Military and Guard." She pushed the door open to reveal a large room, stacked with row upon row of bookcases, which were packed with folders and envelopes. Glowing gems dotted the walls, providing light throughout the massive room. Luna entered the room and led me through the corridors of information.

"Why would you bring me here?" I ask, looking around at all of the papers.

"I brought you here to show you who is directly responsible for your hives death, so that we may give them the justice they deserve." Luna said, stopping at a desk that was stacked with folders and papers. "But before I do that, I ask that you answer two of my questions." She sat down at the desk and folded her hooves, waiting for my answer.

"What?" I asked, incredulously, "I already know who killed them, your fucking soldiers killed them!" I didn't know what game she was playing, but I didn't like it. "Besides, we both know that if anything, they would have been rewarded for destroying a hive."

There was a glint in her eyes, as if I had made the wrong move in a game of chess. "What would you say if I told you that I am willing to release you, and give you the names of those responsible for your torment, in exchange for two small answers." She said, with an almost unnoticeable smirk. Something was up, she wasn't telling me something important, but if she was true to her word, then I only stood to gain.

I sat down on the ground, calming myself for a moment so that I could think. She had already been inside of my mind, who was to say she couldn't do it again. Besides, she would know that I didn't have any information on The Swarm, Chrysalis' changelings. If I didn't tell her anything, then she could just take it from me another way. As much as I hated the idea of helping her, I had nothing to gain by resisting her. I looked back at her, waiting patiently for my answer.

"Fine," I said, "Two questions. What do you want to know?"

She smiled a genuine, happy smile. "First, how did you sense my guard back in that alley? He should have been invisible to your magic with his armor's enchantments."

Now it was my turn to smile, "It was pretty simple, your magic-proof enchantments aren't completely magic-proof." She looked curious as to what I meant. I waved my hoof in the air, trying to think of a simple way to explain what I said. "Think of it," I said, "As a forcefield. When a guard wears the full set of armor, the enchantments in it create a shield around him, that doesn't let my passive magic in to feed off of his emotions-" I waved my hooves around me like a bubble "- And for most occasions this would work, and I wouldn't be able to sense him. However, It has a weakness for unicorns. In order for a unicorn to cast magic, he needs to cast the spell outwards from his horn-" I motioned my hoof away from my horn "-But the shield around him would usually block his magic the same as it would mine." I tapped my hooves together, creating an 'X', "So whoever designed the enchantment made a loophole, literally. When a unicorn guard casts his spell, the shield opens up for a moment to allow his magic through. While this allows his magic to go undisturbed, my magic is constantly poking around looking for emotions, so it allows my magic through for a moment in order to detect him." I shrugged, before setting my hooves back down. "Or at least, that's what I think it is. I didn't have someone around to teach me the ins and outs of unicorn magic" I said sourly.

I could barely contain my smirk as Luna pushed her jaw back up from where it had dropped. "So, what was your second question?" I asked.

Luna scratched a note on her parchment before regarding me again. "I want to know a bit more about you Snapshot, you were only two years old when you were left on your own. How did you survive?"

Once again it was my turn for confusion, "What? That's what you want to know? Nothing about Chrysalis and the Swarm, or about why I came to Canterlot?"

"I dare say that we may know more about Chrysalis than you do Snapshot. Though I must ask what do you mean by 'The Swarm'?" Luna cocked her head to the side.

"The Swarm is how the Outcasts referred to Chrysalis and her followers. We held on to the belief that they were the separatist group and that we followed the old ways. Besides, Chrysalis prefers to hold her soldiers under mind-control, so they really are more like insects." I told her with a sour note. Even thinking about that bitch made me mad.

Luna nodded her head, "Alright then. So tell me about how you sur-"

"Nope."

"Excuse me?"

"I said 'nope'. I don't have to tell you about how I survived. I answered two of your questions, now give me names." I stomped my hoof.

"But! You- I- ugh." Luna sighed, "Fine. The names of all of the guards in Manehatten, January, 2072, are in this folder." She floated a folder over to me.

I grabbed the folder from her magic and opened it on the table. I flipped through a few pages of paperwork, until I found a cover page that said 'Personnel'. With a deep breath I flipped the page, only to find it blank. I looked up at Luna, who was lifting two books off of the table, and flipped through the pages left in the folder, finding them all blank. In a fit of rage, I swiped the folder, and a few other papers, off of the table. "We had a deal!"

"Yes we did, and it is a deal that I have honored"

"Honored?" I picked up the discarded folder, "This is empty! You owe me names!"

