[DISPLACED] Trespasser's Journey

Silphen was busying himself while Sam was in the nether. After his visit to the council, Sam had decided that any risk was less than world destruction. He was trimming the weeds around the castle walls, keeping them from getting too tall so that they could spot Timberwolves as they approached rather than being surprised each time when the gates opened and there was a wooden wolf construct. Sam and him had figured out they were constructs when Silphen's life magic, specifically the one that let him transfer wounds, didn't affect them at all.

Silphen's ears twitched as he heard a motor and turned to see Scootaloo and her buzzing wings flying down the trail with the red wagon attached to her scooter. He smiled faintly before noticing that there were three passengers onboard instead of the usual two… Jade was with them, and she looked to be unconscious.

"What happened to Jade?" Silphen asked when they got closer.

"We stopped a weird looking changeling from foalnapping her!" Scootaloo replied eagerly.

"Is that so…?" Silphen said coldly as he approached Jade and checked her heartbeat, sighing in relief when it was slow, but not stopped. "She's asleep, meaning that it's either chemically induced, which I can't help with using my magic, or magically induced, which will be fairly easy. Did they hold a rag or something up to her muzzle by any chance?"

"Well…" Sweetie Belle started, rubbing her left foreleg.

"We don't know…" Applebloom admitted with a hint of shame as she looked down. "We just saw her unconscious on the back of some weirdly colored changeling, and kinda… assumed the worst…"

"Good on you lot for that. Damn, I hate the fact that there's more than just the single Hive to deal with… No matter, we can worry about that later, need to focus on healing Jade… hopefully…" Silphen mumbled the last part to himself as he set his hands on the filly and began casting a healing spell, causing his hands to glow green… And then his face fell as he realized that she wasn't waking up.

"FUCK!" He shouted, throwing a fireball up into the air, away from them all.

'Ashton, how long does chloroform last?!' Silphen asked his other half, turning his attention inward while he held Jade close.

'Not long enough for those three to get here with a single half dose as what their story implies. They might be lying…' Ashton replied worriedly. He knew what would happen if Silphen died, it was his own body afterall, so he feared Silphen losing himself once more.

"That so…?" Silphen asked verbally, a slight frost emanating from around him as the heat of the area began to fade. "Scootaloo, what weapon does Sweetie Belle use again?"

"Huh? You mean her frisbees?" Scootaloo asked in confusion.

"Shit…" Silphen sighed out as he collapsed to the ground, the heat returning to the area. "Ashton almost convinced me you three were Changelings… But if you're not, and I can't wake up Jade because it's chemical based… most likely means it's not chloroform…"

"They were touching horns while the changeling's was glowing, does that help? And they're Chahk-rahm." Sweetiebelle said, before pointedly looking at Scootaloo and correcting her.

"Fris… Bees…" Scootaloo shot back, smiling faintly. It was now clear she was doing it on purpose.

"Gods be damned. Yeah, it helps. And I'd give up on correcting her, girls, because that's about the only way to tell her from any fakes," Silphen said as he shook his head and tried to get Ashton to look into her dreamscape in an attempt to guide her back out. He was disappointed and even a little heartbroken to find out that she would need time or another Changeling to awaken safely.

"Well? Is she waking up?" Applebloom asked, taking a step forward inquisitively.

"No… not unless we find a Changeling and tell them to wake her up, or wait for whatever the hell is going on to pass… we can't do anything…" Silphen took a shuddering breath to hold back his fears at telling Aurana and how the mare he loved would react.

"That's uh… not good..." Applebloom nervously looked away while scuttling a hoof on the ground, the other two made their own nervous movements.

"Yeah… Hey, you girls know where they came from? Or was it just the one Changeling?" Silphen asked as he stood and beckoned for them to follow him inside, pausing when he realized that the castle wasn't safe for Jade and turning for the teleportation pad instead. If he had to take Jade somewhere safe, he'd have to tell Aurana or take her with him.

"It was just the one, I think. Ran away pretty quick when we started hitting him with our stuff," Scootaloo said as she and the others followed, still nervous about something.

"Alright, what are you three hiding, considering it's not the fact you're all Changelings?" Silphen asked, finally catching on to their behavior.

"... So we've been trying to follow Jade home for weeks now since she refused to tell us where she lived-" Applebloom finally said after being stared at for several seconds.

"She'd somehow always lose us, but today we were following when the Changeling surprised her-" Sweetiebelle continued Applebloom's explanation.

