Steel Burner

out of the frying pan, into the oven

Vigil slowly raised himself as he awoke from unconsciousness. With a jerk of his head into his hooves instinctively, he yelled out. “Ah! My head!" He clenched his teeth down until it made an unattractive gritting noise. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around before staring up at Omior. "Wh-where are we? What happened?"

Omior was silent. He chose his words carefully as if there was something important that Vigil had missed. "I do not know Vigil. I was attacked by some monsters while waiting for you and they knocked me out, I only awoke moments ago." Omior looked away and went from his position on his knee to sitting on his butt, watching the torch above the doorway as if it was the most important thing in existence.

Vigil felt something gnaw at the back of his head, but he couldn’t place it, so he continued on a different thought. “How are we going to get out of here? What in Celestia is going to happen to us if we don’t?”

The samurai looked down to his hands and feet as he spoke up. “No idea. Probably nothing good knowing our luck.”

Vigil turned his head towards the torch hanging above the door and noticed just barely there were two black as night pony shaped bugs adjacent of each other by the door. He stared wide eyed at the two before he turned to the samurai, distress written upon his features. “Omior we need to get out of here!”

The samurai turned his attention to the green unicorn and said, “I would have by now but I’ve yet to see a way to escape. What’s the rush?”

Vigil spoke a bit faster and more frantically. “It’s because those...” He pointed a hoof towards the two bugs guarding the door. “...are changelings! We’re dead if we don’t get out of here soon.”

Omior stood up and looked himself over now. The first thing he noticed was that his weapons were gone. He also noticed that some of his armor was missing as well. How the samurai had not noticed this sooner baffled him.

Sighing, he walked up to the bars of the cage and rattled them a bit, giving a good tug as unsurprisingly, they stayed in place. The samurai turned back to Vigil and spoke up. “Well it doesn’t look like we have a choice in the matter, my dark green friend.”

“Then how else are we gon-” A spear hit against the bars of the cage, creating a loud clang sound. One of the changeling guards had walked over to their cell to quiet them down.

It spit at the ground in front of the two and said, “Shut up. The queen will make short work of you two soon anyway.” The guard went back to his position at the door, acting as a statue once again.

Vigil turned to Omior, pale as a ghost. Before he could utter even a syllable, the steel door groaned as it opened, the other side holding a tall black figure of a bug pony covered with holes around her body. She kept her face stoic until she walked up to the bars. She smiled viciously and spoke as if giddy of some kind of death she had caused previously that day.

“So... it seems that I’ve gotten quite a catch in my hooves.” She enunciated the last word much resembling a snake’s hiss. “The mighty samurai, you are on my master’s death list. Best not to disappoint him.” The guards that stood at attention by the door went up to the cell and opened it. Once the cell door was open, Omior attempted to avoid and hopefully take the two guards down. Unfortunately, before he could so much as lay a finger on either chitin covered bugs; Chrysalis had used her horn and picked up the samurai, keeping him from doing anything but flailing at the air.

She kept him just out of reach as she calmly walked her way down the sickly green hallway. The ceiling dripped with goo and the floor squished with each hoof step from the chitin queen. Omior stopped his thrashing and scanned his environment as he was brought through it. It was confusing for him because of how similar the hallways were as they turned and crossed through the dank dungeons of the changeling empire.

The screams of pain and sorrow from other contained individuals rang out as they got closer to the end of a hallway that did not continue. The samurai noted a very fearful amount of blood -dry and wet- was covering the metal doors. It only took a moment for them to reach the final door that was drenched in blood so thick it seemed as if it would never dry out.

The queen laughed again as she spoke. “Hm.. hm.. hm.. welcome to your place of permanent resting.” She opened the door and the sound of chains and metal clanged as she used her magic and dragged him inside. “At least once I’ve had my fun.” The door slowly shuts behind Chrysalis as she laughs as though it was a very funny joke.

________________ Royal throne room, Canterlot Castle

The solar goddess stood motionless watching the hustle and bustle activity on the grounds below. She watched through one of the many windows that represented historical events that were almost never to her liking, She watched with a mood of disapproved surrender. Below, guards were running around and practicing drills and formations, preparing for something.

Next to the princess of the sun was a guard adorned with medals that hung from his armor’s sides, lazily flowing with an almost non existent breeze. He watched alongside the princess in a silence so thick you could take a bite out of it.

The guard spoke up with the utmost respect in his voice. “The plan to eradicate the changeling threat will come underway once the insurgent teams get the civilian’s out of there. We can’t rely on the elements of harmony for a threat such as this.”

“I know this White Night, but it still doesn’t sit well with me.” The solar goddess spoke more quietly now. “I just wish another way were possibly so as to avoid such needless bloodshed.”

“Do you forget already of the hostages the Changeling queen has in her possession? She and her people using them as a food source keeping them on the edge of death just far enough away to maintain them? Do not make light of the situation more than it is, princess.”

“Yes. Of course. Good day to you, White Night.”

“Yes princess.” White Night left to continue with his duties as Celestia took one last look out onto the grounds.