Equestrian Space: Short Stories

Stars… There were so many. They lay lazily among the wisps of clouds that drifted across the endlessly dark sky. Blinking, pulsing, whispering… They filled The Changelings mind.

The Changeling could have stood there for an eternity, watching those stars in that endless night when a sudden crack brought Them back to the present.

Their head dropped forward, back to the arena, back to the sands where another of their kind lay. It’s legs flailing and head smacking the sand over and over in its final throws.

A queen… The Queen. Stood above, Her foreleg had nearly severed that changeling in two.

The Changeling, simply watched as The Queen retracted Her foreleg from the pitiful creature and brought it to Her maw.

A tongue, long and black slipped from between those fangs and slowly made its way up the length through the gore.

The Changeling retched, there was nothing to regurgitate, but something in its psyche made it perform that autonomic action.

Some relic perhaps, of a bygone age.

That changeling on the sands, twitched a final time and was still.

The Queen smiled at The Changeling sitting behind the thick gate and at the others with it.

They, the group whom The Changeling was with. Had been outfitted to fight The Queen. Not that it mattered.

The Queen moved with purpose and grace back to the center of the stands.

The Changeling standing with its others behind the gate knew. Knew, exactly what it meant. They knew They would never leave this place.

But still… They had to try.

It began with the buzzing. It started low at first, then increased in volume. Ten Thousand changelings lined the arena and all of them... were buzzing.

The gate didn’t make as much as a squeak as it retracted into the ceiling.

The buzzing stopped as soon as the gate opened.

There would be no sound, no fanfare as They died.

They moved as a unit.

Twenty Five changelings.

Twenty Five corpses against The Queen.

The Changeling moved with the unit, They spread out. Encircle, entrap, reduce the amount of space The Queen could move in.

It didn’t matter.

She was beautiful as She moved.

She let them close in, Closer… Closer… before She struck, and where She did.

They died.

A foreleg through the neck. Her horn through an eye.

As She did, The Changeling could see Her smiling, those fangs on display for all to see.

They moved, Twenty three. A pair broke the line, They charged. A song in their throats.

They died with the song as The Queen tore it from them with Her jaws.

The Changeling shuffled closer to its fellows. They had a plan, those Twenty One.

There was the signal, as a unit They charged The Queen.

She watched them come, Her head tilted back. That black tongue playing across those fangs, stained with the viscera of its fellows.

Teams of three, seven points in all converged on The Queen.

She once again let them get close. Then She moved, and the fifth point disappeared.

They formed the unit again, those Eighteen.

The Changeling had been close, had felt as She tore through the fifth point. It had felt the cold splash of its fellows as the points converged.

The Queen stood, She watched the unit through half lidded eyes as They reformed.

They watched Her, and as one They began to move.

The Changeling saw one of its fellows break away, moving from the unit. Towards the gate.

The Queen saw it too.

The Seventeen moved as one, shoulder to shoulder.

The sand beneath The Changelings legs shifted as They moved. The black sand stretched along the arena, dotted with the corpses of its fellows, like islands among a black sea.

They formed the point, two lines stretching out behind the leader.

The Queen moved towards them, Her forelegs kicking small puffs of sand as She casually strolled.

They broke into a trot, then a gallop and She matched it.

They were almost upon Her when She lowered Her head and skewered the lead upon Her horn. The center collapsed as She simply didn’t stop except to fling the corpse from Her horn at the lines converging on Her.

They were ready for Her this time; the collapsing lines encircled Her. Forelegs came in, searching for their marks.

Too fast… She simply jumped, forelegs finding eyes and punching through them. The lines began to scatter and as they did, She played.

They came together, those Eleven, after what felt like an eternity. They watched The Queen warily now.

She stood in the circle of broken changelings, those fangs grinning as They regrouped.

As a unit They split in two and moved, They moved to either side and She let them.

They broke again into a trot, then a gallop. The two lines converging on The Queen.

She let them get close, too close. A foreleg skittered across Her flank; She took it for the insolence.

They surrounded the fallen, it’s screams pierced the silence. They created a line between The Queen and the fallen.

The Changeling stood, looking between the fallen and The Queen.

She discarded the foreleg and began to make Her way to the line.

They came closer. Shoulder to shoulder, protecting the fallen.

She charged them and stopped just short, fine sand blew into their faces, and for a moment the center was blind. That was all it took.

The Changeling moved with them away from the fallen. There had been a few close calls. A horn nearly reached The Queens underbelly as She cleared the center. It had seen it, so close and the nightmare would’ve been over.

