Rage: Violent or uncontrollable anger

Memories. The changeling praetorian hissed and fidgeted in his sleep, painful memories replaying themselves like a nightmare inside his mind. The one currently replaying it's self on repeat was the last one he would ever have of his home hive.

**Queen Frostbites Central Hive**

Queen Frostbite gazed out over her changelings, they were working quickly for the coming winter, more love being stored than normal, brood mothers retreating further into the hives breeding grounds. Instead of scouts being sent out, regular soldiers who were more cold resistant went out on missions to survey the land and patrol the territories the Queen had claimed. upon the queens orders the scouts now helped the worker drones in love rationing and carving out more storage for the coming winter. Today was a busy day, and that was good, it would put them ahead of schedule and they could all retire early for the long winter.

The queen however had another problem to deal with. Ponies had begun exploring a few cave entrances that lead straight to the hive. It had been three months since the initial reports had come from the praetorian guard stationed there, and the ponies numbers only grew by the day. Now sitting outside the cave entrance were a couple dozen ponies, ranging from guards to explorers and scientist. The queen was worried that during the winter times they would march right in, and torch her precious hive down. So she sent word to her praetorian's, simple instructions. Kill them all and let none escape.

Among the few praetorian to receive such instruction would be sixty-four. After scouting them out and returning to where his partner was he and his partner made a plan. Sixty-four was a new addition to the praetorian ranks but took every order to the letter, after failing to protect a messenger to Queen Chrysalis however, he was reassigned. To guard the entrance and not to fail again. Queen Frostbites rules were simple, follow your orders and you will be fine. Fail her and perish.

Sixty-four let out a small sigh after finishing his own love ration, it was sweet, savory and thick and warmed him up in the cold. Standing he looked toward his partner as he was coming back from one last scouting. The new praetorian looked up to the more experienced one as they communicated through the short wave hive mind link every praetorian shared.

"How many in total new-blood?" His elder asked as Sixty-four pulled the winter camouflage over his barren carapace. "Thirteen including the one that left for Canterlot, twelve excluding that one, sir" The elder nodded and picked up his own camouflage and weapons. " Good, at least we know you can count. How many guards?" He asked as he and Sixty-four set out for the encamped ponies. " At least eight sir, the other four consist of scientist and explorers, sir. " Sixty-four said as they approached the camp.

The two praetorian's stayed low to the ground as they approached the camp. The camp was located below a ridge line that would work very well for the two praetorian, as they crawled through the snow, they saw a few ponies going in and out of small cabins, mostly the scientist. The guards around the camp were placed outside makeshift research centers and barracks the ponies had set up for the time being.

As the changelings moved forward to the backside of the research centers, they decided to split up. Sixty-four went along the outside of the closest research cabin, muffled talking coming from within. Sixty-four decided to ignore the talking and move in, giving the door an experimental turn of the knob, to his satisfaction the door opened and allowed him access to the back room of the cabin. "I'm inside. Starting the engagement sir." Sixty-four gently opened the back room door, peeking through the crack he had made he saw three guards conversing with one another, distracted by the card game going on between them.

Sixty-four opened the door just enough to squeeze through the door, unfortunately, it creaked in protest. Looking up from their card game the guards quickly spotted the white and black mass coming through the door, jumping up and grabbing their spears, the guards stood in place for a moment, spears pointed toward the new threat. Sixty-four stared back at them, remaining still. Lighting up his horn, Sixty-four dashed forward toward the closest guard.

The guard reacted quickly to this, and made to step back and thrust, Sixty-four side stepped the spear and grabbed the shaft, pulling the spear and the guard closer he opened his mouth and brought his fangs down upon the guards neck. Blood spurted from the guard as Sixty-four tore open the wound with a violent yank of his head accompanied by a sickening tearing sound and the guard crying out in pain. Holding the now bleeding out guard close and flipping him around, Sixty-four let out a loud hiss.

