Burn The Changelings

by Commander Shadowblade

Rating: mature
Tags: Death, Alternate Universe, Romance, Drama, Changelings, Original Character, Starlight Glimmer, Profanity, Adventure, Violence, Sex, Thorax, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 11097

Abzan was considered an outcast of the changeling hive, deemed unfit to serve the queen in anyway. After failing to capture Starlight Glimmer, he will soon realize that his hive doesn't deserve to be saved.

When victory once again slips from the hooves of the changelings, many of them had abandoned Chrysalis to follow their new leader, Thorax as they hope to put an end to all conflict between their races. However, some changelings refused to join the ponies, while others were banished for failing to capture Starlight Glimmer and her friends. And by others, they only mean one... Abzan the Changeling. The only one who knows that the ponies are unforgiving monsters while also being the only one that sees the folly of their old ways lead by Chrysalis, and the failure that will come from Thorax.

With nowhere to go, Abzan travels the lands of Equestria, in hopes of truly putting an end to conflict with ponies and changelings, once and for all.

Because he knows that Changelings together are strong!

Authors Note: Hey guys I wanted to quickly let you know that this story will be updated randomly whenever I have the time or I'm in the mood to write for this story so don't expect updates too frequently until we hit 100 likes! I wanted to thank you all for following me and enjoying my work. Hopefully you'll all enjoy this story as well.

Do lend a hand with my grammar and spelling as I know I mess up from time to time, but I want to continue to do better for not just myself, but for you guys. Anyways please enjoy the story.

Published 2020-09-20 08:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2020-12-30 04:42:10 UTC

Chapter 1: The Lost Zebra

Chapter 1:The Lost Zebra

After what felt like hours of flying, Abzan had decided to take a long well deserved rest underneath some trees and tall bushes by WhiteTail Woods. Looking through the trees, he could tell from the way the light of Celestia’s sun was shining through it was past noon. Taking a look at the missing changelings reports, it said that the three were last seen at the hive heading to Vanhoover to assist in capturing and replacing ponies, but they never arrived.

‘Hmm… it’s odd that they never made it to Vanhoover, something or someone must be responsible for these guys not showing up.’ He thought to himself, tapping his chin with his hoof, he quickly placed the contents of the folder back inside before closing it and slipping it back inside his saddlebag, deciding that now was a good time to start looking for some food. Even though he had been taught that changelings needed to absorb love from a living creature to feed and nourish their young, Abzan learned that it wasn’t entirely 100% accurate. They could eat other sustenances as long as it wasn’t poisonous for them. Which was why he had packed himself a couple of peaches for his journey.

Taking one out of his bag with his magic, he quickly took a chomp of it, enjoying the sweet juicy flavor as some of the juice from it dripped from his mouth as he continued to savor it. However, before he could take another bite, he heard the sound of some twigs snapping nearby, causing him to accidentally drop his fruit as he looked around, trying to spot the source. Just as he horn lit up, a rabbit had jumped out of the bushes, and looked at him funny before jumping off into the distance. Out of sight, out of mind.

With a sigh of relief, Abzan took a moment to survey his surroundings before finishing the first peach in a final bite before spitting out the large pit from it. It wasn’t everyday he could enjoy a peach as his members from his hive have told him time and time again that Changelings must devour the love and emotions of a pony or living creature in order to sustain themselves and shapeshift into other creatures. However, he believed it was just a bunch of rubbish created by the queen so changelings didn’t start to get ideas.

However, before he could start to bite into his second peach, the sounds of twigs snapping caught his attention once more before jumping to his hooves, his horn glowing brightly as a green beam of magic began to form, but before he could do anything, a pony with black and white stripes had fallen through the bushes, landing on the ground before passing out.

It was unlike anything he’d ever seen before when he was out on missions, only hearing rumors of a pony with black and white stripes only living in Ponyville, but here he was seeing one in the flesh. Approaching it slowly, he took note of the feminne features of it, knowing it was indeed a mare. But just as he was about to tap the unconscious mare, the sounds of chuckling stallion’s caused him to whip around quickly, barely able to see them through the treeline.

With no time, Abzan’s body was soon engulfed in green flames as he took on the form of a grey pegasus with a black mane and white stripe running through it. And without a moment to lose, he picked up the mare and set her behind some trees and bushes before laying against another tree, trying to act like nothing was out of the ordinary.

It wasn’t long until he was approached by four white stallions with blonde manes, each of them wearing black vests, each wielding a blade of some kind by their waists. Abzan took notice that two of them were unicorns while one was clearly a pegasus and the other an earth pony who had patches of his fur missing and a long scar going down his neck.

“You there! Have you seen a Zebra running around here?” One of the white unicorns asked him, rolling his eyes he stood up to look up towards the unicorn as he was a head taller.

“Annnnnd what’s a Zebra?” Abzan asked, raising a brow.

“Are you serious right now? A Zebra? They are from the south? The land of Zebrica?” He asked the changeling in disguise as he only blinked in response as nothing the unicorn had said rang a bell. He never heard of Zebrica or even knows what a zebra is to begin with

“Sorry, but don’t know what a Zebra is, but I can tell you that I did see somepony running around the woods a few miles going that way not too long ago.” He replied to the four stallions, pointing in a random direction as each of them gave him a cold stare.

“You’d better be right or else!” The Earth pony replied before leading the others into the direction he had pointed them in. Abzan wasn’t sure what was going on or why they were after the mare, but one thing he was certain of, as long as they were gone, he could fly the two of them off somewhere a lot safer.

Waiting patiently until he knew they were gone, he made his way over to see if the mare was finally awake and could give him the answers as to why they were chasing her to begin with. However, looking over from behind the tree, the Zebra was no longer there.

“Hey freak, behind you!” Quickly turning around, the last thing he saw was the mare swinging a large club, and striking him across his head.

“Nighty, night bug?”

Ponyville Tavern

It had only been a few hours since Starlight had heard that outburst from that rogue changeling and she couldn’t help but felt like there was something she could have done, something she could said to change his mind, but as she continued to down a full glass of fresh cold cider, she felt a light tap on her shoulder, startling her as she turned to see Applejack right behind her. Seeing the farmer beside gave her a sigh of relief as she gave her a welcoming smile.

“Hey Applejack! It’s good to see you.” Starlight said.

“Howdy there sugarcube, something on ya mind?” Applejack asked.

“Um… well it’s just… that changeling from before had accused me of using Thorax, and I can’t help but wonder if there was something I could have said to him you know?

“Hmm… Well no point in worrying about that one changeling, not everypony is willing ta change ya know. Chrysalis is a perfect example, you offered her a chance and she chose to leave. They’ll come around…” Applejack responded.

