Becoming Whole

A crowd was gathered around a house in Canterlot. It was somewhat impressive how many ponies could be in the same area at once but that isn’t important. What’s important is that one of them is on a mission. His mission far exceeded the mission of any other pony there that’s for sure.

The pony well known as Steady Saunter rushed through the multitude of mares and stallions, hurrying to his destination. He finally made it to the building. He unfortunately wasn’t allowed to go inside due to the guards standing outside the door.

“I’m sorry sir.” Said one of the guards, “There was a crime commited.”

“No shit Sherlock!” Steady yelled. After he took a breath he spoke again, “Look, I just want to know if the foal is still missing.”

The guard replied with a motionless expression, “I do believe everypony already knows that from the papers. We are running an investigation for…”

But Amare didn’t hear anything past that. Instead his hearing went numb. It was a familiar sound. Without responding to the guard he trotted away to an alley. He made sure no one was looking before concentrating his magic he activated his mental link.

“This Amare Cadere.”

Drone 326, you are ordered to return to the hive.

“Sir?”

You heard me. Get to the hive now.

“I...uh...”

What was that?

“N…nothing sir. I’m on my way”

Amare cut the link and sat down. He had to leave. After all he had done. He’d made relationships with others. He had lived a normal life.

That doesn’t matter. He had a mission and he carried it out. Get information on the security of the kingdom. He shouldn’t care whether or not he had built a good reputation in the little city.

“I’m being silly.” He said more as a reassurance to himself, “My Queen beckons me once more and I must obey.” Amare sneaks out of the metropolis and heads towards the changeling kingdom, his form returned to its natural one.

Amare’s’ chitin hooves clopped on the ground as he landed in front of the changeling castle. He sighed and walked into a hole that had just appeared in the wall. In a hurried pace he went down several corridors in a similar fashion. Soon he got to the barracks. He went inside and greeted his fellow changeling invaders. Most of them were either hoof wrestling or flat out wrestling. He ignored them went to the end of the hall where his captain slept. He knocked on the door and waited. It soon opened and a large changeling stepped out, his body covered in scars from past battles. The worst of these was the one on his eye causing his eye to have a ghostly look, hence the name…

“Captain Ghost sir. Invader Cadere reporting.” The Captain smiled deviously.

“Well drone, how did you like your vacation? Sickening wasn’t it, living with those ponies? The colorful bastards.” Said the Captain spitting the word pony out like a piece of rotten fruit.

“Anyway…” he continued, “If you’re wondering why you’ve been called don't get the idea that you’re special or anything. The Queen has been calling as many changelings as possible. After the failure at Caterlot we can’t take any chances. We need every changeling available.”

While Captain Ghost continued his tirade Amare simply began to tune him out. It felt weird being back after the last month. He had lived with ponies so much the bland colors of the hive were…boring? The darn ponies were to blame. They ruined his taste in changeling culture. He needed to concentrate, dinner would be soon and he didn’t want to lose out on his fair share of love.

“…and Bone broke somelings neck again. That’s the third one this week. The Queen loves it.” Amare realizing that the Captain hadn’t notice his faze out, decided to speak.

“Well, that’s an…uh…interesting story but…” he pointed to the hole in the wall, “…I’m getting hungry. Those ponies like the Queen said are heartless. I barely got a full meal.” He saluted and then left.

Changelings sat at the Feasting Table savagely sucking love from the cocooned ponies on the table. Some were even fighting over who got who causing the room to become a fight fest. Only one changeling remained in place, taking tiny sips of love from a grown stallion in front of him. The stallion was a guard and was crying in his cocoon.

Amare didn’t quite like taking love, but he was a little hungry after traveling for so long earlier so he took a little more than normal. Suddenly he saw something strange, it was another guard. Amare looked up and saw he was no longer in the hive. He was on a battlefield. He looked around and saw something that made his heart quench: a brown Pegasus guard, dead on the ground. At least he thought he was dead. He began to speak.

“I have found you.”

Amare snapped back to the hive and fell out of his chair. His mind was a blur of feelings, those of which he had never had before. He looked up and saw the face of the guard he had been sucking love from. The ponies eyes were open and he was smiling. Then he closed his eyes, with a smile still on his face.

Three hours, one therapy visit, and two minutes later Amare found himself standing at attention for the daily inspiration meeting.

“Once again we have proven our strength!” yelled Queen Chrysalis, “We have captured hundreds of ponies from all over Equestria. Ponies from Canterlot…” Amares’ heart burned, “…ponies from ponyville, and even ponies from the Crystal Empire!” After a little villainous laughter she stepped off the stage and Captain Ghost stepped onto it.

“Alright drones! Here is the list of participants for todays torture chamber…er…torture-and-then-kill-em chamber! Spine! Wreck! Drain!...”

Amare started to ignore this part. He was never chosen for this job, that being because he didn’t sign up for it.

“…Dummy! Code! Amare! Jake! That’s all! See you there sickos!”

Time froze.

As all the changelings began to walk away, one stood frozen. He continued to stare at the stage. When time and reality returned to the changeling, Amare decided the best course of action would be to find the captain and ask what in Tartarus was going on. He ran down the corridors, ignoring the snickers of changelings around. He found the changeling he was looking for on his way to the torture chamber.

“Captain! Sir!” He said as he neared Ghost, “Wh…why am I on the torture team today? I don’t understand.”

Ghost smiled, “That’s right. You don’t understand. You have feelings for those ponies. Don’t think that just cause you’re a drone I’m not gonna check your emotions to make sure you’re not breaking code.”

One of the female changelings nearby spoke, “He didn’t break me sir. I’m a virgin.”

“Not break you Code. Break the code.”

“Oh.”

The Captain sighed, “Anyway, you were chosen because you have the least experience and we need all hooves on deck. Got it? Good. Let’s go. I’m not letting you outta my sight till we get there.”

Amare groaned as he followed Captain Ghost. As they neared the entrance to the torture chamber, Amare felt something familiar. It was something he had felt a while ago. It was an emotion, but not any emotion, a distinct emotion from a particular pony. He wasn’t sure who could possibly have that description but it irked him none the less.

The two changelings walked through the new hole in the wall and went down a staircase. The wall were made from red sapphire had a much more eerie. Amare had never been in here and he didn’t like being in here. Soon they got to the ground floor. Torture items of every kind littered the place. Blood stains were also visible on most of the equipment. This was nothing though. At the end of the room was a line of ponies. They all seemed scared out of their skulls. Many of them had their eyes shut, trying not to show any pain as they cried. One pony however was what stood out.

“Viridian?”