I resolved to continue with the conditions of my freedom, to destroy the queen, but to try and keep bloodshed to a minimum. The changelings may have immense evil within their hearts, but killing them en mass effected me deeply. I was shaken by the near death of that earth pony foal, but not irreversibly so. It has been so long since I have seen anything or anyone that was truly innocent, I had almost forgotten that true innocence exists.

I left the bloody corpse-field and began towards the palace. The changeling swarm parted before me as I made my way toward the castle, undoubtedly smelling the sheer amount, and variation, of blood coating me from head to toe. I saw the city as I went. Tall buildings with strange, new architecture. Streets paved in stone and mortar, coated in blood from the fighting.

The ponies did not just give in. As I made way to the highest building in the city, I passed several small pitched battles. The changelings would always see me, then smell me, and flee immediately. Some ponies praised me a hero, though I did nothing other than show up. Others saw the blood still dripping from my body as possibly pony blood, and regarded me with extreme caution. All I passed I gave a quick few words of encouragement to continue fighting, or I said nothing at all. I strode for 30 minutes like this until I came to a blockade.

They're learning. The castle gates, once mighty and proud, now lay broken and shamed. Upheaved completely in a show of dominance, most likely to shatter pony morale. It was not without use however. I took cover behind a nearby upturned wagon as I contemplated my next move. Several hundred changeling troops using a choke point. I can't go around, the castle is right there and I am not sneaky. My only path is strait through. But to do so would require a great deal of blood. I sighed in defeat, and held my head in a hand. I either abandon my obligations to this Cadence, or indulge in blood lust right before meeting her... Decisions decisions.

I rose from my crouched position and waltzed directly in front of the blockade. I decided to give them a chance to survive today, a great deal more mercy than I had ever shown in the past.

"Changelings, flee this battle and live to see another day, or you shall be crushed as insects beneath my feet," Maybe it was that their queen was a poor leader, maybe it was that they never cared to come here in the first place, maybe it was that I reeked with the blood of a thousand fallen changelings. Regardless of the reason, the lings looked afraid. I took a great step toward them, and watched their determination waver. Another great step, then another, then another. I was sprinting full tilt at them now, and had already halved the distance between us when their loyalties solidified. They broke cover and charged at me, taking to the air.

Magical blasts fell on me as rain, cooking my skin and my flesh. A few of the smarter one's hurled small objects at me with telekinetic force, cutting and bruising my body further as I closed the remaining few meters. They were smart to keep their distance and fight me from afar. I grinned maliciously. But I am upon them now. I crashed upon their front line, and simply began tearing them apart. The crimson fog began to rise again, but I only allowed it to heal my wounds, I did not give in to the bloody hunger as I did hours before. I aimed instead to break their morale. Excessive strength and brutal executions my means of doing so, after the 10th changeling was brutally ton apart screaming in agony, they began to falter, I seized the opportunity and barked a shout.

"FLEE YOU FOOLS, OR SUFFER AS YOUR FELLOWS HAVE SUFFERED." I punctuated my statement with crushing the head of the changeling that I held, having just killed it with a punch into its chest, shattering the carapace. Its head burst like a grape when I clenched my first.

The changelings stopped their attack, and looked around at the pools of blood forming and my uninjured form. We were near the castle entrance. A mere 20 meters or so away from the door, than it was a strait shot to their queen. Her malice burns like a star, even from here I can feel the evil in her heart. I will not extend to her the offer of mercy, I will make true to Cadence my promise to mount her head on a pike. I looked around again at the changelings, who looked as if they were on death row.

"We cannot leave creature, we must fight you to the last," one stated somberly, as he charged another bolt of the harmless combat magic.

"Our Queen has willed it, we kill you or die trying," another said, its eyes brimming with the will to live. She controls them. My eyes widened in realization, How could It have taken so long for me to see this? The evil in their hearts is not their own it is their queen! They have not fought me on my way to the castle, not to ambush me. But rather because they did not want to die, and their queen had not specifically ordered it!

The crimson fog around me began to spin, slowly at first, but soon was spinning fast enough to mask the whole of my body from sight. The changelings around me tensed, ready to pounce or flee, the expression on their face leading one to believe the latter. When suddenly it changed completely. Their faces contorted into horrifying visages of pure, unadulterated fury. Their eyes changed from a light blue to a deep red and they grew almost a full meter in height.

