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"So what do you think, can I go?" My voice held a bit of tension in it as I looked over the desk and to the smaller changeling sitting in front of me. His name was Black Ink and by first glance it was hard to tell why he was given that name, although if you ever had to work with him you put to and to together pretty fast. He looked over the small scroll that I had given him a few moments before and he seemed to be taking his time looking over every word repeatedly as if looking for something wrong with it. Yet as he let out a large sigh he took a quill out of the ink sitting next to him and seeing this gave me a small glimmer hope. That hope was quickly crushed when he set the quill back down and instead lifting the ink pouring it all over the scroll that I had given to him a moment before. Once it was empty he set it back down where he got it and brought his eyes up to meat my own. Somehow he had kept a straight face during the whole thing and before I could do anything he looked back down as he rummaging through an assortment of things.
"Nightshade right?" I nodded. "Well Nightshade I don't see any reason what so ever for you not being able to go. Although you would have to put in a letter explaining why you believe you should go and what good you would do if you went with the next party leaving. Then again seeing how you brought with you nothing to support your clam I am going to have to say that you are unable to go with the others when they leave this evening. Now if that is all I have a very busy day and would like to get back to work as soon as possible." Once he had finished he looked up to me a second time and gave a crooked smile while also waving me off with one of hooves. I simply sat there with my mouth wide open just waiting for a fly or two to just go right on in and take up residence. Though I was quickly taken out of my trance as some'ling cleared their throat behind me and then tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to look I behind me and was met with the face of an armored guard who was gesturing for me to move with her sward.
"Besides I'm sure you understand how much trouble a busy schedule can be, being a royal guard and all. But I have been given strict orders high above my own head to not allow any'ling out of the hive until I am told other wise. Besides you shouldn't even be here being a guards as you are. Take what I did as a blessing as for if the Queen found out that you were trying to leave you'd probably be killed." And with barley a moment to spare I was lead out of the room by the armored figure and brought out into the seemingly endless tunnels I called my home. I looked around at the walls as I do everyday looking at the designs out into the structure and wondering how they have yet to collapse over the many years. I idly continued my way down the hall with the other guard in tow looking left and right at the details before I was stopped m a sward flying in front of me.
"Change into your armor and then return to me, I have been given direct orders from the Queen to deliver you to her." The softer feminine voice of the guard caught me off guard though as I turned to try and get look into her helm I was met by a door slamming into my face instead. I let out a small sigh rubbing my now sore snout before I turned to look into the room I had just ben lead into letting out a large sigh as I took in my surroundings. It was a simple room, a pile of sheets and pillows for a bed and then a place to put armor or any other sort of clothing. It was also about the same size as something the ponies call a prison cell but it seemed pretty roomy to me. Then again it was my room.
I stopped in front of the mirror in the room. I wouldn't say there was anything special abut me. Nothing that made me any different than any other changeling I had ever seen. I had large wings similar to that of a bug as well as silk like black chitin that is probably the most well known trait of a changeling. I also held a jagged horn that and a normal mane that was a web like fashion, looking similar to the web like membrane on a frogs foot. Though the only difference that could really tell me apart from the others was my hive's color. Rather than an blue eyed but with a green flame like the most iconic hive that was lead by Queen Chrysalis on an attack o Canterlot I hade bright neon purple eye's and a velvet aurora for magic. In general I was almost identical to the other changelings of my hive, even though a well trained eye can identify ne with by sudle differences like a slightly darker sys shade, or a notch in ones wing.
I pulled myself away from the mirror and turned to grab my gear starting to haphazardly put it on my leggings, only really taking time and precision when binding the straps for my chest and back plat. Though as my helmet slid on into a snug fit I felt as if there was nothing in the world that could stop me that feeling often leaving me to feel naked without armor. It was very similar to the armor worn by the other soldiers and guards but as a royal set it was a glossy black set made from the most pure ebony ore available and had various decretive lines of deep purple over the areas the armor plats connected at. I then grabbed my sward that had a very similar design, it was also made out of ebony but only had decretive lines on the sheath rather than the blade. I made my way back to the door as it was roughly swung open and a head shot out from the opening and looked at me. She let out a small grunt before her head shot back out of sight before I stood next to her.
