Changing What Can't Be Changedby PonyThunderChaptersChapter One - ReturnChapter Two - RecallChapter Three - RegressChapter Four - ReactChapter One - Return Click for low-key background music. The moonlit skies dimly lit the barren landscape below Thorax as he flew through the air to the place he once called home. Near the beginning of his journey back from the Crystal Kingdom, he felt his heart filled to the brim with the love and energy he had shared with everyone in his experiences. He had never felt so full and completely satisfied in his whole life, and it was exhilarating. He hadn't had his hunger satisfied to such a point in so long, or ever upon closer contemplation. But it wasn't the kind of hunger that ponies or other creatures felt when they needed physical nourishment. It was something different, but still in many ways much the same. It was a hunger for love. For compassion. For affection. From the time of his birth to the current day, Thorax had always felt that hunger, as did all other changelings. Even the queen. They all did, and that's why they had to resort to violence and trickery to get what they wanted. Unable to produce them love themselves, they would seek it out elsewhere and desperately try to take it for themselves. Their leader, Queen Chrysalis, was the closest thing to love that any changeling had. Each and every changeling, no matter how small or how large, was in harsh competition to be good enough to receive admiration from their queen. That was how their society grew and progressed. The weak would die off, and the strong would survive. They lived to serve her, in hopes for a feeling that they belonged. One way they satisfied their hunger was through looting items of affection from other creatures throughout the lands. Stuffed dolls, blankets, books, flowers, awards, medals -- anything a pony loved and cared for. To changelings, they were called 'tokens'. Tokens of affection, that is. Changelings were capable of one magic trick, and one magic trick only. That "trick" was feeding off the energy of anything, alive or inanimate, in order to satisfy their own hunger. The items would last for varying amounts of time before any of the love left in them was sucked dry. They would use these tokens to get by, as their numbers increased and their collective strength grew. But, as one would expect, these tokens were also a source of violence and conflict among them as changelings fought each other over their ownership. It was a pitiful reality, but it was what was reality. And then there were the bad times. Times when love was scarce and they were weak, when the tokens weren't enough to sustain them and they were forced to go out and seek more. Their weak, feeble bodies made it so that they were forced to go in larger numbers, but that just meant the spoils of their thievery were spread even thinner. And so, in such times they were forced to go even further. Sneaking into the homes of ponies and other creatures near the unguarded outskirts, and committing an act that even they were condemned for doing to each other: draining the energy from living, breathing creatures for their own benefit. But never anything other than pets or wild animals, at least not yet. Thorax felt lucky and unfathomably thankful for what Spike had done for him by believing he could be more than the monster he appeared as. He showed him that there was another way -- a way that didn't punish the weak by making them weaker, or a way that required them to hurt others in horrible, permanent ways. And the princesses showed him that they truly cared about him and his kind. It seemed impossible at first, after what they had already done. What he had done, even if just by standing idly as others committed horrible acts. They made him believe that there was hope for the changelings, and that what seemed impossible might actually be possible. He had stayed at the Crystal Kingdom for a short time, but it soon became apparent that he had a moral obligation to leave and return to his hive. He was the very first changeling to be accepted by ponies, and the very first changeling to successfully befriend anyone. He felt a deep need to spread the idea of love and friendship with his own kind, no matter how hard or impossible the task seemed. Thorax was determined to find a way, to blaze a path, for changelings to change their ways for the better. If there was anyone to find a peaceful way to change the changelings, it was going to start with him. The moon glowed in the skies high above, casting a cool glow on his translucent wings as he flew closer to the hive of changelings. The journey was long, and already he had begun to feel the satiation of his hunger beginning to dwindle. Again, he felt the horrible biological urges to drain the energy of anything that came across him. The urges that caused him to lash out earlier to Spike and his friends, despite how much he cared for them. A twinge of doubt came across Thorax's mind as he tiredly set hoof onto the cold, dank floors of the hive he once called home. It was dark and cold, and the memories of his past life began to flood into this thoughts. He wondered if it were actually possible for changelings and ponies to coexist, despite the positive outlook he harbored just hours earlier. But that was then, and this was now. He was hungry, and felt the body begin to control the mind as his stomach rumbled. He needed love and satiation, and there was nopony around to provide it to him. Changelings buzzed above him every which direction, milling about from ledge to ledge, hole to hole, crevice to crevice. The air smelled cold and moist, and the memories began to flood back to him. The memories of hardship, violence and a disgust for everything they had become. Thorax found his small area, an alcove and small crevice in the walls of their hive just like any other. Inside wasn't much, aside from a couple tokens of affection that had likely been drained of use by whoever happened to come across them first upon his departure long ago. Before being befriended by Spike, this was the only small space he could call home. Suddenly, the familiar sound of the queen could be heard echoing down the endless caves and caverns of the hive. Hordes of changelings dropped what they were doing, coming out of the walls in a buzz of flapping wings, heading towards the central meeting area on the floor in the center of a large open area. Thorax instinctively did the same, as he had done hundreds of times before. It meant Chrysalis was about to make an announcement. He landed amidst the mass of changelings, blending into the crowd like any other. All the same, obedient changelings who were willing to do anything for the admiration of their queen. But not Thorax. He sat in contemplation as the crowd began to amass more changelings. It quickly became apparent that their numbers had grown significantly since his departure. He began to worry as more and more of them kept piling around Chrysalis, who stood in the center atop a raised area covered in moss. He also started to wonder how there were so many. When he left, they were barely scraping by on the tokens of affection. Thorax surveyed the crowd, and the answer became apparent. They were in terrible shape, beaten and bruised, feeble and tired. Most of them anyways. Queen Chrysalis always made sure to use the strong ones as examples to follow. She began to speak, her voice vibrant and powerful. "We have grown strong, and our strength is in our numbers," she shouted over the crowd. "The time has come for us to make our move." The ominous sounds of changeling cheers and buzzing wings echoed from every direction. "It is time for us to strike," Chrysalis continued emphatically, playing off the energy of the crowd. As their leader, she knew exactly how to manipulate the emotions of her followers. Thorax wondered what he was even doing back at the hive, as the crowd around him began to move with excitement. He began to doubt that he would be able to spread any sort of message that went against the queen's. Based upon the sheer emotion displayed in the crowd and Chrysalis continued her speech, it quickly became apparent to Thorax that changing the changelings wasn't going to be easy in the slightest. The chances of his initial