Chapters The sun had long since sat on the city of Canterlot. It was a mere two and a half weeks after the Changeling invasion; much of the damage had been repaired, but the city itself was still gripped by fear, as rumors of hidden changelings continued to circulate.
"Halt! In the name of the Princesses!"
Hearing this voice only inspired Dim Outline to run faster. For him, the 'rumors' of changelings were far more than that: He was a changeling, trapped in the city after the end of the invasion. He and two friends of his, both mere unnamed drones, had thought to hide in the sewer and await help from the Hive.
But it was not to be. A guard sweep had found them some hours ago and, weak on energy, all he and his friends could do was run.
"Don't stop running!" The drone to his left said.
"I know! Just give me a minute to think of something!" Outline hissed.
"We don't have a minute!" The one to his right replied as they ran. "They kill any of us they find! Either we get away, or we die!"
"Follow me!" Outside said, taking a sudden turn down a back alley. He could hear the two drones following close behind him, and hazarded a look back. He couldn't see the guards, but that did not mean that they weren't coming.
The back alley quickly gave way to another, smaller street, this one far more narrow than the previous one. It wound its' way up an incline, towards the castle on the hill. Outline took a left, going downhill, and the two drones followed.
"Stop now, or you will be hunted down!" A voice shouted behind them.
In response, Outline grabbed a cart on the side of the path with his magic, throwing it behind them in just the right way so that it would land in the center of the road. A series of loud cursing cued the changeling in to the fact that it had worked.
"Right." Outline hissed, ducking into another, smaller side street, before running to a random door and trying it. Surprisingly, it was unlocked, and he ushered the two drones in and quickly got in himself, closing the door behind him.
Seconds later, the sound of rapidly moving guards came from outside their door, and then faded away.
Outline slowly let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding in.
"We're safe, for now." He whispered. "Let's just hold out in here until-"
"Hello?"
Outline froze as soon as he heard the female voice, before quickly scrambling behind a nearby cabinet. The other two drones did the same, moving off to the side to hide behind objects. Now that he looked around, this didn't seem like the house of any noble. The furnishings were of mediocre quality, and the entire place had a hand-built, but sturdy feel about it.
The one thing that did catch his attention, however, was the wooden spiral staircase at the end of the short hall, a staircase that a pony was now descending.
If it was even possible at this point, Dim Outline tried to sink further behind the cabinet. His mind was scrambling for ideas.
"Is anypony down here?" The mare standing at the end of the hallway asked, halfway through what sounded like a yawn. Outline stood perfectly still as slow hoofsteps started coming down the hall.
He had only one chance at this. If he failed, he might as well be dead. Summoning up some of his remaining energy, he put it into one of the few spells he knew; A knockout spell.
Dim Outline sprang into view, and had time to notice the brief look of shock on the mare's face before his spell launched and hit. The pony dropped to the ground, out cold.
"It's safe to come out." Outline softly said. The two drones slowly walked out of their hiding place, apprehension on their faces. "It's not a good time to hesitate. Pick the mare up and follow me upstairs. We'll see if anypony else is here, and try to figure out what to do."
One of the two drones carefully picked the mare up in his magic, setting the unconscious pony on his back. The other snickered, but Outline was already on his way up the stairs, picking his steps carefully, so as not to make noise. With the house as dark as it was, he didn't want to trip over an obvious object.
The second floor consisted of a hallway with three doors. The first led to an ordinary bathroom, the second to what he guessed was a guest room, and the third and final one was the bedroom. His own check of the latter assured him that they were completely alone.
"Let's set up inside the bedroom." Dim Outline stated, leading the trio - plus the unconscious mare - inside. The changeling quickly closed the curtains and drapes and lit a candle with his magic, drawing down on his ever-decreasing reserves of energy.
"Set the mare at the foot of the bed. Bind her with gel." Outline ordered. Every changeling was capable of regurgitating a gel which quickly hardened to a density equal to that of stone. However, it was also easy to remove: A quick burst of Changeling magic could absorb the nutrients that had been used in it.
