The Battle of Sire's Hollows

by MlpHero

Rating: teen
Tags: Royal Guard, Suicide / Self Harm, Adventure, Violence, Sad, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Changelings, Original Character
Length: 6675

See Hollows, in flames. Try to save their home in vain. It's a road through grief and pain. On the other shore, there's the foals that they hurt.

A story based on the Sabaton song, Hearts of Iron.

During the Second Pony-Changeling War, Queen Chrysalis ordered her elite soldiers, the Wasp Division, to attack Sire’s Hollows and take prisoners. That was the plan. But an insubordinate Captain turned the orders into crimes by forcing his soldiers to “correct them.”

Lieutenant Hivehunter witnessed this firsthand after his Captain ordered him to do an unforgivable war crime. One that will make him question his own morals.

Published 2020-04-13 16:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-04-13 16:20:01 UTC

See the city burn from the inside... Going down in flames as their worlds collide...

The Battle of Sire’s Hollows

By MlpHero

The Battle of Sire’s Hollows was fought between the changelings elite Wasp Division and the Sire’s Hollows 3rd Infantry Brigade. The five day long battle was soon seen as a battle of not who had the most soldiers, but instead, it was who could hold the small city the longest. The Wasps knew that it was a one-to-zero fight. All they had to do was take out defense and then capture and trade civilians for the small city. At least, that was the plan…

<>+<>+<>

April 28th
Lieutenant Hivehunter
Wasp Division
Sire’s Hollows Outskirts

Today we’re charging a small city by the name of Sire’s Hollows. I’d expect nothing less than a few RG’s guarding the city. I wonder how we’re going to approach them, but I’m pretty sure Spiderfang’s gonna play this smart.

The Wasp Division. The changelings elite military division. Trained only as a war machine. No conscience, no empathy. No morals. They were trained to do one thing, serve the Queen, and die for the Hive. Even though they follow this ideology, they also have to follow the Equestrian Laws and Rules of Warfare treaty, or the ELRW treaty. There are many rules, but there are four main rules.

Take care of the injured, weak, or sick even if they are the enemy, all injured soldiers will be taken care of.

Take care of injured, sick, or shipwrecked Naval soldiers, whether they are enemy or ally.

Any Prisoner of War must be treated as decently as possible. The mistreatment of POWs will be considered a war crime.

Attacking civilians is a war crime, and any soldier that commits such crime will be punished.

Those were the laws that they were trained to follow. Those laws would play an important role during the outbreak of the Second Pony-Changeling War.

The Wasp Division’s first task of the war was to attack and hold a small town named Sire’s Hollows.

Lieutenant Hivehunter found himself muttering quietly. He was a special changeling, as he stood out from all rest. He had red eyes, wings, and a red carapace, and his horn was chipped after his close encounter with a maulwarf. Hivehunter was also known as the “Queen’s Lapdog” because he seemed to get the attention from her. Hivehunter always had a bad reputation from the other GI’s in Basic.

Hivehunter looked back at the many Wasp soldiers that were marching with him towards Sire’s Hollows. He looked back ahead. He continued mumbling to himself. “We are the changeling elite, born to compete, never retreat, Wasp Division, living or dead, always ahead, fed by your dread.” He kept repeating the sentence as they marched towards the small city.

While walking, Hivehunter overheard some of his soldiers talking. “Man I can’t wait to get into some real combat!”

“I know! Simulations were getting boring.”

Part of Hivehunter wanted to turn around and scold them for being so naive about war. But then he remembered. They were naive. They didn’t know what to expect until they found out themselves. All the better to let them find out themselves. Hivehunter was always ready to fight someone. As a nymph, he’d sneak out of the Hive to join patrols. That was the mistake that cost him his horn. He always thought that losing part of his horn was a lesson. That fate was trying to teach him something. He just couldn’t find out what.

“Alright! We’re here!” Captain Spiderfang yelled.

Hivehunter looked up. He got ready for the frontal assault. The other changelings were also ready to charge the walls of defense. Then…

Whistle!

Spiderfang had blown his whistle and the Wasp Division charged the defense wall of Sire’s Hollows. They charged the defense wall while yelling at the top of their lungs. They were playing psychological warfare. The yelling would make the Royal Guards think they were facing a larger threat than they really were. “Come on! Bite’em! Push them back to the concrete jungle they came from!” Hivehunter yelled. The defense wall started hammering them with Rapid Fire Magic. He zigzagged around the multiple magic blasts that were hitting them. A couple of the beams struck down a few Wasps. Hivehunter got launched by an Explosion Spell that hit the ground near him. Buck… he thought. He looked around. He noticed someone staring at him.