plan of being passive, trying to befriend others and showing them a better way, were beginning to dwindle. "The others will fail and fall, as we rise towards victory!" As the queen continued her speech, detailing the plans of their offensive, he began to think of another way. A way that was much more aggressive and intricate. The only way to change the minds of many is to eliminate the source of their mindset. For the changelings, it was the misery brought upon by the the lack of love. Changing them one at a time might work in the long run, but judging by the excitement and emotions of the crowd, time was quickly running out. "We will take the newborn princess and make our demands!" A surge of terror washed over him. Suddenly, he felt the imminent urge to return to the Crystal Empire to warn them immediately, but there was no way he could leave the crowd at this moment. Or at any moment, really. It was likely that the queen had already planned out their invasion, and this was simply the announcement of its beginning. He couldn't have cut it any closer. "And if they don't comply," she continued. The crowd went silent, "then I will show them the true power that only a changeling can posses." She summoned an aura of green energy in her jagged horn. It sparked and swirled around her for several moments until finding its way towards a small bat that happened to be flying in the immediate vicinity. Immediately, it fell to the ground, its painful squeaks crying out as it hit the cold, rocky floor. The aura of magic created several small tendrils between her and the creature, emanating from it and into her horn. It let out a silent gasp as it slumped to the ground, turning a dark grey color. The crowd erupted with cheers and buzzing, and the queen ended her speech with a simple, haunting line. "And we won't stop until all have fallen." Chapter Two - Recall Click for low-key background music. Thorax watched as hundreds of changelings rose to the air simultaneously, their bug-like wings sounding in unison creating an ominous chorus of buzzing as they dispersed, fueled only by the hunger and hatred within them. What had Chrysalis hoped to gain from fillynapping the princess, anyways? He shuddered to think about the horrible act of draining the energy from her like she displayed earlier. The act that was supposed to be unmentionable. It was one thing to drain the energy from tokens of affection, and another to do it from lower creatures, but on ponies? On Flurry Heart? The queen had once assumed the shape of Princess Cadence to feed off the love and affection she attracted, but she hadn't attempted to directly drain it from her directly. The changelings were just as vile and full of hatred as their reputations had made them be perceived, but they did have their limits. It was something of an unspoken rule that a changeling wouldn't ever drain the life from another living, sentient creature. The exceptions for lower animals like bats and rodents was, at least when Thorax had previously lived in the hive, considered a sign of weakness more than anything. Any changeling who had to resort to such savagery couldn't be seen as anything but weak, as ironic as it sounded from a group of creatures who would so willingly deceive the masses for their own personal benefit. Or survival. And yet, the crowd of changelings cheered at the idea. Draining the love straight from the source without a care, irreversibly and permanently. It wouldn't kill them, but it wouldn't make much of a difference either way. A creature drained completely of energy doesn't just become weak and feeble -- they lose everything. The will to stand up, the will to believe, and the will to live on. That was why such an act was forbidden to be used among changelings. In times of great need, they would resort to small creatures and animals, but anything beyond that was strictly forbidden. Apparently, things were worse than Thorax could have imagined. He began to doubt his ability to change anything. He wanted to leave the hive and return back to the Crystal Empire where he was loved and cared for, but it was already too late. The queen was assembling a task force of a small group of changelings this very moment, who would infiltrate the kingdom in the dead of night and steal the princess. A stark contrast to their usual tactic of attacking with everything they had. She assigned the majority of changelings to stay at the hive, to await future orders when the young princess was successfully taken. Thorax watched from a distance as the queen was instructing the group of her plan. He was alone in the open, and realized too late that he looked suspicious when the queen brought her gaze to him. Even from so far away, he could feel her eyes piercing into his soul. "You!" Chrysalis shouted. "Come over here!" Thorax felt his heartbeat increase, and forced himself to take a deep breath as he quickly flew over to Chrysalis and her small group of changelings. He wondered if he had already been figured out. Was there something about him that was painfully obvious he did not belong? "You look as though you are strong," Chrysalis said to him, her tone surprisingly positive. "I want you in this task force as well. We need the strongest and most vigilant changelings if this plan is going to succeed." Thorax gulped inconspicuously. He wanted nothing more to do with Chrysalis' horrible plan, but refusing her desires was a death wish. He complied, and listened in. Two other changelings stood out to Thorax from the otherwise small group. One was bigger, and had a considerably larger physique. He had a tattered, scratched exterior and large fangs. His name was Tarsus. The other changeling he recognized was Poison Fang, a smaller changeling with razor sharp fangs and an aggressively energetic demeanor. He had spent time with them in the past, when the queen would send out groups of them to steal tokens of affection. If there was anything Thorax had that was closest to being friends, they were it. "You three will infiltrate the castle and retrieve the child," said Chrysalis, gesturing to Thorax, Tarsus and Poison Fang. "The rest will linger nearby in case anything goes wrong." Of course, that just meant if they were captured, there would be others nearby to retrieve the princess and continue on, leaving them behind. Upon further contemplation, it really wasn't much of a complicated plan. Chrysalis told them about the layout of the castle, where guards would be posted, and other various bits of information about the castle. Of course, Thorax already knew all about the Crystal Castle. He had spent a fair amount of time there, and quickly learned all that could really be known. If there was any changeling who could successfully steal Princess Flurry Heart, it was him. Perhaps being a part of the invasion wasn't such a bad thing after all. He could act out the role of fillynapper, and when the time was right, he could find a way to sabotage everything. "We leave now," Chrysalis shouted, making sure every changeling could hear her. Thorax rose to the air with the task force Chrysalis had selected and flew towards the opening to the hive. They filed out into the cold moonlit skies one by one, making their way to where Thorax had just returned from. As soon as he'd arrived, he was already heading back. As they flew through the skies, their black silhouettes raced along the tops of the clouds. Thorax wondered if they had recognized who he was, but his thoughts were quickly answered. "So where have you been all this time?" Tarsus asked in an accusative tone. "I, uh..." Thorax replied. "I left the hive to search for more tokens." It wasn't a complete lie, as that was why he left in the first place. "You've been gone for a long time," Tarsus replied in a deadpan voice. He seemed much stronger than he had previously, and his voice was deep and airy. "Yeah," replied Poison Fang as he took a jab at Thorax from the side as they flew in formation, "you been hidin' out, hording it all for yourself?" "No, I just--" "Don't even bother," Tarsus interrupted him, "we can tell you've gone solo, keeping all of the tokens to yourself. You were a skinny little twerp before you left." Poison Fang added his bit. "Traitor." Thorax didn't really have any idea how to respond. In