Both of the drones quickly acquired a blob, which they used to bind the pony's forelegs and hind legs to the floor, rending her incapable of moving if - when - she woke up.
This being done, Outline took a deep breath, reached out with his magic, and entered .
Changelings had the unique ability to siphon positive emotions, most prominently love, from other sapient beings. Over many millennia, they had grown absolutely dependent on it for their very existence, their souls needing an occasional influx of emotions to stay alive.
A changeling generally had two ways of gathering this love: Forcing it from whomever they were feeding on, which often irreversibly damaged or even killed the being they fed on, if done for long enough. The second method was by inducing sleep or unconsciousness on their chosen victim, and then slowly bringing the relevant emotions to the surface. The amount of love gained from this was practically a trickle in comparison, but the mind of the being they fed on would remain whole.
Dim Outline chose the second method.
As a changeling feeds via the second method, they tend to experience the memories associated with what they are draining. In this case, Outline bore witness to dozens of likely private moments, and gleamed quite a bit from what he could see. Once done, he disconnected his mind from the mare, but as long as she slept, he would continue his passive feeding in the background.
Outline returned to reality and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. The aches and sores in his body had seemingly faded away, and he had enough leftover energy to give the drones quite a bit, too. The two other changelings also let out long, contented sighs as energy - life - flooded into them.
With that done, Dim Outline quickly cast a 'silence' spell over the area, ensuring that no sound made in the room would escape the room for as long as the spell lasted. Which, at his current energy reserves, could be for days.
"Get some rest, everypony." Outline ordered. "Tomorrow, we're going to need it. We're changelings, and we will find a way out of this city, I swear it."
Outline quickly made his way over to the bed, collapsing on it and pulling some of the blanket over himself. It was far more comfortable than it possibly had to be, and the tired changeling felt himself drift off to sleep.
It was the screams that woke Dim Outline up.
As his eyes blinked open, he quickly realized that the noise assaulting his ears was the pony. Who was probably not too happy to find herself cemented to the floor.
Outline rolled off of the comfortable bed and onto the hard floor, quickly righting himself and walking to the foot of the bed, where the mare gave him one fearful look and continued screaming.
"Just shut up!" Outline yelled. "Nopony can hear you anyway. There's a silencing spell over the room."
In retrospect, that was not the most intelligent thing to say. The mare started screaming even louder, yelling at him to get away. Outline was frankly tired of her screaming, and used his magic to levitate a small blanket over. He quickly used his telekinesis to tie it around her face like a gag, and the screaming quickly cut off.
"Much better." Outline smugly said. "Now, what have we learned about volume control?"
The mare just glared at him with hate.
The changeling looked towards the closed drapes, and noticed a bit of light shining out. He walked up to the window and parted the covers by the slightest amount, enough to notice that it was around mid morning.
Outline sighed. Now that the mare was awake, he wouldn't be getting that trickle of emotions from the mare's dreaming. While he could just stun her again, the pony's sleep wouldn't be as deep, and he wouldn't be able to harvest all the energy he could. Now that light was actually coming into the room, he could see the mare much more clearly. She was a vibrant green earth pony, and was half leaning on the bed, half standing, with her hooves practically glued to the ground.
All in all, she looked pretty nice, even if the mare was fixing him with a death glare. Then again, what little Outline knew about pony mares consisted of what his instructors had told him, and the information they gave out tended to be of a more... Sensual nature. And while he would have been happy to put that knowledge into practice right then and there, he had more important things to do... For now.
Such as figuring out his next move in a city where the entire guard was hunting for him.
Walking out of the bedroom, Outline first peeked into the guest room, and what he saw was not surprising. Both of the drones had passed out on the guest bed. Neither had even gone beneath the covers, expressing just how tired they likely had been. And, funnily enough, both were practically groping one another, having moved into various awkward positions in sleep.
"How cute..." Outline chucked evilly, before double-checking to see if his silencing spell extended to this room. Finding out that it did, he deep a deep breath... "WAKE UP, DRONES!"
Both of the drones jerked awake, looked at him, then at one another, and then at their position. Finally, they looked back at him.
"We... Didn't do anything! We swear!" The first one blurted out.
