What We Become

“Alright which one of you ugly sons of bitches can tell me where I can find the royal convoy?!?”, shouted the crimson stallion. His voice booming and raspy. The group of dazed changelings before him gave no reply, “No one? You're telling me nobody here has a goddamn clue where the your beloved queen is?”, he brought his face in close to a terrified changeling who was trembling uncontrollably. “IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME?”

“N-no...we don't know...I swear,” stammered the mortified changeling.

“YOU LYING FUCK!,” the stallion struck the changeling hard across the jaw, breaking it in the process. The changeling lay flat on its' belly, involuntarily slack jawed. It made a feeble attempt to crawl away, inching itself along it with its' forehooves. The stallion looked on as it attempted to make its' futile escape. He paused for a moment, watching his victim writhe along the ground helplessly. Just the sight of it made him smile. For the first time in his life he felt powerful. Alive even. He was much more satisfied with his new occupation than he was with his dead end job at the rainbow factory. He had found his true calling, violence.

The stallion stomped hard on the changeling's head, fracturing its' skull. He could hear it squeal as he heard the satisfying crunch of pulverized bone. He pulled back and pounded the changelings head again, striking harder and faster this time. This time, the changeling's skull began to cave inwards and he stopped screaming and began twitching and struggling meekly, in a daze. The stallion drew back and stomped on the imprint he had left in the back of the changeling's skull. He struck him again and again. His vision began turning red. He could feel the changeling's warm green blood splattering all over him along with bits of viscera. It felt so good. The ponies accompanying him had gingerly backed away from the gruesome scene. Some in fear, some in disgust, some because they did not want to have to  spend hours cleaning blood out of their uniforms, but he didn't care. He was going to enjoy every minute of what he did.

He eventually slowed himself down and ended the his frenzied mutilation, taking a step back to admire his work. The changeling lay motionless on its' belly. Its' head now but a pulpy green mush. A slushy mix of green blood, skull fragments and bits of mashed brain matter. To the stallion, it bore a striking resemblance to his ex-wife's cooking. He hated his ex- wife. His trailing thoughts inspired him to give what remained of the changeling's head another good stomp, for good measure.

“Now...is somebody going to talk? Or am I going to have to keep pressing?” none of the changeling's responded. They would not meet his gaze and simply sat either staring at the ground, gawking at their mutilated comrade or looking nervously at one another. “I could do this all day you know,” still no response. “Do you think this is some sort of fucking game?!? Are you going for the high score or something? Because there isn't one! You just die!” he motioned into the crowd of changelings. “YOU'RE ALL GOING TO FUCKING DIE!” he screamed. He stood there panting, his head swinging from side to side, sizing up his next victims.

As he finished his rant he heard one of the changelings murmur something unintelligible. The stallion's eyes locked on the changeling who he had heard the murmur emanate from. He stalked up to the changeling and towered threateningly over him. “I'm sorry, I don't think I caught that,” he cupped his hoof next to his ear listening closely. The changeling did not oblige him, it simply stared at the ground, swallowing nervously. “That means speak up you little shit!”

“Her carriage is headed to the-,” the changeling trailed off into incomprehensible mumbling.

“I can't hear you!” the stallion struck the changeling hard across the muzzle. The force of the blow nearly spun the changeling clean around and left him reeling. Blood slowly trickled from his nostrils. He slowly recovered from the blow and continued.

“Her carriage,” he paused to swallow nervously, “Her carriage will be at North Point pass in two hours,” the changeling looked down at his hooves in shame. He could almost feel the resentment radiating off of his fellow changeling's.

“Finally someone with a modicum of common sense,” the stallion's tone had softened considerably and he lay his hoof comfortingly on the changeling's shoulder. “And since you were the smart one of the bunch. You get to take the easy way out,” he brought the changeling's chin up with his hoof, forcing eye contact between them. “Would you like that?” The changeling stared at him, wide eyed. He was perplexed by the stallion's sudden act of mercy after his fits of brutality. He gingerly nodded his head  in response. “That a boy,” the stallion patted him on the shoulder as he slowly reached back into his saddlebags. He appeared to be slipping something on his hoof. “Don't worry, it only hurts for a few seconds,” before the changeling could fully realize the gravity of his situation, the stallion swiped across his throat with a mechanical blade attached to his hoof, slicing deep into the changeling's throat. His eyes widened in fear as he clutched frantically at his severed windpipe. He choked and sputtered on his own blood and stumbled around wildly before finally falling to the ground, face first. A pool of bright green blood was forming under the gash in his throat.