“Lieutenant—

That was the last thing they said before getting struck down. This whole thing is a clusterbuck. Hivehunter thought. Another changeling ran past him, but was also blasted down. He got up and continued running towards the wall. While running, Hivehunter heard someone calling him. He looked over his shoulder to see someone helping an injured soldier.

“Lieutenant! We need help! Iris is stung!”

Hivehunter turned around and ran back towards the two, dodging as many beams as he could. He found the soldiers. “Hold on!” Hivehunter pulled out some morphine, “here, this outta ease the pain.” He stuck the needle into the injured changelings forehoof. He grabbed the injured changeling and helped him. They continued to move towards the defense wall, all while the RFM was hammering them. They finally found the trenches. Hivehunter jumped in first, then he caught the injured Iris and the other changeling tried jumping in, but was struck down by a magic beam.

“Buck!” Iris yelled.

Hivehunter looked at the downed changeling. He grabbed Iris, “medic! Medic!” He looked around. “I need a medic over here! Right now!”

A nearby changeling looked over to them. “I’m coming!” He grabbed his medical bag and ran over. He quickly took over for Hivehunter, “thanks sir! I’ll help him. Captain Spiderfang’s waiting for ya!”

“Alright! Iris, I’ll see you later!”

“Yes sir.”

Hivehunter turned and ran through the trench, pushing through the many Wasp soldiers there were. After practically running a marathon, he found Spiderfang. “Captain! You wanted to see me?”

The Captain turned around. “Ah, Lieutenant, you’re here.” He walked towards the front gate. “Follow me.”

The two officers walked towards the gate. Hivehunter was surprised to see that the gate was reinforced with sturdy steel. “How the hay did they do that?”

“Dunno. But our demo team can’t reach the gate with all of the defense still hammering us.”

Hivehunter nodded. “Well, what are we gonna do?”

“We? You mean you.” Spiderfang pointed to an unconscious pegasus guard. He walked over and stripped the guard of his armor. “Here, looks your size.”

Hivehunter grabbed the armor. “But why me? You know I can’t hold forms long because of… this.” He pointed to his horn.

“Then you better make haste.”

Hivehunter sighed and grabbed the armor. After a few minutes, he slipped on the helmet and looked around. “How do I look?”

“Like a true RG,” someone commented.

“It’s just missing one thing.” Another changeling walked over and fitted Hivehunter with some dog tags. “Introducing… Skybound Dagger!”

Hivehunter looked at himself. He chuckled. “Alright. I got the looks down. Now, how do I get in?”

Another changeling walked towards some form of hatch. “We found a small tunnel here. Most of the RG’s got back into the city with this place.”

Hivehunter sighed, staring at everyone., “so basically, I’m a tunnel rat now?”

“Basically, sir. Basically,” one changeling answered.

Hivehunter groaned and turned back to the tunnel, “buckin’ great…” He sighed and got ready to crawl into the tunnel. He looked at his soldiers one last time before taking a swig from his water canteen and started crawling into the tunnel. “See y’all on the other side.” With that, he crawled into the small tunnel.

Hivehunter looked around the small tunnel, muttering to himself. “I always got the hard work.” He continued to pull himself towards the end of the tunnel. He looked around, using his horn and whatever magic he had to light the extremely dark tunnel. Dang. How’d the RG’s get through here? Lamps? He continued to crawl down the dark tunnel.

“Bucking ponies,” He whispered, “how the heck do they do this bullcr— THUNK! —ow!” Hivehunter rubbed the top of his head. He looked ahead and saw a metal cover. He smiled. Bingo.

“Huh? Did I leave someone in there?”

Hivehunter’s smile dropped. He had to act quickly. He looked up to his horn. Come on. Come on. Come on!

The pony removed the hatch. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t know we’d left someone down there.

Hivehunter looked up. “Oh thank Celestia! I’ve been trapped in that trench for what felt like hours!”

“They have prisoners?”

“No, it was just me.”

The stallion sighed with relief. “Well, you can get out now.”

Hivehunter crawled out, “thank you.”

The unicorn went to sit down. “Well, you might wanna go to the defensive position. General’s about to call in reinforcements.”

Hivehunter looked over. Reinforcements huh? He dropped his form and charged his attack. The Silenced Spell hit the stallion and he collapsed like a domino. He had to act fast. He used a spell to call Magic Frequency Contact, or MFC to talk to the others. Hey guys. Their General is trying to contact reinforcements.

