The Everfree Campaign

Untold months later...

Things were not going well for those few Changelings that remained. Harvesting love from the ponies in settlements near their base in the Everfree Forest had become impossible for fear of discovery, and they had to resort to ripping open the minds of whatever wild animals were unlucky enough to stray near to or, more often, attack their camp. Tearing the love from another being in such a way was a hard job, but it was their only choice. These attacks had reduced their numbers from hundreds to little more than a few dozen. A zebra who lived nearby had agreed to give them maps and medical supplies, but only if she could harvest the ivory from their dead. Some of the other Changelings protested, but Overwatch didn’t mind. The way he saw it, it was more important to maintain the survival of the living than the sanctity of the dead, but of course there were some who simply didn’t see it that way. Most of the Infiltrators had taken a new form and run off to nearby Pony towns, hoping to start new lives. Of course, Ponies were herd creatures at heart, so for the most part this worked. He would have been thankful for this, but these Infiltrators had betrayed him and renounced his command, so they never reported back with anything they had learned. And the Infiltrators still loyal to him couldn’t risk infiltrating these settlements, as the traitors would often expose them to gain the trust of the Equines. Luckily, though, they were still kind enough not to reveal where his forces were camped, or that they even existed.

That left Overwatch with five other Elites, about three dozen Soldiers, around 30-40 Swarmers, and eight of the 53 surviving Infiltrators.

And all of them were surrounded by Timberwolves.

He exhaled calmly. The Queen was dead, and so protection of the Changeling race had fallen to him. He had to defend them. He and his troops had fended off assaults by these creatures before, but only from the safety of the camp walls. This abnormally large pack had somehow managed to knock over some of these walls and make their way in before the guards even had a chance to properly respond. And now, once again, he had troops to direct.

“Flame spells!” He called out to those who could hear him. “Wide burst!”

As he said this, he examined what troops he had at his disposal, as he had done so many times before. The five Elites who had fought with him on that fateful day in Canterlot were already in the middle of the pack, smashing at what appeared to be the Alpha Male. The rest were on their way to the small hive in the middle of the camp to grab some Fire Nectar so as to not get accidentally set on fire themselves. The entire camp was already a mess of Timberwolves and Changelings, so there was really no strategy to be had. All he could do was enter combat himself. He superheated his armor, and had just body-checked his first Timberwolf into flaming little splinters when all the Timberwolf pieces not on fire began to coagulate in the center of the camp. As he looked into the eyes of the beast being assembled, he felt something he had not have any experience with since he was but a hatchling.

Fear.

Suddenly, a small green-and-yellow object fell out of the sky and onto the Timberwolf’s neck, shattering it.

The previous day...

“Listen, Lightning Dust, I don’t want to expel you. You’ve shown great promise as a flyer and if not for the paperwork required by both of us for you to skip the Academy you would already be a cadet in the Wonderbolts.” Spitfire stated. She had just called her into her office right after Rainbow Dash and her little gang had left.

“Wha- then WHY did you tear off my badge!?!” Lightning Dust half-sobbed, half-demanded.

“That was just a pretense. Those ponies are held in very high esteem by the Princesses, so I hope you can understand that I couldn’t go against them directly before Celestia or Luna put in their two bits on the whole situation.” Spitfire said calmly.

“Then… what do we do now?” Lightning Dust asked, her voice wavering between fear and hope. “My entire life up to this point has been preparing to join you. Flight training is all I know. I don’t even know if I could even find a job anywhere else.”

“I know.” Spitfire sighed. “All we can do now is sit back and wait for this to blow over. If the Princesses don’t order me not to, I can easily just accept you in next year. How does that sound?”

“Really?” Lightning Dust sniffed.

“All we can do is hope. Dismissed.”

Lightning Dust walked out of the room. Tears still hadn’t stopped streaking down her face, but she didn’t care.

She was still going to be a Wonderbolt.

Now she just had to explain to her family why she was home early.

Lightning Dust walked in the door, having found her way back home by the last light of the evening sun. Her parents and little brother were right there, having some sort of argument.

“I’m home.” she mumbled.

Her little brother, Cloudrunner, was the first to notice her.

“Ah, speak of the oh-so-perfect little-”

“Lightning Dust.” her father interrupted. “Why are you back? Did you graduate already?”

“Of course she did, she’s just that  perfect!” Cloudrunner said, loading that last word with all the venom he could muster. As usual, the parents of the two paid no attention to what he said.

“Oh, Lightning Dust!” her mother said, hugging her tightly. “I’m so proud!”

Lightning Dust broke up the hug as soon as she could. “Mom, I didn’t- I got kicked out.”

Her parents both gasped, but in the case of her father it was more of a sigh. Cloudrunner just sat where he was, the maniacal grin on his face promising that she would never hear the end of this.

“Explain.” her father said, anger slowly rising in his voice.

“There were some trespassers, and- they got in the way. They were also the princesses’ special favorites, so...”

“You had to have noticed them.” her father said, the anger clearly reaching dangerous levels.

“I didn’t! I really didn’t!” Lightning Dust shouted, tears beginning to well in her eyes once more. “They came up through a cloud bank directly under-”

“You know, Lightning Dust, we used to brag to our friends about you.” her mother interjected with the same anger as her father. “And now… I refuse to let our good name be tarnished by allowing you to stay here anymore.”

“Wha-”

“Get out of this house, Lightning Dust.”

With her head bent and her tail between her legs, Lightning Dust wearily complied.

Cloudrunner’s grin briefly disappeared as he asked his question.

“Does this mean you two love me now?”

“Shut up and go back in the basement, Cloudrunner.”

The next morning, Lightning Dust found herself in the corner of one of the many bars on the Cloudsdale Strip directly next to the alley she slept in, constantly ordering more Cloudtart Whiskeys. Even though she had previously always had at least one stallion try to flirt with her when she came here, nopony made any effort to approach her, since they could see she was in too foul of a mood for them to emerge unscathed.

She was also trying to think of what she would do next. Even if she could survive for a year begging for money on the streets, who would respect her when she became a Wonderbolt? Her family certainly wouldn’t, not unless she got really famous and they wanted to mooch off of her. There was only one thing left to do, and she had already started doing it.

As an evolutionary reaction against drunk flying, pegasi had lost the capability to fly under those conditions. As a direct result, if Lightning Dust consumed enough alcohol, she would not be able to use her wings for easily the next few hours. Now to see if she was there yet.

She tried to open her wings, and they didn’t open. That was good, but she ordered another whiskey just in case she was simply too drunk to realize her wings were open.

She gulped down the last of her favorite drink and wandered out of the bar.

And then to the edge of the cloud she was on.

At least she got to die in a semblance of something she loved to do.