Author's Note

Pre-Chapter Warning: If you are not comfortable with detailed torture or torture it self, please read ahead with caution. May contain other dark themes, again, please read ahead with caution.

P.S. I'm sorry that this chapter took forever to be released, I just had to figure out where I wanted the story to go, and what new things I wanted to introduce into the story to keep things interesting.

Chapter Eleven: Duty Till Death Pt.2

Torture: The action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain.

Torture. After another brief visit with Shining Armor, Sixty-four had found himself at the dungeons, absent of his recently acquired box of fun, that he would retrieve later. For now he had to think how he was going to approach the new problem, how was he to extract the information from likely elite guards trained to take their secrets to the grave if need be? He sighed silently and sat down to think, a few minuets more of thinking and he had a solution.

Sensory Deprivation, Love Starvation, the three drugs Shining Armor had given him, Exhaustion, and a few other ideas crept into his head. he would need water, or access to some form of sauna or pool. Changeling carapace wasn't like the chitin underneath, while chitin was more regulated it gave the necessary nourishment to the carapace armor, only for it to heal. No other bodily functions except for the receptors that transmitted signals back to the brain were in the actual carapace, rather the chitin that hid underneath.

The praetorian guard now had a few options, looking around he noticed he was alone, as Shining Armor had said he would be. Turning he exited the dungeons, a few of the other captives eyed him with curiosity, fear, or just general wonderment, and some hate here and there. Opening the door to the hall way that connected the dungeons to the castle he popped his head out and the two guards looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"What is it you require changeling?" The solar guard to the right of him asked, the lunar guard nodding in agreement with the question. He hissed softly, setting both guards on edge. "Neeed ttoo, ssee queeenn Lunnaaa." The lunar guard nodded and started to walk away, the solar guard narrowed his eyes. "Why? She told us to leave you alone while you worked, why would you need her?" Sixty-four, with some agitation at such a stupid question hissed gently back. "Edduucattiooon." Before the guard could ask anything else he turned and closed the door behind him, walking back to the cells that held the two changeling prisoners.

After a few minuets of waiting and formulating a plan for the extraction of information, Princess Luna arrived, he could both tell by the sound of armored feet hitting the ground and by the powerful pull he now felt in his horn. Turning, he bowed as she rounded the corner. Luna smiled softly at her praetorian and spoke.

"Rise my praetorian, why have you asked for us?" Sixty-four rose and opened the door to the chamber that held the smaller changeling Luna had been so eager to 'intimidate' earlier, holding it open as she walked in to the chamber. The queen should know and be able to identify the changelings by class, of course I will teach them to you my queen. What do you notice about this changeling my queen?" Luna studied the changeling that still had its arms pulled above it self. Pouring some magic into her own horn she communicated with her praetorian in silence.

Well, beside the fact that its wounded, I notice it seems more streamlined, smaller fangs than compared to yours, if only by a few inches. The wings are much like yours, long and a bit thicker than a normal changelings, the frill is absent, its eyes are a dark purple, and its ears seem to be more allocated to bring in it's surroundings. all of this compared to you, and what we remember of the Chrysalis swarm.

Sixty-four nodded softly. Very good observation my queen, look at the hands, they end in small textured claws. They help the changeling hold onto the prey. In the hive these were known as Hunters, changelings that would go out and hunt down natural predators while accompanying the Scouts or Explorers. They also hunted down other changeling Scouts and Explorers from rival hives, and sometimes other Hunter classed changelings. They would be a great addition to the hive.

Luna nodded and thought carefully to what Arachne had said. The queen may seek to expand the hive in some way, either by number or by physical size of the hive. Luna had to be careful as to not let the queen hood instincts take over her mind, resisting the urge to convert the changeling she turned to Sixty-four and smiled. Your queen would like another of these'lessons' when you begin to work on the other changeling. Now, for your new hive and for your new queen, break them but keep them usable I feel there is much more to them, seeing as how there were six to begin with. Luna gazed into her praetorian's eyes, finding the endless sea of cyan to be alluring she grinned softly and stepped closer to him. And perhaps you would allow your queen- She shook her head and left quickly without speaking anymore to Sixty-four who of course was staring at her expectantly, then staring at her puzzled as he watched her leave.

A fire lit itself inside of Sixty-four's mind. He would prove himself to his queen and to the new hive, albeit a rather small hive, it was still his hive to protect. Remembering about the water he quickly spoke in the hive mind. My Queen! Where would I be able to find water for my use here? It wasn't long for a response to come through, although it was Arachne who spoke. The Queen is busy at this moment, but I would suggest that you ask the guards, or perhaps ask for the guards captain? His name is Shining Armor. Sixty-four hissed in agitation, turning he faced the Hunter classed changeling and narrowed his eyes as she raised her head.

"You should have stayed in your hole Sixty-four, you have no idea what is going on here. Perhaps you should be concerned with this new queen of yours? After all, she will be the first to go through the metamorphosis, I can't imagen how dreadfully painful it will be for her body to change" She grinned and hissed at Sixty-four "I can't begin to imagen how delicious her pain will be!" Sixty-four grinned himself and let magic flow into his horn, creating a tube like structure the lead to her back, the end of the tendrils poked idly at her back and she went quiet, her body going rigid.

Sixty-four walked around her, stopping as he came to be behind her. Killing the magic he cocked his arm back and sent it flying straight to where the tendrils had been poking and prodding, a soft snap and agony filled hiss filled the room, followed by quick and labored panting, the chains that held her up rattling against each other from the actions.

