***

I sat on the edge of my bed, my fingers twitching and my heart racing. My new cat, M’aiq, sat on the floor giving me his judgiest look. I could feel something coming through the link. I ran my hands over my face to try to calm myself. Something was bothering Flit. She wouldn’t tell me what, and I wasn’t about to start digging around in her head without permission but I could feel it. Something had disturbed her to her core and it was driving me crazy that I couldn’t figure it out. Especially since now, it seemed I was sensitive to the emotions of all creatures around me. Her anxiety tasted bitter and sour, truly a terrible combination. The queens were feeling anxious as well. I’m sure every changeling in the link could feel it. It was driving me crazy and I couldn’t shut it out. I stood up and began pacing around my room. Was it me? Did I do something? Did something happen during my test? I thought I had done well but the atmosphere had been tense since my return. I fell down on my bed and covered my face with my hands.

“Argh,” I groaned. “What the hell is happening?”

The door to my room opened allowing Queen Diptera and Flit to walk in. Diptera showed no outward signs of nervousness but I could feel her growing more anxious as she got closer to me. Flit looked at me with concerned eyes.

“And how are you faring today, Samuel,” Diptera’s voice filled the room like music.

I sat up in the bed and folded my hands together. “I think you already know, your majesty.”

“You’re right, of course,” Diptera smiled, as gently as her fangs would allow. “But it’s good for you to vocalize your feelings. It helps you to understand them.”

“Fine,” I sighed. “I’m freaked out. Something is really wrong and no one will tell me what’s going on. And I’m pretty sure everyone else’s feelings are only making it worse.”

“Mother..” Flit whispered.

“Yes, well we have some concerns about your latest batch of spells,” Diptera said.

“Which one,” I asked. “I’ve been working on a few.”

“The Sauron series,” the queen stated simply. “Put simply, these spells are terrifying and we, I, want to make sure that you understand the full ramifications of using them are.”

“That’s what this is about,” I finally understood.

“These spells should be classified as dark magic,” Flit explained.

“Should be?”

“Dark magic has a cost attached to it,” she clarified. “It uses payment for spells that do things considered unnatural.”

“Like subverting the free will of another creature, perhaps,” I guessed.

“Exactly,” Flit walked over to me and put her hoof on my hands. She grimaced as her magic was pulled from her body. “But the thing is, your spells appear to have no cost at all.”

“Isn’t that a good thing,” I asked. “It means they’re not dark magic, right?”

“Actually no,” Diptera replied. “We can’t categorize your spells at all. We have no idea what kind of magic you’re using. We can’t even categorize your magic as runic magic.”

“What do you mean?”

“At some point, you started replacing our runes with these new symbols,” Diptera handed me one of my spells and I really read it for the first time. I had mixed their runes with electronic symbols, english characters, and numbers. “We can’t make heads or tails of this anymore. We have no idea what it takes to make these spells function, how you have assembled them, or what they do, without your guidance. For all your brilliance, you are still new to magic. They could have a hidden cost you can’t predict.”

“I understand that,” I said. “So what do you want me to do? These are the only tools I have.”

“And we understand that,” Diptera assured me. “We do not wish for you to stop altogether. You have our explicit blessing to use any spell you deem necessary. We just ask that you please take into consideration our warning.”

“I promise to only use the Sauron series if there is no other option,” with those words a weight lifted from the hive. I could feel all of the anxiety fading away and relief taking its place.

Diptera smiled and Flit sat next to me on the bed. My twitching fingers finally found peace and my heart settled.

“That is good to hear,” Diptera said. “However that was only part of the reason we came to see you today.” I raised an eyebrow. “We are sending you out on your first mission.” She teleported a map into the room. “We are here,” she marked our location with an X. “There are six towers total: one in the Crystal Empire, one in Fillydelphia, one under Cloudsdale, one in Vanhoover, one in Ponyville, and the master control tower in Canterlot. Together the six towers form a matrix that amplifies the master control. Their influence stretches over the entire world. You are going to destroy them all. You will start with the tower in Appleloosa. Of all the towers it is is the closest, and with its destruction, the other queens and I will have the ability to lay eggs again.” The queen walked up to me until we were nose to nose. “This is our last effort. If you fail, our race will cease.” She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead to mine, angling her horn so she didn’t impale me. “We have given you everything we have,” she whispered softly. “If it is not enough, please tell me now. I would cut my horn from my head and give it to you if I thought it would help.”

I grasped her face in my hands gently and she opened her eyes. “I will not fail you,” I declared resolutely. “I will not let your children die nor will I let your fellow queen’s sacrifice be in vain.”

Her eyes watered as she pulled away from me. “Then we have no time to waste.”

