Hail to... MY Horde?

Chapters

Chapter 1 - My what now?
Chapter 2 - Follow the Leader
Chapter 3 - What's the Plan?
Chapter 4 - Now for the rest
Chapter 5 - Assistance is required
Chapter 6 - Break time's over
Chapter 7 - Change Of Plans
Chapter 8 - What I say

Chapter 1 - My what now?

I yawn to myself as I walk through the door of my apartment and kick off my shoes with little regard to where they end up. My small 900 square foot shoebox was barely worth paying for, so I’d be damned if I wasted any of my time cleaning the place up. I grumble to myself as I look out onto my sorry excuse for a living room, the empty pizza hut boxes, and piles of unused papers decorating it far more than any nice tapestry or potted plant could. I didn’t know how or why it was spiraling out of control, but I wasn’t about to bother screwing with it. It wasn’t like I spent time here anyway.

Speaking of which, I tear my eyes away from the unsightly mess before me and run across the apartment to my room, slamming the alabaster door behind me as I make a beeline to my desktop. I usually don't bother turning on the light, since I'm usually pretty aware of what's in my room since I never clean. I think I just prefer letting my PC do the lighting for me.

“Gah, son of a mother fuck!” I scream in frustration as I jam my foot into an unused dumbbell just sitting on the floor directly in my path. I think I need to be more aware of the ways I play myself throughout the day. With a sigh, I ignore the throbbing in my toes and plop myself into my chair as everything boots up, my desktop loading screen, then Steam and Discord respectively.

I was fully prepared to waste another night playing some games and cleaning house(Not literally), cause what else am I gonna do? I have a shit job, my family doesn’t talk to me, and I can’t afford therapy even though I know I need it. No, it seems that my good old buddies XCOM and For Honor were the only ones who could help me through this dilemma.

As I waited for the updaters to finish loading, I looked off to the side as windows automatically notified me of something that I hadn’t paid any mind to for quite some time. A Fimfiction notification, telling me that I’d just gotten a private message.

“Fimfiction? Jesus, that’s a blast from the past.” I blurt out loud as I curiously bring my mouse over to the notification. I haven’t been on that site in years, and god only knows when the last time I watched the show was. I’m aware that much has changed, even that it ended not too long ago, but I never really gave it much thought. Like many guys my age, I grew past all of that like a healthy adult instead of wasting my time pouring hours into a fanfiction that never yielded me any kudos or results. Boy, I pity the fools who actually do such a thing….

I follow the notification back to the site and smile as I’m greeted by the familiar interface. Even after all this time I’m still remembered on the site, and a good thing too since I can’t for the life of me be bothered with remembering the password. I read out the message, and feel the strong pull of nostalgia as I’m reminded of fourteen-year-old me’s passion project.

“Hey Emo Rainbow. I know your story had a lot of faults, but I still really liked it. I must say I am very sad that the story was canceled due to not-so-good editing skills, but trust me when I say I've been there. So I ask you, will you remake the story please?” I chuckle and shake my head as I glance at the date. This man really asked me in the year of our lord 2020 to remake that thing? Well, year of our lord satan more like it. Damn Corona.

I can’t believe someone could be so delusional as to think that my old story is worth anything as it is now. I click on the link of my stories and pull it up, the abomination in black, the proof that no one under the age of seventeen should be on the internet, the Gears of War crossover Hail to the king, hail to his horde. A story about a scrappy, blank slate of a main character who was the leader of a locust resistance before coming to Equestria. That was about it as far as the story was concerned, because I had no idea what to do with it afterward.

“Ssssssssss… should I?” I ask myself after letting out a long hiss. I glance at the clock on my computer and decided what better way to spend a Friday night than some good ole cringe from my days of old.

I skim through the first chapter, as the spelling and punctuation errors alone were enough to make me crawl in my skin, but by chapter two I was thoroughly tapped. My eyes were clearly bigger than my stomach on this one, and if I could I would travel to the past, smack myself, and sit younger me through an entire course on syntax alone. But as much as I hated to acknowledge it, the story had a slight charm to it. I was so infatuated with the idea of these locusts that I just wrote without a care in the world. It was that raw passion that I was missing in my life right now, and maybe, just maybe, that was the only credit younger me needed.

However, I still felt the urge to do one last thing before I left the site. Quickly I hovered over to the edit page and changed up the description, nothing major, just a little apology for anyone unfortunate enough to stumble upon it.

I leaned back with a smile and gazed into the screen lazily, as the day of my quote-unquote essential work finally bore down on me, and laid my head against my keyboard. I took one last look at my story as my eyes finally closed and chuckled. Maybe I would remake it in the morning, if anything, for old times sake at the least.

My consciousness slowly started to fade back in as I felt a slight nudge on my shoulder. It must’ve been the fan in my room brushing the air past me again, so I just ignored it and further leaned my head against the wall.

“My lord?” I grumble as I try to turn away from the voice and focus on my sleep, until I realize something important. I was asleep at my desk, wasn’t I? Why was I laying against a wall?

“My lord.” The voice came again, louder this time. Deep and authoritative, yet still polite and full of respect. Last I checked I live alone, so who in the sam hell was talking right now? I slowly roll over, my entire body feeling heavy for some reason, and slowly crack my eyes open to see a dark and dingy cave greeting me. I was lying against the wall of the cave, hearing voices in my head.

“My lord!” I jump for a moment and look to my left as the voice shouted at me for the third and final time, and what I saw… I couldn’t even believe. There, kneeling right before me, was a real-life locust! He was wearing black armor, his massive arms and hands were draped over his knee and filled with sharp talon-like claws, and his teeth, while not ten inches long like the game, were still pretty massive. On his back were two bulging weapons, a torque bow, and a lancer, but the only thing I could focus on was the gaze he was giving me.

What the hell is happening? Who is this? Where am I? These were the questions running through my head, but for some reason the only thing I could even articulate was a weak beta-male... “Yes?”

“I have checked the perimeter, and it seems that we are safe… for now. I know not how we ended up in this place, but I have the others scouting out to report anything unusual.” He ended that last sentence with a bit of a hiss, and already I felt a slight shiver traveling up my spine. I clear my throat and attempt to stand up, only to fall back down as the weight on my back and waist completely threw me off. The Theron looks at me strangely, or at least I assume he does since I can’t see the half of his face hidden under a helmet, but I just play it off and stand back up again.

“Th-that’s alright…” I say with a crack in my voice that makes him look at me strange once again. No that is not good, not good at all. I clear my throat, and in as deep a voice as I can manage I repeat myself. "That's alright." And this time, I was the one who was weirded out. My voice was never ever this deep, Jesus I sound like a Stallone growl alike mixed in with Vin Diesel, except I still think people would be able to understand me better. The Theron dropped his head the moment I spoke, so naturally I tried to fix that. “You may… rise?”

“Thank you, my lord.” He said with a hushed tone that caused me to force down another shiver. I slowly stepped around the cave, my eyes adjusting very quickly to the dark, and ran my hands along the wet surface of the walls. I could feel the cold and damp water through the gloves of my armor, then stopped once I realized that I had armor on. I raise my hand to my face, then slowly look myself over as I point out the different pieces and compartments layered all over me.

I could tell from a glance that I wasn’t like any other Locust, and as I felt my face I breathed a sigh of relief from the absence of shark teeth. I felt the helmet above my head and confirmed the V shaped horns on top, and that’s when I could tell that I was wearing Queen Myrrahs royal armor. I reached behind my back and felt two very thick metal objects strapped to it, and suddenly I felt very nervous about searching any further. Luckily, something else came along to distract me from this searching process.

A barrage of thundering footsteps echoed through the dark cave as a very muscular locust ran inside and knelt before me and the Theron. It was a bit hard to tell at first, but as he grew closer I could see that the locust was wearing a round and unsettlingly spider-esque helmet with many eyes in the front and holding a massive revolver in his meaty hands.

“Speak, Chorsus.” The Theron commanded.

“We have found a very strange sight, Verus. A caravan of sorts led by vile, repulsive creatures. I have left Roc in charge of observing them from afar as they seem to have stopped for now. Krogg and the others are currently waiting outside for further orders.” The spotter said in a very deep and gravelly voice that I could still make out fairly clearly all things considered. As he remained kneeling on the ground, the Theron turned to me and pulled out his torque bow.

“My King, what are our orders?” He hisses dutifully, but I was too far gone to answer him honestly at this point. Did that locust just call this guy Verus? And did he say Krogg? Was this place… possibly… No. No, it couldn’t be… could it? “My lord?” Verus continued with audible confusion.

“Yes, your orders,” I say without even thinking as I wave him off. “Let me… just…” My sentence petered out naturally as I walked closer to the cave entrance and into the barely lit forest just outside. I raise my hand to slightly cover them from the sunlight before everything naturally dimmed down and adjusted. It seemed like for miles in all directions there was dense and dark forest, as massive trees and wild foliage surrounded me and nearly blocked off the cave entrance as well. I was barely able to take it all in before some newcomers caught my eye.

“He is awake! Gather!” Came a deep, yet still very scratchy voice as a massive kantus clad in sharpened metal armor nimbly dropped out of the tree to my left and knelt before me. I started to back up as a couple of small wretches covered in onyx armor dropped down as well, joining the Kantus in a bow. I look around in shock as Verus and Chorsus frantically join the others, and just like that I have a whole gaggle of them kneeling before me. Never before in my life have I been left speechless in less than a minute, but this? Yeah... this'd be the thing to do it.

“Uh...” I start with unease, and immediately all of the locust lift their heads and look towards me. I jump for a moment in fright, garnering some more confused looks, before quickly salvaging as much of my composure as I could. "Right... orders. Reports and the..." My voice cracks once again, and I instantly feel the overwhelming need to shit myself as all of the Locust quickly look at each other with concern.

Come on Ben, pull it together man, you're losing them. It's time to put all those highschool acting classes to good use. You have no idea what’s going on, where the hell you are, or what we should be doing, but dammit you were voted best actor in sophomore year and if there was ever a time in your life where that mattered in the slightest, it’d be now! “Chorsus…. You… said something about a caravan?” Okay, okay, shaky start but not bad.

“Yes my lord Not too far from this position. Shall we go and observe for you?” He asked, the lit up eye holes on his helmet slightly flashing as he did.

I gulp down my fear once again when suddenly I begin to feel an overwhelming calm wash over me. "Actually…” For the first time since waking up my mind starts to clear, and I finally have a chance to think about things. That Theron was Verus, the main character of my story. That was Krogg the Kantus, another one of the characters. And these were all some locust that I definitely knew about but never actually wrote into the story. Now all of a sudden I seem to be in charge of them, they have absolutely no questions for me, and they said they found a caravan of ‘creatures’ nearby.

That's the word that's really throwing me for a loop, 'creatures' and not 'humans'. I have a really bad feeling that I know where this is going, but until I've seen it for myself then... “Take me there," I immediately command without any thought. "Take me as close as you can so I may evaluate these beings with my own eyes." Okay, where did that come from? I guess I'm a better actor than I thought?

All of the locust, Wretches included, look at each other in confusion before Verus raises his head. "My lord, that is highly unnecessary. You need not waste your keen and all-knowing vision on these creatures.” Verus said with nothing but respect, but respect be damned, I needed to know. I glare at him for only a second, and instantly he lowers his head like a newly kicked puppy. “I… I understand my lord.” He said with a respectful nod.

So far so good, but first there's something I absolutely must do. “Yes, now wait for me outside of the cave. I have some… preparations to make.” They all nod their heads as I turn to leave and head as far back in the cave as I can. Once I’m sure they’re no longer watching, I lean against the wall of the cave and start hyperventilating.

"Heee, hoooo... uggghhh." I do my best impression of a dying walrus and fall to my ass against the wall. I look down at my hands and keep trying my best not to lose my shit as they begin shaking up a storm.

This isn’t a dream! No dream would ever let me feel anxiety like this, no dream has realistic ass water, and sights, and smells, and all this other bullshit! What the hell am I going to do? What the hell is happening? Why!?

I slowly stand back up and prop my hand against the wall as I work on controlling my heart rate.

Just take things slow Ben, see what creatures they’re talking about, find out what the hell kind of acid you took before you went to bed, and sleep this whole thing off. I slow my breathing and look towards the entrance, then with a crack of my neck I find the resolve to make my way outside. All of the locust look to me and fall into line, so with a single raised hand I point outwards towards the trees,

“Alright, lead the way.” I respond calmly. The last thing I need is for these guys to realize who I really am, a nervous loner who’s only halfway decent at his programming job, so I better commit to this whole ruler thing.

With that we follow the spotter deeper into a dark and dense forest, the likes of which start making me feel very anxious. Come on Ben, get real, being a locust king in charge of your OC’s from seventh grade is one thing, but ending up in the Everfree forest? That’s just crazy talk.

“Up ahead,” The spotter, Chorsus I think, whispered as he made a ‘get low’ gesture with his hand. We crept low in the darkness behind a bush, and just ahead we see a large dip in the terrain as we overlooked a narrow valley devoid of trees with a large trail just below us. I was speechless at the sight of what looked to be tens of bipedal anthropomorphic bug creatures covered in armor and buzzing around, as well as several on the ground surrounding three large black cage wagons made of chitin. Within the large carts was a handful of anthropomorphic ponies in all shapes sizes and colors with strange green markings all over them.

“This… is what you found?” I barely manage to whisper to Chorsus as my eyes become transfixed on the sight before me. I can’t believe this, undeniable proof of where I am, albeit with more unorthodox looking ponies than I remember. I mean, I stopped watching MLP after season four, so maybe at some point in time they added strange anthro ponies to the show. Regardless, it still gave me a general idea as to what was happening here.

“Yes. Disgusting aren’t they?” I nodded my head, but more absentmindedly than anything else. In my opinion, they didn’t look disgusting, just strange. Very uncanny to say the least, but I’m sure I won’t really notice as time goes on. “So what do you wish to do my king?” The spotter asked me curiously.

“Hmm,” I start honestly, as I’m pretty sure that going up against this many changelings would surely be a hefty challenge. Even with our weapons, I wasn’t sure that forty plus enemies bum rushing us at once was really a scenario I wanted to be in. “I suppose we should just move on, There’s no reason for us to interfere.” I say with a heavy heart, knowing that something should be done, but also knowing that it really wasn’t our responsibility. I wasn’t about to risk their lives, my life, and the possibility of questioning my intent all for a group of ponies, no matter how much I loved the show in the past.

“Understood, My king,” Verus hissed as he slowly started to back up and whisper something to the others behind us. I know that this wasn’t very cool, but what would anyone else do in this situation? Charge headfirst like a suicidal maniac? Could anyone truly judge me for just trusting my instincts and walking away? Now that I know where I am, what I’m up against, I just want to take it easy and think of a plan of action. I need to find a way home at some point, and I also need to figure out why the hell I even got here in the first place, there was no way that jumping into a fight here would possibly- is that Pinkie Pie? THE Pinkie Pie, also known as best pony, locked in a cage!?

Suddenly I feel my entire body become rocked as my dormant Brony senses begin to tingle once more.

“N-now hold on a second,” I say to quickly interrupt Verus as I crawl over and face the other locust, garnering all of their attention. “Perhaps we should interfere, if only to rescue those prisoners.” I stammer out quickly. I know it's unbecoming of a confident king to backpedal like this, but dammit best pony needed help and I was NOT going to just stand by and watch.

“As you… command?” Verus said slowly as he and the others shared a look of confusion. Thankfully what I do remember from the story, or at least what I still had knocking around in my head, was that these guys were smarter than the average locust, way smarter. So I needed a bit more information than just ‘do as I command’ to fully convince them. I’m sure they’d do it regardless, but even so that’s just not how I roll.

“I understand that there’s a lot of them, which is why we’re not going to attack them all at once. We need a distraction of some kind, a diversion to draw most of them away so we can slay the last few and free the prisoners,” I say as I immediately jump straight into strategy mode with all of my locust paying very close attention to me. I guess all those strategy games and acting workshops weren’t a waste of time after all. Suck it dad! “For now I think we should keep watching them to find the best time and strategy. In the end, these locals they imprisoned will more than likely aid us for our help.” I look at my locust curiously and watch as some of them nod thoughtfully and face each other as they silently agreed with my plan.

“Roc, did you hear that?” Chorsus asks, his voice travelling through our comms as he places a finger on his helmet. We hear a quick grunt in response that seems to be a non verbal form of agreement. Eventually all of the locust share some thoughtful nods of agreement before taking various positions at the top of the hill in order to watch the changelings. I might as well see if there’s any other ponies I recognize in the meantime, find out who we should definitely try to get on our side here.

With the way things looked, it’s like changelings never lost the battle at Canterlot in season…. 2? Regardless of what episode it was, I still remember fairly well that the changelings failed, so whatever timeline we were in… things seemed to be pretty dire.

Zecora slowly looked between the jagged bars of the cage cart and kept her back pinned against one of the four corners while clutching her abdomen. Though she and her ponies put up a good fight, they were no match for the overwhelming force that Chrysalis had brought with her. Now there was nothing that she could do, as the last of the survivors from her camp were all captured. In the same large cage as her were about eight other ponies, all of which looking scared beyond reason as the changelings constantly looked in their direction while licking their lips and hissing. For now the force that had captured them were leaving them be as they waited for transport out of the everfree, but who knew how long that would last before some of them got hungry.

To say that Zecora, and the ponies to her left and right, were downtrodden would have been an understatement. They were defeated, crushed, at their lowest point, but she still did not lose hope. If what she felt within that alicorn was truly correct, then all of this would soon be erased. None of the hardships she and her ponies had faced would ever come to be, and they would finally be safe to live their lives in peace.

“Zecora, Zecora!” Fluttershy whispered as she got close to the zebra and shook her back into full consciousness. “What are we going to do?” She asked as she glanced at all of the roaming changelings surrounding them.

“My mind is tapped, and my body is weak. I can no longer provide the answers you seek.” She said with a sad smile as she looked down at the left side of her exposed abdomen, the blood now quickly starting to overtake the bandage that had hastily been applied by the others and staining her hand.

“No, no! The Zecora I know would never give up like this. There has to be something we can do.” Fluttershy pressed on, this time with the other captive ponies coming closer as they heard her speak.

“Yeah!” One of the changeling guards said abruptly as he smacked his hand against the cage, causing everypony aside from Fluttershy to back away in fear. “What you can do is sit tight as we call for the heavy lift!” He said with a laugh before hissing and flaring his tongue at them. Fluttershy glared at him as she slowly slid her hands off of Zecora's shoulders and hung them at her sides, balling them out of anger. “Oh, looks like somepony is getting a little mad.” The changeling chuckled as he got closer, and in one swift motion Fluttershy reached her hand between the bars and grabbed a protruding bit of his chitin chest plate, pulling him closer to the bars and slamming his uncovered head into the cage as hard as she could.

He screamed from the pain of the impact, but the pony wasn’t through with him yet. As he was held against the cage Fluttershy raised her free hand and dug her thumb into his right eye, eliciting screams of agony as she gouged it out. Some of the other ponies recoiled in shock as they watched her continue, feeling scared, but also harboring a great amount of respect for the mare. They knew that Fluttershy was one of the most ruthless fighters they had, but they never knew that she could still be so feisty even when behind bars.

It wasn’t long before a couple of other changelings arrived, with one pulling him off of the bars and another hovering up to jam the butt of their metal spear through the bars, striking Fluttershy in the face. The attack caused her to loosen her grip just enough for the changeling to be pulled away, but she was still standing as angry as ever when she turned to face them. She glared fiercely to all three as they looked back angrily, shooting a slight pang of fear into them as she showed that she was still unfazed by their presence.

“Calm down! Just calm down!” One of the other changelings said to her colleague as he writhed in pain on the ground.

“Don’t you tell me to calm down! She got my fucking eye!” He clutched his right eye, which was now oozing green blood through his fingers, and grit his teeth in anger as he looked to Fluttershy. “You!” He growled as he stood up, the rage managing to lessen the pain in his eye.

“Hey, stop right there. The queen said she wanted them all alive, since they’ve never been fed on they’ll be extra delicious later!” The other changeling soldier said in an attempt to stop his friend, but the changeling only ignored his pleas.

“I don’t care! Besides, it’s just the one. They won't miss her.” He said while buzzing his bug like wings. He and Fluttershy glared at each other, her not flinching in the slightest, and him charging up a massive amount of magic in his curved horn. The green light above his eyes got brighter and brighter, with no pony or changeling stepping in to stop it. If this was the end for Fluttershy, then so be it, at least she wouldn’t become some endless food source for these insects for the rest of her life.

“Say goodnight.” The Changeling said with malice as he prepared to launch the killing blow. There was a bright green flash of light that caused everyone present to cover their eyes, but in an instant it abruptly vanished. All at once the magic dissipated, and just beneath the sounds of swirling power the sound of crunching bone and chitin was heard. All of the ponies slowly gasped as they saw the once living changeling replaced by a still standing body with a spewing fountain of green blood where his head used to be. One of the changelings behind him had a strange sparking arrow stuck in his chest, and from the looks of things it seemed very painful.

“What the-” His sentence was cut off as the arrow exploded, turning him and the other changeling beside him into a pile of shredded armor and body parts. As soon as the explosion rang out in front of their cart, another much larger explosion echoed into the sky near one of the other three carts at the end of the caravan. There were loud screams as all of the changelings shouted orders at each other while springing into action, but soon those screams calling for order were replaced by screams of terror as something began attacking their transport.

Author's Note

This story idea was actually birthed from a real life PM someone sent me some time ago. I figured, while I may not like my first story, what better way to test out my first person writing than with a new story that references the old. This one's for you Pony Knight, and while it may not be the rewrite you hoped for, I hope you enjoy nonetheless. :twilightsmile:

Chapter 2 - Follow the Leader

The fighting seemed to be very disorganized, as all of the changelings desperately ran around in search of the culprits. Some tried to take to the sky, but as soon as they did a loud series of explosions echoed from the treeline and immediately cut them down, discouraging any others from trying. Eventually, the large majority of the changelings began congregating near the middle of the caravan by the cart that housed Fluttershy and the others, and that’s when they finally saw the attackers.

“RAAAAAAAGH! AAAAAAAAAAAH!” A loud ear-piercing screech rang out from one of the hills beside them, causing all of the ponies and changelings to cover their ears for a moment to stop the pain. By the time the initial screaming had stopped, there was a loud symphony of shouting as the changelings were attacked by two small armored creatures that crawled across the floor quickly, mauling through their armor with their sharp claws and teeth and even pouncing on a few in the process. The Changelings tried to fight back by firing spells and stabbing at the abnormally-shaped beasts, but despite what their armored forms would have suggested they were surprisingly nimble.

Following the strange armored creatures was a hulking black armor-clad monster wielding one of the changeling spears in its hands and charging headfirst into the group. He skewered a few through the back with ease as they were distracted before letting out a shrill laugh that drew the attention of the soldiers away from the smaller creatures, leaving them wide open to being pounced on or swiped at by the beasts.

As the changelings tried and failed to land hits on the attackers, one final creature covered in sharp metal armor rolled into the crowd, mulching a line of three changelings as he did before uncurling into a massive seven-foot behemoth. He turned and faced the remaining crowd while aiming two blunt objects at them, and with a series of loud explosions, he let loose a volley of white-hot projectiles that completely shredded the remaining guards.

