Chapters Pain.
Pain was the first thing I was aware of. There was nothing else. There was nothing but darkness around me and when I tried to move, I couldn't. But I could feel pain in my arms, my back, my chest, and my head. It engulfed my body and made me want to cry out. I discovered that I was unable to make a sound. No one would hear my screams of pain and come for me; I couldn't scream. I lay there restrained in the darkness waiting for some unspeakable horror to befall me. The pain in my head was getting worse. It was as if a thousand voices were all shouting in my head at once. The noise was growing and growing.
Then all at once, the voices stopped. The pain in my head went down from a searing pain to a dull throb. I was thankful to whatever made it stop. I tried moving again and was surprised. It was drowned out by pain earlier but I realised I was blinking my eyes . I tried turning my head but it was also restrained. I reached out with my fingers in the darkness for something, anything. I discovered that whatever I was laying on, it was elevated. I felt a ridge with my fingers. That got me thinking, am I strapped to some sort of table? What the hell was going on?
All of a sudden blinding light illuminated the room. I closed my eyes to block out this new pain. While I was recovering I heard the clacking of high heels on a hard floor. And voices! Maybe they could tell me what was happening.
“How is he?” a feminine voice asked.
“It is rejecting our modifications,” replied a male voice with some sort of clicking sound.
“He, my child, is rejecting our modifications,” the female said. “We must remember this is a sapient creature.”
“I’m sorry, your Highness,” the male said. “As I was saying, for the majority of our modifications his body seems to be accepting them. For some of the others the physical rejection of them is getting violent. I imagine that if could be awake right now he would be in great pain.”
‘Modifications?’ I thought ‘What the fuck? Am I in the human centipede or some shit?’ Panic spread through my body as I struggled against my restraints. I tried to open my eyes but the light was still too bright. The two got closer and I could feel them standing over my body.
“Oh no,” the male screamed. “Is he awake?”
“I want him in a pod immediately,” the female ordered. “And make sure that there’s enough sedative to keep him asleep until the process is finished this time!”
I tried to make a sound, any sound that could get their attention but the only sound that escaped my lips was a groan.
The female leaned down next to my head. I once again tried to open my eyes but the light was still too bright. She leaned in close until I could feel her breath on my ear.
“I’m sorry for what we’ve done to you,” she had a catch in her throat. “But we are out of options.” I felt a sharp pain in my arm and then my consciousness started fading. Her voice grew more distant. “I promise you, I will explain everything.”
***
I don’t know how long it was before I awoke again. I felt sluggish when I woke up but I also felt weightless.I experimented with my arms. I could move around! I tried walking but there was no ground under me. My eyes shot open and I immediately regretted it. I was in some kind of fluid. I closed them expecting some kind of stinging sensation but it never came. Now that I was thinking about it, I didn’t feel any pain at all. Strange. I opened my eyes again and everything slowly came into focus. I was in some sort of tank floating in a green liquid. There was nothing feeding air into my lungs but I could still breathe. The room I was being kept in was empty although there were signs that others had been here recently. My vision flashed green and I began to see different colored phantom images walking around the room. I tried to back up and hit the back of the tank. The phantoms faded with another green flash. ‘I’ve got to get out of here!’ I thought.
I leaned my back against the back of the tank and curled up my legs. I put my hand back and kicked forward with all of my strength. The front of the tank shattered draining it. Without the liquid keeping me up I fell to the bottom. I shoved my fists against the already weakened parts making the hole bigger and cutting up my arms. I climbed out and fell to the ground. I felt exhausted but I forced myself to stand up. I inspected my body. Besides the cuts that were up and down my arms I had a few on my legs. I had large scars on my forearms and up and down my sternum. My body was much thinner than I remembered though. I still had no idea how long I had been here, where here was, who these people were, or what they wanted with me. I was scared out of my mind and I began hyperventilating as I fully realized the gravity of the situation. I fell to my hands and knees and resisted the urge to curl up in a ball.
‘Focus,’ a voice in my head said. ‘Focus and breathe.’
I started regulating my breathing and was able to calm myself down. I needed a singular goal to get me through this. First, I would escape this place. Then, I could worry about everything else. I picked myself and dusted myself off. I walked to the door and took a deep breath. I had no idea what would be on the other side. I would have to be ready for anything. I looked for any kind of door knob or panel but as soon as I touched the door it opened. I poked my head out into the hallway and looked around. No one was around so I tiptoed out.
“Where do I go now,” I whispered to myself.
‘Go left,” the voice said again. It was so familiar but I couldn’t place it. I didn’t want to take advice from voices in my head but I had no other leads to go on. Reluctantly, I turned left and started walking. As I crept through the building, I noticed a few things. One, the design of this place was really alien. It was very reminiscent of a dark green alien hive.
“I swear if I run into a xenomorph,” I muttered under my breath.
The other thing I noticed was my wounds were gone. I don’t know when they disappeared but at some point all of my cuts had healed. It didn’t matter why. I added it to the list of things to worry about later. The voice kept directing me through the creepy halls until I finally came across someone. As soon as I saw them I hid behind a wall. I was terrified all over again. I was definitely in some sort of alien compound. Instead of humans there were giant 4-legged bugs running the place! They were all black with wings and horns and fangs. They were terrifying with their glowing blue eyes. I started panicking again. I sat down and held my head in my hands.
“Ok magic voice,” I thought. “You got me this far. Don’t abandon me now.”
‘Focus on the enemy,’ the voice said. ‘What are they?’
How was I supposed to know that? I’d never seen these things before in my life! But I wasn’t about to start ignoring the voice now. I peeked around the corner and got a better look at the creatures. There were three of them. I studied every inch of them and tried to match them up with anything I already knew about. Suddenly information poured into my mind.
“They’re called changelings. They’re shapeshifters that feed on emotion,” I said surprising myself.
‘They stand between you and freedom,’ the voice said. ‘You must get past them to advance.’
The voice was right. No bug-things were going to stand in my way. Now what did I know about changelings? More information flowed into my mind. They feed on emotion. They passively feed on ambient emotion but also take in emotion directed at them. And some emotions are poison. I started thinking about how I was taken from my home and experimented on. I could feel rage and hatred welling up inside me. I now had something to unleash these feelings on. I jumped out from behind the wall and focused all of my newfound rage on the changelings. They looked at me and before they had time to respond, they started hacking up black bile. The changelings fell to the ground spewing black ooze all over the floor. I had mixed feelings about what I just did. While I didn’t have much sympathy for the creatures that kidnapped me, that looked like a horrible way to go.
‘Keep moving,’ the voice urged me on. ‘and be careful. Changelings are mentally linked together. They’ll be looking for you now.’
I pushed forward through my regret and fear. If the voice was going to lead me out of here, I was going to do everything it told me. It was weird; I was definitely feeling more panicky than usual. I didn’t remember ever having a panic attack before. In fact now that I was thinking about it, I didn’t remember anything at all. I fell to my knees and started hyperventilating again. Who was I? Why couldn’t I remember anything about myself?
‘Get a hold of yourself,” the voice commanded. ‘Breathe. Breathe and concentrate on yourself.’
I let the voice calm me down. I focused on my hands and took slow, steady breaths. “I’m…… Sam!,” I said to myself, my name finally coming back to me. After I remembered my name more information about myself flowed into my mind. “I’m 22. I’m an engineer. I live in…… Maryland. I should be thicker than I am right now. I have two siblings and….”