a way, he did do exactly as they accused him of. He was a traitor. He had left the hive to fend for himself, and in the beginning he'd done exactly as they'd said. He sought out tokens of affection, stealing them from ponies in the dead of night so that he could survive another day or so with the intense hunger for affection he felt in the pit of his stomach. But after awhile, the pangs of guilt and sorrow cancelled out any nourishment he received. That was when he went to the Crystal Empire, to hide in the caves and barely stay alive from the immense feeling of love that emanated from the empire itself. Thorax didn't reply. "Fine," said Tarsus. "I don't care that you're a traitor, or why you decided to show your face here again. The queen may not have noticed you leaving, but I did. She didn't know you were a traitor when she selected you to go on this mission, but I did. But I don't care. Just stay out of my way." "That goes for me too," said Poison Fang. "Shut up, loser." Poison Fang flew over Thorax and into Tarsus, taking a jab at his wing. At first, Thorax thought it was just a harmless response, but the scar that it left told a different story. Thorax watched as the two of them began fighting in the middle of the sky, using their fangs and horns to hurt each other. At first, that was all he saw, but he also saw something else. He'd seen something like it before, on a looting night long ago when he was still at the hive. They had sneaked into the house of a family of earth ponies late in the evening, but there were two brothers that fought in the room adjacent to him as he briefly rummaged through their belongings to take items of affection. He caught a glimpse of them fighting, wrestling on the floor of their small cottage. But they were smiling, seemingly enjoying the fight together. They weren't physically harming each other, at least not to the degree that Thorax was watching as Poison Fang and Tarsus continued to fight. They were having fun. The fight ended, and Poison Fang and Tarsus continued to fly silently with Thorax as they continued towards the Crystal Kingdom. It wasn't until several minutes of flying that went by until Thorax realized something about their fighting. It was friendship, but in an extremely warped and sinister form. The changelings had the capability for love and affection, but the way in which it manifested wasn't exactly ideal or effective. But it was there. A glimmer of hope found its way into his mind as he flew between the two other changelings. He just wondered how he was going to deal with everything else. Chapter Three - Regress Click for low-key background music. "This is it. Assume your forms." Tarsus transformed himself into a palace guard, as did Thorax. The were in hiding beside a window to the large crystal palace that was fixated in the center of the kingdom. It was the dead of night, and the air was calm and still. High above the air on a small balcony, they made their preparations for the fillynapping of Princess Flurry Heart. For Thorax, just thinking about it put a guilty knot into his stomach, right next to the part that made him hiss and snarl when in such close proximity to love and affection. For Poison Fang and Tarsus, Thorax reasoned they must be feeling something as well, but it wasn't the same as him. For them, it was a feeling of vengeance and excitement for the day they would finally rise up once more. For the changelings that played a role in the attacks attacks on the Crystal Kingdom prior, it left only a bitter feeling of despair and hatred. "Why do I have to be the prisoner?" Poison Fang griped. Thorax and Tarsus had disguised themselves as two palace guards and were getting ready to enter through the window. "Because you're small and scrawny," Tarsus replied sternly. "You think you could pass as a palace guard?" "I could if you'd let me," he grumbled. "It's not all just about appearance you know. It's an art. You have to live the part." Tarsus snorted. "Ugh, just do your job so we can get out of here. The queen is counting on us." That seemed to quiet the two of them, and Poison Fang transformed into a regular pony. They entered through the window silently and carefully to avoid making any noises. Inside, the halls were long and dark. The little light that shone in from the moon and stars outside dimly shimmered and reflected along the crystal walls. "Okay," Tarsus whispered, "where's the princess supposed to be?" Down the hall, third door on the right, Thorax thought to himself. He found himself second-guessing himself. When should he make his move to derail their task? Too soon, and they'd be able to catch him and rip him to shreds. But too late, and the princess would be in the hands of Chrysalis. He debated for several seconds as they walked down the hall, until a voice emanated from behind them. "Halt." They stopped immediately, not because they were scared, but because it was what well-trained palace guards would do. "Yes, Princess Cadence?" Tarsus replied respectfully in the deep voice of a palace guard. Cadence trotted over to them. "Who is this pony you are escorting? It's nearly midnight." "They were trespassing on palace grounds," he replied. "He seemed suspicious, and we can't take too many chances. Not with the sightings of changelings we've been having." "Sightings of changelings?" Cadence replied. "I haven't been informed of those." Suddenly, Thorax's heart sank. The topic of conversation was drifting uncomfortably close to his time spent at the Crystal Empire. He quickly entered the conversation. "Only recently, just earlier this evening." Cadence seemed mildly annoyed, but accepted his statement and eyed Poison Fang disguised as the prisoner pony. She scanned him slowly from head to hoof. His eyes drifted uncomfortably away from Cadence as she continued to observe him up close. His legs shook ever so slightly from nervousness. "This is no changeling," she replied, and took a step back from him. "You may carry on and escort him outside of the palace. I have things to discuss with Shining Armor, now that you've given me this unfortunate news." Princess Cadence turned around and left them where they were, standing in the middle of the hallway. Moments later, Poison Fang broke their silence with a sly grin. "I told you: it's all about living the part." Tarsus rolled his eyes and they continued onwards down the hall. If there was any moment to derail their operation, it was then, and he had missed it. But, upon a second thought, revealing his identity then and there might have been disastrous. As much as he would have liked to think otherwise, Thorax didn't look much different from any other changelings. Cadence was a powerful alicorn, and there's no telling what kind of powerful magic she could have used on all three of them, including himself. The ponies were kind and caring, but there was a limit when it came to his kind. They came to Flurry Heart's room. She was sleeping soundly in a crib below a mobile of pegasi, unicorn and earth ponies. Thorax could feel the immense aura of love permeating through the air like a thick fog. The near-uncontrollable urge to devour and destroy filled his stomach and he felt the all-too-familiar urge to hiss and snarl. Looking at Poison Fang and Tarsus, they seemed to be experiencing the same phenomenon. It's likely that they had never been so close to such an object of affection. Poison Fang fidgeted in place, like he was about to explode with energy. Tarsus shot him a stern look that said everything he needed to say: don't mess this up. Tarsus and Thorax, still disguised as guards, came closer to Flurry Heart. The immense feeling of love washed over them, filling their noses with the tantalizing aroma of pure energy. Poison Fang watched from afar, with feelings of jealousy starting to take hold. From his currently foggy perspective, two other changelings were going to take what was rightfully his. He was the one who delivered the solid performance that fooled the princess of love herself. He should be the one who gets to take Flurry Heart, feeding off the energy that emanated from her at all times. He found himself walking towards them, his mouth snarling and disguise fading. The bruised, ragged body of a scrawny changeling slowly inched towards