It was yet another drab and dreary day around the badlands that the hive resided in. The dessert seemingly devoid of life. That is with the exception of the constant buzz of a single changlings wings. Skitter flew throughout the badlands keeping her eyes out for anypony who was found themselves to close to her hive.

She always thought patrols were so boring and hatred doing them. Not like anything ever goes to the badlands anyways. Not that she would ever defy Queen Chrysalis. No changeling would ever defy their Queens. Mostly because she was their mother but that's not important.

Skitter began to hum to herself as she buzzed along through the barren lands entertaining herself by looking for patters amoungst the occasional cloud that blew in from the Equestrian border. She thought this would be another boring routine patrol as it was every other time she was sent to do so. That is, until she noticed a baby blue speck near the horizon within the seemingly endless see of dead brown.

A blue speck in the badlands? It could be a pony. Even if it isn't a pony checking it out would break this mind-numbing monotony the changeling thought to herself.

Flying closer to the blue blob she could tell that it was definitely a pony lying down. What's more is that their was a second pony but she just couldn't tell because it was also brown. Getting a good look at the two she froze in disbelief.

Both of the ponies were alicorns. Shaking her head in disbelief Skitter checked again and then once more. They definitely had wings and horns.

Not only were their only supposed to be three alicorns but they were supposed to be in Equestria. The fact that their are two alicorns spelt doom for the changling hive. Beginning to panic Skitter did the only thing she could think of and spat adhesive gel onto the hooves of the two alicorns.

After a minute had passed and the gel hardened Skitter began to calm down. She walked closer two the ponies to look at then in better detail. The brown one was a full grown stallion with terrible scars adorning his entire body and the blue one was a colt without any such markings. She couldn't guess the age of the two given the longevity of alicorns, but they were lacking the ethereal manes and tails that the princesses had. Another apparent detail is that both of them were lacking cutie marks.

Skitter thought she was having hunger induced hallucinations before but this sold it. It wasn't possible for a full grown stallion to be without a cutie mark. But at the same time, she could taste the latent emotions potruding from them. She began to worry. If she went back to the hive and told them about these two she would be punished for lying and causing panic in the hive yet if she didn't tell them and it was discovered that two alicorns escaped... oh she didn't even want to think about what mother would do.

Looking at the two of them she noticed that they were already asleep. It wouldn't be hard to give them a quick little nip with her venom. Changeling venom was used to put their prey to sleep after all. A quick nip and it'd practically be guaranteed that they stay asleep for the trip back to the hive. But then again these were alicorns.

After debating with herself she decided that it was worth possibly angering two alicorns to avoid the wrath of her mother. She thought that mother may even praise her. That was a truly rare prize within the hive.

Leaning down she reached for the brown stallions neck and bit down, activating her venom glands. After that she reached for the colt and repeated the process being careful not to inject to much into the little one.

After poking the older stallion in the barrel a few times Skitter was confident that the two were out for the count and lift the two of them in her telekinetic field. Normally it would be difficult to fly and levitate something at the same time but with both of her hearts pumping the changeling didn't feel a thing. With all her might she flew towards the hive.

After five or so minutes of flying Skitter noticed Aqua Rune, one of her sisters. Aqua was kind of weird, she preferred her pony name but Skitter was glad to see her none the less.

"Aqua, check out what I found!" She exclaimed landing and subsequently dropping the two stallions on the ground.

For a moment Aqua just stood there. Shocked at the revelation of the two alicorns. Looking to Skitter then back to the stallions.

"Skitter," She said in a questioning tone "WHAT THE BUCK DID YOU DO!?!?!"

Skitter flinched at the outburst ears folding back. It wasn't like she did anything wrong though. She just found the two of them in the badlands.

"Skitter, pony-napping two alicorns is the worst thing you could have done. Not only are the Equestrians going to look for them but now the invasion plan will be botched!" Aqua chastised the mare before her.