‘Enough,’ the voice said. ‘You are wasting time. It’s time move on. Every second you waste here brings you closer to being recaptured.’
The fallen changelings had stopped spew black ooze out of their mouths and had started breathing steadily. It appeared they weren’t dead after all. It was definitely time to move on. I stepped over their bodies and moved quickly.
‘Stop,’ the voice told me and I froze. ‘Focus on your senses and locate your enemies.’
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. The sounds around me intensified. It freaked me out and I lost my concentration.
“What the fuck was that?” I whisper-shouted.
‘You sharpened your senses,’ the voice said. ‘Try it again.’
I focused on regulating my breathing. In and out. Breathe in, breathe out. My vision started turning black. I could still see but everything took on a dark color. I desperately tried to maintain my calm. I looked around for anything that would stand out. I saw more of those monsters, those changelings, further down the path. Instead of seeing them as I normally would, they appeared to me as outlines each with a bright color. Some shared a color; most of them were yellow. Fear. I instinctively recognized the colors and what they meant. These were their emotions! I could see their emotions!
‘This is the special sense gifted to the changelings as part of their evolution,’ the voice told me. ‘This is how they detect emotion for consumption. It can help them find their prey even when they hide. Now use it to escape.’
With this special vision, even with the changelings looking for me, I could still keep the element of surprise and plan my attacks. As long as I could remain calm, anyway.
‘Be careful,’ the voiced advised. ‘The next set of changelings are armed.’
I crept along the wall, keeping my emotion sight on by keeping my breathing steady. How was I going to beat them? I could overpower them with a concentration of negative emotion like I did before.
‘That will not work a second time,’ the voice said. ‘The changelings you used that on before have shared that information through the link. The next time you run into changelings they will be able to defend against it.’
Well that sucked. What was I supposed to do? Fight armed enemies with my fists? I’d be shot before I even got close.
‘You will not,’ the voice said. ‘Changelings do not carry ranged weapons. All of the enemies ahead are carrying swords.’
Great. Just great. I’ve always wanted to be sashimi. I smiled humorlessly at my dark joke. It appeared finding a sense of humor would keep me from having another panic attack. Whatever works. The voice seemed confident that I could win against swords with my bare hands and it hadn’t led me astray so far. I stood around the corner about to face the changelings. There were four of them and they all had swords at their side. If I focused on them…. More information came into my mind. The weak spot on a changeling’s body was…. at the base of the skull where the head connects to the neck. I could maybe get one of them by surprise. A plan started forming in my mind. If I can knock out one, I can take its sword and use that to defend myself against the others. If I attack physically with the sword and mentally with emotion, it should give me the advantage. Of course the glaring flaw in my plan was I’d never swung a sword in my life and I was going up against, I’m assuming, trained soldier/guard things. Nope. Can’t think about stuff like that or I’ll lose my nerve. I took a deep breath and jumped out of my cover.
I charged at the nearest changeling and punched it in the back of the head. I felt the impact all the way up my arm. I hadn’t taken into account their natural body armor. I didn’t knock it out but I did manage to stun it. I quickly grabbed its sword while it was stunned. It wasn’t that long; in fact it was just longer than my forearm and hand. It looked incredibly sharp and was pure black with a simple design. I jammed the sword into the back of the dazed changeling as it started regaining its senses. Its wings sprung out as it hissed in pain and it slumped to the ground. I pulled the sword out of the body and held it up. The other three changelings all had their swords…. Holy shit they were floating in the air! The changelings all hissed and bared their fangs at me as their swords floated next to them. I could smell something in the air. My mind immediately recognized the smell as fear. They were afraid of me? The monsters with hardened skin, fangs, and floating swords were afraid of me? Nothing about this situation made any sense!
Ignoring my loosening grip on my sanity, I lunged forward at the one of the changelings with my sword. I was easily parried to the side and received a kick to my side. Getting back into a fighting stance, I got ready just as one of them lunged at me. I blocked their sword with my own and grabbed the changeling by the throat. I lifted it off the ground and threw it against the wall. I froze in place. I was never that strong. And these things came up to my chest. Ignore it! Just use it and keep going I told myself. Shaking off my surprise I could see I wasn't the only one caught off-guard by my newfound strength. The two remaining changelings looked at each other before rushing at me. I tried swiping with my sword but one of them blocked my attack while the other knocked the sword out of my hand. Both of them kicked me into the wall. It didn’t matter how strong I was if they could just cut me to ribbons. They advanced swords held high. I put my arms up and closed my eyes. I felt the impact on my arms. Then I felt impact again. And again. And again. I opened my eyes to find out what was happening and I was stunned. My arms had turned pitch black. I had to wiggle my fingers to make sure they were still mine.The changelings were hacking away at my arms unsuccessfully. Whatever this black stuff was, it was protecting me. I wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste.
I grabbed the blades of the swords and pulled them out of the air. They tried to bite me with their fangs but couldn’t penetrate. Taking the initiative I smacked them both against the wall. Their limp bodies fell from my arms. The color returned to normal.
“Hey, voice!” I nearly yelled. “What the hell just happened?”
‘You just defeated four sword wielding changelings with your bare hands,’ the voice said.
“I know that,” I growled. “I mean all that other weird stuff.”
‘I would advise you keep moving as I explain it to you.’
I grumbled at the voice and walked over to the changelings. I unstrapped two their sheathes from their bodies and tied them on my waist. I then picked up two of the swords and continued down the hallway.
‘The strength you exhibited was a result of the magic coursing through your system as well as the fact that you are much denser than the beings of this world. That, however, is a double edged sword. As your body is much stronger here than on your previous world, it still requires the same amount of oxygen. Since the air here is less dense than you are used to, your body is reacting as if the air is running out, hence the panic attacks.’
I stopped moving and stare blankly ahead.
‘Why have you stopped?’
“I’m on another world?” I dropped to my knees and everything started spinning around me as my head hit the ground.
‘Do not despair. You must continue!’ the voice urged me on. But I wasn’t listening. I was too busy thinking about what that meant.
“I’ll never see my family again,” I whispered. “I’ll never see my girlfriend, any of my friends or anything ever again.”
‘Do not spiral out of control!’ the voice demanded my attention. ‘If you give up now, you will definitely never see them again!’
“What’s the point of fighting?” I said despondently. “Even if I get out of here, I’m on a different planet! There’s nowhere for me to go.”
‘So you would allow yourself to be captured or killed? Is that really who you are? Someone who quits when they can’t find a solution?’
No, no that’s not me. I’m not a quitter. I’m… an engineer! My occupation of choice is problem solver. When confronted with insurmountable riddle, I always find the answer! I shakily stood up. I may be trapped on another world but if there’s a way here, there’s a way back.
‘That’s more like it,’ the voice said. ‘There is hope for your return. The spell that brought you here can be used to send you back.’
That was another thing that shook me to my core. “Magic is real? Is that how those swords were levitating?”
‘Yes, it was a simple telekinetic spell.’
“You said there was magic coursing through my body right? Can I use it?”
‘You can.’
“In the same way they were? Can I use magic spells?”
‘You can.’
That was great. Another tool added to my toolbox. “One last question: does that telekinesis require any kind of prep like an incantation or something?”