Spiderfang answered. Alright, take out the defense, and we’ll go from there.

Yes sir. Over and out. He looked over to the door. He changed back, wincing as he did. He walked out of the room and looked around. He was impressed that this small town could set up so much defense. He looked over to the two defense towers. He smiled, eyeing the ladder to the first tower.

<>+<>+<>

The two guards laid unconscious. Hivehunter smiled, looking at his fallen foes. He climbed down the ladder and moved towards the next tower. He opened the door and climbed up the ladder. When he reached the top of the tower, he grabbed a fire extinguisher and threw it at the first guards head, knocking him out. The other one didn’t have enough time to react when Hivehunter fired a beam into the side of his head.

He chuckled. He flew out of the tower and headed towards the other Wasps. “Well, they're down.”

Spiderfang nodded. “Alright. We got a new plan.”

Hivehunter sighed. “Course you do… What is it?”

“You’ll see.”

A couple of changelings flew down in the trench, holding a couple of harnesses. Hivehunter tilted his head. “Are those CT rigs?”

“You bet.”

The changelings trained to use the rigs took them and slid into them. They stepped out the trench and activated the rigs. The rigs were specialized pieces of armor that turned into a larger piece of armor. These changeling tanks were magic resistant on the outside. The inside of the tank was where the pilot controlled the giant metal wagon. The tank was linked to the way the changeling moved. The legs move, the wheels move. The horn fires, the cannon fires. It may sound easy, but it takes a specially trained soldier to operate it.

Hivehunter watched as the first CT shot an ES at the gate. Spiderfang stood up. “Alright Wasp Division! We are here to do one thing! We are here to capture and hold this town! I expect nothing more than your very best! I want you to shoot anything and everything that moves! You will follow your orders no matter what they are! Whether it’s blasting an RG to hurting a civilian! Do you understand?”

A wave of “arua!” Filled the trenches.

“The Devil Horns can do better than that! Do you understand!”

“Arua!”
“Arua!”
“Aura!”

Spiderfang nodded. “Alright. Charge!”

The Wasp Division rose from the trenches and charged into the city. Hivehunter jumped the trench wall and led the charging changelings into battle. He looked ahead. “Come on! Send these sons of mares running with their manes between their legs!” The many Wasps charged into the city, horns ablazing. Most of the “defense force” found themselves falling back to the deeper part of the city. However, the braver guards charged them even though they were outnumbered by far.

When the two sides met, they engaged in close quarter combat. It was a fireworks display of its own. Hivehunter found himself fighting off two RG’s. The one in front of him was easy. The one behind him was more of a challenge. Especially since he was in a chokehold. He was struggling to break the RG’s grip as his vision started fading to black. As he started to feel woozy, he gave up on breaking the chokehold, and just gave in.

“Ahh!” Pow!

Hivehunter fell to the ground, gasping for air. After he caught his breath, he turned over to see the RG getting beat down, and then blasted by another changeling. “Sir! You alright?!”

Hivehunter rubbed his eyes. Then his vision started to fade back. He finally made out the changeling who’s stood in front of him. “Ir- Iris?”

The changeling helped him up. “Loud and clear Lieutenant.” He looked over to the wall. “Come on, sir. We gotta push’em back!”

“Alright. Lead the way!”

“Yes sir!”

The two friends started charging with the rest of the Wasps, who were pushing the RG’s back and back; deeper into the city. Spiderfang looked up. “Keep pushing’em back! They’ll be outta here in no time!”

Hivehunter looked at the retreating guards. He laughed as he watched the scatter like a pack of cats.

<>+<>+<>

The charge continued until the Royal Guard was out of sight. The Wasps stopped charging the “defense force,” deciding to let them off the hook. The Wasps set up a small camp to rest up. Hivehunter found a log to sit on. He watched as the other changelings laughed and talked about what they were going to do when they’d won the war. Hivehunter smiled, watching his brothers in arms act like this. He’d thought morale had been kicked out of the window after the first assault.

“Hey Lieutenant.”

Hivehunter looked up to see a certain changeling taking a seat beside him. “Corporal Iris.”

Iris sat down beside him, holding a canteen of food. He looked over to the Lieutenant’s empty hooves. “Ain’t you gon eat, sir?”

“Nah, I don’t feel like eating.” He looked at the small bonfire they’d set up.