With a deep sigh, Starlight finished gulping down her glass of cider before turning towards Applejack with a flushed face. “I was just being nice ta that guy and instead of being nice, he screams at me. He’s such a jerk!”

“Hehehehe! Ya sure do hate that guy huh?” Applejack asked in a muffled tone as a smirk appeared across her mouth. Knowing full well about Starlight’s situation.

Chapter 2: Solitude

Author's Note

Warning
Hey guys, just wanted to give you all a quick warning that his chapter is very dark and the series may or may not get darker from here. I may end up changing this story to Mature in future chapters so I'm giving you all the heads up right now.

I am glad you are enjoying this story and I am having a lot of fun writing this story as well. Have a wonderful day :)

Chapter 2: Solitude

Chapter Two: Solitude

Stirring from his slumber, Abzan opened his eyes, dazed and in pain as everything was a giant blur as his vision began to adjust. Despite having a throbbing pain across his face, he stood up as his vision began to adjust and the first thing he noticed was he was in a prison cell. Standing up, he attempted to trot forward towards the cell’s door, but was immediately stopped by something holding him down, looking down behind him, he noticed four large heavy balls of chains were attached to his hooves.

Growling he attempted to use his horn to blast the chains off, but nothing occurred until he gazed up and barely noticed that his horn had a magic suppressant cuff on his head. Whoever had imprisoned him had thought of everything to ensure his escape was impossible and before he could try to pull himself forward, he had heard the sounds of hooves clopping against the cold solid floor and out of the darkness appeared a Zebra standing before him in a lab coat, and one thing the changeling noticed about this zebra was the numerous amount of scars across his face and his eye colors were a solid dark brown.

“My, my, you must be… Changeling number 345 that was recently brought in… You are definitely more imposing than the last three we brought in recently. I was truly worried we wouldn’t be able to catch anymore of you due to the new alliance made.” He answered, giving Abzan a cynical smile as he leaned against his cell door. “However, I was honestly surprised that out of all the changelings from Chrysalis hive, that there would be another changeling who had defected from there. We wanted to have that Thorax fellow, but he had already befriended the Elements of Harmony before we could get to him.”

“Who the hell are you!?” Abzan demanded, snarling as the stallion gave a light chuckle.

“Hehehe… Well my name is Solitude and I’m one of the head researchers of this facility.”

“What do you want?”

“It’s simply really.” Solitude began, taking a few steps back from Abzan’s cell and immediately flipped a switch and revealed to the changeling’s horror the outer shell of a dead member of race, hanging on the wall with labels of each individual part. “Ever since the invasion of Canterlot, a client of ours had called us in to work in secret to learn everything we can about you… how to defeat you. See through your disguises and discover your weaknesses.”

“And do you think it’s wise to be telling me this you pretentious prick! Once the others get here, you’ll regret laying a hoof on my fellow changelings!!!” Abzan threatened, but the response he got from the zebra wasn’t what he had hoped for.

“HAHAHAHA!!! Do you honestly think they’ll come!? We’ve been doing this for almost a decade now, and not one changeling has ever escaped one of our facilities.” He declared, giving the changeling a smirk.

“Not. A. Single. ONE!”

“We’ll see about that won’t we?” Abzan stated plainly as he flared his wings in response, earning a soft chuckle from the zebra.

“We will indeed.” He replied. “I’ll be taking my leave for the time being. A few guards will be making their way here to escort you to a proper cell with your fellow changelings. Enjoy your new life as a lab rat.”

With that Solitude had exited the room, leaving the changeling alone with his thoughts as he began to hit the ground with his hooves in anger. Repeatedly hitting it again, and again, and again until the doors had opened once more and four ponies in armor entered the room, each of them smirking as each of them held batons with their magic as they lit up with electricity.

“Looks like we’ve got ourselves some fresh meat boys!” Guard 1# said, smirking as his horn glowed, lifting a pair of keys and began to unlock Abzan’s cell doors and the three guards rushed inside and began to beat the changeling.

One guard took a swing, shocking Abzan in the back before another guard struck him in the face with his hooves and he fell to the ground. The four guards then surrounded him and began to kick him with their hooves and hit him repeatedly with their batons. All of them laughing as Abzan, tried to push one of them away from him, only to get a swift kick to his face.

“Nice try bug!” Guard 2# said, spitting on Abzan’s face before continuing to beat him with his baton.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” A mare’s voice shouted, the four guards halting before quickly lining up in place. Despite being injured, Abzan was still able to glance up to see the same Zebra he tried to rescue from before, but she was now wearing a lab coat and glasses.“You were ordered to escort this changeling to his cell, not beat him to death!”

“We understand ma’am, but this bug is-” Guard 2# tried to explain before receiving a quick jab to the face, sending him falling to the ground.

“I will not hear another word from you Clipper Shoe, I’ll be reporting your insolence to Solitude once we take our guest to his new cell. You are dismissed soldier.” She said, glaring at the fallen stallion before turning to the other three. “And as for you three, take this changeling to his cell and treat him with care, we can’t have him dying on us now right?”

“Y-Yes ma’am!” Guard 1# soluted to the zebra as he started to unlock Abzan’s chains around his hooves and one of the other guards began to place a chain brace around his neck, hooked to a long chain. “Come on worm! You're lucky we’re giving you a break right now since you're new. If you think we’re bad, just wait till you see your new neighbors.”

Abzan was quickly lifted to his hooves before being tugged by the long chain from one of the guards. However, he couldn’t help but look over to Clipper Shoe, seeing him glare at him as the stallion rubbed his cheek in response. He then looked at the mare who had possibly saved his life and noticed a slight smug look on her face that made him have a shiver down his spine before he was now out the door heading down the long dark hallway with flickering lights to another door down the end of the hall.

“Can’t believe we have to be the ones looking after these stupid changelings.” Guard 3# said, not caring that Abzan was listening to everything they were saying. “Honestly, we’re wasting our time watching them. It’d be better for us to just put them down ourselves then waste time and bits finding a way to kill them, when we could just use our spears, swords or even hooves to crush them.”

“Yeah, it’d be so simple!” Guard 4# agreed with the third guard and just as he was about to growl at them. He heard a cough from the first guard.

“Be quiet, you two simpletons, you whimper like little fillies over something as simple as our job. All we have to do is watch them and keep them in line, and if you two dunderheads can’t even do that, then I suggest hanging up your helmets.” Guard 1# stated, glaring at the two beside Abzan, shaking their heads rapidly.

“N-No, no need for that sir!”

