Prototype: A new worldby TheWingManChaptersWhat is happen...Something isn't right...ReconnaissanceGoddamn it...Some answers and more questions to be answered...What?More questioning and a new guestIt is coming...RevelationsWhat is happen..."Is she going to be okay?" Mercer. The bioweapon. He had just retrieved his sister, Dana, from Elizabeth Greene's hive. He was now sat with Dr Ragland. Ragland had helped him learn the weakness of the Leader Hunters, a leader version of the infected hunters. They were created when Greene was released. And it was all Mercer's fault why she escaped. Ragland had also helped him locate his sister, which he was grateful for. It was the only reason he hadn't killed him, really. "She's unconcious, but stable. She should be fine in a few days. I'll make sure that she stays safe." Mercer nodded in thanks. Ragland handed him a note. Mercer's name was on it. "It was just there when I got back. What do you think?" "Looks like I've got plans. Take care of her, alright?" Ragland nodded as Mercer walked out the door. "Looks like someone wants to mee...what the..." Mercer dropped the note, causing the civilians nearby to stare at him. He couldn't move. His body was frozen. Not frozen in ice, but just...frozen. "I can't...move..." And before he knew it, the world went completely black. "My minions...it is time! Gather around!" Queen Chrysalis, the queen of the changelings. Thwarted too many times by the elements of harmony. 6 ponies, harnessing the powers of the elements to stop any threat to Equestria. But this time, she was prepared. And so were her changelings. Her army. Her servants. They were currently planning their first move inside the hive. They had been planning this for years. "For years, we have been in hiding. For years, we have been starved of love. Thrown away like some back alley garbage. But, we will finally take what is rightfully ours and Equestria will bend to our will!" The drones cheered, causing her to grin, slightly showing her sharp fang like teeth. "My changelings! Now is the time! Now is the..." Her ear flicked as she heard a noise behind her. She also noticed that every single changeling in the room was now looking behind her rather than at her. She raised an eyebrow, curious to what they were staring at. Obviously, it was whatever made the sound behind her a moment ago. She turned around slowly to see a figure on the ground. She couldn't tell what it was, but it had 4 appendages. Two arms and two legs. They reminded her of a minotaur, just far less bulky. She motioned for her drones to surround the creature, causing them to stand around its body and raised their spears and charge their magic. She looked at the unknown being in curiousity. "Now now...what do we have here?" "Dana...dana...DANA!" Mercer woke up, coughing. Startled, he rubbed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear the pain that was currently there. "Jesus...what just..." He suddenly heard sounds of what sounded like...armoured footsteps? He opened his eyes and looked around. Standing around him were some type of bug like creatures. They were quadruple, sporting hooves which appeared to have holes in them. They were also sporting what looked to be old fashioned armour. They were all staring at him, snarling and growling, holding what appeared to be spears towards him. He also noticed that they had sharp, curved horns and wings filled with the same holes. "Wakey wakey." A voice. Female. Definitely female. It had a weird droning sound to it, unlike anything he had ever heard before. He looked up in front of him to see that the voice came from a bigger version of the other creatures around him. However, not only was one marginally bigger than the others, it had a very tattered, almost glowing-green mane. It looked like a mane, anyway and considering these things were quadruple, he figured they were some sort of equine. A very messed up equine. He stared at the bigger one, who was currently sporting an evil like grin at him, revealing that it had several sharp fang like teeth in its maw. "Who..or rather, what are you?" The creature scoffed, pointing a hand....a hoof at him. "What am I? What are you?" She then stomped her hoof down. "And only speak when I tell you to speak, creature!" He returned the scoff, starting to stand up, causing the smaller bug like equines around him to raise their spears higher, causing him to glare at them. The bigger one raised her hoof, causing the others to lower their spears. They were still snarling and staring daggers at him, though. He looked towards the bigger one with a confused look. It grinned. "Even if you tried to hurt any of us, you wouldn't be much of a threat. What I want to know, creature, is how you got here and what you are. I suggest you answer fast, too, before I change my mind and have you destroyed." He looked down, laughing deeply, causing the big creature to raise an eyebrow. He could see a slight hesitation in her eyes, only for a second. Intimidated. He raised his head, grinning. "Messing with me wouldn't be a great idea. Let's just get that straight." The big creature snarled, pointing her hoof at him. "How dare you take that tone with me, creature! Drones, get him!" The smaller creatures around him went to stab him with their spears. But before they could even touch him, he jumped high in the air, causing them to stare in disbelief and confusion. He shapeshifted into his armour form and shapeshifted his hands into their claw form. He noticed that the bigger creature was now staring at him in shock. "What...how..." He grinned. This would be fun. He slammed down into the ground, sending a shockwave throughout the room, causing most of the smaller ones to be blasted away, some of them hitting the wall hard. One of them, however, tried to shoot an unknown blast at him from its horn, causing him to dodge, looking behind him where the blast had hit the wall. "What the fuck was that? Seems these things are packing more heat than I originally thought." Before it had another chance to fire whatever that was at him again, he quickly dashed towards it and punched it, causing it to break its armour and hit the wall like the others. None of them appeared dead, but they were injured. It was only the bigger one left now. It was currently staring at him in disbelief. And fear. "How is this possible? Are....are you a changeling? No..you can't be..." Mercer was about to charge at her, but he stopped himself. He looked at her through his armour, even though she couldn't see his expression. "A what?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, slowly backing off. "I figured....I can't feel your presence in the hive mind...but if you're not a changeling...what in the hive's name are you?..." He sighed, looking around at the destruction he had caused. He didn't have time for this. He needed to find out where he was and fast. He could consume this thing, but considering it wasn't any creature he had seen before and it didn't seem like a blacklight creature, he went against the idea. For now. Instead, he opted for a different plan. Play along for a while. Try and find out what he can from this thing. He turned towards the creature, who was still staring at him in slight fear. And anger. It was currently charging something from its horn. "Ah shit. So much for playing nice..." He jumped and dodged the blast, causing the creature to fly up to him and try to charge him. He dodged it in the air and grabbed its wing, throwing it against the floor. It let out a pained wheeze as it hit the floor. He landed next to it and readied his claws. Before he could finish it off, it tried to tackle him to the ground. Tried being the keyword. It flew away from him when it realised that it couldn't budge him. The creature charged another shot at him, causing him to dodge it. But before he could land, it shot another one, this one actually managing to hit him. He fell to the ground, shapeshifting back into his original form. He tried to move, but couldn't. "What...why can't I move...it feels...different from last time...stronger.." The creature now stood over him, grinning. "I would usually destroy you and spread your dust into the desert for what you've done to my changelings. However, you are immensely powerful. I could use you." Mercer growled, causing the creature to almost flinch as he stood up, causing her to look at him in shock. "What?! How did you break my spell?!" He glared daggers at her, gaining the feeling back in his body. "Nobody uses me." He morphed back into his armour form and used his musclemass form. He charged at her, grabbing her neck. He picked her up by the throat, causing her to choke. He stared into her eyes. "Listen to me. I would usually consume you, but, I'm not sure if it'll even work. I don't even know what you are. And you might be my only chance right now to find out where I am and how to get back. So, let's make a deal. You tell me where I am and we don't have to fight. I would rather not cause havoc in a place that I'm unfamiliar with. Deal?" The creature snarled at him, before he tightened his grip, causing her to almost turn blue. She frantically started to nod. He let her go, the creature gasping for air as it coughed violently on the floor. When it had regained its composure, it looked up at him, glaring at him. "Why would I ever..." Before she finished her sentence, she had a thought. "Wait...if I play my cards right, maybe I could convince this...thing, to help us take over Equestria. Maybe if I play to its demands, at least for now, it might actually help. It is immensly strong...it could be a valuable assest. It managed to wipe out my drones in a few seconds...and I don't believe that I'm even thinking this could be true, but I do not think I have the power to defeat it..." Mercer was now staring at the creature, waiting for it to get back up. It finally stood up after a few seconds, glaring at him. "Alright, creature. Deal. You help me, I help you." He looked at the thing suspiciously, before shapeshifting back into his normal form once again. She looked at him curiously. "How do you do that if you're not one of us?" "Not important. So, where am I? And do you know something called Blacklight?" The creature snarled, still angry. "You're currently in the hive of the changelings. My kingdom. I am the queen of the changelings. And no, I've never heard of whatever that is." He raised an eyebrow, taking all of this in. "Right. So, you're a bunch of shapeshifting bug like equines." He couldn't believe that he was even going to ask this next question, but they didn't appear to be infected with the virus, so they weren't related to that. And with all the crazy shit that he'd just seen... "Am I on planet Earth?" Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Earth? No...this planet is called Equis. Wait...you don't even know what planet you're on? You can't expect me to believe that you're an alien?" He turned around, sighing. "Seems like it. Never believed in aliens, but it's apparently true. If that's the case...I've no idea how I'm even going to get back to my planet...Dana...no..." The creature scoffed. "Dana? What or who is that?" He turned out, visibly agitated. "It'd be better for you if you didn't ask." She snarled. "We might have agreed to help one another, creature, but don't think that I'll stand for you talking to me like that. I am the queen of the..." He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "The queen of the changelings, yeah yeah." She was really starting to get annoyed with this thing. "Why you..." He waved a hand, shutting her up. "Enough. We keep at this, it won't end well." The creature sighed, trying to calm herself. As much as she wanted to eat this creature alive...it was right. She was planning to take over Equestria. And with how powerful this thing had shown itself to be...even she didn't think it was wise to go another round with it. Not until she can understand its powers and how to counter them, at least. She looked around at her drones, who were thankfully alive, but unconcious. She looked towards the creature and reluctantly nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, you are correct. I have plans and it won't help me if I continue to fight a creature that I've never seen before. So long as you promise to not touch a single scale on any of my changelings...I'll give you the information that you need. So long as you promise to help me in return." He nodded. "I guess so. So long as you or any of your cronies don't try and harm me, I won't harm any of you. I need to get back. That's more important than anything right now. What exactly do you need help with?" She grinned, showing off her fangs once again. "And now, my plans can come to fruition..." Author's Note Hope you enjoyed. Something isn't right...It was a lovely day in Canterlot. Well, as lovely as it could get. There were still the many, whiny nobles that came in, broadcasting their...interesting concerns, but that was a given in the capital. All and all, it was a pretty standard day for the white mare on the throne. Princess Celestia. One of the two main rulers of the land, alongside her sister, Princess Luna. She handled the day court and the rising of the sun and her sister handled the night court (despite it not having many occupants, due to most of them still fearing her sister for her past) as best as she could while also raising the moon and making sure everypony's dreams were all in order. Yes, her sister could go inside the realm of dreams. A power that Celestia always wanted for herself, but could never master. She was currently listening to one of the aforementioned nobles yapping on like they usually did. Don't get her wrong, she loved her little ponies, but some of them could be somewhat...annoying, to say the least. "So you see, princess, a lot of the pear stands are filthy and not becoming of..." Before she could even attempt to be bothered to listen anymore to his ramblings while adorning her ever so well known royal smile, she sensed something. Something unnatural. Something unknown. It wasn't close. Not at all. But she could sense it. And it scared her. It felt...evil and chaotic. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked down to the noble, giving him a fake nod and the same smile. "I will be sure to look into it, my little pony. But something dire has suddenly arrisen that I must take care of immediately." Before the noble could even make a retort, the guards saw him out, his protests being heard by the princess as he walked out. She walked to her sister's room. She would still be asleep, but she needed to tell her about this as soon as possible. She saw that her sister's night guards, who were called Threstral's, a pony with bat like features, were standing outside her sister's door on guard. She nodded to them and they nodded back, moving out of the way. "Our highness is still sleeping, princess. Be careful. She may be a bit...grumpy." She nodded in appreciation and gave them a smile. She walked in, slowly opening and closing the door, trying to not make too much noise. Regardless, her sister tossed and turned before sitting up, rubbing her eyes with her hooves, her mane disheveled. She opened her eyes and glared at her, bags underneath them. "Sister...what time is it? Why did you wake me?" Celestia sat down on the side of the bed, sporting a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, dear sister. I wouldn't have come if it wasn't serious. A few moments ago, during one of our noble's typical rambles...I felt something. An unknown sensation. Something chaotic and evil. And even though I do not know what it was, I could feel something else alongside it too. Something that I know all too familiar." Luna looked up at her with a now serious but curious look on her face. "Familiar? What do you think it is, sister?" Celestia stood up, looking towards the window, causing Luna to raise an eyebrow. "Chrysalis." This caused Luna's eyes to widen and her face to sour, giving her an angry expression. She, apparently having gained the energy out of nowhere, jumped out of her bed, causing Celestia to spin around to face her. "That monster? I thought she was defeated at Cadance's wedding?" Celestia nodded. "So did I, but apparently not. But it was also the unknown sensation I got. It was from something else, but it was tied to her. Almost as if something was near her. Something incredibly powerful and dangerous. Possibly even more dangerous than her." That made Luna wince a bit. She knew Chrysalis was powerful and Luna herself was never one to back down from a fight, but something more powerful? Her and her sister couldn't catch a break. She used a spell to straighten out her mane and give it its usual flowing effect, walked up to the window alongside her sister and stared outside with her. "I see. Then we must inform Twilight Sparkle and the elements. We might need their assistance if it is as powerful as you say. Do you have any idea as to where she and whatever else may be currently?" Celestia nodded, still sporting a serious stare, causing some of the ponies outside to notice the two royal sisters in the window. They waved, but they were ignored. This was too important. "I can track what I picked up on, yes. But we will alert Twilight and her friends first. Whatever involves a being like Chrysalis is never a good thing." Luna nodded in agreement, walking towards the door. "I shall inform Twilight Sparkle and her friends. You stay for your morning court until I get back. I don't think we should let anypony else know what's going on just yet. Considering how much of a toll Chrysalis's attack during the wedding took on some of our subjects, I do not wish to scare them and make them assume things. I am sure you do not want that either, sister." Celestia smiled in appreciation. "Of course. Thank you, sister. I shall be waiting for your return." Luna smiled, waving as she walked out. When she had finally left, Celestia took on a serious look again, walking back towards her morning court. "Whatever that feeling was, it was incredibly powerful and unknown. And that scares me." "So...let me get this straight...this planet is called Equis, the place you want to take over is Equestria and this place is your hive." Mercer was currently standing next to the being he now knew as Chrysalis. She was currently sitting in her throne, him standing right in front of her. She nodded, getting irritated already by the creature that she now knew as Alex Mercer, playing 20 quesions with her. She agreed to give him information, yes, but that was partially a lie. She didn't actually expect him to drone on and on. She sighed in boredom. "Yes." He nodded, noting her tone. "Right. But this still doesn't help me get back." She scoffed. "You don't say? We will find a way if you help me take over Equestria. The princesses are holding some secrets, I know it. And considering you don't remember how you even got here, I can almost gurantee that it had something to do with either Twilight sparkle..." She nearly cringed saying that name. "...or the princesses. So, you will no doubt find your answers there." Mercer was reluctant to believe a thing that she said, but what other choice did he have? Again, he could consume her, but it may make more trouble than he really needed right now. If she became a problem to his journey back, however, he'd have absolutely no issues sucking her memories dry. For the meantime, if this thing could help him, then so be it. "I see. And where do I fit into all this? The taking over Equestria, I mean. What's stopping me from just walking in there and asking?" Chrysalis snarled at Mercer's further questioning, but then she realised something. "Wait...I could use this to my advantage. If I can convince this creature that the ponies will stop him from getting back to his home...he may be more inclined to join our cause." She shook her head and now sporting an evil looking grin, once again showing off her teeth. "Mercer, isn't it?" He nodded. "Well, Mercer, the reason as to why I want to take over Equestria is to have a safe haven for all of my changelings. We have never been accepted, never been given a chance. We feed on love. It is our food source. If we don't get any for a while, we whither away and die. I want to make the world a better place for my people. The ponies shun out any creature that isn't like them. So what do you think will happen if you, a completely unknown and very dangerous new creature, come into their kingdom?" The realisation of what this thing was saying hit him hard. She could be lying about the whole safe haven thing for her people and she probably was. But, when he arrived here, he could tell that it wasn't these things that had summoned him. They were too shocked and they acted out with aggression, the same way humans would if a new species showed up on their doorstep. And that means that she may actually be telling the truth. Maybe the other equines were responsible for his arrival or at least know how he can get back. Regardless of her intentions, he needed to get back home. If she became a problem down the line, he'd do what he'd have to do. But for now, he had to see where this thing was going with this. He looked towards her. "You may have a point. But what's stopping me from just consuming you and taking your memories?" This made Chrysalis pale slightly. "Con...consume? Excuse me?" He scoffed, grinning. "Oh, I didn't tell you. I also need a food source to survive. DNA. Other being's, to be precise. Anything biological. Now, I was planning to consume you when we were fighting so I could gain the info that I need, but I figured I may as well hear you out first. I don't know what would happen if I consume an alien's DNA. You may actually be able to help me more if you're alive. Because at the very slim chance that you are telling the truth about these ponies, you may be able to assist me in getting back home." Even though this thing basically just threatened her life, she smirked. Regardless of Mercer's intentions, she was slowly starting to like his way about words. He was very...upfront and strong. She respected that. And it could come in handy in her plans. "I can assure you, if you kill me, you won't get anything from it. You need my support if you want to get in there. You may be strong, but do not understimate them. I do not hold the knowledge to send you back home on my own. As I already stated, the ponies are probably the culprits behind your mysterious appearance here. And if that's the case..." Mercer tapped his chin, humming to himself in thought. She might be right there. He was strong, but he wasn't stupid. Anything but. He would need to see what these things can do with his own eyes before he assumes how strong they are. He already made that fatal mistake with Captain Robert Cross and then because of said mistake, he ended up with a parasite inside of him that he needed outside help to get rid of. Maybe this is another situation that he needs outside help. He sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, you may be right. Alright then, it's settled. I don't really care what you do when you take over the place, your intentions for this planet are not my concern. My only concern is getting back home and if you can help me with that, then I'll help you. But I warn you, if you try to use me for your own gain and do not deliver your promise to help, I won't hesistate to deal with you. Got it?" Chrysalis nodded, secretly grinning to herself. "I must admit, I like his way around things. Reminds me of how I'd make a deal. Regardless, if this thing can actually help me take over Equestria, I'll be glad to get rid of it and send it back home. If not, it isn't my concern. He shall be dealt with if he tries anything" "Alright, Mercer. You've got yourself a deal. Now, I want you to go and gain as much information as you can on their status. How many troops they have, any weakpoints that the city of Canterlot may hold.." He scoffed. "Canterlot? Really?" She nodded. "The capital. It is the main point of our attack. We tried before but it failed." He thought for a second. "Hang on, if it already failed, why not try somewhere else that isn't as heavily fortified?