A Change in Strategy

"What do you want, brother?" Bellum asked.

The winter air snapped at her words, its biting chill becoming all the more apparent for her cool tone.

The creature in the dark green underbrush, covered with a thick heaping of fresh white snow, chuckled in a deep voice. The voice was soft, pleasant. The kind that, if heard from across a room, would undoubtedly draw your attention to see to whom it belonged.

To whom it belonged was a monster. No less a one than Bellum herself.

"Why, I want what you want, sister," the deep timbre intoned, "I want to be free of the Queen."

The only sound that made its way between them, then, was the slow and keening wail of the wind.

After a time, Bellum said, "That's quite a presumption, Claw. You assume much."

A throaty chuckle accompanied a rustle beneath the bushes, and the creature that emerged was all too deserving of the gravitas its voice carried. Larger than any changeling had a right to be, larger than the Queen herself by half. His thick, armored carapace was that of a warrior-born drone, but his fixated green eyes held the intelligence of an automi. His fangs were each as thick as veins, and the only thing that betrayed his awe-inspiring physique was his front left hoof. It was tucked up to his chest, grey and shriveled. She knew, logically, that it was only the size of a normal changeling's hoof, but compared to the rest of Claw's bulk it was practically dwarfed.

"I assume only what I have heard and seen, sister," Claw replied with a charming, easy smile.

"Save your flattery, Claw," Bellum snapped at the male changeling, "I may have a pony's guise but we both know what we are."

She could see in his features that he had caught the acrid tang of bitterness in her voice.

Slowly, he nodded, and the smile fell from his segmented face, "Yes. What we are, indeed."

Another moment of silence drifted over the pair as they sized each other up outside of the Everfree Forest. The brush was dead silent. Likely hunted to oblivion by Claw's unending thirsts.

Bellum decided to prod him, "So, how goes the life of an exile?"

He bared his formidable maw in displeasure, but refused to take the bait, "I think that we can be of use to each other, sister."

She arched an imperious eyebrow, "Do you, really? Because, from where I'm standing, you seem to be exclusively in my way."

He hissed and began to circle around her in a strange three-legged gait. His footfalls, which should have been thunderous, were eerily silent, and he moved with a grace unbefitting of such a large creature.

"You are weak, sister," Claw said in a harsh whisper, "I can see it in the way you stand. Should I choose to overpower you here I could end you in an instant."

Here, she knew she had the better of him. She smiled, "And then what would happen to our dear Creator?"

Claw snarled, leaping forward and slamming his armored brow into her own. There was a mighty crack as the two stood quite literally head-to-head. She did not budge even a hairsbreadth from where she stood.

His green eyes bored into her false violet ones as he roared, "Damn that wretch! And damn them all! We are the greatest of them, the newest and the best! With your aptitude for control, and my strength, we could-"

"You are a wild animal, Claw," she interrupted smoothly, "Any plans I make with you would be out the window the second that a pretty mare or stallion you fancied passed your field of vision. You would kill them, as you always do, and then where would I be? Cut off from the support of our Hive, with the Princesses on my tail?"

She laughed, then, truly and genuinely, "Claw, making a deal with you is possibly one of the worst moves any of the players could choose in this game. You are a wild card, a vagabond," she narrowed her eyes and spoke very low to him, then, "a loose end."

He huffed and stepped backwards a pace, eyes seething with rage. He looked her pony body up and down, trying a change of tack, "Why did you come in that silly guise? I might have wanted to see you."

A spark of annoyance flickered in her own heart, but she kept her cool and did not reply. He knew very well why she had come like this. Just as she knew why he was forced to hide in the woods like an unwanted dog.

His glower smoldered even deeper as he began to lose ground in this contest of wills, "Very well. You don't want my help. Fine. But which would you prefer, me as an aid, or as a hindrance?"

Bellum snorted, "You betray your own inadequacy, Claw. You already think of yourself as a tool, not a player. Is that all your ambition amounts to? To be of use? To be wanted? Try to hinder me, brother, and make no mistake. I will destroy you."

His grin was savage, "Not before I can reveal your secret, and ruin both your life and the life of our precious Creator."

Bellum threw back her head and laughed, for all the statement did to shake her nervous foundation, "And who would believe you, Claw? You? A changeling mutant?"

He began to withdraw back into the woods, still smiling eerily, "There is one who would."

Is he bluffing? She wondered to herself as she watched him depart. He still had far too much spirit left in him for her liking. Bluster as she might, Claw did physically outmatch her in every possible respect. If he decided to do something stupid, force the issue and attack one of the Elements directly perhaps-

One of the Elements. Oh no. Surely he wouldn't... was that his plan?

As soon as she was reasonably certain he was gone, Bellum turned and walked away in the early morning light from the edge of the forest. Her motions were smooth, but her mind was racing. She needed to act fast, faster than she had wanted. He couldn't know the full scope of her success, but if he intended to do what she thought he would do... this Hearth's Warming must go off without a hitch.