The guards wasted no time in rushing forward to flank him from either side. One guard brought the spear racing toward Sixty-four's chest, the other guard took aim for his legs. Sixty-four moved the injured guard in front of him, the spear plunged into the injured guards chest, accompanied by the sound of bones snapping. The other guard had struck his mark, a dull thud greeting him as the changelings carapace caught and held the spear head.

Taking the spear from the now dead guards hands, he looked behind him as the guard tried to pull his spear from the thick carapace that protected his legs. Upon seeing this Sixty-four reversed the spear and thrust back behind him, scoring him a blow on the guard, he turned and pushed the spear further, slamming the guard against the wall and pinning him to it with the spear. He grabbed the guards head and pulled it back as he sank his fangs into the wind pipe of the guard, clamping down with his teeth and giving a yank with his head as he pushed the guards head the opposite direction.

Another sickening flesh ripping sound filled the cabin, along side the dying scream of Sixty-four's newest kill. A wet 'thump' sounded behind him, he turned to see the last guard with tears in his eye, holding the dead guard in his hands. Sixty-four felt anger and sorrow coming from the last guard, dashing forward he kicked the remaining guard ruthlessly across the face a cracking sound playing in his ears as he moved to pick up the guard.

Reaching down and grasping the sobbing guards throat, picking him up and slamming him into the wall, Sixty-four let out a loud hiss and promptly began squeezing the guards throat. The guard kicked and tried to pull Sixty-four's hand from his throat, to no avail. With a last hiss Sixty-four reached up with his other hand and looked the guard in the eye as the life faded from them. The guards kicking and squirming ceased and he had stopped pulling on Sixty-fours hand, with a grunt Sixty-four snapped the guards neck and tossed him to the ground, standing in a pool of scarlet and crimson blood. Three bodies around him as he placed his magic around the bodies, pulling the love from them and whatever other emotion the queen would be pleased with having.

The now blood covered changeling praetorian walked to the front door, stopping as he heard a familiar loud hiss outside, accompanied by the sounds of glass shattering, and a solid 'thunk' outside. Armor shifting and clattering together as the guards ran to the new disturbance. Stepping outside Sixty-four found his fellow praetorian locked in battle with two other guards. "Need help there?" Sixty-four asked as he turned to see the other three guards gathering the other ponies for a quick escape.

The elder changeling hissed in pain as a spear head penetrated the carapace the protected his stomach, the wound seeping out a glowing green blood as he punched the offending guard and pulled the spear out, only to be pierced by the other. Hearing this Sixty-four jumped to his elder and punched the other guard in the face sending him back a few feet into the snow. Grabbing the spear and pulling it from the shoulder of his fellow praetorian, Sixty-four turned to face the guard.

A glowing bolt of magic struck him and sent him to the ground, growling he got up to see the guard he had punched staring back at him with a red glowing aura covering his horn and hands. Sixty-four light up his own horn and projected a shield around his injured partner, after seeing that his partner was shielded he dashed forward and dodged what magic bolts where thrown at him by rolling and side stepping. Once he reached the guard and released his grip on the shaft letting it slide from his hands.

He grinned as the guard took the bait and went to grab the spear shaft, tightening the grip he had around the last quarter of it he swung it in an arc using his body, he felt it slide through the stomach of the guard and heard a surprised yelp as the guard went down into the snow. Satisfied that he wouldn't be moving anytime soon, Sixty-four approached the other guard who was still laying in the snow from the last punch he received, groaning.

Bringing the spear up and looking down at the guard before him, he brought it down on the center of the guards chest, the guard himself letting out a low groan and whimper as the snow around him became a light scarlet from the mixture of snow and life giving ichor. Growling the changeling pulled the spear from the guards chest and looked around, noticing that the other ponies had fled, growling as he walked over to the still form of his praetorian elder, he picked him up and channeled love into the wounds.