"And we had no idea where her parents lived or worked, so we came here immediately without telling anypony!" Scootaloo finished, using the other two's backs as leverage to push her higher into standing on her hind legs.

Silphen sighed and shook his head, smiling faintly as he knew that her mistrust wasn't wholly unfounded. "Because of how she grew up, she doesn't trust easily. Let her decide when to show you three, that way she doesn't feel the need to lie and hide, alright? That's all I'm going to say on the matter." Silphen said as he sat the filly on the ground and began working on creating a smaller temporary version of the teleportation circle so that he and the others could return to Ponyville.

Once the circle was prepared, he motioned for the trio to go first, intending on sending them to the town square before he went to Aurana's place directly.

The three stepped up, disappearing in a small, quick flash. Once they were gone he changed a couple runes, keeping his senses on high alert as he did, and teleported himself and Jade directly to Aurana's kitchen.

"Aurana! Jade almost got foalnapped by a Changeling!" He called out, using a pulse of magic to try and quickly locate her. The pulse revealed nopony inside the house. After a few seconds of silence, the commotion outside grabbed his attention. "AURANA!" He shouted as he ran outside, still clutching the filly as close to himself as he could.

Ponies were running back and forth, upturning any object they could in search of something. Silphen growled a little, stepping forward and letting his control over the local magic be felt, making sure they were looking his way. "What are you all looking for? If it's the filly in my arms then there's about to be a very large problem…"

"If'n yer the one who took mah-"

"Applejack, please!" The voice of Aurara interrupted the farmpony. Pushing her way past the mare, she looked at Silphen pleadingly. "Please tell me you aren't behind Applebloom and her friends going missing…"

Silphen sighed as he relaxed, shaking his head. "No. The crusaders stopped a Changeling from foalnapping Jade, and brought her to Sam's castle. I teleported the trio to the town center so you can find them there. Sorry about coming off so aggressive…"

"WHAT?! You, me, inside, now!” The mare said, her eyes narrowing as she pushed Silphen back inside with her horn, slamming the door behind them. Applejack looked at the door a few seconds longer, stunned. Eventually, she shook her head and muttered under her breath before walking off towards the town center.

“Right, what color were they, did they have a unique dorsal fin? Did they speak in a funny accent?” Aurana shot off question after question towards Silphen as she ran through the house opening up closets. Each one she’d toss miscellaneous items out before levitating them two at a time back inside and shaking her head.

"Dunno," Silphen replied, starting with the first question. "They said it was weird, and that's all. We could ask Jade, but apparently they touched horns and she fell asleep. Can't wake her up so I'm thinking it's a chemical based knockout."

“You’re half right, but they didn’t use a chemical, rather, not one outside of her body.” She paused her ransacking of her house to lift an eyelid of Jades, inspecting it. “How long has she been like this? Three, four hours? If so, we need to hurry, forty four hours before we start running into issues.”

"How long have the crusaders been missing? Add an hour for travel to Sam's castle and that's how long. If I knew what was going on, I might be able to help, but you need to tell me what's going on. Is she being hunted by this hive for doing something?" Silphen asked as he set Jade down, quickly creating a barrier circle that would keep anyone but himself and Aurana out.

“No time, no ling should be nearby, this close to national heroes.” She said, rushing off to sort through another closet.

"Tell me what you're looking for Aurana, so I can help. Please…" Silphen pleaded, following the mare while avoiding the flurry of items.

“As I said, no time! If they find a stream they could entirely esca- ah ha!” She interrupted herself as she brought out a pair of saddlebags. Putting them on, she quickly trotted towards the door. Looking back after opening it she said, “You coming?”

"For the love of the night mother, tell me what's going on!" Silphen begged as he followed her. "I know that she's half-changeling, but why were they trying to foalnap her?"

“Right… You knew she was a half-breed, so I assumed you knew.” She said as they sprinted through the streets of ponyville, taking paths that seemed to have no ponies on it. “How much do you know of changeling society?”

"Honestly? Fuck all. I know they got hives and queens and that Chrysalis is the self appointed Queen of all Changelings, and is based in the center of the Badlands. That's really all that's the same between worlds…" Silphen said as he effortlessly followed, running along on all fours to keep up.

“Ponies actually named her Queen of the Changelings after Princess Mi Amore’s wedding, A fact the other Queens aren’t keen to correct them on. Changeling’s follow a strict caste system, Queen, Royal, Infiltrator, Drone, it’s both a social designation, and a physical designation.” She explained, turning a corner that led into the small stretch of grass in the direction of the Everfree.