By the end, there was only one changeling left standing and clutching an open wound on his arm. With no other options left, he quickly buzzed his wings and attempted to flee before almost immediately being attacked by another explosion in the distance. From what most of the captives could see, there was a massive streak of smoke that traced its way towards him from the forest and splattered his head into a pile of bits. The fight was over, and the prisoners were utterly speechless.

The attackers slowly approached, and while the smaller ones and the one covered in sharp armor were mostly hidden, the other one had bits and pieces of his flesh and face that were exposed. Its skin was scaly and grey, his teeth were massive and jagged, and his hands were bulky and full of sharpened nails. As they approached the cage, Fluttershy finally took a step back as she and the others huddled together in fear.

“My lord… we have secured the prisoners.” He said in a slow and snake-like voice as he held the last S in prisoners for a few extra seconds. His two first fingers were strangely pressed against his helmet as he communicated with someone on the other line, and thanks to her above-average hearing Fluttershy heard it.

“Yeah, yeah… I… saw that. Just bring them up here if you can, alright? Let them know that we mean no harm.” Despite the scratchy effect in the voice, She could tell that he sounded a little shaken by something. Before they could question it any further, the creature pointed to his allies, then guided them to the other cages as he approached the door to theirs.

“H-hey now!” Fluttershy said shakily as she stood up and took a spot directly in front of her fellow ponies, trying her best to hide the fear in her voice as he approached. As he came to the door, he pulled out a massive black knife from behind him and jammed it into the dark green chitinous lock before twisting it around and essentially breaking it off with pure strength. Fluttershy tensed her muscles and steeled herself for a fight, but instead of entering the cage he just backed up and resheathed his knife.

“You are free. Follow if you wish.” He said simply, the sound of his voice sending shivers down her spine, before walking away from the cage without a second glance. Fluttershy normally would have been much more cautious about exiting right away, but that was thrown to the side as she saw the other captives exiting the other cages surrounding them.

“Get her up!” She said as she frantically reached for Zecora who had remained comatose this entire time. “Zecora, Zecora please!” She called out while shaking their leader. The only response given was a soft grunt of pain, followed by the quickly diminishing heat of her body. Without wasting any more time they all helped lift Zecora out of the cage and onto the cleanest bit of grass and dirt that wasn’t covered in changeling remains.

A loud chorus of concerned murmurs broke out as the ponies gathered and watched them lay the zebra down. Without even needing to be told some of the villagers ran off to find what remained of their gear and belongings to help while Fluttershy and some of the other medics tended to her. They took off the flowing brown cloak she was wearing, leaving her only in her brown rag tube top and loincloth, and laid it off to the side. Eventually, Fluttershy stepped back as the rest of their medically trained ponies returned and took over, knowing that they’d be better for the job than her.

Fluttershy breathed an uneasy sigh as she watched them work before being shoved around by the growing crowd surrounding Zecora. She growled for a moment and started pushing them away from the scene. "Alright everypony, give them some room!" She shouted at the crowd, dispersing them almost immediately. After she had, she noticed several of the ponies go silent and stare at her, soon the entire crowd was staring in her direction with mixed looks of fear and exhaustion.

Fluttershy looked behind her for a moment just to make sure they weren't staring somewhere else, but unfortunately there was nothing there. "Well?" Called a voice from the small crowd, a mare with a cream coat and two toned mane by the name of Bon Bon. "What are we going to do Fluttershy?" She asked fearfully.

Fluttershy looked at her in confusion, unsure of how to respond. Before she could even gain her bearings, a brown stallion by the name of Caramel chimed in. "Yeah, more changelings are definitely on the way! You heard him, they called for a lift!" The crowd inched closer towards her, and suddenly Fluttershy's long dormant anxiety began to flare up. Her eyes darted all around the crowd, but every single gaze upon her seemed to stop her thoughts instantaneously. Not many things could truly make her scared, but being in charge in Zecora’s stead was one of them.

What did they expect her to do? What did they want her to say? She wasn't a leader, she was just a fighter. Granted she was willing to concede that she was a damn good fighter, if not the best, but this was something else entirely. If somepony had asked her for ninety different ways to crack changeling skulls she'd be able to answer in a heartbeat, but knowledge like that didn't exactly translate well to resetting their whole unearthed way of life.

Fluttershy began to feel sick as the weight started bearing down on her, but that all changed when she saw one of the last close friends she had, Pinkie Pie, approach her. “Well… Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, her voice having a calming effect despite the nervous tremble it held. “What should we do?” Those words echoed in Fluttershy’s mind, and she had to think for a moment. What should they do? Or rather, what would she do if this was just a skirmish she and her fighters had gotten into? She guessed that the best place to start was with what she already knew; They needed to snatch and run.

Fluttershy took in a deep calming breath, then narrowed her eyes and initiated work mode. “Alright, everypony gather as many tools, equipment, and resources the changelings had here. Weapons, armor, supplies, anything that you can carry and that we can use, we’re taking it with us. We need to get out of here fast, so as soon as Zecora’s stable we’re heading out. Let’s move!” She started with a bit of a shaky voice, but by the end, she had regained her confidence and sent them on their tasks with a clap of her hands. The ponies all scattered on her orders and searched the remains of the battlefield for anything and everything they could take. Fluttershy breathed an uneasy sigh as she watched them work, eventually noticing the two taller creatures that had freed them standing near the base of the valley’s hill with their arms crossed.

She was still unbelievably curious as to what they were doing, so with all the confidence she could muster she approached them. They seemed surprised by her approach, and when she finally stood face to face with them the shorter one uncrossed his arms. While she did say that he was shorter, it was only compared to his armored companion. He was still about a few inches taller and quite a bit bulkier than her, but she tried her best not to seem intimidated.

“What?” He asked impatiently.

“Why did you do this?” She started, garnering a stunned glance from both of them. “Why would you come here and just… free us like that?” She asked in genuine confusion as she looked at the scattered dead bodies now being looted by her ponies. There were so many here, yet they still came forward and freed them. Albeit it seemed to be a walk in the park for them, which made her even more nervous about following them, but she was still far too curious to just stay silent. “What even are you?” He let out a ‘hmmph’ of amusement before answering.

“Our king commanded, and we do as he commands. Time is short, so answer now. Follow, or flee?” He asked with a sense of finality. She looked back to her fellow ponies once again, taking notice at how some had already been reaching their max capacity for carrying, and saw them beginning to reconvene near Zecora’s recovery spot.

“Give me one minute, and I’ll have your answer.” She said to them, to which they simply nodded in agreement. Jogging over to where the survivors were crowded, she pushed past everypony until she broke through to the center where the medics were tending to Zecora. Her anxiousness lessened as she saw the zebra taking in pained breaths as they finished patching her up more thoroughly, and soon all but one of the medical ponies backed up to give her some room.

"Hey," Fluttershy said, grabbing one of the stallions by the arm before he could shoulder past her. "Is she alright?" The stallion looked nervous for a moment and fidgeted before Fluttershy quickly let go of his arm. He shook himself for a moment and cleared his throat as he turned his head to face the pained zebra.

"Changeling magic is some nasty stuff, especially the queens brand," he started as they both eyed the now patched over abdomen wound. "She's stable for now, but any more undue stress will definitely cause some permanent damage to her body. I'd say we need to go somewhere else fast, but in her condition, I don't think fast is an option." He replied solemnly, but truthfully. Fluttershy thanked him and let him step off to help any others who were injured.

Fluttershy looked down at Zecora, then to her stocked up ponies, and finally to their rescuers. She knew that she only had one logical choice, since the Everfree was a deathtrap without an assured safe haven for them to go to, but that didn't mean it was an easy decision to make. With nopony else stepping up though, and the changelings coming soon, it was a decision that she needed to make now.

She wished she had another plan that didn't involve following these monsters, even if they did save them. But with her mind essentially devoid of better plans at the moment, she swallowed her fear and looked towards them. With a strong gait and a determined expression, Fluttershy approached the figures ready to follow their lead. She could only pray that she'd made the right choice.

“My lord… is everything alright?” Chorsus asks curiously as I stand several feet away from the edge of the cliff and lean my head towards the bark of a tree.

“Yes, yes… I’m…” I can’t even finish the sentence as the flashes and images of Changelings getting torn in half permeate my short term memory. I was curious for all of three seconds about how they’d fight and attack, but my eyes were bigger than my stomach on this one. The moment I saw that guy's head get ripped off and his friends blown to bits, I knew I was way more out of my depth than I thought. I look over to Chorsus and thankfully see that he’s begun looking elsewhere.

Frankly, at this point, I’m not even interested in the slightest in trying to keep up an air of superiority. I don’t know who would after viewing something as… graphic as that, well aside from complete sociopaths. I turn myself around and lean my back against the tree, the action being a tad awkward since my weapons were taking up quite a lot of space, and try my best to slow my heart rate. I look off towards Chorsus as he overlooks the valley below, his boltok firmly in his grasp, and notice that another Locust wielding a long sniper rifle had joined him.

“Barely worth the effort.” The new locust said as he squatted down beside the spotter. Who the hell was that? Maybe…. Wait, wasn’t there another locust they kept referring to? Roc? If I had to guess, I’d say that this was the guy. Pretty much as soon as I thought that, Chorsus saw fit to confirm for me.

“Indeed Roc, but you should conceal. We’re about to have company.” Chorsus says as he steps backward, Roc swiftly grunting in agreement and climbing a nearby tree. I quickly take a deep breath and get off of the tree as I prepare for the return of my locust and the prisoners. It’s only now that it dawns on me, but I have absolutely no idea what I’m gonna say to them. Maybe I should start cordial? Should I ask them what happened right off the bat? Maybe if they’re alright. Well, I have to choose something since I’m already hearing some footsteps.

“My lord,” Verus says dutifully as he, Krogg, and a crowd of ponies begin entering our little hidden area.

“E-excellent work!” I blurt out nervously. My locust, and a few of the ponies, shot strange looks towards me as I did this so I just do the only thing I can think of which is to move on and ignore it. “You did… you did well Verus,” I say while prompting him to stand back up from his kneeling position.

I look over the crowd behind Verus, and already I can deduce certain things from their looks alone. One: They seem very ragged and worn out, with some injured, others looking like they haven’t slept in days, and all of them wearing rudimentary clothes like rag cutoff tops and shorts or loincloths that cover the bare essentials. Although I can see that many of them started scavenging from the dead changelings as they held various weapons and equipment. Two: They all looked to be covered in strange green markings that were very reminiscent of zebra stripes. Three: I can already make out a few familiar faces from the crowd that I had seen in the show and around fan sites as well, like background characters, one or two main characters, and frighteningly enough a couple of scared children.

The first thing I do is point to my Locust and have them step away from the group in an attempt to ease their fear, then I try and walk closer to them. Several of the ponies in the front, including a very familiar yellow pegasus with pink hair, stepped back uneasily, causing me to stop in my tracks and hold out my hand warily.

“Hey, it’s alright. We’re not going to hurt you.” I say to them. Just then Fluttershy starts to look around at me and my locust, not once dropping her defensive stance.

“Yeah, well, forgive me for not believing you right off the bat.” She says with a bit of bite in her voice, something that I never would have expected from her, but given the situation, I can't say I blame her for the response. Despite my calm reaction to her retort, something about what she'd said seemed to piss off every one of my soldiers as they growled and clutched their weapons. Before anypony had any time to scream, lash out, or do anything in general that I was going to regret, I immediately grabbed onto Verus’ torque bow and lowered it.

“We understand, we TOTALLY understand…” The Theron looked to me in confusion, followed by all of the others as they slowly and cautiously lowered their weapons. “Right?” I say through my teeth, and quickly the Theron nods and holsters his torque bow.

Looking over to the crowd of ponies once again, I see many of them clutching spears and looking at us in terror. It was then that I realized that we were essentially surrounding them from all sides and growling like feral dogs. No wonder they were freaking out even harder than I imagined. Quickly I whistle over to Chorsus, then over to Krogg while waving them over to me. It takes them a moment of confusion before they slowly leave their positions and crowd around me away from the ponies.

“Listen, the whole point of doing that was to save them, now I’m no expert, but usually people who were just being held captive are already on fucking edge. They know, and we know that we could kill them right now, but they’re here because they trust us even if it’s on some microscopic level,” They quickly begin nodding along with me, and I even have to stop a few from dropping down to one knee. I can already tell that's gonna be a hard one for them to wrap their heads around. “Listen, we need them to trust us more because then we can more easily use them to set up a proper structure and forces here. Don't you see? These creatures could be our ticket to reclaiming Locust power here in… wherever we are. Understand?”

They stop as I say this, and it almost looks like their lowering their heads in shame. “I understand, forgive me, my lord,” Verus says with a simple bow of his head. “I had not seen the extent of this opportunity until now. You are truly wise.” The other locust murmur in agreement and I quickly feel a slight pressure in my gut. I seriously just pulled that out my ass so they don’t think I’m being a little bitch, but now it looks like I might have gone overboard and set some expectations here. I sincerely hope they don't hold me to it, because I do not plan on staying here that long.

“Everyone, treat our new prisoners carefully. In time, they will become valued tools for our king.” Verus hisses out, eliciting a guttural chant from the others as they pounded their chests and broke from the huddle. Well, whatever this means I’m sure I can deal with it later, for now, we need to get the hell out of here before more changelings start showing up.

I jog back over to Fluttershy, who I assume is kind of the de facto leader here, and begin relaying the plan. “Listen, I think we both know that we need to leave before more of them show up. We have an abandoned cave that we captured not too far from here. It’s not the best, but it’s close and well hidden. We can knock out introductions after your people are safe.” I quickly explained to her.

“Alright, we’ll follow you." She says with a bit of trepidation despite her confident stance. She leans back for a moment and passes along hushed whispers to her group to prepare them. With that, I order my Locust to create a perimeter around the group and begin leading them back the way we came. Hopefully, the silence will give me some time to think about things, namely what the fuck I’m even doing right now. Jesus, what is happening?

No seriously what the fuck is happening right now?! Attacking changelings, in the everfree forest, with a bunch of anthro ponies? I’m… here? With a bunch of Locust from a fanfiction? We’ve already established that, calm down Ben. How about YOU calm down, asshole? Acknowledging that this is happening doesn’t mean it’s not absolutely crazy! In fact, it probably makes things ten times worse! I’M absolutely crazy!

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH-

“Alright, we’ll follow you,” Fluttershy said with confidence while slowly standing her spear on the ground. The strange armored creature nodded and started to give orders to his beasts, positioning them into a box formation surrounding her ponies. Fluttershy’s heart began to race as she struggled to gauge the looks on their faces, mainly on account of how all of them wore helmets and armor, but she continued to hide her uncertainty as best as she could. She felt somepony squeeze her hand and looked to her left to see one of the foals, a dark blue unicorn colt named Clear Sight, clutching her hand fearfully and looking up at her. She whispered to him that it was going to be alright and quickly handed him off to somepony else.

“Stay together and keep a close eye on them. We know what they’re capable of, which means we have to be on high alert. At the first sign of trouble make sure you hide the foals and the wounded.” She quickly whispered to the ponies behind her, and soon the hushed orders were passed on to everybody in the crowd.

With nothing else needing preparations, they all began following the ‘king’ deeper into the Everfree forest, the tense silence only being undercut by the multitude of pattering hoofsteps along the thick grass. Though she’d ventured through the forest many times, even before Chrysalis rose to power, Fluttershy had never seen anything like these creatures here. They certainly weren’t ponies, unless they suffered from some crazy experiment that deformed them, but she was willing to bet that whoever, or whatever, their saviors were they were certainly scaring off all of the everfree’s other big bads.

It was true that she couldn’t feel things like Zecora could, no matter how much she tried in the past, but even she could sense the air of menace that all of the creatures exuded. The one at the front however was something else entirely. He was the closest looking to an actual pony despite all of his differences, but even stranger was how different he looked from the other creatures.

He led the pack with a blank look of stoicism, and despite the hostile situation they were in, he never once reached for the weapons clinging to his back. He must’ve been exceedingly confident and assured in his skills if he walked the forest without even a hint of fear. They referred to him as their king, but for what reason? She could only guess that his calm and helpful demeanor was only a front, hiding the ruthless leader that could make all these monstrosities pledge allegiance to him.

You’re insane!

No, you’re insane!

Well, you’re talking to yourself! Or… I’m talking to myself? Whatever! You’re fucking crazy, just shut up! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

Fluttershy wondered how it would have been to take their chances in the forest on their own, but it was too late to think like that. They were here now, and whatever happened it would be on her shoulders. Not exactly a comforting thought, but one that helped ease her anxiety somewhat. Knowing that good or bad, this situation was likely permanent, allowing her to better focus on how to improve things relative to now.

After what felt like an eternity of walking, the group finally broke through another layer of trees and fauna that hid a partially covered cave entrance on the side of a cliff. The entrance was fairly wide, with the ceiling standing at about thirteen feet and having some hanging moss coming down it, almost acting like a natural curtain on its left side. The crowd of ponies stopped and stood before the entrance, all of them understandably nervous about entering the dark confines of the cave. It was then that the creature spun around and addressed them.

“Alright… here we are,” He said a little hesitantly, his eyes giving a slightly unsettling twitch that he tried to hide by swinging his face to the side. “We can rest in here for now. It’s as safe as we can be on such short notice.”

“Seems a little sketchy, being corralled into a cave by soldiers armed to the teeth,” Fluttershy said, her abrasive nature coming out clearly in her voice. But then, something rather strange happened that directly challenged her preconceived notions.

“Well, that would be true, IF that was what we were actually doing,” The man said as all of his subordinates left their positions around the ponies and walked into the cave, essentially leaving them unguarded. “I know you’re nervous, I would be too, but I mean it when I say that we don’t want to hurt you,” He slowly backed up towards the entrance before slightly turning around until only half of his face was visible. “You’re not prisoners anymore, we made sure of that. You can join us inside or keep going from here. The choice is yours.” With that, he quickly entered the darkness, his footsteps echoing outwards from the cave.

Fluttershy fell into a stunned silence, her mind drawing a blank on how to respond to this situation. She was at a loss for words, but thankfully, she had one of her best friends there to offer some helpful insight.

“I say we go in,” Pinkie Pie blurted out, startling all of the other ponies in the process. She stepped forward and faced the group, and surprisingly enough she had a faint smile on her lips. “These… whatever they are, helped us. Now we may not know why, but we do know that messing with the changelings on purpose is a bad move for anypony, regardless of who you are. They didn’t care though, they freed us from a terrible life of rotting in some feeding dungeon, they kept our hope alive, and frankly, I was never one to judge somepony on how they looked.” She finished with a tired but no less meaningful smile. There was a chorus of murmurs, and even a few nods of agreement, but there was still a lack of definitive answers as to what they should do.

Fluttershy looked onto the group as well, eventually spotting Zecora who had by now regained consciousness but was still having trouble standing on her own. She was being supported by one of their medics, a stallion named Snake eyes, as well as one of the spears that she was using as a walking stick. Pinkie’s proclamation was certainly thought-provoking, but even if it hadn’t been Fluttershy would still have her answer. They needed rest, and they needed it now.

“We’re going in everypony,” She said while stepping closer towards the entrance. “Same rules apply. Stay close and be ready for anything, but don’t be afraid to get some rest. We can set up watching shifts when we get inside.” Fluttershy, leading by example, was the first to enter the dark cave, and eventually, she heard the hoofsteps of the others following her inside.

Alright, that could have gone worse. We saved the ponies, got them to safety, and above all else, they seem to be relaxed about it. And if they’re relaxed, then I’m relaxed. I mean, not literally, there’s still plenty of shit for me to be worried about, but at least when it comes to this I have fewer things to stress over.

The entire back portion of the cave was dimly lit by a couple of our detachable flashlights being placed on the low settings, and as per my orders, the locust were keeping as much distance as possible from the ponies. It had the desired effect, most of the ponies now sleeping away, but there were still some who were moving all around and trying to help the wounded. I thought about offering the help of my locust, but I’m not even sure if Kantus roars can help ponies, and besides I don’t think shouting at the top of our lungs while we’re hiding is a good idea.

I stood up and kept a standing order for my locust to stay put in their corner, then quickly made my way over to the crowd of around twenty-two ponies with my eyes trained on Fluttershy. This entire time I’d been watching her as she gave orders and listened to the ponies whenever they had questions. She was definitely the leader here and nothing like I remember her from the show, but then again neither was anything else so far.

I stop just short of the little perimeter they’d made for themselves and clear my throat. They all quickly look over to me, and I’ve gotta say that you’ve never felt true stagefright until you’ve been stared down by multiple sets of massive bug eyes on bipedal horse people. “Uh… got a second to talk?” I ask her. She looks all around for a moment and sighs before stepping around the curled or prone forms of the ponies beneath her and following me back towards the entrance of the cave.

We stop just shy of the entrance, making sure to stand behind the low hanging moss to better conceal ourselves. Fluttershy leans against the rocky cave wall and crosses her arms as she stares at me. She just had to take the spot I wanted, didn’t she? Now I have no idea what to do with my hands. I guess I’ll… place them on my hips or something.

"Been a… crazy day huh?" I blurt out. Probably not the best thing to start with, but gotta start somewhere right? Fluttershy raises her eyebrow at me and proceeds to brush some of her pink hair out of her eyes before turning and looking back into the cave.

"Crazy day? I guess you could call it that.” She says while tensing herself up in what looked to be anger. Yeah, definitely not the best thing to start with. “I'd call it the worst day of our lives… if the day the changelings won didn’t already take that title. I guess I can settle for second." she lowers her head solemnly, and just like that, I'm back to feeling like a total jackass. I quickly glance at our surroundings, making sure none of the locust or ponies are close enough to hear, and give a quick sigh. They do say that trust is the basis for any healthy relationship, so why not put that to the test?

"I'm sorry, as you can probably tell I'm not really used to… something like this."

Fluttershy looks back to me slowly and nods softly. "Yeah… I guess that makes two of us."

"Well… I guess we should just start simple then," I've gotta say it is comforting to know she's still a pretty anxious person, if only because it can better allow me to relate to her. Hopefully, she feels the same way, it would make things a whole heck of a lot smoother. "My name's Ben. Don't worry about all that king or royalty stuff. To be honest… I don't even think I'm CLOSE to what a king should be." I stick out my hand, hopeful for the best, and to my great relief, she shook it.

"Fluttershy." She responded softly, but with a hint of understanding. This is off to a good start, but it doesn't seem like she's all that interested in asking me things. That makes sense since, y'know, I am the one who pulled her aside. I suppose I should start with the questions. Oops! Better start quick I think I've been staring this whole time.

"Ahem, right. So… do you think you could tell me a bit about what happened to you all? We're sort of new to these parts." She inhales sharply and tightens her grip on her arms as what looks to be a flood of memories and emotion comes rushing back to her. Almost as soon as it started, it stopped, and again she looked up to me with a much more stoic expression.

"We had a camp, hidden deep in the forest and away from prying eyes. Our leader Zecora set it up shortly after the changelings overran the capital of our country, Equestria." She explained, and immediately I started taking mental notes. It seems that whatever happened in this version of Equestria stemmed from the wedding.