them as they carefully lifted the princess from her crib. "Poison Fang..." Tarsus whispered urgently, "don't mess this up." He didn't listen, and instead chose to let out a slithering snarl from the back of his throat, his tongue flicking aggressively towards them. Immediately, Flurry Heart awoke and began to cry, her voice wailing and echoing down the long crystal halls. "Ugh, you idiot!. Come on, we need to run." The sounds of galloping guards came from afar. Looking around urgently for an exit, Tarsus grabbed the princess and smashed through the window, followed shortly by Poison Fang who was more motivated by chasing after Tarsus than running from the guards. Thorax stood alone in the princess's bedroom, still debating what he should do. So far, he hadn't done much of anything to stop their plans. In fact, he hadn't even said a single word the entire night. But he couldn't just stay behind now that they had Flurry Heart. And he doubted that the guards would accept anything he said, standing in Flurry Heart's empty bedroom with shards of shattered glass beneath the windowsill. No, he still had to go along with their plans. He would just have to find another way to prevent them from continuing. He leaped into the air, re-assuming his natural form and taking to the moonlit skies behind the other two fillynappers. As he caught up with them, he began to wonder if he was really just indecisive, or if he subconsciously wanted something else. Chapter Four - React The blurry, dark silhouettes of three changelings soared over the barren landscape. Any hopes of the fleet of pegasi in pursuit being able to locate or track them down was practically zero. It was the dead of night, and seeing anything for a creature without nocturnal vision would be impossible. Tarsus, Poison Fang and Thorax flew in a line back towards the hive, with Tarsus carrying the young princess Flurry Heart in his bruised and rugged forelegs. Before she had any chance to use her misguided, yet powerful alicorn magic on any of them, they were sure to prevent it from the start. Before Tarsus had even left the crystal castle for more than thirty seconds, he made sure to drain a bit of the energy from the filly to put her into a deep, weakened state of sleep. Enough to get the job done, but not too much to make sure their bargaining power wouldn't be lost. It was sickening, Thorax thought to himself as he looked at the two of them flying and carrying back the poor filly. What was the queen's plan once they had Flurry Heart? What would be their demands? That everypony should allow themselves to be rounded up and used by the changelings to feed off of until every last one of them was drained of love and energy? What then? In their current state, the changelings were like poor creatures clinging and grasping at threads, desperately hoping to stay afloat for just a moment longer. Thorax was beginning to think that even the queen herself hadn't thought things through. Or, he realized upon closer inspection, perhaps she did, and she had nowhere else to go. She had hundreds, perhaps thousands of mouths to feed and seemingly no way through which to feed them. He almost felt sorry for her, for what she had to deal with, and for how simply their problems could be resolved if she just had the right leadership to teach her children how to love one another. That's all they needed. Yet, Queen Chrysalis was blinded by her intense hatred and deafened to reason by her thirst for vengeance. "You seem awfully quiet," said Tarsus, addressing Thorax. His tone was intriguing, as if he was actually curious what Thorax was thinking instead of setting up something awful to say to him. "I just...was thinking," he replied, immediately regretting his ambiguous choice of words. "About what?" Poison Fang jabbed. "You've got some sort of secret to spill? Or do you want me to spill it for you?" He dragged a fang against his side, hard enough to hurt but not enough to puncture. "No, I was just--" Apparently, something about his reaction was seen as a threat to Tarsus, because he suddenly veered towards him taking a jab at his neck with two outstretched fangs. "Hey, stop it!" Thorax cried out. The thought occurred to him that this was just more rough-housing, but it became immediately apparent that was not the case when Tarsus returned to headbutt him. Poison Fang joined in, likely because that was just what he did. Whatever Tarsus did, he did. "What's with you? Why are you so secretive? What do you have to hide?" Tarsus continued berating him with questions, trying to attack him all while flying at the same time. Flurry Heart remained in his grasps, but Tarsus seemed more preoccupied with attacking him. "What's wrong with you? Why can't you just realize that the queen thinks I am more suitable than you?" Thorax replied, mostly in hopes of striking another chord with him. Judging by his violent response, his bluff must have been at least partially true. Tarsus didn't respond with words at all. Instead, he bared his fangs, lowered his head downwards and pointed his jagged horn directly at his neck and flew towards him at full speed. Poison Fang was in the midst of trying to ruin his balance, his body sprawled out atop his back and wings. Tarsus flew towards them both with anger in his eyes and Flurry Heart in his hooves. His horn struck flesh, ripping it open like a serrated blade. Poison Fang screamed in agony and fell off the back of Thorax as Tarsus continued moving in his trajectory. The land below was dark and rocky, and covered with snow. His body hit the ground with a dull thud and slid for several feet before coming to a dead stop. Meanwhile, in the air high above, Flurry Heart was loosened from the grips of Tarsus in the violent attack moments prior. Falling aimlessly through the sky, she began to sink towards the ground below to join Poison Fang. She continued to plummet for several seconds through the cold, dry air until suddenly, Thorax had swooped down from above to catch her in his outstretched forelegs. He pulled upwards as hard as he could, but was unable to avoid coming into contact with the icy ground beneath him. In the last few moments before making contact, he curled himself around Flurry Heart and took the blow full force, bouncing and sliding a large distance due to his immense horizontal velocity. With each bounce came a surge of pain and suffering, each one slightly worse than the last until he came to a sliding stop near an icy crevice. Meanwhile, Tarsus was still amidst the skies regaining his bearings, and Thorax managed to quickly hide himself amidst the crevice before he could be seen. But Poison Fang was out in the open, his body still and unmoving. From the protection of his hiding spot, Thorax watched the scene unfold. Perhaps in a moment of weakness, or perhaps purely out of curiosity, Tarsus came to Poison Fang on the snow-covered ground. The wound from his horn was already beginning to seep out fluids, but the intense cold of the environment seemed to be slowing its effect. Tarsus walked solemnly towards the body, eyeing the wound that was meant for Thorax but was given to Poison Fang. He stopped at his side and looked downwards for several moments, letting out an exasperated sigh. Several more seconds passed in silence, with only the faint sound of wind blowing and snow falling until Tarsus did something Thorax would never have expected a changeling to do. He knelt down and laid his horn against Posion Fang's body, channeling an aura of energy that began to swirl around him. As it swirled, it swept up the snow and revealed the grassy ground beneath it and the colors became more vibrant as the swirling became more powerful. Tarsus looked as if his body was slowly decaying, his energy fading away as the aura continued to emanate from his horn. Suddenly, the swirling stopped and he collapsed into the snow, barely able to breathe. Poison Fang remained lifeless, and Tarsus laid beside him as he regained enough energy to stand again. Thorax retreated into the icy crevice. His wing was badly damaged and he had an alicorn princess to protect. Author's Note I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really enjoyed writing this one. Amazing what comes out sometimes when you have a simple plan for continuing a story, and it derails itself in a completely different way.