“Feed the rest of them to the timberwolves. We won't be needing them anymore,” As the stallion turned and trotted back towards his carriage, he could hear the changeling's causing quite a fuss. Kicking, screaming and begging for their lives. It was music to his ears. He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He could hear the sound of a bolt clanking open and the door to the timberwolf cage creaking open. Then came the noises of snarling timberwolves and snapping jaws, followed by the sound of tearing flesh, cracking bones and that ear piercing wail the changelings made when they were in pain. The stallion didn't even have to turn around to get his satisfaction from the deed. Ah, the sound of a good day's work.

As the stallion reached his carriage and swung the door of it wide open, he make out his human companion lovingly tending to his weapon. A wooden club like object wrapped in sharp barbed wire. The human cleaned and maintained the bat as if it were his own child. He was oddly protective of it. Never wanting to allow anyone other than himself to handle it. The stallion found this to be strange, even by his own standards. Though, despite his slight obsession with an inanimate object, the human had proven to be a good companion. He was reliable, intelligent, ruthless and strong in battle, despite having a prosthetic leg.

“What was all that ruckus about?” asked the human.

“Ruckus? That was progress Lucius.”

“Hmm,” Lucius looked up at him and chuckled, “Sounded like you got what you needed. Where's the chariot going to be?”

“North Point pass. Two hours.”

“Ah, good,” Lucius patted him on the shoulder, “I knew I could trust you with getting the job done. You just have that...look....about you Blitz.”

“I aim to please.”

“You see,” Lucius' expression changed to a more serious one, “That's what I was planning to bring up next.”

“Why?”

“I remember telling you to secure all of our assets.”

“Yes? And?”

“There's ten missing,” Blitz looked down at his hooves, he could not hold Lucius' intense glare, “I thought I told you to get them all ASAP.”

“And I did, there's only, what? Ten out of a few hundred missing?”

“And now those ten are going around being holier than thou white knights! Canterlot has taken one in and we have nine others running around like Robin Hood and his band of fucking merry men! Going around and killing our men to save a few 'innocents'. I think it's about time that we fucking recruited them! Before they can be swayed further against us.”

“Okay Lucius. You wanna know what I think about our Robin Hood and his Merry Men?” Blitz paused for a moment, trying to recall a human saying he had once hears, “How did you say it?” he tapped his hoof on his chin, “Oh right. I don't give a fuck about them okay?”

“Well I do! Otherwise why the hell would I be mentioning this to you?” Lucius slammed his hand on his seat.

“They're ten men. We don't need them. What's stopping us from cutting them down and ending this?”

“They're our star players! That's why! They were brought here to be our fucking A-team,” Lucius yelled, “and I'm not going to lose them because some fucking lowlife was too incompetent to find ten people and recruit them! It really isn't that hard?”

“No but-”

“Then why haven't you gotten it done???”

“I-,” Blitz fell silent, he did not want to risk further angering Lucius with his insubordination. He didn't want to think about what Lucius could do with that bat of his.

“That's what I thought,” Lucius opened the door of the Chariot, “Now, I've got a rendez-vous to make. I hope I can trust you with getting the job done while I'm out.”

“...Yes sir,” said Blitz hesitantly.

“Good,”  Lucius ushered him out of the chariot. On his way out Blitz felt Lucius pull him in close and heard him whisper in his ear, “I swear to god, if you don't get this done, I will kill you. I don't have room for failures,” and with that he ushered Blitz out of the chariot and shut the door. He  stood and watched the chariot take off for North Point Pass.

“Blitz?” one of his companions asked, “What next?”

“Get hold of The Watcher. We're going on a Merry man hunt.”

* * *

“You're sure you know how to do this?” the man asked, meekly lifting his head to inspect his wounded leg. The early morning sun gave everything a yellowish tinge. It reflected off the blood seeping out of his wound. It looked bad. He could only hope that his “doctor” knew what he was doing.

“Nope. Not a clue,” replied Dawson, still rifling through the med-kit. The man cocked his head at him in confusion for a moment, then nervously laughed.

“Y'know I've really gotten to like you Dawson. You're always cracking jokes,” he slowly stopped laughing when he heard no response from Dawson, his smile was replaced with a look of dismay, “You're not joking...are you?”

“Nope!”, said Dawson with a smile as he turned around, brandishing a scalpel. The man began scrambling to get off the makeshift bed and flee the medical tent. Frantically screaming for help.

“Patrick! Get the sedative,” no response, “Patrick!” The man flopped off the bedding and scrambled along the floor in a frantic crawl. “Goddamn it,” just then Patrick appeared from around the corner and clobbered the man with the butt of his rifle. Dawson was taken aback as he stared on in surprise, “What the hell did you do that for?!? You could have killed him!”

