Parallel

June stood before some two-hundred plus changelings and ponies in the open staging area of the fort, the bone-chilling air swept through the slowly blackening sky. Torches were being lit as the sun ducked further behind the horizon, the warm orange hues lighting the entire exterior of the fort. Changelings murmured with curiosity, while guards stood around the parameter of the central area as they kept their eyes on the large group.

"As some of you may have known," June spoke clearly, her voice projected out to her audience, "this place isn't exactly what you had expected it to be. Originally, it was meant to be a sanctuary for incoming changelings fleeing from their hives to take refuge. But it turned into a jail for stocking up on slaves to be sold to the highest bidder." Duena watched as June paused to take in the reactions of the changelings, intrigued by what she had to say. "To those of us guards standing before you, you're more than just capital. A quick sale. You're a citizen full of potential and fulfillment, and we want to help you see to that."

June paced along the upper portion of the wall, with her head kept high and chest puffed out, it emitted an aura of leadership and power from herself. "Now I know there are many of you who have been here for weeks, a few of you just days, but I assure you that each and every single one of you is our main priority. Our goal is to have you all living in the comfort of a protected community," there was a pause, almost a hesitation in her speech as June turned to face the mass of changelings once more, "Or, if you wish, join the ranks of the Equestrian Army or Air Force as allowed by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves. Should you join you will receive pay, retirement benefits, family benefits, food, water, and much more."

At this point, some of the changelings around Duena began to talk among themselves and whispered to each other, either interested or confused by the offers June made while others almost seemed to fall asleep where they sat, presumably from exhaustion. Without another pause, June continued on, "However, there will be more on that tomorrow in the morning. For now, I think it's time you all got some decent rest. If you will follow the four guards by the entrance to the lower areas they will escort you down to the barracks. There we have actual beds, pillows, and blankets. It should be a nice upgrade from your cells." As June finished off her small speech, the guards from the parameters of the wall began to herd the changelings down into the tunnels again.

Changelings and guards alike shuffled down the steps about four at a time, the width of the stairwell allowed them with about an inch of space between each body. They only went down about four levels of steps before they were guided down either the left or right tunnels, Duena found herself going down the right. The tunnel curved off to the left for a little way before several rows of doors on either side came into view. Again Duena slipped off to the right when she had the chance and found herself in a somewhat large room with four rows of six bunk beds, each three beds tall. Each bed, as promised, had a thick mattress with a white, almost deflated pillow and a couple of sheets perfectly folded over the sides of the bunk.

Duena spotted a spot she liked, off toward the back of the room up on the third bunk, she quickly scurried over to the bunk and up the step-ladder that went up the front of the bunks, and pulled herself into the bed before anyone else could. Just as quickly she had claimed her spot, almost every other bed in the room was filled as well with a mixture of changelings and ponies. Duena closed her eyes and took in the energy of the room, she got a feel for how everyone else was feeling. A mixture of relief, anxiety, and apathy. Many of the 'lings, much like herself, just wanted to sleep and be left alone for a while, and that was exactly what Duena planned to do.

Duena woke after perhaps one of her best periods of sleep she had ever had. She let out a satisfied groan as she stretched out on the bunk she had managed to snag the night before, she felt the soft mattress under her rub against her body, her head pressed into the pillow. She turned in her spot, being tangled up in the warm sheets, and hugged them close to herself as she sighed out. She stayed like that for several minutes before her eyes would flutter open, the dimly-lit barracks came into her view. Many of the bunks were empty and left messy compared to how they were found previously. However, Duena wasn't the only one who decided that sleeping in was the best thing in the world. She could see roughly thirty other bodies spread around the room still huddled up in their beds and sleeping soundly, a couple others waking up just as she did.

Duena finally willed herself out of bed and dropped down from the third-bunk up, she stretched once more before she exited the barracks and headed down the hallway toward the stairwell. She found the walk to be fairly relaxing as she took her time to saunter down the passages and nodded to others passing by. A couple times, she was offered a “good afternoon” which seemed odd to her as she considered she had just woken up. She didn't make much of it and continued on her way, soon enough, she found the stairwell and headed upward. One thing immediately struck her- the stairwell had been completely cleared of dead bodies. Where they once were, she saw the guards as they scrubbed down the floors and walls to get the bloodstains out and try to make the place more welcoming. Another thing came to note were the new banners that were lined against the walls of the stairwell. Similar to the banners she had seen outside before, these ones had the emblem of a shield behind the sun and moon with the words “Old Equestrian Regime” stitched underneath.

Duena shoved these changes to the back of her mind and picked up her pace to reach the top of the steps, the doors soon came into view. As she got closer, she could hear the muffled sounds of what sounded like a crowd cheering. Then a voice echoed out as the crowd died down. Duena's pace slowed down as she reached the doors and pushed them open. She was temporarily blinded by the sun bearing down on her but stepped out into the open air. The crowd roared again, this time clearly which peaked Duena's curiosity. Duena shielded her eyes and found her way to the crowd which was gathered around a new platform which hadn't been there the previous night.