‘It does not.’
Perfect. I concentrated on myself and my senses. If the voice was correct, then I should be able to use magic freely. Just like the changelings. I tried imagining one of the swords being pulled from the sheathe. To my surprise my hand was engulfed in green flames along with the sword as it clumsily hovered in front of me. I wasn’t going to be performing surgery but it was going to be very useful. The flames gave me another idea though. I put the sword away and focused on the flames. I aimed my hand at the wall and imagined launching a fireball from my hand. A bright green fireball flew from my hand and impacted the wall with a blinding flash of light. After the light faded, I inspected the wall. There were no scorch marks and the wall was lukewarm at best. So I wasn’t going to be burning anything but at least now I had a distraction.
I ran down the hallways with a newfound sense of purpose. I used my emotion vision to keep track of the changelings as they moved to intercept me. The voice guided me through, letting me know when any enemies I might have missed were attacking. Whenever I encountered a group of changelings, my body would armor itself automatically. Now that I knew I could win, I made quick work of any I came across. My strength was too much for them and I could feel myself learning how to use a sword every time I fought.
‘The last fight is coming up,’ the voice said. ‘The changelings are there in force and they are ready for all of your tricks.’
“Not all of them,” I said to myself. I viewed the room with my emotion vision. There had to be at least fifty changelings in a very large room, all guarding an enormous door. That had to be the way out! This was it. Just this last fight and then I was free. I steeled myself and took a deep breath. I stuck my hand out from around the corner and fired one of my fireballs into the center of the room. I heard it detonate and I rushed out into fray.
While the majority of the changelings were incapacitated I swung my swords wildly watching their greenish blue blood fly everywhere. My body armored itself and I was pitch black. The blinded changelings recovered and rushed at me. I tried to catch them with my sword but I was still too inexperienced. Their quick maneuvers knocked my swords from my hands. I starting throwing wild punches and landed enough hits to make them back off. They came at me in a more coordinated manner and I rushed blindly at them. I charged up another fireball and let it loose I was eye to eye with the changeling. The impact knocked me off my feet but I was quick to recover. The remaining changelings weren’t so lucky. I saw my swords and pulled them into my hands. While the monsters were recovering, I hacked away at them. Their exoskeletons split apart and their cries of pain filled the room. By the time I was finished I was drenched in changeling blood and dead tired.
I dropped the swords and hobbled over to the door. With the last of my strength I jammed my hands into the solid metal. I pulled with all my might and the door creaked and moaned. I yelled out and yanked and the door finally came free of its hinges. Taking one last look back at the changelings I scanned them with my emotion vision. They were a strange mix of happiness, pain, and contentment. I switched to normal vision and walked through the doorway.
I walked through a dark tunnel towards the light at the end of the tunnel excited and tired. I had to grapple with the fact that I’m a murderer now and I just fought a battle… and won. No, I would only make myself crazy thinking about it. Once I got out of here I could try to come to grips with everything that happened. For now, escaping needed to be my only objective. My pace got quicker the closer I got to the light. It was so bright and so inviting. I felt a stupid smile on my face as I finally ran out of the tunnel.
My smile faded as I saw what was before me. Hundreds of changelings buzzing around a huge underground city. I fell to my knees as all the hope I had died.
“Don’t feel bad.” The voice! I could hear it! But it wasn’t coming from my head. I slowly turned to find the source. “If it makes you feel any better, you have exceeded all of my expectations.” I felt tears streaming down my face as I came face to face with the voice’s owner. It was a changeling. Larger than any of the other changelings we stood at the same height. It was clearly female and it had a long pale blue tail and mane. She had a crooked horn jutting from her head and a crown that sat behind it. Like all of the other changelings she had fangs and holes in her legs. Wings stretched out of her back and she had a green carapace. She walked closer to me and I lowered my head in defeat.
“Giving up again? What happened to that savage warrior that laid waste to my soldiers?” she gently teased.
I managed to lift my head up to look her in her eyes. They were green and had slit pupils. I moved my mouth to form words but no sound came out.
“You want to know why?” she said. “Very well but first you need to rest. You are our last hope after all. And with all of the time, effort, and sacrifice that went into making you, I would hate to see it all go to waste.”
I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my neck. I looked down to see a changeling biting down from behind me. The world started going dark.
“By the way, little nymph, my name is Chrysalis.” Her voice grew distant. “I want him in a pod and prepped for fine tuning. Make sure his recovery is complete before you start. I don’t want anything happening to him. This was a successful test, wouldn’t you say? Beware ponies, your days are numbered.”
Author's Note
So this is a new story that's been rattling around in my head for a while. Tell me what you think!
“Wakey, wakey!”
A cheerful voice interrupted my slumber. I groggily opened my eyes and looked through the green liquid I was suspended in. After my escape attempt, I had been placed back in the tank. And while I open my eyes and look around, I was incapable of moving any other parts of my body. I also found that my newly acquired magic wasn’t responding to me either. However, I could still communicate. It seemed that whenever changelings were in the room, with the exception of Chrysalis, they could hear my thoughts. Chrysalis could communicate with me whether she was in the room or not. The pink eye and winged changeling speaking to me was Flit. She was currently working on my body, making me into ‘the last hope of the changelings’.
“Are you ready for another day of tests?” Flit asked me.
I rolled my eyes. ‘How long are we going to keep this up? Shouldn’t you be making me do stuff for you?’
“Your body isn’t ready yet,” Flit chuckled. “You still can’t handle the atmosphere yet.”
‘I swear I’m going to get muscular dystrophy in here,’ I thought.
“Don’t worry about that,” Flit said as she adjusted some dials. “The fluid you’re floating in is designed to prevent loss of muscle mass. When you come out, you’ll actually be better than when you went in.”
‘Fantastic. Can you at least tell me how long I’ve been in here?’
Flit hesitated. “I would love to but the queens don't want me to. Telling you could send you into a rage or depressive spiral.”
I blinked. ‘I’ve been here for a really long time, haven’t I?’
Flit turned away. “Yes.”
I mentally sighed. I had pretty much guessed that. Although there was no way to tell, I was pretty sure I’d been in this world for at least several months. Oh well. Worrying about it now wouldn’t do any good.
‘What’s on the schedule for today, Flit’ I asked.
She perked back up. “Today is a special day. I’m going to take your usual readings and measurements and then I’m going to administer a serum that is designed to help you adjust to the atmosphere.”
‘What’s so special about that?’
“Nothing. The special part comes after that. Today we’re going to go over, in detail all of the modifications that were made to your body! Whoa there, calm down!”
My mind was racing. What did they do to me? Memories of fighting with the changelings flashed through my mind. I managed to focus my thoughts onto a single question. ‘Am I still human?’
“Human?” Flit asked as she fiddled with the pod. “Right, your species. Well….” Flit paused momentarily and then resumed her adjustments. “Yes and no. Your body is still mostly human. You just had some changeling parts added.”
‘But it’s not like there’s extra space in my body.’ My heart was trying to race but the liquid was keeping it steady. ‘What did you take out?’
Flit looked at me with a kind smile, “You’re right, there was no extra space.” She flew to the top of the tank and tubes extended into the tank and pierced my neck. “So we had to integrate the changeling parts with your existing biology.” She chuckled, “Now that was a real challenge. Before they blended together, they took up too much space and we couldn’t close the surgical openings. You looked like some sort of body horror victim.”