"Seriously? Wow… So wait, what about half-breeds? They're not… They're hunted, aren't they…?" Silphen asked as the info sank in. "Fucking hell, how hard has it been for her…?"

“Not just hunted, Any half-breed born is grounds for a hive to be cleansed. She… Doesn’t actually know that changelings see her as a weapon of mass destruction. It was a stupid thing to keep from her, but I’ve never taken her anywhere other than Canterlot, and the hives avoid the city.”

"Shit… I'm sorry, Aurana… I didn't know how much of a bad idea this would be…" Silphen said as he leapt over roots and small game traps that he and Sam had set so they could eat some meat.

“Thirty years ago, Chrysalis’s Hive started an all out war with the other six, Changeling wars don’t involve flashy magic and lethal weapons, usually the two queens would agree to the resources to be set aside, and the royals would battle amongst themselves.” Aurana explained as she led the way, never seeming to have to jump over a trap or root. “No changeling except for Chrysalis’s hive knows how it started, but she didn’t claim resources, she didn’t declare war. And she didn’t let the royals play amongst themselves. Instead, it was explained to me that at first it seemed like a small group of four ponies suddenly found Queen Locust’s hive. When they went to capture them, the four suddenly drained the lings into empty husks.”

"Those ponies were half-breeds, weren't they…?" Silphen asked solemnly as he sent a glare at a Timberwolf that was getting a bit too close for his comfort.

“They were, The hive was filled with husks by the time any ling knew what was going on. Queen Locust was never found afterwards. A year later, Queen Imago’s hive was nearly husked, survivors fled to other hives and told them… Soon, The other hives had birthed half-breeds and prepared them for war.” She suddenly turned right on a dime, entirely surprising both the timberwolf and Silphen.

Silphen yipped and scrabbled to keep following, making sure to fling a stone at the construct as he did. "So where are we going then!? Sam's mineshaft broke through to their hive I think, since the carts always returned ruined coming from a certain direction…"

“I thought you were a wolf?! I’m following the ling’s tracks, they’re definitely an infiltrator, probably been in Ponyville longer than the Elements of Harmony. He’s sloppy though, sure, he’s stopped his bleeding and he flew, so he didn’t leave hoofprints, but he was careless when traveling through the forest.” She said, her ears swiveling as she suddenly changed direction.

"You wanna talk to Ashton then? Because he's the real wolf! I'm just tagging along for the ride!" Silphen said in response as he huffed and began leaping from tree to tree, climbing up to the top of the forest so he could try and find the bug easier.

“You won’t find him up there, he’s purposefully staying under the tree cover…” Her ears swiveled once more as she paused to focus. “He’s about four hundred yards south.”

"Fuck, you serious? At least it's smar- Wait, why am I praising the bastard when he tried to foalnap Jade!?" Silphen demanded angrily, blasting another Timberwolf away with a gust of wind.

“As I said, he’s most likely an infiltrator, they’re trained from birth for this kind of situation.” She said, running past a Timberwolf, it’s chase never starting as it was whipped back by a tree branch.

"Hmph… Still don't like it…" Silphen grumbled as he quieted down for the rest of the run.

He flew through the forest with haste, the entrance to the hive was only another hour away. He winced as a branch whipped across his cracked carapace. Since when did pony foals have weapons and combat expertise? The queen wouldn’t be happy that he lost the half-breed, now they couldn’t question which hive it was being raised by.

They couldn’t afford the justice they had brought onto themselves by such actions as the Praetor War. While the Half-breed larva wasn’t wary of him, that only meant the hive hadn’t started indoctrinating them against other hives. He needed to tell the queen, then they could rescue-

His thoughts were jumbled as he was tackled from the side, crashing hard against the roots at the base of a tree. He looked up, the figure of a brown pony was standing over him. Her face scrunched up in an expression of anger… ponies never could pull off that expression and still be threatening…

She gently smacked the side of his head with a hoof. Her blurry face came into focus, and he realized the intelligent sounds were speech.

"-who's your queen?!"

His focus came clearer, his training came back.

"Chrysa-" she smacked him harder than before, he felt liquid dribbling down his muzzle.

"I know how hives work, tell me what queen you follow or I'll have my coltfriend here turn your exoskeleton into an endoskeleton! And trust me, he knows seven different ways of doing so." She moved her head, his eyes finally focused on the skinny and sleeker diamond dog behind her.