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "There is nowhere el..." Then an idea hit her. Her scoff went from a sly smirk. "Hang on...you may be onto something there, Mercer. There is a small town called Ponyville. It is home to the elements of harmony. The things that we discussed earlier." He nodded, remembering. "Right. The elements of Harmony. The supernatural artifacts that are worn by the element bearers." She nodded. "Exactly. There are 6 ponies who each wield a single piece. But the main one is a pony called Twilight Sparkle. She was the one who thrwated my plans the last time. And might no doubt be the main culprite behind your arrival here. If we break her, the others will be like candy." Mercer nodded. He really didn't care if this thing was evil or not, all he cared about was getting back home. If it was really this Twilight Sparkle who could have brought him here, his beef was with her, not this thing. And if this thing was being true about being able to help, he'd take it. He still had his doubts on Chrysalis, but he washed them aside for now. More important things were at stake. Getting home was all that mattered to him. What happened to the residents of this place or this planet wasn't his concern. "Right. Again, whatever happens to the inhabitants of this planet or the planet itself is none of my concern. My main task is getting back home to make sure that my sister is safe." That hit Chrysalis somewhat hard. "You...have a sister?" He nodded. "She's the only thing that I care about. And I need to get back to her." It reminded her of her brood sister. She was the only one that she ever felt any emotion for. And after her death, well...this is the first time that Chrysalis could actually relate to any creature. She nodded. "I understand. I too had a sister. I won't go into detail, but I lost her as well. Regardless, do what I have asked of you and I will help you, creature. You have my word. We will take your suggestion and take over Ponyville first. Go there. See what you can find." He nodded. "If you say so. I'll report back here when I'm done. But one question. How do I get there and back?" She grinned. "That is simple. I can teleport you near the village. You can take some of my drones with you. They will alert me telapathically when you need to get back. These are some of my best soldiers." She pointed towards the door behind him, that had just opened. He spun around to now be faced with 3 smaller changelings. One was clearly a female, a more slimmer and curvy figure. The other two were bulkier. Males. They all saluted towards Chrysalis and then turned to look at Mercer, a skeptical look on their faces. "Watch their back and they will watch yours. Try not to cause any suspicion. We are simply gaining information. The attack comes later." He turned back around and nodded to her. "Gotcha." She grinned. "Excellent. Now, be on your way and don't fail me, otherwise you can kiss your way home goodbye." He was angered at the way she spoke to him, but he didn't show it. There was no need to start another fight. Before he could make a retort, he was suddenly enveloped by a green aura. A few seconds later, the hive disappeared and a green, vast forest replaced it. He looked behind him, staring at the 3 drones who had come with him. They walked past him, the female turning around and ushering him to follow. "This way, creature. Ponyville is just a mile north of here." He didn't even nod, he just followed. He scoffed. "Never thought I'd need anyone's help again to get myself out of a situation, let alone these fucking things. Regardless, I've got to play it safe. For now. I'm coming, Dana. I will get home to you. I promise. By any means necassary." Author's Note 2nd chapter is here, booyah. Reconnaissance"I see a bunch of multi-colored horses walking around. I also see what looks to be a castle made out of...crystals?" Mercer and the 3 drones were currently watching the inhabitants of what he now knew as "ponyville" go along their way, some of them stopping to talk to one another. But it was the castle made out of crystals that took his attention. He'd never seen anything like it. The female drone nodded to him, while the 2 males kept scanning the area. "That is correct, creature. The castle is the home of the one known as Twilight Sparkle." Ah, so the pony who might be responsible for this arrival here lived in a fancy castle. Figures. "Right. By the way, I'd rather you not call me creature. I have a name. Mercer." She scoffed. "For how strong you apparently are, you sure are sensitive." He shapeshifted his arm into his blade form, causing the female to back off and the males to get in front of her, weapons raised. Mercer grinned, shapeshifting back into his human form. "Heh. Easy to spook, aren't you?" The males snarled at him and were prepared to attack, before the female ushered them to stop. Seems she was the leader of this 3 soldier squad. She grinned. "Seems like you can have some fun after all. Name's Arisa. These two are Malok and Nox." He nodded at the males, who scoffed and turned back to the village. The female rolled her eyes and walked up to him. "Don't mind them, they can't take a joke. I admit, when you shapeshifted just then, I expected you to attack me. But you're full of surprises, crea...Mercer. I like to poke fun, even at beings that I do not know. But I must say, you do interest me." Mercer scoffed, kneeling down to match her height. "Don't worry bout it. Anyway, tell me more about this Twilight Sparkle." "Well, you see, she is..." Before Arisa could finish, Mercer's extremely acute hearing picked up on something far away. He put his finger up to his mouth, telling her to shush. It took her a second to understand, but she nodded and kept quiet. She motioned for Malok and Nox to come over, which they did. Whatever it was, it was big. And it sounded like it was running. Running towards their direction. He stood up and shapeshifted into his armor and blade form, causing the others to look at him in interest. Arisa smirked. "So, what else can you shapeshift into?" He told her once again to shush, getting a frustrated grumble from her. Then, as he put his hand down, a giant creature jumped out of the bushes in front of them. It was some sort of weird combination between what appeared to be a lion, a bat and a scorpion. He chuckled quietly to himself. "First talking bug horses and now this thing? It's like I'm in a really weird cartoon." The creature charged at them, causing Arisa to snarl and shoot a magic blast at it from her horn. It dodged out of the way and swiped at her, scratching her face and sending her flying back a few metres. She grunted as she hit a tree, seemingly knocked out. Malok and Nox both charged the creature with their weapons, attempting to blugeon it. Before Mercer could back them up, he saw Malok get his head ripped off by the creatures claws and Nox snarl in anger as he watched his comrade die. He stabbed the creature, causing it to snarl and thrash. Before Nox could get out of the way, the creature grabbed him and bit into his neck, ripping out of his vein and dropping him to the floor, dead. Mercer scoffed. He already was starting to find them two annoying anyway. "Best soldiers, huh? I don't want to know what her worst ones are if those two bozo's were her best." Then, he suddenly remembered. Arisa. She was the only one who showed some sort of personality. He looked over to her. He sighed as he saw her breathing. Good. He looked back towards the creature, who was staring at him with murderous intent. He chuckled. "You made a really bad choice today, fella." The creature snarled as he said those words and charged towards him. He immediately jumped above the thing, causing it to look around in surprise, wondering where he disappeared to, before he landed on the thing's back and grabbed its neck. It thrashed around, trying to get him off. It tried to stab him with its stinger, only to miss and sting itself. It roared in pain as he pulled on its neck with all the force he could muster and before it could counter, he flipped it over and threw it into the nearest tree, hearing the satisfying sound of its back breaking. He walked over to it as it started to convulse, nearly close to death. He shapeshifted his hands into claws and smirked. "Seems like this was not a good day for you, huh, bud?" It roared in agony as he began to tear into the creature, consuming it. All that was left afterwards was a pile of blood on the floor. Mercer groaned in pain as he started to shapeshift. "Hope this doesn't backfire on me." He then started to grow wings on his back, black and full of spikes. His body let out a shockwave as he finished shapeshifting, moving his new additions on his back. He smirked. "Damn, these things could come in handy." "What...are you?" He turned towards the voice, seeing that Arisa had apparently recovered, looking at him with a slightly shocked expression. He grinned. "I'll tell you some other time. Sorry about your friends." He pointed towards the now dead bodies of her former comrades. She scoffed, looking back at him. "Trust me, they weren't my friends. Couldn't stand them. They were my squad, yes, but I hadn't been with them long enough to form any sort of bond." Mercer nodded. He liked her way of thinking. Reminded him a bit of himself with anyone except Dana. She was the only person who he could never bring harm to, regardless of what she did to him. "You doing okay? You took quite the hit." He shapeshifted back into his human form, storing away his new ability. She grinned. "Don't worry, I've had worse. Tell me, what did you actually do to that Manticore?" So, it was called a Manticore. He'd heard of that before in an old human book. "I assimilated its DNA and modified it, to put it in basic terms." Arisa nodded in interest. "Seems you're even more interesting than I thought you were. Anyway, we better get back to the hive. Tell the queen what happened. We've done enough reconnaissance for now." He nodded. letting her send her telapathic message to Chrysalis to teleport them back. In a few moments, they were gone. "I see. Shame that they had to die. They were good soldiers. Alas, it is not an issue. You did what you had to do and you did what I asked of you." Chrysalis sat on her throne, regarding Arisa and Mercer, having listened to what had happened in the Everfree. She then looked at Mercer. Strange. He thought he could see the tinniest of smiles there for a split second. "I thank you for at least saving one of my soldiers, Mercer. I can't say I trust you yet, but still, you saved one of our own." He nodded. "No problem. So, tell me more about this Twilight Sparkle. I was going to ask Arisa here before we got attacked by that Manticore." Chrysalis snarled at the mention of that pony's name, before taking in a deep breath. "She is the princess of friendship. A student of princess Celestia. Her favourite student, to be precise. She is close to the other element bearer's. Very close. She also has an assistant named Spike, who is curiously a dragon." He rolled his eyes. "Dragons exist here, too?" She nodded. "Indeed they do. There are a lot of magical creatures on Equis. Alas, most of them will not accept us, so it is up to us to make them accept us." Mercer could relate somewhat to this thought process, even if it wasn't a great one. Once he found out that he wasn't even really Mercer and was just the blacklight virus with Mercer's memories and skills buried deep inside its DNA, he realised that humans really didn't accept anything other than themselves. A very selfish race. The only one who was worth a damn was Dana. Maybe the doctor who helped him and Dana. Even then, he still didn't trust him completely. He turned his attention back to Chrysalis. "So, what's our next move?" Chrysalis grinned. "Well, we should go and do a more thorough investigation of what Twilight Sparkle is currently doing. The reconnaissance that you went on was merely to gain some information as to what the current state of Ponyville is like. Now that we know that it is just normal business in that wretched little town, we can get to work planning on how to handle taking over once we have more info on what exactly Twilight Sparkle and her friends are doing and how ready they are for an attack. Because you see, I know that they have no doubt already sensed my presence. So, they will be preparing. We must be ready." Mercer looked over to Arisa, who was still standing next to him. "I would prefer if Arisa came along with me on my next venture into the place. She actually has some sort of personality to her and she could help." Chrysalis nodded. "Very well. Arisa, you will go with Mercer on his next mission." Arisa bowed. "Of course, your highness." Chrysalis raised her hoof. "You two are dismissed. I will alert you when you are going on your next mission. For now, do whatever you please, so long as you do not cause trouble. Or there will be dire consequences." They both nodded, walking out of the room. Arisa turned to Mercer, grinning. "Don't want to go alone, huh?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Not at all. I just want someone there who isn't a bland canvas. Besides, I usually prefer working alone, but considering I have no idea how this place works, I need someone who knows how this place functions to fill me in. I made the mistake once of thinking that I could do everything by myself and it nearly got me killed." She looked at him in interest, secretly wanting to poke him on how he nearly died. She'd seen how strong he was. So if he nearly died to something, that somewhat concerned her. "I see. Well, what do you want to do for now? The queen has been quite nice to you. When you first arrived here, I could tell that she wanted to gut you. Maybe she still does. But I know that she needs you for her plan and you need her help also." He nodded. "Yup. Sure do. Not afraid to admit that. But, we'll see what happens. As for now...I'm not sure. I can tell that you want to ask me some questions, so shoot. If you ask something too personal, however, I won't reply." She agreed. "Alright. So..." He rolled his eyes. "Hopefully getting back home doesn't take too long." Author's Note Hope you're all keeping safe during these times. See you in the next one. Goddamn it..."You really care about your sister, don't you?" Mercer sighed. He really didn't want to talk about Dana right now. It made him want to tear through this entire planet just to get back. "I don't want to talk about it, to be honest." Arisa nodded. She was the type of changeling to poke fun at someone until they explode, but she could tell when something was seriously eating someone up. She might be a changeling, but she wasn't completely heartless. "No worries. I'll try my best to not mention her again unless needed." He nodded in thanks. "Thank you. Anyway, what do you think about Chrysalis's plot to take over this joint?" Arisa stood up, sharpening her spear. "Hmm...I'm not sure, honestly. She's my queen and I will serve her until my dying breath. But, sometimes, I'm slightly concerned about her willingness to just discard the weak of our kind or ones who fail her. Hell, I'm one of her most trusted drones, but even I could be exciled or killed if I messed up on an important mission. She is as reckless as she is magnificent." Mercer raised an eyebrow. "She's that ruthless to you guys, huh?" She nodded. "Indeed. But, as I already said, she is our queen." He scoffed. "I haven't trusted her since I met her. She tried to have me killed, for one." He flicked his fingers. He really needed to keep an eye on her. Arisa grinned. "Well, you did appear out of nowhere and she sensed how powerful you are." He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. All I know is that I need to get back. You're the only one that I've met so far that I don't want to kill." Again, another grin by the violet eyed changeling. "I'll take that as a compliment. We should prob..." Mercer noticed her pause. He stared at her in confusion, Arisa now taking a more serious look on her face. "What's wrong with you?" She turned to face him, her grin now completely gone. "The queen is calling us. She has a new mission for us and it is quite important." He rolled his eyes. "Great. Let's go, then." She nodded. "Indeed." They now both stood before Chrysalis, the queen of the changelings now sat on her throne with an angry expression. She looked down at both of them. "We have an issue. Twilight Sparkle and her friends have come across the bodies of Malok and Nox in the Everfree forest. This means that they are no doubt now aware that we've been spying on them." Mercer crossed his arms. "Didn't you say that it was a high possibility that they'd already sensed your presence anyway?" She nodded. "Indeed I did, Mercer. But I had hoped to at least keep our mission somewhat secret. They will now be aware that we've been watching as I already said a minute ago, which might make things more...annoying in the longrun. You should have brought the bodies back." Arisa stepped in front of Mercer before he could retort. "Your highness, forgive us. We were not thinking clearly at the time, considering we were focused on quelling the Manticore threat." Chrysalis hummed to herself for a moment, before finally nodding. "Very well. In anycase, this means that we will have to be more vigilant. Mercer, Arisa, you will go back to Ponyville. I want you to capture Twilight Sparkle." Mercer narrowed his eyes slightly. "Sparkle? You mean the one who you think could be apart of my arrival here?" She noticed the sudden change in his tone and grinned. "Yes, I do. She is quite a powerful being and it wouldn't surprise me if she had botched up another one of her spells and brought you here." He felt his anger rising. He was here all because of some idiot messing up a magical spell? Just his fucking luck. He clenched his fist. "Consider it done." She grinned again. "Excellent. Now, both of you, go. Make sure to bring her in alive. I don't care if you harm her, but at least make sure that she is alive. She can't be dead if my plan is to work. At least, not yet." Arisa nodded. "Yes, my queen." She looked to her right to see that Mercer had already walked off, going towards the door. He turned. "Coming or what?" She noticed his sudden change in attitude. She had a bad feeling about this. However, on the other hand, Chrysalis was smiling. It was working. She waited until they had both left to snicker to herself. "Seems like it was easier than I thought to get him to help us. Never the less, he will be an excellent asset to our cause. Enjoy your time while you still can, Twilight Sparkle." Mercer and Arisa arrived back in the same spot where they were before, the corpses of Malok and Nox were no longer there. "Must have been moved by the ponies." Arisa looked around, scanning the area. The blood pile was still there from the Manticore. She shivered slightly as she remembered what Mercer had done to it. She turned around to see him already walking off towards the village. She ran up to him and put a hoof to his chest. He slightly snarled and turned around, angry. "What?" She really wasn't liking this change in attitude. "I know that you're angry, but calm yourself. We won't get very far if you just go storming in and start killing everything." He scoffed. "Who said I'm killing everything? I'm just killing anything that gets in my way. I need to get back to Dana and I'm not prolonging it because your queen wants to take over this place. If this Twilight Sparkle knows how to get me back to my sister, then I'll drain her memories dry." She suddenly remembered what happened to the Manticore and stopped him again, this time, he pushed her away several feet, causing her to get in a defensive stance. "Seriously, calm yourself. I'm sure the queen will let you have your revenge on Twilight Sparkle if she did indeed cause your arrival. But you cannot kill her yet. The queen needs her alive. I don't want us to fight, Mercer." He snarled. "Just keep out of my way. I don't care what your queen wants. I need to get home." She sighed, getting back into a more relaxed stance. "Listen to me. If you consume Twilight Sparkle before the queen puts her plan into motion, you could screw up the only chance you have of getting back to your sister. What if she doesn't know the answer? Then you've just washed away your best bet of getting out of this place." He scoffed. "If she doesn't know, I'm sure someone will." Arisa looked down, sighing again. "Let's just capture her first and I promise you, you'll get your answer." Mercer took a second to try and calm himself. If he let his rage take control, he wouldn't know what he'd do. He needed to think about this logically. If Twilight Sparkle knew how to get him home, then he could consume her. But if she didn't and he consumed her, she might not even know anyone who knows. Chrysalis said that she was a princess. Maybe the other princess's knew? He sighed, relaxing slightly. He might as well just see where this goes. And, in all honesty, he would rather not get aggressive with Arisa, considering she was the only being what had really tried to help him at this point and seemed to actually care. It would be in his better interests to work with her and not fight her. "Fine. Let's go and get this Twilight Sparkle." Arisa nodded. "Good. Calmed yourself a bit?" He rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with." It was a