Chapters Chapter Two: Dwindling Hope
Hope: A feeling or expectation/desire for something to happen.
Darkness. The praetorian guard had felt this before, a sucking pit devoid of all life except for its one inhabitant. He tried to move, gasping as pain shot through him. He ceased his movements and focused on his surroundings, not that there was much to see beside the eternal blackness that seemed to stare back at him. Lights filtered through the darkness, his memories passing above him as he watched.
He saw his old hive mates, his old queen and ultimately what would lead to his down fall. Sighing and closing his eyes once more for the darkness to take him, he waited for the aching to subside as he hoped to fade back to nothing. A slight tingle played at the back of his head, his eyes snapped open and he shot up, despite his bodies rather painful protest. This is the feeling of...no, the connection severed! I-I can't be connecting with the hive mind! They banished me! T-Then why do i have this feeling..? A new voice played in his head.
Do not leave the world yet changeling, we have much to learn from you.
**Crystal Empire Intensive Care Unit**
Doctors rushed to and fro, nurses scrambling from room to room checking on each patient. This was normal, everyone was acquainted with the high stakes and rapid movements of the I.C.U. it was normal for them. When a changeling barely clinging to life was brought in however, the world seemed to stop and slow down. Doctors rushed the changeling to an available room getting to work immediately on the changeling, ordering nurses around as they hooked machines to the changeling. A heart monitor was connected to him, IV bags were brought in but couldn't be used because of his thick armor.
These doctors weren't sure how to treat a changeling, nopony ever had treated a changeling and they were the first. After several scans and frustrating conclusions the doctors stood back from the changeling letting out collective sighs as they all turned toward the most senior doctor. Every doctor in the room was quiet as the gentle beeping from the machine became less frequent. The senior doctor shook his head sadly at the changeling before him, muttering under his breath "I'm sorry son...but we cant do anything for you...it's all up to you now." With this he turned away and approached a pacing Princess Luna. Luna stopped and looked at him, the look in his eyes told her all she needed to know.
The changeling would die and there was nothing the doctors could do about it. Princess Cadence came up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon Luna, there isn't anything for us to do for it..." She said as she turned and talked with the doctor. Luna was deep in thought Nothing for us to do..? No. there is always something to do." She growled quietly and made a drastic decision. She was going to revive the changeling no matter the cost, it would live if she had any say in it. The amount of knowledge we could learn is too valuable to lose! Tactics, strategies, medical and magical! Nay, it WILL live."
Ignoring the questions directed at her she pushed the door to the changelings room open and moved to stand beside it, Princess Cadence followed Luna closely. "Luna what are you doing? It's dead! You heard the doctor, we can't help it!" Cadence said looking the older alicorn mare in the eye from the side. Luna turned and glared at her.
Luna's horn began glowing the midnight blue it always had as she bent down to touch horns with the changeling, channeling her own energy into the creature before her. Do not leave the world yet changeling, we have much to learn from you. She thought to herself as the heartbeat monitor replied with faster beeps, as the changeling received power from Luna and the one thing he needed most. Love. It wasn't the type of love the would sustain him for months, but it was enough. Luna slowly let the power fall until her horn stopped glowing, she brought a hand up to her head slightly winded.
Cadence eyed her with worry, and opened her mouth to speak. "How do you feel Luna?" She placed a hand on the older alicorn mare and moved so that she could lean against her.
Luna gave a faint smile. "Thank you Cadence, but we feel fine, a slight migraine and a little sapped for energy but, we will be alright." She finished as she leaned against Cadence a little, walking out of the room and sitting themselves against the bench and wall outside the changelings room. The doctor looked at Luna and Cadence, furrowing his brow as he returned to the changeling, slightly surprised that the changeling had improved.
Instead of the shallow and labored breathing from before, it was now taking in full breaths, Looking at the monitor the doctor noticed his heart rate and blood pressure had increased. Shaking his head at the changeling, he sighed and turned to leave, on his way out the doctor he notified a few nurses to add the room to they're rounds as they went around the hospital.
**Intensive Care Unit Room #67**
The changeling praetorian slowly drifted back to consciousness. He felt pain from his body, and he felt hunger, hunger for a sweet tasting emotion that had been given to him. He rolled his tongue around in his mouth, the after taste of pitiful love greeting him. At least i'm still alive...now to figure out just where I have been brought." He had yet to open his eyes as he saw the light shining down on his eyelids, basking his protected eyes in a hue of dark red. Slowly he opened them, the only two things greeting him where the blinding florescent lights above him and the occasional but steady beeping of a machine to his left.
He opened them fully as he took in the room he was currently in. Grey and white walls surrounded him, to his immediate left and right where either machines that he didn't recognize or plastic bags that hung from tall metal poles filled with some sort of liquid. He looked down and gave his legs an experimental move, and they responded. At least I have mobility. He thought quietly, sighing and looking around he felt the tingle in his head again. Interesting...ponies have saved me...how, I have no clue, I should be dead and the hive mind shouldn't be connected to me...not unless...
The door to his room swung open and he looked to the left to see a nurse enter, currently staring down at a brown clip board. He wanted to say something to her but he wasn't blessed with properly formulating sentences, so he stared and waited for her to look up. She set the clipboard down and looked up, stopping as she stared back at the unblinking changeling.
She gulped and took a breath. "H-Hello there, Mr. changeling. My name is Golden Flower, h-how are you feeling this evening..?" She asked with uncertainty, gulping again and freezing up as the changeling hissed his words out.
"Huuurt...Feel..." The changeling stopped for a second looking for the right words. "Now ffeel...waarm. Yesss, warmm" He stated, he didn't want the nurse to freak out, so he kept it simple as he felt the fear coming from her rise.
The nurse nodded slowly and picked the clipboard back up. "I-I'm going to go get the doctor for you, okay? I'll be back very shortly." She said as she hurried from the room, leaving the changeling to his own devices. Several moments passed as the changeling sat in silence before he felt the tingling sensation grow stronger in his skull. He stared at the door as it opened and the senior doctor walked in, the nurse, and the two princesses following behind.
He stared at Luna and felt his heart jump in his chest. His praetorian instincts telling him to get up and bow to her, he knew this only happened when a changeling queen was in close proximity to those she shared a personal hive mind connection with.
The senior doctor broke him from his trance. "Well good evening there, Mr. changeling. My name is Doctor Whisp. I'm the senior doctor of the Intensive Care Unit. You gave us all a hard time my boy. If Princess Luna hadn't pumped you full of energy we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now, how are you feeling tonight?" Doctor Whisp asked looking down from the changeling to the clip board and back.
The changeling blinked and stared at Luna while he answered. "Feeel waarmm...body..hurtsss...sore..." He hissed out as the doctor nodded.
"Well i'm sorry for the pain but your...ah what is it? your chitin made the morphine drip some what difficult, do you happen to know any way we could get it into you?" Whisp asked, having placed the clipboard in a basket at the foot of the bed.
The changeling was still staring at Princess Luna and she shifted uncomfortably on her feet. What he said next took everyone in the room by surprise. "Does the Queen...wishh foorr...thiss?" He asked, still staring at the lunar princess.
Luna's eyes widened in surprise, she took a step back and stared in disbelief at the changeling. "W-what? I'm not a queen!" She blurted out, the changeling just stared back. "Queen save...Queen bring back from deathh...Heard Queen in hive minndd." He hissed back at her, blinking.
Luna gulped and shook her head, she would figure this out later but for now she nodded. "Doctor Whisp please get the drip going." She stared at the changeling and spoke to him. "To answer your question..." She paused uncertain of what to call him. "What is your name?" she asked pursing her lips.
The changeling looked down at his bare chest, a number branded into his thick carapace, it read '64'. He looked back up and spoke. "Name is...ssiixty-ffourr...unless Queen hasss...another?" He hissed gently as he looked at her.
Luna shook her head and sighed at the mention of her being 'Queen'. "No, sixty-four will work fine. Will you help Doctor Whisp in getting past your chitin?" The changeling nodded and looked at the doctor. "Will feeel...better?" He asked and Whisp nodded. "It will help you with your pain and soreness, yes."
Luna turned and walked out, sitting back outside on the bench, wanting to closely observe how he would behave. Princess Cadence brought Luna's attention to her. "Luna, why was that thing calling you 'Queen'? and what did it mean by it heard you in the 'hive mind'? whatever that is."
Luna shook her head slowly and sighed. "I don't have those answers my dearest niece, although we wish we did. Perhaps tomorrow morning we can question it further, but for now I think I shall retire for the night, it has been and eventful day." Luna stated as she got up and wished Cadence good night and to have good dreams. When she returned to her room she laid back on her bed and sighed, closing her eyes to try and rest.
Author's Note
Thanks a bunch to everyone who has read the story and to those who have added it to a list for later viewing pleasures! Please let me know if you spot any errors here, I haven't got a proof reader or editor yet, but i'll get one soon, and of course, constructive criticism is always welcome! Till the next chapter, have a wonderful day!
P.S. I know it might be confusing as to why he can't properly speak but, I will explain at a later date. Till then, have a good one.
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!
Chapter Four: Answers and Questions
Author's Note
So, first thing i want to address with this chapter, is that it is a little lengthy and possibly wordy in some places. I do also want to address the slow update, I originally had planned for a double update today, but the best laid plans often go awry. So, for tomorrow look for two additional chapters being added! Thanks again for the support, and for taking an interest in the story! Have a good night everyone.
Chapter Four: Answers and Questions
Dreams: A series of images, thoughts, or sensations occurring in a persons mind.
Dreams. The changeling woke slowly, upon opening his eyes he was once more greeted with the grey and white walls and the fluorescent lights that hummed gently with energy. Sixty-four wiped away tears he had shed in his sleep, the memory haunted him, even in the land of unconsciousness it didn't allow him to rest. taking a deep breath and looking around his room, he noticed nopony was currently with him.
The morphine drip had run dry and hadn't been replaced, after the soreness and aching in his body had gone, Sixty-four denied any further treatment, because he felt fine. Visitors to the I.C.U. flooding with love, among other emotions, such as hate, sorrow, happiness, joy and hurt. As to why such emotions like anger and hurt would even be here puzzled Sixty-four, it didn't matter to him, his personal love storage's were full and that mean't he could freely move. He could move to guard the new queen that claimed him.
Removing the heartbeat monitor sensor from his finger, he swung his legs around and stood up. He let energy flow into his horn as he searched for his new queen, letting the familiar pull guide him. Sixty-four didn't say anything before leaving, only leaving behind an empty bed as he walked outside his room. Sixty-four felt his horn pulling him toward the hallway, so he followed. Many nurses and doctors stared at the changeling, some females blushing at his muscular structure that flexed with every step he took, some staring in curiosity or fear of the many scrapes and scars that accompanied his body.
As he moved through the set of double doors ahead of him the pull got stronger in his horn. However, the closer he got, the more aware he became that he was being followed by a few guards at a time. Upon reaching the closed doors that held his queen however, crossed spears blocked the door, looking down at the guards he stared at them.
The guard noticed his stare and sighed. "Go back to your room please, Princess Luna is currently sleeping. Why are you even up anyways? It's three in the morning." The guard both asked and stated, now looking at the changeling. Sixty-four simply took a few steps back until his back hit the wall, sliding down he positioned himself to sit. He looked back at the guard and hissed out an answer. "Queen has qquestionss...I hhave ansswerrs..." He took a deep breath and reached out, with his magic, accessing the hive mind link.
"My Queen? Can you hear me?" Sixty-four asked, wanting to confirm that she had established a connection with him. A few moments passed before he heard shuffling from inside the room, the door opening to reveal a partially nude Princess Luna. "What do you want? We were try-..." She let her words die on her vocal cords as she stared at the changeling staring back up at her. Sixty-four hissed gently "Sorrry to disturb you my Qquueen...but I sennssed you had quessstions for me?" He finished as he was crouched down, a balled fist and bent arm resting across his chest as he bowed before the lunar diarch.