The platform took up a good portion of the open ground in the center of the walled-in area, it stood a good two or three feet up off the ground. There was a mare that stood on the platform that Duena hadn't seen before who wore intricately decorative armor as well as two intimidatingly large gryphons. The gryphons stood at least two heads taller than the mare and carried equally large halberds, both of which were fresh with blood on them. "Next!" the mare shouted and the crowd of changelings that surrounded the platform roared. Two ponies were escorted up onto the platform both of which had bags over their heads and chains around their hooves with enough slack to barely allow them to walk.

The two ponies were placed near the center of the platform before the bags were removed, showing their faces to the growing crowd. The mare maneuvered herself around to look one of the stallions in the face. "Quite the audience you've gathered yourself, isn't it?" she taunted him with a wicked smirk. "Bastion Heart, you are faced with charges of the wrongful imprisonment of sanctioned citizens of Equestria, mistreatment of prisoners, torture of prisoners, and ignoring standardized rules of engagement. All of which are considered treason under the rule of the princesses. Your sentence is execution among peers. Kneel and make an example of yourself."

Bastion didn't have the chance to show grace in the face of death as he was immediately forced down onto a stone block, painted crimson red by the blood of others before him. The mare moved to the side as one of the halberd-wielding gryphons took her position. The crowd of changelings began to chant as the halberd was raised high into the air. Duena watched wide-eyed in horror, unable to pull herself away from the spectacle. Her stomach suddenly lurched as the halberd came down on Bastion's neck with a clean thud. Changelings roared as the stallion's body went limp and collapsed to the side, his head dropped down into a large basket below the platform.

Duena finally pulled herself away as she dry-heaved, her body desperately wanted to throw up but she had nothing in her. Death wasn't uncommon for her to see, especially while in the hive. Changelings fought each other all the time while in the hive, sometimes until the other was killed, but something about this deeply unsettled her. It made her physically sick. She wasn't sure if she could listen to another and rushed herself back down into the stairwell, going down well past where she ceased to hear the muffled yells and cheers. She turned down one of the many passageways and sat down, her body still dry heaving. Eventually, she began to settle down and collect herself again trying to focus her mind on other things besides what she had just witnessed.

Eventually, Duena got up and began to wander down to the mess hall and headed down a couple more levels before she turned right. The passageway was clearly marked “Mess hall” on a sign above the entryway much like many of the more important areas to help the changelings find their way around the fort. The scent of food tickled her nose and the memory of the execution quickly disappeared from her thoughts. She entered the large room and could see several rows of long rectangular tables that reached from one end of the room to the other. To her right was the serving line which had several ponies and changelings waiting to get their food. Duena silently joined them, she shuffled with the line as ponies and changelings received their food. Duena was eventually given her tray and without a glance, she hauled it off to a mostly empty length of the table.

Duena threw herself on the bench and her tray clattered to the table, the scent of a fresh meal filled her senses. The tray overflowed with eggs, sausage and a variety of fruits from sliced oranges to grapes and banana, it almost looked too good to eat. Her stomach growled and she decided that it was better off in her stomach anyway and began to scarf down her food. It was hot, perhaps the first hot meal she had in quite some time, and certainly a few steps up from the slop she was eating not a day ago. Duena was so busy eating her meal that she hasn’t noticed that another body sat across from her, until they cleared their throat which finally grabbed her attention. Her eyes shifted upward to meet eyes with her new company.

"Not wasting any time are you?" Star chuckled while he poked at his own tray of food. "How is it anyway? Never had any of this normal pony-food before, looks kinda weird if you ask me." Duena stared at Star for several moments before he noticed. "What? You look surprised."

"I am surprised," Duena gawked before she offered him a sheepish smile. "I mean, it's just I didn't see Jolt let you out last night and I thought maybe you weren't going to be let out..."

Star snorted before he took a bite of his food and chewed slowly. "Nope, they let me out thankfully. I don't know how much longer I could've stayed in that cell. The place was starting to make me claustrophobic." Duena jabbed at her food nervously and looked away from him. She almost felt embarrassed but she wasn't sure why. "So what do you think about the show?"

"Huh?" Duena's eyes shot up to meet Star's once more.

"The executions," Star stated flatly.

Duena's eyes quickly dropped at the mention of the executions. "Oh... I don't know. It seems a bit, uhm... much? You know, I just feel like maybe they could've done something else?" Star didn't say anything for a moment before he simply hummed in agreement. There was a static between them as they sat in an almost awkward silence, the only noise being the sounds of other changelings and guards as the talked among one another. After some time, Duena looked up again and watched Star casually shovel mouthfuls of food into his maw, not minding to chew as another severing as big as the last stuffed his cheeks. "So much for taking your time eating."