"There are no names, Snapshot." Luna placed the two books in front of me, "Look through these books, one contains the records of troop movements over the years. From September 2071 until March 2072, there was no Royal guard presence in Manehatten. The city was being protected by a local Militia of 30 ponies, who had no access to the weapons necessary to destroy your hive." I pulled the book over to me and began to flip through the pages. Sure enough, September 2071 through March 2072, the Manehatten 6th Royal Guard Division was on loan to the newly found Crystal Empire. "This book," Luna said, pushing the other book towards me, "Is the logbook for that year. There was no mention of Changelings until three months afterward." I looked through that book too. True to her word, there were no recorded sightings. Everything pointed away from the guards, but that couldn't have been right. If there were no guards in the area, then they couldn't have attacked us.

"You know something doesn't add up Snapshot," Luna said, leaning over in her seat, "Turn back to January, read the last three reports in the log." I turned the pages back, and looked at the final entries for that month.

'27-1-72: Three members of the 1st Manehatten Militia, Pvt. Spyglass, Pvt. Adobe, and Cpl. Turbulence, fail to report in after checkpoint shift.'

'29-1-72: Pvt. Spyglass, Pvt. Adobe, and Cpl. Turbulence declared AWOL for failure to report for duty, and not contacting superior officers.'

'31-1-72: After investigation into Private's Spyglass, Adobe, and Corporal Turbulence, records and identities declared false. Royal Investigative Service has been notified. All three are suspected to be spies working against Their Majesties, The Princesses.'

I continued to stare at the page in front of me, unsure of what to do with the new information. "Do you not understand?" Luna said, making me look up at her, "Think upon the details leading up to your family's demise. You never actually saw the perpetrators of the attack, and none of those around you ever stated that it was, in fact, the Royal Guard that was responsible"

She was right, of course, but it couldn't have been anyone else except the Equestrians, it just had to have been them!

"Furthermore, your fellow Outcast, Foreshadow, was discovered at a new checkpoint, but a member of the Militia would have reported the sighting to his commander."

It couldn't be true, all of my life, these ponies had been hunting me. Always on my tail, always forcing me to be on the run.

"These suspected spies went missing during their checkpoint duties, which may have been where Foreshadow was discovered." Luna unlocked my manacles and removed them from my hooves, "Snapshot, I believe that it was this 'Swarm' that committed the atrocity upon you, not the Royal Guard. All of the evidence points to them, rather than us."

"No..." I whispered, "No, I refuse to believe that."

"Search yourself, Snapshot, you know that it does not add up, something has always been wrong with what happened."

"What's wrong with this is that it's your fault anyway!" I took a step towards her, "Its because of you that we had to hide in a hole! We had to stay hidden because you all wanted to kill changelings, when all we wanted was to live in peace!"

Luna didn't back down, for the first time since I saw her, she seemed to stand taller, and spoke with a touch of righteousness in her voice, "I know that Equestria has its share of the blame for your loss, and I intend to rectify that." Her horn lit up, and in a rush I felt my magic return to my body. I could sense her emotions once more; pity, anger, and hope. "Join me Snapshot, if you will let me do so, I intend to make right the wrong that has been done upon you. With your help, I believe that we can stop those responsible for your, and so many others, pain." She reached her hoof out to me, "What do you say?"

I stared at her for a moment, before lashing out with my magic, throwing her 10 meters back against a bookcase. Before she had the chance to recover, I ran out of the Archives, and disguised myself as a Castle Maid.

20 minutes later

1635, 18 August, 2085
Canterlot Castle
Snapshot

I wondered through the halls that made up Canterlot Castle, every one looking the same as the one before it. I had no idea where I was, but eventually there should have been a sign or something to point me the right way. I had to get away from this place, it may have seemed welcoming, but I couldn't trust anything that I saw here.

'I don't care what those records say,' I thought to myself, 'Luna has to be trying to trick me. It had to have been the Royal Guard that did it. It had to have been! So what if I didn't see any Guards during the attack, I didn't see any members of the Swarm either. I mean, it would make sense for the Swarm to attack us, they would consider us traitors, but wouldn't the Guard want to kill us too?' I shook my head. I needed too stop thinking about that. I could worry once I was safe and out of Canterlot.

I rounded a corner and ran into a wall of metal in front of me. I looked up, and saw that there were two Guards staring at me. It took me a moment, but I recognized them as the ones who were outside of my cell door barely an hour ago.

