Skyfall

Chapter 5: The Meeting

My dreams were filled with the horrors of war. I saw each and every pony that I slain during the Chaos War, I saw the friends I made and lost because of war or time and I saw and heard vividly Luna pinned to a wall crying begging for mercy before I was encased in stone.

It was then a dark feminine voice spoke up as the images continued to flash before me, “Was it worth it? The hundreds of lives you took in those four years and for what, just to get trapped in stone not any closer to going home? Now you continue your search for a way to go back to your own body and home.” The voice snorted, “Pitiful that you still think you can go back to how thing were before you came to this universe, that you can forget every kill and every cry just by running away?”

My eyes snapped open and I woke up sweating in my armor, my mind busy with what that voice in my dream said and who It could belong to, it sounded faintly familiar but distorted. I shook my head pushing the thoughts away like I always would do after these recreations or Nightmares, and busied it with thoughts of the meeting with the Changeling Queen and breakfast.

I cooked some the meat that I stored in the deeper and cooler parts of the castle along with fruits that I gathered . When I finished eating I looked up in the sky to see the location of the sun, I guessed it was nine or ten in the morning so there was time to hunt for fresh meat and check the movement of the local predators.

As I walked through the forest following game trails that would lead to hopefully a lone Manticore, A lion, scorpion, and bat hybrid that was created as organic multi-purpose siege engines for the Chaos War. They were very loyal to Discord and with time their assigned handler, now without Discord they grew wild and in time became the most feared predator in the Sacred Woods.

Anyways, I did manage to find a Manticore next to a clear river surrounded by small trees and shrubs along with the occasional patch of flowers, the sun’s position illuminated the area nicely letting larger shafts of light through the usually thick canopy. Spotting my prey drinking water I pulled out my energy sword and activated it the sudden noise of the sword coming to life disturbed the Manticore causing it to look around for the source of the noise softly growling as its hackles raised. I was still in the shadows behind a tree waiting for the Manticore to make it’s move, my luck held out and it turned around and went back to drinking from the river.

That’s when I made my move I sprinted to the Manticore, jumped on its back and before it could do something in retaliation, I severed the Manticore’s neck and jumped off as the body fell with a thud and the head splashed into the water. My hunt was successful and not a single drop of blood was in the water.

I took an hour to drag the body to a safe place within the castle where I could process it like I learned from the Threashals during the first month of since my arrival. Before I could start processing the Manticore I heard a resounding knock.

I put on my helmet with practiced ease, went to the large oriental door and pulled it open with my magnum in my right hand in the off chance it was a bunch of Royal Guards here to try and capture me. Instead of the guard though was greeted with a Changeling woman. She had smooth black chitinous skin. She was about six foot eight. Her slender frame was covered in a sickly green dress that showed every curve of her body while her head was adorned with a simple crown of chitin and pearls around her jagged horn. Her green slitted eyes were intriguing, they had a certain flame to them, that spoke of a persistent and ambitious person, someone who has seen many trials and survived. I made my guess that this was indeed the Changeling Queen.

“You are the Changeling Queen your scout told me about yesterday.” I stated.

“ You are correct, I am Queen Chrysalis. Queen of the Changelings, and after my spies found out about your escape from Canterlot they came to me. From there I sent scouts to find you and tell you that I wished to meet with you. Now here we are and I come with a proposal.” Chrysalis said, her voice smooth but with strength behind it.

I waved the Changeling Queen to follow me. I lead us through the hallways into a somewhat intact dining room that had parts of its walls missing,old faded tapestries representing both Princesses hanging off the intact walls while others were on the ground in tatters, dust coated everything in the room but a medium sized wooden table with some wood chairs surrounding it both were simple in design telling me that it most likely was a servants quarter. I pulled out a seat for the Changeling Queen and sat on the other side of the table. “So what is this proposal that you mentioned?”

Queen Chrysalis smiled, “I am having trouble, you see there are multiple Changeling hives of course they vary in power but my hive happens to be the most powerful hive in Equestria, with that power comes rivals. This is where my problem begins, one of these hives have raided many of our outposts and stolen our supplies. Information from my scouts and spies have revealed the identity of the hive.” Chrysalis took out a scroll and handed it to me. I took the scroll from her and opened it. The scroll gave names aliases, disguise descriptions and much more about what I assumed was the hive that she was talking about. “This is every detail my spies have on Changeling Queen Exo’s hive ranging from information on her generals, top advisers, and herself to information on her plans and meeting schedules.” Queen Chrysalis folded her hands together. “What I want you to do is go to the location of Queen Exo’s next meeting with her most trusted personnel and kill them.”

“This is no small favor. I want to know why you want me to do it and what I gain from this deal.” I plainly replied.

Chrysalis smiled, “Why I want you to do this is because of the legends that surround you Demon. As for your gain, whatever you request.”

“Okay then, you have yourself a deal just tell me when to start.” I replied having my want for a reward in mind. I believed that this was my chance to get a way home. That with their large spy network they could find a way, but I would later discover I was wrong.