My eyes opened as wide as they could. ‘What!?’
“Don’t worry,” Flit said as she landed. “Just summoning you here took basically all the resources we had so having you die or be impaired in any way would have been completely unacceptable.” She levitated a quill pen and scribbled on a clipboard. “That should do it. Now we’ll give your body a few days to adjust to the serum and make the changes.”
‘Whatever,’ I thought glumly. ‘I’m stuck in here with no clocks or windows. What should I care; time has no meaning to me.’
“Now, now, you’ve got to keep those spirits high,” Chrysalis said as she walked into the room. “Mental health is just as important as physical health.” Chrysalis tried smiling at me but I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not. Plus her fangs were pretty unnerving. “How is our little science project,” she asked Flit.
“He’s doing very well your highness,” Flit replied as she dropped into a bow. “I think that he should be ready in less than a week.”
Chrysalis clapped her hooves together. “That is good news! Then it is past time we give you an explanation, isn’t it?”
A flash of pink and gray light filled the room, forcing me to close my eyes. When I opened them, I saw two more of the giant changelings standing next to Chrysalis. One with a pink color scheme and one with gray. The pink one stepped forward.
“Allow me to introduce myself,” she said, her voice like wind chimes. “I am Queen Diptera and this is Queen Seta. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”
‘I would bow or something but I can’t seem to move my body at the moment,’ I replied.
“That is quite alright,” Diptera said in her musical voice.
‘So what brings all of you down here to what I can only assume is a secret subterranean lab?’ I asked.
“We’ve decided it’s time that you learned everything,” Chrysalis said. “After all, although you are here against your will, we want you to trust us. We did not do this lightly. Our entire species is on the brink of extinction.”
‘Whoa,’ I thought. ‘Really?’
“Chrysalis speaks the truth,” Diptera confirmed. “What you see before you? We are the last queens, the last mothers of our entire race. When we pass there will be no more changelings.”
‘How did you even get to this point,’ I asked.
Diptera sighed. “As you know, we changelings feed on the emotions of other sentient life. And in order to do this we change our form and hide ourselves. We have done this for as far back as our history goes. At the height of our power we had hundreds of queens and hives all over the world.”
“But all that changed the day our enemy discovered us,” Chrysalis said. “It was my fault. I was trying to get food for my children. I invaded a city in an attempt to gain enough food so that my children would never have to face danger again but I failed. Once our presence was known, they began hunting us down.”
“Entire hives were set alight,” Diptera continued. “They cared not that they killed our innocent children, our innocent hives. They see our race as an affront against nature. They look at us and our way of live and see only evil and corruption. They wish to purge us from existence. We did what we could: we hid and for a time we were safe again.”
“But our enemy was not satisfied,” Chrysalis explained. “They are skilled with magic in a way we will never be and they used this to their advantage. They set up spells that scoured the landscape and lit up like a beacon any time a changeling was found. Then, when even that began losing effectiveness, they started their final campaign to truly kill us all.”
“The towers,” Diptera muttered. “They set up towers that blanketed the land with a certain spell. A spell that would ensure that our species could not continue. The towers have a spell that prevents changeling eggs from developing. They have made us infertile. A final slap in the face as we cease to exist.”
‘Holy shit,’ I was stunned. That was a lot to just drop on somebody. ‘Not to uh.. be insensitive or anything t-to the uh…. genocide of your entire species but um… what does that have to do with me?’
“Yes, this is actually where you come in,” Chrysalis explained. “We have tried striking back against them but they can always see us coming thanks to their detectors. We cannot go to other countries as they have been convinced of our ‘inherent evil’. So our first idea was to seek refuge on another world. But the amount of magic power needed to do so was massive. Even with the three of us combined it wasn’t enough.”
“We needed another plan,” Diptera said. “We needed help. Instead of going to another world, we would summon a creature to ours. We set up a magical array to look across the multiverse for the most successful species of hunters and killers and bring one of them here. It took the magic of four queens but we managed to bring you here.”
‘I just have a few questions,’ my thoughts raced.
“Of course,” Diptera assured me. “We will answer all of them.”
‘Great. First, why me? I’m not a hunter or killer or anything like that,’ I thought. ‘In fact I personally know several more qualified people who both have experience killing and doing covert operations.’
“We are not sure why the spell chose you,” Chrysalis said. “But we are sure that you match all of the search parameters in some way.”
‘What were the parameters,’ I asked.
“Natural killing instinct, compassion for the oppressed, ability to learn and create, speaking a common language, general fitness, adaptability, and strength of will,” Chrysalis responded.
‘Aside from the killing thing, you described, pretty much, most of the people on my planet. Plus, humans are only a real threat with our tools and in groups,’ I thought.
“Maybe so,” Diptera smiled, “but you’re here and they’re not.”
‘Fair point,’ I admitted. ‘Next question: you said it took the magic of four queens to bring me here but earlier you said that you three were all that was left. What happened?’
The queens frowned and shared a look. “The spell was too much,” Chrysalis choked back a sob. “She gave every ounce of magic in her body to ensure that the spell would work and…. magic is a part of every living thing in this world. It is no exaggeration to say that it is our life itself. I lost my mother bringing you here. And even her last wish was for this hive; she gave her body to create the ultimate weapon.”
‘What kind of ultimate weapon,’ I asked. Chrysalis looked at me with a kind smile. ‘Me? That’s where my changeling parts come from?’ She nodded. No pressure, right? ‘For some unimaginable reason, that fact does not fill me with comfort. Next question: what….. new features should I be looking out for?’
Flit clapped her hooves together with glee. “Your highnesses, may I please take this one?”
“You may,” Diptera replied and turned to me. “I don’t think you two were ever formally introduced. This is one of my brightest children, Drone ID K11XVS2DA. K11XVS2DA, this is Sam of Mary’s Land.”
‘K1 what?’ I turned my eyes as far as I could to look at the little changeling. ‘How the hell did you get Flit out of that?’
“It’s my nickname,” she said bashfully. “Anyway! We need to go over your body!”
‘Ready whenever you are,’ I thought.
“So first is your ability to sense emotions, a basic necessity for all changelings. I believe that was the first ability you discovered?” I nodded. “Anything with emotion can be detected. But remember to balance it with your normal senses,” she said with a chuckle, “or you’ll end up walking into walls like the nymphs. Next is your ability to actively use magic. We implanted a queen’s magic core into your chest and two XV drone cores into your arms. It wasn’t enough but we don’t have any more donors.”
‘Hold on, what do mean it wasn’t enough,’ I asked, slightly worried.
“Your body,” Flit picked up a clipboard. “You were brought from a world without magic. You are a magical vacuum that the world is constantly trying to fill. But you have a seemingly bottomless capacity to hold magic and you unconsciously pull from every available source. The cores can’t fill you up and when you tried using spells, you used over 10 times the normal amount of magic. All that to say advanced and maybe even some intermediate spells are beyond you. Sorry. The next-”
‘What do you mean, every available source,’ I asked.
“All living things in this world produce and contain magic,” Flit explained. “When you get near them, their magic gets caught in your vacuum. Observe.” Flit’s horn glowed and a bird appeared in the room. It flew around the room and landed on top of my tank. Then it dropped to the ground, motionless.
‘What the hell just happened?’