She blushed gently, the bow reminding her of old knights from before her banishment. Shaking her head she sighed and nodded "Yes..Yes of course, please come in." She motioned for the guards to stand aside as Sixty-four walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Luna turned to the rooms balcony and pushed it open, levitating a bottle of wine to her as well as a glass, she began to speak as she poured the drink.
"So, Sixty-four was your name, correct?" She asked before taking a sip of the wine, sighing contently as she swallowed. Sixty-four moved to stand beside her, pausing to admire her beauty against the night time sky. "Yess my Queeenn..." He gently hissed as he stood beside her, staring out over the city. Luna chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment before taking another gulp of the wine. "Why do you keep calling me that? I'm no queen Sixty-four. I'am the lunar princess, i move the moon and watch over the citizens of Equestria. Plus, i'm not married." She took another swig from the wine glass and took a deep breath afterwards.
Sixty-four nodded and said nothing, his horn lighting up as he channeled energy into it, once again accessing the hive mind.
Luna gasped softly and looked at Sixty-four, mouth wide in surprise. "H-How..? We have never heard of any sort of spell! We only...gave you power..." The lunar diarch took another sip, quickly followed by the whole bottle of wine. Sixty-four nodded slowly. "Doinnggg so...connectted us...we can sspeak with thhee hive miiind. Ffflawless communicattion my Queen.." He hissed softly as his horn stopped glowing.
Luna turned and walked toward the bed, and climbed into it, a slight blush playing across her cheeks. "Then your queen requests that you come and sleep with her tonight. We have not felt the company of another in...quiet some time." Sixty-four turned and stood, unsure of what she meant.
Surely she didn't want to start a hive with him? While not unheard of in the hive it would be extremely rare for such things to happen. Slowly, he approached and much to his surprise, he felt...a very faint strain of stray love coming from inside her. Frowning, Luna turned to look up at him. "Well? hast thou never snuggled before?" She asked, the blush slowly becoming more apparent. Sixty-four shook his head and stared down at her. "No my Qquueen...I have not." Upon those words the sleek but powerful lunar princess pulled him on top of the covers next to her and settled her head on his chest pulling his arm around her.
Luna smiled softly as she quickly found that he was surprisingly warm for being covered in a thick armor. Sixty-four simply stared and tightened his arm around the lunar diarch. Closing his eyes as he hissed softly. "Goodnight my Qqqueen..." He slowly faded out of his conscious state and began sleeping soundly.
**The Next Morning**
Luna stirred and slowly opened her eyes, pausing when she noticed the gentle rise and fall of the changeling chest that her head currently resided on top of. Slowly she moved but found his arm draped over her, she heard a loud knock at the door and felt the familiar weight that had accompanied her through the night suddenly shift. Sixty-four stood with his attention toward the door, a low hiss starting to come from his open jaws.
Luna stared at his actions, his teeth were bared and his lips slightly oulled back in a snarl, his wings shifting in what appeared to be agitation. She spoke up as the door opened "Sixty-four what are you doing?" Sixty-four channeled magic into his horn. "I must protect the Queen from all threats. By any means your highness."
Luna waved them away and sat up, getting out of the bed she walked over and placed a hand cautiously on the changeling's shoulder. A new thought came to mind, because this changeling saw her as his queen, perhaps she could use this to her advantage when telling to do something. "Sixty-four, as your queen, I order you to stand down." Luna stated fixing him with a steely gaze. As if afraid of something, he quickly dropped to one knee, putting his fist and arm in the same position from the night before, bowing to her.
"Yesss my Queennn.." He hissed gently, standing as her hand left his shoulder. Luna went to the wardrobe and pulled out a dress, it was a slightly darker shade of blue, her cutie mark displayed on either side of the thigh portion of the dress. The dress itself was stunning, it dazzled in the sunlight, and came up over her shoulders in the form of straps each strap crossing at the chest to form a neat loop that would use her neck as the holding place. Luna slipped into the dress and paused as she spotted Sixty-four staring at her. "It's quite rude to stare Sixty-four."
Sixty-four quickly turned away, and quietly hissed his response. "Soryy my Queenn..." He moved to the door and slipped out side, figuring it best to not be in the room when his queen dressed herself. Moving to his position against the wall, he heard the sound of armor clattering together, a chorus of footsteps followed the sound. Looking to his right he tensed up at the possible threat approaching the queens room.
Princess Cadence rushed down the hall, flanked by twelve guards. When the I.C.U. had told her that the changeling was no longer present she had gathered the crystal guards and set out for Luna's current room. Upon turning and seeing the changeling standing outside her aunts bedroom door, along with the guards, she breathed a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't have to turn the empire upside down to look for it.
Slowing her approach as the changeling looked at them and slid into a more tactical stance. This puzzled Cadence, many of the same questions returning as answers, she recalled the changeling calling Luna queen, and staring at her for a majority of the time he was in his assigned I.C.U. room. Quickly she connected the dots, it was protecting its 'queen' from any threats that might trouble her. Cadence walked up the guards that were posted outside of Luna's room and began to speak, but the door opening stopped her.
Luna looked like an actual goddess, the dress mixed with her etheral mane and slender body complimented her well. Cadence smiled at the sight and hugged Luna, and Luna hugged her back. "Good morning Luna, sleep well?" Cadence asked and noticed a slight blush across the older alicorn mares face. "W-Well, it was a most enjoyable sleep, yes, you could say that." Luna stated and adverted her gaze from Cadence's looking at the changeling. "Now! I do believe we have a trip to Canterlot planned for today, but first we should eat. Wouldn't want to be hungry on the train ride back would we?"
Cadence raised an eyebrow at the quick and sudden change of topic, and at the fact that Luna rushed off, the changeling staying right behind her. Cadence followed quickly, waving off the guards as she did so. As they entered the royal dining room, several crystal pony servants came out with already prepared meals came out of one door and set the table, not seeming to mind the changeling that followed the two rulers.
As Cadence and Luna took their seats, Sixty-four stood firmly next to Luna. Cadence raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat. "So, Luna, what did you find out from our friend here? I'm sure Princess Celestia will find this...intresting at least, and not to mention he wasn't found in his bed this morning?" She said and wiggled her eyebrows at Luna, giggling as the lunar princess blushed deeply.
Luna finished the food in her mouth and let out a small giggle at the antics, clearing her throat as she looked at Cadence. "Yes, well. Your first question, I have indeed found out why Sixty-four here keeps calling me queen. It's because when I gave him energy, we somehow formulated this 'hive mind' as he calls it. It's some form of telepathy, but apparently, he was without a queen at the moment so, I suppose he latched onto me." Luna stated and pushed more food into her mouth.
Sixty-four suddenly spoke up as the two rulers ate. "I wasss...banished frommm my home hive...my Queen." The two rulers stared at him, silence passing over the group. Sixty-four could sense the unease and spoke up again. "FForgivve my oouut burrsst...my queen" He hissed gently and remained quiet afterwords, but Luna spoke up. "What did you do to get banished for Sixty-four..?" Luna now looked up at him as she asked.
Sixty-four looked back down at her and channeled magic into his horn. "I was given important objectives to complete and failed to complete them my Queen." Luna raised her eyebrow and motioned for him to keep going, Cadence simply looked between the two. "The first task was to protect a messenger to Queen Chrysalis. We were ambushed by rival changelings, and I couldn't save the messenger. Shortly after this i was assigned to guard a entrance with another praetorian guard, we notified Queen Frostbite about intruders and she gave us orders to get rid of them, I also failed this and as punishment I was banished to whatever fate would befall me, and I believe that you found me shortly after I collapsed to love starvation. My Queen."
Luna had finished her meal as had Cadence albeit quicker than Luna did. The changelings voice faded from her mind and she sighed softly, unable to see how the changeling before her had possibly failed any of the given assignments. She spoke after giving it some thought. "You said you were...what, a 'Praetorian Changeling'? tell me, were you some form of guard?" Sixty-four nodded softly.
Cadence spoke up and looked to Luna. "Whats a 'praetorian'? it sounds quite powerful." Luna nodded and looked back to the younger alicorn across from her. Indeed it is my dear niece. In the old days before I was banished, elite guards were given the name of praetorian, it was a badge of honor and one not easily gained. Usually they protected the nations ruler, with little thought they would give their lives without hesitation even, for their leaders. So for Sixty-four here to acclaim such a title..." Cadence widened her eyes at the new discovery, the changeling before her guarded a queen.
Luna stood and cleared her throat, smiling softly. "Well, I do believe we have a train to catch back to Equestria." Luna turned and looked at Sixty-four. "And you, Sixty-four will have quite the story for everyone back in Canterlot" Luna said as the group left for the train station. Sixty-four would as he had guessed, have to reveal his actions against the ponies sooner or later, but he was not one for lies unless absolutely necessary. Cadence was just excited to see her husband and favourite sister-in-law.
Chapter Five: Meeting the Family
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Chapter Six: This Isn't My Fight, This Is My War
Bloodshed: The killing or wounding of people, typically on a large scale during a conflict.
Bloodshed. Sixty-four stood in front of either diarch as the room doors exploded inward. Several grinning guards stepped forward and looked at Sixty-four and glared at him, or the rulers behind him, he couldn't tell. Green fire enveloped them and revealed six other changelings each with a different insignia of the Frost Bitten Hive. Sixty-four had only seen these changelings a few times inside the hive, these were special changelings. Hand picked by the queen for strings Sixty-four would never see pulled.
The first stepped forward, a infiltrator class changeling, most likely with more specialized training than Sixty-four would have ever received in his time. She grinned and spoke to Sixty-four. "Move aside you failed praetorian, Queen Frostbite has other plans for you." Sixty-four glared at her before, much to Luna's surprise, moving aside and giving the female changeling a free shot at Luna. The infiltrator grinned and dashed forward with razor like talons protruding from her fingers making to slice Luna's throat open.
Luna let magic flow into her horn ready to defend herself, but before she could, Sixty-four's arm shot out in front of her grabbing the infiltrator by the throat and holding it tightly. The infiltrator's pink eyes went wide, her hands and talon like appendages wrapping around the arm currently squeezing her life out of her. Sixty-four hissed out harshly. "PROTECT. THE. QUEEN." With these words he turned his attention to the other changelings in the room and increased the pressure around the infiltrators throat.
Everyone stared at the praetorian, surprised he reacted so quickly, even more surprised by his actions. The infiltrator scratched and pulled at Sixty-fours arm, trying to get a little breathing room, bucking wildly as she was lifted off the ground. Sixty-four turned to her, fear radiating from her, he licked his lips. Channeling energy into his hand and making his own claws.
The sound of carapace snapping and a blood gurgling screech filled the room as Sixty-four crushed the infiltrators throat, carapace, and spine from the pressure he was squeezing with, before she died Sixty-four set her down on the ground and let her stare up at him as he grabbed her horn. A savage and uncontrolled look filled his eyes and facial features, gently he placed his foot on her shoulder and looked at the other changelings before a quick and sickening sound of ripping flesh and breaking carapace filled the room.
The infiltrators body slumped to the ground, green blood pooled around it, the head and spine absent. Sixty-four stood there with spatters of green blood covering his form, a head and spine hanging from his clasped hand from the brutal display of violence. The other changelings looked at one another before launching themselves at the praetorian.
Sixty-four tossed the head and spine aside and cast a shield spell around him and the offending changelings, locking them in a fight to the death. Sixty-four analyzed the situation quickly. "Five against one? likely success rate of 45% with a 55% chance of failure. Queen termination chance? 0%." As the thought finished two fists connected with his chest, sending him flying backward, luckily his weight worked in his advantage and he landed on his feet.