Chapter One - Return Click for low-key background music. The moonlit skies dimly lit the barren landscape below Thorax as he flew through the air to the place he once called home. Near the beginning of his journey back from the Crystal Kingdom, he felt his heart filled to the brim with the love and energy he had shared with everyone in his experiences. He had never felt so full and completely satisfied in his whole life, and it was exhilarating. He hadn't had his hunger satisfied to such a point in so long, or ever upon closer contemplation. But it wasn't the kind of hunger that ponies or other creatures felt when they needed physical nourishment. It was something different, but still in many ways much the same. It was a hunger for love. For compassion. For affection. From the time of his birth to the current day, Thorax had always felt that hunger, as did all other changelings. Even the queen. They all did, and that's why they had to resort to violence and trickery to get what they wanted. Unable to produce them love themselves, they would seek it out elsewhere and desperately try to take it for themselves. Their leader, Queen Chrysalis, was the closest thing to love that any changeling had. Each and every changeling, no matter how small or how large, was in harsh competition to be good enough to receive admiration from their queen. That was how their society grew and progressed. The weak would die off, and the strong would survive. They lived to serve her, in hopes for a feeling that they belonged. One way they satisfied their hunger was through looting items of affection from other creatures throughout the lands. Stuffed dolls, blankets, books, flowers, awards, medals -- anything a pony loved and cared for. To changelings, they were called 'tokens'. Tokens of affection, that is. Changelings were capable of one magic trick, and one magic trick only. That "trick" was feeding off the energy of anything, alive or inanimate, in order to satisfy their own hunger. The items would last for varying amounts of time before any of the love left in them was sucked dry. They would use these tokens to get by, as their numbers increased and their collective strength grew. But, as one would expect, these tokens were also a source of violence and conflict among them as changelings fought each other over their ownership. It was a pitiful reality, but it was what was reality. And then there were the bad times. Times when love was scarce and they were weak, when the tokens weren't enough to sustain them and they were forced to go out and seek more. Their weak, feeble bodies made it so that they were forced to go in larger numbers, but that just meant the spoils of their thievery were spread even thinner. And so, in such times they were forced to go even further. Sneaking into the homes of ponies and other creatures near the unguarded outskirts, and committing an act that even they were condemned for doing to each other: draining the energy from living, breathing creatures for their own benefit. But never anything other than pets or wild animals, at least not yet. Thorax felt lucky and unfathomably thankful for what Spike had done for him by believing he could be more than the monster he appeared as. He showed him that there was another way -- a way that didn't punish the weak by making them weaker, or a way that required them to hurt others in horrible, permanent ways. And the princesses showed him that they truly cared about him and his kind. It seemed impossible at first, after what they had already done. What he had done, even if just by standing idly as others committed horrible acts. They made him believe that there was hope for the changelings, and that what seemed impossible might actually be possible. He had stayed at the Crystal Kingdom for a short time, but it soon became apparent that he had a moral obligation to leave and return to his hive. He was the very first changeling to be accepted by ponies, and the very first changeling to successfully befriend anyone. He felt a deep need to spread the idea of love and friendship with his own kind, no matter how hard or impossible the task seemed. Thorax was determined to find a way, to blaze a path, for changelings to change their ways for the better. If there was anyone to find a peaceful way to change the changelings, it was going to start with him. The moon glowed in the skies high above, casting a cool glow on his translucent wings as he flew closer to the hive of changelings. The journey was long, and already he had begun to feel the satiation of his hunger beginning to dwindle. Again, he felt the horrible biological urges to drain the energy of anything that came across him. The urges that caused him to lash out earlier to Spike and his friends, despite how much he cared for them. A twinge of doubt came across Thorax's mind as he tiredly set hoof onto the cold, dank floors of the hive he once called home. It was dark and cold, and the memories of his past life began to flood into this thoughts. He wondered if it were actually possible for changelings and ponies to coexist, despite the positive outlook he harbored just hours earlier. But that was then, and this was now. He was hungry, and felt the body begin to control the mind as his stomach rumbled. He needed love and satiation, and there was nopony around to provide it to him. Changelings buzzed above him every which direction, milling about from ledge to ledge, hole to hole, crevice to crevice. The air smelled cold and moist, and the memories began to flood back to him. The memories of hardship, violence and a disgust for everything they had become. Thorax found his small area, an alcove and small crevice in the walls of their hive just like any other. Inside wasn't much, aside from a couple tokens of affection that had likely been drained of use by whoever happened to come across them first upon his departure long ago. Before being befriended by Spike, this was the only small space he could call home. Suddenly, the familiar sound of the queen could be heard echoing down the endless caves and caverns of the hive. Hordes of changelings dropped what they were doing, coming out of the walls in a buzz of flapping wings, heading towards the central meeting area on the floor in the center of a large open area. Thorax instinctively did the same, as he had done hundreds of times before. It meant Chrysalis was about to make an announcement. He landed amidst the mass of changelings, blending into the crowd like any other. All the same, obedient changelings who were willing to do anything for the admiration of their queen. But not Thorax. He sat in contemplation as the crowd began to amass more changelings. It quickly became apparent that their numbers had grown significantly since his departure. He began to worry as more and more of them kept piling around Chrysalis, who stood in the center atop a raised area covered in moss. He also started to wonder how there were so many. When he left, they were barely scraping by on the tokens of affection. Thorax surveyed the crowd, and the answer became apparent. They were in terrible shape, beaten and bruised, feeble and tired. Most of them anyways. Queen Chrysalis always made sure to use the strong ones as examples to follow. She began to speak, her voice vibrant and powerful. "We have grown strong, and our strength is in our numbers," she shouted over the crowd. "The time has come for us to make our move." The ominous sounds of changeling cheers and buzzing wings echoed from every direction. "It is time for us to strike," Chrysalis continued emphatically, playing off the energy of the crowd. As their leader, she knew exactly how to manipulate the emotions of her followers. Thorax wondered what he was even doing back at the hive, as the crowd around him began to move with excitement. He began to doubt that he would be able to spread any sort of message that went against the queen's. Based upon the sheer emotion displayed in the crowd and Chrysalis continued her speech, it quickly became apparent to Thorax that changing the changelings wasn't going to be easy in the slightest. The chances of his initial plan of being passive, trying to befriend others and showing them a