"I just found them out in the badlands, they were even already asleep when I found them." Skitter retorted. She wouldn't let herself be blamed for something she didn't do.

She was just about to break or toward with all of the sudden. A moan was heard behind her, Skitter and Aqua both jumped in fear. The Alicorns were waking up.

"Skitter, you hold them off I'm going to get mother." Aqua whispered as she took off towards the hive. Wait. Aqua really just left her to deal with these alicorns alone?

"What do you think your doing! Wait for me!" Skitter yelled out as her body begging for her to flee. She knew that she couldn't just let these alicorns roam free. Thinking quickly she channeled her magic and assumed the form of a teal Pegasus mare.

"Either tone it down or kill me already miss interrogator." The stallion moaned. K-k-k-kill?? The alicorns asked her to kill him? What kind of morbid pony is this? Skitter began to panic. Even with her experience as a infiltrator, she had no idea how to respond to that.

"I didn't come to kill you mister." She stated dumbly not knowing how else to respond. "And my name isn't interrogator, it's Mountain Breeze." It may not be the best cover but she thought it was pretty decent for one that was throw up in an instant.

The stallion began to open his eyes and face his ears towards her though she didn't see his tail move. Looking over to the colt she could still see that he was out cold. The stallion began to look at her with a perturbed confusion.

"If you're going to lie, at least make it a good lie miss interrogator." The stallion said in a bored tone. "You pumped me full of hallucinogenic drugs, Why would you do that if you weren't an interrogator. Oh, and you should know, I've escaped the pits of Hades without speaking the word, so if you intend to torture me you could use the most advanced methods you can think of and none of it will work."

It was at this point that Skitter came to the realization that the stallion must be insane. He was so confident in the nonsense that he was spouting. She didn't even know what torture was. However this alicorns babble only raised more questions? Was it possible for alicorns to go insane? Where had they even coming from and what in Tartarus a Hades was?

"I think you must be confused. I just found you two asleep in the badlands." She replied truthfully, she could actually taste his confusion. It wasn't an emotion she particularly liked, it was to sour. Even if he was insane he did seem to have a knack to spot a lie so she figured half-truths would have to do. All she had to do was wait until the queen arrived after all.

"Why don't we wait here while you gather your bearings? " she asked. It probably wouldn't leave possible for her to face an alicorn on her own. Convincing him to stay of his own volition would be infinitely easier.

The stallion lifted himself from the ground and stared at her with a great intensity. She almost buckled under the pressure she'd never seen a pony who is so utterly intense. It was as if the queen herself was staring into her soul with a disapproving gaze.

"You didn't drug me did you?" The stallion asked. Well, skitter did inject him with venom but it wasn't a hallucinogenic so he didn't need to know that. The bit mark was probably still numb so he shouldn't know.

"No I didn't" Skitter said trying to give herself confidence. This was the strangest situation she's ever dealt with. It was like Discord orchestrated this encounter just to laugh at her.

The stallion stared at her once more as an uneasy feeling shook down to her spine. The feeling immediately lifted once she heard a loud buzzing behind her. There in the distance was Queen Chrysalis and her personal guard. Now she didn't have to worry about the strange stallion.

"So, who are you really? If you're not an interrogator and you're not 'Mountain Breeze'." He said making sure say her fake name in a superfluous tone. Skitter figured her disguise isn't necessary anymore with the Queen growing close and the stallion not even buying the disguise in the first place. So she simply dropped it. She was so excited to see the the look of shock and fear that would adorn the stallions face.

Green flames licked over her body as her true form showed. Looking at the stallion she grew irritated. He hadn't even flinched. Even if he was an alicorn he was still a prey species, he should have been just a little shocked.

"Skitter I'll take care of this from here." She heard the regal voice of her mother say behind her. Chrysalis had appeared from behind her and stood face to face with the alicorn. Even with mother herself in his face, he didn't flinch. This stallion is ether incredibly brave or very stupid, maybe both.