"Changelings, those were the things that were holding you hostage?" I asked, even though I was pretty confident that I knew the answer. Gotta keep up appearances after all.

Fluttershy nodded and motioned towards the cave entrance in a universal sign for me to follow her gaze. "The Changelings are monsters, horrible bug creatures that can shapeshift into so many things. They feed on love, and once they took the capital they went to work harvesting that love, and the ponies who made it, all over the world.

"We did our best to save everypony we could, but it was limited. Eventually, there were only about a hundred of us, but as time went on that number shrank. This morning we had forty in our village, and we thought we'd finally added another. That's when all Tartarus broke loose." She fell silent for a moment, and in that brief time, I looked back into the cave. Forty? I only see half of that. Jesus christ… this was worse than I thought.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. I only wish we could've helped sooner." As I say this, her eyes light up as she seemingly realizes something.

"You… why did you help?" Oh, well now she's just putting me on the spot. I mean technically I only helped because I saw Pinkie Pie, hell I was about two seconds away from just leaving them to their demise. Well shit… I guess trust doesn't have to be based wholly on truth for a healthy relationship, if a white lie can score me some brownie points then I say let's go for it. I'm gonna aim straight for the heart with this one.

"I don't know. It just seemed like the right thing to do, you know?" That's right, lean my head down uneasily, and now dramatically look up into her eyes. "Even though we had no idea what was happening, I knew we couldn't just leave you like that. It seemed that the least we could do was help. To… show a little kindness." And just like that, her eyes began to widen and reveal her sparkly blue irises. Goddamn! Would you look at that? I got her tearing up and shit? I'm like Leonardo Difucking Caprio here!

"Y-yeah… kindness." She falls silent again as she looks down for a moment. I think it's safe to say that I stuck the landing there. Now all I need to do is make sure the locust don't fuck this up for me. Should be pretty easy, I am their 'king' after all.

"Well, seeing as how you were pretty forthcoming, I guess I should tell our side. Or rather, as much as I can gleam. The details have been pretty fuzzy since we woke up here." She refocuses her attention on me, her expression more eager than before. I've been on a roll so far, let's see if I can keep it up.

"You probably already guessed, but we're soldiers from another world far from here. We're called Locust. Now, the details on how we got here are a bit muddy, and all I know for sure is that we woke up in the forest earlier today. What we were doing before, or why we're even here, is a complete mystery." Surprisingly, Fluttershy looked less confused and more contemplative as I explained our story. I was only using half-truths and altered facts, what about this could she possibly be trying to decipher? I understand that I boast, but I'm not that good.

"Hmm, I remember Zecora telling me things about the Everfree, about how… unnatural it is. She's lived here even before Chrysalis, and since then she's noticed her fair share of strange things," She crouched down and picked up a couple of pebbles, rearranging them on the cave floor as a visual aid. "She theorized that the Everfree forest was a gateway to other worlds, a place that pulls creatures and laws from other planes of existence. It could explain why there are so many unique things only found inside of the forest, as well as why it doesn't follow any of the known laws from the rest of Equestria."

"No way." That was all I could say. I mean… is there another response that would be more appropriate here? I wanted to find an answer to my predicament, but I never expected it to come so soon. I also didn't expect it to be so nonsensical, but considering the things I've seen today, I guess this one seems like the most believable so far. I guess chalk one up for helping others, especially caged anthro ponies. It's something we should all do more often.

"Well… if that's the case then is there a way to reverse it? Send us back the way we came?"

"I have no clue," She says with some brutal honesty while pushing away her demonstration rocks and standing back up. "Remember, this was just a theory she had. If anypony could tell you one way or the other it'd be her, but there's no guarantee that it's even an answer."

I rub my chin in thought and look downwards. I really would like to leave ASAP, but I don't think now's the best time. At the very least I should make sure they're safe, then find out what the fuck to do with these locust that came here with me. If the Everfree being a gateway is the answer, then that only explains half the problem. Where in the hell did the locust come from, and why specifically from a fanfiction I wrote nearly a decade ago? What did this all mean?

"Alright, well I guess for now we should focus on other things. I saw the zebra, and I assume she isn't in the mood to be talking theories and hypotheses while we're in danger like this." I look out of the entrance to the cave, and despite the naturally dim lighting of the Everfree, I can tell that the sky's getting darker. "This cave will do for tonight, but we need to find somewhere more protected if we want to avoid being a love bug's next happy meal."

"Hmm…" Fluttershy hums quite loudly, and I can't help but wonder what it is she's thinking. Suddenly, a smile creeps onto her lips, piquing my curiosity even more. "I might have an idea for that. Are you Locust any good at clearing out tunnels?"

Author's Note

Glad this story is receiving a mostly warm welcome. Like I said in the description though, I will be working with this on my free time so don't expect the most consistent of updates. I'll do my best though depending on reception. :derpytongue2:

Chapter 3 - What's the Plan?

I slowly crept closer to the bush and parted the spade-shaped leaves with my free hand, lowering the greenery just enough to see the open field below us. In its center was a singular dark hole, leading to what we believed was the Diamond Dog den. Now when Fluttershy first suggested scouting out the Diamond Dogs under the cover of night I thought she was joking, but now here we are. I mean I'm not trying to sound like a pansy, but I was hoping to get some sleep tonight. Despite waking up here I don't think I actually got any rest. Don't get me wrong though, it's fine, we're just scouting their dens after all.

Fluttershy told me the story, about how they tried to ally with the Diamond Dogs after a particularly bad run-in with the changelings left them in bad shape, but long story short it didn’t end well. They had no proof of what the Diamond Dogs did specifically since nopony had tried coming out here after the initial negotiation of peace, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out who was responsible for the disappearance of their diplomatic party. That was the last time she ever saw Applebloom, as well as a long list of other names she’d given me, but obviously, the literal child pony stood out the most.

What had this world come to? I mean, I can't even begin to think of a reason as to why she was there, but the subject seemed too sore for Fluttershy to go into. Believe me though it's not something I'm just gonna leave unanswered.

“You see that?” Fluttershy whispered as she sneaked up to my right side and parted a piece of the bush herself. “That hole is the target. It doesn’t look like much now, but underneath there's an entire cave system.” I shared a nod with her and let go of my piece of the bush, then turned to face our little scouting party.

With us were two of my locust, that being Roc since his keen eye would be invaluable for scouting, and Verus since special ops was practically the whole reason black Therons were bred. Also, he refused to let me go anywhere without him present at all times, Gotta make a mental note to distract him with something else before I go to the bathroom in the future. The rest of the soldiers were left with the ponies under specific orders to protect them at all costs. They were skeptical at first, but a couple growls from me and they fell into line. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this king stuff.

Now Roc was up ahead doing some enhanced scope recon, so the only one I had eyes on was Verus. Alongside my locust were about six of the strongest and least injured ponies Fluttershy could find, Cheerilee, Caramel, a blue pony named Shoeshine, a purple unicorn named Amethyst Star, some other guy named Shamrock, and finally Sweetie Drops even though I was sure her name was Bon Bon earlier. On top of them being the last of the real fighters they had, since most were disposed of by the changelings, they had been pretty vocal so far about trusting me and my locust and wanting to return the favor. Hey, you won't see me complaining. That's another thing off the stress list.

“Alright, Roc, how do things look from up there?” I ask while glancing down the path towards the dense tree line on the left side of the field. He offers a slight grunt in response, and I have to look to Verus to make sure what it was he was even trying to convey. Apparently, that grunt in particular meant all clear, and Verus had no clue as to how I could find that confusing. Jesus Christ, I’m gonna have to talk with that guy about communication when we get some free time.

We've already been out here for a while, so we should have enough intel right? Alright, I have to be honest, I just want to wrap this up and go to bed already, sue me. I turn to Fluttershy and the other ponies for a moment and let out a soft whistle to get their attention. “Alright, Roc says it’s all clear. How's the plan look so far?” My best guess is some covert ops, like flooding the place with sleeping powder to knock them all out, then go in and take hostages. Boom, automatic ultimatum on our hands, help us or be changeling food. Now I know it’s a bit of a stretch to assume they have copious amounts of sleeping powder, but hey I know Zecora can make some crazy stuff. If they don’t have it then they probably have a way to make it.

“We're going to enter in slowly using our ropes to keep our path set. Once we're in deep enough we're going to set off our poison bombs, then lock them in.” She said while pulling out her hastily made bow and testing its string, then setting aside several bright green ceramic balls. Poison huh? That's a weird way to say sleep. "It won't kill them all, but it'll certainly flush them out. When they dig up into the field we open fire on the stragglers." She's joking right? This... this has to be a joke. That icy and dead stare she's giving me is ironic... right?

“You're serious?” I look over to her backup ponies, all SIX of them, for help but not a single one even looked unsure about this. “Jesus Christ, you are serious. Listen I don’t know what you think is going to happen here, but there's only nine of us, and possibly hundreds in those caves."

Fluttershy looks to me with trepidation as she starts wrapping bandages around her hands, sharing an uneasy glance with Sweetie Drops for a split second before continuing. "This isn't our first rodeo, we've taken out leagues of changelings using this same tactic,” I have to stop for a moment and think. Just how callous has she become? She's truly willing to go through with this without a second thought? "Those mutts are gonna get what's coming to them."

All of the ponies begin nodding along in solidarity, but all I can do is put my hands on my forehead in disbelief. I look over to Verus, then to the ponies, and growl slightly as I grab Fluttershy's arm and pull her aside.

“What the?” She says in surprise, but oddly enough she doesn't fight it. I’m not usually one to pull people around like this, but right now I don’t really care.

“Listen, Fluttershy, you seem great. A strong leader, you care about your ponies, real pretty and outspoken, but there's just one problem. Why in the fuck did you not tell me the extent of this mission before we came here?” I saw her glare at me for a moment so I immediately threw in a caveat. “And don't say because you never asked. I signed me and my locust up for some scouting, strategizing... not murder.” I am genuinely curious to hear her explanation. What kind of thought process drives someone to do something like that? I mean she was the shy one, obviously, but she was never depicted as the stupid one. That was Rainbow Dash’s job.

“Because we've lost everything! Because we are on the verge of losing what little we have left, and if we don't do this, then we might as well just give ourselves to the Changelings. I thought you of all ponies would understand that.” She fires back angrily and even forces me to step back for a moment as she gets in my face. I look to the side and see all of the ponies, and worst of all Verus, staring at the both of us.

Alright Ben, keep your cool. You know how to handle this, in fact, you know scarily well how to handle this. In your old story, the whole reason for the revolt was the disgust at the Locust and their actions. Their willingness to attack the humans just to escape their war, and not even thinking to approach the situation peacefully. This is how it starts, and unless you want Gears of War Equestria edition where you're the star of the show, you need to nip this in the bud.

I stand back up to full height and shut my eyes. Come on man, channel the anger! Political tweets, Shitty family members, Retards trying to tell me how to live my life when they don't even know me! "Listen," Oh man I can feel it, I am pissed. "If we do this then we'll be no better than the changelings. We'll be the monsters who showed up in the middle of the night, dooming them to extinction!" I snap at her and for a moment I can see her flinch. "And why? Because we were too scared to face them? Too scared to try and bring the peace back to a world that sorely needs it? I already took part in a war that had no reason to start, and I will be damned if I repeat that mistake!"

I stop for a moment and catch my breath. Man, I have no idea where that came from, but I'm glad it came when it did. Suffice to say, I think I got through to her.

"Fine... then go." Pardon? I barely even have a chance to react as she turns and walks away from me. "We're going in with, or without you. So if you want to save those dogs so much, you'll have to stop us." She says as she throws a quiver of arrows over her shoulder and faces me once again.

"Watch. Your. Tongue." Verus hisses as he stomps towards her, the venom practically dripping from his mouth. Hold on... wait no that's just saliva. Gross, Verus. I quickly step in front of him and shoot him a glare, which seems to be enough to force him back, but I can tell that he's not happy about it.

I turn back and look at Fluttershy, but I know the look of a stubborn person, or pony I guess, when I see it. They're much more similar than I realize apparently. I watch the color fade from the others as the possibility of fighting us gets presented, and not gonna lie I kind of want to see them try, but that doesn't matter because I'm not going to let it get that far. To stop it though, this girl needed to be taught a lesson. Someone needs to remind her what it means to think before you take action.

I mean I suppose I'm not one to talk here, but regardless I have to do something fast. If this shit goes anymore south we're gonna hit Brazil, so once again I'm forced to be the responsible one. I shake my head slowly, buying myself a few more precious seconds to think of a response. It doesn't seem like much, to the average person of course, but to me and my high school improv skills, it's all the time in the world as I manage to cobble something together. If she thinks bloodshed is the only answer, then I guess it's time to show her she's wrong.

“Alright,” I start to reach for my lever-action shotgun and pull it off of my armor magnet. It only dawns on me now that I haven’t gotten a good look at my weapons yet, but I suppose there'll be time for that later. “If it means stopping pointless bloodshed, in a world with enough already, then I’ll stop you.” I see her back up and tense her muscles as I pull out my…. Bladed gnasher!? Holy fuck that’s cool! Calm down Ben, focus, you need to focus! While looking directly at her, I slowly take my weapon and hand it over to Verus, who looks at me with momentary confusion before dutifully accepting it.

Everypony else dons similar expressions as I repeat the process with my onyx Lancer, my boltok revolver, and all of my grenades, handing each one to Verus so he can holster them. Once I'm fully disarmed I face the hill concealing us from the field. Okay, step one is complete, which means it's on to step two. Gandhi mode activate.

“Verus, I forbid you from coming after me unless I explicitly order you to over the comms. Give me an hour and a half, and if any of them try to come to the tunnels before then you WILL stop them by any means necessary,” Verus looks to me with confliction, and I'm not even sure if he'll let me do this for a moment, but to my surprise he drops his shoulders and accepts my orders. “Once the time is up, you will not interfere with their attack and allow them to proceed. I will return, and It will be at that point..." I look over at Fluttershy and stare directly into her glaring eyes. "That we go our separate ways.” Her sneer gets even deeper as I say that, but I want to believe that the prospect of killing me too will give her pause for thought. Only time will tell I guess.

I honestly feel bad for her. I know that things shouldn't have been this way. She should be nice, meek, and appalled at the idea of mass murder. This wasn’t her, it was the world that did this to her, and hopefully, this can be a step towards fixing it. I start making my way over the hill so I can slide down to the edge of the field. I hear Fluttershy take a few steps forward, but then the loud hiss of my Theron stops her in her tracks. There’s no way in hell they’re gonna mess with him.

I shake my head in preparation and start marching down the hill, ready to get this show on the road. Honestly, I scare myself sometimes with how good I am. I mean, could anyone other than a genius come up with a plan this fast?

Because…. wait, what’s my plan again? Oh right, it's simple. Waltz into this place... unarmed? Wait, no that can't be all of it, can it? No, no there's more, right brain? Try to convince a bunch of bipedal dogs to listen to me? Wait, seriously? Is that all!? How the hell am I gonna do that? Politely suggest to them that they should help some random guy and his rag-tag bunch of murderous psychopaths? Only an hour and a half? Why did I say that? So if the dogs don't kill me, then the poison will. Great fucking job Ben!

Oh shit, what grade did I get in improv again... a D? D minus? You're shitting me! I can't believe it, I forgot that improv is the fucking worst! I’m still walking towards the holes, why!? This isn’t some game! I’m not in a movie! This is real life, and I’m about to fucking die! Maybe if I turn around now then I can still-

“Halt!” Calls a deep and booming voice to my left, and just like that I know I’m fucked. From all sides large mounds of dirt spring up as four hulking bulldogs covered in armor jump out and point spears to me. They all start barking orders, and I have zero clue what the hell they’re trying to say, so I do the only thing that makes sense.

I put my hands up and interlock my fingers behind my head, then slowly get down on my knees. Once I'm in position I initiate the first phase of my new plan, titled 'get me the hell out of here'. "Verus! Verus help!" I scream out. I don't care anymore, just kill these ugly bastards, I don't want to die! They all start looking at each other in confusion, then one of them walks around to my front and starts sniffing me. "Verus, this is an order from your king!" Why isn't he responding?

The dog gets close to my face and starts to get his slobber on me, and boy does it not smell good. Once he’s done getting a good whiff he backs up and nods towards the other dogs. "Okay, we take now." He says, prompting them to grab my arms and legs and carry me closer to the hole we'd been watching this whole time.

"Help goddamnit!" I scream one last time before they lift me over the hole, giving me a chance to peer at the dark filled straight drop below. You know, it's a good thing I'm afraid of heights, or else I might've never regretted this.

They then toss me inside.

Fluttershy and her scouting party watched from the top of the hill, all of them laying in a low prone position, as the King walked out into the field without weapons, and without fear. Was he crazy? They were going to kill him the moment he made contact. She looked off to the side where his Locust was standing, but he made no move to stop the madman, he just stood there and watched with his arms crossed.

"Sweet Celestia, he's serious." Sweetie Drops said in disbelief as he walked closer and closer to the hole, his pace not slowing down in the slightest. Fluttershy watched on in shock until she balled her fists in anger. She started gritting her teeth as the world slowed down and warped around her until the only thing she could see was the king.

Why would he do this? Why did he even care what happened? He had no idea what they'd been through, so where did he get off telling her she had no right to attack them? If he got himself killed then it was no big deal, the plan would continue as normal. So why? Why was she so angry? Why was she grabbing onto her bow? Why did she want to go down there and drag his ass all the way back to the cave?

A loud click snapped her back to reality, and all of the ponies froze in terror as Verus pointed the small one-handed weapon towards her. He let out a shrill laugh and salivated at the thought of tearing her head off with a single shot, but orders were orders. He could only hope she'd be stupid enough to run for it.

Fluttershy looked at the Theron, then down at herself as she realized that she'd gotten on her hooves without even thinking. She growled in frustration and let go of her weapon, then laid back down and continued to watch the king approach the Diamond Dog den. The Theron grunted in what sounded like disappointment and reholstered his weapon, then crossed his arms once again as they watched.

A minute or two of silence passed by when suddenly several large mounds of dirt burst forth, and from them a gang of Diamond Dog guards all pointing their spears and barking at the lone man. He didn't flinch, and instead simply got on his knees and placed his hands behind his head. Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was seeing, his sheer resolve in the face of danger like that made her heart race, that is until he did something very strange.

"Verus! Verus help!" He screamed in desperation as the dogs got closer to him. They all turned to the locust in question, but all he did was stand there silently.

"Uhh," Cheerilee said as they all turned back towards the field and watched as the dogs continuously chanted and jabbed their spears at him. "Should we help him?" She asked the Theron, her confusion overriding her fear of the scaly creature.

Verus laughed and shook his head at the feeble-minded, taking great amusement in their misguided feelings of uncertainty. "Fools. My king is simply luring them into a false sense of security, letting them think that they have the power. He is obviously still in control." Suddenly they heard the king scream bloody murder as the Dogs surrounded him more closely and put away their spears.

"Verus! This is an order from your king!" He was then grabbed on all sides and quickly brought closer to the den's entrance.

"I-if... you say so," Fluttershy added, unsure of how to feel as she watched the capture continue.

"Help goddamnit!"

Is it over? Am I dead? I-I'm too scared to open my eyes but I don't feel like I'm falling anymore. No, it feels like I'm being dragged. I slowly open them up just a smidge and let out the biggest sigh of relief when I see dim torch-lit hallways and not dark pits of death.

Okay, so the good news is I'm alive, the bad news is that plan 'get me the hell out of here' is a bust. Looks like I need to follow through with plan 'act like you have any idea how to convince Diamond Dogs to help you peacefully'. It's a bit wordy, but it's all we've got. Step two: Gandhi mode is complete, so now we move on to figuring out what the hell step three is. Should have plenty of time to do it as these bulldogs drag me through their tunnels.

Suddenly they take a sharp right, and once again I am left to eat my words as we enter a massive cave throne room with a ceiling about fifteen feet high, and it's floor packed wall to wall with Diamond Dogs. Step three: Shit myself is a go, now on to step four.

As we pass down the middle of the crowds I look at the dogs on either side of me. I can already tell that there's more than a couple hundred, so in short, we'd be suicidal to try and attack this place. I can see from how each of them looks that they're much more... photogenic than the dogs I saw in the show. I can see some poodles, some retriever looking dogs, some labs and shepherds, and all of them are just as stylized and humanoid as the ponies are. AKA the females all have more curves than a race track, and the males look like they do nothing but workout and eat protein all day. Another thing was that none of them wore clothes, but thankfully their fur seemed more than sufficient enough to cover them in the same way.

Now listen I'm not a weirdo, but I can admit when my eyes lingered for a bit too long, Okay? Wow, look at me. I'm trying to justify my actions to myself. Who gives a shit, I'm the only one here, I'll stare for as long as I damn well please. My train of thought finally gets cut off as the bulldogs drop me onto the floor and step to either side of me. I get to my knees and look up to see a large staircase leading to a stone throne where a black and white husky dog sat.

He had piercing blue eyes, a scar on the left side of his snout, and wore a thick black biker jacket with torn-off sleeves. Finally, on top of his head was a shiny silver crown cementing his position in my eyes without a single word needing to be spoken. He glared at me for a moment and bared his teeth, an action that made all of the rooms whispers fall silent.

It’s now or never I suppose. I stand up and clear my throat in preparation. Step four: ???? is... a go? “Hello, good sir,” I say while offering a bow to him. I look back up and see him hide his teeth once more, his fierce look turning into one of scrutiny. If he doesn’t respond then… is that a queue for me to continue? “May I ask your name?” He just raised an eyebrow at me? Alright, I guess his name is off the table, but is he going to say anything at all? Oh right!

“Right, where are my manners, I should offer my name first. I am King…” Oh shit, my name. What the fuck was my name? King Ben? Ew Gross. King Sera? Better, but no. Come on man say something already! “...Coigne. King Coigne.” I say with another bow of my head. Alright, I think I saved it right there. It's a decent name in my opinion, but I should probably make sure I'm better prepared for something like this in the future. Oh, really Ben? Ya think? Ya think being prepared is a good idea now? Big effing surprise, I'll just put that in the section of the brain titled no shit sherlock.

The dog atop the throne grunts and beckons one of the guards beside me over to him. They share a whisper for a moment, but it doesn't take long for the head dog to start getting angry. "What do you mean you didn't ask his name! We have a report system for a reason you idiot!" He stands up and looks out onto the crowd. "Did anyone run a report before you brought his... thing into our den?"

The crowd of dogs all start mumbling like morons, and the leader just starts rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Of course, why would I expect any of you to be able to follow even the simplest of tasks," He plops himself back down on the chair in exasperation and leans his head against his hand. "What do you want?"

I shake my head and straighten myself out. I guess I should thank these dogs for being so dumb because they just bought me a leader who has his guard down. This should be easier to negotiate with so long as I play my cards right. "I came to warn you," Suddenly the whispers returned, and the husky raises his ears in an admittedly cute fashion. "There is a large group of changelings on their way here now, and they're not planning on taking any survivors." There we go, blame it on a common enemy, now that's thinking ahead.