"Oh I'm terribly sorry" I said to the guards, making myself look meek, "I wasn't watching where I was going"

The guards looked at each other and smiled before regarding me again, "It's no problem miss, where are you headed off too in such a hurry?"

"Oh! I'm supposed to be heading down to the market to pick up supplies for the chef!" I lied quickly, the Guards would probably know their way around the castle, if I could get them to guide me, I'd be in the clear!

"Well you seem a little lost, why don't we help you get there" The guards beamed at me. They turned around and started to walk down the hall. I couldn't help but smirk, Guards, especially the male ones, were too easy to trick sometimes.

We turned and twisted our way through the castle, with only occasional small talk when there was a bout of silence. Until, we finally came up to a small wooden door.

"Alright miss, this is one of the back entrances" One of the guards said, motioning to the door, "Just go through here, and you'll only be a few blocks from the Market District."

I walked up to the door and put my hoof on it, "Thank you ever so much for your help, this castle is just so confusing sometimes." I pushed the door open and couldn't see inside because it was so dark.

"Yeah," I heard the guard say, "You never know who you'll run into in these halls." I took a step forward, but there was a Thunk as something collided with my head, knocking me down. I rolled over on the ground to look at whatever hit me, to see the guards walking towards me slowly, malicious smiles on their faces. "Oh come on now," the one from before said, his voice more distorted, "You really think we can't see through a disguise? Just go ahead and drop it Outcast." He spat out the word 'Outcast' like it was a piece of rotten fruit. I tried to crawl back away from the Guards, but I ran into a wall. I turned around, my eyes more adjusted to the dark, to see that I was inside a broom closet, not a hallway.

I turned around to look at the guards again, "So what happens now? You take me back to my cell?"

The second Guard, a unicorn, started chuckling as he used his magic to close the door behind him. My magic rushed into the gap in his enchantment to scan him. The shock I felt at what I found inside him must have shown on my face.

"You figured it out them?" The second Guard said, his voice also sounding distorted, "It took you long enough" there were two flashes of green fire, and the guards before me were gone. In their place, was two Changelings wearing loose Guard armor. I stared into their bright green eyes for a moment, panic welling up inside my mind. I lashed out with my magic, hoping to strike them like I had Luna, but my magic dissipated before it made contact.

"Oh how cute," The closest changeling said, his voice now sounding similar to mine, "It thinks it can fight us!" Faster than I could see, the changeling came up to me and struck my face again, making me drop my disguise and forming light cracks in my chitin. "To answer your question; No. We are not going to capture you" He struck me again, deepening the cracks. I tried to defend myself, but every attempt was met with more strikes to my face and legs. "To be honest, we thought all of you were dead-" a kick to my stomach "-after that raid on your hive-" another punch to my face "-But I guess we missed some of you." He stomped on my leg with a Crunch.

I screamed out in misery, and held onto my now-broken leg. Tears were coming down my face, I couldn't think clearly through the haze of pain. The changeling grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up until I was eye level with him, and pressed me into the wall. "I was there you know." He said, slowly putting pressure on my throat, "When we found you. It wasn't even that hard, almost all of you ran away when we showed up-" He punched my in my stomach "-A few of you stayed behind though, tried to put up a fight. Even managed to kill a couple of us before we slaughtered them" My lungs were burning, screaming for air that wouldn't come, "Hell, I remember this one female who tried to fight, wow was she angry at us. She kept on screaming at us until we put a bullet in her head. Shut her up pretty good." My vision was starting to turn black. I couldn't even lift up a hoof to try and fight him. I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The last of the Outcasts: strangled to death in a broom closet. Seemed like a poor ending to our story. "Hell," The changeling said, his voice sounding so far away, "We might get a promotion for killing him, might help with our covers."

I heard the second changeling start to say something when the door burst open behind him, flooding the room with light. The changelings both turned around, dropping me as I took in huge gulps of air. There was a silhouette in the doorway holding what looked like a pistol. Pfft Pfft, The gun fired twice and both of the changelings fell to the ground with a Thump. My vision was starting to return to normal as air returned to my body.

A shadow fell over me, and I saw a hoof reach down to help me up. I looked at the hoof's owner; it was a pony, that much was certain, only it was clad in dark grey armor, instead of gold or purple. Small metal plates covered a large portion of its body, with its stomach covered in what looked like thick fabric, and a lighter version of the same fabric covering it's body that wasn't covered by the plates. A metal helmet sat on top of its head, with a large, black visor covering its face, and two plates of metal going down the side of its muzzle. I took the hoof cautiously, and I was lifted up onto my hooves. I flinched as I put pressure on my broken hoof and held it in the air to stop the pain. I was led out of the closet to see three more of the strange armor-clad ponied standing in the hallway.

