“I’m going to die here…”

These were the only words the poor little colt could think of. He didn’t know where he was or if anyone else was there. All he knew was darkness and the pain in his hands.

“I’m going to die here…”

He closed his hands to feel the hooks that had been stabbed through his hands. His feet didn’t even touch the floor, so he knew he was being suspended by something that was attached to the hooks. He tried to use his magic, but he feel that something on his horn was preventing him.

“I’m going to die here…”

He could faintly smell a mixture of dried and flesh blood within the room. His head throbbed as he tried to remember how he got here, how a monster slaughter his entire village, and how he was the lone survivor.

“I’m going to die here… That’s what’s you're thinking, ain’t it?” said a deep and gravelly voice.

The colt whipped his head around to find the source of the voice, but his movements caused him to swing, which made the hooks pull up, and caused him more pain. He yelped out and quickly stopped moving. He heard the voice chuckle, apparently amused by his pain.

“Now, now…” light began to fill the room from a red crystal on the ceiling. “Don’t hurt yourself too much...that’s my job.”

The colt could now clearly see the beast standing before him. It was seven feet tall, had skin blacker than night, and the only hair it had was on it’s head, red and shaggy looking. It had razor sharp teeth, two horns that stuck out a foot from it’s fore-head, and two black eyes with red irises. The only thing it wore was tattered black pants and a wicked smile.

“I hope your ready,” the demon said, holding up a butcher’s knife. “We’re just about ready to start the fun.”

The colt looked around the room, slowly this time, and his eyes widen in horror. He was in the middle of a 20 ft by 120 ft room and every wall was covered in blades of all shapes and sizes. The only piece of furniture was a workbench with drawers on side, to the left of him.

The demon walked toward the bench and set his knife down on top of it. He then pulled out the top drawer and rummaged around in it, looking for something. When he found what he was looking for he gave out low laugh.

“First things first,” he said as he walked toward the colt. “You’re going to be in a lot of pain soon. The best way to deal with it is to enjoy it. I know I will!”

He laughed a hearty laugh that shook the colt to his soul. The demon the showed the colt what he was looking for: a needle and some thread. He placed the needle between the index and thumb of his right hand and held the colts chin with his left.

“And the first step to enjoy something… is to have a big ol’ smile!” flashed his teeth to the colt, as his right hand went to the colt’s mouth.

As he felt the needle pierce him right above the corner of his mouth, all he could think was “I don’t want to die here…”
-------------------------------------------------- 20 years later -------------------------------------------------

“I’m going to die here...I don’t want to die here!”

Keelie thought as she kept her head down with her hands covering it. Back at her hive, she had heard all the horror stories about changelings that were caught within Equestria. She had scoffed at them all, but now that she was living one of those stories, she couldn’t help but scream internally.

It has been at least one year since the wedding invasion and collecting love for the hive became more dangerous than it ever had before. Each week since then, it seemed, the ponies would come up with new ways of find and capturing infiltrators like her. She even knew they found some of the hive’s secret checkpoint’s.

“Why? Why did they have to ask me those questions? What, does everypony have to practice trivia now in order not to be accused of being a changeling?”

In reality, the questions could have been answered by anypony, all she had to do was name the three of the four princesses, who one in the flying relay at the Equestria games, and name the six elements of harmony and the names of the bearers.

She got the first two right.

“How I am suppose to know their names when all ponies practically look alike? Ugh… why didn’t I study more?” To be an infiltrator, changeling’s had to take rigorous training courses, be socially adept -by pony standards-, and pass a pony culture exam. She was passed the first one with flying colors, socially she could carry a conversation, but with the culture exam she barely squeaked by.

Once she calmed down a little, she looked up and her eyes scanned the small interrogation room. The only light source was coming from a lone covered bulb that hung from ceiling. The entire room was covered in a shiny non-reflective metal, even the table Keelie was chained to was metal. To the right of her was the only door and in front of her was a mirror. She knew that on the other side the mirror was a window, but she couldn’t tell if any pony was on the other side or not. However, she was able to see the herself in a prison uniform.

Her hair covered her right eye and hung down to just below jaw line, her hair was the the same shade of blue as the middle of her uncovered eye, which was just a blue orb that got lighter as it reached the middle. There were a few holes in her hands, in her bottom hooves and her bug like wings. Her slightly curved horn came out of her forehead about 4 inches and her her fangs slightly poked out above her lower lip. The clothes the wore now was a basic orange prison jumpsuit, which bore the numbers 00036 across her left breast, and if she could look behind her, she would see the letters N.C.P.- which stood for Night Court Prisoner- was printed in black across her shoulders.

“Calm down...They don’t know anything. As long as you don’t say anything, they won’t be able to use any information to attack us,” was what Keelie reasoned.

She knew that information was a very powerful weapon, all changelings knew this. The reason they were able to hold their own against the massive resources that Equestria had was that the ponies knew almost nothing about the changelings. Any information would be beneficial to the ponies fight against her kind. The only thing she could do now for her hive was to not let even the most trivial information pass her lips. Whatever happened after that, she could find comfort in the fact that she wasn’t a traitor.

There was no clock in the room, although it may have been a couple of minutes, to her, it felt like days since the ponies chained her to the table and slipped a metal ring around her horn. She tested her magic and not surprising enough, she couldn’t use her magic. She couldn’t even sense the emotions of ponies so long as she had that magic inhibitor.

She used the mirror to study the ring from afar; while she was lost in thought on how the ring might be taken off, the door suddenly opened, which caused her to jump a little. She tried to regain her composure, but quickly failed once she looked at the stallion who just entered.

He was a grayish-blue unicorn, with a similarly grayish-blue mane and tail. His eyes were an icey-blue and his horn was easily 6 inches and came to a sharp point. In his hand he held a yellow folder. He wore a military uniform that even Keelie knew meant that he was one of the two commanders of the royal court guard. His was colored a dark almost navy blue, which meant he was part of the Royal Night Court. Keelie was in an interrogation room with one of the most powerful ponies (second only to the princesses of course) in all of Equestria. This fact, however, was not the reason she was so unsettled. Plastered on his face was the most widest, creepiest smiles she had ever seen, and the fact that his teeth was almost as sharp as hers didn’t help.

He silently made his way to the opposite end of the table, pulled out the chair, and sat down. He laid the folder down in front of him, clasped his hands over, and stared at Keelie. His smile never wavered.

“Hello there,” he said in a honeyed voice, his smile never leaving. “I am Commander Spider. Would you like to save your race?”

Author's Note

Thank you so much for reading the 1st chapter! Please leave a comment and give it a thumbs up if you like it. I don't know when the next chapter will be out, but please be patient and I'll try to get it done as fast as I can. Again, thank you for reading!