A/N : Screw the double update as fast for the last week or three... weddings galore, tests, another story which you should check out to help me break writers' block.

Inspiration while writing : Renegade by the Qemists

Keth had followed the strange insectoid for nearly a mile before a strange outcrop of rock came into view. It was not much more than a boulder, just sitting in the sand. Upon closer inspection, it became evident that this was no normal boulder. It was covered in runic drawings and writings, telling of times long since passed. At the base of the boulder, there seemed to be a hole, barely large enough for a full grown man to slip through, which the creature pointed at as it spoke.

"This is the entrance to our home. It is not what it seems, so please do not be alarmed. For the sake of the hive, I can not show you the directions to our home, hunted as we are, but I can take you there by teleportation. Please, follow me."

Keth stopped for a second. Hunted? These must be some sort of refugee, then, with all the secrecy. And teleportation? That's new, but what else could one expect in a new world. New world, new rules, right?

He looked for a moment at the runes, examining, feeling a sort of freshly placed energy signature, something touched this recently with some sort of energy...

His gaze was drawn back to the creature as it bowed and crawled forwards towards the hole. The creature seemed to prod at the darkness, and, surprisingly, it rippled.

"Good, my brethren had set up the gate. In we go." The creature propelled itself forwards with a light flutter of it's wings and entered the dark rubbery barrier. It was pushed in for a moment, but then rebounded and engulfed the creature. What could go wrong?

Keth stepped forwards as he weighed his options. He could either go in the black shadow thing and follow that creature, or he could just stay put. He sighed. He never was one to stay in one place for too long...

He stepped forwards, and with a little hop, slid down into the crack. As his feet made contact, the barrier seemed to put up a little resistance, but soon collapsed, and he was sent feet-first into the darkness. He gasped as a cold shock passed upwards through his body, from his toes to his legs, upwards into his chest, and finally his head. His sense of gravity returned quickly, and he realized he was in mid-air. However, before he could do anything, his descent stopped rapidly as he impacted hard stone. With an instinctive roll, he flipped himself back up to his feet, arms up, ready for anything.

As his eyes adjusted, he realized there was nothing to be ready for. A slight buzz filled the air, and the scent of must and mold drifted through his nostrils. In front of him, the creature stood, apparently amused, to some extent, watching him.

"Ready to continue? There are some you should meet before we do anything else, allow me to take you to her."

Her? Well that means the place is probably run by a queen of some sorts, like ants. Keth lowered his guard and resumed walking behind the creature.

It began walking away from him, and as Keth's eyes adjusted, he realized that they were in some sort of cavern. Keth continued looking around him, searching for any signs of... well... anything. The smoothened walls showed that the tunnel had been there for a while, and that it was used... however, there was no sign of any life, other than the buzzing, which seemed to be getting louder as they move forwards. Seeing nothing worth concentrating at, Keth turned his mind inwards. His subconscious mind began to lead him, following the strange creature, and his mind began to calm. Falling into a sort of dream-state, his consciousness returned.

He seemed to 'wake up' in a park in a city, back on Earth. He turned around and surveyed his lucid dream, wondering what was in store for him. As he reached directly behind him, a rock caught his eyes. It wasn't just any, it was literally a boulder in the middle of a park. He stared for a moment, then realized what it was. It was a two-pronged fork-like metal device, known as the Amp. Keth's eyes widened, realizing where he was. New Marais. The post-blast town. This was where he... died...

Looking at the monument, he realized there was something else there too. As he approached the amp in the rock, he saw what he noticed earlier. It was a long bandage, wrapped around the hilt of the Amp...

Keth's consciousness snapped back to reality. Him and the creature had reached some sort of... door? But regardless, how could he possibly have seen New Marais? It must have just been some sort of dream. It had happened before...

His awareness returned as the creature called to him and waved. "Are you okay? We've been walking for nearly an hour, and you haven't done anything but walk. It seemed like you were thinking, and I didn't want to disturb you, but you nearly walked into the door." The creature made what could be called a smile, and Keth caught a glimpse of a set of fangs hanging out of it's mouth, no doubt there for a reason.

"Oh, really?" He frowned. Dream-states make time slow, not speed up... what was wrong with his..? "So... where are we?"

"We, my companion, are at the very doors to the Throne Room."

Keth's eyebrows widened, not realizing where exactly he was. As he more closely examined the door, it seemed to have a huge engraving on it, reminding him of some sort of rune. The scent of... nothing floated through the air, and the walls seemed to be just as intricate. And besides, he didn't know that the creatures had a ruler of some sort...