Soon the wounds began to heal, and the elder praetorian would now only need rest. Turning his attention to the guard that was trying to crawl away while his intestines hung out from the gash in his stomach, walking over Sixty-four picked up a spear in his magical grasp and lifted the guard, pinning him to the wall of a research cabin. Narrowing his eyes he used the spear like a nail and stuck it through the guard and into the wood, earning a pained howl from the guard. Channeling magic into his horn again he shot four fire bolts into the building, setting them all ablaze from the inside.

Satisfied with his work, Sixty-four turned and helped up his fellow praetorian, allowing him to lean against him for support as they walked back to the hive to report to the queen. "How will the queen react to another failure do you think? Those ponies will probably tell others of our existence." Sixty-four asked using the hive mind link. The elder praetorian remained quiet and shook his head, opting to walk and not talk. In truth he already knew how the queen would react to a failure like this. While he would probably get a lighter punishment compared to his younger companion, he knew it would be bad for both of them.

**High Court of Queen Frostbite

After getting back to the hive, the queen was less than pleased with the two praetorian changelings. Their failure meant she wouldn't get to rest as she needed to, but would have to wait until spring to do so. It also put the entire hive at risk and she didn't like that, she was livid when they came back to report the failure. Now for failing the queen again after the most simple of instruction, Sixty-four stood for a biased trial.

As the queen entered the room and took her seat, every changeling present bowed. "All of you rise." She stated and starred daggers into the praetorian below her. "Praetorian guard number sixty-four. You stand trial for failure to complete the objectives given to you, not only once, but twice. Along side these charges you also stand trial for hive endangerment due to the lack of completion of given objectives. Do you have anything to say for yourself that might help your case?" Queen Frostbite asked with no emotion in her voice.

Sixty-four shook his head and sighed. "No my queen, I do not have anything to say. The ponies escaped because of my own incompetence my queen. I do however, feel it should be noted that I helped ensure the survival of a fellow praetorian guard, my queen."

Queen Frostbite continued to stare down at him while she spoke. "Noted and ignored. Due to both failures being high class missions" She fluttered down to him and grabbed his face, forcing him to meet eye contact. "You are hereby banished from this hive and will be seen as an enemy to all changelings from this hive. Your hive mind connection will be severed, and you will be marked with a brand ensuring you will not slip back into my precious hive." Queen Frostbite motioned for a branding iron to be brought over, as other praetorian guards held Sixty-four down, the queen looked down upon him with rage in her eyes. She plunged the iron down into Sixty-fours chest, a sickening hiss filled the room as he hissed and growled in pain from the brand.

Queen Frostbite leaned down and whispered harshly into his ear."I wish for you to perish, you have put this entire hive at risk! We will have to be more vigilant! You have drawn them to us!" Her horn glowed with an icy blue and she touched horns with him, severing the hive mind connection. She stood and removed the branding iron, giving to a servant as she motioned for Sixty-four to be stood up. The queen walked up to him and sighed, the lost eyes staring back at her.

She knew the severing would damage him, in the sense that he would either go insane after leaving, or he would overcome and endure the deafening silence that would replace the familiar humming of the hive mind. She turned and motioned for him to be taken away. She sighed and went back to her chambers, losing a praetorian was never easy, they were some of the best fighters and guards a hive could ask for. She returned to over seeing the hives operations, having several underlings carrying out the managerial tasks.

Sixty-four was dragged through the hives tunnels, a few changelings stopping to stare at the praetorian being exiled. After reaching a hidden exit of the hive, he was promptly thrown out and tossed down the large slope the exit came out to, tumbling and rolling down the slope, he hit the bottom, groaning. Standing he started walking aimlessly, still trying to come to terms with not having the familiar tingle of the hive inside his mind. He started walking south and didn't stop. If he was going to live, he would need to get to the closest pony civilization and blend among them for the love that seemed to drip and flow freely from them.

Author's Note

A bit more of a longer chapter here, the only reason its so long is because I wanted to shed a little light on the events that led to Sixty-fours current predicament and to progress the story and I couldn't find a good place to stop writing. Hope you all enjoyed it none the less. Hope everyone has a great day! Don't forget to comment and give your feed back on the story!