Parallel

They were right there. Not a foot from her, but they didn't see her. Duena held her breath while she remained hidden within the thick brush, only able to see the changelings that were hunting her between the leaves and twigs. They talked among themselves quietly, looking around with their weapons drawn. She knew that they sensed her, they knew she was close, but luckily they didn't know how close.

Duena's lungs were beginning to burn the longer she held her breath and it was becoming difficult to keep it up. If she let out a breath now they would surely find her and kill her. She began to wonder if she should have ran from her hive. Maybe her freedom as a 'ling wasn't worth being constantly hunted. Maybe it was better to let her life end there rather than going back to be a slave of the queen again. Maybe if she let herself pass out.

One of the changelings let out a bloodcurdling screech. They found her. Duena clenched her eyes and waited for death to take her, but it never came. Instead she heard the scurrying of hooves and soon she was alone. She opened her eyes and looked through the leaves again; they had left. With a sharp gasp she took a deep breath, sucking in the sweet, life giving air. She stumbled her way out of the thick brush and brushed herself off. They were definitely gone, but why?

Duena let out a sigh, gathered her bearings and began to walk south. At least, she assumed it was south. She really didn't care where she was going, only wanting to get as far away from the hives as possible. A lot of the hives she was aware of were to the west of her own, most of them were small proto-hives but they were everywhere. The area used to be filled with ponies, but after the changelings had made a strong foothold there the ponies were quick to leave. She didn't blame them.

Ponies used to be everywhere near the south and west from the stories she had heard. However for centuries changelings had been slowly pushing further north, raiding small settlements and taking the land for their own, building up a large network of hives. Back then the queen had a major influence over the lesser 'lings. Not so much anymore. A few years back the changelings had launched a major offensive against the capital of Canterlot, hoping to crush it and leave the rest of the land vulnerable, leaving the ponies helpless. No such luck. Ever since the failure of that invasion hives everywhere had been disappearing. It started off with proto-hives, and then larger hives had begun to collapse. It wasn't a year after the failure of the invasion that changelings began to flee. The mental connection between 'ling and queen had snapped, and those who were so lucky ran and were hunted.

Duena considered herself lucky. She was lucky to be alive, lucky to have made it as far that she had. Lucky to feel what freedom felt like. Maybe, just maybe she would be lucky enough to blend in with the ponies and live a good life. Yeah, she would like that. Unfortunately it was a long trip to the nearest settlement, it would take her at least a week of walking north, but it was worth a shot.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar sensation. It was faint, but she could sense the small 'ling pack making their rounds again. If she could sense them they could sense her. A screech echoed through the forest, it was close, but she had time to find somewhere to hide. Only when she looked around she realized that she was in a less dense part of the forest. The thick vegetation hugged the ground, a lot of the brush didn't reach to the particular part of the forest, and trees were scattered about; it wouldn't be too difficult for them to narrow down where she was. Her only option now was to keep moving and hope that they lost connection with her at some point.

Another screech filled the air, this one came from the north. Duena hiss a curse under her breath and slipped behind one of the large trees, trying to spot anything. A large shadow zipped across the forest floor and her eyes gazed upward. Nothing. A realization came over her while she waited for the packs to move on, she only sensed one group of 'lings not two, which meant either the second group was further away than she originally thought, or it was something else. She ruled ponies out, they had no reason to be this far south. The only other thought that came to mind were gryphons, but they were further north than ponies were. Dunea remained where she was, the first group drawing closer to her location.

After several moments of spotting nothing she began to move again, heading north. Even after she changed directions the first group of lings were still tracking her, getting closer with every step she took. Luckily she never sensed another group of 'ling while she moved north, which meant that something else was around. Duena paused behind a tree to look behind her, the group of 'lings were just within sight, coming right at her at a full sprint. "Shit... shit, shit!" Duena cursed when she realized that they had spotted her. She turned tail and bolted into a full sprint away from them; however she didn't get too far, slamming head first into something large and sturdy.

Duena had fallen onto her side, groaning as she tried to sit up again. She paused, something sharp was pressed to her neck threatening to puncture the skin if she moved another inch. She moved her eyes to stare the 'ling dead in the eyes. Her heart skipped a beat when looked into the eyes of a pony rather. A very pissed pony dressed in full armor.

A grin crossed his lips as he pressed the tip of his weapon against her throat harder. "Well, well. Look at you. Today must be your lucky day bug. Get up!" he growled and pulled the spear away from her neck.

As the stallion backed away slightly Duena sat up only to be shoved back several feet. She turned to look at the stallion again but found four other armored ponies standing between her and the group of 'lings that had been hunting her the last few days, each one standing their ground while the pack challenged them.

