Journey of the Devourer

A breeze blew through the valley that the Hive was located in, deep in the Eidol mountains. They had set up their hive there since visitors were extremely scarce: it was much easier to go around the towering mountain range than go through it, which ensured relative safety from the outside world.

The Devourer stood just outside the main doors to the hive. The outside world... it had been a while since it had traveled on its own into the outside world. The events at Canterlot were different, since it was staying put at the time: now it had to deal with actually knowing where it was going and other such worries. Food obviously wasn't going to be a problem: if all else failed it could stave off its hunger with a few rocks or even scoops of the ground itself, though those meals were usually far more bland than other things such as plants or meat. Another worry would be keeping its travels covert: it wasn't the easiest thing to hide outside of urban environments, and it wasn't about to tunnel its way all the way to the crystal empire. Yet another worry was what would happen if it was seen: if a witness escaped and it wasn't careful, news of its whereabouts would spread quickly, potentially ruining its chances of finding its targets where it knew them to reside. And yet another worry came from--

The Devourer's thoughts were interrupted as the doors behind it opened. It turned and saw Queen Chrysalis emerge.

"So it's time for you to go then?" she asked.
"Yes... it is time," it replied, looking back down the valley and its intended path. "Where is the swarm?"
"They're here," Chrysalis said as she motioned upwards. The Devourer turned, took a step back, and looked up: almost every window on that side of the hive had multiple changelings crowding it to watch its departure.

The Devourer smiled. "I almost expected them to rejoice in my leaving," it said.
"You are loved in the hive, whether they realize it or not," Chrysalis replied, looking up at the crowd with it.
"I appreciate the thought," it said as it looked back down the valley. It was anxious to get going, and the queen could tell.

"Before you go, Devourer, I have something to give you," she stated. She turned and a glow lit around her horn as she levitated a small crumpled object from within the fibers of her tail. She set the necklace down in its hand: it seemed to be made of various materials used in different places in the hive.

"To remind you of home," she said. "It is, after all, a very long journey."
"I know this," it replied, fitting the necklace around its neck. It noticed that whichever changeling had made it had accounted for the Devourer's size so that the necklace would fit tightly, perfectly around its neck. It turned to Queen Chrysalis as she levitated a small mirror from somewhere, allowing it to check how the necklace looked. The Devourer liked it.

"If something happens while I am gone, do not be afraid to recall me," it stated. "If all else fails, I shall be the homeguard of the hive: I will return at any moment's notice and then set back out with twice the speed as I started."
"Of course, Devourer. We couldn't be defending ourselves from armies without you, now could we?" Chrysalis said. "Now go. Like I keep reminding you, it is a very, very long journey. You must start soon."

"Yes, yes," the Devourer said playfully as it turned and began walking through the valley. Halfway to the edge of the clearing the hive was in, it turned and waved to the crowd of changelings still at the windows, who waved back. It was good to have one last reminder of what it was fighting for... then it turned and left at last.

It had been several hours before something interesting happened. It was not out of familiar territory yet, since it had gone with the hunting parties on occasion when food became scarce, so it knew the lay of the mountains well enough to not get lost easily.

It faced a branch in the valley: a standard left-path-right-path choice. It knew that the left path led mostly to hunting grounds whereas the right led to the beach of the Glass Sea after a while. The right path was the correct one to take, so naturally it took it. As it began to make its way closer and closer to unfamiliar territory, its mind began to wander.

What was it going to find near the Glass Sea? The sea was so named because of an anomaly that happens every now and then in some places where the surface hardened like thick glass, capable of easily supporting walking creatures without indicating any sort of tilting or buoyancy. What sort of creatures would evolve to live in a place like that? Were there settlements nearby that it was going to have to deal with?

Its thoughts were interrupted as it heard a noise up ahead. The Devourer slowed to a crawl and got low to the ground as it approached the source of the sound: a loud crashing and banging noise. As it got closer, it was able to make out two deep voices talking to each other though the sound.

"So you think that one place'll be a problem?"
"Nah, it's not a problem. Prob'ly jus' a bunch a' bugs or som'in."
"We talkin' 'bout tha' same place?"
"The really big cave wit' lotsa' scorpions an' bones in front of it?"
"Yeah, jus' makin' sure."