"What's inside? Your king? Ruler? Monarch?" He asked, searching for an answer to his question.

For the first time, the creature seemed to ignore the question, but his head cocked sideways, as if receiving instructions. Keth felt a pulse of... something pass from him to the room, and then back. And then there again. The creature's eyes widened, and it seemed to brace itself against the ground. Suddenly, it's life signature flared, betraying the presence of something far more powerful than itself.

The creature floated up into the air, head tilted up, eyes glowing bright green, as if possessed. Keth stepped back and lowered himself into a more combat-ready stance, wary of this possessed... thing...

It fell back to the ground, landing on all four, and took a step towards him, eyes still glowing green. It spoke , with a voice that was definitely not that of the creature. "Greetings, biped. I would like to extend a welcome to you on behalf of the Changelings. Please, enter the throne room, and I will meet with you inside. The green and the voice-over both faded as the 'changeling' returned to it's normal form. It shivered once, and shook it's head, as if to clear it.

"Sorry, mate, but when the Queen does that, it feels really loopy. Now, come on, I believe she wanted to see you for herself." The changeling beckoned him over to the door, and when he stood in front, the changeling placed a holed hoof on the door.

"Scout 1183 reporting from duty. Reporting in with potential discovery of new, unidentified species." The changeling spoke with a strong voice, articulating every word. After a moment, the doors silently swung open.

Keth stepped inside the throne room, half a step behind the changeling.

His jaw dropped at what he saw. 'Throne room' wasn't enough to describe the massive hall he had just entered. Above, the ceiling was barely visible, crawling with hundreds if not thousands of changelings. As his gaze wandered downwards, he saw that the entire hall, up until the throne, was pure obsidian, midnight black glass. Along the walls, the glass had been etched to form a sort of timeline, the history of the race he had just come into contact with. It started with a depiction of a changeling and three other horse-like creatures. One horse had wings, one a horn, and the third had nothing. However, the three seemed to be looking at the changeling like it was some sort of monster, the changeling's head held low, as if in shame.

His gaze was drawn back forwards, where it fell upon what could only be described as the queen. Scout 1183 trotted up to her, and bowed.

"My queen, I bring to you the creature of whom you saw." He spoke, still bowed.

"Rise, and well done. He even came willingly... But it's no matter. I believe you are deserving of a promotion, Scout. I know that you are a veteran for our cause, you were here as long as I can remember. You deserve a name, not a number. I thereby dub you Harbinger, the sign of our coming."

Keth watched as the queen seemed to... knight the changeling? Whatever.

"Thank you, my queen. I will stand loyal by your side. Now, I present to you..." Harbinger stepped aside, and swept his forehooves towards Keth. "The creature of which you felt enter this world."

"Thank you Harbinger, you may leave." Harbinger bowed again and turned around to leave.

"Now... what do we have here." The queen, the large, holed, changeling with a large, twisted horn, stepped from her throne of black gold. She paced around Keth, eyeing him, his wraps, his clothing, everything.

Keth eyed her back. She seemed like the horse version of a succubus, the twisted body, the lustful expression, everything. He knew better.

After a few rounds, she stopped in front of him. "And what manner of creature are you? I have never seen anything like you before..."

He stared her in the face, searching for a clue as to her intentions, but they seemed... benevolent? Might as well give it a shot... "I am Keth. I am a subspecies of the race Homo sapiens, humans, called conduits. We have superhuman abilities, we can do things normal humans can't. Sadly, however, we are extinct." His face turned down.

"Oh... then how are you alive?" Chrysalis was intrigued. Really, what manner of creature was standing before her..?

"I don't know. I should be dead. I allowed myself to die." A tear began to form in his right eye.

Chrysalis saw this. Maybe he could become an ally... First, what can he do.

"Well, you are alive. You must live, now that you have another chance." Chrysalis spoke, with what she hoped was compassion in her voice.

"I know, it's just... I've done so much wrong, it's hard to right it again." The tear grew, filled with sadness and regret.

"We all have, but you always must remember the good things and good times you've had." She hoped her tone was motherly; she never actually had feelings of any sort for anything.

Keth sighed, and wiped his tear away. "Yeah."

"So, who are you and how did you come to exist?"