The Queens maw opened and She began to feast on the fallen. Chunks of chitin tossed aside as She dug for the softer interior.

They simply made their wall as They charged Her.

She watched them, maw deep in the fallen beneath Her and then reared back. Splashing the center again with what was left between those fangs.

They faltered, that was enough.

Her horn found the eye of one. The other She simply put Her foreleg through their chest, the sound of chitin crunching and the soft sounds that followed as its charge came up short.

It took Her a moment to dislodge the foreleg from the corpse.

A moment, She didn’t have.

Three forelegs found their marks and She hissed as the chitin along Her barrel cracked under the assault.

They paid for the assault with two.

The Changeling moved away. There was nothing to do, They had struck their blows and had been found… wanting.

The Six regrouped. One, missing a chunk of chitin from the back plate - soft interior open to the sky above, groaned as They moved.

The Queen had moved away as well, eyes scanning the cracks along Her barrel and black tongue lolling from between those fangs.

They broke into a gallop and then split into three points.

She watched them come and then moved.

Quickly, much too quickly.

The first point, the slowest of the three simply wilted.

The final two points converged. Forelegs meeting cracks, a lucky horn meeting the soft underbelly.

The Queen roared, spittle flying from that maw as She found the face of the offending horn with Her jaws. A back leg kicked out, taking the eye from one of the forelegs and meeting the soft places within.

And then, She retreated for just a moment.

The two stood... shoulder to shoulder.

And moved as one.

The Queen watched them come.

The Changeling saw Her gaze shift.

Too late.

A foreleg whipped across The Changelings muzzle, knocking The Changeling to the sand. The world seemed to spin and they found their legs. Heaving as the pain arced across their face.

The other, had scored a blow. A solid foreleg to already cracked chitin and had punched through.

They were rewarded with a horn through the throat. They lay in the sand, eyes staring at The Changeling. The stars above reflected in those wide pleading eyes as They gurgled their last.

The Queen stood above, watching them struggle for breath as They twitched and flailed. Legs searching for a target They’d never reach.

Finally, They were still.

The Changeling stood despite the blow, eyes boring into The Queen.

Her own, flicked from the still body below Her to The Changeling.

She turned and walked to The Changeling, small puffs of sand floating from where Her gore-stained forelegs touched the ground.

That black tongue slithered from between the jaws, bits of chitin and gore stuck to that beautiful face.

The Changeling reared back, a foreleg searching for an eye.

She casually knocked away the clumsy strike and responded with one of Her own.

Knocking The Changeling back to the sand.

The Changelings eyes once again met those eyes of its fellow, the stars above shining brighter now that the light within had been extinguished.

There was a pressure on The Changelings temple.

Cold, rancid breath filled its nostrils.

The Queen stood above The Changeling,

Her eyes locked with theirs. Droplets of drool dripped from that grim maw. The black tongue ran across those fangs, so much larger than they had seemed at a distance.

The pressure increased; The Changeling felt something give way.

Above, The Queen smiled that terrible smile.

The Changeling looked away, back to those starry eyes as something else gave way.

A dull crack somewhere above and a sudden loss of smell, the rancid breath disappeared from The Changelings Senses.

Another dull crack.

And those starry eyes faded forever into the black.

One more, and The Changeling was no more.

There came a crack, and the roil of thunder from somewhere overhead.

The Changeling bolted upright. Something… felt… wrong. There was a weight along it’s lower half and it felt itchy… why did it feel itchy.

The Changeling pulled back the sheets and rolled from the bed, careful not to crush the delicate feathery wings on it’s back. Standing next to the bed in the chill night air, the itchiness quickly dissipated.

Going to the window The Changeling looked out over the city.

Dark clouds hung low over the buildings, and the tallest obscured in the clouds.

Blue eyes stared back from the soft reflection in the window.

With a hoof The Changeling rubbed their eyes and headed to the kitchen.

Standing at the sink, glass of water in hoof. The Changeling couldn’t imagine what felt wrong.

It took only a moment to drain the glass and set it in the dishwasher. With a final sigh The Changeling walked back to bed.

Sliding back under the sheets, The Changeling put a hoof around The Other in the bed and cuddled close to them, their warmth radiating off them as they slept.

There came a soft stirring from The Other and they mumbled from somewhere in the depths of sleep.

The Changeling smiled, and simply kissed the back of The Others neck.

Within moments, The Changeling was once again...

Asleep.