“We were out of sedatives,” grumbled Patrick, rubbing his eyes groggily,

“You still didn't have to go so far,” Dawson scolded, picking up the man's limp body and throwing him over his shoulder. “I think I can handle it from here. Why don't you go find something else to do...before you try to whack anyone else,” Dawson scurried back to his makeshift “operating bed” which wasn't much more than a pile of jackets and blankets and set to work on his patient. Reading through medical manuals as he performed his hack job surgery, if you could even call it a surgery.

“You're welcome asshole,” mumbled Patrick as he shuffled lazily out of the tent. The morning air was crisp and refreshing. He breathed it all in, then sighed. It had been so long since he had felt like this. Safe, at ease. So much had changed since he had arrived. Things are so different now, he stood facing the sun with his eyes closed, so different. He reached into his pocket and brought out an old, tattered walled. He opened the ancient thing and went through its' contents. His old I.D card, he could hardly recognize himself. He reached into one of the pockets, and pulled out an damp, swollen and torn photograph. He could barely make out the figures in it anymore. Even though it was his family, they looked almost alien to him. He gently rubbed the dust off of where one the largest male figure's face was. "I wish you could have been here to see this", he smiled, “It's beautiful here. It's perfect. It's all you ever wanted for me,” he suddenly stopped himself and wiped the smile off his face. “No,” he said, placing the photograph back in his wallet and stuffing it back in his jacket, “I'm not talking to a fucking photograph.”

Patrick grumbled to himself about his mental state as he strolled around the perimeter of their camp. Nothing interesting. No bandits. No mutants. Nothing. Only the corpses of a fanatical gang they had encountered the night before lay in the field. And they weren't much in the way of a threat. Even still he continued his diligent patrol. He could not go back to sleep even if he wanted to. If he did, the nightmares would come to haunt him once again. Visions of silhouettes and voices beckoning him. Something stalking him in the woods. Suddenly a still silhouette appeared in his peripheral vision, against the early morning sunlight. He jumped and turned to face it. It was only Carson. He was staring emptily off of the ridge they had camped on. “What are you doing up so early?” asked Patrick.

“Gaige isn't coming back,” Carson turned around, tears streaming down his face, “Is he?” Patrick remained silent, he wasn't sure what to tell him. The boy glared at him accusingly. He knew that he had been lied to. Without Carson saying a single word, Patrick could almost feel that he was asking him “How could you?” with that misty eyed look of his.

“Carson...,” Patrick tried to reason with him, but it was for naught. Carson took off into the woods, wailing and sniffling.

“Jesus...The kid lose his shit like that often?” asked a deep voice behind Patrick. It was Eli, he must have came up behind him when he wasn't looking. The man had a knack for that.

“No. First time,” Patrick responded.

“Should we-,”

“No. He'll be back. Don't worry,” assured Patrick, catching a final glimpse of Carson disappearing into the bushes.

“This Gaige person. Was he his father or somethin'?”

“No. His father is dead. Gaige has just kinda been taking care of him since then.”

“Damn,” exclaimed Eli, rubbing the back of his neck, “I don't know how the hell the kid's made it this far after all that. I mean, most kids his age would've just given up.”

“You can't just give up because it's hard. It won't bring back what you lost,” explained Patrick, unknowingly clenching his fists and scowling, “Nothing will,” Eli picked up on Patrick's sudden change of attitude and grew uncomfortable.

“Um...Are you okay?” he asked putting a hand on Patricks shoulder, “Something seems to be bothering you.”

“What?” Patrick quickly unclenched his fists and put on the best fake smile he could, “Me? Bothered? I'm fine. Don't worry about it.”

“You sure? We've all lost people here. If you wanna talk about it-”

“I'm fine,” Patrick insisted, his tone held a subtle menace about it.

“Alright,” said Eli, lightly shrugging. They both stood there in an awkward silence. Staring our over the ridge. Eli was the first to break the silence. “We have a lot of ground to cover.”

“Thank you Captain Obvious,” muttered Patrick. Eli chuckled softly, amused by his sarcasm.

“Any idea where we should be going?”

“Well, that depends. Which way did we come from?”

“I have no idea. This whole forest looks the same to me.”