fairly decent night in Ponyville. The pegasus ponies had really outdone themselves this week. Sunny days all along, barely any rain or cloudy weather. Even the night had a nice, cool breeze. Not too warm or cold. Twilight Sparkle currently sat in her castle, staying up and reading some of the reports that Princess Celestia had sent her regarding the bodies that they had found in the Everfree. Said bodies belonged to two male changelings. She could only guess that they had been spying on the village, which concerned her greatly. "Are we really ready for another invasion by Chrysalis?" She remembered her brother's wedding and how bad that could have been if the others didn't realise that she was telling the truth about imposter Cadance, who turned out to be Chrysalis herself. She sighed. "Spike? Spike!" It then hit her. He wasn't here. He was in the dragonlands, spending some time with his fairly new friend and recent dragon lord, Ember. "I hope that he's keeping safe. It's probably better that he wasn't here to see all of this." A knock on her door startled her. She wasn't expecting anyone, especially at this hour and all of her friends were currently busy with their own things. She got up and trotted to the door, opening it slightly. Her jaw nearly dropped at who was stood there. "Princess C...Celestia?" The sun princess was smiling down at her, nodding. "Hello, my dear student. How're you doing?" Twilight finally remembered to breathe again. "I..I'm doing fine, considering the circumstances. What are you doing here, princess? You didn't alert me that you were coming here?" Celestia looked wary for a second, before looking back at her. Odd. "Strange, I sent a letter to you. Is spike not with you?" Twiight was suddenly confused. "Erm, no...he's in the dragon lands with Ember. But...you knew that, didn't you? I swear that I told you..." She suddenly laughed, causing Twilight to be slightly concerned. The princess was acting strange. "Ah, so you did. Sorry, my memory must be going at this old age. Anyway, back to why I'm here. You must come with me now. I have found something very concerning in the Everfree and I think you should be made aware of it." The purple pony raised an eyebrow. "At this time of hour? Where are we going? Celestia rolled her eyes. "The Everfree." The Everfree? At this time of night? Something was certainly not adding up. And the way Celestia was acting... "Princess...are you feeling okay? You seem slightly...off." Celestia looked at her, no expression currently on her face. "I am fine, Twilight. Now come, we must go at once." Twilight had a really bad feeling about this. Her gut was telling her to not go, to just stay here. But she couldn't disobey her mentor, even if she tried. She nodded. "Okay, princess. Should I get the others if it's this important that you came at this hour?" Celestia quickly nodded a no as she walked off and beckoned her to follow her. "No no, I shall tell them myself when the time is right." Again, this felt really bad. But...against her better nature, she decided to go. She could trust the princess...right?" Celestia and Twilight both arrived at the Everfree via teleportation, next to the strange puddle of blood that she had come across when she found the bodies. She figured it belonged to them. Would only make sense. She looked around, confused. "Erm, so, princess...what was so urgent that you wanted to show me?" Suddenly, Celestia spun around, an evil grin on her face. Twilight shivered. "P...princess?" Celestia's form disappeared, a green flame surrounding her, now revealing a curvy, black figure. A changeling. Twilight readied her horn, but before she could summon any spell, she was knocked back onto the floor, the air escaping her lungs. She coughed as she held her stomach, pain rising in her fast. She took a moment to collect herself, before standing up and seeing that there were now two figures in front of her. One was the changeling from before who was currently sat there with a smug grin on her face and a strange, new creature. It stood taller than her on two legs and had two appendages by its side. Two arms. It looked a bit like an hairless ape with some sort of clothing on. It currently stared at her, a deep hatred in its eyes. A hatred directed towards her. She once again tried to charge her horn, but the creature moved faster than it should have been able to and grabbed her horn, causing her to scream in agony as it crushed her horn with brute force. She flailed. "Please! Stop!" The changeling went up to it and patted it on the back. It turned around and rolled its eyes and then...it spoke. "Fine." Judging by the voice, it sounded male. It...he let go of her horn, her tears washing down her face, agony still coursing through her body. She couldn't even summon another spell. All she could do is look up at her assaulters and wail in pain and anguish. "Why....why..." The creature knelt down and looked at her, causing her to shiver. "My name is Alex Mercer. And you've fucked with the wrong creature." Before she could even ask what he meant by that, her vision turned to black as she felt his fist connect with her face, sending her to sleep. Author's Note Here's another chapter to keep you people entertained during this qurantine. Keep safe. Some answers and more questions to be answeredTwilight was in a black void. She knew what had happened. She remembered being led into the Everfree by the pr...no, the changeling disguised as the princess and then being assaulted by some strange creature with immense strength. It was strong enough to knock her several feet away. While she wasn't a stallion, she wasn't exactly weak. When it hit her, it felt as if she got hit by Rainbow Dash whenever she flew at full speed. Eventually, the black void disappeared and she was sucked into nothingness. Twilight woke up with a gasp, looking around frantically, only to find out that she was in some sort of cell. A prison? She attempted to get out of the poorly kept wooden bed below her, her back scratched from the splinters. She failed at this attempt and instead landed face first onto the floor. She let out a gasp and a pained wail as she felt the assault from that creature earlier still take a massive toll on her body. After a few more minutes of attempting to use her legs like they were supposed to be used, she finally managed to raise herself, only being able to do so by leaning against the crude metal bars in front of her. The door in front of her opened and she saw that same changeling from earlier trot in. She felt her stomach urch again, making her want to vomit from the pain and nausea. She looked up and glared at the changeling who was currently wearing that same smug grin from earlier. "What's going on?" The changeling nodded her head, motioning her to follow. "Come." She shook her head, not planning on going anywhere. Especially with a changeling. "I'm not going anywhere with you!" It smirked. "Oh, you will, or you'll make me angry. And trust me, you really don't want that to happen." Twilight scoffed, trying to hide the pain she was experiencing all over her body. "Is that supposed to intimidate me? Because it isn't wor..." The door blasted open, causing both of them to spin around. There stood the creature from earlier, the one that caused assaulted her. A look of dread now came onto her face. Changelings were one thing, but this...monster was something entirely new. And that scared her. It walked towards her, the changeling moving out of the way. It grabbed her by the throat, causing her to choke, fear in her eyes. Then it spoke again. "Listen, I don't care what you are or who you are, I don't have time for this. So, you're going to listen to Arisa here and you're going to comply or so help me, I will rip your throat out and eat your flesh. Do you understand?" Twilight looked at the changeling, now being able to put a name on it. Arisa. She turned back to the monster currently strangling her. Fearing her life, she nodded quickly, causing it to release its grasp on her, making her fall to the ground and gasp for precious air. When she had composed herself, she stood back up, glaring at the both of them. She turned her attention to the new creature. "What even are you? She remembered a name. Mercer. Alex Mercer. That's what it said earlier when it assaulted her. It, or Mercer, whatever it was, stared daggers at her, looking like it wanted to throw her into the sun. "I'm something that is now in a mess because of your mistake. And you're going to fix it." This confused her. She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? What mistake?" Before Mercer could continue, the changeling now known as Arisa walked in front and put a hoof against him. "Ease up on her. Trust me, we all want her dead, but we're going to have to wait. Chrysalis wants to see her." That name caused Twilight to snarl, causing the two to turn their attention back to her. "Chrysalis? So I was right! She is plotting to invade again! Let me tell you, Arisa and whatever the hoof you are" She pointed her hoof towards Mercer, who looked slightly amused at the sudden outburst. ", we beat her once and we will again. The princess's will stop you!" Arisa smirked and walked up to her, grabbed a hold of her, causing Twilight to struggle. She knocked Arisa away, causing Mercer to run up to her at breakneck speed and grab her, picking her up like a mere toy. She struggled in his grasp, flailing around, trying to kick him with her rear hooves, but it was pointless. Whatever "Mercer" was, he was stronger than a fully grown male Minotaur. "Now you're starting to piss me off. You're coming whether you like it or not. I don't have time to waste." And as Twilight was carried away, kicking and screaming, Arisa watched and smirked, happy that her queen's plan was coming to fruition. "You've not seen her for the past day?" The 6 ponies, known as the element bearers, all shook their heads. The pink one, known as Pinkie Pie, spoke up. "No princess, we haven't. Do you know where she is? Is she okay?" The white one, known as Rarity, followed up. "Darling, if the princess knew, she wouldn't be asking us, would she?" Celestia held up a hoof, causing them to go quiet. "It is alright, my little ponies. I just need to find her as fast as I can. Do you have any idea where she may have gone?" They all shook their heads again. The one known as Applejack spoke next. "Nah, princess. It be mighty odd. Twilight dun usually disappear like this, specially without saying anything to us or ya'll." The sun princess sighed. This was very unlike her student indeed. She had to return to canterlot and get her sister's aid. They needed to find Twilight asap. She bid them fairwell and asked that if they found out any info as to her whereabouts not to hesitate to contact her or her sister. She rode back in her chariot back to Canterlot and went to her sister's bedroom. Luna was sat on her bed, reading one of her many books. She raised her head up from the book and smiled at her as she walked in. "Hello, sister. How did it go? Have you gotten Twilight?" She shook her head. "I have not. I asked her friends and even they don't know where she is. I am concerned that something has happened to her. It isn't like Twilight to go off on her own without alerting anyone, especially her friends." Luna nodded. "Indeed, it is very strange. We must find her as soon as possible. Maybe she found out more about the bodies that they found in the Everfree." Celestia nodded back. "I hope so. Considering the feeling I had the other day and now, the changeling bodies, it is probably accurate to say that Chrysalis is plotting another invasion of Equestria. And if that is the case, we must be prepared. I will continue my search for Twilight. I shall try and see if she left any magical residue behind. If that is the case, I may be able to track her down." Luna agreed. "I will come as well, sister. In case you require backup." Celestia smiled. "Thank you, sister. Let us go. We can't waste anymore time." They both took off towards the Everfree, hoping that they'd find out some clue as to where she could have gone. "So, we meet again, Twilight Sparkle." There were currently 4 figures stood in the throne room. Chrysalis, Twilight, Arisa and Mercer. The former two were glaring at each other. Twilight stood up and blew smoke through her nostrils. "Chrysalis. How did it feel when you got blasted away from Canterlot, being oh so close to your victory, but not close enough?" The changeling queen snarled and bared her fangs, shooting a blast of green magic at her, causing the pony princess to fall and scream in agony. Mercer and Arisa both watched this unfold, the former having his arms crossed impatiently and the latter smirking at the display in front of them. Twilight took a second to regain herself and stood back up, dusting herself off slightly. Chrysalis grinned. "You should know your place, princess. This is my kingdom. Not yours. Luckily for you, I need you alive." Twilight looked up at her with another glare. "I know what you're planning. You didn't succeed before and you won't now!" Chrysalis scoffed and rolled her eyes. "But see, this time, I have a creature who is stronger than anything you've ever faced before." She nodded towards Mercer as he walked forward. Twilight turned her attention to the creature that had knocked her out earlier in the Everfree. It looked...angry. Impatient. "It's better off if you just tell me what I need to know and then you lot can have it out how you see fit." Chrysalis shook her head. "Be patient, Mercer. There is still stuff that you need to do." Mercer scoffed. "I said I'd help you and I have. You can conquer this place by yourself, I just need information on how to get back." Twilight looked confused. "What do you mean? Where do you come from? Are you an...an alien?" He nodded. "Indeed and your little magical mishap, according to Chrysie over here..." Chrysalis snarled. "Don't push your luck, Mercer." He grinned. "Yeah, anyway, she said that your little mishap is what caused me to get stranded here. And quite frankly, that isn't good for you if that's the truth." Twilight looked back at Chrysalis with a hate filled glare, then back at Mercer. "She's using you! I didn't cause this!" Mercer stared at Chrysalis. "Don't fuck me around. Did she cause this or not? Because if she didn't and you've been lying to me..." Arisa stepped in front of Mercer, holding a hole filled hoof against his chest, shaking her head. "Mercer, we can discuss this later. Please." He took one look at the changeling general and sighed, backing off. Arisa smiled and nodded in thanks. Chrysalis regained her composure and stared towards Twilight. "Don't try and lie to him, it won't work. He needs to get home and I need information. So, tell him what he needs to know and then we will resume your...questioning. Take her away. Let Mercer interriogate her how he sees fit. He's earned it." Mercer, for the first time since he got here, actually appreciated something that Chrysalis did. He nodded in thanks, getting a nod back from the queen. Arisa saluted and took Twilight away, Mercer following. He stared at the purple pony. "You better have the answers that I need, for your sake." ...What?"I'm telling you, I don't know anything!" Another hard slap by a hoof. And another. Twilight was currently at the mercy of Mercer and Arisa, the former watching as the latter slapped her. Hard. Arisa gave an annoyed sigh. "You might as well just tell us what we need to know. It'll be a quick death. But if you don't give us what we want..." Twilight spat blood at Arisa, causing the general to kick the princess in the face with her rear leg, earning her a pain filled scream. Mercer pushed Arisa away, the changeling giving him a confused stare. He looked back and nodded. "I got this." Twilight looked up, seeing the one known as Mercer. She cowered slightly. He smirked and did something she didn't expect. His two appendages suddenly turned into giant, metal like claws. She gulped. "What...how is that possible? Are you part changeling?" He scoffed. "Let's just say that I have a few neat tricks up my sleeve. And that isn't all I can do. So I suggest that you come clean and tell me how to get back. You must know something. Even if it wasn't directly caused by you as Chrysalis suggested, you must know the individual or individuals who brought me here. Accident or not, that isn't my concern. My concern is getting back home and I will stop at absolutely nothing to get back." Twilight shook nervously, sweating from the hours of torture. She was physically and mentally strained. She could barely even see straight at this point. "I...I didn't cause this. The only ones who I know who could be strong enough to pull something like that off is...." Mercer raised an eyebrow, leaning forward, putting one of his claws against her neck. "Yes?" She gulped again. "The...the pr...princess's. But...they're not like that...if it was them, which I d...doubt, it must have been an accident..." He pulled his claw away, grunting. "I don't care if it was an accident. If you're telling the truth and these "princess's" brought me here, they will pay." Twilight pulled at her restraints. "Don't you dare..." Mercer shapeshifted his arms back into their normal human form and smacked her in the stomach hard enough to make her vomit on the floor below her. Arisa walked up to him, tapping him on the arm. "Let's go. That's enough for now. I think Chrysalis needs to know this information." Mercer nodded, silently sighing in annoyance. "Yeah...and I have a few questions for her as well." Arisa nodded in return. "Of course, but please, try and be respectful. I know you don't exactly trust her, but she is my queen." He sighed. "We'll see." Chrysalis was idly mulling to herself about what she was going to do with Equestria once she had complete control. She thought about turning the ponies into changelings, adding to her army. It would be more practical than killing them all. But, the ones who caused her serious issues would be disposed of. Painfully. She heard the door open in front of her. She snapped out of her thoughts to see Arisa and Mercer walk up to her. She held her hoof up, letting them know to stay where they are. "So, what have you found out from our guest?" Arisa was about to speak up first, but Mercer walked in front of her, intending to get to the bottom of all this. "You told me it was no doubt that this Twilight Sparkle pony was the one responsible for bringing me here. She's just told me that it wasn't her and the only ones strong enough to do that would be the two princess's." Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "If you remember correctly, I stated that it could have been her. But, now that I think about it, it makes more sense that one of or both of the two princess's would be responsible. No matter. We can still use Twilight Sparkle as a bargaining chip for the elements. With the elements power, we can usher in a new rule of my own." Mercer scoffed, "Yeah, that sounds great, but all that I care about is getting home. So, if these two really are the ones who have caused this, we need to get them. And fast." Chrysalis nodded. "Indeed we do. I believe that they will found out that Twilight Sparkle is missing and try to search for her. They will probably manage to track her here. Powerful magic users can leave behind a magical trail, so to speak. They will probably trace it here. And when they do, we ambush them. Knowing how naive the princess's are, they'll either come by themselves or with a small handful of guards. Either option is not a problem, especially considering we have you as well." As much as Mercer wanted to just consume her so he didn't have to go through with all this nonsense, he was starting to secretly admire her somewhat. Not a lot, but a tiny bit. He respected her dedication to this, even if he didn't care for it at all. "Fine. So what, we just wait?" She nodded. "Exactly. I will alert you and the hive when I sense their presence nearby. Until then, see what else you can get out of Twilight Sparkle. I want to know what defenses Canterlot and Ponyville currently has and where the other element bearers are." He turned around and walked back to the door. "Oh, Mercer?" He slowly turned around. Chrysalis had a genuine...well, sort of genuine smile on her face. "I'd like to thank you. At first, when you arrived here, I didn't trust you at all. I thought you'd invaded my hive and I was about to destroy you. But, as you have come to shown over these past few days, you have been a vital asset to me and the hive. And you have also aided one of my best soldiers. For that, I give you gratitude. But don't push your luck." He nodded. "No problem." And with that, him and Arisa walked out together, leaving the queen to her musings once again. As they walked out, Arisa tapped him on the shoulder. He looked down to see her smiling as well. "I'd like to thank you as well. For saving my life when that Manticore attacked us. No one in the hive, not even the queen has ever shown me that type of kindness." He rolled his eyes, slightly grinning. "Don't worry about it. You were the only one out of the 3 who was worth saving in my eyes." She smirked. As much as she wanted to like Malok and Nox, they were both boring and quite frankly, assholes. But, she appreciated that he said that. A few days ago when they met, he wouldn't even look at her, never mind talk to her like that and actually treat her like an equal. "Suppose we should go back and ask the princess some more questions." He rolled his eyes. "Yup. Let's get it over with." More questioning and a new guest"Sister! Over here!" Luna and Celestia currently stood in a vast clearing in the Everfree, a clear sight to Ponyville in front of their eyes. Luna was staring at the two deceased changelings, both mauled quite extensively. If the moon princess was anypony else, she would have vomited. But after years of seeing violent attrocities and being in a few wars herself, it didn't phase her as much as it should anymore. Celestia came trotting over in high speed, wincing when she saw the bodies. "In the name of...even the Changelings don't deserve this fate." She stared at the two heavily dismembered corpses, sighing. She looked towards Luna with a fearful scowl. "Chrysalis...she needs to be stopped. This could happen to our own ponies if we don't intervene, Luna. It could even happen to Twilight." Luna nodded, flapping her wings. "Then let us not stay here any longer, sister. We have seen what we needed to see. Have you still got the trace of Twilight's magic that you picked up when we got here?" Celestia nodded. "I have. And I know exactly where she went now because of it." She sighed. "The wastelands." Mercer was currently sat down, his eyes set on the lavender pony princess inside the cell. He