“You sure? It’s Yetzal’s cooking.” Iris took a bite of food from his canteen. “And no one beats Yetzal.”

Hivehunter chuckled. “I’m sure, Iris.”

“Alright, sir.” Iris continued to eat from his dish. He looked up. “It ain’t love, but at least we won’t starve.”

“Yep.” Hivehunter grabbed a stick and threw it into the fire. He watched as the fire grew in size as more changelings threw sticks of their own into the blazing pile of embers.

Spiderfang walked over to the fire and sat down. He looked at his soldiers, who looked at him and waited for him to speak. “Well,” he started. “Good job everyone. We’re making ground, and pushin’em back. Tomorrow, we send out multiple teams to take parts of the city. Do you understand?”

“Aura!”

“I think the RG’s could do better than that. Do you understand!”

“AURA!”
“AURA!”
“AURA!”

“Good. Now everyone get some rest and be up at 0750 in the morning.”

“Yes Sir!”

And with that, the soldiers dispurced to their tents and sleeping bags. All except for Hivehunter and Spiderfang. “Lieutenant? You gonna get some rest?”

“In a bit, sir.”

“Something wrong?”

Hivehunter shook his head. “No sir, I just… can’t believe we did that.”

Spiderfang looked at him. “What?”

Hivehunter looked at him. “Why’d we charge horn first into battle with no actual strategy?”

Spiderfang looked at him. “Look Lieutenant, we do what we are trained to do. No questions asked.”

“But sir—

“No buts. Now get some rest. We got a big day tomorrow.”

Hivehunter didn’t question nor argue with his superior and instead simply nodded and left for his tent. While walking, he saw a crumpled up sheet of paper on the table where Spiderfang was sitting earlier. He grabbed it and walked towards his tent.

When he was inside, he decided to read the paper. He uncrumpled the piece of paper and started reading it.

Dear Captain Spiderfang,

your orders are to send infiltration teams into Sire’s Hollows and take out defenses. Only then are you allowed to move the rest of the Wasp Division in.

—General Yellowjacket

Hivehunter read and reread the message back and forth. This couldn’t be right. Why would Spiderfang ever disobey his orders? And those from Yellowjacket no less! He slid the paper underneath his bed and laid down. He wouldn’t confront his superior about it, but he’d still keep the paper close to him. He closed his eyes to try and get some rest. Spiderfang was right. He would need to keep his head in the game if he was to help his race win the war.

<>+<>+<>

Lt. Hivehunter
2nd Scout Team
0930 am

Today, we’re sending small scout teams out into the city, if that’s what you wanna call it, looking for Royal Guards and civilian prisoners. I am leading a small platoon towards some of the more urban areas while Spiderfang is flanking around the target location. Then we’ll meet up and take the city together. We’re keen on taking prisoners and stopping the RG’s by negotiating with the prisoners. After that, the battle for this city should end.

Hivehunter and his small platoon marched through the city, checking each and every corner. The last thing they needed was an ambush in the middle of this town. He was on the edge. This was new territory and an ambush could happen at any time. The building looked like something out of a post-apocalypse story. Most were badly damaged and some were just piles of rubble and other assortments of debris. Hivehunter shuddered watching the many houses, expecting somepony to jump out at them.

They kept walking until they came across the more “functional” part of the town. These houses were badly damaged. Sure, some of the walls and rooftops of some of the houses were damaged, but overall the houses were pretty stable. Perfect for someone to hide. He looked to his soldiers.

“What’s the plan Lieutenant?” Iris asked.

Hivehunter looked at his soldiers. “Alright, I’ll lead a group of soldiers down there,” he looked over to the Sergeant. “And Wirax, you take a squad and—

Zap!

Wirax collapsed to the ground after a magic beam struck him in the back of the head. “Sniper!” someone yelled.

The Wasps scrabbled for cover as the sniper continued taking shots at them. Another changeling stopped to look around for the sniper. Hivehunter watched as the changeling fell down, unconscious. But he was also able to see the impact of the beam after it struck the changeling. “Eleven o’clock!”

The Wasps rose up and fired on the sniper's position. Iris looked over to Hivehunter. He peeked over the fountain he hid behind and looked at the sniper then back to the Lieutenant. “Sir! Over here! You’ll have a better shot over here!”

The Lieutenant nodded, before getting up and running. The sniper sighted him and opened fire, causing the other Wasps to fire on him. The Lieutenant dived into cover beside Iris. He looked over the fountain. “Buck. I can’t see him.”