“You drained it of magic,” Flit said as she teleported it away.
‘Is it dead?’
“For most living things magic is interwoven with life force,” Flit explained.
‘Did you just kill a bird to prove a point? And why aren’t you all affected?’
“You need to understand how dangerous you can be. The effect is based on proximity to you and amount of magic in a creature,” she said. “Most adult creatures will just feel tired but you could kill nymphs by being around them for too long. The next thing is your skin. We put several implants in you that form strong chitin on your skin. It's only temporary, however, and dissolves when the implants stop producing.”
‘That explains the pitch black skin,’ I thought. ‘How strong is it?’
“Very,” Flit smiled. “They could hack at you with swords for an hour and barely even crack it. Of course you probably could move very far….. But at least you wouldn’t get hurt!”
‘Fantastic,’ I rolled my eyes. ‘That it?’
“You also have changeling venom! One more thing, and I can’t believe you haven’t asked about it yet, your mental link to the hive is a queen link.”
‘Another piece of this mystic queen,’ I mentally sighed. ‘What do I have to look forward to, now?’
“The link is the most sacred part of entire culture and biology,” Diptera stated. “I would appreciate if you would show some respect or at least basic courtesy.”
“She’s right,” Flit said. “The link is with us from birth to death. All of our brothers and sisters are connected to us and our mother. We can share memories, sensory information, and just know that we’re near. It is the essence of being a changeling.. Well that and transforming and eating emotions.”
‘So if all changelings can do this thing, why haven’t I heard anyone other than Chrysalis.’
“You need to accept the link to make it work for you,” Chrysalis said. “You’ve been brushing against it but to truly make use of it’s full potential, you have to accept it in its entirety.”
‘Forgive me but I’m not thrilled with the idea of having a million voices in head all the time,’ I tried to turn my body to look away but nothing happened. ‘If that’s all, we’re done here.’
“Empty the tank,” Chrysalis’ voice was calm but filled with venom.
“Your highness, I don’t think-”
“Empty. The. Tank.”
Flit looked at me apologetically before she moved up to my tank and turned a knob. The liquid slowly drained out and I was lowered to the bottom. I coughed up some of the liquid but was able to stand up. I pushed the tank open and stepped out.
“We have bared everything to you,” Chrysalis spat. “We are dying . Our race is dying . My children are dying .” She walked closer to me. “We sacrificed everything, just to bring you here. We are begging you to save us from extinction. But,’’ she teleported a knife to my feet, “if you won’t help us, then you’ve condemned us to a slow painful death. You might as well pick up that knife and slit our throats. Save us some suffering.”
I reached down and picked up the knife. I looked into her eyes, her tired, sad eyes. She was serious; there was only death in her future and she was giving up.
I spat some of the gel out. “How do I accept the link?”
Chrysalis smiled. “Seta.”
The gray changeling queen walked forward and her jagged horn started glowing. She pressed it against my forehead and I panicked ever so slightly.
‘Relax your mind,’ a new voice spoke in my mind. ‘You have everything you need. Accept the flow; don’t fight it.’
I closed my eyes. I could feel it, like a river in my mind, urging me, pulling me. I wanted to reach out to it. To feel this incorporeal stream with my hand. I pushed my mental fingers into it. It wrapped around me and pulled me in. For a moment, I lost myself in a torrent of thoughts and voices that weren’t mine. I was a drop of water in an ocean, splitting apart and merging into it.
‘Remember yourself,’ Seta’s voiced called out to me. ‘Do not lose your existence. We are individuals that form a whole, not the whole itself.’
I felt myself coming back together, getting stronger. The voices that were once an incoherent mess were a symphony of help and reassurance. My mind was my own and I was me. I opened my eyes and found myself lying on the ground. I stood up and saw that the queens and Flit were waiting patiently for me. The voices were a single quiet whisper at the back of my mind and when I focused on them I could hear the individual conversations. But I became aware of a closer, louder voice.
‘Are you okay,’ Flit asked me over the link.
“I’m just fine,” I smiled. I stretched my limbs and popped my joints. “So what is it exactly you want me to do.”
“It’s quite simple actually,” Diptera grinned, baring her fangs. “Kill the Princess of Friendship.”
Author's Note
Yeah, yeah I know. It's super expositiony. Show don't tell and all that. But I couldn't think of a better way to do it and now the fun stuff can start
It felt great to be out and walking around again. While I wasn’t sure how fresh the air was, it did feel pretty good. I was finally finished with my time in the tank and Flit was showing me around the changelings’ hive. It still had the creep factor of looking like the hive from Aliens but, overall, it was starting to feel somewhat homey. And now this semi-useless tour.
“Flit, I get that you want me to know how to get around and what areas to avoid but I’m connected to, like, everybody here,” I said. “Literally every time I look down a hall I’m filled with knowledge of this place. What’s the point?”
“It’s to give the changelings a chance to see you with their own eyes,” Flit responded with a smile.
I came to a sudden realization. “You just want to show off your work, don’t you?”
Flit grinned mischievously. “Is it so wrong that I want to prove to all those jerk XV’s that I successfully created our species’ last hope while their plans have stagnated or fallen through? I don’t think so.” She looked at me with mock innocence. “Do you?”
I grinned. “I guess not. By the way this is the second time you’ve used that term. What does XV-” The information came to me like remembering a forgotten memory. “XV changelings are elite changelings that have high stats in every department, most notably intelligence and magic.” I shook my head. “I’m never going to get used to that.”
Flit was eyeing me curiously. “I can feel when you pull information from the link. The way you do it is so strange.”
“What do you mean?”
She trotted ahead of me and I picked up my pace to match her. “Well, for one thing we’re always actively giving and taking information from the link. It's something we’re always conscious of but it doesn’t distract from anything we’re trying to do. With you, you subconsciously keep your connection to the link running in the background of your mind. When you actively try to use it, it takes all of your focus and kind of incapacitates you.” She rubbed her chin with a hoof. “I didn’t even consider that possibility....”
We walked in silence together. Flit was deep in thought and I was taking in the sights. We passed quite a few changelings as we walked. Some hovered around me before moving on. Others were a bit bolder and came up to me and poked me. I lightly swatted at them and they just laughed. There was one that collapsed after trying to get close but some other changelings came to collect him. That was another interesting thing; now I could tell their genders. If I got a good look at them, I could also tell their drone id.
“We’re here!” Flit stopped in front of a large door. “Before we go in, don’t worry. Just be yourself and you’ll do great.”
“Wait, what?”
Flit walked into the room and I followed close behind. Inside was a circular room with elevated seats with all kinds and colors of changelings. Seated above them were the changeling queens.
“Now that they have arrived, let’s begin,” Diptera said.
‘What the hell is going on,’ I thought to Flit.
“This council is gathered here to decide how we will proceed with you, and all operations relating to you, Project Regicide,” one of the changelings stood up and said. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Godslayer.”
“Project Regicide?” I scoffed. “That’s a bit on the nose don’t you…..Did you say Godslayer?” I turned to Flit. “What?”
“This creature seems rather helpless and slow,” another changeling said. “Is it wise to put our survival in its… hands?”
“I agree,” a changeling covered in scars and missing an eye flew out of his chair and stood in front of me. “What experience do you have in stealth operations and assassinations? Can you wage a war in the shadows?”