“Good.” He muttered, opening the door and beyond that point, Abzan couldn’t help but look in horror as he saw hundreds of cages with hundreds of changelings inside them. He wanted to try and help, but was quickly tugged by the chain from the first guard. “Let’s go!”

They continued to go down one row of cell doors before stopping in front of one and began to unlock it, throwing Abzan in there before locking him up there. “If you want to stay alive bug, then I suggest you stay out of trouble, that inhibitor on your horn can not be removed unless you have a special key which only high ranking officers have. And if you try to remove it yourself, it’ll automatically send a bolt of electricity flowing through your body to the point of paralyzing you and leaving you in agonizing pain.”

“So long as you behave, you might get some special treatment like a good dog.” He explained, spitting at the floor before trotting off with the other guards.

“B-Bastards…” Abzan muttered before falling to the ground in excruciating pain.

“A-Are you okay?” He heard, turning to see a fellow changeling seating atop of a bed above. She was female and her body was paler compared to his jet black skin.

“Yeah… Just got some welcoming committee is all… W-who are you?” He asked, sitting up straight on the floor.

“My name's Winter, I’m from the northern hive of King Marshal.” She replied in a soft gentle tone that made the changeling’s heart skip a beat for a moment. “And you are?”

“I’m Abzan, I was once apart of Queen Chrysalis Hive in the badlands, at least until I was banished. However my hive recently had a change in leadership as the queen was dethroned and abandoned us… They all changed so I left to find the missing changelings from my old hive as a last act of kindness and well… here I am.” He explained, licking his arm from all the bruises.

“I’m sorry to hear that…” She said.

“It’s fine, but what’s going on here though?” He asked, hoping that Winter had some kind of answer that could give him a clue.

“As far as any of us know, we’re all guinea pigs for the ponies and zebras… they have us digging in the mines in search of gems. Treating us like diamond dogs and those that fall ill, or that rebel against them, they are taken away and… they have their wings torn off as punishment.” She explained, almost wanting to cry, but she held it in as she continued on. “And, I don’t know, as far as I know if you don’t follow their rules, they’ll kill you and have your corpse dissected and used for tools.”

“How many of us are here?” He asked.

“There are at least five hundred if not more and more are coming tomorrow morning from what we’ve been hearing.” She responded, surprising him as he jumped to his hooves, almost wanting to shout, but held it in so he didn’t get the two of them in trouble.

“S-Seriously? Just how many hives have they taken from?”

“They’ve kidnapped changelings from my hive, yours, the eastern hive, and the aquatic hive beside the east hive. I would tell you more, but it’s going to be lights out in a few. You should get some rest while you still can, tomorrow they are going to work everyone to the bone.”

“Yeah… okay. Thank you Winter, glad to meet at least one decent person here.” He replied, giving her a smile that made her blush slightly.

“Y-Yeah of course, we should probably get some sleep now.” She said, turning away from him as she covered herself in her blanket as Abzan rested in the bottom bunk below hers, and began to start drifting off to sleep.

Chapter 3: The Alpha Changeling

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Chapter 4: Clover

Author's Note

This chapter was kinda difficult to write so sorry that it's kinda short. Hope you all enjoy it though and I must ask if you guys think I should change the rating of the story to Mature instead of teen? What do you all think?

Chapter 4: Clover

Chapter 4: Clover

Two weeks have passed since Abzan’s fight with Rocket and he had more respect from his fellow changelings. However, there was the only thing that really bothered him more than anything else. It was the fact that Clover continued to try and challenge Rocket and he had to always step in to prevent another slug fest.

If anything it only came off as annoying more than anything to the point that everyone else started to ignore her challenges. Abzan didn't know what to do in this situation, but once again he saw Clover began to trot past him and make her way over to Rocket, but he immediately stepped in front of her.

"Are you serious right now Clover? Didn't you learn your lesson from your last fight?" He asked the smaller changeling.

"Hissss!" Was her only response before attempting to shove past him, but he held her back with his hooves. "Get out of the way Abzan, I have no time to deal with a deserter like you."

"Hey, I was banished, I never abandoned the hive and I'm telling you to stop because it's just going to end the same way it always has." He explained.

"You don't know th-"

"Don’t start saying I don't know, when the others have already told me you've challenged Rocket several times when you arrived. So what gives?" He asked, earning a growl from the mare before she finally let out a deep sigh and looked up to him.

"I’ve just had enough of him! Him, his mate, his hive, and the way they treat all of us! I’ve been here for a month and already I’m tired, I want to go home!” Clover shouted, on the verge of crying. “We should be working together, not… not fighting… It’s why I’m trying so hard to beat him… So I can take the position of Alpha Female from his mate… and have us work together.”

“Clover…” Abzan tried to speak, but he wasn’t quite sure what to say as he had only been in this prison for two weeks at most. And he knew that things weren’t easy especially with all the infighting, Clipper Shoe harassing and beating his fellow changelings, Rocket’s refusal to work together, all of it had to have been difficult to deal with, especially if you have been around far longer then he has. It made him wonder how Winter was able to deal with all this pressure since she seemed so calm.

“Look, I have to do this… Just let me have this okay?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you do that.” He replied, giving his fellow changeling a stern look that could have turned her to stone if it could. “I get it, but killing yourself every day just to win a fight isn’t the way to do this. You need to rest, so instead of challenging him, let’s just focus on meeting today’s quota and once that’s done, we’ll come up with a plan.”

“A plan? You mean we’re-”

“SHHH! Not so loud, but yes. However, we need you to stop fighting, cause it’s not helping our case. We’ll talk about this later.” Abzan whispered before heading off to finish his work, leaving Clover to stare at him in disbelief.

“Quite a charmer isn’t he?” A voice said beside Clover, startling her as she turned to see a tall slender changeling with a long mane and tail, her skin was a bright vibrant grey. Clover began to hiss in response.

“Kora… What do you want? Shouldn’t you be pampering your precious alpha?” Clover asked, glaring daggers at the tall changeling which she rolled her eyes in response.

“Oh puh-lease, that big oaf may be strong, but is extremely dull to talk to… And just because he chose me to be the Alpha female, doesn’t mean we’re actually together.” Kora responded, winking at Clover who only looked at her with disgust.

“And you expect me to believe that?”

“Like I’d let Rocket even touch my body, but that changeling from your hive… yum~” She responded, licking her lips as she glanced at Abzan from a distance. “Don’t you think?”

“You’re sick!”

“Hmm… Sick am I? Well I guess a runt like you would assume that since your own life is sick itself right?” Kora responded, giving a smug look at the little changeling before she was quickly tackled to the ground by Clover and started to hit her across the face.