"Please don't make any remarks as you like to do, we are already late and I don't want to be in any more trouble than I already am." I raised an eyebrow at her comment and tried to get another look at her face to figure out who she was though she quickly turned her head from me starting down the passage way again. For some reason it was eating at me that I couldn't figure out who she was. But seeing that she was also wearing royal guard armor made her one out of two females that could ha-
"OOF!" There was a yelp of surprise as to whatever I had hit seemed to be caught off guard. I shook my head and was brought out of my hazed day dream only to meet a very fast incoming projectile. A hoof.
SMACK
"Oh good your finally here. Is he ok?" I let out a small cough allowing air began to fill my lungs again hearing girlish giggles from the other guard at my attempts to catch my breath.
"He'll be fine." She said plainly idly lending me a hoof to help me up.
"Well then, now that we have this out of the way. Please follow me." We started walking in tandem with the changeling in font of us as we went through a part of the hive I had never really seen before. It was much large than any other part I had ever been to and the walls were full of elegant designs and pictures far better than the others I like to look at. Chandeliers where even hanging from the celling bathing the floor below in a beautiful blue light.
"Please wait here while I tell the Queen you are here. This should only rake a minuet or two." After saying his spew the changeling that had been leading us so far slid behind a door I hadn't noticed until now leaving me and the other guard alone.
"Well this will be fun wont it." I turned to the source of the voice and found it was the guard who was now idly sitting in a chair a few feet away from me. She was paying me no attention however finding it far more interesting to play with a few of the straps that were lose on her armor. The idle position she was sitting in finally let me see her face, what surprised me was that I actually knew her. Her name was Iris, given this name by a mutation in her left eye that made it have splotches of different color. It looked like some'ling had taken some food coloring and then dropped a whole bunch in her eye. Though her eyes where both still purple the splotches in her left eye varied from dark purple to a very light velvet. Other than her eye however she was about as normal as you could get to fir a female. She had a smaller frame and typical bug like wings, she had a horn like any other changeling and also had purple markings where the hives color would usually be shown. Over all nothing weird about her, which is concerning seeing how the Queen wants to see us.
"Umm, could you stop staring at me. Its kind of weird." I was jolted back to reality and quickly turned away so not to make eye contact.
"Sorry...." The rest of the time waiting was spent in utter silence and a few awkward looks to one another that were quickly broken. The silence was only broken when the door swung open and the Queen came and stood directly in front of me. Out of instincts I instantly put my face to the ground as I bowed to her the best I could in the heavy armor. She quickly waved a dismissive hoof and I stood back to attention noticing Iris was now next me again. The Queen was far taller than me or any other of the changelings the dwell under her and also held a more pony like mane than the other changelings I know of. Though this is common trait of royalty for the princess held almost the same hair as the Queen, though that is up to much debate among many of the guards.
"I'm happy to see you made it. Though for your own good don't be late again."
"Y-" We were cut off as she raised her hoof calling us to silence.
"It has come to my attention recently that the two of you have been trying to get out of the hive and go retrieve supplies from the nearby city." I looked over to my left in surprise to see that Iris not only was trying to do the same as me but we both shot our heads back to the Queen once we noticed we where looking at one another.
"Whatever the reason for you both wanting to go is not of concern to me. There is a far bigger concern that is bothering me and I have decided to have you take care of this pressing matter for me. Plus seeing how you are both eager to leave the hive I thought I might as well kill birds with one stone so to speak." She stopped and shifted her look between the two of us before speaking again.