I scratched my head. “Well… I have played Dishonored and Splinter Cell,” I offered. I felt an itch in my mind as the changeling probed my thoughts.
“Children’s games!” he howled. “This is a civilian! He has no experience of any kind!”
The changelings chittered amongst themselves. “Irid, calm yourself,” the first changeling demanded. “I would advise all of you remember that this civilian decimated our trained guards with little instruction and just the resources within his own body.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. I probed the link for his identity. Drone ID Q40XCS1SA, Uros. I will never get how they come up with nicknames.
Uros flashed me a smile and continued. “I would also like you all to remember that the creature standing before was brought here at great personal cost to our beloved queens and mothers.” The room fell silent. “Questioning his capability and potential is the same as questioning the decision of four queens.” The silence grew tense. “Now, please, present your project, Dr. Flit.”
Flit stepped forward confidently. “This,” she said pointing at me, “is the culmination of the greatest undertaking in the history of our world. A creature capable of killing an alicorn. With training from our best infiltrator,” she pointed to the scarred changeling from earlier, “he will be able to sneak into Ponyville and assassinate the Princess of Friendship with ease.”
“On what basis are you making these claims,” a voice from the crowd asked.
“He can’t be detected by the changeling detectors,” Flit said smugly. “Or by any kind of magical detection for that matter. And spells of all kind don’t work on him; he absorbs any and all magic. I’m sure you can feel that for yourself. Not to mention that being on this world has augmented his strength. At this point he could go toe to hoof with an average earth pony. With training he could easily match a lesser dragon.”
Say what now? Apparently dragons are a thing.
“But the best feature is his intelligence and adaptability,” Flit continued. “When you get a chance, you should check the amazing technological advances his species made. We’re lucky that he knows how even a fraction of them function. We now have an edge we’ve never had before, period.”
The scarred changeling chuckled. “A lesser dragon, huh? Alright then!” He let out a hearty laugh. “I’ll take your bet. I’ll turn this thing into the greatest infiltrator the hives have ever seen!”
“Um, before that can we talk about that godslayer thing,” I asked meekly.
“Alicorns are revered by the ponies as gods,” Flit quickly explained. “They posses the attributes of all three types of pony but amplified. They even have more raw magic power than a queen.”
“Fantastic,” I muttered.
“Then it is decided,” Uros said. “Dr Flit will continue to monitor the project while Infiltrator Irid trains him. With the approval of the queens, this meeting is adjourned.”
Flashes of light filled the room as the changelings teleported out. Flit, Irid, and I were left alone in the room. Flit collapsed on the floor and let out a huge breath.
“Talking in front of the whole hive is so nerve wracking,” she sighed.
“There couldn’t have been more than 30 changelings in this room,” I said, confused. “I thought there were a few thousand of you guys.”
Flit rolled onto her back and splayed out. “All the changelings in the hive were watching through the link. It was a super important decision regarding the fate of our species, after all.”
“And now that I have the queens’ approval and council support,” Irid added, “I can put every resource we have into you without angering any of the council members. In fact, they’ll be forced to give us thanything we ask for.”
A sudden realization hit me. “You were on Flit’s side the whole time!”
“Of course,” Irid said. “She’s the smartest changeling in the hive. If she thinks something is going to work, you go with it, no questions asked.”
“How the hell did that work?” I asked incredulously.
Irid grinned. “You have much to learn. Let’s get started.”
***
“What do you mean he can’t use spells?”
We stood in front of the obstacle course that the infiltrators use to train. I was on the ground breathing heavily after going through poorly.
“Well he can, but they have to be very simple in nature,” Flit explained.
“But a changeling that can’t…. change is,” Irid buried his face in his hoof. “And a silencing spell for his heavy footsteps is also too advanced, right?”
“Really anything other than basic magic channeling and introductory spells, magic really isn’t an option,” Flit said.
“Um guys,” I waved my hand in front of their faces. “Sitting right here.”
“Right…” Irid rubbed his chin. “What about runes?”
“He would just drain the magic from them like everything else,” Flit argued.
“Maybe he would,” Irid said. “If someone else was supplying the power. But if he can channel magic into them himself, would he still drain them?”
“I don’t know,” excitement grew in Flit’s eyes. They glowed with an unnatural hunger. “We should find out.” Within seconds, the three of us were surrounded by a mountain of books. Flit slumped to the ground, exhausted. “We really need to work on your magic drain,” her breathing was labored. “Now if you don’t mind, I need to move away from you for a little bit.” I reached down to help her up but she shooed my hand away. “I don’t mean to exaggerate but if you touch me right now, it might literally kill me.”
Flit shambled to the far side of the room and fell to the ground.
“Don’t worry,” Irid assured me. “She’ll be fine. It’s just a bit of magic exhaustion. But what we have here now is an opportunity to teach you how to use runes.”
“Fantastic,” I mumbled. “What are runes?”
“Think of them as a ready made spell,” Irid explained. “Instead of making spell in your mind, you build the spell with the runes. And then put some magic through it. It’s so simple any idiot can do it.” He looked at me quietly for a moment. “No offense.”
I rolled my eyes. “So I’ll be able to do all the same spells with runes?”
“Oh no, not at all,” Irid said. “Runes spells are limited in their effects. They’re static and require a deep understanding to even create simple spells. Not even the ponies have figured out how to make them work very well.”
“Then why bother with them at all,” I asked.
“Because there is a silence rune,” he explained. “And there is a possibility, no matter how small, that you may be able to make sense of them.” He handed me a paper with a symbol written on it. “This rune is for heat. Try making it work.”
I took the paper and looked at it. I tried calling on the magic inside my body and forcing out through my hands. The symbol on the paper glowed and it suddenly caught fire. I threw page away and the symbol stopped glowing. However, the paper continued to burn until it was ash.
Irid looked at me with a wide eyed stare. “I’m gonna be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t think that would work. But this is good news! Now all we need is a silence rune and we’ll be in business.”
“So what, are we looking through all these books for one symbol?” I asked.
“No, you’re going to look through all these books for one symbol,” he replied. “I’m going to go work on your armor. Apparently, there’s a problem. Back in a flash.” The room was bathed in green light and Irid was gone.
Sighing, I picked up a book and started reading. After going through a few books, I was getting really into these runes. I understood what made them so complex. Each rune was like a symbol and when put together they funneled magic like a circuit. I was finding patterns easier than I ever had before and I was furiously reading and taking notes in the books. Every so often I heard a sort of high pitched noise but it was easy to ignore. I was putting together a new rune formula, one that would cancel out sound, when the noise got a little louder. I kept ignoring it and finished the silence spell. Feeling cocky, I decided to push my understanding and create a spell to bend light around my body: an active camouflage. The noise caught my attention again but as I was pushing it away, I noticed it almost sounded like someone was trying to say something. Curious, I payed it more attention. It started low and got louder and louder. It was... a scream! Someone was screaming at me!
‘Stop, Sam!’
‘You have to stop this!’
‘Sam, listen to me! You have to stop this now!’
‘You’re hurting them!’
Chrysalis’s voice screeched in my head. Startled I pulled my focus away from the books and looked around the room. All of the queens were standing over me with concern on their faces. I tried to stand but my legs were wobbly and I fell down.
“What-what happened,” my voice was unexpectedly hoarse.