"Target secured" I heard one of them say, "Hostiles are knocked out and the package is safe, Princess." I looked around, and saw Princess Luna walking towards me.

"How are you feeling Snapshot?" She said as she reached me and started looking at my wounds.

I looked away from her. If what that changeling had said was true... "Look, Princess..." I said, not sure of what to say, "I apologize for throwing you into a bookcase."

"Think nothing of it, I was unharmed. I am more concerned as to your condition, what happened?" She cast a spell on me, once again numbing my pain a bit. One of the armored ponies came up and started to put bandages on my wounds.

"It was changelings Ma'am," The pony who saved me said, "They were impersonating two of our Guards." I looked over to the door and saw the changelings being dragged out. There were needles sticking out of their neck. "We tranquilized them, and will interrogate them once they wake up." The pony gave Luna a salute, which she returned, before walking away with the changelings.

"They even have spies here" Luna said, defeat in her voice.

"So, how did you find me so fast?" I asked, holding my hoof in the air for the medical pony to place a splint of it, before covering it in more bandages.

"A tracking spell of mine," Luna said, "It has been on you since we met in the alleyway, I was disguised though, so you probably did not recognize me."

I turned to look at her, she seemed sad, "So I guess that explains how you found me in the caverns so quickly too"

There was a tense silence between the two of us."A zebra." I said.

"Excuse me?" Luna cocked her head to the side.

"After I ran away from my hive. I kept going for a couple days, until I collapsed on a road just outside the forest. I was hungry, dehydrated, and had no means to gather emotions. I would have died if a zebra hadn't found me." I looked into Luna's eyes, "That's how I survived. She took care of me, fed me, and gave me water. She didn't care that I was a changeling. She must have known something about changeling culture, because she kept telling me that she knew what it was like to be judged based on your colors. She took me in as her own for a couple years, helped me to grow in my magical abilities, and she became like family to me."

Luna's eyes softened, "What happened? Why are you not still with her?"

"We were separated. After three years in her care, she was taking me back to her home. She had been away for some time, and kept me hidden until I was big enough to handle the journey. On the way, we were attacked by this big, freaky monster, a Manticore I think. We were separated in the fight, and I fell into a river. I'm pretty sure she's dead now too. By the time that I got out of the river, I had no idea where I was, or where she was. So I left, I went out on my own to try and survive among ponies."

Luna was once again silent. She put a hoof on my back, and I flinched away. She kept her hoof in the air until I nodded, and she put it back on me. "Why tell me this now?" she asked.

I looked at the closet door, "Because... You were right." Luna looked confused, but let me continue, "About my hive. It wasn't ponies that did it. One of the changelings was bragging about it to me. About how they killed all of us, he said that he was there when it happened."

Luna looked back at the closet as well. "I wish it had not come to this. I am very sorry Snapshot". The medic had finished bandaging me, and I managed to stand up, without putting much pressure on my broken leg.

"I'll do it Princess" I turned to her, "I'll help you put an end to them."

The Princess looked at me, I could feel that she was happy, but concerned. "I am pleased that you have come to this decision. If you are sure, then there is much to do before we begin." She pointed at my wounds, "First, you must heal once more. Then we may begin training."

"What kind of training?"

"These ponies around us represent a special part of the Equestrian military. Known as the Lunar Rangers, they specialize in stopping threats before they cause damage to Equestria. Only the best are accepted into the training, and many of those chosen will wash out" she turned to me, "If you really do wish to join me, then you will be prepared for the course, before joining the next group of trainees in four weeks time."

I held my head up high, "I'll do it" I didn't care much for protecting Equestria, but if these 'Lunar Rangers' would give me a chance at revenge, then I'd do whatever it took to become one of them.

Author's Note

Hey everyone, Sorry about the long wait between chapters I don't know how two months passed this fast. Things have been a bit hectic on my end. For more details, go to THIS, but long story short, there's going to be a 2-4 month wait before I can even start writing again. This extra wait will be because I am leaving next week for BMT with the Air Force. Like I said, there are more details in my blog. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to make this story better. I'll see y'all on the other side!
Thanks to: tranhdxrbntd, Seanchow806Napoleonic, and the beautiful Cakebomb for Favoriting my story!