“Well, no worries, I'm sure I can try to locate us on this map some ponies gave me a while back,” Patrick pulled an old, browning map out of his pocket and unfolded it. It was title “Greater Appleloosa Valley”. Patrick traced the map with his finger until he came to a large bunch of woodland on the map. “Aha! We must be somewhere around here. I'll look for some landmarks we might be able to see,” Patrick scanned the woodland part of the map. Gathering a few landmarks to look for. “Alright. Do you see a really big tree?” Eli raised his head up and looked around as far as he could see.

“There's a lot of really big trees.”

“No, I mean like a really big tree.”

“What do you mean really big? Like...Eiffel Tower big?”

“I don't fucking know!” exclaimed Patrick, growing frustrated with his lack of success, “Just look for a big ass tree.”

“Well you're gonna have to be more specific? What kind of tree am I looking for? Oak? Fern? Pine?” Eli asked, scratching his head in confusion. There were no prominent trees he could make out.

“The treelike kind of tree,” Patrick replied sarcastically, “You're asking me this like I'm supposed to have all the answers! It can't be that hard to find a massive tree.”

“Well I-,” Eli cut himself off and sighed in exasperation, “This isn't working. Is it?”

“...No. How about I just read the names of some of the closest towns to the forest. If we keep going straight until we're out of the forest then we might be able to find our way to one of them,” Patrick began to skim over some of the writing that was on the map. His heart sank as he came to the realization that the map did not have any normal numbers on it. The measurements on the map consisted of strange hieroglyphs. There weren't even any numbers on the map. Only the names of towns. He also quickly realized that the map was not near detailed enough for him to even come close to spotting their approximate position, “Well, some map this turned out to be!” muttered Patrick, stuffing the map back into his pocked. “Looks like we're going to have to wing it, head straight and hope we find a town soon. We don't have enough food to last much longer out here.”

“Guys! I think I may have found something,” hollered Phillip, one of Eli's group members as he ran up to Eli and Patrick. His sunken green eyes were lit up with delight. The man was ecstatic. “I saw a sign!” he announced proudly.

“Please tell me it was a sign for a tavern! I could really go for some booze right now,” joked Patrick.

“No, even better than a bar! It's a sign pointing to a town,” Eli and Patrick exchanged glances, “It's called Pony-town...No...that doesn't sound right,” he said tapping his chin, “Ah yes! Ponyville! That's what it's called,” he continued, wearing a big smile on his face.

“Well,” Patrick said, fixing his jacket, “I guess we know where we're headed. Pack up camp,  we leave as soon as we can. We're wasting daylight as it is.”

* * *

Chrysalis couldn't focus. Her head was pounding and her vision was blurred. Nor could she hear anything, save for a faint ringing in her ears. Her entire body was throbbing with pain. It felt like she had been struck by a train. She groaned and tried to remember how she got into such a dreadful state. It hurt to focus. The ringing was getting louder. The chariot was flying. Now there were muddled voices mixed in with the ringing. It fell...Why did it fall? She could hear a stallion's voice raised above all the other voices. It was calm, warm and soothing, in an odd way. Explosions...there were explosions, the voice sounded familiar. Where had she heard it before. Guns were going off too. There was now a bipedal figure materializing in her vision. Guns mean humans, the figure seemed to crouch over her and wave it's hand over her face, and humans mean...him.

“Wakey wakey! You and I have a lot to talk about,” he cooed. She knew the name. Lucius, yes that's what it was. He was a deceiver. He seemed fairly warm and harmless. Having a prosthetic leg and a kind (yet scarred) face that always bore a deceitful smile. Only behind all of that, lay a sadistic and masochistic core that had long gone rotten. Even by Chrysalis' standards, it was nothing short of despicable.

“You,” she rasped, “I'm done with you and your boss.”

“That's what you think dearie,” he snickered, “Unfortunately...that isn't what your contract says.”

“What contract,” hissed Chrysalis. Her vision was returning and she had started to regain her senses. Lucius scoffed at this remark.

“That's what they all say,” he smiled at her and drew nearer to her face, “Y'know, people tend to lie when they're afraid. Are you afraid yet?” he asked threateningly.

“Of you? No. Never!”

“Well you should be,” he corrected, “You've been a very naughty mare, haven't you Chrysalis?” he rose up from his crouch and grabbed nearby bag, bringing it close to Chrysalis, “Now, when I do a favour for someone, I expect the reciprocity to come from them afterwards,” The bag was now unzipped and he was methodically organizing its' contents, which Chrysalis could not make out, “That didn't happen with you. My boss and I put our heart's and soul's into helping your poor hive get back on its' feet. And what do you do afterwards? You run off and leave us lying in the dust. That really hurt my feelings y'know,” he explained as he mock pouted. “It just broke my heart knowing that you didn't care for us after we did so much for you,” he pretended to be on the brink of tears, bringing out a small red handkerchief and drying his eyes.