"Recently a problem has occurred to me that there is a growing amount of worry in the near by population of ponies. After sending a scout group out to figure what was cause for such concern to the ponies only one returned with a letter explaining the problem. The other was said to have stayed behind to get more information. That was tree days ago, and the position on which they were suppose to have met at to return is only an hours flight from here. Meaning they are both presumed dead. The letter that was brought to me was well worth their loss for what it contained. It said that they had seen a very large mass of changelings that seemed as if they where going to swarm the nearby city of the Crystal Empire. It also said that this was a mixed party of two hives, a red hive whose Queen was spotted yet a name is unknown. The other hive is that of Queen Chrysalis, her numbers are far superior to that of the red hive yet they seem to be working in perfect tangency. This is cause for great concern for an army of that size let alone a joined swarm between two hives only can have one purpose. It is that purpose that I have called you here, as part of my personal guard you too have some of the best training out of all the soldiers and guards in the hive. I want you both to figure out the intention of the swarm and where it is heading, as a secondary objective I want you to go to the point where the scout group went missing and see if you find anything interesting. If there is nothing come back here and report to me immediately, I want the hive to be at full strength if we are attacked and two more body's can make a big difference." She stopped for a second and pointed down the hall we came from earlier before rubbing her temples and going back through the door from earlier. I then turned to leave same as Iris and we both started to walk out of what I guessed was the throne room. I had only ever guarded the door that lead to this room or been at the Queens side protecting her on any outings.
It didn't take very long for us to exit the hive after we left the Queen for we didn't need any extra supplies other than our weapons and armor. As the doors slowly opened a cold and heavy wind rushed in to beat itself against my face, yet I couldn't help but smile as the sweet smell of fresh air also came to meet me at the opening of the doors. I stood there for a second taking in the sweet sensation of the mountain air before I walked outside to greet the cooler climate with open hooves. Living in the high mountains north of the Crystal Empire gave the air a cool and crisp feeling that would always nip at your throat as you took in a breath. The only way to describe the feeling would be if you ate a peppermint candy and then drink cold water afterward. I took a few more steps before my ears perked up to a sound I had once forgotten. The crunch of the snow under my hooves brought utmost delight to my ears and even before I knew what I was doing I was on the ground rolling around in the snow laughing to myself in pure bliss of joy and happiness. Though my frolicking in the snow was cut short as I hit something hard and looked up to see a very confused Iris looking down at me.
"Umm, are you ok?" I looked up at her with a blank face as if this was something that I did on a daily basis and that this was normal for me. But to be true in a sense it was normal for me to be a complete idiot. I got up quickly and acted as if nothing had ever happened putting on the best poker face I could as I looked over to her.
"Anyway, umm. Yeah, lets go." With probably one of the worst excesses I have ever used to cover my ass I started off down the path carved into the mountain, Iris close behind me.
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Three hours. It took tree hours to get where we needed to go and the whole time was nothing but pain and misery. The sad thing is that it wasn't the harsh mountainous terrain that made it unburnable nor was it the cold. The cold may have even helped. The most dreadful torture I had to go through was the small conversations that we tried to start up. It was fine for the first thirty minuets or so talking about our past and things that we are interested in, what we do in our spare time. She found it funny that I spent a lot of time tending to my herbs and flowers while I could be out eating or even getting in some extra sleep. Yet I also found it strange how during her free time she just stays in her room to read or goes to a practice room. Though that was really about it, just small side talk. After thirty minuets to an hour we were out of things to talk about and from there things took a turn for the worst. She tried to talk about relationships, more specifically if I was in one and all that. After that I pretended I bit my tongue so I couldn't speak, the ironic part is that a few minuets later I took a wrong step and did bit my tongue. So the next two hours went by in complete silence until we reached the edge of the mountains that gave a good over look of the Crystal Empire. We stood there for a while looking for something that would indicate a giant swarm of changelings, but there was nothing there. Just the Crystal Empire and all of its normal glory, nothing to special. Iris then looked to me as if asking what to do, I shrugged.
"Should we go down there and look?" I sat down on my haunches letting my hooves rest before answering.
"I think it would be best if we stayed here. It wouldn't take long to get down but since we can't fly very well if at all in this armor we should try and keep a tactical advantage in cause something does happen." She idly nodded to my response and sat down next to me. We stayed like that for a good five minuets before she stood back up looking at something I couldn't see.