better way, were beginning to dwindle. "The others will fail and fall, as we rise towards victory!" As the queen continued her speech, detailing the plans of their offensive, he began to think of another way. A way that was much more aggressive and intricate. The only way to change the minds of many is to eliminate the source of their mindset. For the changelings, it was the misery brought upon by the the lack of love. Changing them one at a time might work in the long run, but judging by the excitement and emotions of the crowd, time was quickly running out. "We will take the newborn princess and make our demands!" A surge of terror washed over him. Suddenly, he felt the imminent urge to return to the Crystal Empire to warn them immediately, but there was no way he could leave the crowd at this moment. Or at any moment, really. It was likely that the queen had already planned out their invasion, and this was simply the announcement of its beginning. He couldn't have cut it any closer. "And if they don't comply," she continued. The crowd went silent, "then I will show them the true power that only a changeling can posses." She summoned an aura of green energy in her jagged horn. It sparked and swirled around her for several moments until finding its way towards a small bat that happened to be flying in the immediate vicinity. Immediately, it fell to the ground, its painful squeaks crying out as it hit the cold, rocky floor. The aura of magic created several small tendrils between her and the creature, emanating from it and into her horn. It let out a silent gasp as it slumped to the ground, turning a dark grey color. The crowd erupted with cheers and buzzing, and the queen ended her speech with a simple, haunting line. "And we won't stop until all have fallen."
Chapter Two - Recall Click for low-key background music. Thorax watched as hundreds of changelings rose to the air simultaneously, their bug-like wings sounding in unison creating an ominous chorus of buzzing as they dispersed, fueled only by the hunger and hatred within them. What had Chrysalis hoped to gain from fillynapping the princess, anyways? He shuddered to think about the horrible act of draining the energy from her like she displayed earlier. The act that was supposed to be unmentionable. It was one thing to drain the energy from tokens of affection, and another to do it from lower creatures, but on ponies? On Flurry Heart? The queen had once assumed the shape of Princess Cadence to feed off the love and affection she attracted, but she hadn't attempted to directly drain it from her directly. The changelings were just as vile and full of hatred as their reputations had made them be perceived, but they did have their limits. It was something of an unspoken rule that a changeling wouldn't ever drain the life from another living, sentient creature. The exceptions for lower animals like bats and rodents was, at least when Thorax had previously lived in the hive, considered a sign of weakness more than anything. Any changeling who had to resort to such savagery couldn't be seen as anything but weak, as ironic as it sounded from a group of creatures who would so willingly deceive the masses for their own personal benefit. Or survival. And yet, the crowd of changelings cheered at the idea. Draining the love straight from the source without a care, irreversibly and permanently. It wouldn't kill them, but it wouldn't make much of a difference either way. A creature drained completely of energy doesn't just become weak and feeble -- they lose everything. The will to stand up, the will to believe, and the will to live on. That was why such an act was forbidden to be used among changelings. In times of great need, they would resort to small creatures and animals, but anything beyond that was strictly forbidden. Apparently, things were worse than Thorax could have imagined. He began to doubt his ability to change anything. He wanted to leave the hive and return back to the Crystal Empire where he was loved and cared for, but it was already too late. The queen was assembling a task force of a small group of changelings this very moment, who would infiltrate the kingdom in the dead of night and steal the princess. A stark contrast to their usual tactic of attacking with everything they had. She assigned the majority of changelings to stay at the hive, to await future orders when the young princess was successfully taken. Thorax watched from a distance as the queen was instructing the group of her plan. He was alone in the open, and realized too late that he looked suspicious when the queen brought her gaze to him. Even from so far away, he could feel her eyes piercing into his soul. "You!" Chrysalis shouted. "Come over here!" Thorax felt his heartbeat increase, and forced himself to take a deep breath as he quickly flew over to Chrysalis and her small group of changelings. He wondered if he had already been figured out. Was there something about him that was painfully obvious he did not belong? "You look as though you are strong," Chrysalis said to him, her tone surprisingly positive. "I want you in this task force as well. We need the strongest and most vigilant changelings if this plan is going to succeed." Thorax gulped inconspicuously. He wanted nothing more to do with Chrysalis' horrible plan, but refusing her desires was a death wish. He complied, and listened in. Two other changelings stood out to Thorax from the otherwise small group. One was bigger, and had a considerably larger physique. He had a tattered, scratched exterior and large fangs. His name was Tarsus. The other changeling he recognized was Poison Fang, a smaller changeling with razor sharp fangs and an aggressively energetic demeanor. He had spent time with them in the past, when the queen would send out groups of them to steal tokens of affection. If there was anything Thorax had that was closest to being friends, they were it. "You three will infiltrate the castle and retrieve the child," said Chrysalis, gesturing to Thorax, Tarsus and Poison Fang. "The rest will linger nearby in case anything goes wrong." Of course, that just meant if they were captured, there would be others nearby to retrieve the princess and continue on, leaving them behind. Upon further contemplation, it really wasn't much of a complicated plan. Chrysalis told them about the layout of the castle, where guards would be posted, and other various bits of information about the castle. Of course, Thorax already knew all about the Crystal Castle. He had spent a fair amount of time there, and quickly learned all that could really be known. If there was any changeling who could successfully steal Princess Flurry Heart, it was him. Perhaps being a part of the invasion wasn't such a bad thing after all. He could act out the role of fillynapper, and when the time was right, he could find a way to sabotage everything. "We leave now," Chrysalis shouted, making sure every changeling could hear her. Thorax rose to the air with the task force Chrysalis had selected and flew towards the opening to the hive. They filed out into the cold moonlit skies one by one, making their way to where Thorax had just returned from. As soon as he'd arrived, he was already heading back. As they flew through the skies, their black silhouettes raced along the tops of the clouds. Thorax wondered if they had recognized who he was, but his thoughts were quickly answered. "So where have you been all this time?" Tarsus asked in an accusative tone. "I, uh..." Thorax replied. "I left the hive to search for more tokens." It wasn't a complete lie, as that was why he left in the first place. "You've been gone for a long time," Tarsus replied in a deadpan voice. He seemed much stronger than he had previously, and his voice was deep and airy. "Yeah," replied Poison Fang as he took a jab at Thorax from the side as they flew in formation, "you been hidin' out, hording it all for yourself?" "No, I just--" "Don't even bother," Tarsus interrupted him, "we can tell you've gone solo, keeping all of the tokens to yourself. You were a skinny little twerp before you left." Poison Fang added his bit. "Traitor." Thorax didn't really have any idea how to respond. In a way, he did do exactly as they accused him of. He was a traitor. He