"I know a great many things... but the existence of two alicorn stallions is not one of them." Mother said as she began to circle the stallion, her words smooth and seductive while her actions were predatory. "Tell me, just who are you?"

Skitter felt the intensity of her mother clashing with that of the stallion. Surely the weak prey will bend to the might of her mother. Mother wouldn't have planed an attack on Canterlot if she didn't know we could win. The stallion stands no chance.

"Why should I tell you?" The stallion prodded and Skitter's jaw dropped. He just defied Chrysalis. Nopony has ever defied mother. Stopping in front of him Chrysalis obviously wasn't to happy at the response but mother, being the expert she is, kept herself calm. She would win in the end after all.

"How about we play a game instead?" the stallion asked. "A simple game used to train interrogators." Skitter then remembered what the stallion said about interrogators, does this game have something to do with torture? I'm fine with the stallion bring up a game now of all times? Isn't he worried about our Queen?

"It's a game of questions and the rules are simple. You ask me a question that I will answer honestly then I will ask you a question that you will answer honestly." The stallion said.

"That doesn't sound much like a game, and I don't see how it would teach somepony how to interrogate another." Mother said in a somewhat smug tone. Trying to prod the alicorn.

"You'd be right if that were it. But what makes it a game is how it ends." The stallion offered in an eerily cool and collected tone. "When one person runs out of questions the game is over, regardless of how many more the other has left."

"Very well, then I will go first." Mother exclaimed and already skitter was impressed. Had mother asked who was going to go first she would have sacrificed her first turn. It seemed the stallion noticed that too as he began to smile.

"All right then, ask away."

"I'll start off simple, what are your names?" Mother asked. Skitter thought it was odd for mother to ask such a simple question when they didn't know how many the pony would ask in return.

"My name is Two-Twenty-Eight-D though you may call me Twenty-Eight or just Eight. And I can't say for certain what the Colts name is."

"Wait!" Skitter interjected furiously "I thought you said you would answer truthfully but that name sounds made up." She couldn't believe him. He said part of the game was answering truthfully and he starts of with a lie. Looking to mother Skitter could tell she had said what mother wanted as a slight look of anger showed.

"There was no lie. The name given to me at birth was Two-Twenty-Eight-D and while I have an idea of who the colt is I don't know for sure, besides, I don't think you're one to talk Mountain Breeze."

Eight didn't seem like he was lying but that little remark of his only brought more questions. How is it he arrived in the badlands with the colt without knowing who the colt was? Just where had he come from and what kind of parent names their foal like that? Was he trying to get mother to ask more questions? This game was more interesting than Skitter initially realized.

"Now for my question. Where are we?" He asked.

"We are in the badlands which border Equestria." Mother quickly replied. "What is the origin of your name?

Why is mother hung up on the name nd why waste a question on it Skitter thought to herself. This game was about getting as many important answers as you can in as few questions so mother must have a good reason for using two on one answer.

"Do you want the full history or the abridged?" He asked in return.

"Full."

"Well in that case it started about four hundred and seventy some odd years ago. My nation went through as is still embroiled in civil war. The first Emperor launched a nuclear strike against our foes and forced all of mankind underground. We were prepared while our enemies weren't. Quickly we pushed the enemy back and forced them into a corner. Our ancestors were certain in their victory until they noticed that rather than the ratios of fighters being one to one it slowly shifted into two to one, then three to one and so on." The stallion monologed.

Skitter immediately regretted doubting her mother as this one question led to a stockpile of answers. One of the most obvious being that he clearly wasn't from here and that he isn't royalty seeing as he serves an emperor. But something really doesn't add up. If there was war anywhere on the Equis, her queen should have known about it.

"The Empire knew we would face defeat if things continued on so they withdrew to defensive positions and created the breeding factories. Where sector three was then placed. Millions of children were born, both through artificial and natural means. Because these children were born to be foot soldiers there were no need for names and thus they were given numbers. This went out of style almost a hundred years ago but my mother is a traditionalist." The stallion finished.