It wasn't a moment later before a large rock came flying at them at deadly speeds, hitting one of the 'lings square on the head. It didn't even get a chance to give its death rattle as it slumped to the ground. The other two 'lings looked in horror after their friend's head caved in from sheer force of the rock, and the armored ponies took the brief moment of shock to pounce on the remaining pack. One of the 'lings didn't get a chance to react as one of the larger stallions charged at it, sending a spear clean through its side before pulling the weapon free. The warrior 'ling collapsed to the ground while the remaining one managed to pull free of the mass of ponies that tried to collapse on it, running back the direction it had come. It didn't get far however as another rock plummeted from the skies, striking it down into the forest floor with a spray of blood and dirt as its body skidded to a halt.

Duena had been watching in horror at the efficient work of the unknown ponies. Three 'lings quickly dispatched without a moment of hesitation. That left her. Panic began to take over as the group of five began to surround her, a sixth joined them, a pegasus, likely the one that had been hurling rocks down. The largest stallion stepped forward and sat down before taking his helmet off. He looked her over for a moment before letting out a hefty sigh and got up.

"Take her back to camp, get her food and water."

The pegasus she had ran into gave a disappointed grunt. "Common, what makes her different from those three? Why not just kill her? It's not like anyone would miss the fucking thing!" The pegasus was jabbed and hit by the other members of his group. "Ow! Hey, the fuck?!"

"Shut up and carry her ass-hat. Maybe you two will become friends, who knows," the female with the dark brown coat told him before she followed their leader.

The stallion grumbled as he looked down at Duena, giving her a disgusted look before unceremoniously throwing her onto his back. "Try not to fall off, got it?"

Duena nodded her head quietly and held onto whatever bit of his armor she could grab before he began to trudge forward, trailing behind the group and leaving behind the mess they made. "Are you not going to bury them?"

"Why? Bugs don't deserve a burial. They can rot as they are for all I care," the stallion growled under his breath.

Duena shifted uncomfortably on his back before saying, "Well, thank you for saving me," she said, the stallion grunting in reply. "My name is Duena by the way."

He looked over his shoulder at her with an annoyed look on his face. "Did I ask?"

"Oh, no. Sorry." Duena's voice was barely audible while she rested her head on her hooves. "What about you?"

The stallion shrugged. "What about me?"

"Your name."

He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder again. "You ask a lot of questions. Look, it's Jolt. Don't wear it out, alright? Now would you mind, you're giving me a headache kid."

Duena's nose twitched while she looked him in the eyes. Those deep blue crystals held a certain something, a something that Duena wasn't able to put her hoof on and it troubled her, more so than his somewhat aggressive nature towards her. She put those feeling aside, collected herself before saying, "Thank you, it's all I wanted."

"Good. We're almost to camp, so do me a favor will ya?" Jolt asked while he continued towards the group again.

"Oh... sure, what is it?"

"...Er... never mind." He went completely silent after the short exchange of words. Duena could taste it in the air, feel it thicken with his sudden change of demeanor. She wasn't wrong about that something, she knew that much, but she didn't know what that something was that could have been bothering him so much.

She figured it would have been best to remain silent, just as he did. He carried her for what seemed like ages before she could see their camp. From the distance she could already see a fire going, and with the sun falling it wouldn't be long before it was dark. Jolt stopped just feet from the fire before motioning for her to hop off, which she did without hesitation. Not a moment later Jolt stormed off toward the back of the camp and further on, looking as though he intended to get lost within the forest.

No one tried to stop him, a couple even shaking their heads quietly like it was a common occurrence for him to go off like that. Duena didn't pay much more attention to him and instead began to familiarize herself with her surroundings. The camp itself wasn't much, mostly just a fire and a single small wagon. Scattered around the fire were what looked like beds; if you could consider hay-stuffed potato sacks to be beds. Still something was better than nothing.

"Oh, hey! Welcome to our camp, hopefully it's cozy," one of the mares said to Duena.

Duena looked over at her, offering an uncertain smile. "Thank you. It's better than what I've had the past few days."

The mare looked around at everyone else then returned her attention to Duena. "I suppose introductions are in order. Everyone calls me Darling."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Duena," she replied while she got a good look at Darling. She was a pegasus with a light hazelnut brown coat who had a light sprinkle of freckles across her cheeks. Darling's mane was more of a chocolate brown with streaks of the lighter brown here and there. She had it pulled back into a bun however some of the bangs hung down in front of her eyes. Speaking of eyes, Darling's own shimmered a fantastic shade of green that reminded Duena of an emerald she had seen once, however the emerald in her memories was dull in comparison.