had left the hive to fend for himself, and in the beginning he'd done exactly as they'd said. He sought out tokens of affection, stealing them from ponies in the dead of night so that he could survive another day or so with the intense hunger for affection he felt in the pit of his stomach. But after awhile, the pangs of guilt and sorrow cancelled out any nourishment he received. That was when he went to the Crystal Empire, to hide in the caves and barely stay alive from the immense feeling of love that emanated from the empire itself. Thorax didn't reply. "Fine," said Tarsus. "I don't care that you're a traitor, or why you decided to show your face here again. The queen may not have noticed you leaving, but I did. She didn't know you were a traitor when she selected you to go on this mission, but I did. But I don't care. Just stay out of my way." "That goes for me too," said Poison Fang. "Shut up, loser." Poison Fang flew over Thorax and into Tarsus, taking a jab at his wing. At first, Thorax thought it was just a harmless response, but the scar that it left told a different story. Thorax watched as the two of them began fighting in the middle of the sky, using their fangs and horns to hurt each other. At first, that was all he saw, but he also saw something else. He'd seen something like it before, on a looting night long ago when he was still at the hive. They had sneaked into the house of a family of earth ponies late in the evening, but there were two brothers that fought in the room adjacent to him as he briefly rummaged through their belongings to take items of affection. He caught a glimpse of them fighting, wrestling on the floor of their small cottage. But they were smiling, seemingly enjoying the fight together. They weren't physically harming each other, at least not to the degree that Thorax was watching as Poison Fang and Tarsus continued to fight. They were having fun. The fight ended, and Poison Fang and Tarsus continued to fly silently with Thorax as they continued towards the Crystal Kingdom. It wasn't until several minutes of flying that went by until Thorax realized something about their fighting. It was friendship, but in an extremely warped and sinister form. The changelings had the capability for love and affection, but the way in which it manifested wasn't exactly ideal or effective. But it was there. A glimmer of hope found its way into his mind as he flew between the two other changelings. He just wondered how he was going to deal with everything else.
Chapter Three - Regress Click for low-key background music. "This is it. Assume your forms." Tarsus transformed himself into a palace guard, as did Thorax. The were in hiding beside a window to the large crystal palace that was fixated in the center of the kingdom. It was the dead of night, and the air was calm and still. High above the air on a small balcony, they made their preparations for the fillynapping of Princess Flurry Heart. For Thorax, just thinking about it put a guilty knot into his stomach, right next to the part that made him hiss and snarl when in such close proximity to love and affection. For Poison Fang and Tarsus, Thorax reasoned they must be feeling something as well, but it wasn't the same as him. For them, it was a feeling of vengeance and excitement for the day they would finally rise up once more. For the changelings that played a role in the attacks attacks on the Crystal Kingdom prior, it left only a bitter feeling of despair and hatred. "Why do I have to be the prisoner?" Poison Fang griped. Thorax and Tarsus had disguised themselves as two palace guards and were getting ready to enter through the window. "Because you're small and scrawny," Tarsus replied sternly. "You think you could pass as a palace guard?" "I could if you'd let me," he grumbled. "It's not all just about appearance you know. It's an art. You have to live the part." Tarsus snorted. "Ugh, just do your job so we can get out of here. The queen is counting on us." That seemed to quiet the two of them, and Poison Fang transformed into a regular pony. They entered through the window silently and carefully to avoid making any noises. Inside, the halls were long and dark. The little light that shone in from the moon and stars outside dimly shimmered and reflected along the crystal walls. "Okay," Tarsus whispered, "where's the princess supposed to be?" Down the hall, third door on the right, Thorax thought to himself. He found himself second-guessing himself. When should he make his move to derail their task? Too soon, and they'd be able to catch him and rip him to shreds. But too late, and the princess would be in the hands of Chrysalis. He debated for several seconds as they walked down the hall, until a voice emanated from behind them. "Halt." They stopped immediately, not because they were scared, but because it was what well-trained palace guards would do. "Yes, Princess Cadence?" Tarsus replied respectfully in the deep voice of a palace guard. Cadence trotted over to them. "Who is this pony you are escorting? It's nearly midnight." "They were trespassing on palace grounds," he replied. "He seemed suspicious, and we can't take too many chances. Not with the sightings of changelings we've been having." "Sightings of changelings?" Cadence replied. "I haven't been informed of those." Suddenly, Thorax's heart sank. The topic of conversation was drifting uncomfortably close to his time spent at the Crystal Empire. He quickly entered the conversation. "Only recently, just earlier this evening." Cadence seemed mildly annoyed, but accepted his statement and eyed Poison Fang disguised as the prisoner pony. She scanned him slowly from head to hoof. His eyes drifted uncomfortably away from Cadence as she continued to observe him up close. His legs shook ever so slightly from nervousness. "This is no changeling," she replied, and took a step back from him. "You may carry on and escort him outside of the palace. I have things to discuss with Shining Armor, now that you've given me this unfortunate news." Princess Cadence turned around and left them where they were, standing in the middle of the hallway. Moments later, Poison Fang broke their silence with a sly grin. "I told you: it's all about living the part." Tarsus rolled his eyes and they continued onwards down the hall. If there was any moment to derail their operation, it was then, and he had missed it. But, upon a second thought, revealing his identity then and there might have been disastrous. As much as he would have liked to think otherwise, Thorax didn't look much different from any other changelings. Cadence was a powerful alicorn, and there's no telling what kind of powerful magic she could have used on all three of them, including himself. The ponies were kind and caring, but there was a limit when it came to his kind. They came to Flurry Heart's room. She was sleeping soundly in a crib below a mobile of pegasi, unicorn and earth ponies. Thorax could feel the immense aura of love permeating through the air like a thick fog. The near-uncontrollable urge to devour and destroy filled his stomach and he felt the all-too-familiar urge to hiss and snarl. Looking at Poison Fang and Tarsus, they seemed to be experiencing the same phenomenon. It's likely that they had never been so close to such an object of affection. Poison Fang fidgeted in place, like he was about to explode with energy. Tarsus shot him a stern look that said everything he needed to say: don't mess this up. Tarsus and Thorax, still disguised as guards, came closer to Flurry Heart. The immense feeling of love washed over them, filling their noses with the tantalizing aroma of pure energy. Poison Fang watched from afar, with feelings of jealousy starting to take hold. From his currently foggy perspective, two other changelings were going to take what was rightfully his. He was the one who delivered the solid performance that fooled the princess of love herself. He should be the one who gets to take Flurry Heart, feeding off the energy that emanated from her at all times. He found himself walking towards them, his mouth snarling and disguise fading. The bruised, ragged body of a scrawny changeling slowly inched towards them as they carefully lifted the princess from her crib. "Poison