Iris looked at him. “Watch for the horn flash!”

The changelings took peeks from their cover spots, waiting for the sniper to take another shot. They waited for a bit, then a few seconds. Then a minute. Another changeling made the mistake of looking over his cover. Iris looked over. “Chronicle! Don’t!”

The changeling was rewarded with a blast to the face. Chronicle dropped like a pack of birds in a chlorine gas cloud. Iris muttered something under his breath as he looked at the unconscious changeling.

Hivehunter looked over to the snipers direction. The horn flash started to fade away, but it was still visible enough to see that the RG was held up in a tower. “Over there! In the tower!”

The Wasps turned away from Chronicle and faced the tower. “Hit’em with the ES!”

The Wasps switched from normal beams and switched their Explosion Spell. The sky was filled with a display of green fireworks as the explosive beams of heated magic collided with houses, trees, statues, and everything in between them and the tower. The sniper took another shot. Iris held his breath as the beam skinned so close to his face, that he could feel the heat almost singe his skin. The Corporal looked at the tower. He cleared his breath as he charged his shot. The world went silent as he lost his breath and stress. He took his shot and in what seemed like seconds, the top of the tower exploded in a green fireball. The soldiers rose up from their covered positions, watching as the top of the tower fell down the ground.

“Well… that was…”

“Eventful?”

Hivehunter looked at the Corporal, and nodded. “Yeah. Eventful.”

<>+<>+<>

The search team finally reached the area they were supposed to capture. The small platoon waited for Spiderfang and his side of the platoon. The wait was worse than the lines of a grocery store before the beginning of a hurricane. Iris looked at his Lieutenant. “Sir, we can’t wait. We gotta do something.”

Hivehunter looked over. “Just wait. Spiderfang will get here.”

“He’s sure taking his time.”

The platoon waited for what felt like hours. Many of the soldiers were getting restless. Hivehunter was worried that they would start blasting the civilians instead of capturing them.

“Lieutenant!”

The soldiers looked over to the voice. Hivehunter walked over to them. “Captain.” Two officers met up with each other while the soldiers started talking in their own groups. Hivehunter watched as the Wasps talked with each other then he turned back to Spiderfang. “Sir, I think that our soldiers are going to shoot the civilians before we can capture them.”

Spiderfang rolled his eyes. “It ain’t our loss.” He walked over to the talking soldiers. “Alright, listen up! I need you to go house by house and find civilians! We need prisoners, but we don’t need too many! Feel free to ‘correct’ anypony you think will be a liability!” He looked over to his Lieutenant. “Right?”

Hivehunter saluted. “Yes sir.”

“Alright.”

Hivehunter looked at the soldiers. “You heard the Captain! Move it!”

“Aura!”

<>+<>+<>

Hivehunter found himself marching with Iris, Spiderfang, and a small group of other changelings. They were going house by house, checking for civilian prisoners. They found another house that they could breach. Iris got into position. With one swift buck, the door came off its hinges and the changelings moved in to find civilians holding their hooves in the air. “Secure them!”

Some of the changelings moved over to them and started guiding them to the exit. The others stayed in and searched around the house, but didn’t find anything. They moved out of the house and moved to the next house to search. Iris bucked the next door down, complaining about having the most stressful job. The changelings moved in and cleared the house out, sending more prisoners back to camp. They moved to the next house to repeat the process. They repeated this another time. Then again. And again. Iris found his legs aching from all of the doors he’d just bucked down. He bucked the next door down and they rushed in, taking the prisoners. Hivehunter looked over to Iris, then to Spiderfang. “Sir, I don’t think Iris is doing good.”

Spiderfang looked over to the injured Iris. He nodded. “Go back with them.” Iris nodded and walked back with the other patrol, leaving Hivehunter and Spiderfang alone to finish the patrol. “Come on, Hive, let’s move.”

The Lieutenant nodded. The two officers marched out of the house and moved over to the next. Spiderfang bucked the door down and Hivehunter charged in. “Hooves in the air! Don’t move!"

There sat a small family of unicorns. The father shielded has family. “Get behind me.” The mother and the small foal did exactly that. The Lieutenant looked over.

“Parents and a kid.”

Spiderfang nodded.

“Alright. Nopony’s getting hurt. Just follow us and you’ll be—

“No.”

Hivehunter looked over. “Sir?”

“We’re not taking them to camp. Well, at least, not that foal.”