The thought of war made Skitter uneasy. Yes their Queen was planning an invasion, but they were going to take the ponies alive and relatively unharmed. If there were so many born that they couldn't be given proper names it horrified her to think how many had died. It seemed the rest of the changelings understood that as well because a aura of unease permeated through the area. Even mother seemed unsettled.

"That was rather much for a simple question." Mother said with a slight tremble. Skitter couldn't blame her, their was a churning feeling still in her stomach.

"It was how you asked the question, you asked the origin. Had you just asked why it was weird I would have just said it was tradition." Twenty-Eight said.

"Now for my question. What do you plan to do with me?"

Mother smiled at that. "I was going to use you as a hostage but I feel you will be much more useful then that. I want you to help me conquer Equestria and we can rule together. With your experience and my cunning it should be easy."

Well, he's a soldier and his country had supposedly been at war for over five hundred years. It makes sense why mother would want to recruit him rather than just using him as food. Even then he's a pony though, there's no way he would want to attack other ponies.

"I suppose that depends on you casus belli. Why are you going to war?"

Skitter couldn't help but facehoof. If Twenty-Eight was this weird then she almost wished the colt didn't wake up.

"We changelings are emavores. He filled out the emotions of others, and once we have invaded Equestria my children will starve no longer. And because you are an alicorn you can take the place of those foalish princesses and keep the ponies placated."

"No, that's stupid." Twenty-Eight curtly responded. Mother began to breath heavily clearly enraged.

"Don't get me wrong, the survival of your people is important and I get that, though in my opinion it seems like a more tactful solution would suit your kind. After all, and Invasion will only breed hatred and fear for you and I can't imagine those would be very tasteful."

He was right Skitter thought. Well she's never tasted the ponies hatred because they're generally kind, fear tastes gross and doesn't fill you up very much.

"Then how do you propose we deal with it?" Chrysalis asked.

"Diplomacy and propaganda duh. I may not be a diplomat myself but I've escorted more then a few of them in my career and I know how this song and dance goes. Assuming that eating emotion doesn't hurt I can't imagine that be hard to convince the equestrian leaders to accept it, and I'm guessing it doesn't hurt because you've been doing it to me during this entire conversation and I haven't felt a thing." He replied.

Skitter couldn't help but feel a little excited. Was it possible that they were going to finally get a food source without the need of an invasion? The constant hungerin her stomach would finally end. As annoying as the stallion was if he could manage that he could be a hero to all of changeling kind. The very thought of a willing food source made her giddy.

"Very well then, would you then assist us in this diplomatic matter? " Chrysalis asked.

"Yeah sure why not. It's not like I have anything better to do."

As great as this Revelation was there was still something eating at the back of skitters mind. Just who was this stallion really and where did he come from? And probably more important, why was he unconscious when she met him?

"Can I ask a question?" Skitter interjected.

"Yes." "Yes." Twenty-Eight and mother answered at the same time.

"Well it has to do with how I found you, you and the colt were unconscious already. With all the questions you asked I don't think you know what happened and how you got there but my question is, what is the last thing you remember?"

"Oh that?"

The stallion paused. The emotions coming from him gave a overwhelmingly sour taste. While she couldn't tell exactly which emotions he was feeling, she could definitely tell that they were negative. Slightly concerning, he wasn't even upset when he thought he was going to be a prisoner. What had happened?

"The last thing I remember was bleeding to death in a cold hallway."

Author's Note

Imma be real honest. The only reason I'm writing this is to fight off my immense feelings of melancholy. I know its bad but whatever you know. It helps keep my mind off of the more miserable shit.

Also my job is getting exponentially worse. I had to work a fourteen hour shif the other day and long nights are to be expected till like January. So progress will likely be even slower

Last thing. This isn't an oc, well it is, but it isn't a self insert oc. If I was a pony I'd probably be an earth pony because of my mentality and upbringing. If not an earth pony than a unicorn