had his arms draped over his legs. "Alright, so let's go over this again. You think your fellow princess's could have a reason as to why they may brought me here?" Twilight coughed, being beaten too many times to remember by the changeling she now knew as Arisa and the being that was known as Mercer. She looked at him with her bloodshot eyes, tiredness seeping from them as she scowled. "I already told you, I don't know why they would or even if they did. But they are the only ones who could be strong enough to do such a thing. At least, from what I know. Or...if it wasn't them..." He snapped his attention back to her, eager to listen now. "Carry on." "...It could have been a being that we call Discord, if it wasn't the princesses...he's the only other being apart from the princesses who I could imagine could bring you here..." Mercer rolled his eyes, sighing in frustration. He was quickly getting tired of this wild goose chase. He got up and smashed his fist against one of the metal bars of the cell, bending it with the sheer impact. Twilight gasped and crawled as fast as she could to the back of the cell, shaking. "Listen to me and listen to me good. I am getting really sick and tired of this wild fucking goose chase. Who has more a reason to bring me here? These so called princesses or this Discord character?" Still shaking, Twilight looked up to him. "W-w-well...I would say D-discord...as he is a being of true chaos...but I don't know why he would...we reformed him..." Mercer raised an eyebrow. "Reformed?" She nodded. "Yes...we changed him for the better..." He scoffed and waved his hand, sitting back down. "I couldn't care less if he's changed for the better. If he's the one who brought me here, for whatever reason, he'll pay." Twilight shook. "Why are you s-so full of hate? The power of f-friendship sh..." He laughed, causing her to look at him in confusion and slight fear. "Don't start spouting off about friendship and all that bollocks again. I don't want to hear it. Where is this Discord?" Before Twilight could answer, a flash appeared behind Mercer. He turned around and spotted a new being. Some weird hybrid of creatures. A snake, a dragon and many other things. He raised an eyebrow yet again and scoffed. "I'm assuming you're Discord? What are you, the genie in the lamp?" The creature, now known as Discord, smirked. "You could call me that, my dear boy. Say, why don't you do me a favour and hand me Twilight over there and we'll act as if this never happened. Deal?" Mercer turned around to stare at Twilight, then back at Discord and laughed. "Sorry, she's my ticket out of here. And in fact, she tells me that YOU might be the reason as to why I've been sent here." Discord raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Nothing to do with me, I'm afraid. Now, I suggest you hand over Twilight or we're going to..." Before Discord could finish, Mercer punched him pull force, causing him to get knocked back into the wall with extreme force. Discord looked up and snarled. "Alright, if that's how you want to play..." Discord teleported behind Mercer and snapped his fingers, causing Mercer to be held in place by some sort of magic. But for some reason, it immediately broke, releasing him with no side effect. Discord looked at him in confusion. "What? But how did you..." Mercer grinned, grabbing discord. As he grabbed him, Discord felt his magic being...drained somehow. Like his very essence was being siphoned out of him. He tried to snap his fingers, teleport, anything...but he couldn't escape Mercer's grasp. He coughed and looked at him in confusion and fear. "What....are...you?" He was thrown against the wall and heat repeatedly until blackness consumed him. The last thing that he heard was a name. "Alex Mercer. And you've fucked with the wrong creature." Arisa was currently rushing back to princess Twilight's cell. She had gone to get a drink and to update her queen when she had a loud crash coming from there. And that's where Mercer was. She crashed through the door, immediately scanning the room. What she saw confused her. "Is...is that..." Mercer, now sat back down on the chair in the middle of the room, looked at her and nodded, smirking. "Yup. Long story. Sit down." "So...you're telling me that you somehow drained Discord's magic out of him after he got in here somehow and demaded that we release the princess..." "Seems so." "Discord...the god of chaos..." "Yup." Arisa looked at him in mock amusement and slight concern. "Mercer...what in Chrysalis's name are you?" He smirked. "Life and death." She scoffed. "Alright, edgy boy. But seriously...how did you do that?" He shrugged. "No idea. I guess I adapted to magic the more I was around it." She shook her head. "But Discord uses chaos magic, which is highly different to other forms of magic commonly used. Even us Changelings know of that." He shrugged once again. "Again, no idea. But damn did it feel good. I feel even more powerful than before. Did I ever tell you about how I feed?" She shook her head. "I do not think so, no. And if you have, I've forgotten. Refresh my memory." He scoffed, nodding. "I consume biological beings. I assimilate their DNA to my own to adapt. So I'm assuming I somehow managed to consume Discord's magic. I'm not sure how, but ever since I did, I feel a lot more powerful. I usually gain an ability once I consume something new, but I have not noticed any new physical power yet." She nodded, confused but intruiged. "I see." He raised an eyebrow. "Not concerned that I might eat you?" Now it was her turn to scoff again as she rolled her eyes. "You don't scare me, Mercer. I trust you enough." He somewhat smiled at that. He looked back at the now two prisoners, Discord being passed out for the past 3 hours and Twilight having passed out from exhaustion. "So, what do we do with these two?" She shrugged. "We wait until the queen sees them again and decides what to do with them." He nodded. "Alright. I'm going to find out all I can from this Discord whenever he wakes up." The door opened, causing them both to look at whoever had entered the room. Chrysalis now stood in front of them, looking towards the cell. She was confused at what she saw, but she smirked none the less. "My my...now it seems we have the god of chaos himself as a prisoner...who is responsible for this?" Arisa pointed to Mercer, causing him to scoff. "Way to tattle." Chrysalis grinned. "Well done, Mercer. Very well done indeed. Come with me, we need to discuss something. Arisa, stay here with the prisoners. Make sure they don't get any funny ideas. I'll put a magic dampener on the cell so that Discord can't use any of his chaos magic." Arisa nodded. "As you wish, my queen." Mercer scoffed. "Don't think he'll be using any of his magic anytime soon, anyway." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, staring at him. "Whatever do you mean?" He grinned. "Long story. I can tell you when you've finished talking to me about whatever you want to see me about." Chrysalis was wary at that answer, but decided to not think too deeply into it. She nodded. "Very well. This way." Mercer scoffed. "This is getting really tiresome now." Author's Note Just a quick chapter to show you all that I'm not dead. It is coming..."Hmm. So you're telling me that you have the power to siphon magic? Even Discord's highly unpredictable chaos magic?" Mercer nodded, crossing his arms. "Seems so. I think what's happened is that I have adapted to it with how much I've been around it. But if this chaos magic is only really used by this Discord creature, I'm not sure how I've adapted nearly instantly. Guess you learn something new everyday." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. She was intruiged, but also slightly concerned, which wasn't like her. She rarely ever felt fear, but just seeing Mercer's power herself and fighting him once reminded her of how strong he actually was. She'd never known someone as strong. And that fact... Intimidated her. And she hated it. "You are...a mystery to me, Mercer. First, you show up by some unknown means to what I can only assume was the princess's doing and now, you've somehow absorbed chaos magic from the god of chaos himself. I can say that I am at least glad that you're not an enemy. Such power can't go to waste." Mercer scoffed, a slight grin present. He could feel her fear. It felt good. "So, what's the plan?" "We wait." Now it was his time to raise an eyebrow. "Wait? Are you serious?" She nodded. "Indeed I am. Now that we have Twilight Sparkle and Discord himself, the princesses will have no choice but to come and try to take them back. And that, my friend, is when we strike back." He was slightly surprised at that last comment. "Friend, huh? Warming up to me already?" She rolled her eyes, scoffing. "Don't push it, Mercer. The only reason why I treat you as well as I do is simply because you have been a great asset to me and you have saved my best guard. We may have not been trustworthy of each other at first for very understandable reasons, but you are slowly earning my trust. Keep at it and I may make you apart of my royal guard. But that is a very strong if and not when." He smirked, turning around and stretching his arms. "I doubt that, seen as I'll be going home as soon as I can. Anyway, I'm going to go make sure Arisa hasn't killed them two yet. Still need those things alive. See ya." Chrysalis rolled her eyes again and sat down on her throne, grinning to herself. "All is going to plan." "I told you, I don't have the foggiest clue of what he is or where he came from!" Another slap. Arisa was currently interrorgating Discord. She must have slapped him at least 10 times. It's not like he could do anything behind bars and with a magic dampener stopping him from regaining his magic. If he even could, that is. She still had no idea that he'd get it back after what Mercer did to him. Twilight had passed out after the first 3 slaps. She stared at her unconcious body and snorted. "Lightweight." Discord grumbled, scratching his now red face. "That wasn't very nice. Sparkle here has done more than you'll ever do." Arisa chuckled, sitting down and staring at the now beaten and tired god of chaos. "I don't care. I live to serve my queen. Nothing more, nothing less." Discord grunted. "And I suppose she's happy that you and the other changelings kiss her..." The door opened with force, Arisa and Discord snapping their heads to it. Mercer walked in, walking up to Arisa and smiling at her slightly. "You okay?" She nodded, a smirk on her face. "Awh, worried about me?" He scoffed, walking up to the bars. "You wish. Anyway, Discord, was it?" Discord snarled, trying to grab the bars. "You're lucky that I don't have my magic, boy. Or I'd..." Mercer shapeshifted his hand into its claw form and scratched Discord's face. Only lightly. Couldn't afford to do too much damage, after all. He needed these two alive. Well, he needed Sparkle alive. Did he really need this thing alive? "Or you'd what? Get your magic basically eaten by me again?" This caused Discord to shut up, choosing instead to turn his back on Mercer and sit down. "I'm not telling you anything. There's nothing to tell." Mercer sat down next to Arisa, turning his head to her as she turned her's to his. "Do we really need to keep this Discord guy alive? We only really need Twilight Sparkle." Arisa shrugged. "It isn't up to me. Ask the queen. I don't care whether either of them live, honestly." He was about to actually go and ask Chrysalis herself when the door opened again, revealing Chrysalis. She looked at Mercer and Arisa, ushering them to stand up. "Seems the princess's are on their way. Come, you two. We need to speak." She looked towards Discord. "And as for you." She summoned a spell which instantly knocked him out, his body slumping next to Twilight's. Mercer coughed, getting her attention. "Do we need this Discord alive? I could always consume him and get all the info that he isn't telling us. And not only that, I can feel myself slightly weakening. It seems whatever energy I got out of him early is already wearing off and I haven't consumed anything in a long while." She shook her head at first, but then tapped her hoof to her chin in deep thought. "Hm. I did want him alive, but we only really need Twilight Sparkle. Do what you want with him. If you need to feed, I will not deny you that. Keep Twilight Sparkle alive, however. We need her. If we kill her as well, we may not be able to use her against the princess's. Me and Arisa will meet you in the throne room when you have done what you need to do." Mercer nodded. "Thanks." Chrysalis nodded back, her and Arisa walking out of the room. Mercer turned his attention to the sleeping Discord, grinning evily. "Oh, this is going to be fun." Luna and Celestia were very close. They could feel it. The hive. They hadn't come here for centuries. And back then, it was run by a changeling queen who actually treated her kind with respect and wasn't trying for world domination everytime that they came across her. Queen Kolari. She passed away about a 100 years ago. Strange how time flies. Celestia suddenly winced and fell to her knees, causing Luna to look at her in concern and try to lift her up back to her hooves. "Sister! What is wrong?!" The sun princesses breathed heavily, regaining her composure and standing up. She smiled at her little sister. "I'm okay, Lulu. But I felt something...awful. Like Discord was...cut off from his magic." Luna's eyes widened. "How is that possible? Discord's chaos magic is stronger and more unpredictable than our own!" Celestia nodded, dusting herself off. "I highly doubt Chrysalis would have the power to do such a thing. Maybe it has something to do with that other force that I felt?" Luna nodded, walking forward. "Perhaps. Regardless, we need to move. Twilight Sparkle and the fate of Equestria depends on it." The two sisters marched forward, a battalion of guards behind them. Threstrals and Celestia's sun guards. "Come, my little ponies. It is time to get to the bottom of this. And with that, they kept marching on towards the hive, anticipating what could come out of this whole ordeal. Revelations"What is he?" "I do not wish to know." Arisa winced in the throne room as she heard the screams of agony from the prison cell. Mercer had been left alone with Discord in order to..."consume", as he called it. Hearing the screams from Discord even made Chrysalis wince and that wasn't an easy feat. After a few more minutes of this, the door opened to reveal Mercer. He grinned and walked towards them. "Done." Chrysalis nodded, albeit still wincing somewhat on the inside. "I assume you're replenished now?" He nodded, smirking. "Yup. I also absorbed more of his chaos magic. Feels good." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at that. "He's getting more powerful. Better watch my back." Never the less, she walked back to her throne, sitting down. "Good. What is the status of Twilight Sparkle?" He chuckled, leaning against the wall. "She woke up when Discord started screaming. She then fainted pretty soon after." He'd forgotten that Arisa was even there until he heard her giggle. "Great with the ladies, aren't we?" He grinned. "The best. Anyway, are the princess's near?" Chrysalis shook her head, stretching slightly in her throne. "I sensed that they were close, but I lost track of them. I assume that they sensed what happened to Discord and it spooked them. So they will have no doubt gone for reinforcements. I doubt they will stay away for too long. Princess Celestia could never leave her precious student behind." He chuckled. "Can't even go through with their plan once their friend got eaten. Figures. I'm going to see what more our guest can tell me." And with that, he turned around and walked out of the room. When she was sure that he was gone, Chrysalis grinned and looked at Arisa. "It's all coming to plan, Arisa. Do you know what to do?" She nodded, bowing. "Of course, my queen. It shall be done." Chrysalis raised her hoof, signalling that she could leave. Arisa did just that and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. When she was far enough away, she sighed heavily, rubbing her head. "I can't go through with this. I've got to tell him." "I'm not telling you anything, you murderer!" Another smack. This one sent Twilight flying into the wall behind her, causing blood to practically pour from her mouth. She coughed, spitting out all the blood that she could. Mercer grinned, crossing his arms. "That's fine. You'll break eventually. And if you don't..." He pointed a finger towards the blood stain that was once Discord himself. Twilight winced, sobbing silently to herself. He rolled his eyes at the display and sat down. He heard the door open behind him. He didn't even bother turning around. He knew the voice all too well by this point. "Mercer, we need to speak." He slowly turned around to face the voice, smirking as he saw Arisa. "But I'm having fun with our guest here." She didn't even respond. She just walked out of the door and ushered him out. He raised an eyebrow. She usually could take a joke. What was up? He stood up and followed her, closing the door and looking at her, confused. "What's going on?" She turned around and walked away. He followed, catching up to her in no time. After a few moments of silence, she sighed heavily, looking at the floor. "The queen is..." Mercer chuckled, causing her bring her head up off of the floor and look at him. "What's so funny?" He rolled his eyes, grinning. "She's going to betray me. I already know." She stuttered, not sure how he could know. "B-But....how did you..." He tapped a finger against the side of his head, smirking. "I'm more aware than you think. I also now know who brought me here and why." Arisa stopped, looking at him for a moment. "How did you find out?" He scoffed. "When I consumed Discord, his memories showed me. Princess Celestia. She conjured up some sort of summoning spell. She wanted to summon the strongest being in the universe to add to her assets. She was scared that Chrysalis was going to invade again after the whole Canterlot wedding incident, but she was delayed, which is why I've only just arrived here. Guess paranoia broke the bitch." Arisa chuckled at that. Mercer grinned in response as she started to walk again. "So, what's the plan?" She sighed, walking faster. "We need to get out of here as fast as we can. The only issue is, I don't know how I can get away from here for long. We're all connected to a hive mind, remember? The queen can..." Before she could finish, Mercer put his hands on her head. She was about to ask what he was doing before she suddenly blacked out. After what seemed like only a few moments, her eyes opened back up. She was on the floor and Mercer was knelt down next to her, looking down at her. "Yo, you alright there?" She shook her head, groaning. He offered her his hand as she stood up, gratefully accepting it, steadying herself as she got back onto all fours. "Ugh...what just happened?" He rubbed the back of his neck, smirking. "I severed your link with the hive mind so Chrysalis can't track you." Her mouth opened wide. She couldn't even form words. After a few moments more of her sounding like she was having a stroke, she regained her composure. "How is that even possible?" Mercer transformed into a changeling. Malus, one of Chrysalis's higher ranking guards. He then transformed back to his normal human form, grinning at her. "I consumed one of you lot and it gave me access to the hive mind. I gained the ability to cut links with it if I needed to." She put a hoof out in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. He looked back as she slightly growled. "You...you killed one of us?! And one of the queen's personal guards?!" He nodded, seemingly unfased by her sudden outburst. "Yup. He was one of the guards who tried to kill me when I got here, so after me and Chrysalis had stopped trying to kill eachother, I killed him. He came up to me and started talking shit. His own fault." As much as she wanted to tear his throat out for murdering one of her own, she sighed. She understood. Malus was a complete dick. But she was confused about one part of that information. "How did Chrysalis not sense it?" He smirked. "After consuming him and gaining the ability to enter the hive mind, I mimicked his link. Chrysalis still thinks he's alive. Just missing. She's been searching for him since." That confused the hell out of Arisa. She shook her head rapidly. "Hang on...so, not only do you now have the ability to cut links from the hive mind, you also have the ability to mimick them too? And I thought you couldn't transform into anything other than...humans, was it?" He nodded. "Yup. And yeah, before I came here, I couldn't. Guess the magic that I've adapted to has changed that somehow." She stayed silent for a few moments before smirking. "You're something else, you know that?" He chuckled. "Sure am. Come on, let's get out of here before anyone sees us." Arisa nodded. Mercer shapeshifted into the changeling form again and used its wings, flying next to Arisa as they quickly made it out of the hive. Mercer knew exactly where they were going. Canterlot. Celestia was currently sat in her private quaters. She sighed heavily. "We need to make a move soon. Otherwise, Twilight could..." Her door slammed open. Luna rushed in, almost scaring her to death. She held a hoof to her chest as she breathed heavily. "By the sun, Luna, you nearly killed me! What's wrong?!" Luna bashfulled looked away, rubbing the back of her neck with her hoof. "Sorry, dear sister. We have just received word that Cadance and Shining Armor will be here in the next hour." Celestia calmed down and walked over to her sister, hugging her. "Thank you, sister. I did not want to leave Twilight there for a moment longer, but I know that Chrysalis won't kill her. She needs her to get to us. But still, we must be fast. The thought of my dear student suffering...I can't even describe how it feels." Luna nodded, smiling sadly. "We know, sister. And trust us, she will be okay. We will make sure of it. But after what we sensed of Discord..." They both winced. They knew that he was dead. They didn't want to think about it. "...We had to get out of there until reinforcements could arrive. I could sense that if we had stayed there any longer with the few guards that we had, we would have been dead. Whatever Chrysalis is working with...it is more powerful than even us." Celestia nodded, sitting back down on her bed. "Let us just hope that Cadance and Shining Armor's aid will be enough..." They both sat next to each other, hugging, wondering what was going to happen. The ball was currently in Chrysalis's court. She had all the time in the world. Celestia and Luna, on the other hand? Not so much.