The dogs in the room all start murmuring even louder, and this causes the king to raise his head with a look of shock on his face. He sits up straight in his throne and looks around at the crowd angrily before setting his gaze on me. "What are you talking about? No changeling knows the location of these caves, it's impossible." He says with a dismissive wave.

"I know they do. Are you familiar with the village of ponies in the Everfree? The ones who sent a group here some time ago? They've already been decimated save for a handful. If my information is correct an attack on the cave is imminent." As I finish the proclamation, the king shakes his head.

"And just who do you think you are?" He says while standing up from his throne, and man he is way more intimidating than I gave him credit for. The man… dog thing, looks strong enough to break a boulder with his paws. "You come in here with this warning, but I don't even know who you are. Your information? Is that supposed to mean something to me?" He slowly starts walking down the steps as he talks, and as he gets closer I realize that he's a head taller than me and all the other dogs. "How do I know this isn't some changeling trick?"

I look him dead in the eyes, fighting through his intimidation to get my point across. I may have been lying to an extent, but if I want his help I need to take some creative liberties. "Because I wouldn't be here talking with you. I'd just let the massacre commence." The room falls silent as me and the wolf glare at each other for god knows how long. I guess being a locust king means I'm really good at staring contests now.

Eventually the dog stops his staring and walks back up the steps with a growl. He stops about halfway up and faces the crowd once more. "Everyone remain calm and return to your places of work. I have everything under control, but there are matters I must attend to!" The crowd becomes filled with confused looks as the dogs just stand around and attempt to understand what he said. In response, the king growls to himself and just shouts out a much simpler order. "Get out!"

As soon as he shouts, the dogs drops to all fours and scurry out of the room, leaving me and him in the massive throne room by ourselves. He looks around for a moment and pinches the bridge of his snout in aggravation. "Imbecilic guards, I didn't mean them too!" Geez, these dogs were almost as dumb as me. "I swear, sometimes I question the worth of being a king of idiots." He steps back down and starts heading for a door near the back of the throne room while beckoning me to follow.

"So, you do believe me," I say as I catch up to him and follow through the long hallway behind the exit.

"Let's just say I'm intrigued for now. I'd rather discuss things further when we're in a more… private setting."

"Understandable." We both fall quiet, giving me some time to think about things once more. I can't believe step four worked man, I mean I'm still in shock. Hold off on the celebrating for just a little bit longer Ben, we're in the end zone now so we just need to score.

In the meantime, I look at the dog beside me and start taking notes on the most interesting fact so far, namely his intelligence. I mean, how could this Diamond Dog be a thousand times smarter than all the rest? I guess it makes sense that he finessed his way into being king, out of all the dogs it was only a matter of time before they made one with an I.Q in the triple digits. It would either make it harder or easier to relate to him depending on the circumstance.

We step through another door at the end of the narrow hall and enter a large square room with nothing but a table and a couple of chairs in the middle. He gestures to it, but I shake my head and let him know that I prefer to stand. This room seems a bit strange now that I think about it, but maybe it's some kind of secure area for planning? Although I question how much planning he could even do with a populace that's been collectively curb-stomped a couple of times by the stupid fairy.

"So… let's get down to business." I start as I walk further into the room.

"Yeah, let's." Suddenly I feel a sharp burning sensation in the back of my head as my body falls to the floor, limp and unresponsive. What the hell did he just do? Why can't I move? I try to look up at him, but my angle won't let me see anything but part of the wall and ceiling. Shorty after being stunned, I hear the sound of rushing fire echo around the room, changing the lighting from a dim yellow to a very dark green.

"Alright, that should keep him out for a while. Now time to grab my food and get the hell out of here!" A new voice calls out, this one scratchy and sounding like it's been put through a reverb filter. I already know exactly what's happening, but just for the added closure I watch as the once hidden changeling steps into view and places his forehead against the wall. Suddenly his magic reveals several ponies hidden in green cocoons behind the wall, but thanks to his attack I can't tilt my head to see who they were. "I can only take two at most, but which ones?" He contemplates as he stares at the cocoons.

Alright, Ben, it looks like he thinks you're unconscious. Maybe you have more resistance to the spell than he thought, which means that we can turn this around. Do not panic. I focus all of my energy on my right hand and after a few moments, I feel it twitch ever so slightly. If I could smile right now I would, because this asshole is in for one hell of a surprise.

"Maybe the grey one? With the funny eyes? She did always taste sweet." I start focusing all of my energy into my legs and begin to sweat as they start twitching and moving ever so slightly. "Oh, but the yellow one's dreams of her family are so much stronger than the others. They do always turn bitter though." Listening to him pick between his favorite 'snacks' is really starting to piss me off. Step five: kick the shit out of this bug, is a go!

I grit my teeth and supercharge my limbs, and soon I start to lift myself from the floor and shuffle my legs beneath me as I listen to him ramble. "I'll have to take the new one unless I kill him now of course." Oh shit! Come on body, push it! If you don't I swear to god I will work out sooo hard when we get home, I'll make you want to die. I hate exercise but if it teaches you to listen to me then I'll do it! My little proclamation seems to be just enough to spur me on, as I keep pushing myself further and further up until I stumble to my feet. At this point, there's no hiding my recovery, as my heavy breathing catches his attention.

"W-w-what the hell?" I stand straight up and ball my fists as I look down at him, his undisguised form actually being a head shorter than me as opposed to the husky from before. He backs up against the cocoons and begins to tremble before gritting his teeth and stepping forward angrily. "Grrr, take this!" He shouts with anger as he charges magic into his horn.

I take a step forward to stop him, but immediately after I do I feel both of my legs give out once more. "Oh shit." I trip forward and narrowly dodge his spell while slamming my upper body into the wooden table. My full weight proceeds to then smash the legs on my side and send it into the air just enough to smack against the Changelings horn.

"Fuck!" He screams out as he backs up against the cocoon wall and clutches his now lightless forehead. I attempt to recover from my fall, but the only thing I can manage to do is hop around on all fours and kick frantically as my legs fade in and out of control.

I trot over to him on my hands and knees and catch him just as he removes his hand and looks down, tackling his legs with all of my body at once. He lets out a small grunt of pain before losing his balance and falling onto his back, giving me enough time to pull out the massive knife from my waist and press it against his neck. He leans his head back against the ground and grits his teeth in fear before raising his hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay! You win, just don't hurt me!" Jesus how quick the tones change when he's not the one in control. He was ready to kill me just a second ago, but now I need to be the one showing pity? I scoot the rest of my body onto him until I'm sitting right on his chest and hunched over to put extra pressure on his throat. Obviously, I'm not gonna kill him, but that doesn't mean I have to be nice to the little bloodsucker.

I look up to the now revealed cocoons on the walls of the green room and see six ponies in total. There were some nameless ponies, like a dark brown stallion and an eggshell white mare with pink hair, but the two that caught my eyes were an unconscious Derpy Hooves and a young Applebloom who was only slightly smaller than the others, almost like she was a teenager. Funnily enough, she seemed to have her sister's Stetson still perfectly positioned on her head despite being inside of the changeling goo. It seems that I've stumbled on a real conspiracy here, but now what? "These are the missing ponies that were sent out here. You've kept them locked up all this time?"

The changeling looks up and softly nods his head while trying to avoid my knife. "Yep, pretty much." There's a moment of silence shortly after as the changeling attempts to just leave it like that.

"Well? Explain bugboy!" I say as I press the knife a bit harder against him. He squirms a bit and pops out his eyes in fear, so I make sure to retract the blade just a bit to give him room. The last thing I want is to accidentally slice him up like an idiot.

He stutters a bit as he tries to find the words before finally spitting it out. "I-I-I just couldn't let them in! The bottom line is, I knew that if they and the dogs worked together they'd share some of that green stuff. They'd find out I was a changeling, then they'd have me killed! I couldn't chance it!"

Green stuff? Did he mean the zebra stripes that all of the ponies had? I wondered what that stuff did. So it was some kind of agent that revealed changelings when they put it on? It makes sense, but until I hear it from the horse's mouth I ain't lending credence to his claim. Oh, and pun intended of course. Mental self five!

"Oh, and all this? Having them locked up for god knows how long? That was just happenstance?" I gesture to the cocoons with my head to make sure he was indeed seeing what I was seeing. "Or maybe, you just wanted more, and more, not caring that you had a literal army of dogs to feed from."

"What?" He responds in pretty believable confusion. "You got it wrong dude. I'm not like other changelings, I-I-I need them in pods or else I can't eat! Not only that, but the other changelings want me dead! That's why I'm trying so hard to protect this place, I've got nowhere else to go. Though I guess that doesn't matter now since they finally know where I am." Now I like to think I can read these ponies well, and I've been able to so far, but man is it hard to tell if this guy is actually as distraught as he sounded. I guess that's the benefit of being a creature whose sole existence revolves around deception.

"Listen," He continues with a somber voice. "These guys are fine, I'm only one changeling. I couldn't overfeed them even if I wanted to. I was going to let them out... eventually. I just couldn't find the right time!" I crack my neck and roll my shoulders as the feeling in my body returns to full force.

I stand him up while holding my knife to his neck and face him towards the cocoons. "No time like the present, am I right?"

"N-now!?" He stammers in shock. "There's no time! The Changelings!"

I can barely contain my excitement as I crack a shit-eating grin and look at him. "Oh, the changeling attack was a lie. They have no idea where you are as far as I know."

He stops trembling for a moment, and instead of responding he just… looks down in shock. "But.... but I. You..." God bless the guy, he can't even finish his sentence. Am I a bad person for finding this just a little bit funny? Or maybe a lot funny?

"Yep, the ones who are attacking are the ponies, seeking to avenge these guys who they think are dead. I'm not letting you go, and if you want to make a good first impression I'd recommend doing it with ponies who aren't stuck in cocoons. Whaddya say?" I begin to fear that I might've broken him with that as I get no response aside from him staring at the ground with wide eyes, but thankfully he comes to his senses and starts silently linking his magic to the wall.

Step five: Complete.

Chapter 4 - Now for the rest

I look back to the ponies passed out on the floor and sigh. This is going to take a lot of work, but it’s something that needs to be done. I turn my attention to the changeling and take a moment to look him over. He's definitely much shorter than the other changelings I’ve seen, and strangely enough he doesn’t seem to have any wings either. Other than that he looks no different from what I expected. He sat in the chair next to the tiny chips of wood left by the destroyed table we cleared out, and by the look on his face, I can tell that he thinks his whole life is over. It very well could be… unless...

Oh come on Ben, are you really feeling bad for this guy? After everything he’s done? You’re really contemplating a way out for him? He’s a stupid bug that survives by deceiving others and abusing their trust! I look over to his downtrodden face and sigh.

Well, I guess all I can say is… I can relate. That’s the thing with Schadenfreude, I always end up feeling bad afterward. There must be some way I can help him out, right? If anything, then at least for my own conscience. I can’t just throw him to the wolves like this.

I walk over, pulling up the second chair, and sit across from him while putting on my best look of understanding. “Hey man,” He slightly looks up at me with his big sad eyes. “What’s your name?” He doesn’t respond and just looks down again, but I’m not gonna give up that easily. If I was in his position I’d be hoping for a miracle, and right now I think I can deliver so long as he helps me in return. Besides, If I want to control these dogs right, then I’ll need someone who’s been doing it for a while. I’d rather make a friend than an enemy.

“I know I said my name is King Coigne, but my friends just call me Ben.” My calm voice seems to do the trick as he looks back up at me. I flash him a smile and I swear that I can see a glimmer of hope in his eyes. It’s only for a brief moment before he quickly shifts his gaze, but I know when I’ve got someone on the hook.

“So… what? Are you trying to say we’re friends or something?” He replies skeptically.

I sway my head back and forth as if I’m giving it thought, but I already know where I want to lead him. “I’d like to be. I’ve always wanted to be friends with a changeling,” I smile even wider as my answer draws a slight chuckle from the bug. It seems the small interaction has gotten him to relax a bit, so now’s as good a time as any to strike my deal. “Listen, I know it’s tough out here these days. I’m not trying to get you killed, believe me. I just wanted to make sure everyone in this cave was safe before any fighting broke out.

“If you help me get the dogs on my side, then I guarantee you won’t fall into anyone’s hands. Not the dogs, not the ponies, and certainly not the changelings.” His smile drops into a frown as he contemplates my offer. He shifts in his seat uncomfortably and sighs with uncertainty.

“You promise?” He asks nervously. Hey, I’ll do my best with what I’ve got. If this guy scratches my back I’ll scratch his, species be damned. Call me what you want but I’m not racist.

“Hand to God,” I say while making the appropriate gesture. “We come up with a plan, your identity isn’t revealed, and you can stay here with us as long as you want,” I see the beginnings of a smile on his face, but it’s then that I remember something important, the expectations of my return. I narrow my eyes at him and stare directly into his. “So long as you remember who’s gonna be in charge from here on out.” You know, I thought I’d feel worse about throwing that in there, but it actually felt kind of awesome intimidating him like that.

The Changeling looks shocked for a second and goes rigid as he nods his head in an awkward robotic fashion. “Y-yes, sir.” I reach over and give him a comforting pat on the shoulder, but then I realize that it's less comforting for him and more terrifying as he flinches with every touch. You know, I should probably stop doing this... at some point... when I get bored... aaaaaand done! “Well… the name is Warble," He says with some slight hesitation after I finish scaring him. "What’s the plan boss?”

Well, ain’t that the million-dollar question. Now, what step was I on? Ah to hell with it, I’m going Darkside here. I look down at the unconscious ponies, my eyes lingering on both Derpy Hooves and Applebloom, and so far the only thing I can think of is how glad I am that he left their clothes on.

Come on, genius. You got yourself into this mess, now it's time to think your way out. Think back to your countless years of training Ben. Ever since you were a kid you've known how to deal with situations like this.

I start to nod my head as the next stage of my plan begins to form, a plan so crazy that it just might work. If all goes well then everything will have fallen into place by morning. The only things we’ll need is some solid acting, and the cornerstone of any great plan, a scapegoat.

I look over to Warble and point directly at him, gaining a flinch in response. “Alright Bugboy, I've got a plan. But first, do you know anyone in this den who would be perfect for throwing under a bus?” I wonder just how far I’m going to have to dig this hole, but so long as it ensures we get the den then I guess it’ll be worth it. The den is safe, and once they’re safe I can start finding a way home. There’s no telling how long I have until my luck runs out, but I certainly don't want to be here when it does.

“Uhh,” Warble starts with a bit of confusion on his face. “What’s a bus?”

Fluttershy and the scouting party were left laying down and staring at the stars as the minutes ticked by agonizingly slow. Their initial worry for the coming events had faded, and in its stead came a wave of boredom that threatened to make them all pass out. Nearly all of them sat playing with rocks, drawing images in the dirt, or napping away before the time of battle.

Fluttershy in particular laid back with her head against a log and continuously smacked a large stick in her hand against the dirt, creating a metronomic sound that further began to lull the ponies' minds. She was using it as a timer though, as every tap corresponded with another second passing by. If she had kept track as well as she'd thought, then they'd be coming up on an hour and twenty minutes in a few more taps.

"Hey,” Shamrock growled as he rolled over on his napping spot, grabbing Fluttershy’s attention. “Would you kindly stop that?" The light grey stallion said while not even attempting to hide his aggravation.

The mare narrowed her eyes at him and proceeded to tap on the ground faster. "Oh, I'm so sorry, is this better? Huh? Huh?" The taps got louder, and each one made the stallion's scowl deepen.

He turned over and tried to ignore it, but Fluttershy looked at his back and continued to tap even harder. Every time she did he flinched, and every time he flinched her smile grew wider. “You better knock that shit off before I break your fingers!” He said while turning over once again and pointing to her.

“Well please do, it would help alleviate the boredom.” Fluttershy gave her candid response while slowly looking back up at the stars and tapping once again, albeit much more softly this time. That didn’t matter to Shamrock though as he quickly ran over to her, snatched the stick, and chucked it over the crest of the hill as hard as he could. He shot another aggravated glare down at Fluttershy who just gave him a deadpan stare. "Nice." She said, but Shamrock just scoffed at her and walked back over to his resting spot.

She let out another sigh of boredom and blew her hair away from her face. While that was certainly a welcome distraction, it had only lasted for a few seconds, and now she'd lost her track of the time. Feeling extra bored now, she looked over to Verus and noted his unchanged stance, the fabric portions of his armor around the legs jostling ever so slightly in the wind as he watched the den vigilantly.

Her thoughts lingered back to the locust again, wondering just what was in store the longer they stayed with them. Although, that was assuming they even did after today. She'd had a lot of time to think about her actions, about the things she had done or planned to do. For the first time in a long while, she questioned if they were right.

There were always things to do, day in and day out, but in this brief moment under the stars, she finally had time to think about why she was doing things as opposed to what, when, or how. Did she have the right to say who deserved what? There was a time once where she’d argue no, but that felt like so long ago now. She’d learned from an early age that there were always two sides of a story, and no matter how just or righteous she may believe herself to be, she would always be the villain from someone else's side. She almost was the villain tonight if it hadn't been for a certain somepony.

She growled to herself and shook her head in disbelief. Of course, she was going to be a villain in someone's story. Those changelings probably thought of her like the boogie mare, and that was the way they SHOULD feel after everything they'd done. The dogs were no different in that regard. Ben's time was almost up, but she knew that he couldn't have survived more than a minute down there. He was so sure he could just waltz in there with zero repercussions, that 'peace' with those savage canines was just a couple of sweetened words away.

This was the real world, not some fairy tale. He was a fool to think any different, and she'd be one too if she ever let a poisonous thought like that cloud her mind again. Her ponies needed strength and a strong will, because she'd seen first hand what happens when you tried to approach things the peaceful way. She couldn't bear to let that happen again.

She remembered watching him walk down that hill, the silence that followed after his screams echoed down the den. The feeling she was left with reminded her too much of the day she saw those ponies leave the camp. The same day that Applebloom disappeared without telling anypony. It was a feeling she remembered all too well. She remembered wondering to herself if that was how Rainbow Dash had felt on the day everything fell apart. Watching helplessly as one of her friends made a terrible... terrible mistake.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and steadied her breathing, doing her best not to think back to those moments in her life. There were a lot of lessons to be learned from them, yes, but that didn't mean it didn't heart to try and comb through it all. She did her best to turn her mind to other things in her surroundings, and that's when she heard a familiar scratching sound coming from Verus' helmet. She turned to look at the Theron, her ears perking up in surprise, as a very familiar voice filtered out.

"Verus, we're coming out. Everyone hold your fire." Fluttershy gasped in shock and ran to the edge of the mound concealing them, with the rest of the party close behind. They watched the moonlit field below with overwhelming anticipation as the once flat earth started to rise like bread baking in an oven. Out of the newly dug holes came several diamond dog guards with their spears not in their paws, but on their backs.

The guards totaled around twelve, and once emerged they all filed into two lines leading towards the hill. A final hole burst at the start of their line, a hole much larger than the others, and from it walked a confident king with a newfound crown tied to his waist. Alongside him as he walked was a tall husky diamond dog in a jacket. Finally, in the king's arms was… Fluttershy couldn't even believe it. As the king emerged from the hole he held an unconscious teenage filly in his arms. He had found Applebloom.

Before even waiting to be called, Fluttershy sprinted down the hill as fast as she could. She ran across the field and directly towards the king in a matter of seconds, and as she got closer she could see the stoic look on his face. Through it though, were cracks of sorrow he was trying to hold back. "I don't know what's wrong,” He said as she ran up. “She's breathing but she's not waking up." Lifting her a bit higher, he presented the filly to her.

Fluttershy put a hand to her head and nearly teared up when she felt a healthy heat upon the girl's skin. "Give her here." The king obliged, relinquishing his grip on Applebloom. Fluttershy lowered her to the ground and held her while checking for her pulse as well as any exterior wounds. Not a thing had changed since the last day she'd seen her, and needless to say, it was surreal holding her again. She only wished that she was awake.

There were some crunches of dirt to her right, and as she looked to the source she saw the tall husky approach. "The others are inside resting at the infirmary," the husky said, his calm yet commanding voice catching her off guard. Just who was this? "Come, maybe seeing them will enlighten you to the problem." He turned and headed for the large hole just as the rest of their scouting party joined them, but Fluttershy was not in the mood.

"Hold on! What the heck happened down there? Who are you? What do you mean ‘the others’?" The dog had already descended the newly dug steps before she could question him, so instead, she just turned to the locust king. "What’s going on?"

The king shook his head and knelt beside her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's okay, I know you're confused. I'll explain along the way, but for now, we need to go check on the others. Should I?” He asked while gesturing to Applebloom. Fluttershy shook her head and looked back to Shamrock, and with a shared nod she passed the filly onto his care.

He beckoned for them to follow him inside, and immediately after that, Verus ran right to his side with his weapons in tow. As they all walked forward the guard dogs from before began filling in the tunnel behind them to conceal their entry. As the King started reattaching his weapons to his armor, Fluttershy began the questioning. “So do you mind telling us what’s going on? Who are the others?” She asked while making sure to watch her step on the rocky and loose dirt beneath her.

“I came down here and started a conversation with their leader, Warble,” He said while taking two odd-looking balls connected to chains and stuffing them in a pouch on his leg. “He had no memory of a group of Ponies coming here. After doing some digging and proving myself in combat, he began to listen to reason.” Fluttershy had to pause for a minute as he mentioned that, and her eyes naturally traveled back down to the silver crown tied to his waist using one of the leather straps of his armor.

As she ruminated on that thought, they approached a heavily packed dirt wall where ‘Warble’ stood. “Warble, open it up already.” The king commanded. Fluttershy looked at the dog more closely, noting the stark size difference and just how strong he looked, but instinctively her appraisal of power began.

Surely he couldn’t have been as difficult to fight as he seemed. Considering how long the king was down here it must’ve only taken a few minutes at most. She even gave herself a fair shot at taking him down. The Diamond Dog nodded and pounded his fist against the wall. There was a slight rumbling, and the densely packed rock and dirt began to crumble away like it was made of sand. It continued falling in the section he had hit for several inches until it broke through to another well-lit room on the other side.

“Thank you Warble,” Ben said with a curt nod.

“Of course, Alpha.” The dog dipped his head in quiet respect. Fluttershy’s jaw dropped momentarily, and she had to look to the ponies behind her to make sure that she wasn’t hallucinating. Sure enough, all of them shared in her disbelief. She quickly shook her head and filed this moment away for later, making sure to focus her attention on the task at hand before trying to wrap her head around this one.

They followed the king inside of the room, passing by the husky dog along the way, and once inside they saw several unconscious ponies laying on beds of varying quality with two female Diamond Dogs tending to them. Some beds were made of compact dirt with cushions on top, and others looked like they were pilfered from pony settlements and stuffed in here. On top of the beds were five very familiar faces, the faces of ponies that none of them ever thought they’d see again.

“Here they are,” The king gestured to an empty bed for Shamrock to place Applebloom down. “After our little spat, their leader helped me get the facts straight. We did a little searching and found them all encased in cocoons deep in the den,” There was a small echo of gasps from the ponies as he continued explaining the situation. “Oh yes. A changeling was hiding among them. We’re already working on finding them as soon as possible.”