Star chuckled under his breath and continued without a pause until his tray was void of everything, save for the mix of fruits which only took up a small portion of the tray compared to the sausage and eggs. "You going to finish?" he asked as he pointed to Duena's half-eaten portion of eggs and sausage. Duena pushed her tray in his direction to which Star thanked her with, "Thanks, Love," before he devoured what was left.

Duena blinked at his response and looked at him with a flat expression. "Love?"

Star nodded his head. "We never gave each other our names, so I gotta have something to call you by."

Duena swelled up with embarrassment at Star's choice of pet name for her, and she was glad her cheeks couldn't turn red. Not that it would have mattered, she was almost certain that Star could sense it. "But, why 'Love'?" Duena demanded, though the way it came out, it sounded more like a whine.

Star looked up to meet eyes with her. "Why'd you start calling me Star?"

"Well..." Duena paused, uncertain how Star would take to her answer. "It was your scars."

A hum of interest rumbled from Star through a mouthful of food. "Really? I don't see the correlation myself, but whatever floats your boat, Love."

"Stop that!" Duena exclaimed, nearly stumbling over her words.

"Awh, poor thing. Getting embarrassed?" Star teased with a toothy grin. Duena leaned back and threw daggers at him from across the table. "Come on, you can't tell me you don't like it even just a little? No? Alright, how about ‘Squirt’ then?"

Duena rolled her eyes and rested her chin on the table. "I liked you better when you only wanted my food and weren't giving me childish pet names."

Star chuckled under his breath and pushed aside both trays. "Okay, fine. Since you don't like my ideas how about you tell me your actual name?"

"It's Duena. You are?"

"Star. It rolls off the tongue better than my actual name trust me," he stated before reaching a hoof across the table. "Glad to meet you under less oppressing terms."

Duena looked at his hoof for a moment before she returned the gesture, the two touched hooves for the briefest of moments. "So what are your plans now that you're free?"

Star leaned back and tapped his chin. "You know, I never really thought about it actually. The natural thing to do seems to be to join the fight. There's a lot of other 'lings like us out there that need our help," he sighed and got stood up from the table. "Just feels wrong to do nothing, you know?"

"Yeah, sure, but-"

Star interrupted Duena. "I mean, what kind of pony does it make you to simply sit here and wait for it all to blow over? It makes you nearly as bad as those ponies who kept us locked up to be sold off!" Duena's heart sank and her stomach knotted up at his words, the way he snarled and said it with such spite and disgust. "You agree, don't you Duena?"

Duena swallowed hard when Star turned to face her, his posture aggressive, and his tone demanded her conformity to his idea. "I mean, yeah, but..." Duena quickly lowered her voice and glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot, "I'm not so sure about all of them. Like June and Lightning both seem genuinely interested in upholding their morals, though the rest I'm not so sure of."

"Then if it were to be the case I'll rip their throats out myself," Star growled which caught a few glances from others around him. He didn't seem to care though and orientated himself toward the entrance to the mess hall. "I'm going to get myself fitted with armor. You gonna come or what?"

Duena opened her mouth to say something but nothing came to mind and awkwardly gawked at him. She quickly collected herself and got up from her seat. "You know what, sure." She didn't have anything better to do with her time anyway, but more importantly, she felt as though this was an opportunity to get on the good side of someone who she felt may be troublesome later on. "So, do you have any idea who that pony and the gryphons are, the ones who were doing the executions?" Duena spoke up suddenly, not entirely sure herself where the interest came from.

Star looked over his shoulder before rolling his head slightly in a sign of uncertainty. "I overheard some guards chatting about them on my way to get food. Apparently, they like to call them the 'Council of Truth', unwanted guests. From what I could gather they are some kind of over the top military police who have a thing for torturing and executing ponies for committing acts of treason. If I had to put my two cents in, I say we're better off for it. Might make this whole slave trade come to a grinding halt when ponies realize they're going to lose their heads literally." Star led Duena into the main stairway and headed further two tiers lower before they headed down the tunnel labeled “armory”. "That being said, I don't know if that lady has a level head on her shoulders herself, so I'd rather keep my distance from them if I had a choice."

Both Star and Duena moved to the side to let a passing line of guards move through the tunnel before they continued on their way to find themselves stuck in a line of changelings all who were waiting to have themselves fitted with armor. "The more of us we can save sooner, the better. Anyone who stands in my way will burn in a slow, painful death. Never mind these... 'Council of Truth' ponies and gryphons." Star shook his head and inched forward as the line did.

Duena didn't say anything and let Star sulk and fester in his ideologies, she felt his anger as it radiated off of him while she was sure his thoughts raced with images of other 'lings being locked up and mistreated. Duena had similar thoughts, but it wasn't enough to make her want to join the equestrian army. She almost felt as though she wouldn't be allowed too with her smaller frame and more fragile body. Then again, she was only shorter than the smallest member of her “rescue” group by an inch or two, but she wasn't sure if she even wanted to join in the first place. It almost felt like she was following Star out of fear of him being disappointed in her. But that's all it took to keep herself in place behind him, inched forward, step by step to join a potential civil war she was only dragged into herself.