What is happen..."Is she going to be okay?" Mercer. The bioweapon. He had just retrieved his sister, Dana, from Elizabeth Greene's hive. He was now sat with Dr Ragland. Ragland had helped him learn the weakness of the Leader Hunters, a leader version of the infected hunters. They were created when Greene was released. And it was all Mercer's fault why she escaped. Ragland had also helped him locate his sister, which he was grateful for. It was the only reason he hadn't killed him, really. "She's unconcious, but stable. She should be fine in a few days. I'll make sure that she stays safe." Mercer nodded in thanks. Ragland handed him a note. Mercer's name was on it. "It was just there when I got back. What do you think?" "Looks like I've got plans. Take care of her, alright?" Ragland nodded as Mercer walked out the door. "Looks like someone wants to mee...what the..." Mercer dropped the note, causing the civilians nearby to stare at him. He couldn't move. His body was frozen. Not frozen in ice, but just...frozen. "I can't...move..." And before he knew it, the world went completely black. "My minions...it is time! Gather around!" Queen Chrysalis, the queen of the changelings. Thwarted too many times by the elements of harmony. 6 ponies, harnessing the powers of the elements to stop any threat to Equestria. But this time, she was prepared. And so were her changelings. Her army. Her servants. They were currently planning their first move inside the hive. They had been planning this for years. "For years, we have been in hiding. For years, we have been starved of love. Thrown away like some back alley garbage. But, we will finally take what is rightfully ours and Equestria will bend to our will!" The drones cheered, causing her to grin, slightly showing her sharp fang like teeth. "My changelings! Now is the time! Now is the..." Her ear flicked as she heard a noise behind her. She also noticed that every single changeling in the room was now looking behind her rather than at her. She raised an eyebrow, curious to what they were staring at. Obviously, it was whatever made the sound behind her a moment ago. She turned around slowly to see a figure on the ground. She couldn't tell what it was, but it had 4 appendages. Two arms and two legs. They reminded her of a minotaur, just far less bulky. She motioned for her drones to surround the creature, causing them to stand around its body and raised their spears and charge their magic. She looked at the unknown being in curiousity. "Now now...what do we have here?" "Dana...dana...DANA!" Mercer woke up, coughing. Startled, he rubbed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear the pain that was currently there. "Jesus...what just..." He suddenly heard sounds of what sounded like...armoured footsteps? He opened his eyes and looked around. Standing around him were some type of bug like creatures. They were quadruple, sporting hooves which appeared to have holes in them. They were also sporting what looked to be old fashioned armour. They were all staring at him, snarling and growling, holding what appeared to be spears towards him. He also noticed that they had sharp, curved horns and wings filled with the same holes. "Wakey wakey." A voice. Female. Definitely female. It had a weird droning sound to it, unlike anything he had ever heard before. He looked up in front of him to see that the voice came from a bigger version of the other creatures around him. However, not only was one marginally bigger than the others, it had a very tattered, almost glowing-green mane. It looked like a mane, anyway and considering these things were quadruple, he figured they were some sort of equine. A very messed up equine. He stared at the bigger one, who was currently sporting an evil like grin at him, revealing that it had several sharp fang like teeth in its maw. "Who..or rather, what are you?" The creature scoffed, pointing a hand....a hoof at him. "What am I? What are you?" She then stomped her hoof down. "And only speak when I tell you to speak, creature!" He returned the scoff, starting to stand up, causing the smaller bug like equines around him to raise their spears higher, causing him to glare at them. The bigger one raised her hoof, causing the others to lower their spears. They were still snarling and staring daggers at him, though. He looked towards the bigger one with a confused look. It grinned. "Even if you tried to hurt any of us, you wouldn't be much of a threat. What I want to know, creature, is how you got here and what you are. I suggest you answer fast, too, before I change my mind and have you destroyed." He looked down, laughing deeply, causing the big creature to raise an eyebrow. He could see a slight hesitation in her eyes, only for a second. Intimidated. He raised his head, grinning. "Messing with me wouldn't be a great idea. Let's just get that straight." The big creature snarled, pointing her hoof at him. "How dare you take that tone with me, creature! Drones, get him!" The smaller creatures around him went to stab him with their spears. But before they could even touch him, he jumped high in the air, causing them to stare in disbelief and confusion. He shapeshifted into his armour form and shapeshifted his hands into their claw form. He noticed that the bigger creature was now staring at him in shock. "What...how..." He grinned. This would be fun. He slammed down into the ground, sending a shockwave throughout the room, causing most of the smaller ones to be blasted away, some of them hitting the wall hard. One of them, however, tried to shoot an unknown blast at him from its horn, causing him to dodge, looking behind him where the blast had hit the wall. "What the fuck was that? Seems these things are packing more heat than I originally thought." Before it had another chance to fire whatever that was at him again, he quickly dashed towards it and punched it, causing it to break its armour and hit the wall like the others. None of them appeared dead, but they were injured. It was only the bigger one left now. It was currently staring at him in disbelief. And fear. "How is this possible? Are....are you a changeling? No..you can't be..." Mercer was about to charge at her, but he stopped himself. He looked at her through his armour, even though she couldn't see his expression. "A what?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, slowly backing off. "I figured....I can't feel your presence in the hive mind...but if you're not a changeling...what in the hive's name are you?..." He sighed, looking around at the destruction he had caused. He didn't have time for this. He needed to find out where he was and fast. He could consume this thing, but considering it wasn't any creature he had seen before and it didn't seem like a blacklight creature, he went against the idea. For now. Instead, he opted for a different plan. Play along for a while. Try and find out what he can from this thing. He turned towards the creature, who was still staring at him in slight fear. And anger. It was currently charging something from its horn. "Ah shit. So much for playing nice..." He jumped and dodged the blast, causing the creature to fly up to him and try to charge him. He dodged it in the air and grabbed its wing, throwing it against the floor. It let out a pained wheeze as it hit the floor. He landed next to it and readied his claws. Before he could finish it off, it tried to tackle him to the ground. Tried being the keyword. It flew away from him when it realised that it couldn't budge him. The creature charged another shot at him, causing him to dodge it. But before he could land, it shot another one, this one actually managing to hit him. He fell to the ground, shapeshifting back into his original form. He tried to move, but couldn't. "What...why can't I move...it feels...different from last time...stronger.." The creature now stood over him, grinning. "I would usually destroy you and spread your dust into the desert for what you've done to my changelings. However, you are immensely powerful. I could use you." Mercer growled, causing the creature to almost flinch as he stood up, causing her to look at him in shock. "What?! How did you break my spell?!" He glared daggers at her, gaining the feeling back in his body. "Nobody uses me." He morphed back into his armour form and used his musclemass form. He charged at her, grabbing her neck. He picked her up by the throat, causing her to choke. He stared into her eyes. "Listen to me. I would usually consume you, but, I'm not sure if it'll even work. I don't even know what you are. And you might be my only chance right now to find out where I am and how to get back. So, let's make a deal. You tell me where I am and we don't have to fight. I would rather not cause havoc in a place that I'm unfamiliar with. Deal?" The creature snarled at him, before he tightened his grip, causing her to almost turn blue. She frantically started to nod. He let her go, the creature gasping for air as it coughed violently on the floor. When it had regained its composure, it looked up at him, glaring at him. "Why would I ever..." Before she finished her sentence, she had a thought. "Wait...if I play my cards right, maybe I could convince this...thing, to help us take over Equestria. Maybe if I play to its demands, at least for now, it might actually help. It is immensly strong...it could be a valuable assest. It managed to wipe out my drones in a few seconds...and I don't believe that I'm even thinking this could be true, but I do not think I have the power to defeat it..." Mercer was now staring at the creature, waiting for it to get back up. It finally stood up after a few seconds, glaring at him. "Alright, creature. Deal. You help me, I help you." He looked at the thing suspiciously, before shapeshifting back into his normal form once again. She looked at him curiously. "How do you do that if you're not one of us?" "Not important. So, where am I? And do you know something called Blacklight?" The creature snarled, still angry. "You're currently in the hive of the changelings. My kingdom. I am the queen of the changelings. And no, I've never heard of whatever that is." He raised an eyebrow, taking all of this in. "Right. So, you're a bunch of shapeshifting bug like equines." He couldn't believe that he was even going to ask this next question, but they didn't appear to be infected with the virus, so they weren't related to that. And with all the crazy shit that he'd just seen... "Am I on planet Earth?" Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "Earth? No...this planet is called Equis. Wait...you don't even know what planet you're on? You can't expect me to believe that you're an alien?" He turned around, sighing. "Seems like it. Never believed in aliens, but it's apparently true. If that's the case...I've no idea how I'm even going to get back to my planet...Dana...no..." The creature scoffed. "Dana? What or who is that?" He turned out, visibly agitated. "It'd be better for you if you didn't ask." She snarled. "We might have agreed to help one another, creature, but don't think that I'll stand for you talking to me like that. I am the queen of the..." He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "The queen of the changelings, yeah yeah." She was really starting to get annoyed with this thing. "Why you..." He waved a hand, shutting her up. "Enough. We keep at this, it won't end well." The creature sighed, trying to calm herself. As much as she wanted to eat this creature alive...it was right. She was planning to take over Equestria. And with how powerful this thing had shown itself to be...even she didn't think it was wise to go another round with it. Not until she can understand its powers and how to counter them, at least. She looked around at her drones, who were thankfully alive, but unconcious. She looked towards the creature and reluctantly nodded. "As much as I hate to admit it, you are correct. I have plans and it won't help me if I continue to fight a creature that I've never seen before. So long as you promise to not touch a single scale on any of my changelings...I'll give you the information that you need. So long as you promise to help me in return." He nodded. "I guess so. So long as you or any of your cronies don't try and harm me, I won't harm any of you. I need to get back. That's more important than anything right now. What exactly do you need help with?" She grinned, showing off her fangs once again. "And now, my plans can come to fruition..." Author's Note Hope you enjoyed.
Something isn't right...It was a lovely day in Canterlot. Well, as lovely as it could get. There were still the many, whiny nobles that came in, broadcasting their...interesting concerns, but that was a given in the capital. All and all, it was a pretty standard day for the white mare on the throne. Princess Celestia. One of the two main rulers of the land, alongside her sister, Princess Luna. She handled the day court and the rising of the sun and her sister handled the night court (despite it not having many occupants, due to most of them still fearing her sister for her past) as best as she could while also raising the moon and making sure everypony's dreams were all in order. Yes, her sister could go inside the realm of dreams. A power that Celestia always wanted for herself, but could never master. She was currently listening to one of the aforementioned nobles yapping on like they usually did. Don't get her wrong, she loved her little ponies, but some of them could be somewhat...annoying, to say the least. "So you see, princess, a lot of the pear stands are filthy and not becoming of..." Before she could even attempt to be bothered to listen anymore to his ramblings while adorning her ever so well known royal smile, she sensed something. Something unnatural. Something unknown. It wasn't close. Not at all. But she could sense it. And it scared her. It felt...evil and chaotic. She snapped out of her thoughts and looked down to the noble, giving him a fake nod and the same smile. "I will be sure to look into it, my little pony. But something dire has suddenly arrisen that I must take care of immediately." Before the noble could even make a retort, the guards saw him out, his protests being heard by the princess as he walked out. She walked to her sister's room. She would still be asleep, but she needed to tell her about this as soon as possible. She saw that her sister's night guards, who were called Threstral's, a pony with bat like features, were standing outside her sister's door on guard. She nodded to them and they nodded back, moving out of the way. "Our highness is still sleeping, princess. Be careful. She may be a bit...grumpy." She nodded in appreciation and gave them a smile. She walked in, slowly opening and closing the door, trying to not make too much noise. Regardless, her sister tossed and turned before sitting up, rubbing her eyes with her hooves, her mane disheveled. She opened her eyes and glared at her, bags underneath them. "Sister...what time is it? Why did you wake me?" Celestia sat down on the side of the bed, sporting a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, dear sister. I wouldn't have come if it wasn't serious. A few moments ago, during one of our noble's typical rambles...I felt something. An unknown sensation. Something chaotic and evil. And even though I do not know what it was, I could feel something else alongside it too. Something that I know all too familiar." Luna looked up at her with a now serious but curious look on her face. "Familiar? What do you think it is, sister?" Celestia stood up, looking towards the window, causing Luna to raise an eyebrow. "Chrysalis." This caused Luna's eyes to widen and her face to sour, giving her an angry expression. She, apparently having gained the energy out of nowhere, jumped out of her bed, causing Celestia to spin around to face her. "That monster? I thought she was defeated at Cadance's wedding?" Celestia nodded. "So did I, but apparently not. But it was also the unknown sensation I got. It was from something else, but it was tied to her. Almost as if something was near her. Something incredibly powerful and dangerous. Possibly even more dangerous than her." That made Luna wince a bit. She knew Chrysalis was powerful and Luna herself was never one to back down from a fight, but something more powerful? Her and her sister couldn't catch a break. She used a spell to straighten out her mane and give it its usual flowing effect, walked up to the window alongside her sister and stared outside with her. "I see. Then we must inform Twilight Sparkle and the elements. We might need their assistance if it is as powerful as you say. Do you have any idea as to where she and whatever else may be currently?" Celestia nodded, still sporting a serious stare, causing some of the ponies outside to notice the two royal sisters in the window. They waved, but they were ignored. This was too important. "I can track what I picked up on, yes. But we will alert Twilight and her friends first. Whatever involves a being like Chrysalis is never a good thing." Luna nodded in agreement, walking towards the door. "I shall inform Twilight Sparkle and her friends. You stay for your morning court until I get back. I don't think we should let anypony else know what's going on just yet. Considering how much of a toll Chrysalis's attack during the wedding took on some of our subjects, I do not wish to scare them and make them assume things. I am sure you do not want that either, sister." Celestia smiled in appreciation. "Of course. Thank you, sister. I shall be waiting for your return." Luna smiled, waving as she walked out. When she had finally left, Celestia took on a serious look again, walking back towards her morning court. "Whatever that feeling was, it was incredibly powerful and unknown. And that scares me." "So...let me get this straight...this planet is called Equis, the place you want to take over is Equestria and this place is your hive." Mercer was currently standing next to the being he now knew as Chrysalis. She was currently sitting in her throne, him standing right in front of her. She nodded, getting irritated already by the creature that she now knew as Alex Mercer, playing 20 quesions with her. She agreed to give him information, yes, but that was partially a lie. She didn't actually expect him to drone on and on. She sighed in boredom. "Yes." He nodded, noting her tone. "Right. But this still doesn't help me get back." She scoffed. "You don't say? We will find a way if you help me take over Equestria. The princesses are holding some secrets, I know it. And considering you don't remember how you even got here, I can almost gurantee that it had something to do with either Twilight sparkle..." She nearly cringed saying that name. "...or the princesses. So, you will no doubt find your answers there." Mercer was reluctant to believe a thing that she said, but what other choice did he have? Again, he could consume her, but it may make more trouble than he really needed right now. If she became a problem to his journey back, however, he'd have absolutely no issues sucking her memories dry. For the meantime, if this thing could help him, then so be it. "I see. And where do I fit into all this? The taking over Equestria, I mean. What's stopping me from just walking in there and asking?" Chrysalis snarled at Mercer's further questioning, but then she realised something. "Wait...I could use this to my advantage. If I can convince this creature that the ponies will stop him from getting back to his home...he may be more inclined to join our cause." She shook her head and now sporting an evil looking grin, once again showing off her teeth. "Mercer, isn't it?" He nodded. "Well, Mercer, the reason as to why I want to take over Equestria is to have a safe haven for all of my changelings. We have never been accepted, never been given a chance. We feed on love. It is our food source. If we don't get any for a while, we whither away and die. I want to make the world a better place for my people. The ponies shun out any creature that isn't like them. So what do you think will happen if you, a completely unknown and very dangerous new creature, come into their kingdom?" The realisation of what this thing was saying hit him hard. She could be lying about the whole safe haven thing for her people and she probably was. But, when he arrived here, he could tell that it wasn't these things that had summoned him. They were too shocked and they acted out with aggression, the same way humans would if a new species showed up on their doorstep. And that means that she may actually be telling the truth. Maybe the other equines were responsible for his arrival or at least know how he can get back. Regardless of her intentions, he needed to get back home. If she became a problem down the line, he'd do what he'd have to do. But for now, he had to see where this thing was going with this. He looked towards her. "You may have a point. But what's stopping me from just consuming you and taking your memories?" This made Chrysalis pale slightly. "Con...consume? Excuse me?" He scoffed, grinning. "Oh, I didn't tell you. I also need a food source to survive. DNA. Other being's, to be precise. Anything biological. Now, I was planning to consume you when we were fighting so I could gain the info that I need, but I figured I may as well hear you out first. I don't know what would happen if I consume an alien's DNA. You may actually be able to help me more if you're alive. Because at the very slim chance that you are telling the truth about these ponies, you may be able to assist me in getting back home." Even though this thing basically just threatened her life, she smirked. Regardless of Mercer's intentions, she was slowly starting to like his way about words. He was very...upfront and strong. She respected that. And it could come in handy in her plans. "I can assure you, if you kill me, you won't get anything from it. You need my support if you want to get in there. You may be strong, but do not understimate them. I do not hold the knowledge to send you back home on my own. As I already stated, the ponies are probably the culprits behind your mysterious appearance here. And if that's the case..." Mercer tapped his chin, humming to himself in thought. She might be right there. He was strong, but he wasn't stupid. Anything but. He would need to see what these things can do with his own eyes before he assumes how strong they are. He already made that fatal mistake with Captain Robert Cross and then because of said mistake, he ended up with a parasite inside of him that he needed outside help to get rid of. Maybe this is another situation that he needs outside help. He sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, you may be right. Alright then, it's settled. I don't really care what you do when you take over the place, your intentions for this planet are not my concern. My only concern is getting back home and if you can help me with that, then I'll help you. But I warn you, if you try to use me for your own gain and do not deliver your promise to help, I won't hesistate to deal with you. Got it?" Chrysalis nodded, secretly grinning to herself. "I must admit, I like his way around things. Reminds me of how I'd make a deal. Regardless, if this thing can actually help me take over Equestria, I'll be glad to get rid of it and send it back home. If not, it isn't my concern. He shall be dealt with if he tries anything" "Alright, Mercer. You've got yourself a deal. Now, I want you to go and gain as much information as you can on their status. How many troops they have, any weakpoints that the city of Canterlot may hold.." He scoffed. "Canterlot? Really?" She nodded. "The capital. It is the main point of our attack. We tried before but it failed." He thought for a second. "Hang on, if it already failed, why not try somewhere else that isn't as heavily fortified?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "There is nowhere el..." Then an idea hit her. Her scoff went from a sly smirk. "Hang on...you may be onto something there, Mercer. There is a small town called Ponyville. It is home to the elements of harmony. The things that we discussed earlier." He nodded, remembering. "Right. The elements of Harmony. The supernatural artifacts that are worn by the element bearers." She nodded. "Exactly. There are 6 ponies who each wield a single piece. But the main one is a pony called Twilight Sparkle. She was the one who thrwated my plans the last time. And might no doubt be the main culprite behind your arrival here. If we break her, the others will be like candy." Mercer nodded. He really didn't care if this thing was evil or not, all he cared about was getting back home. If it was really this Twilight Sparkle who could have brought him here, his beef was with her, not this thing. And if this thing was being true about being able to help, he'd take it. He still had his doubts on Chrysalis, but he washed them aside for now. More important things were at stake. Getting home was all that mattered to him. What happened to the residents of this place or this planet wasn't his concern. "Right. Again, whatever happens to the inhabitants of this planet or the planet itself is none of my concern. My main task is getting back home to make sure that my sister is safe." That hit Chrysalis somewhat hard. "You...have a sister?" He nodded. "She's the only thing that I care about. And I need to get back to her." It reminded her of her brood sister. She was the only one that she ever felt any emotion for. And after her death, well...this is the first time that Chrysalis could actually relate to any creature. She nodded. "I understand. I too had a sister. I won't go into detail, but I lost her as well. Regardless, do what I have asked of you and I will help you, creature. You have my word. We will take your suggestion and take over Ponyville first. Go there. See what you can find." He nodded. "If you say so. I'll report back here when I'm done. But one question. How do I get there and back?" She grinned. "That is simple. I can teleport you near the village. You can take some of my drones with you. They will alert me telapathically when you need to get back. These are some of my best soldiers." She pointed towards the door behind him, that had just opened. He spun around to now be faced with 3 smaller changelings. One was clearly a female, a more slimmer and curvy figure. The other two were bulkier. Males. They all saluted towards Chrysalis and then turned to look at Mercer, a skeptical look on their faces. "Watch their back and they will watch yours. Try not to cause any suspicion. We are simply gaining information. The attack comes later." He turned back around and nodded to her. "Gotcha." She grinned. "Excellent. Now, be on your way and don't fail me, otherwise you can kiss your way home goodbye." He was angered at the way she spoke to him, but he didn't show it. There was no need to start another fight. Before he could make a retort, he was suddenly enveloped by a green aura. A few seconds later, the hive disappeared and a green, vast forest replaced it. He looked behind him, staring at the 3 drones who had come with him. They walked past him, the female turning around and ushering him to follow. "This way, creature. Ponyville is just a mile north of here." He didn't even nod, he just followed. He scoffed. "Never thought I'd need anyone's help again to get myself out of a situation, let alone these fucking things. Regardless, I've got to play it safe. For now. I'm coming, Dana. I will get home to you. I promise. By any means necassary." Author's Note 2nd chapter is here, booyah.