"Oh, I already know that." Outline chuckled. "If you had done anything, I would have noticed. How are you both feeling?"
"A lot less tired than last night." The second one said. "What's our next move?"
"You, my friend, are disguising as that mare in the next room, going out, and getting a paper." Outline said. "There should be some bits you can nick in this house. You up to it?"
"I'm up to it, I'm up to it." The second one grumbled, pushing past him. "Just give me a minute."
"What do I do?" The first one asked.
"You get to laze around the house all day." Outline said. "Just rest and build up your strength. We don't know when we'll near it."
"I'm heading out!" A now-feminine voice called from downstairs, followed by the door opening and closing.
"Well, I'm going to get some more sleep." The first drone said, hopping up on the bed and rolling the sheets around him like a cocoon, an image that even Dim Outline couldn't help but grin at.
The changeling backed out of the room and closed the door behind him, before walking across the hall to the bedroom and closing that door behind him. Having adequately isolated himself from the world, he stared down at the mare who was yet again glaring at him.
As he did, a plan came to his mind. One to alleviate his boredom.
"So, are you going to be a good pony and stop screaming?" Outline sarcastically asked as he undid the knot on the gag and lifted it off. The mare immediately took a deep breath, before stopping and remaining completely still.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Outline chuckled. "Here is how this is going to go: We'll hole up here for a few days and then leave. If you cause too much trouble, I can't guarantee that you'll be alive." The mare's eyes widened at this. "That being said, if you don't cause much trouble, and do what we say, you'll live to do whatever you do again. So don't get any smart ideas, you hear?"
"... Yes..." The mare squeaked out, her demeanor having changed from defiant to terrified in the course of a minute. Outline did a small victory lap in his head. These ponies were far too easy to manipulate and control. He hadn't even had to use any of his (rather limited) mind control magic in this.
It was time to press his luck.
"Great." Outline said firmly. "Now that we've got that cleared up, here is what you are going to do for me..."
The changeling turned to the side, showcasing his 'extra limb', and the mare's eyes went wide with understanding.
"No, please!" The mare begged. "Don't make me do... That!"
"Your choice." Outline said, lighting up his horn with magic. It was all display - he never actually channeled a spell - but it looked intimidating, and that was the point.
"Wait!" The mare practically yelled, and for the second time this morning, Outline was very glad to have the sound suppression spell. "Stop! Just... Don't do anything bad..."
Grinning, Outline walked in front of the mare, lowering himself down onto the ground with his length reaching out in front of him. The mare flinched as it bobbed inches from her muzzle, and Outline quickly moved a hole-filled hoof to the back of her head.
"Come on, just accept it." The changeling whispered, his eyes briefly flashing green as he subtly altered her emotions from disgust to curiosity. "It won't go away any time soon."
"I've... Never done this before..." The mare mumbled as she turned away slightly, only to be turned back by Outline's hoof on her head.
"Just open your mouth..." Outline whispered as he moved the mare's head down. He felt the pony flinch when her muzzle came into contact with the flat head of his member, before her mouth slowly opened to accept him. As her velvety lips encased the tip of his member, his only thoughts were on his success and on the feelings he was receiving.
Her mouth continued to accept his thick length, the tip bouncing briefly on the top of the mare's mouth before continuing, all the way, until it hit the back of her throat.
Outline used his hoof to life the mare's head slowly off of his member, until the flare was just about to exit her lips, and then pushed back down, enjoying the slick feeling of her mouth as he did so.
Once his member hit the back of her throat again, he pulled her almost all of the way off, before repeating the process. As the mare took his cock into her mouth, Outline looked down on her. The mare's eyes held the start of tears, her cheeks were a bright red, and his senses were telling him she was experiencing a potent combination of disgust, horror, and lust, all rolled into one. The mare believed she could do nothing to stop him, and even Outline had to admit that he could hardly have stopped himself.
It just felt so good , to have a willing mouth for his member to slid into. Even as he guided her mouth down his length, he could still see a good two-thirds of it left outside. He wanted more. He wanted every single inch inside, and he was not going to stop until he had done so.