Fang..." Tarsus whispered urgently, "don't mess this up." He didn't listen, and instead chose to let out a slithering snarl from the back of his throat, his tongue flicking aggressively towards them. Immediately, Flurry Heart awoke and began to cry, her voice wailing and echoing down the long crystal halls. "Ugh, you idiot!. Come on, we need to run." The sounds of galloping guards came from afar. Looking around urgently for an exit, Tarsus grabbed the princess and smashed through the window, followed shortly by Poison Fang who was more motivated by chasing after Tarsus than running from the guards. Thorax stood alone in the princess's bedroom, still debating what he should do. So far, he hadn't done much of anything to stop their plans. In fact, he hadn't even said a single word the entire night. But he couldn't just stay behind now that they had Flurry Heart. And he doubted that the guards would accept anything he said, standing in Flurry Heart's empty bedroom with shards of shattered glass beneath the windowsill. No, he still had to go along with their plans. He would just have to find another way to prevent them from continuing. He leaped into the air, re-assuming his natural form and taking to the moonlit skies behind the other two fillynappers. As he caught up with them, he began to wonder if he was really just indecisive, or if he subconsciously wanted something else.
Chapter Four - React The blurry, dark silhouettes of three changelings soared over the barren landscape. Any hopes of the fleet of pegasi in pursuit being able to locate or track them down was practically zero. It was the dead of night, and seeing anything for a creature without nocturnal vision would be impossible. Tarsus, Poison Fang and Thorax flew in a line back towards the hive, with Tarsus carrying the young princess Flurry Heart in his bruised and rugged forelegs. Before she had any chance to use her misguided, yet powerful alicorn magic on any of them, they were sure to prevent it from the start. Before Tarsus had even left the crystal castle for more than thirty seconds, he made sure to drain a bit of the energy from the filly to put her into a deep, weakened state of sleep. Enough to get the job done, but not too much to make sure their bargaining power wouldn't be lost. It was sickening, Thorax thought to himself as he looked at the two of them flying and carrying back the poor filly. What was the queen's plan once they had Flurry Heart? What would be their demands? That everypony should allow themselves to be rounded up and used by the changelings to feed off of until every last one of them was drained of love and energy? What then? In their current state, the changelings were like poor creatures clinging and grasping at threads, desperately hoping to stay afloat for just a moment longer. Thorax was beginning to think that even the queen herself hadn't thought things through. Or, he realized upon closer inspection, perhaps she did, and she had nowhere else to go. She had hundreds, perhaps thousands of mouths to feed and seemingly no way through which to feed them. He almost felt sorry for her, for what she had to deal with, and for how simply their problems could be resolved if she just had the right leadership to teach her children how to love one another. That's all they needed. Yet, Queen Chrysalis was blinded by her intense hatred and deafened to reason by her thirst for vengeance. "You seem awfully quiet," said Tarsus, addressing Thorax. His tone was intriguing, as if he was actually curious what Thorax was thinking instead of setting up something awful to say to him. "I just...was thinking," he replied, immediately regretting his ambiguous choice of words. "About what?" Poison Fang jabbed. "You've got some sort of secret to spill? Or do you want me to spill it for you?" He dragged a fang against his side, hard enough to hurt but not enough to puncture. "No, I was just--" Apparently, something about his reaction was seen as a threat to Tarsus, because he suddenly veered towards him taking a jab at his neck with two outstretched fangs. "Hey, stop it!" Thorax cried out. The thought occurred to him that this was just more rough-housing, but it became immediately apparent that was not the case when Tarsus returned to headbutt him. Poison Fang joined in, likely because that was just what he did. Whatever Tarsus did, he did. "What's with you? Why are you so secretive? What do you have to hide?" Tarsus continued berating him with questions, trying to attack him all while flying at the same time. Flurry Heart remained in his grasps, but Tarsus seemed more preoccupied with attacking him. "What's wrong with you? Why can't you just realize that the queen thinks I am more suitable than you?" Thorax replied, mostly in hopes of striking another chord with him. Judging by his violent response, his bluff must have been at least partially true. Tarsus didn't respond with words at all. Instead, he bared his fangs, lowered his head downwards and pointed his jagged horn directly at his neck and flew towards him at full speed. Poison Fang was in the midst of trying to ruin his balance, his body sprawled out atop his back and wings. Tarsus flew towards them both with anger in his eyes and Flurry Heart in his hooves. His horn struck flesh, ripping it open like a serrated blade. Poison Fang screamed in agony and fell off the back of Thorax as Tarsus continued moving in his trajectory. The land below was dark and rocky, and covered with snow. His body hit the ground with a dull thud and slid for several feet before coming to a dead stop. Meanwhile, in the air high above, Flurry Heart was loosened from the grips of Tarsus in the violent attack moments prior. Falling aimlessly through the sky, she began to sink towards the ground below to join Poison Fang. She continued to plummet for several seconds through the cold, dry air until suddenly, Thorax had swooped down from above to catch her in his outstretched forelegs. He pulled upwards as hard as he could, but was unable to avoid coming into contact with the icy ground beneath him. In the last few moments before making contact, he curled himself around Flurry Heart and took the blow full force, bouncing and sliding a large distance due to his immense horizontal velocity. With each bounce came a surge of pain and suffering, each one slightly worse than the last until he came to a sliding stop near an icy crevice. Meanwhile, Tarsus was still amidst the skies regaining his bearings, and Thorax managed to quickly hide himself amidst the crevice before he could be seen. But Poison Fang was out in the open, his body still and unmoving. From the protection of his hiding spot, Thorax watched the scene unfold. Perhaps in a moment of weakness, or perhaps purely out of curiosity, Tarsus came to Poison Fang on the snow-covered ground. The wound from his horn was already beginning to seep out fluids, but the intense cold of the environment seemed to be slowing its effect. Tarsus walked solemnly towards the body, eyeing the wound that was meant for Thorax but was given to Poison Fang. He stopped at his side and looked downwards for several moments, letting out an exasperated sigh. Several more seconds passed in silence, with only the faint sound of wind blowing and snow falling until Tarsus did something Thorax would never have expected a changeling to do. He knelt down and laid his horn against Posion Fang's body, channeling an aura of energy that began to swirl around him. As it swirled, it swept up the snow and revealed the grassy ground beneath it and the colors became more vibrant as the swirling became more powerful. Tarsus looked as if his body was slowly decaying, his energy fading away as the aura continued to emanate from his horn. Suddenly, the swirling stopped and he collapsed into the snow, barely able to breathe. Poison Fang remained lifeless, and Tarsus laid beside him as he regained enough energy to stand again. Thorax retreated into the icy crevice. His wing was badly damaged and he had an alicorn princess to protect. Author's Note I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I really enjoyed writing this one. Amazing what comes out sometimes when you have a simple plan for continuing a story, and it derails itself in a completely different way.