Reconnaissance"I see a bunch of multi-colored horses walking around. I also see what looks to be a castle made out of...crystals?" Mercer and the 3 drones were currently watching the inhabitants of what he now knew as "ponyville" go along their way, some of them stopping to talk to one another. But it was the castle made out of crystals that took his attention. He'd never seen anything like it. The female drone nodded to him, while the 2 males kept scanning the area. "That is correct, creature. The castle is the home of the one known as Twilight Sparkle." Ah, so the pony who might be responsible for this arrival here lived in a fancy castle. Figures. "Right. By the way, I'd rather you not call me creature. I have a name. Mercer." She scoffed. "For how strong you apparently are, you sure are sensitive." He shapeshifted his arm into his blade form, causing the female to back off and the males to get in front of her, weapons raised. Mercer grinned, shapeshifting back into his human form. "Heh. Easy to spook, aren't you?" The males snarled at him and were prepared to attack, before the female ushered them to stop. Seems she was the leader of this 3 soldier squad. She grinned. "Seems like you can have some fun after all. Name's Arisa. These two are Malok and Nox." He nodded at the males, who scoffed and turned back to the village. The female rolled her eyes and walked up to him. "Don't mind them, they can't take a joke. I admit, when you shapeshifted just then, I expected you to attack me. But you're full of surprises, crea...Mercer. I like to poke fun, even at beings that I do not know. But I must say, you do interest me." Mercer scoffed, kneeling down to match her height. "Don't worry bout it. Anyway, tell me more about this Twilight Sparkle." "Well, you see, she is..." Before Arisa could finish, Mercer's extremely acute hearing picked up on something far away. He put his finger up to his mouth, telling her to shush. It took her a second to understand, but she nodded and kept quiet. She motioned for Malok and Nox to come over, which they did. Whatever it was, it was big. And it sounded like it was running. Running towards their direction. He stood up and shapeshifted into his armor and blade form, causing the others to look at him in interest. Arisa smirked. "So, what else can you shapeshift into?" He told her once again to shush, getting a frustrated grumble from her. Then, as he put his hand down, a giant creature jumped out of the bushes in front of them. It was some sort of weird combination between what appeared to be a lion, a bat and a scorpion. He chuckled quietly to himself. "First talking bug horses and now this thing? It's like I'm in a really weird cartoon." The creature charged at them, causing Arisa to snarl and shoot a magic blast at it from her horn. It dodged out of the way and swiped at her, scratching her face and sending her flying back a few metres. She grunted as she hit a tree, seemingly knocked out. Malok and Nox both charged the creature with their weapons, attempting to blugeon it. Before Mercer could back them up, he saw Malok get his head ripped off by the creatures claws and Nox snarl in anger as he watched his comrade die. He stabbed the creature, causing it to snarl and thrash. Before Nox could get out of the way, the creature grabbed him and bit into his neck, ripping out of his vein and dropping him to the floor, dead. Mercer scoffed. He already was starting to find them two annoying anyway. "Best soldiers, huh? I don't want to know what her worst ones are if those two bozo's were her best." Then, he suddenly remembered. Arisa. She was the only one who showed some sort of personality. He looked over to her. He sighed as he saw her breathing. Good. He looked back towards the creature, who was staring at him with murderous intent. He chuckled. "You made a really bad choice today, fella." The creature snarled as he said those words and charged towards him. He immediately jumped above the thing, causing it to look around in surprise, wondering where he disappeared to, before he landed on the thing's back and grabbed its neck. It thrashed around, trying to get him off. It tried to stab him with its stinger, only to miss and sting itself. It roared in pain as he pulled on its neck with all the force he could muster and before it could counter, he flipped it over and threw it into the nearest tree, hearing the satisfying sound of its back breaking. He walked over to it as it started to convulse, nearly close to death. He shapeshifted his hands into claws and smirked. "Seems like this was not a good day for you, huh, bud?" It roared in agony as he began to tear into the creature, consuming it. All that was left afterwards was a pile of blood on the floor. Mercer groaned in pain as he started to shapeshift. "Hope this doesn't backfire on me." He then started to grow wings on his back, black and full of spikes. His body let out a shockwave as he finished shapeshifting, moving his new additions on his back. He smirked. "Damn, these things could come in handy." "What...are you?" He turned towards the voice, seeing that Arisa had apparently recovered, looking at him with a slightly shocked expression. He grinned. "I'll tell you some other time. Sorry about your friends." He pointed towards the now dead bodies of her former comrades. She scoffed, looking back at him. "Trust me, they weren't my friends. Couldn't stand them. They were my squad, yes, but I hadn't been with them long enough to form any sort of bond." Mercer nodded. He liked her way of thinking. Reminded him a bit of himself with anyone except Dana. She was the only person who he could never bring harm to, regardless of what she did to him. "You doing okay? You took quite the hit." He shapeshifted back into his human form, storing away his new ability. She grinned. "Don't worry, I've had worse. Tell me, what did you actually do to that Manticore?" So, it was called a Manticore. He'd heard of that before in an old human book. "I assimilated its DNA and modified it, to put it in basic terms." Arisa nodded in interest. "Seems you're even more interesting than I thought you were. Anyway, we better get back to the hive. Tell the queen what happened. We've done enough reconnaissance for now." He nodded. letting her send her telapathic message to Chrysalis to teleport them back. In a few moments, they were gone. "I see. Shame that they had to die. They were good soldiers. Alas, it is not an issue. You did what you had to do and you did what I asked of you." Chrysalis sat on her throne, regarding Arisa and Mercer, having listened to what had happened in the Everfree. She then looked at Mercer. Strange. He thought he could see the tinniest of smiles there for a split second. "I thank you for at least saving one of my soldiers, Mercer. I can't say I trust you yet, but still, you saved one of our own." He nodded. "No problem. So, tell me more about this Twilight Sparkle. I was going to ask Arisa here before we got attacked by that Manticore." Chrysalis snarled at the mention of that pony's name, before taking in a deep breath. "She is the princess of friendship. A student of princess Celestia. Her favourite student, to be precise. She is close to the other element bearer's. Very close. She also has an assistant named Spike, who is curiously a dragon." He rolled his eyes. "Dragons exist here, too?" She nodded. "Indeed they do. There are a lot of magical creatures on Equis. Alas, most of them will not accept us, so it is up to us to make them accept us." Mercer could relate somewhat to this thought process, even if it wasn't a great one. Once he found out that he wasn't even really Mercer and was just the blacklight virus with Mercer's memories and skills buried deep inside its DNA, he realised that humans really didn't accept anything other than themselves. A very selfish race. The only one who was worth a damn was Dana. Maybe the doctor who helped him and Dana. Even then, he still didn't trust him completely. He turned his attention back to Chrysalis. "So, what's our next move?" Chrysalis grinned. "Well, we should go and do a more thorough investigation of what Twilight Sparkle is currently doing. The reconnaissance that you went on was merely to gain some information as to what the current state of Ponyville is like. Now that we know that it is just normal business in that wretched little town, we can get to work planning on how to handle taking over once we have more info on what exactly Twilight Sparkle and her friends are doing and how ready they are for an attack. Because you see, I know that they have no doubt already sensed my presence. So, they will be preparing. We must be ready." Mercer looked over to Arisa, who was still standing next to him. "I would prefer if Arisa came along with me on my next venture into the place. She actually has some sort of personality to her and she could help." Chrysalis nodded. "Very well. Arisa, you will go with Mercer on his next mission." Arisa bowed. "Of course, your highness." Chrysalis raised her hoof. "You two are dismissed. I will alert you when you are going on your next mission. For now, do whatever you please, so long as you do not cause trouble. Or there will be dire consequences." They both nodded, walking out of the room. Arisa turned to Mercer, grinning. "Don't want to go alone, huh?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Not at all. I just want someone there who isn't a bland canvas. Besides, I usually prefer working alone, but considering I have no idea how this place works, I need someone who knows how this place functions to fill me in. I made the mistake once of thinking that I could do everything by myself and it nearly got me killed." She looked at him in interest, secretly wanting to poke him on how he nearly died. She'd seen how strong he was. So if he nearly died to something, that somewhat concerned her. "I see. Well, what do you want to do for now? The queen has been quite nice to you. When you first arrived here, I could tell that she wanted to gut you. Maybe she still does. But I know that she needs you for her plan and you need her help also." He nodded. "Yup. Sure do. Not afraid to admit that. But, we'll see what happens. As for now...I'm not sure. I can tell that you want to ask me some questions, so shoot. If you ask something too personal, however, I won't reply." She agreed. "Alright. So..." He rolled his eyes. "Hopefully getting back home doesn't take too long." Author's Note Hope you're all keeping safe during these times. See you in the next one.
Goddamn it..."You really care about your sister, don't you?" Mercer sighed. He really didn't want to talk about Dana right now. It made him want to tear through this entire planet just to get back. "I don't want to talk about it, to be honest." Arisa nodded. She was the type of changeling to poke fun at someone until they explode, but she could tell when something was seriously eating someone up. She might be a changeling, but she wasn't completely heartless. "No worries. I'll try my best to not mention her again unless needed." He nodded in thanks. "Thank you. Anyway, what do you think about Chrysalis's plot to take over this joint?" Arisa stood up, sharpening her spear. "Hmm...I'm not sure, honestly. She's my queen and I will serve her until my dying breath. But, sometimes, I'm slightly concerned about her willingness to just discard the weak of our kind or ones who fail her. Hell, I'm one of her most trusted drones, but even I could be exciled or killed if I messed up on an important mission. She is as reckless as she is magnificent." Mercer raised an eyebrow. "She's that ruthless to you guys, huh?" She nodded. "Indeed. But, as I already said, she is our queen." He scoffed. "I haven't trusted her since I met her. She tried to have me killed, for one." He flicked his fingers. He really needed to keep an eye on her. Arisa grinned. "Well, you did appear out of nowhere and she sensed how powerful you are." He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. All I know is that I need to get back. You're the only one that I've met so far that I don't want to kill." Again, another grin by the violet eyed changeling. "I'll take that as a compliment. We should prob..." Mercer noticed her pause. He stared at her in confusion, Arisa now taking a more serious look on her face. "What's wrong with you?" She turned to face him, her grin now completely gone. "The queen is calling us. She has a new mission for us and it is quite important." He rolled his eyes. "Great. Let's go, then." She nodded. "Indeed." They now both stood before Chrysalis, the queen of the changelings now sat on her throne with an angry expression. She looked down at both of them. "We have an issue. Twilight Sparkle and her friends have come across the bodies of Malok and Nox in the Everfree forest. This means that they are no doubt now aware that we've been spying on them." Mercer crossed his arms. "Didn't you say that it was a high possibility that they'd already sensed your presence anyway?" She nodded. "Indeed I did, Mercer. But I had hoped to at least keep our mission somewhat secret. They will now be aware that we've been watching as I already said a minute ago, which might make things more...annoying in the longrun. You should have brought the bodies back." Arisa stepped in front of Mercer before he could retort. "Your highness, forgive us. We were not thinking clearly at the time, considering we were focused on quelling the Manticore threat." Chrysalis hummed to herself for a moment, before finally nodding. "Very well. In anycase, this means that we will have to be more vigilant. Mercer, Arisa, you will go back to Ponyville. I want you to capture Twilight Sparkle." Mercer narrowed his eyes slightly. "Sparkle? You mean the one who you think could be apart of my arrival here?" She noticed the sudden change in his tone and grinned. "Yes, I do. She is quite a powerful being and it wouldn't surprise me if she had botched up another one of her spells and brought you here." He felt his anger rising. He was here all because of some idiot messing up a magical spell? Just his fucking luck. He clenched his fist. "Consider it done." She grinned again. "Excellent. Now, both of you, go. Make sure to bring her in alive. I don't care if you harm her, but at least make sure that she is alive. She can't be dead if my plan is to work. At least, not yet." Arisa nodded. "Yes, my queen." She looked to her right to see that Mercer had already walked off, going towards the door. He turned. "Coming or what?" She noticed his sudden change in attitude. She had a bad feeling about this. However, on the other hand, Chrysalis was smiling. It was working. She waited until they had both left to snicker to herself. "Seems like it was easier than I thought to get him to help us. Never the less, he will be an excellent asset to our cause. Enjoy your time while you still can, Twilight Sparkle." Mercer and Arisa arrived back in the same spot where they were before, the corpses of Malok and Nox were no longer there. "Must have been moved by the ponies." Arisa looked around, scanning the area. The blood pile was still there from the Manticore. She shivered slightly as she remembered what Mercer had done to it. She turned around to see him already walking off towards the village. She ran up to him and put a hoof to his chest. He slightly snarled and turned around, angry. "What?" She really wasn't liking this change in attitude. "I know that you're angry, but calm yourself. We won't get very far if you just go storming in and start killing everything." He scoffed. "Who said I'm killing everything? I'm just killing anything that gets in my way. I need to get back to Dana and I'm not prolonging it because your queen wants to take over this place. If this Twilight Sparkle knows how to get me back to my sister, then I'll drain her memories dry." She suddenly remembered what happened to the Manticore and stopped him again, this time, he pushed her away several feet, causing her to get in a defensive stance. "Seriously, calm yourself. I'm sure the queen will let you have your revenge on Twilight Sparkle if she did indeed cause your arrival. But you cannot kill her yet. The queen needs her alive. I don't want us to fight, Mercer." He snarled. "Just keep out of my way. I don't care what your queen wants. I need to get home." She sighed, getting back into a more relaxed stance. "Listen to me. If you consume Twilight Sparkle before the queen puts her plan into motion, you could screw up the only chance you have of getting back to your sister. What if she doesn't know the answer? Then you've just washed away your best bet of getting out of this place." He scoffed. "If she doesn't know, I'm sure someone will." Arisa looked down, sighing again. "Let's just capture her first and I promise you, you'll get your answer." Mercer took a second to try and calm himself. If he let his rage take control, he wouldn't know what he'd do. He needed to think about this logically. If Twilight Sparkle knew how to get him home, then he could consume her. But if she didn't and he consumed her, she might not even know anyone who knows. Chrysalis said that she was a princess. Maybe the other princess's knew? He sighed, relaxing slightly. He might as well just see where this goes. And, in all honesty, he would rather not get aggressive with Arisa, considering she was the only being what had really tried to help him at this point and seemed to actually care. It would be in his better interests to work with her and not fight her. "Fine. Let's go and get this Twilight Sparkle." Arisa nodded. "Good. Calmed yourself a bit?" He rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this over with." It was a fairly decent night in Ponyville. The pegasus ponies had really outdone themselves this week. Sunny days all along, barely any rain or cloudy weather. Even the night had a nice, cool breeze. Not too warm or cold. Twilight Sparkle currently sat in her castle, staying up and reading some of the reports that Princess Celestia had sent her regarding the bodies that they had found in the Everfree. Said bodies belonged to two male changelings. She could only guess that they had been spying on the village, which concerned her greatly. "Are we really ready for another invasion by Chrysalis?" She remembered her brother's wedding and how bad that could have been if the others didn't realise that she was telling the truth about imposter Cadance, who turned out to be Chrysalis herself. She sighed. "Spike? Spike!" It then hit her. He wasn't here. He was in the dragonlands, spending some time with his fairly new friend and recent dragon lord, Ember. "I hope that he's keeping safe. It's probably better that he wasn't here to see all of this." A knock on her door startled her. She wasn't expecting anyone, especially at this hour and all of her friends were currently busy with their own things. She got up and trotted to the door, opening it slightly. Her jaw nearly dropped at who was stood there. "Princess C...Celestia?" The sun princess was smiling down at her, nodding. "Hello, my dear student. How're you doing?" Twilight finally remembered to breathe again. "I..I'm doing fine, considering the circumstances. What are you doing here, princess? You didn't alert me that you were coming here?" Celestia looked wary for a second, before looking back at her. Odd. "Strange, I sent a letter to you. Is spike not with you?" Twiight was suddenly confused. "Erm, no...he's in the dragon lands with Ember. But...you knew that, didn't you? I swear that I told you..." She suddenly laughed, causing Twilight to be slightly concerned. The princess was acting strange. "Ah, so you did. Sorry, my memory must be going at this old age. Anyway, back to why I'm here. You must come with me now. I have found something very concerning in the Everfree and I think you should be made aware of it." The purple pony raised an eyebrow. "At this time of hour? Where are we going? Celestia rolled her eyes. "The Everfree." The Everfree? At this time of night? Something was certainly not adding up. And the way Celestia was acting... "Princess...are you feeling okay? You seem slightly...off." Celestia looked at her, no expression currently on her face. "I am fine, Twilight. Now come, we must go at once." Twilight had a really bad feeling about this. Her gut was telling her to not go, to just stay here. But she couldn't disobey her mentor, even if she tried. She nodded. "Okay, princess. Should I get the others if it's this important that you came at this hour?" Celestia quickly nodded a no as she walked off and beckoned her to follow her. "No no, I shall tell them myself when the time is right." Again, this felt really bad. But...against her better nature, she decided to go. She could trust the princess...right?" Celestia and Twilight both arrived at the Everfree via teleportation, next to the strange puddle of blood that she had come across when she found the bodies. She figured it belonged to them. Would only make sense. She looked around, confused. "Erm, so, princess...what was so urgent that you wanted to show me?" Suddenly, Celestia spun around, an evil grin on her face. Twilight shivered. "P...princess?" Celestia's form disappeared, a green flame surrounding her, now revealing a curvy, black figure. A changeling. Twilight readied her horn, but before she could summon any spell, she was knocked back onto the floor, the air escaping her lungs. She coughed as she held her stomach, pain rising in her fast. She took a moment to collect herself, before standing up and seeing that there were now two figures in front of her. One was the changeling from before who was currently sat there with a smug grin on her face and a strange, new creature. It stood taller than her on two legs and had two appendages by its side. Two arms. It looked a bit like an hairless ape with some sort of clothing on. It currently stared at her, a deep hatred in its eyes. A hatred directed towards her. She once again tried to charge her horn, but the creature moved faster than it should have been able to and grabbed her horn, causing her to scream in agony as it crushed her horn with brute force. She flailed. "Please! Stop!" The changeling went up to it and patted it on the back. It turned around and rolled its eyes and then...it spoke. "Fine." Judging by the voice, it sounded male. It...he let go of her horn, her tears washing down her face, agony still coursing through her body. She couldn't even summon another spell. All she could do is look up at her assaulters and wail in pain and anguish. "Why....why..." The creature knelt down and looked at her, causing her to shiver. "My name is Alex Mercer. And you've fucked with the wrong creature." Before she could even ask what he meant by that, her vision turned to black as she felt his fist connect with her face, sending her to sleep. Author's Note Here's another chapter to keep you people entertained during this qurantine. Keep safe.