Sixty-four sent several magic bolts at the two attackers and struck, his victory was cut short by three other changelings circling him and attacking him with staggered punches or jabs. The repeating pattern played twice before Sixty-four grabbed the arm of the third attacker, pulling him close and sending his magic claws straight through him.
The changeling gasped as he stared up at the praetorian, looking down he found why he had stopped moving, a black carapace covered arm was penetrating his abdomen. Sixty-four hissed and drew back his left hand punching the changeling off his arm and snapping his head back to the remaining four. They closed in on him changeling Sixty-four knew he wouldn't last long taking hits like he was, several cracks and small cuts forming in his thick armor from the abuse.
Sixty-four breathed slowly, and steadily, the carapace on his back opening to reveal small flesh patches that glowed a faint pink. These were his love reserves, and they were about to be used. Drawing the love from his reserves and combining it with his magic, he formed a mix of green and pink colored blades that protruded from his forearms. Doing so drained what little he had and he was yet again on the verge of starvation.
Sixty-four knew he had to make this count, he had to end it quickly or else he wouldn't be able to protect anything. Narrowing his eyes and letting out a last breath, he dashed toward the group before him faster than the infiltrator. His speed and agility surprised the first two changelings resulting in the blades going through both getting blades to the throat."The ponies will need specimens to study, if i'am to be helped medically, they will need these corpses." While he took down the two in front the two in the back quickly reacted by landing two firm kicks in his chest.
Sixty-four gasped as they broke through his carapace, his own cyan blood leaking gently from his chest. His breathing was ragged as he stood, spitting blood from his mouth and panting. The changelings took this opportunity and rushed forward, once again attacking at the same time, the force sending Sixty-four crashing through the shield he had created, landing on the steps that lead up to the two thrones.
Blood rushed from his chest as his carapace broke and splintered from the impact, gasping as he rolled down the stairs, he landed on his face and hissed in pain. The sound of clattering armor and a chorus of footsteps filled his ears, looking behind the two changelings, he saw multiple golden figures approaching and a familiar candy colored alicorn rushing to the throne room.
Determined to finish their mission, the changelings moved forward. one moving for Luna and the other for the injured Sixty-four. Flipping over Sixty-four the changeling above him brutally brought his foot down on his chest, earning him a sickening snapping sound along with the blood curdling scream from Sixty-four.
Luna was ready and used her magic to throw the other changeling backwards. It hit the wall and slumped over at the back of the throne room from the impact, green blood coming from a crack in its head. Turning her head as Sixty-four screamed in pain she locked the other changeling in place with her magic, a fury in her eyes as she pulled the oxygen from the changelings lungs. A look of terror accompanying its face as it dropped to its knees and fell back grabbing at its throat. It spasmed and kicked it legs before slowly ceasing it actions, incapacitated.
Sixty-four groaned in pain as he crawled to the slain infiltrator, digging his fangs into her exposed flesh. A gentle pink glow began flowing through his fangs, his own love reserves filling slowly. He let out a low groan and turned over. Gazing down at him, was the face of his queen, along side her was the white face of Celestia and pink candy colored face of Cadence. Luna's salty tears hit his lips as he faded from the land of the living once again, the last feeling he felt was being lifted up in some sort of soft cloth like material.
Author's Note
Interesting development no? I hope I did the dark and death tags some justice here. I hope that the fighting didn't feel rushed, because it mostly wasn't. I just wanted to make the point of just how powerful the praetorian changelings are. I also wanted at least the last two changelings for...later in the story where we will see just how devoted to his queen Sixty-four really is. That's all for this chapter, and I hope that if you read this at time of publishing (12:14 AM U.S. Central) that you have a good sleep or day. If you're reading this in the morning, then I hope you have a good day!
P.S. That dark tag may not be here now, but...it will be shown love my friends, and I hope you haven't weak stomachs.
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Chapter Seven: The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend
Ally: combine or unite a resource or commodity with another for mutual benefit.
Allies. As the lunar princess watched through her tear filled eyes as her elder sister tried to comfort her. Princess Cadence was coordinating the guards along side her husband, Shining Armor, making sure they were checking every possible entrance for more changelings, of course a letter was also sent to Twilight and her friends informing them of the events that took place in Canterlot.
Twilight, like always, replied swiftly and announced that they would be coming with some one that might be able to help them in figuring out the situation. Celestia slowly stood Luna up and walked her back to her room, where she would leave her and would join Cadence in figuring out just how the changelings had gotten into their ranks so easily. Luna was a mess, her ethereal mane had dropped its flowing and now drooped around the lunar diarch's shoulders like a regular mane.
In the very short time that Sixty-four had been calling her queen she had come to care for the changeling, both because of his self proclaimed duty till death, and because he filled the void of constant attention she so desperately needed. A thousand years on the moon will do that to you. She thought to herself and moved to her balcony, gazing out over the pristine white mountain side city that she shared with her sister. This act of aggression must be answered, not only have the changelings yet again tried our lives, but they put Sixty-four in danger. They tried to kill MY changeling.
Growling softly as the anger in her burned with passion for fuel, she turned to her wardrobe and pulled on the back, revealing a new protective armor that the lunar guards had made for her shortly after her return. The new armor was black iron in nature, dyed to be a pitch black that seemed to absorb the light around it, a solid white crescent moon stood proudly in the center of the chest piece.
The armor looked wicked, designed both for offence and defense, while light it was still durable, covering the edges of the armor were sharp, serrated and hooked blades. The gauntlets were sleek, accompanied with three razor sharp blades that ran along the length of the gauntlets, sitting firmly atop the protective coverings, small white crescent moons atop of either pieces.
The slender leggings were the same as the chest piece, black, sleek, and with hooked serrated blades running along the length, white crescent moons sat beautifully in the middle of her shins as she put them on. The helmet was also impressive, a form fitting design making sure it never slipped but still fit comfortably. Instead of the horn being free to abuse a protective covering for it was made. The end of the covering ending in a high grade focusing crystal that would allow her to amplify her magic three fold.
She slid it on and turned to look at herself in the mirror, to her surprise the helmet was glowing gently as a dark cloud covered her face and replaced her eyes with glowing white spots. She grinned under the nightmarish illusion, she always treated her loyal guards like they deserved to be, and in the end it always worked in her favor. Looking over her body she saw that the same cloud covering her face covered her bare skin and fur but with what looked to be more magical barriers than a simple illusion.
The lunar diarch and clapped her hands excitedly, turning and exiting her room, the two lunar guards looked in awe at their princess, giving respectful bows as she looked at them. With a wave she left, the guards following her as they made their way back to the throne room. The lunar diarch having a currently held captive changeling to speak with. One way or another, I WILL have the reason behind this, while foolish, it is still an attempt on our lives. She thought as she stepped into the throne room.
Everyone stopped to look at Luna, the solar guards had their mouths agape in awe and surprise, the lunar guards grinning and bumping fists as they saw Luna in the armor. Celestia raised an eyebrow at the armor, speaking up. "And why pray tell Luna, are you wearing that?" Luna looked at her sister from behind the illusion and spoke. "Well dear sister, being the more military and war experienced leader, I feel the need for information. What better way to obtain it than the intimidation of our dear guests?" She motioned a hand to the two incapacitated changelings that had been tied up and bound with magical inhibitors placed around their horns.
Princess Celestia didn't like the almost cheerful tone in her sisters voice but nodded none the less, both Shining Armor and Cadence giving a worried glance as the two changelings were pulled from the throne room and off towards the dungeons. Cadence looked to Celestia who had a stern look on her face. "Auntie is it wise to leave them in her care? I dont mean any disrespect but she turned around...a little too quickly for my liking." Celestia nodded and sighed before replying.
"Your concerns are with a good heart Cadence but, Luna IS the more militaristic leader when it comes to the possible threat of a war. What the changelings have tried today cannot be ignored. I'm sure she will get something from them, just...send a guard to check on her every thirty minuets to an hour." Celestia stated as they returned to the map of the castle and of Canterlot.
**On Board The Train To Canterlot**
Twilight and her friends sat quietly, as they all shared a simple quietness. The only thing that gave them some vote of confidence on finding out what had happened was the other changeling currently in the cabin. A few days ago both twilight and Rarity felt a surge of energy, and it had pulled them to the Everfree, once they had found the source they had discovered a changeling that was bleeding, battered and bruised. Another changeling with a set of large puncture holes in its neck was discarded close by.
Twilight beamed at the thought of learning more from a different species that they hardly knew anything about. Not wanting to cause any distress Twilight had hung back, the thought of learning more excited her yes, but she still bore resentment for what had happened at her brothers wedding. Much to everyone's surprise Fluttershy had rushed to the changelings side, and began to bandage it up with a first-aid kit she had brought just in case some pony got injured.
Despite this though, everyone was cautious due to the dead changeling, unlike the other changelings they had seen this one cooperated with Fluttershy's requests to move. Furthermore it also looked different, it looked sleeker, and more streamlined, toned muscles accompanied its carapace and its eyes were purple instead of the mindless cyan like the one's from the royal wedding.
That was a few days ago, and even now the group had a few trust issue's with the changeling accompanying them to Canterlot. After some group thought and the letter Princess Celestia had sent they had decided that it would be best to bring the changeling along, after Twilight had pointed out some logical points to them.
Such as since they had a changeling, surely it could help in the detection of other changelings, and surely it could teach them about the changeling culture. The changeling had been quiet through out the entire ordeal and only reacted when mention of the capital had come into play. It's ears had sprung up but it hadn't said anything, assuming changelings could talk anyway.
The train was quickly approaching Canterlot, and everyone was ready for the chaos, at least, as ready as they could be.
Author's Note
Bit of a shorter chapter here, but I couldn't give you guys ALL the juicy details now could I? More to come at a later time! So, stay tuned! And, as always I hope you are all still enjoying the story, and I hope you have good evenings/days/nights!
Agony: extreme physical or mental suffering
Pain. Sixty-four couldn't begin to describe the pain he was in, he desperately wanted to go back to the land of unconsciousness and wait until this anguish had passed. He would receive nothing to alleviate his pain, he was too focused on the pain the came in crashing waves from his chest as he stained the flooring and bed he was in with his cyan life force.
Doctors were scrambling as were nurses, trying any way they could to help the creature that was in so much agony it would have made Nightmare Moon wince, or so they thought. Everyone stopped rushing about to stare at what was happening, Sixty-four had a nurse by the neck and was glaring at her. He could feel the fear coming from the ponies in the room and hissed a quick statement. "Bodiiees...other, ccchhangelings...bring to mee..!" He released the nurse and she scrambled away, some of the guards had already left as they had seen him trying to sink his fangs into the flesh of another slain changeling.
Sixty-four laid back and growled as he did, tears and blood covered his face, it was easy to tell that only one of those things had been his. The sound of quick shuffling and grunting, as well as hardened carapace being drug reached his ears as several guards and Princess Celestia walked into the room he was currently in. A wave of sympathy hit him and he rolled his tongue around the weird emotion, it was like jello.
He could use this to help ease his pain but seeing the corpses of his killers had excited him, he knew that each of them would have an ample amount of love and if he could get his fangs into it, he would. Celestia spoke up, Sixty-four turned to look at her. "While i can see that you are in a major amount of pain, I must ask: what do you need with these corpse?" Sixty-four hissed softly a simple word. "Lloovveee..."
Celestia cocked her head and motioned for a body to be placed over near Sixty-four. As two guards worked to move one of the bigger changelings over Sixty-four's tongue snaked out and ran over his lips with a predatory purpose, coating his fangs with a thick saliva coat. The guards eyed Sixty-four with slight worry and set the heavy changeling down in his lap, grunting softly as they did.