However, this angered Kora to where she started biting into Clover’s leg before throwing her over to the side and climbing on top of her. This caused all the changeling’s to drop what they were doing and fly towards all the comotion, much to Abzan’s dismay as he flew in to put a stop to the fighting immediately. “Get off me ya dumb bitch!”

“Shut up you stupid-” Kora started, but was quickly pulled off by none other then Rocket as Abzan helped Clover to her hooves. “R-Rocket!”

“What do you think you're doing Kora?” Rocket demanded to know, glaring at her as he bared his fangs at her.

“P-putting this bitch in her place! She attacked me for no reason!”

Rocket turned towards the smaller changeling, only to see her being scolded by the changeling Abzan he had fought two weeks ago, clearly unhappy with her actions as well. It angered him to see the same guy who had gotten into a fight with him before help stop the changeling that had challenged him constantly from harming his mate.

“Clover! Are you serious, you're gonna get everyone in trouble! Get back to work.” Abzan said, growling at Clover as she looked down in shame as she wiped her cheek.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” She said, as she tried to hold back her tears but to no avail.

“Let’s go Clover, we all need to talk.” Abzan said, about to trot off with Clover in hoof so they could head back to work, but felt a hoof grab hold of his shoulder, turning to see Rocket glaring directly at him.

“And where do you think you're going?” He asked, as Abzan glared back.

“Back to work, this fight is over.”

“Only when that bitch apologizes to my mate,” Rocket said, glaring at Clover until he saw the tear tracks on her face. With a deep sigh, he released his grip on Abzan as he began to walk off, before him one final glare. “Fine, it’s over, but don’t think this is the end Abzan.”

Chapter 5: Deception

Chapter Five: Deception

It had been nearly two months since Starlight and her friends had finally put a stop to Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings from taking over Equestria. Something that she never thought she’d be able to do and because of it, she was able to grow and see the value of friendship, even if their former queen didn’t see it that way. However there were rumors that there were still changelings that were still loyal to their queen and went into hiding.

Starlight knew that peace between both their races wasn’t going to be easy, but with King Thorax, Trixie, and all of her friends, she believed that they could learn to work together and form a bond of friendship.

It was something that was a bit far off into the future, but at the moment, Starlight took a moment to finally enjoy the peace as she made her way over to Sugarcube Corner for another one of Pinkie Pie’s famous cupcakes. However, she was soon halted by a trio of ponies in white cladded hoods. One of them stood forward and removed their hood to reveal a Zebra with a long mane and crimson eyes with a pair of glasses on, giving her a gentle smile as she approached her.

“Greetings, I take it you are the famous Starlight Glimmer?” She asked politely as the unicorn nodded before giving her a fake grin.

“Yes, but you can just call me Starlight, but I don’t think I’ve seen you or… (Gulp)... Your friend’s around Ponyville before, are you guys new here?” She asked nervously, seeing the two larger stallions behind her still in their same position.

“Ah, how rude of me, sometimes I forget to introduce myself from time to time, my name is Doctor Weaver, I’m from the southern tribe of Zebrica and head researcher of Canterlot’s most esteemed science division, known as O.M.E.G.A.” She responded, giving the unicorn a gentle bow as a way to break the tension, but the unicorn was still hesitant due to how odd she was and tried to trot past them.

“F-Fascinating… w-well it was nice to meet you, but I really should get going, I don’t want to be late-” She stopped suddenly as she bumped into one of the stallions, removing his hood.

“Hey, Glimmer long time no see!” Revealing it to be Clipper Shoe from Starlight’s old village.

“Clipper? Oh my gosh! It’s been forever since I’ve seen you!” She said, giving the stallion a quick hug. “How, what have you been up to?”

“Oh, you know, been job jumping for a while until I met Dr. Weaver who offered me a job as a security guard for her facility. Wanted me to come along just in case with all the… Changelings running around and all.” He responded, hiding his malice when he mentioned changelings, but quickly gave her a smile in response. “It’s a good paying job considering what I do.”

“Oh, you mean stand around and do nothing all day?” Starlight joked, jabbing the stallion in the shoulder as he gave her a chuckle.

“Ha, ha, very funny… jokes aside, Dr. Weaver wanted to meet with you personally as she believes that you could help us with some research on Changeling Biology since you’ve spent more time with them then any of us.” He explained, quing the good doctor to step forward as she stood beside her escort.

“Indeed, we’ve been studying changeling biology for quite some time under our Supervisor Solitude and have been working on a formula that could allow us to help out with their disease.” She responded in a serious tone, catching the unicorn by surprise.

“Disease? Is there something wrong?” She asked.

“Well… it’s difficult to explain, but we’ve learned from your recent interactions with them that they had a drastic transformation in metamorphosis. Which is perfectly normal, what we want to do is help the other eleven hives in Equestria reach that same state… otherwise they will all perish within the next ten years.” She explained, the second hooded pony handed her a clipboard with some charts attached to it to show the unicorn as she examined them carefully, she looked up to see Dr. Weaver’s expression hadn’t changed, still holding the same gentle smile. The same smile that had begun to creep Starlight out.

“I see that you’ve taken quite a bit of time researching on them, but how do you know that-”

“There are more hives out there? Well we learned this from one of our researchers who had accidently stumbled on one of their hives. I believe it was the Eastern Hive from what she had told us, but we’ve been doing everything in our power to try and help them. Each of them has to go through the same process that Chrysalis’ hive has gone through and evolve into a perfect changeling. Otherwise, we’ll be seeing more bodies then we care to count.” She explained, seeing the light pink unicorn’s eyes widen in shock as she looked over to Clipper Shoe who gave her a reaffirming nod to confirm that her story was indeed true.

And yet deep down within Starlight’s gut, she had a feeling they were hiding a lot more then they were letting on, but revealing that fact could cause a commotion and that was something she didn’t want to deal with at the moment.

“So, Glimmer? Would you be willing to help us with this? This could help us get along with these guys you know?” Clipper Shoe asked, as Starlight examined his face, seeing for only a second his eye twitching.

“Oh, well… I’ll have to think about this… It’s a lot of pressure and I am really running late for Pinkie’s Party, so I have to get going.” Starlight said, getting ready to take off.

“Of course, no pressure at all Miss Glimmer, but I do hope to hear a response from you soon. You could help us make a great change for Equestria for the better.” Dr. Weaver said, waving farewell to the unicorn she disappeared around the corner. Once she was out of sight, the good doctor let out a groan in annoyance. “I thought you said she’d be interested in helping us Clipper Shoe!?”

“I said she might be interested! I never said she’d actually agree!”