Darling smiled at Duena, turning to face the largest of the stallions. "This is Bandit. He's our unit's Commander."

Bandit nodded his head silently in Duena's direction. The stallion stood several inches taller than her, completely towering over her. He had a sturdy build, the muscles weren't defined but it was clear that he had quite a bit of it on him. Much like Darling, Bandit's eyes were green, though his were a darker green like wet moss which contrasted beautifully against his jet black coat. His faded white mane was an unkempt mess of hair that went every which way, looking as though he never bothered to brush it out at the very least.

"Then there's my sister, June. June say hi!"

June, the similar looking mare to Darling looked over at Duena, offering a sarcastic smile. "Well aren't you just the cutest little 'ling I've ever seen! I bet Jolt just looooves you!" Unlike Darling, June was an earth pony. That made three of the earth-bound ponies. June's colors were darker compared to her sister's, nearly identical in every way, the differences were slight. June had purple eyes that held some distance in them. Her mane and tail was the exact same color, however June's had streaks of white curling around and zipping past the chocolate brown.

Duena returned a smile, saying, "Yeah, I think he took to me pretty well."

Darling turned Duena's attention to the next stallion. "Lightning, mind introducing yourself?" Darling asked, getting his attention.

Lightning turned to face Duena and smiled brightly. It was nice to see a genuine smile for once. "Ah, our first rescue! Uh.. sorry that came out wrong. Suppose mare of the hour works better, huh?" he said in a chirpy tone. His coat was a light summer blue, reminding Duena of her time outside of the hive during the summer on a clear day. His eyes were a similar color. Lightning's mane on the other hand was an orange-ish yellow that was slicked back, getting shorter towards the back. "Say, just curious, what does your disguise look like?"

Duena shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. Don't really have one I guess, never been picky about it."

"Ah, perhaps another time then?" Lightning said and gave Duena a pat on the back.

"Thank you, Lightning. Well, last but certainly not least is Grey," Darling said, turning Duena's attention to the last member of the group. "Grey, this is Duena. Why not say hi?"

Grey had already stripped himself of his armor and was resting by the fire. He turned his head to look Duena over and gave a dismissive grunt before resting his head again.

Darling sighed, "Well at least one of us knows how to not be rude. Lightning!"

"You called?" Lightning replied just as he was about to settle in.

"Be a dear, would you?" Darling sung while she nudged Duena towards the stallion. "Go on dear, he will take care of you. Don't get too frisky!"

"W-Wait what?" Dunea stammered while Darling pushed her towards Lightning. She was left standing in front of him feeling uncertain about Darling's implications. Lightning was looking down at her with a grin. "Hey..."

Lightning chuckled and ruffled up her hair. "Ah don't worry, Darling was just joking. Hungry?" Duena nodded her head and Lightning moved toward the wagon. He returned to her side moments later with a few pieces of fruit, giving her one. "So what do you think of everyone?"

Duena shrugged her shoulders while she bit into the fruit, glad that she was able to eat in peace for once. "They're alright I guess. Don't think everyone cares about me."

"They're all tired. Just give 'em time," he said while he wrapped a wing around her and pulled her close to him. He lowered his voice as he pointed to Bandit. "Bandit there has a good heart. Makes sure everyone has what they need, gives everything he owns to make sure we're all well off. But if you look closely you can see how he also distances himself from all of us in small ways."

Duena had been listening closely to Lightning while he spoke. "Why does he?"

Lightning didn't reply immediately as though he himself wasn't entirely sure. "I think he gets lonely, and keeping himself back is his way of getting away from the pain of it. Then again, I could be wrong."

"What about Jolt?"

"What about him?"

Duena looked up at Lightning. "He seemed very uptight."

Lightning nodded his head with a thoughtful hum. "Yes, yes. Unfortunately none of us know what's up with him. He's been like that ever since he joined our unit. He's very aggressive when it comes to changelings and Darling." Lightning chuckled. "He could really care less about everyone else."

"Why's Darling so special to him? Are they together?"

"Something like that, yeah," Lightning said with a nod. "I'd ask her if you have questions about Jolt." He turned his attention to the hay-stuffed sack, fluffing before settling down with a sigh. "Come here Dee," he said, waving her over. Duena looked at him with a questioning stare, uncertain of his intentions. He patted the spot in front of him before she laid on her side beside him. Lightning wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to his chest. "Get some sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Duena made herself comfortable in his hold before his wing blanketed her, keeping her warm against the chilling wind.