"What's that?" She lifted a hoof past the Crystal Empire and to a strange looking black dot that seemed to slowly creep towards the city. I shook my head though my answer didn't seem to be of any help as she started passing back and forth giving a worried glance towards the city every so often. As the strange dot got even closer to the city, the walls seemed to light up like firefly's in the dead of night. Although it seemed more like fire works as loud cracks of thunder came from the direction of the city most certainly originating from the flashes of light.
"Cannons?" We both stood there in silence and watched as the city defenses shot explosive after explosive into the what I presume was the changeling swarm but no avail. It didn't take long for the swarm to hit the city and quickly go over the wall into the inner city attacking from within. Even after the shots had long since fired it was still evident the battle was still taking place as a lone explosion could be heard from time to time as well as the continues clouds of smoke that now seemed to be everywhere. At one point I think I had even seen what looked like a flair of some kind, but wasn't up long enough for me to know for sure. In the end the once beautiful city was destroyed, and all we did was watch it burn.
After a while we both left cliff face we used to see the city, and with it the image of the now dyeing city. The walk back was quiet. We didn't talk, or even look to one another. Both in our own world of shame and self pity.
"We should have done something." I looked back to see that she had stopped walking sometime ago and held her head high as she look at me. I only shook mine.
"It would not have mattered if we ran down to the city to help. It would not have mattered if each of us killed over a hundred of the enemy. In the eye's of the ponies we would still be changelings no different than the ones who attacked Canterlot and now the Crystal Empire. The ponies must suffer their own fate and lick their wounds as we must do the same. It matters little if we always helped the ponies, they would still fear us for our power and hunt us down like they always have." She hung her head in defeat before sitting on her flank looking at the ground in between her fore hooves.
"I still think we should have helped them, do good to those and they'll do good to you too right?" I shrugged.
"Something like that I think yeah."
"So then we could have helped them." I let out a large sigh as I too sat down.
"No not really. What about the Queen and every'ling else in the hive. Would you rather all of them die to save a few ponies? It's
not wrong to pick a close friend or family member over some'ling you barely know but, Iris you don't know any of them. Iris I've never been this far from the hive before and I'm sure you haven't either and sure neither of us have seen a pony before but that doesn't mean that they aren't as they are in the stories we are told. If any of that is true they would kill both of us on a moments notice. I don't want to sound mean. Which I'm sure I'm not doing very well at bu-"
"Your not..." I let out another small sigh before getting up and walking over to Iris extending a hoof to offer her help.
"Listen lest just go back and tell the Queen what we saw. After that we will wait a few days until the lock down thingy is over and then go back to the Empire to help. We could disguise ourselves as volunteers or something." She gave a weak smile at that and took my hoof as I lifted her back up. She gave me a sheepish look before walking out ahead of me allowing me to follow suit. We both stopped as we heard a weird buzzing sound. I looked back to try and figure out what the noise was but it seemed to stop just before I swung my head around. After that it wasn't hard to figure out what had made the sound.
It was a bit weird looking to say the least. I knew it was another changeling but nothing like I had ever seen before let alone that it was red. It still shared similar features to me though, bug like wings on its back, fangs in its mouth, same horn too. Though the biggest difference besides the color was its size. I knew that we were suppose to be one of the taller hives but the changeling standing in front of me only managed to come up to my shoulders, not counting the horn.
"Who are you?" Its voice was low and scratchy as it seem leaned in to try and see us better without getting to close. Yet as it took a step closer to us Iris brought out her sward and I quickly followed suit.
"We are the royal guards of Queen Corset, and loyal soldiers to the purple hive. You are trespassing on our land and I humbly ask of you to leave so that we not need to use lethal force." The smaller changeling in front of us started to laugh as if we had just said the sun was really a giant ball of glowing cheese. Iris and I looked to one another for answers but neither of us seemed to find what we wanted.