“Tch! Sure, well you could have helped out a bit more instead of staring at that bitch’s ass!” Dr. Weaver Shouted, slapping the stallion in the face with her hoof, earning a snarl from Clipper but before he could do or say anything, his fellow guard stood between her and him, trying to prevent any more suspicion. Seeing that this was becoming a problem already, Weaver pulled the two stallions down an alleyway to hide from anypony listening in on them.

“Geez, I don’t see what’s wrong with just looking, not like I was going to do anything to her anyways.” Clipper responded in a low tone.

“Good, last thing I want is for my toy to be staring at any mare’s ass other then mine~” She purred into his ear as she shoved past him and his partner. “Well either way, even if she refuses, I’m sure you can convince her to at least bring you to their hive. That way we can try to capture one later on and do the proper research on those pesky insects.”

Rolling his eyes, Clipper Shoe trotted up to the doctor and pushed her up against the wall, surprising the mare as he gave her a glare. “And I’m not your toy! And you owe me big time for talking all nice about those disgusting freaks!”

“Heh, don’t get cocky, not when we have another one watching us right now.” She motioned to their silent companion in the corner looking over a deck of cards in his hooves. “And if you behave yourself for the remainder of the month and do your job like I tell you… I make sure to give your something extra special~”

“Do try to hold it together you two. The least you can do is wait for when I’m not around you know.” The stallion spoke up, removing his hood to reveal the Clipper’s superior, the first guard that had been in charge of the prisoners back at their facility. “Just be glad I hadn’t ratted you two out to Solitude… He doesn’t take too kindly to jokers fooling around with his mare.”

“Oh, don’t be like that Magnet Shot… After all, we used to have fun together back in the day.”

“It was one night, and nothing more.” He responded coldly, earning a pout from the zebra, as if she had been hurt by his comment, but he knew better.

“You’re no fun.”

“So Magnet, I’ve been meaning to ask you why you’ve been going easy on those new guys? They are the same as any of those filthy insects and yet-”

“Going easy? You're joking right? I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you and I can tell you that it isn’t easy. Nothing I do to them is easy and someday you’ll be spending a lot of time there looking after them and you’ll come to understand my methods of control. So I suggest you show your lieutenant some respect!”

“Y-Yes sir…” Clipper Shoe responded, shaking a bit as Dr. Weaver gave a sigh as she trotted past the two.

“A real turn off you know… Well, no matter, I’m more interested in finding that one special changeling for my latest project. A serum that en-”

“Excuse me!? What are you guys doing back there?” A stallion called out from out of the alley. “Pinkie Pie wants everypony to be at Sugarcube Corner to unveil her special cherry changa! Come on!”

“We should get out of here, the last thing we want is for anypony else to notice us here.” Magnet said sternly as he trotted past the two.

“Back into the pit of bugs… Fun.” Clipper said with little enthusiasm as Dr. Weaver trotted beside him, hiding her malicious grin.

‘Oh, Clipper, you idiotic stallion, as if I’d actually take an interest in a loser like you. The only stallion I want is a strong powerful changeling and I have some potential candidates that I’m going to love playing with.’

Meanwhile, Winter laid down on her bed quietly as she waited for Abzan to return so they could discuss what his relationship was with Clover, but couldn’t due to him avoiding her most of the time and whenever they were together it was always the prideful changeling telling her to return to her work or too exhausted to talk. She found this to be a little irritating as she was the first one to become his friend.

And yet after the incident with Clover a week before, now he was spending more time with the little mare instead of her. She didn’t hate her, in fact she admired how she was always trying to defeat their alphas so they could all work together, but seeing this little changeling getting a bit too cozy with Abzan made her growl in annoyance.

However, before she could really dwell on her thoughts any further, Abzan was suddenly thrown into their cell as the guards threw a bucket of cold water at him, earning a snarl as he charged at them, but was stopped by the cell doors sealing shut. Each of them laughed at him at his pain and displeasure.

“You’ve been a real pain in the ass freak! Begging us to give you guys more water than we already give you! Know your place!” One of the guards said, spitting at his face, but before Abzan could react, he was jabbed by a metal rod of some kind in the stomach, forcing him to release his grip on the cell doors before he was blown away by spraying water, causing him to hit the wall of his cell.

“There’s your water son of a bitch!” A second guard said as they both laughed in unison before looking over to see Winter looking at Abzan with concern, it started to irritate them. Soon without warning, Winter was also blasted by their long hose, shooting tons and tons of water at her, her screams being drowned by the gallons of water hitting her full force.

“St-sto-” She struggled to say, but they would not relent as they continued to laugh at her suffering.

“Take it bitch! You wouldn’t let us have fun last time we visited your cell!”

“Yeah you filthy cunt, you should have just let us put it in y-”

“SHUT UP ASSHOLES!!!” Abzan yelled at the top of his lungs, standing over the white changeling as they continued to spray them with water, taking the brunt of the force despite his injuries. “If anyones a cunt here, it's you bastards!”

“Why you little-”

“And what do you think you two are doing!” An unfamiliar voice to the changelings spoke out to the guards as the water had suddenly stopped.

“J-Just punishing these two sir!” The first guard said nervously as he stepped back a bit.

“LEAVE THEM!!!” The newcomer shouted and the two guards started running as fast as their hooves could carry them. Both changelings looked over to the cell doors to see a red unicorn with a black mane with a golden streak through his mane wearing a black vest rather than the standard blue uniforms he was used to seeing. “Are you two alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” Abzan responded, moving towards the cell doors with Winter right beside him before stopping, hesitant to approach any further as water continued to drip from their bodies.

“Even though you are all criminals, not even you deserve to be treated like that.” He said, about to walk away.

“Wait! Who are you?” Abzan asked, surprising both Winter and himself as to why he’d ask that to an enemy.

“It’s Ignitus…”

“Thank you Ignitus… I’ll remember that.”

“Don’t thank me, just because I stopped those two from harming you anymore. Doesn’t mean I’m on your side.” He said venomously as his horn glowed brightly and he vanished without a trace. Leaving both Changelings alone with each other.

“Winter, are you okay?” Abzan asked, seeing the northern changeling shiver in place before trotting up to him and embraced, catching the jet black changeling off guard. “W-Winter?”

“T-Thank you… No one has… No one has defended me before, everypony and changeling always… called me…” She paused, before beginning to hug the larger tighter as she felt her own tears start to stream down her cheek before she finally broke down. “They all called me a slut! I’m not… Those guards have harassed me time and time again… and NO ONE HELPED ME!! WHY!?!? Just… why?”

“It’s okay… I’m here for you. I’ve known you for a little while, but I know that isn’t who you are.” Abzan explained, petting her head gently as he returned her embrace with one of his own. “We’re going to get through this my friend, all of us. We just need to figure out a plan.”