"First, my name and title. I am Keth, The Last Conduit, also the Leech. I was the last of my kind, as when we were wiped out, the thing used didn't entirely wipe me out. I had to survive leeching of off other people's life energies. That is why I let myself die. As a conduit, I can control life energies, absorb them, transfer them, and manipulate them. It works on a contact basis, and I can animate these wraps I wear. They were given a portion of my power, and so I can use them with my power. Who are you, where am I, and what is this place, and why the hell are all the colors so FREAKING BRIGHT?" Keth began to raise his voice at the end, his discomfort evident.

Chrysalis chuckled, a manipulative smile covering her face. "Well, Keth, have a seat." She stepped back up to her throne. "I will explain everything."

And so she began.

"I am Queen Chrysalis, current queen of the Changeling Hive. We are inside the heart of our above, deep in the Changeling Wastes. This land has been our ancestral home, since the beginning of our race, when we were shunned by the ponies. We are NOT the dominant species, and we have been shunned and persecuted since the beginning of time. The colors have always been this way, bright.

Now, a history lesson. In the beginning, there were three 'tribes' of ponies. The earth ponies, the ones without anything extra, always had an affinity for the earth. They used to grow food for all the other races. The pegasi, the ones with wings, were able to live in the clouds, and control the weather. They allowed the earth ponies to grow crops by providing water. The unicorns, the ones with horns, were able to use magic. They were the reason the sun and moon were raised and set every day. Yes, gravitational laws say that is impossible, but our land was damaged heavily by a creature named Discord, a long time ago, and was stopped by the two God-Princesses with their six generals (shameless self advertising). The Princesses took over the duty of raising the celestial bodies, and the ponies united. Then, one day, a famous unicorn alchemist made a huge mistake. She, after creating everything from Timber Wolves and Manticores to Parasprites, accidentally created a changeling. She was trying to fuse a chameleon and an ant queen, but caught herself in the spell. She became what you are seeing here. A changeling. She is not me. She tried to ask the ponies for help, but none came, and she became bitter. She was shunned and banished. She came here, but for some reason, she still retained control of her ant hive. After pleading for help form the princesses, they refused her, and she began to hate them. One day, she committed the ultimate sin of all. She murdered a pony on her wedding day, and used her magic to take upon the guise of the pony she had killed. She replaced her in society so perfectly, that nopony ever knew about her until her 'husband' died. After so many years, she had learned once again how to love, and with his death, her mind shattered. Using the love she had for him, she brought him back to life, but, not entirely. He was also a changeling, and he was her thrall. She was able to feed off the love he had for her, and use it to make even more changeling drones, and then eventually a hive. That hive is this, it still stands today. Recently, we were once again banished from the 'high and mighty' land of Equestria after our most recent attempt at... diplomacy... We were forced out by the very power we feed on, just because the sun-damned ponies can't look past a living, sentient, INTELLIGENT creature's looks and view what really lies inside. We look like bugs, and so, we are treated like them, and so we were crushed like them." The Queen's eyes turned downwards, head in shame. "Do you know what it is like to have to tell your subjects, your children, that they must starve another day, go hungry without sustenance? Do you understand that it is this way since a majority race with a greater army are xenophobic, maybe even xenocidal naive creatures, so ignorant of anything outside their utopia that they can't seem to understand that just because we are less fortunate does not mean we are monsters?" He voice had begun to drop, holding in a barely-contained sadness.

Keth was speechless. It HAD happened to him, he was an outcast before. Why? Because he could manipulate life energy. His shock simmered and burned, and as it refined, it was turned to the righteous anger of a wronged man. But something didn't seem right...

"That. Is. Horrible." He had stood up, barely containing his rage. "I know exactly how you feel. I was once shunned by everyone. It is NOT RIGHT." He had heavily emphasized his last few words. He knew what he was here for, and he knew his purpose in this afterlife. "I know exactly how you feel. I was once shunned, too. But I need to know one thing first. I need to see what this is, myself. I have been led astray once before, and I will NOT be again. Promise me this, and I will do anything in my power to help you end this."

'Perfect...' "Alright then. Go with Harbinger, through our portal system, to the city the ponies call 'Manehatten'. There, I would like you to simply walk into the market square, with Harbinger by your side. Then, you will see first-hand just how dire our situation is."

Author's Note

Hey guys. I'm so freaking sorry for the wait, but finals week. I had to study my ass off. I learned more in the last few days than I have in my entire freaking life. Here, enjoy the next Anti-chapter. I will be writing a shit-ton over break, so YAY!

Have I released Keth's background yet?