Hard Decisions

Chapter 2 Briefing

So, after celebrating for seemingly hours, the changelings stopped.  They were silent, just intently staring at Scott, waiting for something.  The fact that they just stared, Scott became nervous.  He was looking around sweating profusely.  He finally had the courage to say something.

“Um, is there something wrong?” Scott said “I thought that you guys were happy?”

“We are,” The Lead Changeling replied “Just, waiting for orders.”

“What is your name? I forgot to ask.” Scott asked.  He wasn’t great with names, although, he was going to start now.  He was ruling an entire horde; he had to know the names of his subjects.  Even if they all looked the exact same.

“We do not have names.” The Lead Changeling said “You may call me, the Changeling Infiltrator Captain.” The Captain had felt pride in saying that, Scott had no idea what that meant.

“What is an infiltrator?” Scott said.  He was starting to get strategic, now taking things seriously.

“Do you not know what the classes of the horde are?” The Captain said.  He didn’t know that Scott wasn’t familiar with the ‘classes’ of the horde.  Scott shook his head, hesitantly, but was getting curious on the classes.

“There are four classes of the horde.” Captain explained “The first are the grunts, the ones around you as of now. They can change into ponies and steal love from them.  The second are the brutes, who are big creatures who cannot change into ponies.  They take the form of the scenery, usually mountains.”

“Wait, so you’re telling me that there are Changelings that can take the form of whole entire mountains!?” Scott said bewildered.  He never thought that such a big object can be changed into.

“Yes, there aren’t many of them; the Queen didn’t want them to participate in the invasion of Canterlot, fearing that they would decimate the entire country.” The Captain said

“Hmm, noted.  Continue.” Scott replied, starting to strut around, in his personal thinking bubble.

“The third class is the infiltrators.  They are much stronger than the grunts, they are rarer to find, and the leaders of a squad of grunts.  The infiltrators are easily recognized by their blue armor, like mine.” The Cap said

“So, they handle special operations as well?” Scott said.  The infiltrators easily made him think of using them more than the other two classes.  The Captain had nodded.

“Finally, there is the last class.  The Royal Guard.”  He said, shivering a little after saying those three words.  “The Royal Guard are fanatical Changelings that will follow your orders to the letter and will die trying.”

“So, they are that fanatical, eh.” Scott said thinking hard. He thought to use them as a last resort or if it is imperative that they are deployed.

“Yes, fanatical, the Royal Guard didn’t approve of the attack on Canterlot, thinking it was impossible to do.  Unfortunately, they were right and we lost the Queen.” The Captain said and the other changelings were again sad and in despair.

“But, you have the King, so don’t worry. I will make sure, that you aren’t leaderless again.” Scott said smirking, he was confident that he could lead.  “So, you’re Captain of the Infiltrators.  I assume that you know our enemy?”

“Of course.” The Captain said “We have studied the enemy for a long time.”

“Then, please explain them.  The saying ‘Know Thy Enemy’ is true.” Scott said

“The enemies are ponies, which can harness magic and have the capabilities to fly.  They have built a large empire in the mainland.  Also, they have allies in the north called the Crystal Empire and have made peace with the surrounding areas.”

The Captain said.  He knew the enemy too well, it was an infiltrators job to know what enemy they were going to kill and feed off of.

“Any enemies? Any weaknesses and strengths?” Scott said.  He wanted to use anything that would give him the advantage.

“The griffons are the most prominent enemies, they are mostly aggressive, but have been pushed out of the territory after a while.  The weakness and strengths are their friendship, they can tell somepony would be under control or disguised as their friend.” The other changeling said.  This one had golden armor, with two other golden armored changelings behind him.  He bowed for a second until Scott allowed him to stand.

“Who are you?” Scott asked, he assumed that these Changelings were high ranked or powerful judging by their armor.

“I am the Colonel of the Royal Guard, my liege.” The Colonel said proudly like the Captain.  “We are honored to witness the new leader.”

“Colonel, how many Changelings are in the Royal Guard?” Scott asked.  It was an honest question.  If he knew anything about ranks, it’s that the higher up the less the population in the rank.

“About two hundred strong, my lord.” The Colonel said

“Good, that two hundred will serve me well. Thank you, Colonel.” Scott said “Now, is there a map that I may see to know the landscape?”  He wanted to know the battlefield and more importantly the world at large.  He was still curious about the lands and waters in this new world.

The Colonel said something to one of the Changelings and they ran off to fetch the map. Shortly after, the Changeling came back, holding the map with magic.  I opened it, looking at the map with intent.  There was a huge landmass, which looked similar to the continent called Europe.  The empire of the ponies were south near the ocean, also, he saw the griffon clans, which were far north from the ponies.  There were also other empires, but he didn’t care for them at the moment, he focused on the griffons and the ponies.

“I see, where is the home of us?” Scott said.

The Captain pointed to a place inside the pony empire called Equestria.  It was in the west side of the capital, which was marked by a star, called Canterlot.

“Well, let’s start going.  I have a feeling that this will be a long journey.” Scott said

“Indeed.” The Colonel

“Colonel, Captain, I want camp set up here by sun down, or else.” Scott said faking his malicious threat.

The two started going up to their changeling brethren and screamed at them to set up camp.  Scott was still looking at the map.

“Where is the first place that we should strike? Or, should we go and recover the losses they have suffered?” Scott said “This is difficult, I should rest. The king of a horde should get some rest for the long day tomorrow.”