“See to the others,” Diptera ordered. Chrysalis and Seta teleported away. “What do you remember?”
“I was looking for a silence rune and everything just fell into place,” I rubbed my temples. “So I started creating my own formulas. I think I have them somewhere.” I looked around. I was surrounded by ripped out pages with notes scribbled across them. Diptera picked some up in her magic.
“In all the history of this world I don’t think anyone has ever made something this advanced,” she charged up one of the pages and the room was dead silent. Nothing made any sound; breathing, rustling paper, even ambient sounds were gone. She let the magic fade and kept looking through them. “Although, no one has ever had the benefit of thousands of minds all working towards the same goal.”
“What,” I asked. “I don’t understand.”
“Feel the link,” Diptera commanded.
I opened my connection and immediately recoiled. A cacophony of pain and confusion washed over me. “What? What happened?”
“You became engrossed in learning,” Diptera explained. “Your mind is singular in nature. This is partly our mistake. When you focused, you treated every mind in the link as your own. Your will dominated the wills of the drones. You forced them to submit to your will and contribute their mental power to your own. It seems that giving you a queen’s link might have been a mistake.” She picked a single paper and her jaw dropped. “Or it might have been the best decision Flit ever made.” She pushed the paper to my face. “What is this?”
I took the sheet from her grasp and studied it. “Oh this? It’s a concept that briefly crossed my mind. It’s a formula for a mental link with a non-changeling without the brain surgery. But what about all the other changelings?”
“They’ve been through Tartarus,” Diptera took the page back and studied it some more. “Having your mind forcefully taken is not a pleasant experience. But the trauma will heal. We are a hive and we have each other to lean on. This spell is so complex. How were you able to create it with runes?”
“It’s just a concept,” I said. “And runes are just circuits. I just put the right components in.” I felt the familiar mental itch as Diptera examined my mind.
“Even with direct access, I still can’t even begin to comprehend what you’ve done,” she whispered. She shook her head to clear her mind. “For now, I will have to ask you to refrain from doing anything to mentally strenuous. We are not entirely sure the hive can take this kind of strain a second time. Please, rest for now.”
I again got up. My legs shook a bit but I was able to stay standing. I slowly lurched forward making my way towards the door.
“Wait,” Diptera called out to me. She looked uncertain about whatever she was going to do next. “Um… If you want, you can lean on me.”
“Won’t that kill you or something,” I asked, though truthfully I barely made it to the door.
“I am a changeling queen,” she responded, pushing herself next to my body. “Something like this,” her breathing became heavy, “Is nothing. Now, let’s go.”
Author's Note
Sup guys. I didn't take a year this time! I feel like I deserve a cookie or something. Anyway, please enjoy
**********Classified Archive: Reports from Project Regicide**********
Project: Regicide (Month 1)
In just the short month since his training began, Sam has made excellent progress. His magical aptitude grows with each day of study and he continues to amaze with new magic formulas! As you know Sam is incapable of casting spells beyond the most basic. He has created his own workaround with runes to compensate. He can see patterns and solutions that not even pony minds could come up with! In such a short time he has created a dozen new formulas that allow him to emulate the skills of a seasoned infiltrator and he is continuing to develop new spells. I hypothesize that part of his ability to create these spells come from his previous vocation as an “electrical engineer” and his world’s culture. I have watched his thought process while he is brainstorming and I cannot follow any of it. It almost appears that he is creating new possibilities from the fantasies of his home. I can only guess at this as I have not yet asked him about it.
Physically his body is getting far stronger than we estimated. He himself says that this is because of his age. He says at this point is his maturation, his body is at its most adaptable. This combined his his ability to heal, may be allowing him to advance faster. We did run into an unforeseen issue, however. His body’s density has made adapting to our environment difficult. We did manage to fix his oxygen absorption problem but something else has concerned me. It was not apparent while he in the tank but his energy consumption is far higher than predicted. He didn’t need much while sedated but with his new, active lifestyle he is easily eating far more than we could have ever predicted (about 10x as much as we planned).
Requests:
Project: Regicide (Month 2)
This is my second monthly report. Normally, I would not expect any trainee to match an infiltrator in two months. But this kid? His stealth is something I would only expect from a seasoned XV infiltrator. He cannot transform and his weight prevents him from moving quietly. He was extremely out of shape and his stamina was poor at best. But he had a fire in his eyes I was willing to work with. He carefully watched my every move when I demonstrated and applied them as best as his biology would allow. When he couldn’t match my movements exactly he took the time to translate them for his own body. In a month he was able to replicate the movements perfectly but the issue was he still mad noise and couldn’t transform. I couldn’t even teach him mental misdirection spells.
But that just pushed him harder. He created a collection of spells he dubbed his “Deus Series”. What that means, I have no idea but what they do is incredible. A series of runic formulas that can be inscribed on any equipment that compensate for what he lacks. While the series is growing and evolving, here are the mainstays:
Sound Dampener: A spell that completely blocks all sound he makes. Not even the best changeling can be this quiet.
And then there’s the tools he made to go along with the spells. He has a wrist mounted device covered in different runes. Each set of runes is on a ring that spins around his arm. This allows him to use a variety of different spells by rotating the rings. With one of his devices he can use up to 7 spells so far. He’s also been working on something with our discarded chitin. I can’t figure out what he’s up to but I am looking forward to the result!
Requests:
Project: Regicide (Month 3)
So, I guess I should start with how Sam mentally dominated the hive again. It started out innocently enough; we were practicing using the link as usual. I wanted him to finally get used to pulling and sending information over the link. As you know, he’s accepted it as part of him but he’s been pretty resistant in actually using it since his first...accident. We were in the middle of pulling information, when he was, in his words, “suddenly struck by inspiration”. His mind automatically went into solving whatever problem he just thought of and… he took over the link again. To his credit, it only lasted for a few moments this time before he realized what he was doing. And I think that’s another big point in his favor; he managed to stop on his own! Anyway, I will be more careful with our link training in the future.
Other than the link incident, Sam’s body is adapting much better now. His energy requirements are still very high but like always, he found a way around eating food directly. He was curious about how we consume emotion so I explained it to him. He asked if we could sustain ourselves with emotion from other changelings and I explained that we could not. He then asked if he was capable of consuming emotion. This made me curious as well since I didn’t know the answer. We decided to find out. I got a jar of happiness from storage and he tried drinking it. It not only satisfied his hunger but also gave him a physical boost! It didn’t do anything to fill his bottomless magic void, though. Then we discovered something truly incredible; he can eat changeling emotions! I was feeling super excited from our first discovery and he tried, with no prompt from myself, to eat some. I felt him drinking my excitement, which only made me more excited! We went back and forth in this cycle until he felt full. I felt no different after having my emotions drained and he was able to make emotion gel. I think I’m the first changeling to ever have eaten their own emotions! This has huge ramifications for our food supply! At the very least, we won’t starve to death.
Requests:
Project: Regicide (Month 4)
First and foremost I would like to apologize. He was doing so well that I couldn’t help pushing him further. In hindsight, maybe 100 arrows was a bit ambitious. He reacts so quickly that I thought he would have at least dodged half. In all honesty, I can say I genuinely thought it was a good idea at the time. And afterwards he was more annoyed than anything else. We did discover that he can only maintain his chitin skin for roughly 3 minutes. Side note, he did look funny as a pin cushion. All of the major damage healed within a few hours, and he only complained about pain while his internal organs were healing. While we did have to re-break the bones a few times to make sure they healed properly, we did get all of the arrow bits out.