Sixty-four channeled energy into his horn and brought back the claws he had during the fight, he brought his hand down with purpose and ripped the carapace off the changelings back, spraying any one who stood too close with green gore. Celestia wiped the blood from her face and narrowed her eyes, as she watched Sixty-four sink his fangs deep into the changelings back.
A subtle pink glow filled his fangs and went down his mouth into his neck, disappearing beneath the thick carapace that protected him. Celestia raised an eyebrow as he brought his fangs back up and sunk them back into the love filled changeling below him. Sixty-four sighed as his own love reserves only filled enough to stave off starvation and not fix his chest.
Unless the other changelings had more love for him to devour he would be in this position for awhile and he sincerely didn't want to be stuck in the same bed for that long. Another corpse was brought over and he wasted no time in snapping his fangs into position, the familiar pink glow filling his fangs. Celestia had written what she had seen down and stopped the guards from bringing the third corpse over. "No, I think I've seen enough. If he wants more, he will have to answer some questions I have." Celestia narrowed her eyes at the changling.
Sixty-four returned the look, staring defiantly into her eyes. With a wave of her hand the guards and the bodies disappeared, the machines that the doctors had hooked him to while he had been feeding showed he would be okay, to their knowledge at least. As the solar diarch held her gaze with Sixty-four he hissed softly at her. "Not, myy queeeenn..." Celestia blew air through her nose abruptly, and then sighed, turning and leaving the changeling to his own boredom.
**Canterlot Dungeons
The guards winced at the cracking sound of carapace followed by an intense pain filled hiss. Luna had been in the dungeons for a little over an hour, she had been slowly breaking the carapace of the captive changeling. Little information had been gained despite the slowly growing pool of green blood that the changeling was kneeling in the middle of. The changelings carapace was cracked and webbed, in some placed it was gone, leaving the exposed green flesh open to view.
Luna crouched down and grabbed the changelings face in a hand and brought its face up so it could stare into her white eyes. Luna growled mentally and left the changeling there. It's arms had been pulled up so that it was open to whatever Luna had thought of. Her own armor was now covered in a light layer of green blood, a few chunks of green flesh hung from the hooked serrated blade on her leggings from the vicious kicks she had started the session with.
Every so often a solar guard would come by and ask her progress, claiming Celestia wanted to know. Luna had said the same thing, that she hadn't made any progress yet, and the guard would leave. Luna was about to deliver another strike to the changeling before her when a knock at the door sounded, stopping her. Nodding her head at the changeling, the guards moved and lifted it higher into the air, leaving it dangling just a few feet above the ground.
When she answered the door she was surprised to see Shining Armor. "Princess Celestia wants our presence, Twilight and her friends have just shown up and are being escorted to her now." Luna let out a sigh and nodded, stepping out from the chamber and motioning for Shining to take the lead. As they walked Shining kept glancing at the lunar diarch, more specifically at the gore that covered her armor.
"Wouldn't you want to clean your armor a little bit princess?" Shining asked, looking at her as she spoke.
"Why would I? I want the seriousness of whats happening to be ingrained on everyone around. I also want to strike fear into the heart of my enemy, wearing they're flesh as a trophy has proved useful in the past."
Shining Armor nodded and kept silent for the remainder of the walk. Upon reaching the throne room that still sported green stains in the carpet and the cyan streak marks where Sixty-four had crawled to the infiltrators body, everyone turned and gasped softly at Luna, save for Celestia who narrowed her eyes and shook her head.
Luna spotted the new changeling that seemed to hide behind the group, seemingly afraid of the lunar princess.Good, fear the night parasite. She thought as she moved past them and took seat by her sister, staining the cushion beneath with green. Celestia spoke first.
"Thank you all for coming on such short notice, as you have been informed the changelings have yet again tried us, but it was not Chrysalis, it was a different group of changelings. After this meeting Twilight, could you ask your new friend here to take a look at the bodies?" Twilight nodded at the question.
"Of course Princess Celestia, any way we can help, we will try!" She said filled with determination and bravado
Celestia nodded and crossed her legs and motioning to Luna, who had been staring at the new changeling the entire time. "Luna has a few things to share with us as well." Luna came out of her trance and nodded, standing. "Yes, of course. During my time in the Crystal Empire, Princess Cadence and I found a changeling who had been banished from his hive, after being cast out he tried to make his way to the closest pony filled civilization. However he collapsed from something he called 'Love Starvation'." The new changelings let out a small gasp and put her hand over her mouth in shock, Luna merely nodded.
"Indeed, after we got him to the hospital the doctors there were not able to help him, we were forced to use our own magic to save him. His condition improved and by the next day he was able to move around freely. However, when I infused him with my magic it created a new form of telepathy, something called a 'hive mind'. Having no queen prior to our involvement he latched onto us and we are now his serving queen." The new changeling took a step back and bowed, lowering her head quickly.
Luna caught on quickly. "Rise changeling, we are not your queen. The only changeling we are queen to is the praetorian guard that fought for my sister and I. You owe us nothing." The changeling rose and nodded, looking a bit saddened by her statement. Twilight spoke up next.
"What do you mean your its queen Princess Luna? You don't look any different, well, besides that armor you're wearing. You don't sound different and you're definitely not trying to steal love from anyone, so...why do you think your this things queen?" Luna turned on her quickly.
"His name is Sixty-four Ms. Sparkle, and he is not a THING he is MY CHANGELING! " Luna took a step back and sighed "Forgive me...I'am not sure where that came from my friends. I..." Sighing again she shook her head. "We just feel a connection with him, Twilight, it's...hard to put into words but, we hold him close and dear." Luna's body shook with emotion as she heard his blood curdling scream replay in her mind, she hit the floor and sobbed, her tears falling from behind the illusion her helmet projected.
"W-we almost lost him Twilight...He almost died for us...I-In those moments Ms. Sparkle, it felt like when I was banished...I could FEEL him fading from us..." Luna continued to sob and Celestia had moved to comfort her but a sleek black carapace covered arm stopped her. Celestia looked at the new changeling who simply shook her head and approached Luna, crouching next to her and pulling her into a one sided hug.
Everyone watched the changeling, who opened her mouth to speak. "It will be okay Queen Luna, it is natural to feel such a strong connection to your only praetorian. Queen Chrysalis felt the same way when she first lost a praetorian. If you wish to rid yourself of this grief, please, take me to him. I can ensure his survival, but, I have to be part of your hive to do so." The changeling had spoken with a kind and soft voice that rivaled Fluttershy's own voice, Luna had composed her self but still trembled with emotion, the tears threatening to return, she nodded and sniffled.
"I-If we do this...Y-You can ensure that he will live..?" The changeling nodded slowly, Luna removed her helmet, revealing the bloodshot eyes that were red and puffy from crying, she grabbed the changeling by the shoulders and stared into her purple eyes, speaking with new found determination. "If you are lying to us, you will be the next one to have chunks hanging from our boots." The changeling smirked and chuckled softly. "I would expect nothing less, My Queen."
Luna lit her horn and let out at breath before touching horns with the changeling before her, giving energy to the changeling she cut the connection. The changeling lit its horn and tried the hive mind connection.
My Queen, can you hear me?
Yes, you're queen can hear you. Please, after this meeting and after you have identified the bodies to the best of your abilities, go check on our praetorian, we haven't been to see him yet.
The two stood up, going slow as Luna steadied her self, the changeling speaking again. "Thank you My Queen, we will tend to him after this." Luna nodded and sighed, looking to Celestia, nodding once more. "We are done, sister." Celestia hugged her sister and nodded, turning to Twilight and her friends. "Then this meeting is finished, Shinning Armor will lead you all to the bodies. Please, try your best...What were you called again? I don't think you ever stated as such."
The changeling bowed gently, speaking with her head lowered. "My mother named me Arachne, you're majesty." Celestia nodded. "Then please, Arachne, do your best. We need every bit of information we can get, now more than ever." She said as the group walked away. Turning to her sister she said "Luna, we need to talk about this whole 'queen' business."
Author's Note
BAM...Dunno why i started this with that, but regardless. I hope you all enjoy the update, hopefully I can take this to where I want it. More importantly I want to know where you guys think the story is headed, what are some of your theories on what will happen next? leave a comment down below, and also if you have any questions about what all just occurred then please, by all means ask and I will try my best to give you a straight/understandable answer.
Darkness: wickedness or evil
Darkness. Sixty-four had fallen asleep to allow the slow repair of his body to go unhindered, he may not have needed to sleep but the fear and stress definitely went down around the nurses and the occasional doctor that had been assigned to him. Once again he found no respite in his sleep, no peace. His mind was plagued with nightmares that never seemed to stop, this was no different.
Having constant nightmares had begun to take its toll, he was more tired than usual when he would wake up. This nightmare however, had burned it's self into his memory, causing him to think about it when he would close his eyes even for the shortest amount of time. In this nightmare he was wounded, but standing, small bladed weapons stuck out of his chitin with zero penetration.
He was covered in a mix of green, cyan, and red blood. What shook him most was that his queen stood before him, a weapon in hand, anger and sadness radiated from her. She would ask why he did it, why he killed so many innocents. He couldn't speak to defend himself or his actions, and his body moved on its own. To his own disbelief and even greater shock, he attacked his queen, and she held nothing back, two great combatants locked in battle until Sixty-fours own fatigue caught up and he became slower.
His queen held nothing back when he made mistakes, cutting and slicing into him like she knew what he was going to do. Her blade had his cyan blood dripping from it. He was getting weaker and she didn't even look winded. His body, unable to keep up with the stress, buckled under him and he fell to his knee's panting heavily and bleeding profusely. At the end of the nightmare he would feel his queen's blade at his throat, lifting his head up.
When he looked into her eyes he saw seething rage, a greater sadness however told him how much she regretted what was about to happen. While they held eye contact in the nightmare, she drew her arm back and thrust it into his throat. As he looked into her now fuzzy eyes he reached up and grabbed the blade, driving it deeper. She wept and repeated that she was sorry to him, that she had wished there was another way.
At the end when the world faded to black, he would wake up with a jolt, the heart monitor would go hay wire in attempt to keep up with his hard and quick pounding heart. Nobody came to check on him, something he was grateful for, for once. He would lay back and calm him self, while staring into space. He registered the ponies that had come in, but not that they were starring at him, he was snapped from his trance by a new voice in the hive mind.
Praetorian. Praetorian can you hear me?
Ye-...Who am I speaking to, how did you get into my hive? And what is your purpose?
Typical praetorian, do you always reject a love-carriers help? Anyway, my name is Arachne, OUR Queen inducted us into this hive. She has instructed me to ensure you're survival. She holds you in quite high regard, but maybe that is because you are the only praetorian she has?
She has inducted a love-carrier?...Forgive my outburst, it has been a long time since I have had the luxury of a love-carrier. They are few and far between in the Frostbitten Hive. So, Arachne? sounds something like a Chrysalis named changeling.
Indeed it is. But that can wait, you have a few important ponies to meet while I work, please, try to be nice. I believe Queen Luna wishes us to get along with each other and those around us.
Sixty-four snorted softly and looked at the six ponies before him. The yellow mare was staring at his large chest wound, which made him uneasy for some reason. The purple mare stepped forward first and waved gently at Sixty-four. "Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends." She pointed at a cyan colored mare with a rainbow mane and tail.
"That's Rainbow Dash, bearer of the Element of Loyalty." The mare in question also waved, Sixty-four gave a brief nod. "This is Applejack, bearer of the Element of Honesty." The orange mare tipped her hat gently. "This is Fluttershy, bearer of the Element of Kindness." The yellow mare had yet to break her stare at his chest, watching the love-carrier work quickly before grunting in agitation. "This is Rarity, bearer of the Element of Generosity. and next to her Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter."
