She flew against the bitter cold of an Equestrian night. Soaring above the dense woodland away from the hive, with her insectoid wings carrying her and the rope tied around her thorax through the dusk, she knew this would be the final chance to prove her worth.
She was, on the face of it, just another Changeling. The perceived stereotype among ponies of a mindless drone may not have been true, but, partially thanks to her diet and lack of interaction with the other races it might as well have been the case. Changelings didn’t mix with ponies except for feeding, and unsuccessful Changelings didn’t even get that.
Without experience with ponies, it becomes even harder for a Changeling to feed because to feed, you need tact, but to develop tact you need to learn how to feed. Of course this creates a catch 22 scenario, but the large majority of Changelings are born to be deceptive and subtle with strong manipulation skills. Others however, fall into a lifetime starvation and banishment. She’d even heard of execution for ones who prove to be more than just a liability.
“I did have to be one of those” she quietly whispered into the icy air.
The Alpha drone Collectors, part of the hive elite, had made their point explicitly clear to her. They wanted results, but most of all they wanted to see any gathering at all. So far since leaving the hive education system, she had brought in nothing but herself, the only one of her generation to not meet the quota (or even get off the mark).
She shuddered at the thought of consequences. For sure, had she paid more attention during training instead of discussing the possible outcomes of failure she may have done better than she had so far, but that was in the past, for she knew there were no second chances in the Changeling society. She was probably academically capable unlike many of the other failures, but simply hadn’t had her mind set on her training which had been her most major downfall.
Cresting over a slow rise in a tree filled meadow just past the forest, she noticed her target. The elders in her hive had called this place DEFCON 1. She’d never understood the naming until the announcement of their loss in Canterlot, a rare public admittance of defeat for the Changeling hive. Before that, she had never heard of the Elements of Harmony or the third Princess of Equestria, assuming the tyrant Celestia and her trator sister, Luna, were the only powers of Equestria. With the loss came the realization that the Changeling hive wasn’t the superpower it had been made out to be. Maybe this was why she had lost focus in training, knowing that Changelings couldn’t simply cruise safely and bring in virtually nothing without consequences. With that had sparked her research into the history of Changelings who didn’t meet expectations, ironically damaging her own training, thus her own ability to feed meaning she now became part of the problem she’d wanted to avoid. Perhaps if she’d been a little smarter she would have seen this coming, but her impulsive and inquisitive nature demanded all the answers she could get, not just her own vague theory on the matter.
This had definitely come back to haunt her now as she neared the location of what would almost certainly be her final chance. Her mission was to simply bring any quantity of excess love back to the hive, not just survival love. This would prove that she did have potential, and wasn’t simply risking their discovery for no conceivable gain.
She didn’t think this seemed fitting however, as by sending her to DEFCON 1 without any knowledge other than it being the location of the Elements seemed like a move that could create shockwaves throughout the Changeling world should she fail.
Perhaps, she thought, this was the way they would remove her. Instead of creating fear in the hive, her failure her could be announced in the hive as the actions of a traitor, leaving the hive scot free while she is condemned to death.
Either way, there was nothing she could do to change her fate now.
Her specified target (the only other information that had been provided to her) lived in a sky house west of an apple farm. She’d seen the farm, but hadn’t seen the house until her realization that house was in fact build into the clouds above. Reaching a small, arrowslit like gap build into the turret of this sky castle, she carefully pushed herself through the spongy and flexible material, entering the house.
She avoided the golden trimmed orange carpet, instead walking on the cloud surface as she silently moved through the corridors of the building, remembering the words of her tutor “Dark times call for Dark measures, don’t be afraid to use your fangs”.
Back then, like most things, she’d never fully understood the context of the sentence but it had stuck with her for reasons she couldn’t fathom.
Now it was time to ready herself up for the task ahead. Pushing open a set of French doors revealed a rather elaborate cloud bed, covered in prismatic bed sheets. A soft snoring could be heard from the far end of the bed.
She slid the rope up her body using a hoof to her neck before kneeling down and sliding it past her horn onto the cloud floor below. She moved to the post of the bed.
“This is going to make things far easier” she thought to herself as she tied a knot in the rope she had wrapped around the post. Gently lifting the rope with her magic, she moved the other side in an arch across the bed to the other post, tying a second knot. Now came the crucial part. Disabling the pony. This was the part she feared most, not only because of the danger, but because of her own willpower to commit such an act.
She hovered as silently as possible over the rainbow maned pony snoozing below. She lifted the rope towards the pony’s head as silently as possible, before gently resting it down on the mare’s neck, trying to avoid disturbing the sleeping form.
She took a step back to survey the situation. Of course, the Changeling was better equipped for a fight, containing magic and fangs, but at the same time completely untrained for the task. The thought dawned on her as to why she wasn’t trained in any combat skills, but quickly put that to rest as she knew what that kind of thinking had got her into in the first place.
Lifting a hoof towards the rope, the Changeling reached for the mare’s neck but in doing so accidently nudged the rope upwards.
“Flutters… WHA-” the mare was cut off as the Changeling dived in for the attack. The rainbow mare quickly responded by pushing off of the bed with her hooves but was sent straight back down by the rope that was still across her neck.