“I-I honestly thought… you hated me.”

“Winter, I could never, not when you’ve shown me kindness. You are my friend and I don’t want you to forget that… I’m going to take down Rocket first and once that is done I’m going to change everything.” He explained, seeing the winter changeling look up to him with a shocked expression as her golden eyes widened.

“D-Do you really mean that?” She asked, her voice still stifled with hiccups as she tried to wipe her own tears away. “But how are-”

Abzan quickly put his hoof to her mouth, silencing her for a moment before recomposing himself as he tried his best to act calm, but was beginning to get nervous around the attractive changeling before him. “Just, let me handle things okay? If you are worried about Rocket or Clipper Shoe, I’ve got it covered. And I know you are having a hard time here, but I am here for you and I’d like to hear your story about that scar on your neck. However you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“For now let’s dry off and head to bed okay?” He continued, removing his hoof from her as he grabbed the single towel that was mostly clean and tossed it over his fellow changeling.

“T-Thanks… and yeah… Sleep sounds good, but if we do get out… What are you going to do afterwards?” She asked, drying off her short mane and antennas as she heard the larger changeling give a loud hum as she shook himself off like a dog.

“Well, originally I was going to find Buster, Flower Patch, and Clover and bring them back to my old hive as a last act of kindness and just do some traveling. Despite being banished, I wanted to at least honor my hive’s decision and just stay away from them. I honestly never fitted in with them and at least I could go on a Journey to start a new life you know.” He explained.

“W-Well… what if-” She muttered the last bit before climbing on top of her bunk bed and covered herself in her blanket as the jet black changeling looked at her confused.

“What did you say?” He asked.

“It’s nothing… Um… Thanks again Abzan, I’m glad to have met you.” She replied, her cheeks turned bright red when she said that as he scratched the back of his head as his own cheeks started to glow.

“Same… Have a good night Winter.” He said, climbing into his bed before finally closing his eyes to return to the dream world where he could roam freely.

“Goodnight.” Was the last thing he heard from her as a smile formed on his lips.

Chapter 6: The Fall

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Prologue

Prologue

Another defeat at the hooves of ponies once again, but this time their beloved queen had deserted them and left them in the hooves of a new changeling leader. One who was considered to be weak and cowardly was now leading them into a new age of peace and harmony. Something one particular changeling didn’t quite like due to the manipulation the ponies had placed on his fellow changeling.

That changeling’s name was Abzan, and due to failing to capture Starlight Glimmer and her friends, he was banished by a high ranking changeling known as Silver Back, due to the silver shine of his carapace. He was in charge of Abzan and the squad they were a part of. Something he didn’t like as he felt like he was ready to lead his people, but was always turned down for a promotion. Now that Chrysalis was gone, and most of the changelings going through a sudden change had Abzan scratching his head as he watched his own kind prancing around like the ponies, acting friendly towards each other made the outcast changeling want to vomit, but he held it together. Despite being banished, he still had the pride of a true changeling, something that his hive had apparently forgotten.

“Can’t believe this is how we attain peace?!” Abzan said, raising his voice as to somehow catch the changelings and ponies attention, but all of them continued to laugh with joy, ignoring what he was saying. All except for one pony who had noticed he hadn’t changed colors like the rest of his hive.

“Um… excuse me? Are you okay, you don’t look particularly unhappy.” Abzan turned to face the very pony who made all of this possible to begin with. Starlight Glimmer, the student of Twilight Sparkle and the pony who had apparently ended the reign of Queen Chrysalis.

“Well, you can’t honestly expect me to accept all of this so quickly do you? I don’t know what you did, or how you did it, but I don’t think manipulating my kind to behave like you ponies was what should have happened!” Abzan explained, scowling at the mare as she gave a quick glare back at him.

“Your queen had captured all of my friends and the ponies of Equestria to drain our love!” Starlight replied.

“Well I see you aren’t denying the manipulating are you?! I would have preferred peace without having to resort to...This!” He hissed at the pony, trotting past her as she stuck her tongue out at the changeling in annoyance.

“Aren’t you going to stick around? Maybe if you gave this a chance you’ll-” But instead of listening to Starlight, Abzan stuck out his tongue and began making farting sounds, aggravating the mare as he ignored her.

“Abzan, come on, you can’t honestly say you aren’t the slightest bit happy that Chrysalis is gone right?” A bright yellow changeling said landing in front of him as three others approached him.

“Yeah, Evie is right… You should be celebrating with us!” Another changeling spoke up, standing beside Starlight. However before Abzan could say anything, Thorax, their new leader walked up to both his fellow changelings and Starlight as he confronted him.

“Abzan, I know this might be difficult to accept right off the bat, but this is a defining moment for our race. We dethroned a tyrant, made peace with ponykind despite us doing horrible, horrible things! We have a fresh start to show the world that changelings can bring harmony to all races.” Thorax explained, smiling as Abzan growled in irritation. He wasn’t thrilled at all to hear that come from the one being manipulated in the first place.

“Can’t you hear the absolute garbage that’s spewing from your mouth! This is the talk of ponies! Not a changeling! We are warriors who have struggled for the longest time, hunters of love and emotions. Bringer of hearts and love, and I do admit, our old queen was a complete bitch!” Abzan shouted, shocking so many of his fellow changelings with the foul word, even Starlight Glimmer was surprised, but Thorax wasn’t fazed by his words.

“Listen, Abzan-”

“No you listen Thorax! Everything you think you know is a bunch of lies! The only reason you're acting this way, accepting how things are, is because of those ponies brainwashing you into thinking that this is the way! I said this already, but we are warriors, and as warriors we should have settled our differences in either a duel! A battlefield! Or even hoof wrestling! Chrysalis may have been scum, but even she at the very least knows our traditions, our old ways and this isn’t victory! It’s total surrender!”

“YOUR WRONG! Thorax is one of the kindest and most caring changeling I’ve ever met and the only thing we did was make a strong bond with him. A bond of friendship and Twilight, Spike, the other girls, all of our friends are proud of him.” Starlight stated, giving a gentle smile towards Throax before throwing a glare at Abzan’s way. “And we know we’re gonna help Equestria.”

“You may have changed my Hive, but I know for a fact you won’t be able to change the other eleven hives out there,” Abzan mentioned, causing Thorax and Starlight’s eyes to widen in shock from this new information. “Oh that's right… you deserted us at one point and I don’t expect you ponies to know this, but our hive is one of the smallest out of the twelve total changeling hives. There are other hives out there, other outcasts like myself. And even though I’m a banished changeling, I will uphold the traditions of my kind, unlike the rest of you.