Both waved and Sixty-four waved. "Whats your name?" Twilight asked. Sixty-four looked down at the green and cyan mix of blood that pooled into his branded number. He turned back and hissed in pain as a loud snap played, the love-carrier shrugged. "You should have kept it unset, idiot." Glaring at the love-carrier he turning back he hissed gently. "Sssiixty-fouur..."
Twilight raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. "Your name is Sixty-four. Like the number?" Sixty-four nodded slowly. "Why? how come you don't have a name? A real one, like Arachne?" This time Arachne answered the question. "Changelings don't ever have a name per say. It would get confusing for a queen to remember individual changelings. This applies to Praetorian changelings too, but they get a number. The number becomes their name and identity" She stopped for a second and grunted, another snapping sound and another pained hiss came after.
Twilight nodded softly. "That...kind of makes sense, but, you're busy so now that introductions are out of the way, I think we will take our leave and let you work. C'mon girls, lets go see if the princesses have anything for us to do." They quickly filed out of the room, headed for the throne room.
Silence fell into the room as the love-carrier worked on the praetorian changeling below her. The continuous snapping and pain filled hissing was the only sound filling the room. After she was done, her hands were covered in cyan blood and bits of carapace covered her hands and she took a step back, admiring her work. "They don't call my Arachne for nothing, now do they?"
**Celestia's Royal Chambers**
Celestia sat across from her sister and took a sip of tea raspberry tea, it was delicious, but it wasn't her favorite kind of tea. Setting down the cup she, she looked at Luna, who had been examining her helmet and the runes engraved on it. Celestia cleared her throat and Luna turned back to her.
"Luna, I...I'm worried that this whole 'queen' business is changing you. You haven't ever once raised your voice at the Element Bearers, but ever since you came back with that changeling, Sixty-four, it seems you take great offence to anything concerning his duty or him in general. I cannot say that I condone how you reacted but at the same time I cannot blame you, because we don't have any idea how this hive mind thing is affecting you. I'm concerned for you sister." Celestia finished and took another sip of her tea.
Luna nodded softly. "Yes, I'm worried as well. I'm not sure why I snapped at Twilight the way that I did, but something just...She called him a thing like he was some sort of object that could be tossed aside on moments notice. My praetorian is not an object that can be discarded Celestia, he is a living, breathing, organism. Just as much as you or I. He has proved that he is sentient, he can feel pain, love, he can talk, albeit through broken hisses, the fact remains. This new changeling I also care for...It's not the same connection that Sixty-four and I share but, it is enough sister..."
Celestia raised an eyebrow at her statement. "your praetorian? Luna do you hear yourself? He came from another hive, one of which we have never heard of. Then he brings these other changelings with him and puts US in danger Luna. It's not just you your actions have affected, while I admit that he is a worthy warrior, the fact cannot be denied that he is still a changeling, and as such we have no idea what is happening to you by being connected to him!" She had started to raise her voice at Luna. "A prime example being how quickly you turned around and were suddenly so keen on getting 'information' from our would be assassins! Tell me Luna, what exactly did you get from them, hmm?"
Luna turned on her and glared standing up. "What we learned has yet to be concluded dearest sister. And it would do you good to hold your tongue when speaking of my emotions for my praetorian! What they did to him will be returned ten fold! We will see their hive burned to the ground for the wounds inflicted on him!" Luna yelled out and breathed heavily, her anger had gotten to her and had worked her up.
Celestia narrowed her eyes at the younger alicorn, standing to her full height and standing so close to Luna that she could smell the freshness of her breath. "I would do well to hold MY tongue Luna? Look at how this is affecting you. Never once have I heard you say such things. During times of war you would annihilate those who opposed us, yes but never once did you wish to see them killed off entirely! Now look and listen to what you are saying! What you speak of is genocide! And no sister of mine would ever DARE to even think of such an act!" She blew air through her nose, she wanted her point to be heard.
As she walked to the door and grabbed the handle, opening the door a bit she turned back to the now seething Luna. "No, that's something the creature I banished to the moon would say." Her words were cold, and drove a spike deep into Luna's mind. Had she really wanted to genocide an entire hive just because of harm that came to her praetorian?
As the door closed and the solar diarch left, Luna hit her knees and teared up, looking to her left she saw the mirror Celestia used to dress herself. Standing up and wiping her eyes, she looked at her reflection and glared. She wouldn't let her emotions control her, and she wouldn't let her new queen hood change her. She growled at the resolve and sent a fist straight into her reflection, shattering the mirror. Huffing she sat back on her sisters bed and sobbed quietly realizing what her sister had said was true. I promise, Celestia, I will not let this new change, change me. I promise.
Chapter Ten: Duty Till Death Pt.1
Devotion: Love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause
Devotion. Sixty-four had felt him self able to breath better after having his carapace reformed and set correctly by the Love-carrier, now know to him as Arachne. She had not only reset his carapace but pulled as much love as she could from the other bodies with a more sophisticated and refined manner, using it she had filled his personal love reserves about half way, or so she said. He had spent the better part of the day in the bed, for once his nightmares hadn't haunted him and he had slept peacefully.
It was about noon when he had woken up, and he admitted to himself that having a peaceful slumber did feel nice. He felt more alert and more energized, deciding it was time to assist the queen after his recover he slid from the bed and stood up, his endoskeleton popped along his vertebrae allowing him a groan of pleasure as the stiffness was worked out of his muscles.
Walking to the door he opened it, only to be stopped by running into his queens bosom and falling back onto his ass. Looking up he realized who was standing before him, he quickly got into his kneeling position and crossed his chest with his arm again. "My queeeen, fforrgivve me...I sshoulld havve sennsed you comming." Luna smirked softly and stepped past him. "You may rise my prae- Sixty-four. We wish to speak with you concerning our would be assassins." Sixty-four stood and turned to face her, accessing the hive mind link.
What of them my Queen?" Luna took a seat on his bed and looked at him. "Well. For one I want your opinion, besides the one were you say you think I should kill them. And please, while you think, keep in mind that we need all the information we can get from them." Sixty-four was silent for a long moment and finally spoke again. Allow me to have three days with them. Allow me to show my queen that I can be useful in more ways than one. Luna raised an eyebrow and cocked her head as she crossed her legs.
"And pray tell my little changeling'' She stood and placed her hands on either side of his face, looking into his eyes. She realized she was letting herself slip and quickly retreated back to the bed. "Please, Sixty-four, what would you be doing for these three days?" Sixty-four narrowed his eyes and let his tongue snake over his fangs.
Breaking them my queen. I will grind their psyche into nothing and make them reveal all of the information you could ever want. My Queen. Luna couldn't help but smile at the devotion her praetorian was showing. She nodded and stood, walking out of the room as she spoke. "I'm glad to hear you are ready to prove your worth. I will make the arrangements, be there within five minuets. I want results, not broken useless changelings Sixty-four."
Sixty-four stared after her and smiled to himself, he was finally going to prove his usefulness to his queen. Her words replayed in his ears like a sweat melody. After a few moments had passed, he decided it was time to follow his given orders. Break them but not entirely, his queen must have been looking to add to the hive again, or maybe she wanted the satisfaction of the kills for herself. He shook his head of such thoughts and growled softly as he moved toward the throne room. He would need a location before he could work.
As he walked he saw both lunar and solar guards staring at him, murmuring among themselves. He was looking for a different looking guard, any variation of color or armor could indicate a higher rank. As he walked into the throne room he spotted Arachne speaking with Princess Cadence, deciding he should at least interact with both of them while he could, he could also ask about the dungeons.
He felt a hand grip his shoulder and pull him back, spinning he faced the hands owner. Looking at him with narrowed eyes he was faced with a white stallion with a blue mane, and purple armor with gold trimmings. He spoke quietly and sharply. "I know what Luna is wanting you to do. Follow me, and don't let them see you." Sixty-four wanted to know how this stallion knew what his queen had asked of him, but followed none the less.
Looking over his shoulder and slipping back out of the throne room, he slowed his pace to seem like he was following. It was infiltration 101 for the changeling, when following something, don't make it obvious. He took the few moments to gather the true beauty of the palace. Polished white marble stone ran along the castle floors, the huge ceiling giving Sixty-four a good estimate on just how many changelings could fit in the room.
The stained glasses that filled the hallways depicted many things, what he could only assume were recent events based on the six mares that were in the glass. Further down he spied older events. What looked like a taller and darker version of his queen, being what he could only assume was banished, to the moon.
Looking from the stained glass he turned a corner to follow Shining Armor, this hallway, absent of guards. He followed Shining Armor into a locked room and looked around, many chemicals and strange looking concoctions amassed on a great deal of shelves. Sixty-four wanted to know why Shining Armor had led him here.
"Whhhatt iss thiisss?" He hissed out gently and moved to stand next to Shining Armor, who was currently rummaging through a case that was filled with both bright and dim liquids. Shining Armor looked up at the changeling and grinned deviously. "I'm sure you heard about the changeling invasion that happened, well. Being turned into a love producing slave is not fun, lemme tell you." Setting out a few vials, needles and syringes each with its own marking, or some form of identifier.
"Turns out after the invasion I still have some pretty pent up anger and rage for changelings in general. You have no idea just how hard it was to NOT kill you when I first saw you, but seeing princess Luna crying like that? I wouldn't have been able to live with myself, not to mention what Cadence would have done." He shivered and pointed back at the box "So, since the invasion I've had...associates bringing me special mixes of things that have been banned from being used during 'interrogation' by the Equestrian government. You aren't part of Equestria, so, these are perfectly legal for you. Shame I won't get to use them on those changelings though, but that's where you come in."
Sixty-four was beginning to like this particular pony, and he saw quickly what the captain had wanted him to do. "Yyyou waannt me tttoo bee a tool of youurr haaattee." He hissed softly, earning a nod from the captain, who turned and looked at him, after he shoved the box toward Sixty-four. "Indeed I do, if your found out though, neither of us were here, understand?" Sixty-four nodded and Shining Armor continued. "Good, now, a quick rundown of whats in the box."
He pointed to the bright pink one first. "This is known as Scarlet, contains a mix of foreign poisons from the Dragon Lands, Zebrica, and manticore poison for added effect. They have all been diluted to decrease the lethality but increase the severity of pain felt. It can overload pain receptors and in small doses give the target decreased pain threshold and increase the sensitivity of the receptors."
Nodding to the vial that had several swirling strands of red and black, held within a brown liquid were inside. "This little cunt is known as Breaker, for good reason. It's a fear serum that causes extreme paranoia, and extreme hallucinations both visual and auditory, and paralysis will set in within the first five minuets of use." Sixty-four nodded and grinned. The queen would be quite pleased with his results.
Nodding to the last one that was a plethora of what looked to be black, blue, and purple colors, Shining Armor shook his head sadly. "Pray you don't have to use it. It's known as Shocker, looked down upon because of its effects. It's a serum that puts the target at ease for around twenty minuets, during this time you can get them to do anything, drugs, suicide. Hell I've even heard that some dragons used it to destroy a zebra's life so much that ten years after he killed himself after the initial use. He had been living a total lie, friends, wife, kids, job, parents. All of it had been set in his mind by the dragons after the Shocker took its hold on him." Shining put them all back into the box, and looked at Sixty-four.
"Make them hurt. Your probably also wondering how I knew you were going to torture them?" Sixty-four nodded gently as he picked up the box. "It wasn't hard to tell after hearing Luna tell the guards to vacate, only took connecting the dots to see the picture." Shining Armor yawned and headed for the door, looking into the hallway and giving the all clear they both exited the room, going their separate ways. Sixty-four teleported back to his room and went to the bathroom, they would stay here until he needed them.
Arachne had been speaking with Princess Cadence for a little over thirty minuets now, having discussed what a love-carrier was, how they were made and how important they were during times of war. Her queen had called for her telepathically and she excused her self from the conversation. Passing Cadence's husband, Shining Armor on the way out of the throne room.
