"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.