This did prompt him to create a new spell so it wasn’t a total failure. He calls it “kinetick absorption”. We tested it on our armor. No words can describe how impressive this spell is. While it was active, nothing could pierce it. We tried arrows, spears, swords, and even magic blasts. Not only did nothing get through, the subject wearing the armor couldn’t even feel it! The only downside is the enormous drain on the magic reserves. The cost for using this spell seems to rise exponentially based on surface area. For now it remains impractical for general use. However, I believe that royal changelings, such as yourselves, could use this spell in an emergency effectively.
His combat skill rises as well. In combat, he has successfully integrated his emotion sense with his other senses. I have yet to find a changeling that can launch a successful surprise attack. His arm device is very versatile and he has created a second one for his other arm with a different set of spells. Combining both with his his physical abilities has made him a force to be reckoned with. I would guess that only yourselves would be a match for him at this point.
Requests:
Project: Regicide (Month 5)
I have concerns about Sam’s long term mental health. It has become apparent that he is using his training as a distraction. He has made excellent strides and amazing discoveries but he is shutting down emotionally. He refuses to even think about his family, friends, or anything about his previous life. Aside from the inspiration he gets from his old world’s stories, I think he has completely let go of his home. Even though you rejected the request for a field test, I think some time outside would do him some good. I’m worried that he may be entering a depressive spiral.
With your permission I would like to take him outside of the hive for a picnic. Nothing fancy, I just want him to spend some time in the sun and away from here. I would also like him to have some time off from training. Just so that we can make sure he’s emotionally healthy. Recovery time is important for steady growth, after all.
As for progress, lately he’s been working on a new collection of spells and asked for some materials regarding mental magic. I’ve been hesitant to give them to him in his current state. If you think that it is a good idea, I will get him the required books immediately but I am against it. Please consider my suggestion regarding Sam’s mental health. We need him. I don’t want him to be hurting.
Requests:
Project: Regicide (Month 6)
That time off really put some fire back in him! I don’t know what the cat is all about but other than some changelings overhearing him talk to it sometimes, it seems to have improved his mood. He’s really back in the swing of things. You should get to tell you stories about his home; they’ve got some crazy stuff on his world!
His work with the chitin has finally paid off. He created some kind of fabric out of it. That fabric can block arrows and stop swords! The impact is still felt through it but bruises are a lot better than getting shot through the heart or losing a limb. He seems to prefer a sleeveless shirt made of the material. Just enough to protect his vitals while still giving him maximum mobility. He calls it chitin weave. It’s pretty difficult to make but its benefit cannot be overstated. It’s more flexible than any metal, so able to cover joints. Each individual strand is stronger than normal chitin, so together it is exponentially stronger than even our strongest changelings natural armor.
He hasn’t talked much about the new collection of spells he’s working on but I can’t wait to see what they do. I do think that he is doing a lot better now and I am so full of regret that I did not notice it before. If the picnic has satisfied and worries you might have had that he would try to run away, I would like to again request a field test.
Requests:
Project: Regicide (Month 7)
While some have describe the results of the field test as wildly successful, I can only say what happened was absolutely horrific. Starting at the beginning, the objective was normal for testing infiltrators. We marked a pony settlement and he just had to make it from one side to the other during the busiest hour of the day. It was simple as that. He didn’t even have to interact with any of the ponies. The first thing that I should have noticed was the fact that he was in full gear. He wore his sleeveless, black chitin weave shirt, had on both of his arm devices, and had on a “utility belt” filled with unknown supplies. His reasoning was that he would need to get used to operating with it and that was enough for me.
Irid gave him the mission start signal and he was instantly invisible and completely silent. I had to switch to emotion sense to keep track of him as he entered the village. It was incredible to watch; he moved fluidly between all of the ponies while simultaneously siphoning a small amount of emotion from each pony he passed. He managed to fill two jars while in the market square. He even swiped an apple without being noticed and started snacking on it. That was where things started falling apart. One of the guards noticed the apple core on the ground and the displacement of the dirt where he was walking and picked up his trail.
Sam noticed the guard and led him into an abandoned alleyway. The guard, intending to investigate, covered the alley in a magic field. Sam absorbed the field, of course, and the guard panicked. I’m sure he intended to call for reinforcements but Sam was quicker. He attacked the guard’s throat, silencing him. This is the part that terrifies me. Sam pulled a small metal band out of his belt and placed it on his finger. He then grabbed the guard by the face and activated the rune.
I peered into Sam’s mind and I saw exactly what was happening. Sam created a pseudo-link with the pony and forced a connection. Through the connection Sam ravaged the pony’s mind, stealing information. Then in what can only be described as genius act of true evil, Sam completely dominated the pony’s mind. He took complete control without and created what he calls a “sleeper agent”. He then healed the guard who went back to watching the village while completely ignoring Sam. Sam then exited the village with no issues.
This is what I was worried about. Despite having the council’s support, I do not think that this new collection of spells is a good thing. First of all, we cannot understand how he accomplished this. The complexity of this formula is beyond anything we could possibly hope to recreate and the fact that he carved it into something so small is worrying. Second, that fact that he could so quickly subvert the free will of a sentient creature is terrifying. What if this small metal band falls into the hooves of our enemies? What if Princess Twilight is able to reverse engineer this formula? Lastly, this is wrong. How far are we willing to go? If given encouragement, I am sure that Sam could easily create more spells of this nature. But should we let him?
Requests:
Project: Regicide
First, Queen Dipterra, Queen Seta, and I would like to thank you for all of your hard work. You have done a great service for the hive and we want to acknowledge that you have gone above and beyond. Sam has developed amazingly and we believe it could not have been accomplished without your help. His advancements will benefit the hive for years to come.
We are happy that you have come to care so much for Sam. We are positive that he cares for you as well. We believe this relationship is important to him functioning at his optimum capability. We also thank you for bringing up the issue of his mental health when you did. We also want the best for him and will make every effort to see him well.
Now, about your issues with the “Sauron Series” spells. We admit we share your concerns. We were so worried, in fact, we had him come before us to explain the spells. He said that the spells only overwrite some of the free will of the target. Mainly they change to whom the target is loyal. The target is otherwise left unchanged. This did not inspire confidence in us, as you can imagine. We asked him how many thralls could be maintained at once. He said an indefinite number. We balked at the idea, then came to a realization. We asked if it could be used to create an army. He said yes. We were unsure what to make of this. He asked if we were worried it could be used against him. That was our primary concern. He told us that if anyone else tried using his ring, they would feel it burn away their consciousness. The newly mindless thrall would then be used to bring it back to him. We asked how strong one would have to be to resist such a spell. He laughed. He told us, there is not a being alive that could survive such a treatment. We asked him where an idea like this could even come from. He said a story. We did not wish to pry any further.
We are tempted to ban the use of the “Sauron Series” spells but I will admit to being desperate enough to use any advantage we have. After the first tower is destroyed, I will again consider the matter. But for now, Sam is authorized by all of the queens to use every tool available to him. Our time is running short. Sam’s first mission will be to disable the Appleloosan Tower.
Author's Note
So yes.... I did take a while on this.... my bad... have a chapter?
***
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!