As she drew closer to the royal chambers that held her queen resided in she noticed that the guards were absent for some reason. Walking in she saw her queen staring at herself in her own mirror, observing her dress as it hung just above the ground. Arachne smiled and approached, bowing to her. "My Queen." Luna smiled and spoke. "Rise my changeling, I have a few questions concerning this...new queen hood I find myself in." Arachne raised herself and looked at her queen, puzzled. "Whatever do you mean My Queen?" Luna motioned to a small tea table with two cups set out, a kettle settled between the two.
Arachne took the hint and sat across from her queen, staring at her intently. Luna smiled and took a sip of tea before clearing her throat to speak. "How will this effect me? and don't play coy my changeling. I have already noticed a few changes in myself." Arachne nodded and suddenly her throat felt parched but she spoke anyways.
"During a changelings transition into queen hood, she can expect a few things to happen. For one they will experience a higher emotional connection with the more important changelings, i.e. me or your praetorian my queen. Secondly they will get a sense of motherly protection for the hive, doing almost anything to keep it safe. Third, and this is rare, some queens are will be capable of taking direct control of a member of the hive, at the cost of leaving themselves vulnerable. Fourth the new queen may go through some type of physical change, this can be anything from minor things like fangs being larger or longer, to a whole new body being made, or maybe in your case, a new mind set. Fifth, the new queen will seek to enlarge her hive, or add to it in some way, either by numbers or just general enlargement of the physical hive. And the sixth change..." Arachne trailed off and looked away from her queen, looking instead out into the now orange and pinkish sky.
Luna raised an eyebrow and leaned closer. "What is the last change Arachne?" Sighing softly she looked back at her queen. "The final change a queen will go through is the mind set that all other hives must be destroyed. This is the reason the changelings have been at war for some time. Though, a legend has stated that somewhere, here in Equestria, is a queen that rid her self of this change, and her changelings have been prospering ever since, problem being, no other changeling queen or hive that has set out to find them has ever found them, so they have been deemed a myth, but...I believe that since you are in the very early stages of queen hood, maybe we can stop the final or maybe even all of the changes from happening." Luna stood and walked to her balcony.
Sighing she set her hands on the edges of the balcony, Arachne joined her and Luna gave her a glance, still looking out over the city. "Arachne."
"Yes my queen?" She asked as she moved to stand beside Luna.
"How do you know all of this information? Ms. Sparkle also mentioned earlier when she sought my sister and I that you were a Chrysalis named changeling? what does that mean?" Luna was now facing her love-carrier while leaning on the balcony.
Arachne looked at her queen and shuffled nervously. "W-well, my queen, I know this because Queen Chrysalis struggled with the same problems, and being a queen named changeling means only one thing." Arachne gulped before steadying herself. "She was my mother."
Author's Note
I hope you all enjoy the chapter and hopefully it built the world a little more, and hopefully it will bring some questions forward for you all to think about. Until the next chapter, I bide you all a farewell, and I hope you have good days/nights.
Chapter Eleven: Duty Till Death Pt.2
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!!"
Chapter Twelve: Duty Till Death Pt.3
Metamorphosis: A change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one, by natural or supernatural means
"Rage, no matter how hot, no matter how long it burns, will eventually go away. Sadness on the other hand my little pony...Only you can make it go away. "
Rage, pure and unadulterated. It seeped from the solar diarch like a water main had burst. Arachne never liked the taste anger left in her mouth, it was bitter and tart, not silky smooth like compassion, or sweet like love. Rage was like a stronger version of anger, in taste and influence. Celestia had just thrown the table against the door and held it there, starring daggers into the changeling below her. Luna had sat quietly through the ordeal, gripping her changelings hand just as hard as the changeling gripped hers.
Celestia had every right to be angry, she had just got her sister back after a thousand years of solemn silent hurting, leading the entire nation with nobody else to lean on can be quite cruel to some, but she had remained strong and the flood gates had only just begun to open, the sisters still had much to discuss and Celestia was not emotionally ready to lose her sister again. She wasn't ready to be alone again.
Celestia opened her mouth to say something but Luna standing up and extending her right wing to block the view of Arachne stopped her. Luna didn't say anything but only hugged her sister, wrapping her wings around her elder for added comfort. Celestia broke down, her rage had lost it's spark, the fires in her soul died, and were replaced with the snow of sorrow, and sadness. The two sank to the floor slowly , Luna consoling Celestia as she cried her eyes out, low whispers of confidence and white lies were spoken, Arachne could have chosen to listen in, to break the moment but she pretended not to hear and stared down at her own fidgeting hands, uncertain of what to do in the current situation.
After awhile the table fell, and was put back into place, the door now unblocked remained closed, it didn't take the genius of Twilight Sparkle to hear or know what was going on, out of respect everyone remained outside in silence, waiting for the solar princess to cry out her sorrows. Even the guards had gone to the ends of the hallway to stop anyone else from interrupting.
Celestia's sobbing quieted after awhile, and still the lunar sister held her, running her hands through the ethereal hair of her sister to calm her. At this moment Arachne decided it was time to allow the princess and her queen, a small twinge of hope. Clearing her throat she moved to kneel beside the two rulers, speaking softly. "You should know Princess Celestia, Queen Luna, that there is hope, although all seems dark and gloomy, hope remains. I believe the answers we seek lie within the tomb of the Elder Sentinel." The two rulers ears shot up, the mention of the Elder Sentinel tomb was unexpected. Luna turned to Arachne. "And how does the tomb of the Elder Sentinel help my condition? This...Metamorphosis?" Celestia's tears had stopped and slivers of hope had begun to seep from the goddess as she turned her face to Arachne.
"Well, my queen, for many years the one queen and her hive have avoided the searching of all changelings, no one hive has found anything, or if they have it is being kept hidden from everyone else. The Elder Sentinel tomb has always been held as sacred to the changelings, as it is with ponies, after all, the saviors and watchers of Equus deserve nothing less. Some, and mind you this was old gossip between changelings in the hive, but some changelings believe that the Tomb of the Elder Sentinel is where the queen and her hive live. It makes sense though, I mean, nobody would dare set foot on such a sacred place, but then again, one of the Elder Sentinels was a changeling queen, so, perhaps it would be worth looking into, my Queen."
Luna and Celestia shared a look, before looking back to Arachne, and letting small smiles spread across their faces. "Thank you, my dear changeling, while I would normally rush to action on this information, Sixty-four is still interrogating the remaining two of the six changelings that tried to assassinate us. I would find it wise for us to see what exactly the other queen had planned after our removal and then after we could act, but not before. However, I would like you to go with Twilight and her friends when they depart for the Elder Sentinel tomb." Arachne and Celestia looked a her, Arachne with wonder and excitement, Celestia with an arched eye brow.
Luna smiled at her sister, "We both know Twilight Sparkle would be ever over joyed to learn about the Elder Sentinels and possibly changelings. After all, we know little of changelings, and perhaps some new research would be good for them, another adventure for them to go on." Celestia smiled and nodded, standing and looking down at Arachne with a twinge of guilt.
Speaking softly, "I...I'am sorry Arachne, it was wrong of me to direct my anger and rage at you like that, after all, you have been rather helpful, not just with my sister and being informative, but with Sixty-four." Both Luna and Arachne looked at her with surprised expressions. "I was blind at first to the affinity and affection that my sister holds for him...Thank you for saving him, my little changeling." She smiled softly at the awestruck Arachne and giggled softly at the tomato red tinge that had come to her sisters cheeks.
Once they had all stood up and sat back down, Twilight and her friends retook their seats, looking puzzled by the happy expressions on the two princesses and changelings face. Hadn't Celestia just threatened to genocide the changeling race?
The dungeons had been filled with nothing but screaming for the past hour, screaming, crying, begging, all falling on the prisoners ears as they all covered them, not wanting to hear what the huntress was saying, screaming or crying about. One thing had solidified in all of their minds though. Don't mess with the changeling that walked freely around.
Inside the huntresses holding, she was a mess, a crying, begging screaming mess. She wished Sixty-four had just killed her, anything was better than this, and she didn't have any idea on what he had put into her, if she knew she could have at least braced herself for it. She couldn't move, nothing major anyway, she could scream and sob and speak to a degree, but she dared not to speak. Below her were hundreds of Insecti, all of them snapping at her, and she could do nothing but stare at the flowing black mass below her, she felt something land on the chain above her, or at least she heard the chain rattling, she didn't actually feel it.
Her heart rate quickened as she heard buzzing in her ear, and a black hair covered leg seeped into her vision, slowly followed by the body, it felt like an eternity before the Insecti's body had crawled across her face and down her body, remaining there. It plunged the razor like appendages deep into her stomach and she saw it crawl inside the hole it made. She was at her breaking point, and she had snapped, her brain stopped working from the sight, and the unbearable pain from the ruptured love organ and she passed out, still a tangled mess of snot, blood, and other bodily fluids as she hung there from the ceiling.
From outside the door, a white colored stallion, with varying shades of blue in his hair, had stayed, and had listened to the effects, from her screams he thought she had actually been in danger, but he knew Breaker had done its job, when she awoke she would have questions, lots of them but more importantly any mention or physical show of Breaker would have her talking. He grinned softly. Make them think before trying to take me again.
Sixty-four stopped in the middle of the hallway, a sudden coldness accompanied by the all too familiar tightening of his gut told him something was wrong, that he should go back and make sure none of the ponies were investigating what he had done, he didn't feel guilty, but the last thing he needed was for some form of political fallout to be set in motion because of what he had agreed to do. It would cost the nation, not that he cared, but it might cost him the queen that had graciously and kindly saved his life. Suddenly, he felt as if he had done a great evil, and questions started to play at him. What if his new queen banished him for his actions? Would the love-carrier suck him dry and leave him to deaths cold embrace?
The only thing worse than being banished from the hive would be his queens disapproval, he needed her. More questions flooded him. Why was he feeling this? Was this love? Not the natural love and admiration all changelings felt for the queen, but true love? The type of love that made ponies do stupid things? The type that would give ponies unmatched boldness to do the impossible? The type that made them fight harder? Or care for the dead long after the funeral? He shook his head. It was impossible for changelings to produce love, they scavenged for it after all. But still, the feeling of wrongness held him, he felt its tight grip around his heart, and he found it hard to breath, sucking in a breath and sitting down he found himself thinking of her, her beautiful features from the night at the Crystal Empire.
He thought back and drank in every detail he could, the way her colors complimented each other and her personality. Caring, almost maternal in a sense. The curves that held her slim yet toned body in place, the way she had snuggled so close and had laid her head on his chest. She had been so close he could feel her heart beat, hear her breathing, and seeing the gentle rise and fall of her sides as she slept had brought him peace. It struck him as odd, that the only time he truly had felt at peace was that night. He hadn't found himself worrying about the safety of his newly appointed queen, or looking for security faults that could have put her in harms way. Nor had he been formulating plans of escape in case of an attack.
No, instead he had found himself pulling her closer to him, a warmth spreading through out his body, a nightmare free sleep, and he had awoken from the bed ready to defend her. He had even left the room out of respect for her privacy. His former queen had a secluded chamber yes, but she never asked for anyone to look away while she dressed, or while she had 'serviced' her self. Shaking his head of that thought he found his mind going back to the night Luna had been bent over the railing with a bottle of wine and glass in either hand. His mind wandered and he blushed a bright green, his face flushed with warmth. A voice speaking broke him from his trance.
"I didn't know changelings could blush." Looking he saw a familiar candy colored alicorn. She had sat next to him with a soft smile while he was in his trance.
Sixty-four found himself speaking without thinking. "Caadennceee...Whhaat iss...Lllovvee?"