***

In the dark of night the tower shined like a beacon. It pulsed with violet light and magic rolled off of it in waves. I shivered in fear as the full realization of what I had to do hit me.

“That shit is terrifying, even from here,” I whispered to my companion, an infiltrator named Virt.

She nodded in agreement. “This is as close as I can get without being detected.”

“So I’m alone from here on,” I stated.

She smiled at me. “Changelings are never alone.”

‘I’m ready,’ I thought through the link.

‘And we are here,’ her voice responded.

For the first time in my life, I was glad to be hearing voices in my head. I allowed myself to become invisible, feeling the tingle of magic flowing through me. I silenced myself as well which was a bit disorienting. I couldn’t hear or see myself yet I knew exactly where my body was. I walked quite a distance before I even made it into the town. There were way more pony soldiers in this town than the one I had first visited and it unnerved me a bit. I pushed forward skirting their patrols and easily blew past them. I saw a few ponies get a little dizzy as I got close. I had almost forgotten about my magic vacuum.

Keeping my distance from then on, I made my way into the town proper. Inside the town limits, there was not a soldier to be seen. Only drunk ponies in cowboy hats enjoying the night. Not something I ever saw myself saying. The only soldiers I saw were on the edge of the town on the path leading to the tower. I walked as calmly as I could through the town but something caught my eye. A young earth pony was being cornered by two burly pegasus.

‘What are you doing?’ Virt asked.

‘This’ll only take a second,’ I replied.

‘No! You’ll give yourself away!’

‘No, I won’t.’

I crept closer to the three ponies.

“C’mon just a quickie,” one of the pegasus slurred. “We can forget about Slipstream over there and have fun with just the two of us.”

“Buck you Wild Wind,” his equally drunk friend spat. “Me and Grapevine here will do just fine without you!”

“Gentlestallions please,” Grapevine said while backing up. “Surely you would rather just go home and sleep this off.”

“Not going to be anything gentle about it,” Wild Wind wiggled his eyebrows.

“C’mon,” Slipstream smirked. “I think maybe she wants both of us.”

“I’m up for that,” Wild Wind added. “Let’s do it Grapevine! Sharing is caring!”

“This couldn’t possibly get worse,” Grapevine muttered as she backed into a wall.

‘There are like a thousand soldiers in this town,’ I thought. ‘How is this even happening?’

‘It’s not something they’re looking for,’ Virt responded. ‘Changelings are the true danger according to the pony princesses. They believe only we are capable of evil and malice. This kind of thing is fairly common, especially in towns further away from their capital. You have a mission to complete, it’s best that best that you get on with it.’

‘And just leave her?’

‘It’s unfortunate but there are more important things that must be done.’

I started to turn away. It wasn’t any of my business what happened to ponies. They were the ones trying to exterminate a sapient species. So they deserved all the crap they got, right? I wanted to believe that, I really did. I tried to put it out of my mind and focus on the mission. But I’ll be the first to admit: I’m soft. I, for better or worse, have a bleeding heart. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s one of the reasons the spell chose me. Before I could second guess myself, I snuck up behind the two stallions and grabbed the back of their heads. They could only grunt in surprise before they collapsed from magic loss. I let go and the mare gasped. For a second, I could swear that she was looking me in my eyes.

“What are you?” she asked, voice full of fear.

My heart started racing as I saw my hand. Draining magic like that cancelled out my spell! I looked wide-eyed at the earth pony as I turned invisible again. I starting walking away, and heard my footsteps. Cursing inwardly, I used my silence spell as well.

“Thank you,” Grapevine shouted after me. “Whatever you are.”

‘...You exposed yourself unnecessarily and delayed the mission,’ Virt’s voice came through the link.

‘It was kind of worth it though,’ I replied, weaving through patrols.

‘How was that possibly worth it?’

‘I saved a mare and found a flaw in my spells,’ I thought. ‘That has to count for something, right?’

‘When the tower is disabled and the guards investigate, do you think that mare is going to talk about the mysterious creature that appeared out of nowhere and vanished into thin air? Will it still be worth it then?’

I couldn’t think of a response. She was right. I made my way to the tower in silence. Virt had said her piece and had nothing more to add. The soldiers weren’t difficult to avoid; they walked along predetermined paths and didn’t deviate at all. Eventually the tower was close enough for me to a good look at it. It was a lot taller up close, easily 10 stories tall. It was made of white stones and had four gold lines running up each side. Looking closer, I saw shimmering runes etched into the gold.

‘This thing is one giant spell,’ I thought in awe/terror. ‘What would it take to even think this up, let alone actually build it?’

‘The princess of friendship is a genius,’ Virt grudgingly acknowledged. ‘And Equestria is not short of resources. How many guards?’