With that thought gone, on the mare's next trip up he pulled her completely off, leaving her to take a few deeper breaths as her blushing increased even more.
"Are... Are you done?" The mare asked hopefully, but she shrunk down as Outline lifted himself onto his hind legs, placing his forelegs on her shoulders, and forcing his member to level with her mouth.
"On the contrary, I have only just begun." Outline said as he pushed forward into the mare's mouth. With the back of her throat no longer there to halt him, he traveled deeper and deeper. His medial ring passed through her mouth, and then suddenly he was hilted, his balls slapping into the mare's chin.
The changeling was sure that he was in the afterlife. The way her throat constricted around his member only served to heighten the experience, massaging his length as it desperately tried to evict it. Once ready, he slowly backed out until only the flare of his member was inside of her mouth, allowing the mare to breath. This was cut short as he buried himself into her muzzle, his cock once more deep inside the mare.
This continued for minute after pleasure-filled minute as the mare deepthroated him, feeding continuously on the emotions of lust that seemed to burst from the mare continuously. He slammed forward continuously, roughly using the mare's throat as his personal hole, only allowing her to breath when he pulled back.
After what seemed like an eternity, Outline felt his finish creeping up on him. He sped up his thrusts as his flare widened, attempting to seal his length inside.
With a final yell of pleasure, he let himself go, emptying glob after glob of his thick, white cream into her stomach, and coating the mare's throat as he pulled out. With one last burst, he filled her mouth with his seed, and his flare finally popped out of the mare.
The pony he had just finished with tried to breath deeply, only to find herself choking down more and more of the changeling's seed as she struggled to breath. After some desperate swallowing, she finally was able to take a long, deep breath, and promptly coughed a few drops of the salty substance onto the ground.
Dim Outline, however, waited patiently for the mare to catch her bearings. There was still so much he wished to do today...
The mare in front of Dim Outline coughed up one last glob of his semen, the slightly off-white liquid joining a small puddle on the hard wooden floor. She looked up at him, with the green fur around her muzzle stained by his efforts.
"Am... Am I done?" The pony asked weakly.
"Not yet." The changeling coldly replied, still staring at the mare as he contemplated how he was going to go about... Finishing things.
The mare's current position was strange enough, tilted at a thirty degree angle and halfway leaning against the bed. While practically cemented to the floor. To continue things, he'd have to take a small risk.
"Don't move, or I will make things far worse for you." Outline said as he sent a brief pulse of his magic through the hardened gel holding her hooves to the ground, causing the energy from it to be absorbed back into his body, and the gel to crumble to dust. Wasting no time, he swiftly encased the mare in his telekinesis and lifted her off of the ground, carrying her around to the side of the bed. He used his magic to arrange it so that both of her hind legs were on the ground, spread out, while the rest of her body lay on the bed, with her forelegs tucked under her.
The mare probably realized what he was doing, and turned her head to stare at him in numb horror, with her face flushed bright crimson. Outline quickly regurgitated more of the gel, using his magic to keep the mare pinned in her current position while he spit the semi-solid mass at her hind hooves, where it hardened in seconds.
"You don't have to do this." The mare rapidly said as he let go with his magic, with her pinned hind legs rendering her unable to move. "I'll do almost anything else, even that thing you did before! Just don't do it!"
"What was that, pony?" Outline ask as he mounted the mare, his length poking at her slit. "I didn't quite hear you..."
And with that, he slid forward into the pony, stopping only once he felt a wall. He paused for a moment to savor the feeling before ramming forward, breaking through the last piece of resistance, and into her virgin passage. He only dimly heard the pony cry out for mercy as the tip of his cock jammed against her cervix.
Outline pulled himself out slowly, enjoying the feeling of her moist passageway clenching around him. It was far better than he had ever expected it could be, and the changeling was almost overloaded at the rush of emotions coming out of the mare. Among them were pain, confusion, fear, and lust. Only the latter truly tasted sweet, and it was practically pouring out of her. Oh yes, he was going to enjoy this.
One most of his member was outside of the mare, the changeling leaned himself down by her ear, enjoying the should of her muffled whimpers and small moans.