He walked over to Twinkleshine’s bed and stood over her, looking down at the pink-haired mare with sorrow. “Until then though, we need to work on waking these ponies up. And that’s hopefully where you come in.” After the very long-winded explanation had died down, Fluttershy and the others quickly regained their bearings and got to work. Even if most of them had more experience with field medicine than anything else, they still needed to try.

Fluttershy quickly rushed over to Applebloom, while the others each began to look after a single patient. ”Amethyst, can you detect any changeling magic?” She asked their resident unicorn, hopeful that her limited magical repertoire would still give her something.

“Oh yeah, I can feel it. It’s been easier to tell after how much we’ve seen it.” She responded as she felt through the room with her magic.

Sweetie Drops looked up from her pal Twinkleshine. “Do you know what’s wrong?”

“Uh… a little harder to say I’m afraid.”

“Well, keep looking,” Fluttershy ordered. Amethyst hummed for a moment and closed her eyes while giving a thumbs up. Fluttershy turned back to Applebloom and gently laid a hand on her forehead, a small pit forming in her chest as she watched over her. Her physical check gave her nothing so far, so all she could do was wait and see if Amethyst could pull something up. “Don’t worry Applebloom. You’ll be alright.” She whispered to her before attempting to back up. Before she could, however, she suddenly saw a familiar brown Stetson appear in front of her. She looked up and saw the king standing above her, presenting the hat with a somber expression on his grey face.

“It was with her when we uncovered them. It looked important so… I held onto it,” He tilted it for a second and looked away bashfully. “To, you know, keep it safe.” She gulped for a moment and accepted the hat, placing it beside Applebloom's head.

Fluttershy stared at the filly for a bit, but then glanced back over to Ben after noticing that he hadn’t left her side. Not wanting the moment to turn awkward due to the silence, she figured she should offer her thanks. “Hey,” He looked down at her curiously. “I’m… glad you’re okay. You had us going with all of that screaming for help.” She felt a bit peeved at her own choice of words for a moment, but even if it wasn't exactly the thank you she was going for, it was still a sentiment she meant to pass along.

The king laughed for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck cutely. “Yeah, well sometimes you have to act helpless to get an in,” She gave him an inquisitive look, and she thought she could see a few drops of nervous sweat on his brow. “B-but I certainly was still in control after all. That’s why I told Verus not to help unless it was on the comms.” He tapped the temple of his helmet and smiled widely, an action that made Fluttershy chuckle.

Now that she had gotten past that, it was time to finally stand up and thank him. She faced the king momentarily and stuck out her hand for a shake, to which he gratefully accepted. As they shook hands she opened her mouth to say thank you, but when she looked into his bright golden eyes something stopped her. They stood like that for a solid minute, with Fluttershy desperately trying to force the words out, and the king growing increasingly uncomfortable.

Once the minute had gone by, the king slowly retracted his hand and coughed into it. “Well, I should really check in with Verus. He’s probably already trying to discipline the guards and I do NOT want him breaking them.” He turned to leave, but she couldn’t let him until she said something.

“Hey!” She called out to him before he had reached the exit. He faced her once more, and again she froze without any explanation. The words got caught in her throat, and for a few more seconds she just stood there in silence. Pretty soon, she was even screaming at herself to get it over with, to just say what needed to be said. “You should… contact the others. Let them know it’s safe to come. Better than having them travel in the day and risk getting spotted.” Her heart rate increased out of nowhere as she said this, but thankfully it seemed as though he hadn’t noticed anything strange.

He nodded his head and smiled. “Thanks, that’s a good idea. I’ll contact them as soon as possible. If you need anything just let one of the dogs know.” With that he exited the room, leaving it in silence.

Fluttershy cursed herself and clenched her fists, once again regretting what she'd said even if it was sound advice. She needed to thank him properly, and she promised that the next chance she had she’d do it, no matter what. She turned back towards the beds and froze when she saw the other ponies staring at her with expressions ranging from confused brows to coy smiles.

She felt her face heat up for a moment as she was suddenly reminded of how small the room was, and how loud she had been that entire time. “Sh-shut up!” She said while turning away from them, doing her best to ignore their muffled snickers.

Alright, glad that's over with. I don't think any of them suspected anything, so once again we get to live another day.

Hold on, it's still the same day ain't it? Jesus I just want to get some sleep already. I'm pretty sure I'll pass out if I stop moving. I look back at the exit of the infirmary and shake my head in disbelief as I turn my thoughts away from all of those comfy looking beds.

What can occupy my mind right now? Oh! Fluttershy. Man, talking with her had to be one of the most awkward experiences I’ve ever had in my life. Seriously you’d think that with all this new fangled skull cracking, mass-murdering, group leading experience that Fluttershy would at least learn how to talk to people. I mean sure, once again, I’m no expert considering my most frequent social interaction is saying thanks to my delivery drivers, but at least I have my acting to make up for the pitfalls. That’s how I’m always able to convince other people that I’m alright. Which I am of course! I’m… totally fine.

And on the topic of thanks, at least that’s something I actually give to people who deserve it. I mean fuck me right? I only stopped her from committing a war crime, then tamed an entire den of diamond dogs to keep her ponies safe, then topped it all off by bringing back the ponies whose losses scarred her beyond belief. But no, no, I guess I’m just not trying hard enough right? Whatever, it’s not like I do this for attention anyway.

Haha! That’s a load of horseshit and you know it. Also, really Ben? Tamed an entire den of diamond dogs? You got lucky and you fucking know it, you idiot.

Ah yes, self deprecation. Always there to make me feel like shit no matter what I do. Can't live with it....... yeah.

As I travel further away from the infirmary I start to hear the hissing shouts of a familiar Theron around the corner. As I turn it I see a cave intersection where Verus has several diamond dog guards lined up. I guess I remembered way more about him than I thought because I guessed what he was trying to do before he even did it.

“You serve the greatest king on the face of the planet, and you will prove that you are worthy of such an honor!” He pumps a fist in the air triumphantly before turning to face the dogs who seem too confused to even register what he’s saying. “Look at you! Idiotic, undisciplined, you’re barely even worth the effort! None of you even confiscated the ponies’ weapons!” Jesus this guy needs to chill. We haven’t even been here for more than a few minutes and he’s already acting like I was just about to be assassinated.

I loudly clear my throat to gain his attention, and when he looks at me I silently wave him over to my corner of the room. “This conversation isn’t over. Dismissed.” He waves them all off, and after a second of confused babbling, the bulldogs shuffle slowly down separate halls. As he walks up to me I once again wave my hand, and this time he seems to stop himself before dropping to one knee. That’s what I call progress.

“Verus, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, let’s give it a bit of time before we start whipping the new guards into shape,” He gives a nod of affirmation. “For now, we must gather Roc and head back to the cave. We need to gather the others and lead them here before daybreak. Every moment we don’t they could be in danger.” I guess I could have delivered that line with a bit more urgency, but honestly I'm not excited to be going on yet another expedition tonight. At this point I am done, and I really don't give a fuck who knows it.

Verus looks at me strangely and slowly nods his head, but all the while he starts to shift uncomfortably. My apathy gets washed away as I see this, and I can tell that he desperately wants to tell me something. Did I do something wrong here? Did I make another misstep?

“My king…” He starts slowly and proceeds to shake his head. “Could you not just commune with Chorsus? He is a spotter. Isn’t that why you left him there?” Wait, is that something I can do? Bullshit I don’t remember Myraah doing stuff like that in the games. Well okay, there was that one time where she communed telepathically with General RAAM in the first game. Then there was the third game… its description of a spotter being the eyes of the queen. Jesus Christ I could have done that this entire time?

Well, now he’s giving me the stink eye. I had hoped I'd never need to use this, but it’s time to initiate ‘fuck you I’m the king’ mode. “Well of course I knew that! What kind of imbecile do you take me for?” Verus backs up, the edges of his mouth falling into a distraught frown.

“Forgive me! Please forgive me, my lord!” He shrieks frantically as he drops to one knee and avoids my eyes. Okay, crisis averted, but I’d like to keep these incidents to a minimum. I need to make sure I don't get sloppy, so it's best if I start remembering everything I can about the games ASAP.

I give a little grunt of disgust and roll my eyes. “Very well, I will look past your insult for now, but do go and fetch Roc so we may have everyone under proper supervision, General.” I deliver the sentence with a very haughty tone, but the moment that last word slips out I see a sharp change in Verus.

He lifts his head in one sudden motion and looks at me in what I think is disbelief. “Ge-.” He stops himself and looks back down, before slamming his fist against his chest. “Your General shall not fail you! That I promise on my life!” I have to stop myself from flinching as he attempts to shout loud enough for the people above ground to hear. Without another word he takes off down one of the halls in a flash, laughing the entire time.

I’m getting a distinct sense of Deja vu here, because I think I just struck another promise that I wasn’t thinking about. Well I guess if anyone was fit for the role as general it was Verus. Kind of strange how he wasn't the general already though. Well enough about that, right now I need to figure out how to ‘commune’ with Chorsus as he put it, whatever that means. If I pass the information along, maybe I won't even have to go.

I slowly slide down the wall and cross my legs. I assume this is something like meditation, so let’s try that first. I focus inwards on my thoughts and try my best to ignore the sounds and smells surrounding me. I steady my breathing as a calm feeling washes over me, and suddenly it becomes much easier to block out everything else.

Oh my god, am I doing it? I can’t feel my arms and legs anymore so I must be. Why can’t I see anything though? I can feel myself moving, but I’m not in control of it. I feel like I should be worried, but something about the sensation feels... natural to me. Shortly after thinking that I feel the sensation of grass grazing against my arms. My vision and senses come back in full force, but they still seem to have a mind of their own. Almost as if I’m a passenger in my own body.

I look up to the right and glance at Zecora as she lies in wait with me, covered in mud, then look down at the boltok gripped tightly in my grey hands. I feel uncertainty as the ground beneath us thumps and shudders rhythmically. Once it pauses I look through the bushes I’m hiding behind and glare at the massive blue beast hunting us.

“Is that… what I think it is?” I say out loud, my voice echoing and ethereal. I flinch backward in fear as my voice startles me, and for some reason, I feel as though I speak with a second mouth.

“My king?” The voice comes out gravelly and tough, but the moment I finish speaking a roar in front of us breaks through the silence. The creature has spotted us once again, so we need to move.

My eyes shoot back open, and I let out a sputtering gasp as I return to my own body. I fall forward and nearly vomit on the floor as the nausea and aching quickly overwhelms me. Jesus, it feels like I have a power drill in both ears, and they’re trying to meet in the middle!

“Ben? Ben!” A frantic voice yells from my right before rushing over, flipping me on to my back, and removing my helmet. Well would you look at that, it's Fluttershy. She's really pretty, and her lap is very comfortable. “Are you okay? Can you hear me?” Oh my god lady! Please shut the fuck up, I get that you’re worried but you don’t need to shout! Wait a minute… I saw something, didn’t I? Come on man, focus.

I reach my hand up, and she quickly grabs onto it. “The others…. In danger,” I stammer out while trying to catch my breath. Whatever this communing bullshit is, I do NOT want to go through it again. I feel like I’ve had the flu for five days. “We need to stop…. Help.” I push her away from me and slowly lift my head from her lap. I barely even make it to my feet though before I start falling back down directly into Fluttershy's arms..

“Woah, you’re not going anywhere,” She says sternly. You’re not my mother, I’m just fine. Wait, did I not say that out loud? I meant to say that out loud. “Yeah, you did.” She responds to my inner thoughts like the magical mind reader she is. I look back at her, and suddenly her worried face starts to get extremely blurry. You might want to get that looked at Fluttershy.

“O-others…” I stammer out one last time.

“Don’t worry,” Her voice echoes into the distance, and I feel a deep calm wash over me. Looks like I’m finally about to get some sleep huh?

I just hope I don't wake up here in the morning.

Chapter 5 - Assistance is required

Pinkie Pie stood at the edge of the huddled group of ponies and silently watched over them as they slept. She gripped one of the metal changeling spears tightly in her right hand as a feeling of dread quickly grew inside of her. Ever since Fluttershy and the others had left she’d felt it, but it was only now that she’d realized what her body was telling her.

Her stomach rumbled, her knees quaked, and her ears swiveled from side to side on their own. While she had never felt this strange combination of twitches before, she knew what having several at once meant. A doozy was on its way, and there was no telling when it would strike.

She shifted her eyes from the ponies fast asleep to the only other camp member awake with her, Snake Eyes the medic. He was a light grey earth pony with a scraggly darker grey mane, and one of the few ponies that were already medically trained before coming to their camp. He had been tirelessly working to help the wounded after they fled to the cave, and gave a special amount of attention to their most serious patient. Beside him, laying against the ground with her head propped up by a filled satchel bag, was a heavily panting and sweating Zecora. While she had seemed stable when they first came to the cave, she quickly got worse after Fluttershy and the others had left.

"Any luck?" Pinkie asked silently as she crouched on the other side of Zecora. Snake Eyes shook his head and looked down at the zebra nervously.

"I don't know what else to do," he replied with a tremble in his voice. "Her fever won't go down, and we don't have anything to strengthen her body's defenses," He growled to himself and shook his head. ”Those damn changelings! I feel so… helpless!” Suddenly, Zecora let out a pained grunt, arching her back against the cold floor while squeezing Snake Eyes' hand. Her pained cries lessened after a moment, until she fell once again and returned to her heavy breathing.

Pinkie placed a hand on Zecora's head and grit her teeth as her pinkie sense continued to flare up. "Please don't be what I think it is." She whispered to herself while watching their once proud and valiant leader fight for her very life. They were no stranger to magical wounds inflicted by the changelings, but never before had somepony survived a confrontation with the queen, let alone taken a blast from her head-on. They had no idea what to expect from her injury going forward, but it certainly didn't look good so far.

Pinkie looked down at her friend, her mind and heart racing as she struggled to come to terms with the seemingly inevitable fate that her Pinkie sense suggested. She couldn't let this happen, she wouldn't let this happen. Never before had she successfully thwarted her Pinkie sense, effectively ending it before it could come to be, but today was the day. There was no other choice, but to defy fate itself.

"We need to do something, we can't just wait here," Snake Eyes said with frustration as he stood up and faced the distant cave entrance. Pinkie quickly rushed over and put her arm in front of him, stopping his departure before he could psych himself up any further.

“And just what is it you think you’re going to do?” She asked him skeptically until he forcefully pushed her arm out of the way.

“I don’t know, I’ll… search the forest. Some Alca root might do the trick.” He said with uncertainty evident in his voice.

Pinkie shook her head and gave a huff. “Right, 'cause you’re the best at navigating the Everfree?” She asked sarcastically. Snake Eyes curled inward at the, admittedly true, insult and faced her with rage and fear in his eyes.

“Then what the hell should we do?!” He said in a near shout, still trying to be mindful of the ponies fast asleep nearby.

Pinkie’s eyes grew soft as she stared at him, waiting for his fear-induced anger to simmer down before answering, then put a hand on his shoulder. “There’s another way we can get help for her, and it’s a heck of a lot less crazy than wandering the forest at night.” Snake Eyes shook his head in confusion until Pinkie turned to look at the other side of the cave. Once his gaze followed, his look of confusion dropped into a look of horror.

Over on the other side of the cave were their saviors, the locust, sitting against the wall opposite to them. They had all stuck together in their little group similar to the ponies, with not a single word being spoken between them in the hours after their king had left with Fluttershy. The only time they ever made their presence apparent was when they'd occasionally cast their fierce glares over them.

Against the wall were the two pony-like locust, the shorter one with his many-eyed helmet, and the taller one with his glistening and razor-sharp armor. It was hard to tell what the armored one was doing in the darkness of the cave after they had shut off their flashlights, but there wasn’t a single pony who couldn’t see the shorter one glaring at them with his bright spider-esque helmet. Laying at their feet were the tinier locust creatures covered in pitch-black armor, the only visible parts of them were their pale white arms peeking through bits of the metal.

She figured their best chance was to ask them for help, rather than roaming the forest blindly waiting to be captured by a changeling or maimed by the forest’s inhabitants. She looked back over to Snake Eyes with a tired smile, trying her best to keep the optimism up in her voice. "Listen, if they were willing to help before, then who's to say they won't do it again?" She argued, much to Snake Eyes' dismay. "We just have to try."

"No way," He fired back almost instantly. "You saw what those things did. They're monsters Pinkie Pie, and we were nothing short of lucky that their master had them on a tight leash!" Snake Eyes pleaded with her, dreading the idea of what could happen.

Pinkie looked at them once more and gulped in apprehension. While she did say that she’d never judge somepony based on how they looked, they were certainly not ponies. She ultimately knew that looks didn’t define a creature and that her best bet was to just suck it up and ask them, but that was easier said than done. Even if the taller one had been the locust that freed her from the cage, she still couldn’t get the image of his gruesome fighting out of her head. She could still picture the shredded changeling remains dripping from his armor even after it had long since been cleaned.

Pinkie Pie shook her head and stared back at the locust with determination. Even if she knew what they could do, that still didn’t stop the facts. Zecora needed help, and she just knew that the locust had the means to do it. “We have to try.” She whispered one last time, both to Snake Eyes, and herself.

“Tell me, how this is any less crazy than going into the forest for a remedy?” Snake Eyes asked.

Pinkie rolled her eyes and smirked at him. “Well, The difference here is that I'm actually good at talking to ponies, while you get lost in the Everfree even when the sun's out." Snake Eyes was about to disagree, but his voice died on delivery once he realized how right she was. “Just trust me. I’ll be there and back in two winks and a shake.” With a small bit of hesitation, Snake Eyes finally gave a nod of agreement and accepted the spear from her. Pinkie then turned towards the locust and started walking.

Her hoofsteps echoed through the cave as she approached them with a confident gait, but that adrenaline-filled grit soon came crashing down as all of them quickly snapped their heads in her direction. She stumbled for a moment from the sudden attention, but after a quick recovery, she resumed her advance, albeit at a much slower pace.

Pinkie stopped a few feet in front of them, prompting the larger locust to cross their arms, and the smaller ones to rise and growl like dogs. She attempted to introduce herself as calmly as she could, but she was interrupted by the smaller locust walking towards her menacingly. She backed away from the beasties, her heart racing, but relief eventually came in the form of the helmeted locust raising his hand for silence. The small creatures looked up at him and stopped growling, lowering themselves to the ground once more as he spoke.

“Why have you come?” He asked in a deep and intimidating voice. Pinkie gulped once more as her legs started quaking, but soon that quaking was accompanied by some stomach growling and ear swiveling. Her body was reminding her why she was there, and she was not going to lose sight of what needed to be done.

With renewed bravery, Pinkie Pie stood up straight and looked down at him. “My name is Pinkie Pie, and I’ve come here to ask for your help.” Both he and his tall companion looked up at her, their armor concealing their expressions exceptionally well, but Pinkie continued to stand confident just as she saw Fluttershy do earlier that day. The image of a brave pony like her friend staring down these creatures filled her with hope, reminding her of what it meant to have no fear.

The locust continued to look at her in silence, before letting out a huff of air. “What a surprise, the vile and incompetent creatures are demanding aid from us.” He responded as he looked off to the side and spat. Pinkie grimaced as his words cut at her, and suddenly she felt an overwhelming urge to kick his ugly yellow teeth in. She may have been all for raising the spirits of her friends, but she was still a warrior. After the day she’d had, she was in no mood to be taking that kind of attitude when they hadn’t even asked for them to help in the first place. She clenched her fists in frustration but ultimately decided to let go of the anger and hold her tongue, instead allowing the insult to glance off of her. Now was not the time to give in to petty anger when Zecora’s life was in jeopardy.

With a deep breath, Pinkie refocused her train of thought and looked down once more with a sincere expression. “I'm not demanding, I only came to ask. Please, somepony is hurt really bad, and she needs help, or else…” Pinkie’s words got caught in her throat for a moment before she silently forced out the rest of her sentence. “...She might not make it.”

More silence followed, with neither of the locust responding to her. “I know you’ve already helped us, but we can’t just let her suffer like this. Can’t you please find it in your heart to help? I’ll do anything!” She pleaded, hoping to reach through to their emotions.

The locust raised his hand while remaining seated. "Enough!" He interrupted harshly, silencing the mare. "Our king commanded... and so it shall be," He then pointed to the armored locust and back to Pinkie Pie. "Krogg! Deal with this." Krogg gave a long groan of understanding, before rising to his feet and approaching her.

She could do nothing but stare in awe as the behemoth towered over her by at least another foot, his expression and body completely covered in razor sharp armor that was just as menacing as the moment she first saw him. "Take me to the injured one." He said in a raspy, yet very deep, voice. It was reminiscent of a pony who shouted a lot and lost their voice, only to keep shouting some more instead of recovering. It sent a shiver down her spine.

Krogg looked down at the pink pony, and once again praised his King's forethought. He had seemed so adamant in his orders to protect the prisoners, especially this pink one, but Krogg hadn't the foggiest clue as to why. The king then went on to explain that it was because she was likely to be the leader in the absence of the yellow one, and once again he had been proven right. Despite this though, he could see that she wasn't nearly as capable as the other who had bravely, or foolishly in his opinion, stood before him and Verus.

Pinkie finally shook off her shock and regained her focus, taking a step back from the locust and nodding. "Alright... thank you. Follow me and... keep your distance. Okay?" Much to her relief, Krogg nodded and silently followed after her as she led him back to Zecora. Pinkie expected him to make a huge ruckus the closer they got to the others, but she quickly realized that his footsteps were no louder than her own hooves. For some reason, even under all of that heavy armor, he moved like he was a ghost.

They silently returned to Snake Eyes and Zecora, with Krogg waiting a few feet back as Pinkie approached. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Snake Eyes whispered as he stared at the menacing figure in the distance. "Is it... going to help?" He asked while tightly gripping the spear in his hand.

Pinkie noticed his anxiousness and quickly stepped in front of him. "Yes, he is. So don't worry." Snake Eyes nodded, but still gripped the spear like he was ready to use it.

"Are you sure?" He asked. "I don't see any tools on him. All I see is sharp armor and," He gulped for a moment as he looked at the only portion of his face not covered in armor. "razor teeth."

Pinkie too looked back at Krogg and briefly started to question his lack of tools, but ultimately dropped it. She still felt confident that this was their only real option, and if her Pinkie sense wasn't already occupied with freaking her the hell out, she was sure she'd get fluttering eyelids and a crinkly nose. It was the tell tale sign that somepony good was on their way. "I'm sure he'll help. I can feel it."

Snake Eyes needed no further convincing, since any time Pinkie said she could 'feel it' there was no point in questioning it. He quickly breathed a sigh of relief and backed up as Pinkie turned to call Krogg over. "Yipe!" She yelped as she turned to see the locust looming behind her silently.

"Is this the injured one?" He said while staring at Snake Eyes intently.

Pinkie quickly stepped back and gave him a fake smile. "N-no, not him. It's her actually." She pointed at Zecora, and like a robot who's primary directive was to heal, Krogg automatically trudged towards her. Pinkie could tell by his body language that he meant no harm at the moment, but he carried himself in such a naturally menacing way that even his help seemed intimidating.