“Expecting me to celebrate with you, interacting with me, knowing full well that I am a banished changeling! Just because Chrysalis is gone and our hive following this joker now! Doesn’t mean I’ll abandon our most sacred traditions like you!”

With a deep sigh, Abzan’s wings flared up as his fellow changelings took a few steps back, looking in shame, anger, annoyance, disappointment. However for some odd reason, the look from the pony’s eyes made the changeling hesitate for a brief moment, before shaking his head rapidly and taking off into the sky, leaving his hive. No longer being held back by his old queen, his old superiors, or the ponies that had changed everything. Abzan was finally free to do as he pleased, he pulled out a folder he had taken from Silver Back after he had banished him from his saddlebags. Opening it to find documents of three missing changelings from his own hive.

“Buster, Clover, and Flower Patch? So this is what Silver Back had been up to… He was going to send a search party to find these three… but after Chrysalis was… Damn, if it weren’t for those damn ponies, we could have been out here searching for these guys!” Abzan said to himself as he continued to fly through the clear skies of Equestria. “Well, I guess finding out what happened to them should be a good start… the least I could do after giving the guys a shitty attitude.”

Author's Note

First chapter of Abzan's Journey is now out guys. And yes I know the prologue is unusually short, but I just couldn't wait to share this with all of you and yes I know... the Title of the story is named after the new anime movie coming out Burn The Witch

Either way I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day :)

Chapter 7: Regrets of a Pony

Chapter Seven: Regrets of a Pony

With Abzan now resting in his bunk with Winter standing watch over him, she couldn’t help but wonder how he was going to deal with Rocket with the amount of injuries he sustained the other day. She knew they were running out of time, she could feel it in her antenna’s and with no one to lead them out of this, she had no choice but to recruit others from the other hives to join their cause and help rebel a lot sooner than expected.

“Abzan… I know you said to wait… but I don’t want to see you get hurt anymore. I’m going to show you that I can be as strong as both you and Clover.” She said, staring at the sleeping form of Abzan with determination, knowing that she was going against her comrade’s plan and risking her friendship with him, but she knows that if she does succeed, he’ll forgive her…

Right?

Winter stood over Abzan and leaned down over him, staring at him lovingly. ‘I promise, once this is all over, I’ll tell you… what I’ve been feeling, Abzan.’

She continued to look at him, tempted to plant her lips on his, but the more she looked at him, the more painful and difficult was to go through with it. However, the stallion laying below started to stir, startling her as backed up, but he had only shifted his head over.

“Phew…” She whispered, before the door to their cell opened up and Ignitus stood there with two medical ponies behind him. She couldn’t help but hiss as she took up a defensive stance.

“They are only here to make sure his wounds are taken care of… For the meantime, I suggest you get back to work.” Ignitus said sternly as his horn started to glow, his magic wrapping around what appeared to be the handle of a rapier on his side. “Last thing I want to do today is splatter another changeling’s blood on the floor.”

“You know there's no happy ending for you… You know that right?” Winter said, trying to spite him in some way, but his expression remained the same.

“Leave. Now.”

With a huff, she trotted right past him as he closed the doors behind him to let the nurses check on his vitals and injuries while he waited outside, watching the northern changeling trot away towards the mines.

“Changelings… it’s your fault that I’m here to begin with.” He muttered, pulling out a cigarette from under his coat and lighting it with his horn.

With so many changelings now in the mines, harvesting gems for some reason, it became apparent that the security had grown quite significantly as well. However, as Winter witnessed, this didn’t stop Rocket from subjugating the Jungle Changelings and once again dominating those who had challenged him. There were also the Hughful changelings that had also arrived with the Jungle Changelings, mostly keeping to themselves as they chipped away with their pickaxes in hoof.

“Hey, Clover… Um… I know we haven’t exactly gotten along, but do you think you can help me talk to… those guys over there?” She asked the smaller female changeling kindly, but only received a snarl in response.

“Listen… I get you are close to Abzan, but seriously… get back to your hive. Last thing we want is for Rocket to come over here and beat us to the ground.” Clover responded, as the rest of Chrysalis hive continued to chip away at the gem shards.

“Please, this is for Abzan’s sake.”

“Just fuck off already.” She responded.

“No, this is to help him… help us get out of here, but… I can’t do this without you. I need your help.” She explained, trying her best to keep her voice down, but still on the verge of crying to which Clover couldn’t help but wince at her.

“FUCK… Fine, just what is it that you’re proposing bitch.” She said, throwing her pickaxe down, mumbling to herself as Winter just grinned in victory. “Seriously, you should ask your hive to help you.”

“I’ve already been banished from mine, since I’ve been with Abzan so much and trying to find a way to break out of this hell hole.” Winter explained as Clover rolled her eyes in response.

The two soon made their way over to the other side of the mines and noticed that there were quite a few more Hughful changelings then anticipated, like there were more added today. Their numbers had more than doubled, and lots of them were just as bad as the first batch added, and most of them were already glaring at each other when they had entered, the two colors split down the middle and claiming their own portions of their mine.

“Look Snowy, are you sure you know what you're doing.” Clover asked, snarling at the tanish changelings surrounding the two of them.

“It’s Winter… And yes, they are the only ones that haven’t been put in their place by Rocket.” She whispered.

“Oh look, it’s one of the exposers! And they’ve brought one‘o them snobby snowflakes!” One of the purple eyes changelings hissed, and most of the Hughful changelings turned to meet their gaze.

“We aren’t here to cause trouble…” Winter explained. “My name is Winter, I’m from the North, we want to talk.”

“Well, tell your alpha that if he wants to boss us around, he can come here and we’ll show him what his pack mentality means to us!” A green eyed changeling said, sounding more femanine than the first.

“I’m not a part of the Northern Hive anymore… What we want is to form an alliance with you. You’re Hive and Chrysalis’ hive form a pact and show the others that we can work together.” Winter explained, as Clover’s eyes widened in surprise, but knew if she said something now, they’d put themselves at risk.

The Hughful Hive was silent at first, until a laugh bellowed from the far right. The purple eyed changelings parted as a burned changeling stepped forward, eyes narrow and fangs bared in a toothy, vindictive grin. He was physically the bulkiest of the purple changelings, who weren't very imposing to begin with, but he seemed to be the oldest out of the purple changelings.

“Little ‘ling, you’re very naive if you came to our hive for an alliance. Especially if you think any changeling worth a damn would cozy up to one of Chrysalis’ hive!” He barked.

“And what’s wrong with us!!! You deformed carcass sprite!!!”

“Why do you think we’re in here to begin with!? Your hive attacked Canterlot and exposed us!” The changeling hissed.