Sixty-four knew he had now ruptured one of her love holding organs, her love reserves. It was up there with losing all of your love but without the waking and passing out to pain, or the fluttering spasms that accompanied the pain. Sixty-four knew all too well this would be more akin to a slowly growing pain that would become too much to handle unless treated correctly. I'll let Arachne save this one, after she suffers of course.

He grinned softly at her, teleporting the box that held the drugs and poisons, that he would be using on either changeling. Broken, but not useless the queens words echoed in his ears as if she was still whispering to him. Bending down and opening the case he grasped the vial marked 'Breaker' and picked up an empty syringe that laid next to it, pushing the needle through the cork was easy. He slowly extracted the liquid, the brown holding staying behind as red and black seeped into the syringe coming to a stop as the syringe reached half full, he stood and turned to face the other changeling.

Surely enough she was still hanging there, green blood dripping from her mouth, still open wounds from Luna's visit adorned her, the same pool of blood having clotted on the outside, forming a sick dark green crust that held the blood in place, an ever growing pool. The mid chest section bore an emblem, a single arrow accompanied by the intricate pattern of a snowflake, much like the branded number on Sixty-fours chest, this too was pooled with green blood that refused to fall from its holding place. Sixty-four looked to her legs, they were in no shape to even be used. The carapace had cracked and webbed in oddly beautiful patterns, the green ichor had only slightly rose up to the cracks and webbing barely pouring out before it dried along the damage.

Chunks of flesh, chitin, and carapace had been taken out of her, some of the flesh hung like strings from her sides, the effect of Luna's brutal kicks and blades, no doubt. Sixty-four didn't have to imagen the pain she was in, he had lived it, and more importantly, lived through it. Becoming a Praetorian was not an easy feat, certainly cruel and abusive by a ponies standard. Unfortunately, changelings as a race, as a whole, were made to last, bending but never breaking, Chrysalis had been a most recent prime example of this perseverance for the race.

He approached the huntress and paused, thinking to himself, This will probably be one of the more evil things I have ever done for my Queen. Grabbing the huntress by one of her arm he jabbed the syringe into her arm and injected the fluid, Shining Armor's words echoed in his mind. Its called Breaker for good reason, it causes paralysis after five minuets of initial use, then the all too real visual and audible hallucinations begin. He pulled the syringe out and walked back to the metal box, setting the syringe back inside as he opened it and picked it up. The torches that provided light in the dungeon were blown out as the huntress whimpered softly. "Please! Please don't turn them out! The Insecti! I can hear them!!" She screamed as Sixty-four closed the door, turned and walked to the next changeling being held.

Insecti. The natural predator that wasn't afraid to take on a changeling of any caliber. Numbers that vastly stood to tower the changeling race. A kind of apex predator that held the market monopoly on having changelings, hippogriffs, griffins, and sometimes even dragons. All of whom had been known to fall prey to these predators. A means of dealing with them had been developed, fire, it worked great, drowning them worked, and powerful lighting spells that could chain to other targets of the spell also worked, getting in close was a no go, even to Tank and Hunter classed changelings. The Insecti were agile, venomous and worse, they could fly and possibly the worst thing about them were the rate at which they reproduced. Most of all though, the Insecti had enemies, carnivorous plants and four races that fought them to stave off the growing plague.

The thought of the huntress having to deal with darkness and the Insecti was not something Sixty-four had dwelled on before entering the dungeon that held the unhurt Tank classed changeling that had its eyes closed, either concentrating, trying to close out the screams of his hunter classed companion, or he was sleeping. Sixty-four decided that the chains holding him up would be enough and pulled out the bright pink vessel along side a clean syringe, the needle wasn't thick enough to penetrate the carapace of the Tank classed changeling. A real knife would be needed, and that would mean leaving his box of goodies here while he went out, or putting them back in his hospital room, no, they would have to stay here, he didn't have a personal room yet. Setting the box down and walking out of the room, and out of the dungeons, stopping and pausing long enough for the guards to hear the hysterical screaming, crying and begging coming from the huntresses holding place. "Please!! Praetorian!! I can feel them crawling inside me! Kill me!! For Queen Frostbites sake someone end me!! Please!!!!" Sixty-four closed the door and walked away, heading for the throne room. The guards shared a nervous look and stared after the changeling.

Arachne sat across the from the solar diarch and the new six ponies that had arrived, next to her was her Queen, whom had ordered her to tell the others what she had told her, including the part of being Chrysalis's spawn, she felt like a nervous wreck and took a deep breath, telling the afflictions and saving the 'Chrysalis is my mom!' part for the end. She felt a mix of emotions. Anger, Disbelief, Sadness, Rage, Bewilderment, and the part that scared her the most, was the nothingness she felt from the solar diarch, she started to panic and began formulating an escape route from the room. She jumped in her chair as she felt her Queens hand placed upon her own, looking to her Queen she calmed as she saw the benevolent smile, a vote of confidence that made her take a deep breath and remain seated.

Celestia finally spoke up, her voice void of emotions.

"Twilight, will you please wait outside? With your friends? I wish to speak with my sister alone, and her new changeling, of course." Twilight shot out of her chair and quickly motioned for her friends to follow, being the last out of the door she turned and gazed sympathetically back at Arachne, mouthing 'sorry' at her before closing the door.

Arachne became all too aware of the anger and sadness that hid itself underneath, as the solar princess stood and placed her hands gently under the table before she flared her wings and sent the table flying against the door, where it stayed. Her voice boomed.

"YOU WILL FIX THIS!! OR I WILL BANISH YOUR ENTIRE RACE TO THE FUCKING SUN!!"