‘I see two soldier ponies at the entrance and two more that circle around every few minutes,’ I responded. ‘How should I handle this?’

‘My guess is these guards are only here to stall intruders and alert the rest of them,’ Virt said. ‘You need to take all four out at once or get past them completely unnoticed. Can you teleport?’

‘No,’ I thought. ‘I haven’t quite figured it out yet.’

‘Then this is going to be very difficult.’

I was stumped for a moment. Then an idea hit me. ‘This’ll only take a second.’ I searched a few of the compartments on my utility belt before I found what I was looking for. I pulled the runed gem out and waited. The patrol eventually walked in front of the entrance putting all of my targets in one easy to hit area. I charged and threw the gem. In landed in the middle of the soldiers and let loose its magic. A stream of electricity engulfed the poor ponies seizing up their muscles and rendering them unconscious.

“Spread out,” I laughed as I collected the depleted gem. “Or one grenade will kill you all.”

‘Military advice from your homeworld?’ Virt asked.

‘Maybe,’ I thought, walking up the stairs in the tower. ‘My dad would say it and then throw balled up socks at me and my friends.’ I smiled. ‘It was his way of saying go outside.’

‘Humans are weird,’ Virt thought.

“Yeah,” I accidently said out loud. I looked around but there was no one else around. “Oops.” I facepalmed as I realized I did it again. Sighing heavily, I made my way to the top of the tower.

“That’s….incredible,” I couldn’t help but stare at the tower’s mechanism. A series of six orb shaped gems floated around a larger orb in the center. All of the smaller orbs had rings of gold floating around them like the rings of a planet. Each ring was inscribed with runes that glowed a different intervals. As I walked around, I noticed the floor and walls were covered in runes as well.

‘Enough gaping, destroy that thing already,’ Virt ordered.

“Give me a minute,” I said. “I’m trying to….” A runic formula caught my eye. “This thing is pulling magic from the ground like a well…” I followed the formula . “And using it to power thousands of smaller spells…” The formula swirled around the room and centered on the large orb in the center of the room. “Which are then broadcast as one large spell over a wide but limited area. When the towers are activated together, their range grows exponentially.”

‘How does this help you destroy it,’ Virt asked, getting impatient.

“Because this whole tower is a house of cards,” I let my spells end and placed a heat gem on a particular rune. I juiced it up as much as I could and let it work. The ground started to glow red hot and the gem melted a hole through the floor. “And that takes care of that,” I said activating my stealth spells.

‘The tower still stands,’ Virt shouted in my head. ‘Your mission is unfinished!’

‘No, I’m done here,’ I jumped out of the tower and started running as fast as I could. My thundering footsteps caught the attention of the soldiers who ran towards the tower.

‘What are you doing!?!’

Ignoring Virt’s increasingly angry voice, I ran through the town and back towards our hiding place. As I was exiting the other side of the town, a tremor shook the ground, almost throwing me off my feet. I powered through it, pushing myself as hard as I could. Sliding underneath the bush with Virt I turned to watch the show.

“Why did you abandon your mission?” Virt whisper shouted.

“Just watch,” I answered.

Reluctantly, she turned her head to the tower just as it was getting good. Pink sparks fired out of the top of the tower. Instead of pulsing outward, magic pulses moved toward the tower. The tower kept getting brighter until it was too much to look at directly. A deafening boom echoed across the land and a bright flash drowned the area in violet light. It took me a minute to gather my bearings and by the time I recovered, it was over. All that remained of the tower (and the surrounding landscape) was a smoldering crater. Other than a few buildings on the edge, the town was unharmed. Virt’s mouth hung open in shock.

“Not bad, right?” I smirked.

“How did you do that,” she finally managed to say.

“There were no safeguards against a buildup of magic in the part that collected the spells,” I explained. “ I just cut it off and let nature take care of the rest. It would seem the genius princess didn’t think anybody would tamper with her work.”

“How did you know that an explosion of that magnitude wouldn’t destroy the town?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, wow,” I scratched the back of my head. “Really dodged a bullet there.”

“You didn’t even think about the town, did you,” Virt said. “You also didn’t think about all the guards that ran to the tower and got caught in the explosion did you?”

“Oh shit,” I said worriedly. “Do you think they-”

“They’re all dead,” Virt said flatly.

“All of them?”

“There’s no way any of them survived that.”

I sat in silence with Virt, trying to come to grips with the fact that I was now a mass murderer. She moved like she wanted to give me hug but stopped, remembering what happens to magical things that touch me.

“We should go back to the hive,” she said softly.

I got up and shook the dirt off my pants. We started the trek back to the hive in more silence. Looking up at the beautiful night sky, I sighed. “I need a shower.”

Author's Note

Less than a year! Bonus points for me!