“Changeling!” she exclaimed in her struggle to move across the double bed so she could slide under the rope.
“Come quietly pony, you’ll only suffer for the longer the more you resist”.
“Oh yeah?” the mare said in a cocky tone. “I’d like to see you try you monster”.
The rainbow mare slid out from the rope by pushing her hooves into the bed, revealing a set of powerful cyan wings than now held her in the air. The Pegasus wasted no time and dived towards the watching Changeling, knocking both mares towards the French doors.
The Changeling grabbed the Pegasus by one of her primaries, causing the pony to shriek in pain as another hoof was brought onto the back of their neck, pushing her the ground.
“Get… off me monster, do y-“ the Pegasus was again cut off by a strong shove into the ground.
The Changeling untied the rope from the posts carefully using magic while still keeping a strong grip on the Pegasus below by kneeling on her back. Bringing the rope towards the Pegasus, she began to wrap it around her wings and forelegs which had become submissive due to the angle in which she was being held.
“Don’t pull it too tight… please” the Pegasus asked, a strong hint of fear and something that could almost be almost mistaken for sadness entering her voice.
As the Changeling finished off tying up the captive, checking the knot for any weakness, she began to think over her next move. The big question entered her mind. What could she actually do next?
For sure, she was in control here, she had the prisoner and it was hours before sunrise, but was there anything she could actually do with a prisoner? It only occurred to her now that perhaps this was why Changelings were not trained in combat and instead trained to integrate themselves into pony society silently with disguise. What use is a tied up Pegasus in gaining love energy?
Pondering further, even considering the idea of using the Pegasus’s form to gain energy by removing the original and tying herself up, she reached the conclusion that there was no viable way of using this Pegasus.
Coming to the conclusion that she had to act now, she bent down and nosed over the Pegasus. A small hint of self-reflection and regret entered her thoughts as she knew what needed to be done, but either way her task was already a failure. Not only was the Pegasus completely aware of Changeling presence, but any disappearances would only lead to further questions so newcomers wouldn't be safe in this town. In seconds she’d gone from successful to, yet again, a total failure to her kind.
“Better make best of this situation” she silently thought to herself. Now using her magic, the Pegasus was lifted onto her back, leading to cries of protest.
“Hey! What are you doing with me? Untie me you… thing!”
“So what’s your name, pony?” she enquired to the now whimpering Pegasus.
“Rainbow Dash…”
The Changeling flinched at hearing that name, for she was one of the elements who thwarted the invasion. Now the powerful mare was entirely under the Changelings control, but the question was would the controlled removal of an element lead to her being accepted by Changelings or would the hive think she was trying to sabotage their infiltration plans?
Carrying the Pegasus out through the corridors by magic and into the night sky, the changeling headed to the gorge she had passed over in the forest. Setting down in a smooth rock, she placed the Pegasus close to the edge.
“What are you doing! Wher- AHH not the gorge! Don’t you even think of doing that are you insane!?” Rainbow Dash protested. “When Celestia finds out what you’ve done she'll have you hanged!”
“She never has to find out. I can’t stay in that place regardless of whether you live or die, but if they know it’s a Changeling who did this our race will be confined to the pages of history”.
“We’re only at war because your stupid race refuses to agree to any peace settlements!”
The Changeling was unaware on the actual truth of that statement, she’d been suspicious over the legitimacy of state propaganda, and their loss to Equestria only made her more doubtful, but regardless of whose fault any of this was there was one task that needed to be done.
“So… Rainbow Dash. This is it.”
“No! Please don’t I’ll give you anything I swear just don’t throw me down there!”
“Such as?”
“I won’t tell anypony you’re here! I’ll prove it just let me go!”
“How could you prove that?”
“…stay with me under the guise of an old friend?”
“And what would I gain from that exactly?”
“Well… you could… y’know… harvest that love energy thing that you do in town… I guess”.
“Oh, so you’re willing to work with the enemy? Interesting to see what ponies do when their under threat”.
The Changeling slowly and eerily towards Rainbow Dash, who could only see the outline of a figure from the corner of her magenta eyes.
“I swear I won’t tell... please don’t push me” Rainbow Dash again protested, desperation now creeping into her voice.
The Changeling was beginning to face a dilemma. Her plan had been to disable a pony, at least by physical restraint, but to take a life? Her conscience was telling her mixed messages, of course she had to think of self-preservation but to know she pushed this Pegasus to her death? Was that a burden even a desperate Changeling could live with even if it may make the hive proud of her? But what if the opposite happened? She could be executed... or worse... exciled, which was a certain slow and painful death sentence for a Changeling as useless as her.
Lifting a hoof in the direction of the multi hued Pegasus, she watched the mare tense up. The Changeling ran a hoof from top of the mare’s spine gently to the middle, leaving the hoof in the middle for the second, causing the mare to tense up but then shudder and slightly relax. She then pulled the hoof back and moved to the right of the Pegasus, sitting on her haunches with the Pegasus between her and the gorge. Looking at the Pegasus, the edge, and then back at the Pegasus again, the Changeling realised even the burden of threatening the pony was becoming too much, let alone carrying out the act.
