Chapter 2: Visceral Tactics

Boss shook subtly. It seemed even he was grossed out. The disfigured sentry frowned and uncrooked its head, yet it did not step forward. It merely twitched its head in the same frequency as Boss's body.

"Well?" the guard spoke in more of a gasp than an actual breath. A few seconds of continued silence passed before his half-leg moved toward the its oozing mouth a second time.

Boss grabbed his knife. He charged forward, and the blade elongated and formed his halberd as he brought the handle down. The axe-like blade embedded itself into the monster's skull, splitting its horn and beady eye at once. It opened its mouth to scream. The noise that came out was unlike any I heard before. The green ooze was thrown around from the gaping maw as the sound of claws on a chalkboard met the sound of gurgling vomit. We tried to cover our ears, all except Boss. He just smiled as he pulled the blade out of the monster's forehead. It came back to him covered in the same juices that were now covering most of his armor. He wound up and released a swing. I flinched, looking down to the ground. But I heard it. The sound of protean steel smashing against carapace. Gurgling screams fading to bubbling vomit.
Silence.

I looked up to see a large puddle of green. Barbarian stood on his hinds soaking in it. Juices dripped from his armor and weapon as a sinister grin creased his snout. My eyes followed a small trail of green to a larger puddle, bubbling. I looked back to Boss. He glared at us as he stepped forward and out of the green substance.

"And where the Hell were you assholes on that one?!" he fumed as his hinds shook off the excess ooze. "And did you even hear that thing scream, Carnal?!" He tilted his head back in black-hearted laughter. He looked back to me, but all I could do was shake my head, along with my entire body. "You call yourselves the Queen's Hoof?! The target screams up a symphony and you all just sit here like dumbasses!"

We glanced at each other. The top assassin cleared its throat. "Would... Would you like me on point, Barb?"

"It's 'Boss' to you now, scrub. And no. I'm taking point. These fuckers are way too much fun to kill!" He turned to enter the hive. "And if a single one of you thinks you're sitting this out, then I will bury you alive in the bubbling shit of all the bastards I kill."

We trotted through the puddle and into the hole that was the monster hive. The screams had attracted some attention. As we entered the dark cave, blue eyes approached from all sides. Most were big, normal sized. Some were beady and misplaced in the dark. The creatures reached out to us. The hooves varied in size, shape, and dryness. I tried to ignore it. Then one curled around my hind leg.

I turned quickly, stretching my dagger into a broadsword and bringing the weapon down on the troublesome limb. My attacker was upon me, screaming with that horrible sound. The sword had cut off its foreleg, and its large fangs were now moving toward my face. I instinctively pulled the sword to my other side, right through the creature’s screaming face. Its fluids burst out of what was left of its head and stained my armor. Its corpse slumped over and dissolved into the boiling vomit. Sensing something was off, my tongue reached for my left fang. Some of it had gotten onto my fang. The tongue spent less than a second on the spot, but the taste was so horrible that I had to fight my gag reflex as I tried to wipe the stuff off of my face with my foreleg. It tasted like rotten, unemptied pony intestines. As I spat and spat onto the ground in a futile attempt to get the taste out of my mouth, I could hear Boss laughing. I looked up toward the other blue eyes closing in slowly. I waved my sword around, flinging drops of green everywhere.

Boss moved up, deeper into the hive. “Stop worrying about the grunts, Carnal!” he screamed as his pace accelerated. “We’re here to wipe ‘em all out, sure... But there’s gotta be a Queen here somewhere!”

He laughed and began to gallop deeper in, swinging his halberd around like it was made of foam. He left behind a deep trail of bubbling ooze. Cocoonist flew over it all and the assassins followed on the green. I kept up the back of the pack, making sure none of the monsters tried to grab us again.

Boss kept moving faster and faster. The cocoonist decided to try galloping instead of flying. He landed with too much momentum and slipped. He fell face first into the goop, and too much had gotten into his mouth. The best assassin and another just galloped right past him. The third assassin, one of the quiet ones, pulled out a spear and tried to help the cocoonist up. I went to assist.

The disgusting juices weren’t helping his glands. He retched with a steady flow of cocooning goop flowing out of his jaw. The blue eyes grew closer and closer. The assassin tried his best to poke out the eyes with his spear as I attempted to help the cocoonist off the ground. His hooves kept slipping, despite the stickiness of the slime floor. I looked up in time to see the assassin pull desperately at his spear. It would not budge from its place in the darkness.

The cocoonist screamed something. It was hard to hear through his sounds of choking. As the assassin slipped and fell onto his back, the cocoonist tried again. The sounds reached the assassin’s ears with clarity. He turned to me, our eyes meeting for a fleeting moment.

"It's alive..." he whispered. He turned in time to see his own spear floating over his face. The blade, drenched in green and blue, was inches from his snout. He opened his mouth to speak. "Get--"

The spear flew into his mouth and embedded into the ground underneath. I stared in shock as his body struggled in futility. Somehow he was still alive, but the ooze restrained his limbs. The cocoonist shook me out of my stupor as his body heaved for one more attempt at communication.

"RUN!"

I heard it, but my legs did not. I tried to move away from the cocoonist but my legs would not budge. The green had enveloped my hooves and gripped to them. I swung my sword around to keep the eyes from closing in. Looking down, I saw the cocoonist on his back now. The slime underneath him flowed strangely around him, pulling his armor apart. His mouth opened wide.

"KILL..." he screamed desperately. A combination of his cocooning goop and the dead ooze bubbled over his snout, sticking the jaws together and silencing him before he could finish. It leaked out of the corners of his mouth and then out of his nose. The slime worked its way down the sides of his face and connected to the floor.

I looked down at my legs, and tried my wings instead. The goop clung to my legs as I lifted myself off the ground. I swung my sword under my hooves, cutting myself free. I flew to the ceiling and perched myself there. It was a good move. These changeling impostors could not cling to walls, and their wings were too weak to fly. Then I saw them surrounding my friends. As they began pulling the armor off the cocoonist I saw my chance to follow his instructions. I hesitated at first. They ripped the wings off of the assassin. I positioned my sword. They pulled the cocoonist's chest plate out of the way. My sword plummeted to the ground, impaling cocoonist on the way. His body turned to ashes, which became absorbed by the liquid on the floor. It shined a bright green for a few short moments.

I lost my protean blade, but at least the monsters couldn't reach me. My eyes followed the path that we got stuck in until the green faded into the darkness. I wondered what became of the two assassins and Boss. My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of insectoid wings. I looked down and met the eyes and fang of one of the monsters. It was flying toward me. In spite of all its deformities, the liquid dripping from its eyes, nose, and wings, the monster could fly. I was frozen in fear.

A scream echoed through the tunnel. It was like a distorted call from Chrysalis, if she was sick with whatever disease these things had.

Now everyone was frozen. They all turned. They all trotted. Sloshing through the remains, they all disappeared into the darkness.

I was alone.