Krogg knelt beside Zecora and inspected her, quickly realizing that she was the other pony the king had explicitly ordered them to protect at all costs. This one was different from the others, mainly due to the high likelihood that she possessed information of the utmost value to their king. He had said 'at all costs' which meant that anything less than the best when preserving her life would likely land him into an early grave. Letting her die was absolutely out of the question.

Pinkie and Snake Eyes watched with bated breath as Krogg reached out his hand and hovered it directly over her ab wound with his palm facing down. He slowly started to hum and chant beside her, and as he did the razor-sharp armor on his back started wiggling from left to right as if it were a snake being entranced by the melodic tones of his voice.

They watched in awe as he worked his strange magic, then kept a close eye on Zecora’s body for any possible changes. They weren't sure what he was trying to do, but it seemed like he was satisfied with whatever it happened to be as he abruptly ended his chant and stood back up. Without a word, he turned towards the wall and placed his hand against it, then continued to growl in the same manner as before.

“What in the world is he doing?” Snake Eyes whispered to Pinkie Pie, but the only thing she could do was shrug.

"I don't know, why are you asking me?" Pinkie responded with a bit of sarcasm. "If you're curious, you should try him."

"Sorry," Snake Eyes replied with a lot of sarcasm. "I thought you were the one who was good at talking to ponies."

"Wiseguy, huh?" Pinkie looked off to Krogg and whistled, successfully getting his attention. Once his eyes were on them, Snake Eyes immediately froze in place, questioning whether or not Pinkie was only slightly, or completely crazy. "What uhhh... whatcha doin?" She asked with a smile.

Krogg tilted his head for a moment, unamused by her sudden interruption, then turned back towards the wall while muttering a soft answer. "Helping."

Pinkie nudged Snake Eyes' arm and whispered to him. "He says he's hel-"

"I know what he said Pinkie Pie!" He interrupted with a sharp hiss, eliciting a muffled giggle from the mare.

Krogg ignored their annoying voices and focused on the wall as he contemplated his next move. He had felt the striped pony's life force quickly dwindling, as a strange entity wormed its way through her body. There would be no way to fix it with anything short of a link of his own, effectively overwriting whatever magic had stricken her. He would need a very specific healing shout to complete that process, but if he wanted that to work he'd need to find a way to bypass the biological barriers between both bipeds, that being locust and pony.

There was no way of doing that without their scientists and splicing equipment, well, no way except one. He glanced down at the injured striped pony for a moment, then suddenly looked away in what he was ashamed to admit was fear. Was he truly willing to go that far? Even as the words 'at all costs' echoed in his mind, the thought of linking her made his stomach churn. Could he truly share that privilege with a creature such as this without his king's explicit permission?

Krogg shivered as he imagined the many ways his king would make him suffer for even thinking of such a blasphemous action. He was a high shaman for the trinity of worms for hollow's sake, and he dared to contemplate an act as heinous as that? Krogg spent a minute or two internally berating himself for his thoughts, until he came to a worrying realization. Without any alternative options, there was only one thing left for him to do. Even if it costed his life, this pony was the key to something so grand that even the king himself would want such a vile creature to be protected. In the face of knowledge worthy of captivating his all knowing mind, Krogg's life was but a small price to pay.

With newfound resolve, and acceptance of his fate, he pushed his fingers into the wall and started chanting faster, calling upon his link to the worms within. After about a minute of sustained humming and growling, a large worm about as thick as a cigar tunneled out of the rock and into his palm where it began to thrash around violently. It wasn't as big as the ones he was used to, but it would have to suffice for his purposes.

Krogg turned to face the others and gripped the worm tightly, constricting its movement to nothing more than a slight twitch. He began to growl once more, increasing the volume ever so slightly as he tampered with the invertebrate's biology.

Pinkie and Snake Eyes watched with both awe, and confusion, as the worm in Krogg's hand changed before their very eyes. At first, it looked like an oversized earthworm, but as Krogg growled it began to harden like a rock and shrivel up, if only slightly. In the end, it flashed a bright yellow hue as his process had been completed. It looked like he was holding a living rock in his hands that only moved slightly from left to right.

Krogg started panting as he finished the ritual but looked down with pride at the newly made proto-Rockworm. It wasn't too bad, considering it was his first try. "Finished." He said while proudly displaying his creation.

Pinkie looked at the worm, then up to him, and forced another smile. "Yeah… that's great," there was a moment of awkward silence as they all stood still, waiting for something to happen. "Uhh… how does this help exactly?"

Krogg grunted, failing to hide his displeasure at what was about to happen, and knelt beside Zecora once again. "Open her mouth."

Pinkie shook her head and stuck a finger in her ear to clear it out because there was no way she'd heard him correctly the first time. Meanwhile, Snake Eyes just leaned forward in disbelief.

"You… you mind repeating that?" The medic asked skeptically.

"Open. Her. Mouth." Krogg repeated forcefully. "How else will the worm get in?"

"Heh, you're fucking with us, right?" Snake Eyes said with a scoff as he pointed to the kantus skeptically. His hopeful smirk soon fell though as Krogg silently stared at him in response.

"Alright! Back up, rewind, brrrzzzt," Pinkie quickly interjected while mimicking the sound of a tape recorder. "One more time, just in case I missed it… how is this… weird rock, worm, thing supposed to help again?" She asked frantically.

"I can heal her," he lifted the rockworm into the air as he spoke. "Without this inside my chant will be worthless. She is not locust, not yet, but with this, she can become close. Only then will I be able to help."

Pinkie and Snake Eyes were at a loss for words. They had to take a moment to wrap their heads around what he was implying. "Are... are you saying she'll..." Snake Eyes couldn't even finish the sentence before looking over to Pinkie Pie and sharing a silent freak out with her. They clearly needed more time to make their decision, but fate seemed fine with rushing things as Zecora's screams answered their question for them.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" The zebra screamed bloody murder as her wound began to glow a strange green hue, sizzling her skin in the process. Snake Eyes and Pinkie quickly jumped into action, holding her down as she violently convulsed on the ground.

"Go! Do it now!" Snake Eyes yelled as he held her legs down. Pinkie Pie ran for her mouth and held it open, then helped Krogg guide the worm down her throat as she silently hoped that it didn't go down into her windpipe. Pinkie held her hands over Zecora's mouth to muffle the screams and gurgles, and watched in horror as the bulge in her throat moved down to her stomach at an agonizingly slow pace.

"What's happening!?" Somepony yelled from behind them. Pinkie looked back to the growing crowd of ponies that had been awakened by Zecora's screams, and saw that some of them had frozen with fear as they watched. That brief pause ended abruptly though as many others rushed over to stop them.

"Please! Stay back! We're trying to help her!" Pinkie Pie shouted, but her voice fell on deaf ears as they rushed forward and attempted to get them off of her.

Before any of the ponies could get close, Krogg let out a massive ear-piercing shout that caused all of them to fall and clutch their ears in pain. His voice echoed off of the walls, cruising back and forth through all of their minds and keeping them down with extreme prejudice. Even after they had fallen, Krogg continued to shout until the inside of his mouth started to glow with the appropriate bright red-orange light.

The spines on his armor once again moved in tandem with his shout, and everypony who could see Zecora nearly forgot their pain as they watched her skin shine with the same bright yellow light as the rockworm had before. Her bandages fell as the once burned skin started to heal over in an instant, leaving no trace of the magic that was attempting to overtake it. Finally, after several minutes of sustained shouting, the wounds that had been ailing her vanished entirely. Krogg's job was finished.

Everypony slowly returned to their hooves once the shouting had stopped, with almost all of them rushing to Zecora's side as fast as they could. Pony after pony gasped in disbelief as they saw her now flawless body, returned to peak condition in a matter of seconds.

Zecora slowly opened her eyes, her advanced senses quickly adjusting to the darkness. Little by little her bearings returned, until she was staring up at everypony she knew looking down at her with a mix of worry, relief, and uncertainty. She reached down to her stomach and gasped when she felt nothing but her smooth skin properly intact.

"I don't understand, I am wound free?" she slowly started lifting herself, only to have Pinkie Pie quickly drop down and offer her hand. "Can somepony explain what has happened to me?" She asked while glancing around, seemingly oblivious to what had transpired in the many hours since they were saved.

Pinkie tried, and failed, to hold back tears as she watched Zecora return from the brink of death. She gave her the brightest smile imaginable, followed by the biggest hug imaginable. "Thank Celestia you're okay." She said with a whimper.

Zecora, while pretty confused, just decided to accept the hug for the moment and comfort her dear friend. As they held that embrace, she looked out onto the crowd of teary-eyed ponies, the relief in their eyes filling her with an indescribable sense of confused joy.

"It's a long story Zecora," Snake Eyes said as she and Pinkie finally broke their hug. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Zecora and Snake Eyes conducted their catch up session, while many others rejoiced at her unexpected speedy recovery. Pinkie watched on happily as the weight on her shoulders finally dispersed. It had come down to the wire, but the score was Pinkie 1, and Pinkie sense 0.

She attempted to drop back down and help Zecora to her hooves, but before she did she noticed something beyond the crowd slinking away. It was noticeably tall and quite familiar, but for some reason, his massive frame was still going unnoticed by the ponies around her.

Krogg stepped away from the crowd as they rejoiced at his work. With the deed done all he could do now was wait, and pray that his king would be merciful enough to grant him a quick death. He could see Chorsus in the distance staring at him, and he just knew that the spotter had felt it. He wouldn't be able to look any of his brethren in the eyes for as long as he lived. It would be a very difficult few days.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called out to him from behind. He followed it to its source and saw the same pink pony who had sought him out. She no longer stood in fear of him, so for a moment he felt as though she was trying to challenge him, but before he could prepare for combat, she opened her smiling mouth to speak. "Thank you." She said in a voice filled with something Krogg had never been used to hearing, gratitude.

Krogg let go of his pistols in surprise, unsure of how to respond for a second, before quickly recovering and shaking his head. "I do... as my king commands. That is all." He answered, trying his hardest not to let his voice falter out of its normal stoic tone.

Pinkie gave him a warm smile. "Well… okay, but… you saved our lives. You saved Zecora," she began walking towards him, no longer fearing the 'big bad monster' she saw him as before. “You saved me…” She stopped just in front of him, and held out her hand. She acknowledged that a moment like this probably called for a hug, but she figured that jumping on top of razor sharp body armor with her squishy body wasn't the best idea. "Thank you."

Krogg remained silent for a moment and dipped his head downwards in thought as a strange feeling started welling up in his chest. It was hardly even noticable, and faded almost as quickly as it came, but it compelled him to do something he'd never thought he was capable of. "You're… welcome." He forced out while accepting her handshake. He didn't fully understand why he did it, but he was able to quickly rationalize it as building better relationships for the future. He remembered his king speaking of that long ago, he only wished he remembered where. They both fell silent after his acceptance of the gesture, so before any more silence could be shared, Krogg quickly turned away. He fully intended to forget that any of this had ever happened.

Pinkie continued smiling at her new friend as he turned to leave, appreciating his actions and understanding his apprehension. She'd been around enough battle-hardened ponies to know when someone was confused by genuine appreciation, and she understood that everypony dealt with it in their own way. It seemed that even when they looked so different, they were still just like any pony else.

She gave a final sigh of relief as their conversation came to a close, but it all came crashing down as she felt a familiar twitching in her knees. "No…" she whispered in terror as she placed a hand on top of her rumbling stomach. "No…" she repeated, this time practically begging her pinkie sense to stop before her ears swiveled any further.

The doozy finally reared its ugly head at the intended time, as the entire cave began to rumble. Once the tremor had ceased, every pony, and locust, looked around with a mix of confusion and fear as the room became filled with bright twinkling lights akin to that of miniature stars.

Pinkie ran back to the ponies as they too watched the lights cautiously, stopping right next to Zecora and Snake Eyes. “What’s going on?” He whispered to no one in particular.

"I feel it…" Pinkie said as she backed up towards them, never once taking her eyes off of the ominous twinkling stars above them. "A doozy is coming." Several ponies who had heard her hushed voice gasped in shock after she uttered the 'D' word, and quickly spread it to everypony in the huddle.

Zecora reached out towards one of the lights, but before she made contact it suddenly moved towards the back of the cave. Soon, all of the other lights followed suit and converged at the same point. Her eyes widened in fear as she finally realized what was about to happen. "This is no cave, but a den laid before us. One of the Ursa, who's long owned the forest." The air audibly drained from the surrounding ponies as they watched the stars flood to the back of the cave at an alarmingly fast rate.

In a matter of seconds, what must have been over a thousand different stars coalesced into a tornado of light, then expanded into a terrifying blue hide. The Ursa opened it's fearsome eyes and set them on the many intruders before it, ready to take vengeance upon the ones who had rudely interrupted its hibernation.

"We must escape! Before it attacks! Run far away and do not look back!" She shouted to the others as she turned and looked at the distant Ursa with both fear and determination. The ponies quickly rushed for what little items they had, picking them and anypony not fit to run up for the escape. It only took a handful of seconds for them to gather their things, but the Ursa proved to be far quicker than any of them expected despite only just waking up after who knew how long.

It lunged forward with a roar, clearing several feet in an instant and swiping at the group with its massive claws. It failed to do more than elicit screams of terror, but before it could continue advancing it was pelted in the side of the head by a rock. It looked down at Zecora and angrily tried swatting her away, but the Zebra nimbly rolled out of harm's way and retaliated with another distracting rock throw.

Before the beast could rear up for another attack, a series of loud explosions echoed throughout the cave as Krogg fired his gorgon pistols at its head from the other side. It didn't seem to do any permanent damage, but it had succeeded in drawing the bear's attention and anger away from Zecora. In the end, that was the only goal.

The Ursa switched its ire to the annoying locust and charged at him, but Krogg managed to roll out of the way as it slammed headfirst into the cave wall. Despite what his heavy armor suggested, he was still more than capable of diving and rolling as if he were wearing nothing but clothes made of paper.

While he focused on drawing the Ursa's attention, Chorsus ran past Zecora and shouted orders to the wretches. "Kraz, Gets, follow them and take them to the king!" The two armored wretches bolted out of the cave entrance, and as soon as they had left, Chorsus then turned and snarled at Zecora, his face now even angrier than it had been before.

He continued to silently glare at her, conflicted over what to say or do, until a loud echoing bang of metal drew their attention. As they turned, they caught the worrying sight of Krogg being launched out of the entrance and into the trees outside, cutting a few of them down from the sheer speed and force of his body. The Ursa let out a triumphant roar after disposing of one of the intruders and made a beeline for the last two in its sights. Chorsus and Zecora bolted for the exit and dove out of the way as the bear charged, going well past them and deep into the forest beyond the cave.

Zecora quickly hopped to her hooves and ran in the direction that the others had gone, but as she looked back she stopped. Chorsus remained still while watching the torn trees in front of the cave, not even bothering to lift himself off of the ground. "What are you doing? What stays your feet? We must keep on moving or else we're dead meat!"

Chorsus stared at the trees, the absolute darkness of the forest beyond filling him with a sense of dread. He reached up and placed his fist against his chest piece as the world around him slowed to a crawl. "Brother…" he whispered solemnly.

Zecora rushed over and grabbed him by the arm, yanking on him with all of her might until he returned to his senses and pulled himself up. "I am sorry for this, but we cannot take chances. We must take our leave before the Ursa advances!" She pleaded while taking several steps backward. Whether he came with her or not, she was going to make a run for it.

Chorsus grit his teeth in anger, but in the end, he had to agree with the striped pony. Locust never crumbled under the pressure, no matter the situation, and no matter the loss. That was one of the main reasons why they were the superior species. Whatever was on his mind could wait until after they were clear of the beast.

He and Zecora ran for the bushes as fast as they could, the loud thumping and subsequent roars of the Ursa in the distance doing wonders in speeding up their escape. They continued through the dark forest, with Zecora leading the way as she followed the faint hoof tracks through the dirt. She knew that they weren't too far from the others, and that they could catch up with just a little more time, but that all changed when the sounds of the Ursa's thundering footsteps grew closer to their location.

She immediately stopped while holding out her arm, stopping Chorsus beside her. Zecora frantically scanned the ground for a solution, the footsteps acting as an ominous timer for her critical thinking, and eventually settled on the tried and true method for concealment. She dug her hands into the mud below them and started lathering her body as quickly as she could.

Chorsus watched as she plastered her pristine striped skin with mud, and quickly caught on to what she was doing before following suit. The ground rumbled with every step as the Ursa approached, slowing it's walk down to a prowl as it searched for their scent. Chorsus and Zecora dove into a nearby bush as it neared their location, and held their breaths as it broke through the foliage and frantically sniffed the surroundings.

He looked down at the Boltok gripped in his bulky hands, and suppressed a tremble. The feeling of the bush grazing against his arms was becoming increasingly unbearable for whatever reason, and suddenly, a newfound weight began to bear down on his senses. He looked back at the Ursa as it continued searching, and focused on taking shallow breaths while hoping that it would lose interest.

"Is that… what I think it is?" The voice echoed in his head. He twitched in surprise as the king's influence suddenly made itself apparent in his mind, but something about it was off. Usually, the communion would be quite painful, and almost nothing else could be done but accept the king's orders and influence until it had ceased. Some spotters were even left crippled once the communion had finished if they didn't have a strong enough will to handle it. This time though... he had trouble describing it. It felt warm, and… gentle, as opposed to rough and invasive. He almost couldn't believe it was the same voice speaking to him.

That might have been the reason as to why he spoke so loud without even thinking. "My king?" He asked in disbelief, before immediately coming to regret his decision. The Ursa growled and looked in their direction, it's urge to hunt being revitalized by a newfound visual on its prey.

It had spotted them once again, and they needed to move.

Author's Note

This one took quite a while to make due to pretty Dire family stuff. Regardless, I still did my best to work on it as much as I could, so I hope you enjoyed. (P.S Sorry if some of you got a false update notification for the wrong time. Misclick on my part! :twilightsheepish: )

Chapter 6 - Break time's over

Queen Chrysalis tapped her hand impatiently against the armrest on the makeshift throne that had been hastily thrown together for her arrival. Once word of her journey to the Ponyville outpost had been received, her changelings went straight to work preparing it in the former city's town hall. Unfortunately, their idea of a throne meant a cobbled-together chitin mess that was better suited for a trash heap than her royal presence.

Her legs were too close together, thanks to the 'genius' idea of putting leg borders at the bottom of the seat, leaving very little room for stretching out. The back portion had an infuriating curve that was likely put there to be stylish, but the only thing it did was awkwardly curve her spine, forcing her to lean forward almost every time she sat there. Finally, even after being told days in advance to prepare, the outpost changelings failed to smoothen out the chitin on the seat itself. This meant that unless she decided to wear her gosh-darned armor every time she sat, then there was no comfort to be found.

She had just gotten that stunning new dress from the fashion bugs commissioned too. Woven from the finest silk and membrane this side of Equestria, but now it remained unused in place of her black and green battle gear. Needless to say, she wasn’t having the best time.

Honestly, the absolute failure to make a chair of all things was no surprise to her, given that their attempt at completing the even simpler task of stomping out the pony insurrection was just as laughable. She had to come here herself just to get the job done, and once that had happened it only took a couple of hours to root them out for good. All that needed to be done afterward was a simple transport out of the Everfree forest, and clearly, she didn't need to be present for that, right?

So why then? Why on earth was she still waiting for her damned meal to arrive!? Did she seriously have to hold their hands through every step of the process? Chrysalis' frantic tapping ended as she slammed her fist into the armrest. Her massive jagged horn flashed to life, bringing a quartet of projector beetles to bear on the table beside her throne. She placed them in a cross formation, the proper sign of the alpha search party, and initiated the call. In a matter of seconds, the flashing beetles summoned a magical green screen above them, and from their projection came the face of a Violet eyed Changeling wearing a thick chitin helmet.

"Captain Pharynx, report!" She commanded with frustration evident in her voice.

The changeling rendered a salute and nodded. "Yes, my Queen. There have still been no signs as to the fate of the pony captives. Tracks have not yet been spotted, but the patrols are now being expanded to a kilometer radius outside of the pickup site."

"And the strange metal items, what of them? Any possible leads?" Chrysalis added, hopeful for any kind of new information.

"Scanning shows that the metal casings are made of brass, and were more than likely meant as housings for the metal items found in the dead soldiers. The method of their use is still inconclusive." Chrysalis growled to herself. Of course, there was still no breakthrough in the search, why would she have expected anything different?

"Keep searching," she said through her teeth. "And you'd better hope you find them soon, captain." She quickly decommissioned the beetles, cutting off the captain's salute before he could even finish. Her so-called 'head of patrols' was doing a fine job so far, if he was planning on an early retirement that is.

Chrysalis shifted in her throne and stared out onto the empty ground floor of the building. She had hoped that it wouldn't come to this, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She left a brand on Zecora to make sure that she'd stay down for a very long time, leaving her nothing more than an injured mess who could never truly recover until the end of her days. A little-known fact about her home-brewed spell, however, was that it dual functioned as a tracking tool meant to pinpoint their location through a magical bond.

It had been a deciding factor many times before when rooting out other pony hideouts across the land. The tactic was simple, injure one, have the others attempt to heal them, then activate the link to find where they'd been taken to. It was a strategy that had worked time and time again, mainly due to their thorough purging of anypony who had witnessed it. If none could escape, then none could spread the information of how it worked.

The only downside in activating the spell was that the recipient would surely perish as a result. Once activated, Zecora would die a slow and painful death, and it just wasn't fair! She was looking forward to feeding off of her the most, draining her of every last ounce of love until she was a lifeless husk. If she did this, then she'd never get that chance, but her Changelings had already demonstrated that they were nigh incapable of handling things on their own. She'd make sure that all of them would pay dearly for forcing her hand.

The queen closed her eyes and searched for the link she had left on Zecora, completely certain that the zebra was still alive. The initial massacre at the pickup sight showed nothing but changeling remains and opened cages. Whoever, or whatever, was responsible for their disappearance deliberately freed the ponies in a matter of minutes before the lift crew arrived, but they wouldn’t be able to hide from her much longer.

Her horn gently sparked to life as she finally found the link to the brand, the trail leading her somewhere deep within the Everfree forest. She tried to pinpoint the location while putting as little magic into the spell as possible, hopeful that if she found it like this, she could spare Zecora’s life, but it was no use. Unless she activated the magical rune in its entirety, she’d never be able to glean more than a faint sense of where they were holed up.

“Consider yourself lucky Zecora,” She whispered to herself. “You’ll escape my wrath, but in return for this mercy, I’ll make sure to drain every one of your followers myself. And I’ll be thinking of you the entire time.” With a heavy sigh, Chrysalis finally pumped all the magic she needed for the spell into her horn, activating the magical brand and finally gaining access to Zecora’s body.

Her vision was suddenly thrust forward, as the sensations of the new body quickly came to her. She felt her ears twitch at the echoing sounds of Zecora's screams, a natural reaction to the spell of course, and started looking at her surroundings. There were two ponies immediately by her side, one who lunged for her legs, and another who was holding her head down. They seemed to be in a cave of some sort, and thanks to her magic she was quickly getting a better idea as to where they were.