Some answers and more questions to be answeredTwilight was in a black void. She knew what had happened. She remembered being led into the Everfree by the pr...no, the changeling disguised as the princess and then being assaulted by some strange creature with immense strength. It was strong enough to knock her several feet away. While she wasn't a stallion, she wasn't exactly weak. When it hit her, it felt as if she got hit by Rainbow Dash whenever she flew at full speed. Eventually, the black void disappeared and she was sucked into nothingness. Twilight woke up with a gasp, looking around frantically, only to find out that she was in some sort of cell. A prison? She attempted to get out of the poorly kept wooden bed below her, her back scratched from the splinters. She failed at this attempt and instead landed face first onto the floor. She let out a gasp and a pained wail as she felt the assault from that creature earlier still take a massive toll on her body. After a few more minutes of attempting to use her legs like they were supposed to be used, she finally managed to raise herself, only being able to do so by leaning against the crude metal bars in front of her. The door in front of her opened and she saw that same changeling from earlier trot in. She felt her stomach urch again, making her want to vomit from the pain and nausea. She looked up and glared at the changeling who was currently wearing that same smug grin from earlier. "What's going on?" The changeling nodded her head, motioning her to follow. "Come." She shook her head, not planning on going anywhere. Especially with a changeling. "I'm not going anywhere with you!" It smirked. "Oh, you will, or you'll make me angry. And trust me, you really don't want that to happen." Twilight scoffed, trying to hide the pain she was experiencing all over her body. "Is that supposed to intimidate me? Because it isn't wor..." The door blasted open, causing both of them to spin around. There stood the creature from earlier, the one that caused assaulted her. A look of dread now came onto her face. Changelings were one thing, but this...monster was something entirely new. And that scared her. It walked towards her, the changeling moving out of the way. It grabbed her by the throat, causing her to choke, fear in her eyes. Then it spoke again. "Listen, I don't care what you are or who you are, I don't have time for this. So, you're going to listen to Arisa here and you're going to comply or so help me, I will rip your throat out and eat your flesh. Do you understand?" Twilight looked at the changeling, now being able to put a name on it. Arisa. She turned back to the monster currently strangling her. Fearing her life, she nodded quickly, causing it to release its grasp on her, making her fall to the ground and gasp for precious air. When she had composed herself, she stood back up, glaring at the both of them. She turned her attention to the new creature. "What even are you? She remembered a name. Mercer. Alex Mercer. That's what it said earlier when it assaulted her. It, or Mercer, whatever it was, stared daggers at her, looking like it wanted to throw her into the sun. "I'm something that is now in a mess because of your mistake. And you're going to fix it." This confused her. She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? What mistake?" Before Mercer could continue, the changeling now known as Arisa walked in front and put a hoof against him. "Ease up on her. Trust me, we all want her dead, but we're going to have to wait. Chrysalis wants to see her." That name caused Twilight to snarl, causing the two to turn their attention back to her. "Chrysalis? So I was right! She is plotting to invade again! Let me tell you, Arisa and whatever the hoof you are" She pointed her hoof towards Mercer, who looked slightly amused at the sudden outburst. ", we beat her once and we will again. The princess's will stop you!" Arisa smirked and walked up to her, grabbed a hold of her, causing Twilight to struggle. She knocked Arisa away, causing Mercer to run up to her at breakneck speed and grab her, picking her up like a mere toy. She struggled in his grasp, flailing around, trying to kick him with her rear hooves, but it was pointless. Whatever "Mercer" was, he was stronger than a fully grown male Minotaur. "Now you're starting to piss me off. You're coming whether you like it or not. I don't have time to waste." And as Twilight was carried away, kicking and screaming, Arisa watched and smirked, happy that her queen's plan was coming to fruition. "You've not seen her for the past day?" The 6 ponies, known as the element bearers, all shook their heads. The pink one, known as Pinkie Pie, spoke up. "No princess, we haven't. Do you know where she is? Is she okay?" The white one, known as Rarity, followed up. "Darling, if the princess knew, she wouldn't be asking us, would she?" Celestia held up a hoof, causing them to go quiet. "It is alright, my little ponies. I just need to find her as fast as I can. Do you have any idea where she may have gone?" They all shook their heads again. The one known as Applejack spoke next. "Nah, princess. It be mighty odd. Twilight dun usually disappear like this, specially without saying anything to us or ya'll." The sun princess sighed. This was very unlike her student indeed. She had to return to canterlot and get her sister's aid. They needed to find Twilight asap. She bid them fairwell and asked that if they found out any info as to her whereabouts not to hesitate to contact her or her sister. She rode back in her chariot back to Canterlot and went to her sister's bedroom. Luna was sat on her bed, reading one of her many books. She raised her head up from the book and smiled at her as she walked in. "Hello, sister. How did it go? Have you gotten Twilight?" She shook her head. "I have not. I asked her friends and even they don't know where she is. I am concerned that something has happened to her. It isn't like Twilight to go off on her own without alerting anyone, especially her friends." Luna nodded. "Indeed, it is very strange. We must find her as soon as possible. Maybe she found out more about the bodies that they found in the Everfree." Celestia nodded back. "I hope so. Considering the feeling I had the other day and now, the changeling bodies, it is probably accurate to say that Chrysalis is plotting another invasion of Equestria. And if that is the case, we must be prepared. I will continue my search for Twilight. I shall try and see if she left any magical residue behind. If that is the case, I may be able to track her down." Luna agreed. "I will come as well, sister. In case you require backup." Celestia smiled. "Thank you, sister. Let us go. We can't waste anymore time." They both took off towards the Everfree, hoping that they'd find out some clue as to where she could have gone. "So, we meet again, Twilight Sparkle." There were currently 4 figures stood in the throne room. Chrysalis, Twilight, Arisa and Mercer. The former two were glaring at each other. Twilight stood up and blew smoke through her nostrils. "Chrysalis. How did it feel when you got blasted away from Canterlot, being oh so close to your victory, but not close enough?" The changeling queen snarled and bared her fangs, shooting a blast of green magic at her, causing the pony princess to fall and scream in agony. Mercer and Arisa both watched this unfold, the former having his arms crossed impatiently and the latter smirking at the display in front of them. Twilight took a second to regain herself and stood back up, dusting herself off slightly. Chrysalis grinned. "You should know your place, princess. This is my kingdom. Not yours. Luckily for you, I need you alive." Twilight looked up at her with another glare. "I know what you're planning. You didn't succeed before and you won't now!" Chrysalis scoffed and rolled her eyes. "But see, this time, I have a creature who is stronger than anything you've ever faced before." She nodded towards Mercer as he walked forward. Twilight turned her attention to the creature that had knocked her out earlier in the Everfree. It looked...angry. Impatient. "It's better off if you just tell me what I need to know and then you lot can have it out how you see fit." Chrysalis shook her head. "Be patient, Mercer. There is still stuff that you need to do." Mercer scoffed. "I said I'd help you and I have. You can conquer this place by yourself, I just need information on how to get back." Twilight looked confused. "What do you mean? Where do you come from? Are you an...an alien?" He nodded. "Indeed and your little magical mishap, according to Chrysie over here..." Chrysalis snarled. "Don't push your luck, Mercer." He grinned. "Yeah, anyway, she said that your little mishap is what caused me to get stranded here. And quite frankly, that isn't good for you if that's the truth." Twilight looked back at Chrysalis with a hate filled glare, then back at Mercer. "She's using you! I didn't cause this!" Mercer stared at Chrysalis. "Don't fuck me around. Did she cause this or not? Because if she didn't and you've been lying to me..." Arisa stepped in front of Mercer, holding a hole filled hoof against his chest, shaking her head. "Mercer, we can discuss this later. Please." He took one look at the changeling general and sighed, backing off. Arisa smiled and nodded in thanks. Chrysalis regained her composure and stared towards Twilight. "Don't try and lie to him, it won't work. He needs to get home and I need information. So, tell him what he needs to know and then we will resume your...questioning. Take her away. Let Mercer interriogate her how he sees fit. He's earned it." Mercer, for the first time since he got here, actually appreciated something that Chrysalis did. He nodded in thanks, getting a nod back from the queen. Arisa saluted and took Twilight away, Mercer following. He stared at the purple pony. "You better have the answers that I need, for your sake."
...What?"I'm telling you, I don't know anything!" Another hard slap by a hoof. And another. Twilight was currently at the mercy of Mercer and Arisa, the former watching as the latter slapped her. Hard. Arisa gave an annoyed sigh. "You might as well just tell us what we need to know. It'll be a quick death. But if you don't give us what we want..." Twilight spat blood at Arisa, causing the general to kick the princess in the face with her rear leg, earning her a pain filled scream. Mercer pushed Arisa away, the changeling giving him a confused stare. He looked back and nodded. "I got this." Twilight looked up, seeing the one known as Mercer. She cowered slightly. He smirked and did something she didn't expect. His two appendages suddenly turned into giant, metal like claws. She gulped. "What...how is that possible? Are you part changeling?" He scoffed. "Let's just say that I have a few neat tricks up my sleeve. And that isn't all I can do. So I suggest that you come clean and tell me how to get back. You must know something. Even if it wasn't directly caused by you as Chrysalis suggested, you must know the individual or individuals who brought me here. Accident or not, that isn't my concern. My concern is getting back home and I will stop at absolutely nothing to get back." Twilight shook nervously, sweating from the hours of torture. She was physically and mentally strained. She could barely even see straight at this point. "I...I didn't cause this. The only ones who I know who could be strong enough to pull something like that off is...." Mercer raised an eyebrow, leaning forward, putting one of his claws against her neck. "Yes?" She gulped again. "The...the pr...princess's. But...they're not like that...if it was them, which I d...doubt, it must have been an accident..." He pulled his claw away, grunting. "I don't care if it was an accident. If you're telling the truth and these "princess's" brought me here, they will pay." Twilight pulled at her restraints. "Don't you dare..." Mercer shapeshifted his arms back into their normal human form and smacked her in the stomach hard enough to make her vomit on the floor below her. Arisa walked up to him, tapping him on the arm. "Let's go. That's enough for now. I think Chrysalis needs to know this information." Mercer nodded, silently sighing in annoyance. "Yeah...and I have a few questions for her as well." Arisa nodded in return. "Of course, but please, try and be respectful. I know you don't exactly trust her, but she is my queen." He sighed. "We'll see." Chrysalis was idly mulling to herself about what she was going to do with Equestria once she had complete control. She thought about turning the ponies into changelings, adding to her army. It would be more practical than killing them all. But, the ones who caused her serious issues would be disposed of. Painfully. She heard the door open in front of her. She snapped out of her thoughts to see Arisa and Mercer walk up to her. She held her hoof up, letting them know to stay where they are. "So, what have you found out from our guest?" Arisa was about to speak up first, but Mercer walked in front of her, intending to get to the bottom of all this. "You told me it was no doubt that this Twilight Sparkle pony was the one responsible for bringing me here. She's just told me that it wasn't her and the only ones strong enough to do that would be the two princess's." Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "If you remember correctly, I stated that it could have been her. But, now that I think about it, it makes more sense that one of or both of the two princess's would be responsible. No matter. We can still use Twilight Sparkle as a bargaining chip for the elements. With the elements power, we can usher in a new rule of my own." Mercer scoffed, "Yeah, that sounds great, but all that I care about is getting home. So, if these two really are the ones who have caused this, we need to get them. And fast." Chrysalis nodded. "Indeed we do. I believe that they will found out that Twilight Sparkle is missing and try to search for her. They will probably manage to track her here. Powerful magic users can leave behind a magical trail, so to speak. They will probably trace it here. And when they do, we ambush them. Knowing how naive the princess's are, they'll either come by themselves or with a small handful of guards. Either option is not a problem, especially considering we have you as well." As much as Mercer wanted to just consume her so he didn't have to go through with all this nonsense, he was starting to secretly admire her somewhat. Not a lot, but a tiny bit. He respected her dedication to this, even if he didn't care for it at all. "Fine. So what, we just wait?" She nodded. "Exactly. I will alert you and the hive when I sense their presence nearby. Until then, see what else you can get out of Twilight Sparkle. I want to know what defenses Canterlot and Ponyville currently has and where the other element bearers are." He turned around and walked back to the door. "Oh, Mercer?" He slowly turned around. Chrysalis had a genuine...well, sort of genuine smile on her face. "I'd like to thank you. At first, when you arrived here, I didn't trust you at all. I thought you'd invaded my hive and I was about to destroy you. But, as you have come to shown over these past few days, you have been a vital asset to me and the hive. And you have also aided one of my best soldiers. For that, I give you gratitude. But don't push your luck." He nodded. "No problem." And with that, him and Arisa walked out together, leaving the queen to her musings once again. As they walked out, Arisa tapped him on the shoulder. He looked down to see her smiling as well. "I'd like to thank you as well. For saving my life when that Manticore attacked us. No one in the hive, not even the queen has ever shown me that type of kindness." He rolled his eyes, slightly grinning. "Don't worry about it. You were the only one out of the 3 who was worth saving in my eyes." She smirked. As much as she wanted to like Malok and Nox, they were both boring and quite frankly, assholes. But, she appreciated that he said that. A few days ago when they met, he wouldn't even look at her, never mind talk to her like that and actually treat her like an equal. "Suppose we should go back and ask the princess some more questions." He rolled his eyes. "Yup. Let's get it over with."