The creature smiled darkly, the purple mists of dark magic appear to be flowing from his eyes and mouth. "Only reason I'm not doing it purely on principle is because she tricked me into a contract. Devious little mare, this one is," he said with a dark chuckle.

"..." He kept quiet. It was standard protocol when the hive's existence had been revealed to pony kind.

"Let me guess, Imago, no, she's near Griffonstone, Morpho maybe? Although you're quite a long way away from the north… I bet you follow Locust-'' With each queen's name his surprise grew deeper until he completely widened his eyes at the last name. No Ling, let along a pony should know shes-

"She's alive?" The pony asked in surprise. He could only nod solemnly. It wouldn't work to deny it, this pony seemed to be trained in infiltration. So much so he doubted she was a pony, if not for the emotions he could clearly feel from her.

"And how do you know all those names, if I might ask? Not even I knew the names of them all." The strange dog asked the mare, clearly just as surprised.

“Not important.” she held up a hoof to stop further questions. “You’re going to take us to your hive, now.”

“I’d rather be incinerated.” He replied instantly.

"That can be arranged, and then undone. I've performed small resurrections on some ponies around town after they passed away from a heart attack. Managed to disguise it as resuscitating them too, so you wouldn't even realize it happened." The dog said with a slightly frightening smile, almost as if he was wanting the Changeling to challenge him to try it.

“I don’t think your pet understands as well as you do. You’ve taken me by surprise, I won’t deny that, but you can burn me, Maim me, I will never let you harm my hive.” He stared into the ponies eyes before letting his head flop back, closing his eyes. The dog smiled and reached out and lightly touched him, pushing an immense amount of pleasure into his body and mind.

"Pain can be trained against. But not pleasure." He said with a dark chuckle.

The changeling chuckled. His eyes opened as he looked at the dog. His body didn’t move excessively, although his limbs occasionally twitched. “How much do you understand what your magic is doing? And how much do you just go off of feeling?”

He didn’t do much else, although he continued chuckling as he laid his head back down. Noting the slightly worried look the pony had when looking at the dog. Silphen’s smile widened, but he kept pumping pleasure into him. "Eventually, the false pleasure you're feeling will fill your body and make you unable to take in anymore love. At which point you'll start to feel sick and be forced to remove the excess amount through any means necessary. I won't hurt you, bug, but instead make your body hurt itself. Tick tock, little bug…. Tick… tock…"

“Do you know what it means to serve a greater cause dog? One which at the end of the night, you can sleep next to your nestmates and say, ‘I’m satisfied.’? I doubt you have, I doubt you have any nestmates left, all driven away by-”

"Shut. Up." He said darkly, every nerve in the bugs body lighting up with pain for a fraction of a second. "I am stuck here because of some elder abomination trapping me here. I had a family that cared, and friends that laughed. But you know what I never had in that place, bug? Someone I cared for enough to be willing to kill and torture to protect. Now tell me what the hell you want with Jade, or so help me you'll wish you could stay dead."

“Jade… So that is what you have named the creature you have deigned to use as a tool, as a weapon of mass destruction… You treat them as lessers, as mere soldiers… When will they have a choice? When will they have the ability to look at another, and say the same words I say to myself every day…”

"A TOOL!?" The dog shouted, lighting up every nerve in pain again.

“Silphen!” The pony yelled, making the dog growl and take a step back, ending the pain. She turned back to the changeling. Her face was less harsh than before. “I am Aurana, adopted daughter of Corixidae, and the pony you just tried to ponynap, is my half sister…”

“Corixidae…” The changeling looked at her with incredulousness.

"Jade is a filly, you worthless bug! We are trying to protect her, and I myself am doing a very shit poor job of it if I can't keep a single drone from knocking her out!" Silphen growled, snapping his teeth mere inches away from his face.

The changeling ignored him, Looked straight past him at Aurana. “He’s alive?” When she shook her head, for the first time, his features fell. “Oh…”

Silphen took a step back, blinking in shock. He had a feeling she had just ran away with Jade, not that their dad was dead. Then he thought about it for a bit and growled out a name filled with enough venom to kill an Alicorn, "Chrysalis…"

The changeling got up, seemingly no worse for wear after all of what he had gone through. He turned to look at them. “Well? The hive isn’t moving, so we better.”

“You’re seriously...?” Aurana said, surprised.

“Corixidae was my instructor… And many of us saw him drained in front of us. So are you coming?” The Changeling didn’t take off flying, but turned back and began walking through the underbrush.

Silphen shared a look with Aurana before shrugging and following after the changeling.