The spell was working flawlessly, and soon all of Zecora’s senses would become her own in the moments before her demise. Everything was going according to plan, until a massive hand suddenly shoved a rock down into her mouth, then forced it shut. She writhed around some more as the object slowly wormed its way into her gut, and before any other senses could come to her control, she saw it. A massive armored monster loomed over her, his face completely covered save for his beady eyes and snarling mouth. She swore she could see a fierce orange-red glow coming from its eyes as it glared at her.

“RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” The beast let out the most blood-curdling, ear-piercing shriek she had ever heard, accompanied by a face that could scare death. Its open mouth began to glow with the same fiery light as its eyes while maintaining the relentless assault on her ears.

Everything about Chrysalis’ mind and magic began to ripple as the creature’s shout tampered with her very being. Her link was being torn away piece by piece by another link, one far different to any she’d seen before. The vision grew darker, her senses faded as the link was severed, and the moment it ended she felt a stabbing pain at the base of her horn.

“Aaaah!” She screamed as her head was thrown back by an unseen force that shocked all of her magical nerves at once. She clutched her forehead and took deep breaths in an attempt to ease the pain. As she did, the front door to the main hall flew open revealing a group of changeling guards.

“My queen!?” The leader yelled with worry as they approached. She was an average-sized changeling female with pink eyes and covered head to hoof in bulky battle armor thick enough to withstand even the strongest attack one of the old royal sisters could have mustered. With her were four changeling guards who, much like their captain, wore bulky metal armor as opposed to the standard chitin. The main difference between theirs and hers, aside from the extra layers, was the silver coloring of their metal, as the captain wore onyx instead.

Chrysalis held out her hand, stopping her elite guards from approaching further, and shook her aching head. As she rose from the throne, she tied her loose blue hair behind her in a ponytail, then narrowed her eyes at the elites. “Prepare your squad, Captain Knave. I know where they are, and I will not rest until they are within my grasp."

Earlier she had left the capture crew to their own devices, confident that they could merely deliver her next meal with due speed. Relying on others was, admittedly, a foolish plan. She would not make the same mistake twice.

“You are so stupid, asshole!” My sister, Lupe yells from one side of the living room on her recliner chair as she points to my brother Adrian, sitting in an identical chair across from her.

“This coming from the girl who tried to iron Vicky’s clothes when they were still on?” He quickly rebuttals, throwing shade at Lupe's poor decision making skills in regards to our youngest sister. Man, that was years ago, are we still holding onto that? Also, just why in the hell are they acting like this? Are we in a fucking cartoon or something?

“Guys, why are you arguing this time?” I ask them while looking from left to right. They ignore my question and continue to yell at each other, the words growing more and more incoherent. “Guys, you seriously shouldn’t be fighting so much.” But still, they continue arguing as if I'm a ghost. Can they not hear me?

Wait a minute… that’s right! They can’t hear me, they’ve never been able to. I don’t know how I forgot that, but strangely enough I did. No matter what I say, no matter what I do, they’ll never be able to hear. That doesn’t mean I can’t hear what they have to say though, it’s the least I could do after all.

I rest my hands in my lap and smile as I idly watch my brother and sister argue for what feels like hours. Apparently, he did something she didn’t like, and she did something he didn’t like. Stop the flipping presses. I can’t really make out the details, it all sounds like angry babbling to me. Still though, what kind of brother would I be if I ignored them?

“What about you Ben?” Adrian suddenly asks, catching me by surprise. “Who’s right?” Wait, they’re both looking at me now? Do they really want to know what I think?

I clear my throat and allow the biggest smile I’d ever had to grace my lips. They have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for this day, to finally have them hear me. I need to make sure the first words I say to them are profound, everlasting even! “Well… I thi-”

I slowly open my eyes as I return to the waking world atop one of the softest beds I'd ever had the pleasure of passing out on. I sit up and drop some of the covers while I crack my neck and stretch out my cold muscles.

I feel upset for some reason, like I was just robbed of something. Was it a dream I was having, or is it just how I normally feel? No, normally I feel… empty and junk. Right now I actually feel annoyed, although I suppose that’s better than nothing right? I mean, there are worse ways to wake up. At least I didn’t have tears running down my face this time.

So it was definitely a dream, but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was about. Again, not uncommon for me, but would it kill me to at least put in a little effort in remembering that stuff?

You? Putting in effort? I thought we had a rule against oxymorons in this house! Not like it matters much right now, since y’know, we have bigger fish to fry at the moment. I don’t know if you’ve taken the time to notice, nitwit, but we aren’t exactly in Kansas anymore.

For your information, Ben, I did notice. How could I not? I just wanted to take a bit of time to relax before jumping back into the fire.

As much as I hate my inner voice’s incessant nagging, he's right when it comes to getting me back on track. Can't let him know I said that though, or else I'll never hear the end of it. I look around the room I’m in and groan as I gaze upon its dirt walls, dirt ceiling, and dirt floor. I'm still in the den, I'm still in my armor, and that means that I'm still in bizarro Equestria.

Well, that's just fine and dandy ain't it? Things can never be as simple as 'it was all just a dream', can they? That's the explanation for every half-assed Hollywood movie when they don't want long term consequences, so why not me huh? Come on universe, just throw me a bone for once. With a tired groan, I swing my legs off of the comfy king-size bed and take a better look at my surroundings.

The room was surprisingly well furnished, with the aforementioned king-sized bed beneath me being one of the prime examples. There was a large wooden wardrobe against the wall to my left, accompanied by what looked to be a large dream catcher hanging on the wall beside it. To my right was a medium-sized light wood dresser, complete with a seat in front and a vanity mirror on top, and below the bed was a large floral rug covering the dirt floor. Finally, hanging from the ceiling above, was an honest to god chandelier filled with lit candles that illuminated the room. How they installed this on literal dirt is beyond me.

I stand up and stretch out my legs for a moment, then look over to the mirror and wrack my brain. Have I… seen myself yet? I mean, I know what I look like, but who's to say that's what everyone's been seeing so far? I know I sound different, so it wouldn't be too far of a stretch to have my appearance change too.

I look at the mirror some more and hesitate… for obvious reasons. I'm not gonna lie and say I've never wanted to drastically change the way I look, but now that it's a possibility I find that train of thought unsettling.

Oh come on Ben, just have a look you pansy. I mean, it's not like you could look any uglier than you did back home. A feat like that would take more power to pull off than sending you to three different dimensions!

I shake the annoying thoughts out of my head but sigh in defeat. He's right I guess, or, I'm right… I guess? Regardless of whether I've changed or not, this is a face I'm going to have to live with for as long as I'm here. No point in trying to hide from it.

I pull out the chair and sit down, deliberately keeping my gaze off of the mirror for as long as I can. Even when I start to look forward, I instinctively close my eyes before I can see. Come on dude, just do it already. It's like ripping off a band-aid, only the band-aid is your face. Or is it my eyes? Since I'm opening them? You're stalling again!

Having officially become fed up with my thoughts I decide to take my own advice and shoot my eyes open with little ceremony or hesitation. I gasp and bring a hand to my open mouth as I finally meet my reflection. The reflection I'd dreamt about ever since I was a kid. The ideal me.

Gone were my short jet black locks, replaced instead by smooth and well-combed silver hair that had a stylish curve towards the front. My skin was once a dark brown color passed down from my Hispanic genes, but now it was an unnatural grayish-red hue without a single mark or blemish. Gone were my tiny scars, messy pores, light freckles across my nose, and all of the tiny imperfections that made me… well me. Now it looked like I just had my face run through a real-life version of photoshop.

I take a moment to lift my arms and flex, and thanks to the thin fabric type materials on my armor I can tell what's underneath. I'm not overtly muscular like a body builder but I can see a very distinct bulge popping up from below, and I can certainly feel it too. Looks like I found the secret method that all those doctors hated, although I'm not sure I'd recommend it to others given the price.

Switching back to my face, I move from side to side and run my hand across as I get a good look from every angle. My once rounded face was now more angular, with a strong jawline and pronounced cheekbones. My eyes, a piercing gold as opposed to the run-of-the-mill brown I'd always had. I look nothing short of perfect, and damn it if I can't admit that this face is the most handsome thing I've ever seen. This is the me I saw myself as, in every good dream, in every story I inserted myself into, in every prayer I made. This was the end all be all for me. It feels… it feels…

So wrong.

All this is, is another lie. But this one is probably the most egregious of all since it's a lie I'm trying to foist onto myself. This isn't me. I mean, it still is of course, but this isn't who I really am.

This man is confident, skilled, trustworthy, and the perfect leader who seeks to do right by all under his command. He matters. I'm a liar, an idiot, a coward, and I don't have the slightest clue as to why or how I'm here, let alone how to save anyone. This man isn't me, this reflection isn't me.

I start to turn away from the mirror, but then feel a slight shuffling underneath my armor. I reach into it and pull out a large medallion that I hadn't even realized was around my neck. It was large, ornate, and sported the locust insignia proudly in the center.

I think this might be the amulet of the locust royalty, I've seen it before in Gears of War concept art. I know that all locust wear amulets similar to this as a form of dog tags, but this one is just so extra. It has to be specially made for the king. I nod towards it, admiring its craftsmanship, and tuck it back into my armor. I don't have a use for it now, but it sure does look cool.

Well, I've had enough of this reflection watching for now. As I said before, I'm gonna be stuck with it for a while, so I'll just commence with my usual policy for dealing with startling facts about myself. Ignore it and push any confusing thoughts I have deep deep down, holding it there until I die. Some may call it unhealthy, and I'd always respond with a firm 'I know.'

Anyways It's time to get back to business and evaluate my situation. First things first, I need to find my helmet, my crown, and my weapons, all of which are currently missing.

I look around the room and see that the silver crown I took from Warble is on one of the wooden posts of the bed frame, so I quickly retie it to my armor. After that, I make my way to the wardrobe and throw open the doors, sighing in relief when I see my weapons and helmet neatly organized inside. I swear, I was ready to flip my shit if I didn't find them in there. If these dogs got their paws on my weapons then we'd have a full-on planet of the apes scenario on our hands.

I throw my helmet on, then reach out towards my weapons slowly. I run my hands along the sharpened chainsaw teeth on the underside of my lancer and let out an involuntary giggle. Even when it’s not in my grasp I can still feel the power radiating off of this thing. I can’t even get over how good it looks, what with the onyx steel and red lights giving it a sinister, yet badass, feel to it. I caress my thumb over the glowing locust insignia near the handle and let out a sigh.

I should probably take a moment to look them all over, assess how much ammo I have, and come up with a plan to discreetly learn how to use them. I’m not all that familiar with firearms as it is, and I know for a fact that these things have ammo in calibers and sizes that could shred through boulders in a matter of seconds. The last thing I need is to go and blow my fingers off like an idiot.

It’s not like I can just go around and ask my locust to train me on their use though, what kind of image would that send? I’m going to need their complete trust if I plan on finding a way home as soon as possible. How can they trust me to lead them if I can't even, quite literally, use a weapon to save my life?

I pick up my lancer and hold it properly for the very first time. Now's as good a time as any, since I have a moment to myself. I try my best to mimic the stance the characters in-game have, but man is this thing even heavier than it looks.

Still, I persevere and look around for a good target as I line up the sights. I slam the buttstock into my shoulder and try my best to get a feel for the weapons handling before aiming towards the mirror. My reflection looks so much like Queen Myrrah from a distance, so in a matter of seconds, I start to feel like a kid again. “Oh? You thought you could escape me Myrrah?” I say with a wide smile as I walk up to the mirror and aim right for the head. “Well I have news for you, this war ends now.”

Oh man, it’s just like how I dreamed it would be! I remember this scene! Only this time I have the costume and props to make it real. Queen Myrrah would go on to say, ‘Oh? You think you’ve won? This little rebellion may have succeeded, but in time my children will rise again!’. Typical tyrant response, but you know what I’d say?

“Heh, I think this is a little more than just a rebellion now, don’t you?” Perfect. And that’s the time where all of my top Locust would arrive, and finally take the Hollow for ourselves. A happy ending if I’d ever heard one.

“Hello?” A curious voice calls from the door of the room with a loud knock. The noise startles me, and as a result, I accidentally squeeze my weapon just a bit too hard.

*BRRRRT*

The sounds of loud gunfire and shattering glass catch me by surprise, eliciting a very girly yelp from what I am now going to assume was the door. I don’t care if it was my vocal cords vibrating, and my voice echoing over the shots, there was no video evidence to the contrary. That is my story and I will not stand here as you accuse me of perjury.

There’s a deafening silence as the destroyed glass and crumbs of dirt fall to the ground, a dust cloud settling nicely into the air before me as I contemplate my next course of action. “Uhh… is everything okay?” The voice calls out nervously.

“Shit, shit, motherfucking shit!” I quickly throw my lancer onto my back and retrieve the rest of my weapons as carefully as I can. “Yes! Everything’s… fine! Umm… how are you?” Lord have mercy, what the hell is wrong with me!? My brother always told me that you should never keep your finger on the trigger unless you plan to defend yourself! ‘And now, as my first act as king, I will demonstrate the maneuver known as negligent discharge!’ Fuck me.

"Umm… alright?" They respond with audible confusion. I start waving away the dust and kicking the discarded casings under the dresser before making my way over. It may be the tactical equivalent of a five-year-old hiding the lamp he broke under the couch, but just because a tactic is old doesn't mean it can't work. What else am I supposed to do? Own up to it? You must have me confused with an adult who's consistently responsible.

I open the door and throw on the biggest smile that I can, but drop it when I see just who's on the other side. “Uhh, are you feeling okay Boss?” Warble says as he tries to peer into the room. I shift the door in a way so that he can’t see the mess, and nod my head.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Now, what do you want?” I am not having this conversation with him now. We can save all of that for later, and or, never. Preferably the latter.

He rubs the back of his head nervously but thankfully seems to drop the issue altogether. “Well… I felt that you were waking up, so I ran down here as fast as I could to get you…” He paused for a moment and looks off to the side as I slowly stepped out of the room and close the door behind me. Why is he being so weird? Just tell me what you want dude.

“Okaaaay… and? I’d prefer if you don’t leave me hanging when you clearly have something important on your mind.” He flinches a bit and breathes a sigh.

“Well, after you passed out Fluttershy and your… uh, soldiers?” He asks with his hand outstretched. I just give a nod and let him continue. I mean, it’s not like I expect them to remember every little thing I tell them in less than 24 hours. “Yeah, they left to get the others. They came back, but there’s been some… issues.”

I cross my arms at him and raise my eyebrow. How many times is he gonna pause on me? “Get to the point Warble,” I say impatiently.

“Listen, I don’t have all of the details. All I know is, both the ponies and the others want to talk to you. Neither of them seem too happy,” I shake my head and motion for him to lead the way down the hall as he keeps talking. “I did my best to quell it, keep them from busting your door open, hehe heh..." His voice starts to get a bit more frantic as he continues. "b-but they're getting impatient. I need you to help calm them down because they’re freaking out the dogs, me, hell even the worms in the dirt. And do you think I'm joking about that? Because I can't even tell anymore! It just feels like everything's yelling at me at this point!"

“Woah, Woah! Easy, big guy, you’re at a ten right now, but I need you to bring it down to a five,” I quickly get him to take some deep breaths and calm back down.

“Sorry, sorry,” He leans against the dirt wall and puts a hand over his chest. “It’s just, I’ve never really had to deal with magic-proof creatures waving their knives and weapons in my face. I’ve usually just dealt with insurrection by brainwashing the dogs into thinking I’ve won. It was always easier than fighting.” Well, that's one way to get a disappointed look from me.

“What?” He asks defensively while raising his arm and changing the muscular fur-filled appendage back to its thin black form. “I’m not exactly the healthiest changeling if you haven’t noticed. One tumble and I’ll be a heap on the floor, so intimidation and underhanded tactics are all I’ve got. What else am I supposed to do besides mind magic? Break my arm at them!?” His arm flashes back to dog form, but before I can even speak he leans forward and grabs onto his knees. I just shake my head and pat him on the back as he continues taking deep breaths. I sure remember my first panic attack, so I’m not really gonna hold this one against him.

“Just breath, dum dum. I’ll talk with the locust and the ponies, so just focus on keeping the dogs in line.” You know, it’s weird just how real his fur and jacket feel. If I didn’t already know what he was, I would never be able to tell. That’s a little worrying, huh? Also, that reminds me.

“Hey, you found a scapegoat yet? I know you were having some trouble.” I ask to not only check on that loose end, but to get his mind off of this topic and help him recoup.

Warble stands back up and shakes off the last of his nervous break. “Well, I finally got one. He’s podded just like we planned, so I think we’re ready to wake them up.”

“That ought to smooth things over on the pony front at least,” I gesture him forward once again, then follow as he turns down a dual corridor. “So what are they so up in arms about?”

“Well, apparently something happened on the way back to the den. The ponies were confused and looking for answers, the… locust? Locust. They didn’t give any up,” Wait, what? What the hell happened?

“Have any idea why?” Warble shakes his head no as we make another turn.

“Not really, I only got bits and pieces since I kept my distance. The only thing I got for sure was… that not everyone made it back.” I stop in my tracks, my eyes transfixed on Warble’s back. Did he just say what I think he said? Not everyone… Did we lose somepony? “Boss?” He asks, snapping me out of my momentary shock.

I quickly catch up and shake my head. “I’m fine, just trying to wrap my head around that. I was just hoping we wouldn’t lose anypony so soon,” I answer truthfully. I gave my locust one job, keep them safe at all costs. I swear, if they let one of those ponies bite the bullet just to save their own ass then I’m going to be livid. I don’t exactly know what punishment I'd give, but I'll make sure it hurts. “You know who it was?”

Warble shakes his head. “Just that it was a he, other than that I didn’t hear much. It was a passing conversation anyway.” Good, at least that rules out Zecora, Pinkie, and Fluttershy. I’ll be honest, I think I can handle losing just about anyone else but them.

We stop at another one of those large intermediary rooms with several dirt halls leading in different directions. Gotta say, these dogs sure know how to dig tunnels. It’s a far cry from the jagged and haphazard holes I saw in that one MLP episode. “This is it, boss, take that hall to get to the ponies, and that hall to get to your locust,” He points in two opposite directions as I familiarize myself with the pathways. “I need to run a final check on the plan, but once I do I'll come right to you.” He whispers to me.

I give him a nod and watch as he proceeds down a different hallway, confident that he knows what he’s doing. He is the expert in all things changeling as of now, so I have no choice but to put faith in him. I mean, he didn’t try to kill or pod me while I was asleep, so that's another point in his favor. The only thing left to do is follow the script, and everything should be tied down on that front.

I look to the hall on my left, the path to the ponies, then the hall on my right, the path to the locust. You know, I thought this would be a simple choice, left or right, pony or locust, but… well this is actually much more daunting than I expected.

I want to talk to the ponies again, soak up some more of those adoration points as I console their loss, but more importantly, see if I can talk to Zecora and the others about the portal theory. Everything has fallen into place so far. The ponies are safe in the den, the dogs are cooperating, and I have a decent lead on the path home. All I need is one good nugget of information, and tonight might be the last night I sleep underground. All of that could be on the left.

But then there’s the locust, the wild cards. What are they thinking right now? Should I make sure they’re not freaking out, teetering on the edge of murdering everyone else in the den? They might think less of me as a leader for not accompanying them, leading them when they needed it most. It’s a fact that I’ll need their help to get home no matter what the answer is, since they're more than likely the most dangerous things on this planet as of now.

What’s worse, if I do talk to the ponies first they might see that as a slap in the face after my neglect of their mission or input. I’ve been putting their lives on the line all for the sake of my preteen fixation with the ponies since yesterday. I should at least be the one to greet them once they’ve returned, I owe them that right? I mean… I did create them after all.

I’m hopelessly curious though! About the different worlds theory, about the Everfree, about the ponies, about this world as a whole! I mean, I won’t sugar coat it, I’ve always wanted to visit Equestria ever since I was thirteen. Which brony hasn’t wished to see it at least once? I know now might not be the best time, but my thirst for answers can at least be quenched by second-hand knowledge.

Come on Ben, just make a choice already. Left or Right? God, this would be so much easier if I had a quarter with me!
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Left or Right?

“Just hold on! Hold on dammit!” Knave yelled as she kept applying as much pressure as she could to one of her soldiers’ abdomen. The blood continued to leak just as fast as it did the moment he was hit, and no matter how hard she tried to heal it, it refused to respond to her magic.

“Ca-” He tried to speak, but ended up coughing even more blood instead. He reached his arm out to her, trying as hard as he could to get the words out. “Captain…” His head fell back, and his arm dropped beside him like a rotted branch. Knave trembled as she felt his link, the link all elite guards share, sever before her very eyes. Even with all of his training, all of his armor and enchantments, his very genes classifying him as an elite changeling from the moment of his birth, he died like a common grunt. It didn’t make sense to her, but here he laid on the cold forest ground, the unbearably harsh reminder that none of them were invincible.

Chrysalis stepped past the captain, her hooves crunching against the wood chips and debris littering the ground, and cast a regretful glance at her captain and the deceased guard. She attached her halberd to the back of her armor as the magical latches kept it in place, and sighed at the thought of his death. It was a shame he died really, since finding replacements with as much pedigree and experience as her royal elites was extremely difficult. It’s not like they were irreplaceable of course, it would just cause many a headache later while going through potential candidates.

It would all be worth it though, since now she finally had a lead. She continued towards the center of their operating base while wiping the streams of blood from her face and passing by the multitude of charred and mangled trees. As she neared the center, the bright green glow of the orb illuminated her face in a sinister light. She looked at the seven changelings maintaining the prison, acknowledging that they’d need a break soon.

Once they had been switched out, they could begin the grueling task of leading it out of the forest. She glared at the creature fiercely, snarling at the sight of changeling blood covering its sharpened armor and dripping from its razor teeth. It glared back down at her silently, its eyes reigniting the pain in her horn as the memory of his shout echoed in her mind.

“You…” She started in a near whisper as her anger began to boil back to the surface. The creature narrowed its beady eyes at her while licking the blood on its teeth in what could only be interpreted as a threat. “You are going to tell me everything, monster.”

Chapter 7 - Change Of Plans

Author's Note

After far too long, another chapter is finally here. Sorry by the way. I really don't like taking 5 months to update, and I'm sure you don't like waiting that long either, but for various reasons it took much longer than I thought to get this out. I'll try my hardest to make sure that doesn't happen again. Don't worry though. Another chapter is hot on this one's tail so keep an eye out! :raritywink:

Chapter 7 - Change Of Plans

Coco slowly walked down the hall, grunting in time with her footsteps as the crate of food in her paws continued to get heavier with each passing second. The crate had been filled so thoroughly that much of the vegetables were obscuring her vision. Every step she took felt like an eternity since she constantly had to stop and look around the bushes of leeks to see where she was going.

As she walked further down the path to one of the many bridge halls connecting the den, she heard a strange voice echoing out towards her. Now she couldn't quite place the voice or smell of this person, so either it was a pony, or it was one of the scary new ones. A quick peek around the leek blocking her vision confirmed her worst fear. There, directly in front of the path she needed to take, was the new alpha pacing and incoherently talking to himself.