I had but a moment to brace myself from within the fog. Heedless of injury, they fell on me as a wave. Gnashing fangs and scorching magic. And even through my bloody shield, I knew pain.

Hmmm, insubordination at a time like this? I Thought. This simply will not do. I drew a fraction of my newly subjugated power into my jagged horn, and began to feed my magic into a particularly powerful rage spell. I targeted those changelings outside the palace. Sensing them through the hive mind, I thrust the spell through, breaking their hollow minds and shattering any semblance of intelligence they once had. I fed the spell until i was sure the only emotion they felt was anamalistic rage. I smiled sweetly to myself and chuckled shallowly.

"I recognize that spell Chrysalis!"

I looked to the frazzled face, and bloodshot eyes of the purple unicorn, stuck in goo near the door.

"Oh really?"

"Yes really! That spell is monstrous! It destroys the mind completely! How could you cast it on a pony?!"

I paused for about a minute, letting some tension rise, I admittedly have a flare for the dramatic.

"Who said anything about it being cast on one of your kind, my little pony?"

She looked shocked, then scared. I smiled as I saw the cogs turn in her head. Eventually her hamster wheels gave her a conclusion, one that painted her face hilariously to my sadistic eyes.

"With the amount of magic you used," she paused, swallowing her nervousness. "You could turn even one of the princesses into a monster,"

"That is precisely the point, our guest shall die before he ever graces these halls"

The pony looked defeated, and began muttering to herself. Probably finally realizing the futility of her situation. Varying levels of shock were on the ponies faces. The butter pegasus had retreated into herself completely. The pink one had a look of sadness, her mane unlike what it had been days prior, then light and poofy, now flat and glossy. Both the orange, stetson-wearing earth pony and the rainbow pegasus looked beyond livid. The only puzzlement to be seen was the white unicorn, who surprised me by speaking.

"How could you just....just........ CONDEMN your own subjects like that?! Celestia would never do the same to one of hers!"

"And what makes you think I want to be anything like the pony princess stewing in digestive juices?"

The elements, as well as everyone else in the room, gasped.

"YOU'RE GOING TO KILL HER?!?!??!" The element of magic splurted, somewhere in between an absolute rage and utter horror.

"No, I am not going to kill her, I am killing her. However slowly draining her of all her magic takes to kill her. It might take years. So i'm just using her as a magic reservoir for now." Though I can't actually use any of the magic until she is dead, which will only take another hour or so. I chuckled dryly behind a holey hoof. But they don't need to know that, as naive as they are.

"Why are you doing this?" The frightened, winged butter horse actually came out from behind her mane.

"For food of course! Your emotions are oh so very tasty," I earned a glare from Cadence, and only smiled back.

"But who is the food for?" A steely look was in her eye.

"Me and my subjects of course, who else?"

She looked confused and angry, but such a meek, shy pony being so aggressive with someone as powerful as myself was so... By tartarus itself she looks adorable, I shall keep her nearby, her adorableness will allow me to harvest emotions of affection more easily from ponies near her.

"The same subjects you are condemning to madness outside?!"

I looked at the little pony with a raised brow. She is either brave or suicidal. But she IS adorable, I will indulge her curiosity.

"They are not a fraction of the changeling swarm, foal. Sacrificing their lives for the safety of their queen is nothing but an honor, and such an honor any changeling could only beg for." I mentally gave a command. All the changeling guards in the room quickly rose a hoof to their heads and said in unison.

"An honor!"

All said it well, all but two, who said nothing at all. I looked at the changelings quizzically. They were the two that came in with the dead changeling that bore the news of the threat being dealt with outside. They simply stood there, looking at their still bleeding companion on the floor in front of them. Their gazes were horrified and confused.. It seems the tale of the fallen one has shook them. They will recover in time. I contemplated punishing them for disobedience. But before I could, a bone-chilling shout deafened all present. Nobody, including myself, moved a muscle. We were all in a strange kind of magic induced paralysis. After about a minute, panic began to set in.

"I-I-I have a r-r-really pinchy kn-kn-knee," The element of laughter near whispered, but it was so quiet in the room you could hear a feather drop, so literally everyone heard her as if she shouted her little statement.