She arched an eyebrow and spoke. "Well, love is a lot of things, it can be a family love, the kind you feel that makes you comfortable and trusting of the ponies in your life. It can be the love for a friend, its what enables ponies to be sympathetic during times of distress or hurt. Or it can be the type of love that drives you crazy, the type that pulls you to another, the kind that makes you want to be with someone for the rest of your natural life. Why? Someone special tugging on your heart strings? playing you like an instrument perhaps?"
Sixty-four stared ahead, nodding softly in response. "QQuueeen..."
Cadence's eyes widened at the response. "Which one? I mean, obviously not the third, that would be impossible. Why else would you scavenge for it?" She gasped as the changeling held up three fingers and looked at her. "W-What?! But..! How..!?" She stammered shocked that Sixty-four could feel a very real love connection with Luna.
Sixty-four shook his head, unsure how to answer. "I...Don't knnoow...SShhoulldd bee...immpossiblee..." He looked at Cadence and for the first time he felt helpless, unsure how to handle it. His body began to shake from the new feeling. "H-HHooww...Shhooww Forr Queeenn..? Nnneww...to mee..." Cadence shook her head.
"I don't know Sixty-four, I mean, its different for everyone but...my own personal bigotry aside, as the princess of love, I will help you." She smiled as the changelings shaking slowly stopped, he turned to her. "Thhaannkk yyouuu..."
"No need to thank me Sixty-four, besides, for a changeling you looked cute when you were day dreaming about her." Sixty-four blushed more and Cadence laughed softly. Sixty-four chuckled internally at the statement. It was rather funny to him.
After Twilight and her friends had come back and taken their seats again, Twilight had to admit that seeing the changeling again was a mild surprise, she had been expecting an ash pile. The more surprising thing though, was the smiles that were shared, although small they were there. Turning to her teacher she raised an eyebrow. Celestia smiled and spoke at the curious look.
"You and your friends have yet another adventure to go on Twilight Sparkle." Twilight and her friends looked at each other, Rarity and Fluttershy shared looks of nervousness, Pinkie Pie jumped out of her chair in glee and her head inflated, and she slowly descended back to her chair, Rainbow Dash and Applejack gave confident grins, Twilight herself shared all of the emotions but chose to simply smile in happiness. Luna spoke to them as they all looked back to the two diarchs.
"Be warned my little ponies, you will be going somewhere no one has stepped in over three thousand years, and you will be taking Arachne with you, if Sixty-four weren't busy at the moment I would have him go with you as an added precaution but I need him for now."
Twilight looked slightly off put, three thousand years? She had never read that in any of her books! or even when she was studying with Celestia! "Not to sound rude Princess Luna, but I have never heard of anything from so long ago! None of my history books ever said anything about three thousand year old places." Luna smiled softly as Celestia spoke in explanation.
"You wouldn't have had access to those books Twilight, I have them sealed away in my private quarters. You can read them when we are done here if you'd like. Besides, the tomb of the Elder Sentinel is almost entirely forgotten to books, it lives on in legend, myth and folklore. Many deem it a holy place ripe with terrible secrets, others believe it to be a vile and evil place where the corrupt hero's of so long ago reside. I won't lie to you Twilight Sparkle, it won't be an easy trip, and it will test your resolves, all of you. It will challenge what you know and what you will come to learn, but please, if you do only one thing on this journey," She fixed them all with a serious and stern look. "Do not let the white lies of old break you, do not tear apart and leave each other, and most importantly, whatever you find down there, always remember that you must remain true to yourselves and to your friends."
Twilight, her friends, and even Arachne looked at the solar diarch with nervous expressions. It was apparent that this place would challenge them in ways they hadn't been tested before, and if what Celestia had said was true, then it even held the power to break their friendships.
Chapter Thirteen: Duty Till Death Pt. 4
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Chapter Fourteen: Secrets and History
The secrets of the past in Equestria? hmph, hardly worth mentioning them unless your going on some 'We're going to save Equus from a really old baddie!' type of quest...Shit you are aren't you? Okay fine, but information costs you, not by me personally, but it has it's own prices for the living and sometimes even the dead. Here's what I know.
Twilight Sparkle and her friends had just entered Princess Celestia's private study, Rainbow already looking bored as she flapped her wings to keep off the ground. Applejack and Pinkie Pie had been looking through the private selection of books with mild curiosity, Pinkie Pie was in high hopes she would find a book about parties that might have happened three thousand years ago. While Fluttershy and Rarity did both, helping Twilight find the book they needed and looking for books that might have some insight to either animals of the past or fashion of the past. Twilight was looking in a highly ordered fashion, growing agitated at the apparent chaos the books had been placed in.
A long time was spent searching, Celestia had excused herself to lower the sun and to make way for her sisters moon. Leaving the others to search for themselves, and after awhile Twilight found what they were looking for. She spoke up, "Hey! I found it you guys!" the others for the most part just let out relived sighs, they had been searching for the better part of thirty minutes now. Returning to her friends and placing the book on one of the less crowded tables of her mentors private study, she opened it up, the book it self was impressive. Several marks were shown throughout the book, Celestia had apparently previously had the book for her own reasons, the marks were old and faded but still held significance in the eyes of the gathered friends. Twilight spoke aloud so that the others wouldn't have to crane their necks so much to see what the book held. She was reading the first paragraph of a section titled Vital Races in the Guardians of Equus
She began to read. "It is often thought that ponies held the singularly most important role in the event that both nearly destroyed Equus, and saved it. This however is not true, while they did play an important role nothing would have been accomplished alone by the Ponies of Equestria. It would take the four most versatile, most strong and most magically adept races to set the events in motion. This is important information because many believe that there is only one Guardian, the sole savior of Equus, when as a matter of fact there were four. Nobody is exactly sure who built the Elder Tomb, but it is known that holy symbols from all races can be found inscribed in the stone and foundation of the building.
The sun and moon, and the crest of Faust herself can be found around the ponies own Guardian, meanwhile the Dragons own Arch of the Dawn can be found, along side other holy symbols from their lands seemingly placed with intent and great craftsmanship. The Griffins own symbols can be found as well, such as the Feathers of Life and the symbol of rebirth."
She paused to take a breath before continuing. "Most interesting though, is the Changeling guardian, who is adorned in all manner of holy symbols, regardless of race affiliation, these symbols have all been noted to resemble the symbols that represent the highest sense of purity. Faust's crest, Arch of the Dawn, the Feathers of Life, and the changelings own symbol, The Queen of Life are all present on the changelings tomb, for unknown reason. What is known however, is that the hive this changeling came from was quickly lost and was never seen again. This however has led many to believe that they exist somewhere beneath the site, now commonly referred to as The Elder Sentinel Tomb. - Changeling Acolyte, Sundread" She furrowed her brow as she looked up and around to her friends. They all wore expressions of concern and slight interest. Rarity spoke up, attempting to lighten the somewhat somber mood that slowly settled over the group.
"Well, I for one find this all very interesting, I have never heard of these symbols so perhaps I could fashion them into our dresses or perhaps incorporate some sort of design into my dresses, and perhaps sell them here in Canterlot." Rainbow Dash snorted softly and smiled. "Always got your job on the brain eh Rares? You should be more worried about how much more awesome these guys could be! Well, you guys, not me. I'm the fastest flier in all of Equestria after all." She finished and ran a hand through her hair grinning confidently.
Twilight closed the book and stared off into space for a few moments before Applejacks voice broke her from her thoughts. "Y'all alright there sugar cube?" She asked with a hint of concern in her expression and voice. Twilight nodded softly and gave a small smile. "Of course I am! Just...thinking is all, y'know? All of this new information combined with what we were told by Celestia at the meeting? It makes me concerned AJ, I won't lie." She said, her smile faltering to a more thought filled frown. She took a deep breath and yawned softly, smirking softly. "Damned biological needs..." she said quietly to herself as she stood, holding the book close to her side as the group left the study behind, all of them making their way to separate suites in the same long hallway, wishing each other goodnight and turning in for the night.
Twilight closed the door to her room and walked to her bed, the concern and unsettling feeling returning as she thought once more to her mentors words and the new information, as she set the book next to her on the night stand. She groaned softly to herself allowing a soft groan. "Fucking shit Celestia, what are we being sent into this time? Snoring Dragons, Nightmare Moon, Changelings, and Discord..." She sighed softly. "How many more times do we have to help you with shit your supposed to take care of?" Casting off the misguided feelings she stripped into her night ware and slid into the bed, laying back to sleep.
The cool equestrian night breeze blew across the quiet country, lights from afar giving off the gentle glow of light radiation. Few were awake at this hour, the tiring and eventful day or uneventful day had made citizens all across Equestria tired, but some slept in the day for the more nocturnal parts of the jobs they worked. So it would stand to reason that no one knew of the silent black forms that flew through the air, disturbing its gentle peace. The silent black forms were of a different color in the day as to avoid detection, but they would gather information, wait for the opportune moment when no one would be needing them and then leave, under a guise of the everyday pegasus or in the sleek black forms that would gently reflect the night time moon. The black forms that flew from Canterlot that night would set in motion a slow beast. A beast so powerful and mighty that it was feared by all but practiced by all, for it was the only way to prepare for peace.
The beast had different masters through out time, each with a single definite variable; someone would think they could use the beast to capture or kill or expand. The beast held no loyalties, no alliances but to it's self and to the end of any master not strong enough to control it.
The black forms of the equestrian night came from different places, some the desert, others the large forests of Equus, some from the barren wastes known as the Badlands. Others came from distant lands, mountainous regions that scarred the earth they rose up from, or snow barren wastes of the Far North, or perhaps they came from the most plentiful and most expansive biome of all; the ocean. All of them had one single mission: Alert their queens that something big was happening in Equestria, alert them that not only a Frostbitten praetorian guard had shown up, but one of Chrysalis's own daughters had shown up as well. And both had been seen talking with persons of high standing interest.
The lunar diarchs room housed three individuals, two currently asleep and the third standing guard over them. It had been a few hours since the praetorian and love-carrier conversed with their queen, the praetorian never having slept that night, gently roused the love-carrier, pulling her from the gentle slumber she had been in.
"Come on love-carrier, I can't be failing the queen because you were too tired to heal one of her prisoners." Sixty-four said through the hive mind, gently poking the snoring love-carrier.
Arachne rose slowly but surely, groaning and mumbling about not caring about the prisoners. "Yes, well, perhaps the queen wouldn't mind allowing one of them to perish for my sake. And my sleep." She grumbled softly under her breath as they walked toward the dungeon. The lunar guards casting the occasional look to the pair before returning to keeping their eyes on whatever it was they were guarding before hand.
Nodding to the guards outside of the dungeon, the two changelings entered, some of the cells before were now vacant, the inhabitants having been handed their sentence and were now likely serving at some prison camp. Sixty-four guided them to the holding cell of the changeling huntress, who was now oddly quiet. Upon entering the chamber they found the huntress just as Sixty-four had left her, strung up with the pool of blood around her, now however, it was more of a shrunken pool of hardened ichor. Arachne let out an irritated sigh and moved forward. "Really Sixty-four, would it kill you to not mortally endanger other changelings? You've only made my job that much harder." Moving to the back of the changeling huntress, Arachne brought up her hands, the gentle pink aura highlighting several long and intricate and complex patterns that were connected to the vital love organs.