More questioning and a new guest"Sister! Over here!" Luna and Celestia currently stood in a vast clearing in the Everfree, a clear sight to Ponyville in front of their eyes. Luna was staring at the two deceased changelings, both mauled quite extensively. If the moon princess was anypony else, she would have vomited. But after years of seeing violent attrocities and being in a few wars herself, it didn't phase her as much as it should anymore. Celestia came trotting over in high speed, wincing when she saw the bodies. "In the name of...even the Changelings don't deserve this fate." She stared at the two heavily dismembered corpses, sighing. She looked towards Luna with a fearful scowl. "Chrysalis...she needs to be stopped. This could happen to our own ponies if we don't intervene, Luna. It could even happen to Twilight." Luna nodded, flapping her wings. "Then let us not stay here any longer, sister. We have seen what we needed to see. Have you still got the trace of Twilight's magic that you picked up when we got here?" Celestia nodded. "I have. And I know exactly where she went now because of it." She sighed. "The wastelands." Mercer was currently sat down, his eyes set on the lavender pony princess inside the cell. He had his arms draped over his legs. "Alright, so let's go over this again. You think your fellow princess's could have a reason as to why they may brought me here?" Twilight coughed, being beaten too many times to remember by the changeling she now knew as Arisa and the being that was known as Mercer. She looked at him with her bloodshot eyes, tiredness seeping from them as she scowled. "I already told you, I don't know why they would or even if they did. But they are the only ones who could be strong enough to do such a thing. At least, from what I know. Or...if it wasn't them..." He snapped his attention back to her, eager to listen now. "Carry on." "...It could have been a being that we call Discord, if it wasn't the princesses...he's the only other being apart from the princesses who I could imagine could bring you here..." Mercer rolled his eyes, sighing in frustration. He was quickly getting tired of this wild goose chase. He got up and smashed his fist against one of the metal bars of the cell, bending it with the sheer impact. Twilight gasped and crawled as fast as she could to the back of the cell, shaking. "Listen to me and listen to me good. I am getting really sick and tired of this wild fucking goose chase. Who has more a reason to bring me here? These so called princesses or this Discord character?" Still shaking, Twilight looked up to him. "W-w-well...I would say D-discord...as he is a being of true chaos...but I don't know why he would...we reformed him..." Mercer raised an eyebrow. "Reformed?" She nodded. "Yes...we changed him for the better..." He scoffed and waved his hand, sitting back down. "I couldn't care less if he's changed for the better. If he's the one who brought me here, for whatever reason, he'll pay." Twilight shook. "Why are you s-so full of hate? The power of f-friendship sh..." He laughed, causing her to look at him in confusion and slight fear. "Don't start spouting off about friendship and all that bollocks again. I don't want to hear it. Where is this Discord?" Before Twilight could answer, a flash appeared behind Mercer. He turned around and spotted a new being. Some weird hybrid of creatures. A snake, a dragon and many other things. He raised an eyebrow yet again and scoffed. "I'm assuming you're Discord? What are you, the genie in the lamp?" The creature, now known as Discord, smirked. "You could call me that, my dear boy. Say, why don't you do me a favour and hand me Twilight over there and we'll act as if this never happened. Deal?" Mercer turned around to stare at Twilight, then back at Discord and laughed. "Sorry, she's my ticket out of here. And in fact, she tells me that YOU might be the reason as to why I've been sent here." Discord raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Nothing to do with me, I'm afraid. Now, I suggest you hand over Twilight or we're going to..." Before Discord could finish, Mercer punched him pull force, causing him to get knocked back into the wall with extreme force. Discord looked up and snarled. "Alright, if that's how you want to play..." Discord teleported behind Mercer and snapped his fingers, causing Mercer to be held in place by some sort of magic. But for some reason, it immediately broke, releasing him with no side effect. Discord looked at him in confusion. "What? But how did you..." Mercer grinned, grabbing discord. As he grabbed him, Discord felt his magic being...drained somehow. Like his very essence was being siphoned out of him. He tried to snap his fingers, teleport, anything...but he couldn't escape Mercer's grasp. He coughed and looked at him in confusion and fear. "What....are...you?" He was thrown against the wall and heat repeatedly until blackness consumed him. The last thing that he heard was a name. "Alex Mercer. And you've fucked with the wrong creature." Arisa was currently rushing back to princess Twilight's cell. She had gone to get a drink and to update her queen when she had a loud crash coming from there. And that's where Mercer was. She crashed through the door, immediately scanning the room. What she saw confused her. "Is...is that..." Mercer, now sat back down on the chair in the middle of the room, looked at her and nodded, smirking. "Yup. Long story. Sit down." "So...you're telling me that you somehow drained Discord's magic out of him after he got in here somehow and demaded that we release the princess..." "Seems so." "Discord...the god of chaos..." "Yup." Arisa looked at him in mock amusement and slight concern. "Mercer...what in Chrysalis's name are you?" He smirked. "Life and death." She scoffed. "Alright, edgy boy. But seriously...how did you do that?" He shrugged. "No idea. I guess I adapted to magic the more I was around it." She shook her head. "But Discord uses chaos magic, which is highly different to other forms of magic commonly used. Even us Changelings know of that." He shrugged once again. "Again, no idea. But damn did it feel good. I feel even more powerful than before. Did I ever tell you about how I feed?" She shook her head. "I do not think so, no. And if you have, I've forgotten. Refresh my memory." He scoffed, nodding. "I consume biological beings. I assimilate their DNA to my own to adapt. So I'm assuming I somehow managed to consume Discord's magic. I'm not sure how, but ever since I did, I feel a lot more powerful. I usually gain an ability once I consume something new, but I have not noticed any new physical power yet." She nodded, confused but intruiged. "I see." He raised an eyebrow. "Not concerned that I might eat you?" Now it was her turn to scoff again as she rolled her eyes. "You don't scare me, Mercer. I trust you enough." He somewhat smiled at that. He looked back at the now two prisoners, Discord being passed out for the past 3 hours and Twilight having passed out from exhaustion. "So, what do we do with these two?" She shrugged. "We wait until the queen sees them again and decides what to do with them." He nodded. "Alright. I'm going to find out all I can from this Discord whenever he wakes up." The door opened, causing them both to look at whoever had entered the room. Chrysalis now stood in front of them, looking towards the cell. She was confused at what she saw, but she smirked none the less. "My my...now it seems we have the god of chaos himself as a prisoner...who is responsible for this?" Arisa pointed to Mercer, causing him to scoff. "Way to tattle." Chrysalis grinned. "Well done, Mercer. Very well done indeed. Come with me, we need to discuss something. Arisa, stay here with the prisoners. Make sure they don't get any funny ideas. I'll put a magic dampener on the cell so that Discord can't use any of his chaos magic." Arisa nodded. "As you wish, my queen." Mercer scoffed. "Don't think he'll be using any of his magic anytime soon, anyway." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, staring at him. "Whatever do you mean?" He grinned. "Long story. I can tell you when you've finished talking to me about whatever you want to see me about." Chrysalis was wary at that answer, but decided to not think too deeply into it. She nodded. "Very well. This way." Mercer scoffed. "This is getting really tiresome now." Author's Note Just a quick chapter to show you all that I'm not dead.
It is coming..."Hmm. So you're telling me that you have the power to siphon magic? Even Discord's highly unpredictable chaos magic?" Mercer nodded, crossing his arms. "Seems so. I think what's happened is that I have adapted to it with how much I've been around it. But if this chaos magic is only really used by this Discord creature, I'm not sure how I've adapted nearly instantly. Guess you learn something new everyday." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. She was intruiged, but also slightly concerned, which wasn't like her. She rarely ever felt fear, but just seeing Mercer's power herself and fighting him once reminded her of how strong he actually was. She'd never known someone as strong. And that fact... Intimidated her. And she hated it. "You are...a mystery to me, Mercer. First, you show up by some unknown means to what I can only assume was the princess's doing and now, you've somehow absorbed chaos magic from the god of chaos himself. I can say that I am at least glad that you're not an enemy. Such power can't go to waste." Mercer scoffed, a slight grin present. He could feel her fear. It felt good. "So, what's the plan?" "We wait." Now it was his time to raise an eyebrow. "Wait? Are you serious?" She nodded. "Indeed I am. Now that we have Twilight Sparkle and Discord himself, the princesses will have no choice but to come and try to take them back. And that, my friend, is when we strike back." He was slightly surprised at that last comment. "Friend, huh? Warming up to me already?" She rolled her eyes, scoffing. "Don't push it, Mercer. The only reason why I treat you as well as I do is simply because you have been a great asset to me and you have saved my best guard. We may have not been trustworthy of each other at first for very understandable reasons, but you are slowly earning my trust. Keep at it and I may make you apart of my royal guard. But that is a very strong if and not when." He smirked, turning around and stretching his arms. "I doubt that, seen as I'll be going home as soon as I can. Anyway, I'm going to go make sure Arisa hasn't killed them two yet. Still need those things alive. See ya." Chrysalis rolled her eyes again and sat down on her throne, grinning to herself. "All is going to plan." "I told you, I don't have the foggiest clue of what he is or where he came from!" Another slap. Arisa was currently interrorgating Discord. She must have slapped him at least 10 times. It's not like he could do anything behind bars and with a magic dampener stopping him from regaining his magic. If he even could, that is. She still had no idea that he'd get it back after what Mercer did to him. Twilight had passed out after the first 3 slaps. She stared at her unconcious body and snorted. "Lightweight." Discord grumbled, scratching his now red face. "That wasn't very nice. Sparkle here has done more than you'll ever do." Arisa chuckled, sitting down and staring at the now beaten and tired god of chaos. "I don't care. I live to serve my queen. Nothing more, nothing less." Discord grunted. "And I suppose she's happy that you and the other changelings kiss her..." The door opened with force, Arisa and Discord snapping their heads to it. Mercer walked in, walking up to Arisa and smiling at her slightly. "You okay?" She nodded, a smirk on her face. "Awh, worried about me?" He scoffed, walking up to the bars. "You wish. Anyway, Discord, was it?" Discord snarled, trying to grab the bars. "You're lucky that I don't have my magic, boy. Or I'd..." Mercer shapeshifted his hand into its claw form and scratched Discord's face. Only lightly. Couldn't afford to do too much damage, after all. He needed these two alive. Well, he needed Sparkle alive. Did he really need this thing alive? "Or you'd what? Get your magic basically eaten by me again?" This caused Discord to shut up, choosing instead to turn his back on Mercer and sit down. "I'm not telling you anything. There's nothing to tell." Mercer sat down next to Arisa, turning his head to her as she turned her's to his. "Do we really need to keep this Discord guy alive? We only really need Twilight Sparkle." Arisa shrugged. "It isn't up to me. Ask the queen. I don't care whether either of them live, honestly." He was about to actually go and ask Chrysalis herself when the door opened again, revealing Chrysalis. She looked at Mercer and Arisa, ushering them to stand up. "Seems the princess's are on their way. Come, you two. We need to speak." She looked towards Discord. "And as for you." She summoned a spell which instantly knocked him out, his body slumping next to Twilight's. Mercer coughed, getting her attention. "Do we need this Discord alive? I could always consume him and get all the info that he isn't telling us. And not only that, I can feel myself slightly weakening. It seems whatever energy I got out of him early is already wearing off and I haven't consumed anything in a long while." She shook her head at first, but then tapped her hoof to her chin in deep thought. "Hm. I did want him alive, but we only really need Twilight Sparkle. Do what you want with him. If you need to feed, I will not deny you that. Keep Twilight Sparkle alive, however. We need her. If we kill her as well, we may not be able to use her against the princess's. Me and Arisa will meet you in the throne room when you have done what you need to do." Mercer nodded. "Thanks." Chrysalis nodded back, her and Arisa walking out of the room. Mercer turned his attention to the sleeping Discord, grinning evily. "Oh, this is going to be fun." Luna and Celestia were very close. They could feel it. The hive. They hadn't come here for centuries. And back then, it was run by a changeling queen who actually treated her kind with respect and wasn't trying for world domination everytime that they came across her. Queen Kolari. She passed away about a 100 years ago. Strange how time flies. Celestia suddenly winced and fell to her knees, causing Luna to look at her in concern and try to lift her up back to her hooves. "Sister! What is wrong?!" The sun princesses breathed heavily, regaining her composure and standing up. She smiled at her little sister. "I'm okay, Lulu. But I felt something...awful. Like Discord was...cut off from his magic." Luna's eyes widened. "How is that possible? Discord's chaos magic is stronger and more unpredictable than our own!" Celestia nodded, dusting herself off. "I highly doubt Chrysalis would have the power to do such a thing. Maybe it has something to do with that other force that I felt?" Luna nodded, walking forward. "Perhaps. Regardless, we need to move. Twilight Sparkle and the fate of Equestria depends on it." The two sisters marched forward, a battalion of guards behind them. Threstrals and Celestia's sun guards. "Come, my little ponies. It is time to get to the bottom of this. And with that, they kept marching on towards the hive, anticipating what could come out of this whole ordeal.
Revelations"What is he?" "I do not wish to know." Arisa winced in the throne room as she heard the screams of agony from the prison cell. Mercer had been left alone with Discord in order to..."consume", as he called it. Hearing the screams from Discord even made Chrysalis wince and that wasn't an easy feat. After a few more minutes of this, the door opened to reveal Mercer. He grinned and walked towards them. "Done." Chrysalis nodded, albeit still wincing somewhat on the inside. "I assume you're replenished now?" He nodded, smirking. "Yup. I also absorbed more of his chaos magic. Feels good." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at that. "He's getting more powerful. Better watch my back." Never the less, she walked back to her throne, sitting down. "Good. What is the status of Twilight Sparkle?" He chuckled, leaning against the wall. "She woke up when Discord started screaming. She then fainted pretty soon after." He'd forgotten that Arisa was even there until he heard her giggle. "Great with the ladies, aren't we?" He grinned. "The best. Anyway, are the princess's near?" Chrysalis shook her head, stretching slightly in her throne. "I sensed that they were close, but I lost track of them. I assume that they sensed what happened to Discord and it spooked them. So they will have no doubt gone for reinforcements. I doubt they will stay away for too long. Princess Celestia could never leave her precious student behind." He chuckled. "Can't even go through with their plan once their friend got eaten. Figures. I'm going to see what more our guest can tell me." And with that, he turned around and walked out of the room. When she was sure that he was gone, Chrysalis grinned and looked at Arisa. "It's all coming to plan, Arisa. Do you know what to do?" She nodded, bowing. "Of course, my queen. It shall be done." Chrysalis raised her hoof, signalling that she could leave. Arisa did just that and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. When she was far enough away, she sighed heavily, rubbing her head. "I can't go through with this. I've got to tell him." "I'm not telling you anything, you murderer!" Another smack. This one sent Twilight flying into the wall behind her, causing blood to practically pour from her mouth. She coughed, spitting out all the blood that she could. Mercer grinned, crossing his arms. "That's fine. You'll break eventually. And if you don't..." He pointed a finger towards the blood stain that was once Discord himself. Twilight winced, sobbing silently to herself. He rolled his eyes at the display and sat down. He heard the door open behind him. He didn't even bother turning around. He knew the voice all too well by this point. "Mercer, we need to speak." He slowly turned around to face the voice, smirking as he saw Arisa. "But I'm having fun with our guest here." She didn't even respond. She just walked out of the door and ushered him out. He raised an eyebrow. She usually could take a joke. What was up? He stood up and followed her, closing the door and looking at her, confused. "What's going on?" She turned around and walked away. He followed, catching up to her in no time. After a few moments of silence, she sighed heavily, looking at the floor. "The queen is..." Mercer chuckled, causing her bring her head up off of the floor and look at him. "What's so funny?" He rolled his eyes, grinning. "She's going to betray me. I already know." She stuttered, not sure how he could know. "B-But....how did you..." He tapped a finger against the side of his head, smirking. "I'm more aware than you think. I also now know who brought me here and why." Arisa stopped, looking at him for a moment. "How did you find out?" He scoffed. "When I consumed Discord, his memories showed me. Princess Celestia. She conjured up some sort of summoning spell. She wanted to summon the strongest being in the universe to add to her assets. She was scared that Chrysalis was going to invade again after the whole Canterlot wedding incident, but she was delayed, which is why I've only just arrived here. Guess paranoia broke the bitch." Arisa chuckled at that. Mercer grinned in response as she started to walk again. "So, what's the plan?" She sighed, walking faster. "We need to get out of here as fast as we can. The only issue is, I don't know how I can get away from here for long. We're all connected to a hive mind, remember? The queen can..." Before she could finish, Mercer put his hands on her head. She was about to ask what he was doing before she suddenly blacked out. After what seemed like only a few moments, her eyes opened back up. She was on the floor and Mercer was knelt down next to her, looking down at her. "Yo, you alright there?" She shook her head, groaning. He offered her his hand as she stood up, gratefully accepting it, steadying herself as she got back onto all fours. "Ugh...what just happened?" He rubbed the back of his neck, smirking. "I severed your link with the hive mind so Chrysalis can't track you." Her mouth opened wide. She couldn't even form words. After a few moments more of her sounding like she was having a stroke, she regained her composure. "How is that even possible?" Mercer transformed into a changeling. Malus, one of Chrysalis's higher ranking guards. He then transformed back to his normal human form, grinning at her. "I consumed one of you lot and it gave me access to the hive mind. I gained the ability to cut links with it if I needed to." She put a hoof out in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. He looked back as she slightly growled. "You...you killed one of us?! And one of the queen's personal guards?!" He nodded, seemingly unfased by her sudden outburst. "Yup. He was one of the guards who tried to kill me when I got here, so after me and Chrysalis had stopped trying to kill eachother, I killed him. He came up to me and started talking shit. His own fault." As much as she wanted to tear his throat out for murdering one of her own, she sighed. She understood. Malus was a complete dick. But she was confused about one part of that information. "How did Chrysalis not sense it?" He smirked. "After consuming him and gaining the ability to enter the hive mind, I mimicked his link. Chrysalis still thinks he's alive. Just missing. She's been searching for him since." That confused the hell out of Arisa. She shook her head rapidly. "Hang on...so, not only do you now have the ability to cut links from the hive mind, you also have the ability to mimick them too? And I thought you couldn't transform into anything other than...humans, was it?" He nodded. "Yup. And yeah, before I came here, I couldn't. Guess the magic that I've adapted to has changed that somehow." She stayed silent for a few moments before smirking. "You're something else, you know that?" He chuckled. "Sure am. Come on, let's get out of here before anyone sees us." Arisa nodded. Mercer shapeshifted into the changeling form again and used its wings, flying next to Arisa as they quickly made it out of the hive. Mercer knew exactly where they were going. Canterlot. Celestia was currently sat in her private quaters. She sighed heavily. "We need to make a move soon. Otherwise, Twilight could..." Her door slammed open. Luna rushed in, almost scaring her to death. She held a hoof to her chest as she breathed heavily. "By the sun, Luna, you nearly killed me! What's wrong?!" Luna bashfulled looked away, rubbing the back of her neck with her hoof. "Sorry, dear sister. We have just received word that Cadance and Shining Armor will be here in the next hour." Celestia calmed down and walked over to her sister, hugging her. "Thank you, sister. I did not want to leave Twilight there for a moment longer, but I know that Chrysalis won't kill her. She needs her to get to us. But still, we must be fast. The thought of my dear student suffering...I can't even describe how it feels." Luna nodded, smiling sadly. "We know, sister. And trust us, she will be okay. We will make sure of it. But after what we sensed of Discord..." They both winced. They knew that he was dead. They didn't want to think about it. "...We had to get out of there until reinforcements could arrive. I could sense that if we had stayed there any longer with the few guards that we had, we would have been dead. Whatever Chrysalis is working with...it is more powerful than even us." Celestia nodded, sitting back down on her bed. "Let us just hope that Cadance and Shining Armor's aid will be enough..." They both sat next to each other, hugging, wondering what was going to happen. The ball was currently in Chrysalis's court. She had all the time in the world. Celestia and Luna, on the other hand? Not so much.