An Ettin. Giant, two-headed humanoids that collectively had half the intelligence of one head. Solitary brutes that spent much of their time banging out small caves in mountains for their homes using giant clubs and rudimentary picks. The Devourer's suspicions were confirmed as it came around an outcropping of rock and spotted the fur-clad giant attempting to hack away at a cliff without much success, not that it seemed to care or realize.

"An' what about that thing we saw the other day?"
"What thing?"
"The flyin' black thing."
"Oh that. We'll catch one an' see if we can eat it once we're done with this cave."
".......why don't we jus' clear out the one with tha' bugs?"
"Because we don't like bugs, ya' idiot!"

The Ettin slapped one of its heads which reacted by rubbing its face with the other hand. This thing... or these two... would have no chance of catching a changeling, the Devourer thought. Perhaps leaving it alone would be best, and let the hive have it for itself. Fighting and killing it here would mean it would have to lug its body back to the hive or else it would be wasted.

As the being began quarreling with itself, the Devourer moved slowly and quietly along the wall opposite the one they had been bashing at. The thing's antics were slightly amusing, but kept it distracted long enough for the Devourer to succeed in sneaking by. As it proceeded further down its path, their voices gradually faded behind it.

A few minutes later, something else of note happened.The Devourer had just left familiar territory as the mountains were beginning to become farther from each other, leading to there being more valleys and paths to follow: so far it thought it was going the right direction, though it couldn't be sure.

Voices reached the Devourer's ears. It looked around, ducking down... the voices were coming from above. It look upwards and spotted a group of gryphons flying down into the valley. The Devourer hid behind some nearby boulders.

"What are they doing here!?" it whispered to itself. It counted them: six gryphons. As they descended, laughing raucously, the Devourer noticed that they were clad in armor of military make.

"And then, I kid you not, he put on his hat, and someone had filled it with cloudworms!"
The rest of the group broke out in laughter again before a different gryphon spoke.
"Alright, this looks like a good place to set up camp."

Crap. They were between the Devourer and its way forward. It moved closer to the edge of the boulder to try and glimpse around it. The gryphons were laying out tents that it hadn't seen in their possession while they were landing. It was still the middle of the afternoon, so it was obvious that they were planning to explore a bit and come back. It looked like a scouting party of some sort.

Indeed, after a few moments and setting up what would likely become a fire pit later, they agreed to meet back in two hours and set off in different directions in pairs. The Devourer did some quick estimations: they wouldn't be able to reach the hive and get back on time unless they headed straight for it as fast as they could, so there was little chance of them finding it. Today.

When they had all vanished beyond various mountaintops, the Devourer moved into the camp to see what it could find. It remained watchful in case they returned, rifling through the bags they had left lying around the camp. Supplies, rations, supplies... they appeared to be planning to stay for several days, possibly even a week.

Eventually it came across something of note: mapping materials, labeled as such. Quills and parchment, all in a neat little box marked with gryphon military logos.

"Mapping supplies," the Devourer said to itself. "Scouts. Military. Gryphons. Are they planning on building a fort here?"
It thought for a moment. "An Ettin the hive can handle with no problem. Gryphon military......"

It crushed the box in its hand, remembering having defended past hives from organized attacks in the past: gryphons were often called upon to help attack. It let the pieces fall to the ground before looking around the camp again.

"This is not good. Gryphons are harder to defeat than ponies, with ponies' only saving grace being magic. I must find a way to stop or delay this...... hm."

It gathered the pieces of the box and its scattered contents into a rough handful before eating it in bites, swallowing the chunks whole. The edges and corners poked harmlessly at the inside of its throat as it swallowed them, the walls too tough to be pierced by them.

It then approached the bags it had searched through before, starting with the food supplies. It picked up a full bag and opened its mouth, lolling out its tongue. Spikes appeared from within its mouth, which then pressed against the sides and stretched its maw wider so as to accompany the entire bag at once. It stuffed the bag in and swallowed, the shape making a huge distortion in its throat and stretching its chitin armor plates out. When the lump reached its stomach, it disappeared without a trace as though it hadn't eaten anything at all.

The Devourer consumed every bag they had with them, and then broke the tents to pieces and ate those too. When it was finished, there was little sign of the campsite save for the holes where the tent poles had been. Even the rocks used to ring the fire pit were eaten.

Satisfied, it moved to a small stone archway a short ways past the camp where it waited for the gryphons to return.