The work was quick, and didn't wake the huntress from her supposed slumber. Arachne brought her hands down around the legs of the huntress. The slowly mending carapace fixed itself in odd angles, nothing like what it was supposed to look like but it would allow her to walk somewhat if need be. Arachne also took the liberty of healing what tissue she could on the torso of the huntress, restoring the chunks of flesh Luna had taken out of her before, this however provoked a few low groans of pain from the huntress. Stepping back Arachne looked over the work. "While I would like to engage in a more proper healing than this, the Queens orders come first. Just try not to put her any closer to death than she already was, if you hadn't woken me I doubt she would have lived to see Celestia's sun." Scoffing softly she turned to Sixty-four. "Come, let's try to get some more sleep before the dawn comes, and I'm putting her under love-carriers protection for now, if you keep going at her before she can rest she'll die." Sixty-four frowned but nodded, leading them back to the entrance and then back to the lunar diarchs room, before they both turned in for night, not without difficulty of course, Sixty-four needed some encouraging that their queen would be fine if he slept for awhile.
The early morning light of Celestia's sun pierced the partially cloudy skies, all too well striking the slumbering praetorians face. Sixty-four however remained snoring, hunched over to the side on the floor. Arachne and Princess Luna had already been up and about for the day, it was about ten in the morning when the door opened, a series of foot steps playing as Rarity, Luna, Arachne, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight moved toward the slumbering changeling, each of them having something to hold, Rarity held make-up, Arachne held water soluble paint, Luna holding some more mare oriented items, Twilight and Rainbow Dash holding a dress. All of them holding back snickers and giggles of amusement. The other girls hanging back who all also wore amused smiles and smirks. The group descended upon the sleeping changeling, all of them tumbling back as green fire went up, revealing nothing but air. A thud played behind them and they all turned quickly, a proud smiling changeling standing before them, holding all of them in a green field. "A ppraeetorriaann...alwaayysss expecctsss..." Sixty-four hissed softly at the four, removing the items from them all and grinning as he hissed back before letting them go. "Bee warryy..." And with that he left in a flash of green fire, along with the items. The four shared nervous looks, all except Luna of course, she wore an amused smile. "Oh he's good, let this queen see how well he truely knows how to evade us." The three ponies around her looked at her with questioning looks, Arachne wore a smile that hid her concern far too well. With the praetorian guard gone, they all moved out of the room, Arachne speaking up as the group moved to the dining hall. "My queen, while Sixty-four and I were in the holding cells, I healed the female changeling Hunter, I request that she be left to heal and that Sixty-four, or anyone for that matter, be restricted to questions only. She was far too injured for any further...methods of encouragement. My queen." She finished as they reached the grand doors, moving through them to see Celestia with a tired look on her face as she sipped a pitch black coffee.
Luna ushered everyone to take a seat and they all obliged her, Luna sitting next to her sister before answering Arachne, "Well yes, I suppose I can allow that. We can't have them dying in our care before we get the chance to extract what they know, or maybe even perhaps convert them. Though, i'm not sure that can be an option anymore, if what you say is true."
Arachne spoke up again. "My queen, if I may make a suggestion?" Luna nodded and she continued "I would like Sixty-four to come with us for protection my queen." Luna raised an eyebrow and Twilight quickly spoke up in agreement. "I think that would be the smartest option Princess Luna, while we were going through the book last night we found a passage written by a Changeling acolyte by the name of Sundread. I would feel much safer with your praetorian there with us down in the Elder Sentinel tomb."
Luna looked between the two and then furrowed her brow in thought, a few moments passing before she spoke. "Arachne...Twilight...What your asking of me is a very hard decision to make. Your asking me, a duel ruler, in both the changeling aspect and the pony aspect, to leave herself unguarded without her most powerful warrior guard to help protect her when she could need it the most. You understand this correct? My hive is only two and a hybrid queen strong." Luna finished and looked at the two mares with a raised eyebrow.
Arachne spoke before Twilight could, "Yes, we understand that your majesty, but with all due respect bringing Sixty-four along could be both beneficial to us and the hive, my queen. If we do find what we are looking for down in the tomb, then it will stand to reason that unforeseen dangers lurk in waiting. With your curing of the process of becoming a changeling queen it would allow us to remain neutral and double unto Equestria's own defense force. Possibly even triple."
Luna was quiet for a moment before sighing softly. "Very well, you may take him. But Arachne?" Arachne looked to Luna and nodded. "If you come back alone, without my praetorian, cure or not, I will not hesitate to establish a punishment." Arachne nodded gently and smiled softly. "Of course my queen. I would expect nothing less."
The rest of the day was spent gathering supplies, and making preparation's for the adventure to come, the girls being given light armor that could be worn under their clothes, and at least one dagger each. Sixty-four spent the day training and sharpening his skills for battle yet to come. The two sisters spent the day as they normally would, ruling both day and night court respectively, and soon the day for adventure would come all too soon.
Author's Note
Okay everyone, lets talk for a moment. I will not be able to update this story for at least the next two weeks as I am coming to the closing of the school year and all sorts of major grades are due. I will however promise that the next two chapters will both be over 10k words long to make up for the lost time. Perhaps all updates will be kept to monthly or on a bi-weekly basis but I intend to make every update I can 10k longer or more. But on the bright side for waiting we will FINALLY be getting into the tomb and seeing what this hubbub of changelings and missing hives is all about. I'm also sorry if the tone or the pacing of the last part seemed rushed, but i've had this sitting here for almost three weeks with no time to work on it and I felt like just getting this one out of the way and to you patient boys and girls. Lastly, I want to thank those of you who comment, you are a large driving factor of the story with feed back. Ratings are a good way to also let me know if i can do better or if you think the story is good overall. And a even bigger shout out to those who have the story fav'd it is very encouraging to see that I've done a good enough job for you to want to keep up with the story. Thanks a ton everyone, and I hope you all have wonderful days/evenings/nights. Goodnight.
Chapter One: A Beacon of Desperation
Preatorian: Elite guards who where assigned to the leaders of their home nations. They would die in the line of duty or retire of old age.
Cold. That's what the changeling felt, the snow crunching gently beneath his hole filled legs. His constant hunger for love hadn't left him since the banishment from his home hive. He gave silent thanks to the natural cold resistance he was born with. It had been three months since his banishment and his love reserves were dangerously low, he felt deaths cold talons gripping his very being. His heart rate quicken'd as he felt the tell tell signs of love starvation.
First the lack of love will sap my magical reserves in desperation for survival. Then I will lose fine motor functions to a point. He grimaced as it was getting harder to move his body in the direction he needed it to. Next my nerves will shut down from least to most important bodily functions. He kept pushing on, he had to, his instincts for self preservation were screaming for attention but he couldn't provide the means for such a thing. With his body working against him he knew it was only a matter of time before the pain set in. it would be excruciatingly painful in both mind and body.
He felt his right leg fall beneath him, causing him to stumble and fall, his forward momentum letting him rest on his back as he stared up into the endless grey sky. I never thought this is how it would end. I always figured it would end with pony skulls beneath my feet. As he thought silently a thought occurred to him. Even though I know no changeling will help me, maybe there's some creature nearby that will answer my call. By the Maker i'm desperate for this. A sensation slowly crept up his body, pain. It was light at first, but he knew in a few minutes he would be asking for death or for love either would be preferable to the pain of his cells shutting down.
In one final act of desperation, the changeling let the some of last of his magic seep into his horn as he threw out a pulsing spell. At least, if something does find me, it'll save me, or eat me. Either is fine with me, I have no hive, no friends of any sort. I lost that when my hive mind connection was severed. I'am for all intents and purposes of the word; alone. I'm leaving nothing behind and no creature behind, and soon I will know peace. The changeling was now closing his eyes, his breathing was labored and shallow from the slowly intensifying pain. After a few seconds his vision clouded, and he passed out after letting silent tears fall from his eyes into the snow. This would become his grave, a final resting place for a long dead guard. Little did the changeling know that the pulse would be his saving grace.
**THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE**
Princess Luna had arrived only a couple of hours ago in the Crystal Empire. She was there on official business as her sister, Celestia, was currently attending a trade negotiation with the Griffin Empire and would be stuck in Canterlot for sometime. When she had arrived everypony was doing the usual respect for a foreign dignitary, bowing politely and wishing her a good day. However, she was now stuck in a boring meeting with her niece, Princess Cadence, the meeting was drawing to a close as the talk of alliance had come to an end. During the meeting several things were discussed, such as the exchange of training techniques and military resources.
The meeting was finally over and both princesses looked mentally drained after the two hour long meeting. Luna and Cadence walked along side each other "I gotta say Princess Luna, even though I absolutely hated that meeting, a lot of good is going to come of it." Cadence said as she turned to look at Luna.
"Did you feel that Cadence?" she asked staring out into the snowy landscape.
"Gather a chariot Cadence. We are going to find the source of this pulse and we are going to save the one who cast the pulse." Luna turned and proceeded out towards the balcony, Cadence in tow after having found a few guards to fly them to the source. We can only hope that the one who cast the pulse has not perished yet. Hang on to life caster, help is coming.
**LOCATION UNKNOWN**
W-why am I still alive!? By the Maker something fucking kill me already! Why does dying hurt so much!? The changeling had awoken to pain, none like he had ever felt before. He had been stabbed, cut, beat and set ablaze before becoming a praetorian guard in his hive but those pains seemed like foals play compared to the love starvation he was currently feeling. Every second it felt like someone was slowly peeling his chitin away to reveal the soft cyan bioluminescencent flesh beneath, over and over again like he was being tortured by the worst creature Tarturus could throw up from its darkest pits. Tears streaked his face as his body spasmed uncontrollably, his wings fluttering and kicking up the snow underneath him.
He screamed and begged for the suffering and pain to end inside his mind, hoping by some miracle all the pain would stop and he could rest to cry at the receding pain. Just as quickly as it had started it was over. The changeling laid there, sobbing uncontrollably at the pain and mental torture he had endured. He heard shouting, and he looked from where he was lying, gulping and panting trying to compose himself of his tears and hurt.
He closed his eyes to blink the tears away, and a feeling hit him like a brick wall. He tasted sorrow in all its tart glory, a spark of hope set his mind ablaze with the instinct to get the things attention somehow. He gulped and looked around once again, nothing to be seen. With the last of his magic he let out a low hiss and sent out another pulse. To his great misfortune he realized on top of dealing with the already agonizing pain of love starvation he would also now be dealing with magic burn out. He was exhausted, his body sore from the pain and spasming he endured, his vision clouded again, darkness seeping in to the edges of his vision as he returned staring at the sky sniffling as he closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.
**LOCATION UNKNOWN, DUE NORTH OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE**
Princess Luna had begun to doubt that the one who had cast the spell would still be alive, but she felt the need to finally find the source of the strange signal she had felt times before. She looked out of the carriage and frowned, nothing but the cascading whiteness greeted her gaze. She turned towards the guards Cadence had assembled. "I'm sorry to ha-" She was cut off by the feeling of the pulse again. She let magic flow into her horn as she locked the magical signal, turning to the guards and Cadence she yelled out.
Unlike other changelings however, this one seemed much bigger, it's fangs longer and more pointed, instead of the usual black chitin this one had a purple shell covering its back and chest and its wings looked thicker, and longer to that of a normal changeling, the horn also appeared to be longer, and slightly more jagged than usual. Luna took a cautious step forward and looked down on the changeling, crouching down next to it.
She had also found its magical reserves burnt out, she felt sorry for the changeling and picked him up. The snow brushed along the top of her arms as she slid her arms underneath it picking it up and turning around she started walking. She turned to cadence "This is what the pulse was coming from Cadence. it's hurt and needs medical attention immediately." Cadence opened her mouth to speak but Luna cut her off. "Although I am aware of how you feel about these creatures, I did not come all this way to have this changeling die in my arms. Guards we must make haste to the Crystal Empire, this life depends on it" Luna had spoken calmly but with authority in her voice as she boarded the chariot settling in for the ride back.
During the ride the changeling had not stopped whimpering in pain. When they touched down the guards rushed the changeling to the nearest hospital, which was inside the castle. Luna followed the guards closely, a interested but cautious Cadence following behind her.