"That's the wrong answer you pest this is our land now! You and your filthy hive will squirm beneath the hoof of my Queen and her ally! Our swarm will devour all those who try to oppose us and we plan to spare non from the blood shed that is to come!" Iris growled at the smaller changeling before lunging towards it with her sward only missing her target by a hair cutting off its left wing. It screamed in agony as it writhed on the ground in pain before Iris slammed her sward down its throat killing it instantly and painting the once white snow vibrant red. Though as we both turned from the dead body we noticed four more changelings, these ones seemed to have a dark blue back and vibrant eyes of a similar color. They seemed to match the description of the other hive reported in the swarm and all had their teeth bearded ready to charge at us. Splitting off into two groups they began to circle us two after me and two after Iris. A smaller one charged me first though I quickly side stepped him letting my sward cut through his soft neck though the other one bucked me in the face causing me to lose my sward in the dead changeling. It then jumped at me teeth ready to strike but before it could get to me it landed on top of Iris's sward practically cutting the thing in two. I quickly scurried out from underneath the dead changeling and Iris let it drop the instant I as clear. I looked over to my left to were Iris had been fighting and saw two bloodied figures lying on top of one another. Once she saw were I was looking she put on a prod smile.
"I guess I'm a better soldier than you are, having to save you from a fight."
"H-hey what's that suppose to mean? I was just saving that one for you." She let out a small giggle though it bought me no comfort as she was covered in blood. She offered me a hoof and I gladly took it as she helped pull me up. I looked up to her unsure of what to do now but found that her face held a warm smile. I couldn't help but smile back at her nice gesture.
"Come on, we should get back to the hive. It will be dark soon." I nodded in agreement and pulled my sward from the dead corpse sitting next to me. It made a suction like noise before it gave a wet "pop" like sound freeing my sward and my stomach. After that I had to sit for a while letting myself vomit as Iris tried to comfort me.
"First time killing huh." I nodded solemnly looking back to my left seeing the body of the once living creature I had killed but tore my eye's away as I felt sick again.
"I was no different my first time." She started to laugh a bit most likely remembering the details, sending shivers up my spine at the fact she was laughing.
"I was only about ten when it happened. I decided to bring my dolly with me to school as I brought the damned thing everywhere I went. Though one day one of the stallions from a grade above me took it from me and started to pass it around out of my reach with some of his friends. At some point I-"
"You went to a school for ponies?" She nodded and then continued.
"At some point I had gotten my dolly back and was running as fast as I could to get away from them for they where chasing after me, teasing. They were much faster and soon caught up with me and stated to tug at my doll to get it away from me. Of coarse I was stubborn as hell and wouldn't let go." She gave a soft laugh before her whole demeanor tuned to that of a more darker one.
"He ended up ripping the head off of my doll and we both fell back holding the part fate decided to give us. It took me a moment before I realized what had happened and it only really dawned on me when the stallion that ripped off the head tried to give it back to me. I cried for hours that night. But when I woke up I had one thing in mind, I was going to beat up the guy who hurt my dolly. I got to school, started a fight, all the while he kept saying how sorry he was. But I never cared what he said, I actually hit him hard enough to fall on his back and I thought that I had won. I never knew until the next day that he had hit his head and died of internal bleeding." I looked up to her then looked back down at the snow between my hooves.
"Its really sad and all but its not the same as stabbing some'ling with a sward."
"SMACK"
"OW! What was that for!?" I started to rub the back of my head as I looked up to her in confusion.
"The only difference in the story is how they where killed. There is no difference when it comes to the feeling that you killed them, you just learn to live with it and that it is just something that comes with being a royal guard or any other type of military position. Did you think you would be eating lollipops and drawing pictures of pretty pink rainbows? No you would be shoving swards though guys faces and doing whatever it is the Queen tells you too! Now stand your ass up and start marching towards the hive before I put you on my back and carry you there." For some reason I instantly got up and started to make my way down the path before I stopped and looked back to Iris with a confused look.
"I read a lot of books on how to be an authoritative figure and to get others to listen." She then walked right past me nudging me with her shoulder before going into a full on sprint. I followed closely behind. After a while we decided that we were going to just walk the rest of the way since we were almost back. Though as we turned the last bend to our hive we both froze as we saw the once hollowed out mountain, burning with flams that seemed to touch the sky. What was meant to protect us from the harsh elements of nature and to keep us safe from those that wanted to harm us. Was now a burning furnace that would serve as the resting place for all those caught inside.