Hivehunter looked over to the filly. “Then what do you want me to do with her? Just leave her here and take her parents?” he looked over to the foal. It didn’t feel right leaving the poor foal an orphan like that.

“Drop her.”

Hivehunter flinched. Surely he’d heard Spiderfang wrong. Right? “Excuse me sir?”

“Drop her.”

Hivehunter stepped towards his captain. “Sir, you’re not serious, right?”

Spiderfang gave him a stern look. “I look serious? Drop her.”

Hivehunter shook his head. “Spiderfang. That’s a foal. I’m not dropping her.”

“Drop her.”

“No. I won’t drop her—

Spiderfang grabbed him and slammed him against the door. “DROP HER!” He slammed him against the door again. “If you don’t drop her, I will. And it won’t be quick. Or painless

Hivehunter flinched. He didn’t know what to say. No, he couldn’t say anything. His voice was gone. All he did was silently nodded and Spiderfang dropped him to the ground. He got up and shook himself off. He looked back to the family. He didn’t want to do it, but he was trained to follow orders. He walked back into the house. The mother looked at her filly. “Lavender, get behind me.”

Hivehunter looked at her. He didn’t know what to do. Dropping a foal? Where was the honor in that? He took a peek at Spiderfang, who shot him a death glare. He shuddered with fear as he looked back at the family. They shielded their foal as he advanced. He charged his shot. The father got up and tried grabbing him. He grabbed the father and punched him in the abdomen, then he threw him across the room. The mother got up and tried pleading. Hivehunter grabbed her and threw her into a nearby wall. The foal backed up. She cried for her mother and father as he approached her. His horn was fully charged. He looked at her. His thoughts were a mess. His brain finally found the words. He closed his eyes. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!

Outside, Spiderfang heard three magic blasts ring out from the inside of the house, a body drop, and two ponies screaming.

<>+<>+<>

Hivehunter sat down around the fire, shaking. “Sir?” He jumped. He looked over to his left. There stood Iris. “You okay, sir?” He nodded. He took a drink from his canteen. “You wanna talk?” He shook his head. “Okay.”

Hivehunter grabbed a stick and threw it into the fire. He didn’t even enjoy the rising fire. He looked down to his hooves. He couldn’t find any words to say. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. “Hivehunter!” He jumped again. Spiderfang walked over to him. “Tomorrow, I need you to lead a group of Wasps to the town square. He nodded. “And find your voice. I won’t have a mute Lieutenant leading my soldiers.” Spiderfang walked off. Hivehunter sighed. He looked at the moon. He let out a small prayer, hoping that this war would end. He hoped that Lavender and her family made it to one of the many exits.

<>+<>+<>

June 1st
Lieutenant Hivehunter
Sire’s Hollows Town Square

Another line of civilians is being lined up. We’re forced to drop civilians. Thankfully, we can’t kill them with magic beams. But it still feels wrong. Especially because we’re dropping foals.

Yesterday, we were going house to house rounding up civilians. It continued until it was just me and Captain. I broke down another house door. Inside was a mother, father, and their daughter. I was going to take them prisoner, but Captain ordered me to fire on them.

Once again, I’m glad magic beams just knock the target out...

I’m going to erase that...

—Lt. Hivehunter

The small platoon marched through the town square, watching for any civilians or RG’s. Hivehunter looked around the city. He looked into the windows and the alleyways. He was still shaken up after yesterday. “Sir, where are we going?”

Hivehunter looked over to Iris. “Just a… recon mission.”

“Yes sir.”

The patrol continued to move through the town square. They watched every corner for any form of threat. Hivehunter didn’t need another surprise. They continued walking for a few more minutes. They soon found a patrol of RG’s. Hivehunter gave the signal for the Wasps to fire on them. The guards ducked out of the way as the beams and hid behind cover. Iris looked over to a nearby house. “I’ll surprise’em. That should give y’all an advantage.”

“Alright. Be careful up there.”

“Y’know I will.” Iris stood up and ran towards the ruined house. He rushed through the rooms until he found the stairs. He climbed up to the second floor and found a good position. He proned into a more comfortable position and got ready.

Hivehunter shot another ES at the RG’s. It sent two flying and left them vulnerable to the others. He peeked up and spotted another guard facing him. Before either of them could fire, a magic beam stuck the RG in the side of his head. Hivehunter looked over to the ruined house. He watched Iris drop guards like he was at Basic. He looked back to his soldiers. “Alright! Let’s push’em back!”

“Aura!”