All of the element's suddenly looked a lot more terrified than before. They began to whisper to one another as I rallied the changelings in the room. A bottleneck is sure to work, right? The creature is still not dead, if I only bring back the troops still fighting him I could..

"*GASP*"

The ceiling shook, and my blood ran cold. I realized I couldn't feel the presence of any of the changelings that were supposed to be outside. No...... he couldn't have. He simply could not have. There is no way he dispatched them all?! I frantically sent a mass recall command to every changeling in canterlot. I looked to the door that was the entrance to the throne room, and winced when a resounding crack met the ears of everyone present.

"What the buck was that!?" The rainbow pony reflexively shouted. She did not know, but I knew. The palace entrance had just been sundered entirely. I looked at the throne room door again. I just need to buy some time for my reinforcements to arrive. I wove a resilience spell into the door. I strengthened the material, the hinges, and the surrounding wall for good measure. I began to draw a large portion of my magic into my horn, preparing a strike more than even the most ancient of dragons could withstand. Once it was charged I waited.... and waited. The silence was deafening. All eyes beheld the door, including my own.

After hours of waiting. (2 minutes). I watched with horror as a red fog began to seep through the cracks in the door. Oh no, is that blood magic? I tested it with a small burst of kinetic, magical energy. It was absorbed into the fog, and the magic negated completely. I sensed it follow the mist back through the door and into a reservoir of magic beyond. A MASSIVE reservoir. That is blood magic, that is 100% blood magic. Oh tartarus this is going to be bad.

The magic began to work its way up the door, coating it, until the entire door was nearly concealed by a veil of crimson. I fed even more magic into my horn. The second this thing comes into view, i'm going to hit it hard. The door fizzled briefly and my protection ward ceased to exist in under 30 seconds, there was no way reinforcements would arrive in time. Well that's not fair at all. The door slowly opened. []Very slowly. A hand appeared, much like a minotaur's, only no fur and with an extra didget. That, and it was entirely coated in red. The door opened further and I readied my magic.

A being looking completely broken stood at the door. Massive gashes covered his body from top to bottom. His leg was bent at an awkward angle even a fool knew was not natural. Some of his skin was brutally singed, and the smell of burning flesh began to seep into the room. The massive reservoir of magic is all but gone. Even his lone article of clothing, the fur cloth around his waist, was ripped and soaked completely through with his own blood.

Regardless of his tattered state, his eyes burned with a determination that peered into the depths of my soul. It was as if I could feel him rummaging around in my heart, with only his eyes. I felt so vulnerable in front of him, every secret I ever had laid bare. Every dark thought...I decided it was high time to blast him to pieces. I sparked the spell and a magic lance shot from my horn right at the creature.

He did not even try to dodge, my lance impaled the right side of his chest, and kept on going. I realized my mistake. The lance would only detonate the magic if it hit a sufficient enough barrier, his flesh is exposed, it simply pierced right through him. I wasted so much magic on that spell! I raged silently. The lance hit a palace wall somewhere behind the creature and detonated. A brilliant flash of light blinded my sensitive dark vision eyes, as a tidal wave of magic floored most everyone in the room.

I was robbed of most sensation. I was dulled everywhere. I could not see and I could barely think, but I could hear. I heard the ponies scream, and fall to the floor. I heard my changelings hiss erratically, then go silent. I rose to my hooves as some cognitive function returned to me, and began projecting wild blasts of magic out of fear, I felt myself lift into the air and I shot more and more, until my magic was depleted completely. Most higher level thinking began to leave me, as it occurred to me I could not breath. I began to struggle as fiercely as my numbed body would allow.

I opened my eyes, and saw through the tears a bloody, bearded face, devoid of emotion. He is holding me, why is he holding me? I wondered. I could not reason why, until I remembered my breathing problem. He is... choking me. I tried to scream, but could not. My tired mind tried to comprehend the lack of a hive presence, and as my brain suffered further the effects of oxygen deprivation, I began to see black along my vision.

My consciousness faded.

As he killed me, I did not make a sound.

Author's Note

Sorry about the length, I swear the coming chapters will be longer.
Anyway
Please leave a comment, and I hope you enjoyed my story!

Also, the only editor I have is me, so if I missed anything structurally or grammatically, please let me know.