Coco silently groaned, cursing her luck, and moved quietly to not alert him to her presence. She stopped just in front of him and watched for an opening to pass since he constantly moved back and forth, but every time she wanted to try it he seemed to subconsciously block her way again.

Her arms cried out in pain for her to get a move on, so when he next moved she sprinted forward. Unfortunately, the alpha once again rounded back and collided with her like a moving brick wall. She yelped as the force propelled her back and onto the ground, but before she could even apologize for hitting him she froze. He hadn't moved an inch after the impact, and he still hadn't even noticed her. He just continued to pace and talk to himself violently.

"Just do it, make the choice! Wasting time, wasting it!" She tilted her head in confusion as she watched him continuously berate himself, growing angrier and angrier in the process. Her confusion turned to concern when he suddenly started speaking gibberish and smacking his forehead over and over. “¡Te voy a dar unos putazos si no me dices el plan!” She didn’t know what it was that was causing him to be like this, but she knew that if she didn’t do something quick then she may be the first to suffer as a result of his break.

“Uhh…” She started with uncertainty, and of course, he failed to hear her faint voice. Coco looked at him with growing concern, and eventually mustered the last of her strength and bravery into a loud bark directed right towards him. Finally, Alpha stopped and looked at her. She shied away from him for a moment, holding her arms close, but she quickly reminded herself why she had drawn his attention in the first place. “A-alpha… are okay?”

He looked down at his hands, then rubbed his forehead while letting out a soft hiss of pain. “What… I don’t...”

“You here, walking round. Talking.” She said as carefully as she could. She wasn’t as good at talking as some of the other dogs were, but she knew enough. At least, she hoped she did.

He shook his head and let out a long sigh. His eyes darted around as he tried to find the right thing to say until they looked down at the mess of food that laid between them. He gave her a slightly guilty look before kneeling and starting to pick them up. “Let me help with that. I can only assume that I was the culprit.”

Suddenly, Coco started to panic and shake her hands in protest. “N-no, I… you, uh. Oh, how say!? Not need!?” She cried out frantically, but the alpha just laughed and continued stacking the fruits and veggies into the crate.

“Do I ‘not need’? Or maybe you just ‘not want’?” He asked with a devilish grin while mimicking her way of speaking, but Coco had to take a moment to understand him fully. “What? Am I not good enough to help you?” He said with a pained expression and over-the-top offense in his voice.

Coco’s ears dropped as he implied she was trying to insult him, but her words turned into anxious stutters and mumbling as she tried to defend herself. The strange creature just laughed at her as he finished picking up the items and neatly setting them so that the top would no longer get in her way. “I’m just messing with you… heh, I really needed that.” He said with a wistful look aimed at the wall.

Coco calmed herself down and swallowed her fear, then crouched down to retrieve the food so she could hightail it out of there. Before she could though, she looked up at the Alpha’s expression, taking particular note of the smirk he had on his face. He was smiling, but it felt like the saddest smile she’d ever seen. While the new Alpha was certainly intimidating, there was something about that look that made her want to know more. “Umm, Alpha okay?” She asked once again.

He glanced at her, seemingly ready to answer when he suddenly hesitated and dropped the smirk he had prepared. With a quick look around, he inched closer to her and spoke with a much softer voice. “What’s your name?” He asked, to which she responded by jostling the collar resting atop the light grey fur of her neck. He raised his eyebrow at her, staying silent for a moment, so with a confused cough, Coco dropped the collar and just answered him.

“Coco.”

With a nod, the alpha continued. “Coco… you ever just stop and think about things? Have you ever had a choice? A choice that seemed so simple at first, but ended up being far harder to make the more you thought about it?”

“Uhh, Ummm.” Coco started fidgeting uncomfortably, not due to the heavy nature of the questions, but because she could only understand about half of what he had asked her. Thankfully, he seemed keen on talking some more regardless of the answers she gave.

“I have a choice to make. A choice as easy as 1, and 2. Yet before I could even make it, both choices led me down paths that I couldn’t even see the end of. Paths that made me lock up and think a million times harder than I ever had before,” He paced back and forth just like before he'd noticed her, but this time he was able to catch his rambling and stop it. “I guess it's just... the more I realized just how much a choice matters here… the more I realized how much MY choices needed to matter," He leaned against the wall beside the hall entrance and sighed. "It’s not going to be simple anymore, and if I can’t even pick a side to talk to then how the hell am I even going to... I don't know.” His venting finally trailed off as he shook his head solemnly.

Coco grumbled in frustration and tapped her head, doing her best to make sense of what he was talking about even if his vocabulary wasn't exactly making it easy. Regardless, Coco was no fool, she could tell he was in dire straights and needed help fast. He may have looked weird, but no creature that looked as defeated as that could be as bad as she thought.

She eventually garnered from the tone of voice, and what little she understood, that three main things were bugging him. He had a choice that was supposed to be simple, 1 and 2, and now he’s stuck. “Oh! Oh! I know!” She shouted excitedly while lifting her arms and waving them like a pup learning in class.

By the time the alpha looked back to her, she had already stuck out both of her hands and closed them into fists. “One,” She shook her left hand. “And two!” Then her right. She looked up in confusion for a moment though, then put her hands behind her back once she realized saying it out loud defeated the purpose. She swung them back to the front and smiled once more. "Now one and two, only me know." Alpha looked at her cluelessly for a moment, but she just continued to smile at him. He was far less scary to look at now that she realized just how similar he was to her, and there was something about his curious look that was, dare she think it, cute? In the end, she just hoped that her dumb little method would be enough to help him.

He put his hands on his hips and shook his head at her, but this time with a brand new smile brimming with relief, instead of covering dread. “Coco… you are one good girl.” He said with a chuckle.

There was something about his praise that made Coco’s heart skip a beat. She couldn’t help but smile even harder, and wag her tail, as he reached out and made his choice.

I stand in front of the wooden door and let out a huge sigh. Thanks to that cute grey dog I finally made my choice, so now I have to stick with it, okay? Just get in there and act. Same old, same old. Comprende?

With a final burst of confidence, I grab onto the handle and fling the door open. What I see on the other side is a large cafeteria-like room filled with tables and chairs that look like they’ve been nicked from all over Equestria, then mashed together with little regard for style or cohesion. From wooden picnic sets to plastic lawn chairs, and even low ground recliners. I guess after society crumbled the dogs didn't have anyone to complain about their relocation of goods. I wonder if that was Warble's plan or something they were always good at.

On some of those chairs, scattered around the room, are my locust. Chorsus was on the far left with his helmet on the table beside him, and his revolver held in his hands as he span the chamber around in thought. Verus was on the far right with his weapons laid out on the table, organizing them from smallest to largest with what little room he had. It was the textbook definition of efficiency. And finally, Roc was in the far back leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, and standing beside the wretches who were snoozing on the ground.

I slam the door behind me, finally gathering everyone’s attention, and stand proudly as they rush to kneel before me. “Sorry for the delay. I had some important matters to attend to. However, I am here and ready for a full report. Tell me of everything that has transpired in my absence!” That’s a good sign, I’m getting much more comfortable talking to these guys.

Heh, good for you Ben. Just wait until they figure out who you really are. You won't be feeling so good then.

Must you ruin everything?

“My king?” I snap back to Verus and clear my throat. “Do you… understand?” He asks curiously. Aw man, that’s the last thing I need to hear right now! See what you make me do, disembodied voice that questions me? Okay Ben, no worries, just let your instincts take over and everything will fall into place.

“Yes, Verus. I understand completely. Though, if you’d be so kind, could you repeat what you just said? I don’t think… everyone was paying attention.” I gesture my head towards Roc in the back, and after a quick look at the dead expression on his face, Verus nods. Hey, what can I say? I'm a natural at throwing people under the bus. In my defense though, I really do think he wasn't paying attention. You just can't fake having brainpower that low.

“Of course. I said that after I helped bring you to your quarters, I and several of the ponies went to gather the others. They were on their way back but were being pursued by a large blue beast. One that the ponies called, an Ursa Major. We drove it away before it reached the new hollow.” Verus finished his explanation with a salute and a nod. Wow, he really said all of that while I was thinking to myself? Just how long do I spend on even the most mundane thoughts? I need to be more careful with how I- "My king?" He suddenly interrupts again. God damnit Ben, focus!

“Very good general, you did well. We will have to keep tabs on this Ursa soon, but the important thing is that you and the others returned to the new hollow safely.” Thank you for giving me that one. I think calling this place the new hollow for as long as I'm in charge will really help me set into my role as the locust king. Besides it sounds way cooler. Also, Ursa Major my ass. We're lucky a real major didn't decide to pop its terrifying head out of that den and make mincemeat out of everyone for messing with it's cub. Definitely something to keep an eye out for later.

All of the locust suddenly share uneasy looks as I finish my praise. What’s got them acting so weird? Oh my god... someone didn’t make it back, right? It was a ‘he’ if I remember what Warble said correctly. They must be nervous that I’ll come down on them with the might of Zeus when they tell me they let a pony…

My eyes go wide, as I finally realize that I had not yet seen someone among the group. A certain someone who would definitely be hard to miss in a world like this. “Where’s… Krogg?” I ask warily, still holding out hope for an incredibly mundane answer. Maybe he’s helping the wounded? Stuck outside doing weird kantus shit? He’s doing something, right? There’s a reasonable explanation for why he’s not in this room right now!

Chorsus stands up and salutes me. “We followed your orders, protected the ponies with all we could. One of the injured ones, the striped one, began screaming in pain. I sent Krogg to help, and that’s when the Ursa came,” I don’t like this pause man, don’t do this to me! Oh god… why is he choking up? He’s a locust, a subterranean murder machine whose vocabulary has 30 words for genocide and 0 for mercy. Why is he choking back tears? “In our escape… he was killed by the Ursa.”

My world goes numb as he utters those words. I suddenly feel so light, like I’m about to start floating away any second. My head does a spin that sends me stumbling into the door behind me, and quickly the locust rush to help. Verus and Chorsus hold me up, then lead me to one of the tables to sit down. After a few minutes of calming down, I finally regain my ability for higher thought.

I never even imagined that this could happen. These were locust... no, MY locust. They're invincible. Not even for a second did I entertain the thought that one of them could die here, but now I have to face the facts. I did this, didn’t I? I killed him. My orders… my obsession with these ponies. That’s what killed him.

Of course that’s what killed him, you good for nothing idiot. Why couldn’t you just leave them? Why couldn’t you just let it go? Why do you always make the wrong decisions? Just end it all, because after this there’s no way that anyone will ever-

“MY KING!” I suddenly snap to my right as Verus roars into my ears. I look up at not only him, but all of my remaining locust. I’m hyperventilating, they’re looking at me with fear. Why are they afraid? No, no, it makes total sense! They were all close with Krogg, immensely so. His death would leave them all in a place of uncertainty, so who better to turn to than their king? The man with the plan.

Yet here I sit, hyperventilating and beating myself up. I can’t do this, not now. I need to be a leader, THEIR leader! No matter what I have planned, no matter what I’m trying to do, right now these locust are depending on me to get them through the day. And with Krogg gone, they’re probably thinking that any one of them is next.

I grab onto my royal medallion and stand back up. For some reason, I find it comforting to hold onto its chain at the moment. So puff out your chest Ben, you need to be strong. “Krogg’s loss is… unfortunate to say the least. He was not only an exceptional soldier but the best shaman I had ever seen,” I turn towards the others who begin to nod solemnly. “The loss of his knowledge and skills will no doubt deal a hefty blow to our plans, but we must persevere.”

That one wasn’t even a lie. If Krogg’s gone then that throws just the tiniest wrench in my plans. I was going to disguise the ponies’ wake-up with his shouts so that they don’t suspect Warble in any sense, and so that they have another reason to trust us completely. We’ll just have to improvise then. As I grip the chain of my medallion, I suddenly remember a crucial fact about the locust.

“Chorsus, please give me Krogg’s medallion,” I hold out my hand, but Chorsus just grumbles and shakes his head.

"I could not recover it my king. Your orders I had to follow, leaving no time." He responded solemnly. Damn, those tags are really important. We can't have a ceremony without them. I mean, we can, but I'd just feel shitty if we couldn't at least bury something representative of him. The last thing I want is to be sending more locust, ponies, or dogs out there to find his body, not after the Ursa. Not only that, but the changelings are probably out there right now finding anything they can about their missing prisoners.

Should I just give a eulogy now? I wouldn't even know what to say, what does a king do when his high shaman dies in locust culture? Ah shit, I'm freaking out again. Wait a minute... yes, yes! That can work perfectly! If Gears Of War lore won't save me, then maybe Halo can? "So there is no proof of his demise? Nothing physically that can pronounce him dead?" I turn to Chorsus while cocking my eyebrow.

He, Verus, and even the apathetic Roc share look of confusion wondering where it is I'm going with this. "N-no my king... no proof." He lowers his head in what I think is regret.

I hold my head high while taking off my medallion and holding it into the air. Immediately the locust glance at it and fall to their knees in probably the deepest prostration I've ever seen. Good, I want this to have some weight. "So long as his medallion, corpse, and belongings remain unfound, Krogg is not dead. He is now missing in action. Any contrary to this decree, unless specifically ordained by me, shall be considered heresy!" The locust roar almost as soon as I finish my command. I quickly tuck the medallion into my armor again and tell them to rise.

They seem a bit hesitant at first, but after a minute of waiting, they finally get the message that prostration is not good for their backs. "As I have said, so it shall be." The locust nod along with me in a robotic fashion, but mostly remain silent and still. I think I just shook them to their cores right now. Did I... was I a bit too heavy-handed with that one?

Just as the awkwardness began to mount, I suddenly hear the clicking of the doorknob on the other end of the room. The door swings open to reveal Warble as he peeks his cute dog head into the room. Good, I need a distraction from all this stuff, at least until I can find a better way to honor Krogg. He... meant a lot to me.

"Hey, uhhh... Boss?" He starts as he slowly enters the room and lightly shuts the door behind him.

I pat Chorsus on the shoulder and tell them to take a seat, which they do, then make my way to Warble. "Alright, I assume you're ready?" Warble looks down at his hands, then snaps his head to me as if he'd only just heard what I said.

"Ha, ha, hee, hee. Yeah... yeah..." What the hell is he doing with his face? Oh god, smiles look weird and creepy on dog snouts. God, I wish I could take a picture because... I don't think I could ever explain that look to another human being. "You see boss... there's a slight problem." He says as fast as possible before cringing his face.

"Alright, how slight?"

"Uhh... I can't wake them up." I stick a finger into my ear and clear it out, but unsurprisingly I find nothing in the way. Yep, he just said what I think he said.

"You what!?"

"I know, I know," He quickly retorts. "I'm trying to find the beats I left on them. They're small paralysis hexes meant to pacify ponies after they've been podded and-" He stops and looks at the locust behind me. "Uh, maybe we shouldn't talk about this here?"

I roll my eyes and turn back towards the locust. "Hey, listen up. If you repeat anything that me and Warble are talking about without my permission I'll kill you." They simply nod in agreement and resume staring into space. Man, being king is stressful, but I have to admit that that was pretty cool. I guess it's not all bad.

"Uh, right," Warble continues nervously. "Well, It's a you know what type of spell unique only to the what I am type of things. It wasn't meant to be used for any longer than a day, so I thought we'd be in the clear, yet somehow they just... vanished!"

Oh shit, this is not good, not good at all. "What the hell do you mean vanished? Didn't you use the damn thing? How could you not know how to fix this?"

"We've been over this, I'm not the best when it comes to... these types of things. Not only that, but this has never happened before, like, to any changeling. At least I don't think." I rub my hands on my face and groan. It's just one thing after another. First I waste half an hour pacing in the halls, then I find out Krogg dies, and now this bullshit! I'm never getting home at this rate!

I look back over to Warble and sigh, then start to mull over some solutions. "Well, how do you suppose we fix this, bug boy?"

He taps his chin for a moment and I can immediately tell that he's putting all three of his brain cells to work for this one. "Unless we're fine with waiting to see if I can find it again, which I'm sure the ponies would absolutely 'love', then there's only one way I can think of fixing this as soon as possible. You're not gonna like it though," Oh god, please don't tell me. "We could capture a changeling... and force him or her to wake them up for us."

And there it is. The call to action that's going to force me to stay in this world until I'm old and gray, err, grayer. "Please tell me that's not the only option," He just shrugs his shoulders apologetically. Great, just absolutely fucking great. How long have I been awake today? An hour? Two tops? It feels like it's been months already and now all I want to do is take another depression nap. "Alright Warble, if this is the solution, then where are we going to find Changelings?" I ask with a tired sigh.

"There's an outpost not too far from here, made from an old pony town. The changelings were using it to stage ventures into the Everfree after the ponies. They'll probably be there even longer now that you sprung the prisoners." I hum in thought, and suddenly a brilliant idea hits me. All we need to do is set some bait, catch some off guard, then have them do what we want them to. I may not be good at stuff like that, but I won't have to be. Black Theron's are masters at tactics, and most importantly, torture. They may be extinct, but I just so happen to have the last one right here as my General.

"Alright Warble, gather the dogs in the main hall, I'll need to give my address sooner than we planned. If we're going to start kicking the hornet's nest, then we need to make sure we have all paws on deck."

"You got it. Give me thirty to forty minutes, and it'll be done." He bows to me before leaving the room to me and my locust, who have now turned their attention my way.

"Okay everyone, massive changes are coming, the most important of which is combat operations. Now that Krogg is missing we need to be even stronger to make up for it, so be ready for orders and report to the main hall in twenty minutes as I address the new subjects of the hollow."

They salute and roar in agreement, and I can already tell that they're just itching to go back to killing. That is a locust's whole life after all. "Verus, I need you to check on the ponies since I won't have the time. Make sure they have what they need, and tell them to be there for the address," He fidgets for a moment on my orders, but eventually nods. There's no telling how long I'll be here for now, so I need them to get more used to interacting with them. "I'm counting on you General." Ah, just as I suspected. The use of his new title makes him perk right up.

"Okay, you have your orders. Move out!" They salute once more as I make my way out. With that finished, I can start working on my speech. I've never done a state of the union address before, but I'm sure it'll be easy right? Aw crap, I think I just jinxed myself.

Chorsus and the others watched the door slam shut after the king’s departure, and another bout of silence fell upon them. He looked to Verus with uncertainty and was met with a very similar expression. “I told you he would not be so easily fooled. He knew the moment you told him of Krogg’s ‘death’.” The newly promoted General scoffed as he walked back to the table housing his equipment.

Chorsus shook his head in disbelief and mouthed out the words ‘Missing In Action’ to himself. He didn’t know what to expect when the king heard the news, but it certainly wasn’t that. “He used the holy proclamation as well. He will not rest until Krogg is found,” He chuckled as he realized just how screwed he truly was.

“Why would you… think that such a flimsy lie would work?” Verus asked while reassembling the tough parts of his torque bow, and as Roc and the wretches made their exit from the room.

Chorsus thought back to the gentle sensation of the king's mind invading his own. It was so unlike him, so calming. He just figured that… maybe something was off? Maybe he could get away with it, and if he did it would prove that… “I merely underestimated him. Something I never thought I would do, and something I will never do again.”

He watched Verus silently reassemble and re-equip his weapons, and felt the overwhelming need to say something. It was definitely strange, but it compelled him regardless. "Thank you,” he neay gagged after saying it, the word being as commonly used to him as the word mercy.

Verus looked up at him in surprise, then shook his head while spitting on the ground. “Thank nothing. I do not know what happened at the cave. Your thanks are as worthless as your life.” Chorsus nodded in agreement, thankful that Verus hadn't made the situation weirder by doing something as ludicrous as accepting the gratitude. In actuality, he had no idea why he even said it, but it was best to just move on and pretend it never happened.

Perhaps he felt the need to say something due to the unbelievable nature of the situation? The moment he learned of Chorsus’ new promotion to general, he was ready for the pig-headed Theron to get right to abusing his power, so the last thing he expected was for him to lie on his behalf to the king himself. Sure it was a lie of omission, but it was a lie nonetheless.

“Even if the king did not know the truth-which I am certain he does-everything will be learned one way or another. When Krogg is found-”

“When Krogg is found I will end him,” Chorsus interrupted as he went back to his previous seat and threw on his helmet. “He is dead. So it is better that he stays dead a kantus, than be found as a blasphemer.”

“So you seek to defy the holy proclamation of our Lord?” Chorsus' heart stopped as he saw Verus stepping forward aggressively while clutching his onyx knife in his hand. They shared a long and scathing look as they both contemplated the next action the other would take. Chorsus rested a hand on his pistol, his heart racing as he thought of any way he could overpower the Black Theron.

He was only holding his knife, but even just that was enough to strike primal terror in Chorsus' gut. He was masterful at hiding it, but it was a sickening feeling second only to the trial of becoming a Spotter. There was a reason the King finally chose him to be general, it was inevitable really, so of course, he was struggling to think of any scenario where he’d win a fight. To his surprise though, Verus merely sheathed his knife and walked towards the door.

“Once I leave, I can no longer help you. If I learn of anything having to do with Krogg’s actions… or the ones you will soon take, the king will hear of it.” He was stunned into silence, as the general once again turned a blind eye to his actions and intent. It was unreal, and made him question if he was even awake at this point. Verus opened the door to leave, but Chorsus suddenly snapped out of his shock to stop him.

“Wait, it is best I speak to the ponies. I can explain what they want to know before they come to you with… questions.” Verus chuckled and turned back to him.

“Very well, I’m sure your disdain for them will make it… interesting,” Chorsus growled, knowing full well that Verus found them as repulsive as he did, but in the end, he held his tongue. Verus was already doing more than enough to help him, so it was best not to bite the hand that fed. “Good luck, brother,” Verus mumbled before finally exiting, leaving Chorsus all on his own.

He let out a long sigh as he ruminated on his actions, and sat down for a moment to clear his head in the silence. He contemplated going to the king and explaining everything he omitted. Maybe if he did so he would be spared his life at the least, but the thought of doing that made his stomach churn. The thought of having everything Krogg had done be torn away for his mistake, no matter how heinous it was, was comparable to the worst form of torture imaginable.

He knew Verus felt the same, but he was the General now and had a duty to the king above all else. Him doing this much was already too far. And Roc... well he'd always been the definition of neutral. So long as he gets to snipe things, he couldn't care less about what happens around him.

Chorsus laughed at his raging thoughts and shook his head in disbelief. He had always been too sentimental when it came to matters of locust he had grown close to. But in the end, that was why the king had chosen him. Granted it was for the express purpose of grinding all of that out of him through constant exposure to the king's wrath, but after the communion the night prior, he was having doubts. It wasn’t just about that though, he was suddenly having doubts about… a lot of things. It was strange.

Chorsus shook those thoughts out of his head and focused. Time was running out before the address, so he needed to move quickly. Even if he despised those creatures, he had an obligation not only to the king to protect them but also to Krogg to keep them quiet about what he’d done. It wouldn’t be easy, but it was something he had to do.

And when the time would come, he would make sure to kill Krogg before anyone else could find the truth. It was the least he could do.

Chapter 8 - What I say

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