“Leave now,” growled Chrysalis, “Or I swear I will strike you down where you stand,” her horn began to glow a bright green.

“Go right ahead!” he yelled, opening his jacket which left his bare chest exposed, “Strike me down! But know that if you do, I'll become more powerful than you could ever imagine,” Chysalis charged up her most powerful life force draining curse, aiming directly for the human's chest. It was then that she saw the rest of them. At least thirty heavily armed and armoured ponies, ready to strike if she so much as tried to cast her spell. She decided that the human's death was not worth losing her own to see. The aura around her horn slowly dissipated and she stared down at the ground in defeat. Lucius saw her act of good judgement and proceeded to close his jacket and say, “Actually I was just kidding about the whole 'Becoming more powerful than you could imagine.' thing. My buddies here would just kill you and I'd get a good laugh,” he chaffed. Lucius pulled a, rather large, barbed club out of the bag he had been rummaging through.

“What do you want?” Chrysalis asked, her voice trembled with anger.

“What do I want? Well I want you to fulfill you're side of the deal. I  want your changeling army at our disposal, I want the right to set up bases of operations in the Badlands and I want you to use those special little skills of yours to help us out,” Lucius stated, “Regardless of whether you choose to agree or not, I'm going to get what I want...I always get what I want,” he continued, his voice hinting annoyance, “Now we can do this the incredibly boring way. Where you just say yes and everyone goes home, leaving Barbara and I incredibly disappointed,” he lamented in imitated sadness, “Or...we can do this the fun way,” he exclaimed with a deceptively warm grin, “Where you say no and you, Barbara and I sit down and have a nice long chat and cup of tea,” Lucius was stroking the bloody barbs on his club lovingly, tracing his fingers along the encrusted blood from what must have been hundreds of victims, “So what's it gonna be?”

“I'm not agreeing. I'm never agreeing,” miffed Chrysalis, scowling at Lucius contemptibly. She spat at his feet.

“Oooh! Getting feisty already, are we?” Lucius put his club over his shoulder and walked right next to Chrysalis and crouched down, “Barbara doesn't like sass you know,” he motioned to his club, “Barbara and I are going to have to fix that, won't we?”

“You're sick.”

“Well, I have been coming down with a bit of a cold as of lately. Is it really that obvious?” he mockingly asked, “You know they say laughter is the best medicine...so how about we do something fun hmm? Would you mind that?” Chrysalis didn't respond, she just glared daggers at him, “Aaaw, is that a no? That's a damn shame...but all work and no play makes me a dull boy, so I'm going to have to overrule your disagreement here,” he put both hands on the handle of his club and held it at the ready, “Thankfully for you, I have a game in store that even a funsucker like you can enjoy. I like to call it 'Two for Flinching',”

“What?” Chyrsalis fumed, confused by what he meant by a “game”.

“Go!” Lucius struck Chrysalis in the small of her back as hard as he could with Barbara. She yelped in pain and arched her back. As Lucius pulled the club out of her back, she could feel small chunks of flesh being pulled out with it. “Two for flinching!” he exclaimed excitedly, striking her another two times. Chrysalis' back was now burning with pain. As the club scraped across her back she could feel large strands of skin being shorn off. She wailed and flailed about, trying to get up. When Lucius brought his club up again, she could see it was covered in her own blood and had bits of her flesh dangling loosely from the barbs. “You flinched again? Wow, I honestly thought you'd be better at this game,” sneered Lucius, “Oh well. You know the drill!” Lucius brought his club down hard once again, this time, he struck Chrysalis' flank. She squealed and squirmed as the barbs sank into her flesh. He pulled his bat out of her flank and kicked her hard in the jaw. Her head snapped sharply to the right.

That last hit had stunned Chrysalis. She fell over sideways, completely desensitized. She could feel herself slipping away from consciousness as the world grew blurry once again and the ringing returned to her ears. “Slipping away on us so soon?” said Lucius, “We can't have that now, can we?” Chrysalis felt a needle jab into her flank and felt a cold substance enter her bloodstream. Within seconds she had been brought back from the brink of unconsciousness and was now fully aware of her surroundings. Lucius had gone back to rifling through his bag, his club now cast aside on the ground. “Now, much to my chagrin, Discord has asked that I leave you mostly intact while I'm 'convincing' you to join us,” said Lucius, his voice riddled with disappointment, “Since you seem to be very fragile as it is...I'm beginning to think that this is a job for a scalpel and not a bat. No offence Barbara,” Lucius cooed as he patted his club. He continued to rifle through his bag, now growing frustrated. “Where's my fucking scalpel?!?” he yelled.