“At least our queen was willing to try to harvest love for us… unlike your hiv- Wait I mean HIVES…you mindless cannibals. And let’s not forget your stupid civil war that is still going on to this day!!!” Clover argued, baring her fangs and her wings buzzing rapidly.

“And whose hive is it that became friends with Equestria after your Ruler tried to invade it again. Your hive abandoned your Queen, so how would either of us trust your hive?” A the green eyed changeling’s head stepped forward, still covered in vines and wearing a tired expression. “And we are not cannibals. The Flesheater half of the hive are the true followers of the Hughful Hive, and we partake in eating the meat of fallen enemies to sustain ourselves when no love is available, as opposed to the Decaying, who consider themselves purists. They’re likely starving themselves out here.”

“And we aren’t undead, brat! We cause decay with poison!” The male changeling snapped grumpily, ignoring the green eyed mare.

“I’m not a brat, and I have a name, it’s Clover, a scouting changeling! Who do you think you are?!”

“Tarsus, Venomite first class of the Decaying, servant of Queen Pestilence.”

“Enough! This is getting us nowhere! We just want to get out of here… We want the same thing, right?”

“Escaping with the help of either of you sickens me… I’d rather die in here, than be anywhere near you miss bred cows.” The purple eyed changeling growled, turning away and lurking away.

The Flesheater considered it for but a moment, before shaking her head. “Even if escape were an option, I unfortunately have to agree with my misled cousin, Tarsus. Even before the Invasion of Canterlot, Chrysalis was disliked by many, and her hive has betrayed the others and put them in jeopardy by allying with the ponies. If our fates are to die, then may our Hive Lord’s be proud of our strength.”

When the rest of the Hughful Changeling returned to their work, Winter let out a sigh of defeat before Clover started to pull her back towards their hive.

However, one of the Hughful Changelings, who had a long scar over his eye and torn ear on his left side, the frills on his head were ripped up and had large claw marks on his chest. He looked at the two of them and couldn’t help but shake his head in response, gaining the attention of Tarsus.

“Tarsus, work with them… Will free changelings… Our Queen left us to die.”

“You… forget your place, Malice.”

“No, Tarsus forget we have no place… In old home. Left to die by brothers and sisters, Malice was tortured by ponies for a long time… long time. Changelings must fight ponies, not changelings!” Malice argued, ready to start fighting Tarsus before he was stopped by another changeling, one with green eyes.

The vine coated changeling glared at Malice. “If you so choose, then you may leave the hive. Your treacherous words are not welcomed.”

“Stay out of my affairs, Cetacean!” Tarsus snarled.

The Flesheater rolled her eyes dramatically. “I just didn’t want the Venomites to maul the poor thing. He’s taken after Rocket in his time away from the Hughful’s.” She gestured with her head towards Clover and Winter. “You’ll not change a Decaying or Flesheater’s mind through violence, Malice. Our ideals are very much divergent from yours.”

“GO! Fuck yourself!” Malice said clearly, upsetting the mare as she herself bared her fangs at him. “Malice, fights for changelings… not old hives.”

“Then leave, traitor.” Tarsus snarls, spreading his legs in a hostile stance, while Cetacean retreated.

“Traitor here… is you runt.” Malice hissed, towering over the younger changeling as he bared his fangs at him, before pulling out his pickaxe and getting back to work.

The atmosphere tensed as Tarsus battled with his emotions. He wanted so badly to rip Malice to shreds for the sheer amount of insults, but wasn’t sure he could actually take on the older changeling. He was only in charge because the other Venomites despised Malice for his traitorous thoughts, but the fact that Tarsus hadn’t eaten anything since he had arrived had already weakened him. He ended up deciding against outright physically assaulting him, but decided it was worth it to send a purple wad of spit at Malice’s hooves. For pettiness’ sake.

Malice ignored him and decided to continue his work to help his hive out, even though they believe to be divided, they were more alike than they think. Only one thing coursed through his mind instead of rage towards his hive.

‘Ponies will pay… Malice will kill striped pony… No more pain for changelings. Kill them all.’ He thought to himself as he swung his pickaxe with all his might and broke off a huge chuck of the gem he was working on with two others beside him.

Once the medical staff were done treating the changeling named Abzan, Ignitus began to make his way over towards his office, until he noticed Clipper Shoe with Dr. Weaver and Ltn. Magnet Shot coming down the halls. With a salute he greeted his commanding officer and the head scientist of their facility.

“Ltn. Magnet Shot, Doctor… I was not aware you would be here today.” Ignitus stated, with Clipper scoffing at his superior officer after yesterday’s incident.

“Dr. Weaver says she wants us to start gathering changelings from each Hive for the experimental enhancement testing. She wants us to start converting those mindless beasts into useful infiltrators for other hives and bring them down from within.” Magnet Shot explained, turning towards the good doctor who only smirked at the two stallions. “Which I am against…”

“Sir, with all due respect… I don’t think that would be wise-”

“I’m afraid it’s not up to Magnet here second Ltn. Ignitus… Both me and Dr, Solitude decide what goes on within our facilities. You handsome, need to remember your place.” Weaver explained, gently caressing the red stallion’s cheek as he shuddered in disgust which disappointed the mare. “Besides, from what I’ve read from your files you should be thrilled… After all wasn’t it a changeling that-”

“Be careful with what you say next Zebra… It’s one thing to capture and punish these parasites, but they are still living creatures. They should be judged accordingly by the Crown for their actions against the citizens of Equestria.” Ignitus argued, but none of them reacted to his statement about the Crown and both Clipper Shoe and Weaver decided to trot past him.

“Ignitus… The one who should be careful is you. After all, you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your son now right?” Magnet threatened before trotting past him as Ignitus stood there in disbelief that his superior officer was going along with what the crazy zebra was saying.

“Magnet… You know this is wrong, you even said you’re against it… So why allow this?” Ignitus asked, glaring at his Lieutenant as he stopped in his place before turning his head to face the red unicorn.

“Even if I’m against this… what can we truly do against those who have greater power and authority. However, despite how cruel and violent our actions are… We are doing this for the greater good of Equestria. So pull yourself together soldier, soon you’ll have even more time to spend with your son once everything is put into motion.” Magnet Shot explained before taking his leave once more, leaving the unicorn alone with his thoughts.

‘Faerie… Am I doing the right thing?’

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait guys, been busy Irl and I just want to thank my friend for helping me write this chapter. It was fun exploring yet another Hive within the prison and there are still other hives that I need show their cultures and how they do things.

I'll try to post another chapter soon, but I'll probably save it after New Years. I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and will have a wonderful new year.