“So…” the Changeling began. Without completing the sentence, she stood up, causing the Pegasus to pathetically squeal in fear. Using a hoof and a levitation spell, the Pegasus was edged into the air.
“Please…” Rainbow Dash weakly choked back tears, winking her voice in an attempt to remove them from her now glistening eyes.
“Shh” the Changeling gently hushed, and brought the Pegasus away from the edge. Sitting Rainbow Dash on the area she had landed on, she began to untie the knot.
“What… you’re really letting me go?”
The Changeling immediately stopped untying the rope at this comment.
“What do you mean by that exactly?”
“No no no I’m not saying that in a condes… ending… a bad way, I mean…”
“Just stick to the deal. I have nothing to lose here anyway”.
“Except your life… if I turn you in…”
“Well… I don’t plan on letting you out of my sight sweetheart” the Changeling stated in a vaguely mocking tone.
“Nor do I…” Rainbow Dash retorted. “So why didn’t you use your Changing powers in the first place, C…”.
“Call me Lilith”.
“So Lilith, can you kinda… y’know carry on untying me this is not a dignified position you have me in”
“Right. Also I didn't use my powers because it never occurred to me”.
“Are you serious?”
“Of course not” she replied in a sarcastic tone. “No, I didn’t occur to me, I’ve never been good at social interaction… or bartering… or really anything at all. So anyway, what’s with the sudden change of heart? I mean 10 minutes ago you were referring to me as ‘monster’”.
“Well for starters you were untying me”.
“Ok jeez I’ll untie you”.
“…and now you’ve stopped attacking me you do seem reasonable, but I mean what would you do if a freaky bug thing came out of nowhere and tied your wings to you hooves and then took you to a gorge?”
“Eat their hearts” Lilith replied with a disturbing cheerful voice.
“Erm… ok then…” the final knot fell, unwound, to the stones below. “So, Lilith… what exactly were you planning on doing with me exactly?”
“Well I should keep our techniques a secret… except I don’t really know any. Technically you shouldn't even know my name, but I've failed with everything else so I might as well come clean. Truth is I didn’t think that far ahead… so… nothing really”.
“You really don’t seem to be very good at being a Changeling… no offence but you had me caught”.
“Yes, I've noticed that too” her tone sharpening. "A lot of good that did me".
The rope began to unravel as Lilith worked at untying Rainbow Dash using her hooks and her magic to unravel the complex series of knots. The was finally released, and with that Rainbow Dash let out a dramatic sigh and stretched her forelegs and wings. From this, a small patch of blood formed on the rock below, slowly dripping from a cut sustained in the prior fight.
"So... what now?" Rainbow Dash enquired.
"I'm surprised, you really don't seem scared of me at all, Rainbow Dash".
"Eh, you let me go and you had your reasons... whatever they were... it's cool".
You're... ok with me just like that? Well... then, how’s your hoof doing? Seems to be an awful lot of blood coming from that… sorry”.
“Bah, nothing that will keep me grounded”. Rainbow Dash tested putting more pressure on the afflicted hoof, but visibly winced due to the pain.
“Lie on your front for a second Rainbow Dash, let me try something on that hoof”.
“Like this?” Rainbow Dash fully stretched out, lying on her underbelly and resting her head between her forelegs.
“Yeah, now just sit there for a second”. The Changeling moved towards the Pegasus and lifted her hoof, before moving her mouth towards the wound and slowly licking at it.
“What in Celestia’s name are you doin-“ Rainbow Dash tried to ask but was cut off by her own wicked smile, clearly this was not a serious protest.
Lilith looked down at the Pegasus “You like that?”
“Don’t you dare tell anypony about this unless you're ok with having mixed assorted bug pieces for sale in Ponyville".
“What was that, Rainbow Dash?” the Changeling slowly trailed her tongue around the wounded hoof, getting groans of what the Changeling could only assume to be pleasure… “How strange… and yes before you ask, Changeling saliva is both numbing and antiseptic… w- what are you doing Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash managed to reply with an unsteady “That’s nice”, but it became clear to Lilith that somewhere in the past 30 seconds she’d lost Rainbow Dash.
“Are you seriously… I think we should stop”.
Rainbow Dash briefly looked disappointed until her senses began to come back to her, a pink flush coming to the mare's face causing her to look around the empty gorge in embarrassment. “Yeah… let’s get back home… you go first”.
“Ready?” with the nod from Rainbow Dash, Lilith gently pushed off the floor and lifted herself into the air, a faint buzzing emitting into the dusk air from her translucent wings. “Come on Rainbow… remember what we said, you’re not leaving my sight”.
“Nor are you, Lilith. If anything I’m more worried about… y’know”.
“I guess we all have secrets”.
Author's Note
edit 2: 22/10/14 - Gonna go change things up and improve this chapter during the holidays and get on with continuing C2 too.
edit: 11/10/14 - I've changed a few sentences around slowly over the past few days, I think I'm a lot more happy with it now but it's far from perfect. Thanks for the feedback anyhow.
Also the chapter's title contains world's most obscure reference and none of you will ever get it so I don't even know why I'm telling you this ;D