“I have it here sir,” said one of the ponies, quickly rushing up to Lucius and handing him his scalpel.

“Thank you,” said Lucius, fixing his hair and regaining his composure. “Now that that has been resolved, let's get back to business,” he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another syringe, “I know you're not very fond of needles, but since I'm not allowed to hurt you too badly, I've decided that I'll just magnify any pain you feel for the next two hours!” he strode over to chrysalis and noticed that she had stopped struggling to escape. Now she only lay there, looking up at him in fear. Her chest was rising and falling abnormally fast, “Oh don't stop struggling now,” he insisted, “I like it when you squirm,” he whispered, his voice sounding menacing and sadistic.

Lucius bent over Chrysalis and held her down. She squirmed feebly, but he had her pinned down firmly. He searched along her left foreleg for a vein and then slipped the syringe in. Chrysalis felt the liquid enter her bloodstream, only this time, it felt like it was setting her body ablaze. Her entire body was enveloped with a searing pain. Even the smallest scratch felt like a deep, infected gash. She gritted her teeth and moaned in pain. “Ah, I see it's kicking in! Now we can have some real fun,”

Lucius slid the scalpel in under Chrysalis' skin, shearing a small square of it off of her flank, “I'm sure you won't miss this,” He quickly grabbed up the patch of skin and brought it around to Chrysalis' mouth. He forcefully opened her mouth and shoved the skin in. Holding her mouth shut afterwards. Chrysalis tasted salt and the coppery tang of her own blood and viscera. She gagged in disgust, swiping at her muzzle with her forehooves in an attempt to break Lucius' grasp. She pried his hands off and promptly spat out her flesh, wiping remnants of it off of her tongue with her forehooves. “Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?” Lucius retrieved the hunk of flesh from the ground and forced it back into Chrysalis' mouth. Holding it shut once again, this time more violently. “Just chew...then swallow,” he ordered. Chrysalis refused, she kept trying to spit the flesh out and pry Lucius' hands off her muzzle. He quickly put an end to her struggles with by dropping his knee on her ribcage. Chrysalis heard a great crack and let out a muffled scream of agony, it felt like her side had been gored by a manticore. She was in such pain, she could hardly focus. Reluctantly she gulped down the square of flesh. It felt warm, salty and wet, sliding down her throat. She felt disgusting.

“That wasn't so bad, was it now?” said Lucius, “It's just a taste of what's to come,” he chuckled to himself, but stopped when he noticed no one else was laughing with him, “What? Was the joke really that bad?” Chrysalis scowled at him, “Hmph, tough crowd,” he mock pouted and folded his arms across his chest, “Alright, look. If you're not going to enjoy yourself and suck the fun out of this for me, you could at least just say 'yes' to my demands so that this doesn't last any longer than it has to.”

“No...I won't...Ill never let you-,” she had to cut herself to cough up bits of viscera that had gotten caught in her throat, “Never let you...control me. You're scum...I'd never take orders from you,” Lucius frowned upon hearing her response.

“Wow,” sighed Lucius, “They really weren't kidding when they said women were difficult. Like, seriously...what's it going to take? Do I need to buy you dinner? Take you out on a romantic date? Pay your rent?” Lucius stood there momentarily, scratching his chin, deep in though, “Oh! I know,” he pulled a hunting knife out from the inside of his jacked, “This should do the trick!” he said excitedly as he slid the knife under Chrysalis' skin and jerked it hard to the left. Chrysalis didn't even have time to cry, she almost instantaneously blacked out from the pain. An sharp, intense pain, then nothing.

When Chrysalis came to, she could barely make out the banter between Lucius and an unknown stallion.

“We don't have long.”

“Give me an ETA,” said Lucius, his voice had an underlying anxiousness to it.

“One hour.”

“Damn, well we're going to have to get this over with quickly. This was supposed to be a hit and run mission, we can't afford to let that change. We're not equipped to fight off an army, even if they are all changelings.”

“Well whatever you're going to do, do it quick.”

“Bring him out.”

“Who?”

“That servant, who the hell do you think I was talking about?”

“Are you insane? Discord told us to minimize collateral damage.”

“He also told us to get this done, whatever the cost. That's what it costs, so bring him out.”

“...Yes sir,” she could hear the stallion trotting away as she wearily opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that her pain was gone. She couldn't feel anything. Her flesh was numbed. She felt woozy as well, they must have used a strong anaesthetic on her.