The changelings got up and charged their enemy. The RG’s returned fire and struck down a couple of the Wasps. Hivehunter frowned and fired at his foes. The other changelings followed up, hitting them with ES, RFM, and every other spell they had. The guards broke off into a frenzy, running like a pack of gazelles. Hivehunter chuckled, watching the guards run. We got’em scared crapless. He looked back to his soldiers. “Follow’em! Take’em out like the trash they are!”

The Wasps nodded and chased after their prey. Hivehunter himself followed two guards into a nearby building. They quickly shut the house’s door after seeing the crazy bucker chasing them. He didn’t let that stop him. He crashed through the door and looked around the room. He slowed his breathing as he carefully watched the walls of the room. He turned around to leave.

Only to be met by a rough hook to the side of his face. He put his hoof to his face and looked up. He didn’t need an invitation to throw a punch of his own. The two enemies engaged in melee combat. He didn’t need help with this guard, as the RG found himself laying in between a broken table.

The next guard was the problem. Hivehunter found this out when a glass bottle crashed into the wall next to him. The guard turned the table and this time, he charged Hivehunter. The Lieutenant grabbed the RG and slammed against the table. The he went to attack his opponent when they grabbed a shard of glass from the broken bottle and slashed him across the face, scarring his left eye.

Hivehunter yelled in agony as he dropped to the floor, holding his eye. He tried getting up when he felt something heavy slam into his carapace. He yelled again, feeling his back almost snap like a twig. That got him on his stomach. He rolled over as best as he could and looked up to see his opponent holding what appeared to be a table leg or another form of wooden beam. He didn’t have time to figure that out. He tried dragging himself towards a nearby shard of glass, but his opponent dug his hoof into his weakened back. He yelled again. His opponent flipped him over. He raised his hoof up as his opponent raised the beam up.

Before his opponent could hit him, three magic blasts stung the RG in the back.

Hivehunter watched the RG collapse to the ground. In his place stood Iris, looking as shocked as ever. “Lieutenant!” he yelled. He ran over to his officer's aid. “Oh crap! Let me get you outta here!” He grabbed his Lieutenant and pulled him outside to the other soldiers, who also ran over. They quickly asked him if he was alright. He nodded, then pointed to a group of ponies running. Iris looked over. “No. We’re getting you outta here!”

Hivehunter shook his head. “...follow… them…” he managed to say.

Iris looked at him. “Are you sure, sir?” He nodded. “Okay. I’ll carry you.” He let the Lieutenant ride on his back as they chased after the ponies. They followed them to the wall that was supposed to defend Sire’s Hollows. They found a couple of stairs and climbed up to the top of the wall. On the top, they looked over to see a river. And on the other side, are many ponies watching their city burn from the outside of the wall. The changelings could only stare, and none looked back with any sense of pride. On the other shore, were the many foals that they’d hurt. The changelings didn’t even taunt or even threaten them. They just watched, and the ponies watched them back. Hivehunter looked for Lavender and her family, but couldn’t find her. His heart sank. He looked over to Iris.

“Let’s go…” Hivehunter whispered, not wanting to see the ponies.

Iris nodded. “Yes sir.”

<>+<>+<>

June 1st
Lieutenant Hivehunter
Chrysalis’ Hive

Hivehunter laid in bed, tossing and turning. Memories of Lavender flashed in his mind. His heart was racing, and it didn’t stop.

I’m sorry! I’m sorry!

He jumped out of his sleep, breathing heavily. He slid out of bed and started pacing around the room. The voices still echoed in his mind. Mommy! Daddy! He looked over his shoulder. No! Lavender! He turned back to the front. Don’t hurt her! Please! He looked to the left, then the right. Then he looked towards his front. He shook his head at the sight. There, in front of him stood Lavender.

Why’d you hurt me, mister?

“I- I didn’t want to!” He started backing up. “I swear I didn’t want to hurt you! I just—

He tripped over a couple of boxes. The boxes fell on top of him, burying him. He climbed out and looked around. The foal wasn’t there anymore, but one thing did catch his eye. A single piece of rope.

<>+<>+<>

Queen Chrysalis walked through the many halls of the Hive. She was heading towards Hivehunter’s room. She’d seen enough suffering and death in the First Changeling-Pony War. She wanted to make sure her son was okay after his injuries. She found the entrance to his room, and proceeded to knock.

“Hivehunter?”

<>+<>+<>

Hivehunter stood atop of a stool. He looked up to the rope, making sure it was sturdy. He looked ahead of himself. He let out one final, silent prayer asking for forgiveness before kicking the stool out from under his hooves.