"Guess what?" He whispered softly into her ear. "It's not over yet."
He slowly pushed his member back inside, her slick passage practically welcoming his thick member once again. He felt the mare shiver underneath him as his medial ring slipped inside, stretching out the mare to her limits as it pushed forward. While Outline knew we was merely above average in size compared to most changelings, ponies seemed to be build to be smaller in that regard, as evidenced when his tip brushed against her cervix again. He wasn't even fully hilted inside: Outline saw that he still had a good two inches to go.
The changeling kept his thrusting even as he tried his best to maximize both his pleasure and the emotions he was receiving. The mare occasionally let out cute moans as he smoothly fucked her, which the changeling found to be absolutely charming.
"~Oh!" She vocalized as the changeling jerked forward suddenly. Grinning, Outline repeated it, and received the same moan for his efforts, coupled with another burst of lust. The changeling picked up his pace slowly, moving from what could have been considered passionate sex to something a bit quicker.
"Did you like that?" The changeling growled as he sent one particularly hard thrust into her. For her part, the mare simply let out a small moan as his cock thrusted forward, spreading out her passage as it went.
"... Yes..." The mare practically whispered.
"Are you enjoying getting stuffed by a changeling?" Outline said as pushed forward, the tip of his member once again brushing against her cervix.
"Yes!" The mare let out through clenched teeth. And that final breaking point, Outline decided, was victory enough.
The changeling thrusted faster and faster, until he was roughly pounding her slick hole, the pleasure burning its' way into his mind. In addition, the emotions he was slowly siphoning off of the mare were making him feel more alive than he had in years.
The tip of his member hit the mare's cervix again and again, all without him finally hilting. Finally, Outline decided to take things into his own hooves. Pressing down on the earth pony's back for stability, he rammed himself forward, and began pushing, with his flare slowly widening the small passageway. The mare's mouth opened wide in a 'O' shape as he did so, the moving having been completely unexpected.
Several more seconds of firm pressing later, and the flare of his cock popped into her birth canal, followed shortly after by three more inches of his length, until his balls finally slapped against the mare. Even Outline couldn't help but moan in please as he did a short thrust. The feeling of her walls closing around him was nothing compared to the tightness of her cervix.
After a short time which he spent enjoying the pure pleasure he was receiving, the changeling pulled back a few short, torturous inches, before ramming forward again. Outline held himself there as the mare suddenly screamed, her walls tightening around him as she rode out her first orgasm.
As soon as the mare had regained most of her senses, Outline began thrusting again, fucking the mare deeper than he had ever imagined being able to go. It was nothing but pleasure for him as he thrusted into the sensitive and soft flesh inside of her, and his reading of her emotions revealed that the mare was lost in the sensations he was giving her. She no longer seemed to even care who he was, and that was perfectly fine with him.
Eventually, though, all good things had to come to an end. Outline felt his finish approaching, and redoubled his thrusting, bring out a new series of moans from the mare. His length rhythmically hilted inside of her with a lewd smacking sound as he sought to bring himself to an explosive end as soon as possible.
Finally, he locked up and held himself deep inside of her, grunting as he felt his seed drain into the mare's womb. There was far more of it this time than the first, and it practically overflowed and shot back along the sides of her tunnel. He had almost forgotten one thing, however, and searched instinctively for it inside of his mind.
Changelings were an equine-like race, but still held quite a few traits reminiscent of an insect, among them their wings and some reproductive ways, including the laying of small eggs inside of any suitable female. It was an entirely possible 'second option', and the results were no different than a normal birth, aside from possessing only DNA from the 'father'.
It was this ancient instinct he called upon in his mind, and a duo of two-inch-wide eggs slipped out of a special holding place inside of his body and through his widening urethra. The mare immediately noticed that something was amiss when his cock began to bulge outward slightly. This bulge began to travel up his member, widening her already-stretching tunnel even further until it reached her cervix. For several seconds, an immense pressure build up behind them, before they popped inside and out of the changeling's flare, settling into the semen-filled womb, where they would be immediately fertilized.