“Ah, I see our sleeping beauty is finally awake,” Lucius smiled warmly at her, “We've prepared a very special surprise for you while you were taking you nap. Bring him out!” Two stallion's pushed their way out of a crowd of guards, dragging the semi conscious body of a changeling with two distinct white markings on his muzzle. “I'm sure you'll recognize him. You've had quite a few...intimate...moments with this one,” Chrysalis heart sank as she realized who the changeling was. It was Khaz Modan, her personal servant, “Don't look so surprised, you aren't exactly the best at hiding the saucy little things that go on behind closed doors,” Lucius raised an eyebrow at her. “Unfortunately, this isn't a big happy reunion for you two, ol' Kaz is here for business...My business to be exact.”

Lucius strode over to Kaz, tapping his bat against the ground each step. “You may have been indifferent to your own pain, but let's see how that holds up when it comes to the pain of another,” Lucius snap-kicked Kaz hard in the stomach, causing him to tumble backwards to the ground, doubling over in pain. He gasped and clutched at his stomach. He writhed around on the ground as Lucius stood over him, grinning in satisfaction. He quickly grew bored with watching his prey squirm, “Alright, enough faffing about, pick him up,” his two stallion assistants obeyed and dragged Kaz back onto his hind legs, their forelegs propped under his shoulders. “Time for round two...unless the lady's changed her mind,” Lucius looked over at Chrysalis expectantly.

“Don't do it. Don't-” Kaz tried to cry out to Chrysalis, but was quickly silenced by a swift haymaker from Lucius.

“I didn't ask you,” Lucius scolded, “Jeez, didn't you ever learn not to butt in?” he asked mockingly, “Okay, now that he's learned his lesson, has the lady had a change of heart yet?” Chrysalis said nothing, she only glared at him, “Well, I guess that means I have the green light. Batter up!” he readied his bat and wound up for a swing.  “Play ball,” he swung down hard, his bat connecting with Kaz's shoulder. A powerful crack was heard and the bat's barbs buried themselves in Kaz's shattered shoulder blade. He screamed in terrible agony, his hooves futilely scrabbling at the ground to get away. Lucius tore the bat out of his shoulder and swung at him again. This time it was a horizontal strike to the chest. The bat's barbs dug in once again and the snapping of ribs could be heard. Lucius glanced over her shoulder at Chrysalis. He was disappointed to see that she was now looking away from the “show” he was putting on.

“Somebody hold her head and make her look, I'm about to take this up a notch,” a stallion dove on top of Chrysalis' back and locked his forehooves firmly around her head. “And slap an inhibitor on her just in case she tries anything stupid,” she felt a hard metal cover slide over her broken horn and lock into place. “Now time for the real fun to begin,” Lucius threw his arms up into the air, “Break his forelegs!” The stallion's restraining Kaz briskly brought his forelegs over their shoulders and yanked down on them hard. His knee joints bent the wrong way and snapped, Kaz awoke from his half conscious state, wailing in agony and flailing his remaining good legs, weaker this time. One of the bones was jutting through his flesh. It was jagged and coated in green viscera. “Okay, that's enough,” Lucius began digging through his pack once again. He suddenly stopped and sighed in aggravation,   “Get me the bone saw! Jesus Christ, is it too much to ask that you pack things where I can find them? It's really ruining my flow here.”

“Right here sir. Sorry sir,” a smaller stallion came rushing up to Lucius and pulled a bone saw out of his saddlebags.

“About time,” mumbled Lucius, “Now on with the show!” the stallions laid Kaz flat on his back and splayed one  of his hind legs out away from his body. Lucius bent over it and brought his saw level with Kaz's leg. Kaz raised his head weakly, fearing what was in store for him.

“Don't...cut,” he rasped. He could feel the cold, serrated blade make contact with his flesh, “Don't cut! Don't-,” he let out a blood curdling wail as Lucius began violently sawing away at his leg. The blade was rusted and brittle, Kaz could feel bits of it breaking off and lodging themselves deep in his flesh, only to be dug in deeper by the saw's movement. He gritted his teeth in pain and moaned.

“I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I couldn't hear you over all that screaming your doing,” Lucius snarked as he sawed away at Kaz's leg. Slicing through flesh and muscle as he sawed more and more vigorously. His hand was slowly getting caked with a pulpy green mix of viscera and blood. He didn't mind, it only made the experience more enjoyable for him. When he hit bone, he sawed more slowly and deliberately, gradually cutting through the bone and causing Kaz immense pain. Lucius could almost hear the sound of the saw grinding against the bone. It was euphoric.