<>+<>+<>

Chrysalis heard a crash from Hivehunter’s room. She flinched, wondering what was going on. She opened the door and walked in. “Hivehunter!” she cried out. She wasted no time, and used her magic to free him from the rope. He fell to the ground, gasping for air. She ran over to her son and embraced him.

“Mother..?”

“Yes, I’m here…” she held him tighter. “Please… don’t ever do that again…”

He didn’t know what to do. Pull away or not? He looked up to his mother. “I… I’m sorry… I just…”

She looked at her son. “Please Hive, you can tell me, and I will help.” She caressed his face. “Please tell me, Hive.”

He sniffed. “I… I…” he didn’t know how to tell her what he’d done. He didn’t want her to be mad. He thought for a while before he finally found his words. “I… I dropped a… a foal…”

Chrysalis’ eyes widened. “What?” she asked softly.

“I… didn’t want to… but He forced me too…”

“Who?”

“Spider… Spiderfang… he threatened to hurt her even more if I didn’t do it… so I… I did it.” Chrysalis grew more and more shocked as she listened. “And the prisoners? He’s torturing them. The mares, the stallions, the fillies and colts. He’s not planning to trade them. He just wants to abuse them for his own sick desires.”

She hugged him even tighter. “It’s okay. I’m sorry you and the others had to go through all of that.”

He looked up. “Do you really mean it?”

She nodded. “Of course I do. I’ve lived through the first war, and I lost many children to war crimes. I know how it feels.”

He nodded, still staying silent.

She looked at him, her face turning serious. “I’ll make him regret it.”

Hivehunter looked up. “You’ll kill him?”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to lose another one. I’ll just banish him from the Hive. As far as I know, he’s not my son anymore. Is that okay?”

He nodded.

“Okay.” She got up. “Please Hive, get back into bed. I don’t want to lose you.”

He nodded again. He got up and climbed back into bed. He looked over to her. She smiled, a bit. “Thank you. Good night.”

“Good night, mama.”

She smiled, again. She closed the door and walked towards her throne room. She had something to do. Something that involved a certain “Captain” of hers.

<>+<>+<>

A Few Days Later

“WHAT?!”

Hivehunter woke up at the sound of someone yelling. He looked around his room. He grabbed a nearby glass of water and took a sip. His door opened. He looked over to see who’d walked in. “Hey Lieutenant.”

He smiled. “Hey Iris.”

The young Corporal walked in. “How are you doing sir?”

Hivehunter smiled. “You don’t gotta be so formal. Just call me Hive.”

“Yes sir… I mean, Hive.”

The two friends laughed and talked for a bit. Then Hivehunter asked, “who was that?”

Iris looked at him. “The guy who yelled?” Hivehunter nodded. “That was Spiderfang.”

“Really?” Iris nodded. “What happened?”

“Well, we got pulled out of Sire’s and let the prisoners go. When we got here, Spiderfang was told that he was dishonorably discharged for his war crimes.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

Hivehunter got up. “Well, let’s go see’em.”

“Alright.”

The two friends got up and left the room. They headed towards one of the many entrance/exits. There, they found many changelings gathered around Chrysalis and Spiderfang. “Please your majesty! I did nothing wrong!”

“I wish I could say the same. But I raise soldiers. Not terrorist.” She pointed to the exit. “Get out. And don’t come back. Ever.”

“But your majesty—

“GET OUT!”

Spiderfang couldn’t believe it. “Fine! I’ll leave!” He turned and walked towards the exit, not even turning to face the multiple changelings watching him. Hivehunter watched him all the way to the exit.

“Well, it ain’t the same as watching’im swing, but it’s better than nothing I guess.”

Iris nodded. “Yes it is Hive, yes it is.”

Chrysalis walked over to the two soldiers. Hivehunter looked at her. “Well, how are we supposed to get into Equestria now?”

She looked at a nearby Devil Horn platoon. “I already have a plan for that.”

Hivehunter nodded. “You always do, Mother. You always do.”

The three changelings watched as the Devil Horns marched through the Hive. Whatever plan Chrysalis had, Hivehunter was sure it was to be a good one.

He looked back to the exit. Spiderfang was gone, but the war wasn’t. He would get back out there in the field. He just needed some time to rest. But after he healed, he’d lead the Wasp Division to glory. Whether it be leading them two hundred miles by nightfall, or taking a Royal Guard position within a day, he’d make sure they’d earn their name and their fame.