Outline pulled himself slowly out of the mare, his limp member retreating back into his sheath as he did so. Feeling a small amount of pity for the mare, with her now-bulging womb already showing beneath her fur, he dissolved the gel that held her hind legs in place. Instead, he used his telekinesis to gently lift the half-asleep pony onto the bed, before binding her forelegs and hind legs with a small amount of the gel.
Now that he had gotten what he wanted, and an impressive meal to compliment it, he was not above weaknesses such as kindness.
The changeling, content with what he had done, opened the door and stepped out of the room, closing it behind him.
The door to the house opened and closed, signaling the arrival of the second drone.
"I'm back, and I got the paper!" The drone yelled. "Don't know why you want it, but I got it."
Strangely, as the drone looked, around the living room on the ground floor, he could see no signs of the others. Suddenly, a dull thump came from above him.
Curious, the drone walked up the stairs and looked down the hallway, only to see a particular sight: Their resident infiltrator changeling, sitting in an odd position on a chair in the hallway, and hitting the back of his head on the wall occasionally.
"Uh..." The second drone had to dredge his name him from memory. "Dim Outline? I got a paper. What are you doing?"
"I saw a mare in Ponyville sit like this once, and I was curious." Outline answered. In truth, he was incredibly bored. And also curious. "I don't see the appeal in sitting like this. It's uncomfortable. What sort of being would devise this method of waiting?"
"Uh... A bored one?" The second drone suggested, levitating the paper over to the infiltrator, who snatched it up. His job done, the drone quickly dropped his disguise. Something was... Strange, however. There was an odd smell in the air, almost like...
The drone's brain ground to a halt. He may have been slow, even by his own admission, but that didn't mean he was naïve.
"Outline, why do I smell pheromones in the air?" He asked.
"Because I banged the mare we had captured, had plenty of fun, harvested plenty of emotion, probably impregnated her, and I am probably going to do it again at some point in the near future." Outline matter-of-factly stated, neatly folding the newspaper into a square before climbing down from the chair and placing it where he had been sitting. "This newspaper has told me nothing new. Invasion, lies about changelings, blah blah blah. The usual newspaper report."
"What. Wait, wait, wait..." The drone stammered for a moment, regaining his senses a moment later. "You had sex with the prisoner? Why didn't we get told?"
"Because for one you are a drone, and were off buying newspapers. The other drone is asleep." Outline stated. "If you're thinking of going in there, you're not. The mare is asleep, and needs a few hours to recover enough for another feeding. Wait a few hours, and then ask me."
"Uh... Alright." The drone said, backing away. "I'm just going to be downstairs. In the living room. Away from the crazy infiltrator."
The drone quickly retreated. Once he was gone, Outline let out a sigh.
"It is too bad that he was born a drone." The infiltrator lamented. "If he had been born a full changeling, I have a feeling he would be quite bright."
Most drones were hardly capable of coherent speech, much less a conversation. Drones that possessed the intelligence of 'full' changelings were rare. The main differences between drones and 'full' changelings were significant. Drones possessed lower intelligence, a tendency to stick to swarming tactics, had glowing blue eyes with no pupils, and were notably smaller than full changelings. In addition, they had weaker magical abilities, and lacked the mane that full changelings had.
They also made up well over ninety percent of the Changeling Army, as well as around eighty-four percent of the population in general. Thankfully, there were enough full changelings to lead them, and the more intelligent ones could grow to be useful.
Dim Outline reflected that he must have had amazing luck, having been stuck post-invasion with two of the more intelligent ones... Which might be reflective of how intelligent they had to be to survive.
He had, however, lied to the drone. In the newspaper, he was looking for one thing: The location of the Canterlot Guard Local Center. Unlike the Royal Guard, whose members were far better trained, equipped, and spread out all over Equestria, the local Canterlot Guard knew the area from having lived in it. However, their weapons were far inferior, and they were in many cases simply civilians.
To put his plan into action, he was going to have to be quick, efficient, and lucky. However, the payoff would be enormous.
All he needed was more energy from the mare. What he had was enough, but one could not afford to be too careful... And with that, he was back to waiting.