Kaz was screaming again, louder this time. He was thrashing about, making vain attempts to escape the clutches of the stallions and Lucius. Amongst all the racket Lucius could hear someone yelling, “Stop! Please just stop! I'll do it! I'll do whatever you want!”

“What was that?” Lucius immediately let go of his saw and turned around, leaving it embedded bone deep in Kaz's leg. “Did I hear what I think I heard,” Lucius raised an eyebrow at Chrysalis. She didn't respond. She was looking away from him. He shrugged and turned back around. Grabbing his bone saw and jerking it violently. Kaz let out a shrill cry.

“I'll do what you want!” yelled Chrysalis, “Just don't hurt him anymore,” she had completely lost her composure and descended into hysterics. Crying and snotting all over the place. Lucius perked up at hearing this.

“Good, that's what I wanted to hear,” he stood up and brushed the dust and gore from his jacket, “Job well done boys, time the head home!” he bellowed. On cue, his stallion warriors began to pack up their chariots and prepare to leave. Kaz Modan was left a bloodied mess on the ground. Still moaning and feebly shifting his legs. He was a mess. Caked in his own blood and half conscious. Lying belly up in the dirt. Chrysalis shakily brought herself to her feet and willed herself to stumble over to him and hold him tightly.

“Consider him our collateral,” hissed Lucius as he snapped off her inhibitor and began to walk back towards his chariot. Leaving a broken Chrysalis to try and comfort her severely injured lover.

“I won't let them hurt you again,” she shushed Kaz's moaning as she did what she could for him with her basic healing magic, “I promise,” she was crying uncontrollably. She managed to choke out one last sentence before descending into complete hysteria, “I promise they'll die for this,” she held onto Kaz tightly, and hoped that a changeling rescue would arrive soon. When the time comes, she told herself, When the time comes, they will *suffer*.

* * *

Gaige clutched tightly onto the edges of the chariot, bracing himself against the slight turbulence. The chariot was a mere fifty some feet from the ground, but that didn't make any difference at all. He was still terrified. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He knew that he was anxious flier on a plane, but on a small, open top chariot? He had been brought to a whole new anxiety ridden level and he did not like it one bit. Why didn't I just choose to walk?

Gaige could feel the chariot touch down and jerk to a halt. He slowly pushed himself off of the edge of the chariot and stumbled out onto the ground. “Are you okay?” asked Luna, very concerned with the sudden downturn of Gaige's health. He was pale and looked disoriented. He stumbled a few feet further, then had to bend over and vomit on the ground. After heaving and wretching for a few moments, he slowly brought himself to his feet.

“Yeah...Yeah,  I'm fine. It's just that me and flying don't really mix if you can't already tell,” Gaige wiped his mouth gently with his sleeve. He brushed past Luna and continued into the town they had landed at. He glanced at the town sign, “Ponyville. Strange name for a town,” he shrugged and continued on, not bothering to wait for Luna. She galloped up beside him and trotted to keep pace with him. They went on in silence. Gaige was trying to take in as much information as he could. Positions of stores, districts, houses and other housekeeping matters he would need to figure out if he was going to live in this town. After a while of walking Luna broke the silence.

“So...what now?” she asked. Gaige stopped for a moment to ponder the question.

“I guess I settle down here and move on. That's what you and your sister wanted? Wasn't it?” he scratched his chin and then resumed walking, luna trotted after him, struggling to keep pace an retain her regal composure.

“How can you?”

“How can I what?”

“Move on,” she said, “After all you've been through. All that death, tragedy and darkness.”

“There's no point in looking back or staying where I am...what's there to see?” Luna cocked her head at him in confusion. She obviously didn't understand his point. He sighed and said, “Nevermind.”

“No tell me. I want to know what you mean.”

“Alright look...everyone is born to die you can't change that. But what about that part in between, the one where you live. I'm here for that. I'm not here to suffer,” Gaige explained, “I can choose to suffer, but I don't want to. I want to move forward, make a better life for myself and who knows, maybe there's hope for me yet,” he took a moment to pause and look over the serene landscape, tinted in the golden in the evening sun. Everything was so calm, so nice. There was order and stability. People, or rather ponies, could roam freely and live without fear. It was a world he hadn't known for so long.

“You know, every day of my life for the past long while have just been hell. Always running, always afraid, hungry and desperate...Maybe that isn't how it has to be anymore,” he sighed and continued walking into the town, “This might be a chance for me to start over with a clean slate. No bandits, no mutants no disease,” he stopped and turned around to face Luna, a warm smile plastered on his face, “Maybe I can finally stop surviving, and start living.”