It was almost dusk before it caught sight of the gryphons in the sky, returning from roughly the same directions they had left in. It watched with satisfaction as the first group of two landed, looking for their campsite in bewilderment. The second pair arrived a moment afterwards.

"Where are the tents?" one asked.
"Like I would know!" his partner answers as the third group arrived, going through the same process. A silence fell over the confused group after a moment.
"...well, I guess we're roughing it tonight boys," one said. The Devourer noted markings on his armor that it hadn't seen before, indicating that he was the group's leader. "Bracer, you're first on watch duty."

The gryphon presumably named Bracer groaned as the leader appointed a rotation schedule, placing himself fourth in line. The Devourer remained hidden in the small cave it had hollowed out while waiting for them, noting the order and watching as they left to forage for supplies for complete darkness fell. When all of them were in camp and asleep save for Bracer, who paced the campsite watching for danger, the Devourer finally moved.

It first quietly slid out of its hole and hid behind the arch, waiting for Bracer to turn and pace the other way. It then moved closer, low to the ground so as to make as little noise as possible while it approached Bracer from the back. It stopped next to the fire pit and waited for Bracer to stop pacing -- before he turned around, it placed its hand over the small fire and extinguished it, ignoring the burning in its palm.

Bracer stopped, cocking his head as he noticed the light having gone out. He turned around to investigate, freezing at the sight of a huge, dark figure next to the fire pit, watching him. He opened his beak to wake the others, but his warning never came as the Devourer quickly leapt upon him.

The heavy thud of the Devourer hitting the ground on top of Bracer woke the others, but all they saw through their sleep-blurred eyes was a dark shape move out of the camp quickly -- Bracer was missing. They quickly rose to investigate.

"Bracer!" the head scout called out. A scraping noise answered him, coming from a stone arch nearby.
"Tori, Keel, check it out," he said, motioning for one of the pairs of gryphons to move forward.

They approached the arch slowly, the scraping noise intensifying as they neared it. It sounded like something sharp repeatedly raking against stone. They moved around the archway to identify the source of the sound, and all the others saw was a pair of giant black hands dart out and grab them by the throats before pulling him back behind, followed by a horrendous crunch.

"FLY!" the leader yelled, as a black shape moved quickly out from behind the arch and towards them, running on all fours. The gryphons turned and lifted off, but the Devourer leapt at them before they could get far off the ground.

It caught two of them and landed while smashing them together between its hands, dropping them and leaping again at the leader.

He felt something grab his hind legs, followed by it pulling him downwards and a crushing bite applied to his lower back, piercing through his armor. He cried out in pain, attempting to claw at his attacker with his back legs but found he could not move them: a second later he and his attacker landed, and the last thing he saw was a massive mouth rimmed with teeth closing on his throat.

"......wh-..... what?"

Tori opened his eyes slowly, his head still ringing. He vaguely remembered Melkin ordering him and Keel to check something out near the camp... the memory suddenly cleared itself as he remembered seeing a creature grab them both before he blacked out.

Tori raised his head, his eyes now open and alert. He appeared to still be near the archway he'd been sent to. He looked down from the structure and cried out, jumping backwards at the sight of Keel on the ground next to him: his helmet and skull had been crushed.

Tori jumped into the air and flew over the arch towards the camp, gasping in horror at the sight of his friends. Tome and Quill sat lifeless on the ground before him leaning against each other, and Melkin looked to have had his spine shattered and his throat ripped out. He shook his head and tried to rationalize his thoughts... what could have done this? Their bodies were untouched aside from their lethal wounds, meaning that whatever had killed them either did it for impeding on territory or......

"Their fates are unfortunate," a low, rhaspy voice said from a shadow nearby. Tori turned to it and quickly began moving backwards, distancing himself from it.
"Yet yours is slightly better," it continued. "To return to your superiors, informing them that this place is not fit for exploration or expansion..."
"Who are you!?" Tori demanded.
"Typical gryphon stubbornness," the Devourer growled, crawling out of the shadow and into the moonlight. "Who or what I am is of no concern to you. What IS of concern is that you do as I say."

Tori hovered in place for a moment. This thing was fast, he remembered how quickly it had disabled him before. But he had also been caught by surprise.

"Like hell I will," Tori spat back. He readied himself to charge, drawing a knife from the belt at his hip.
"UNWISE," it it said loudly, standing to its full height. The color drained from Tori's face at seeing it's true size.
"YOU WILL DO THIS FOR ME," it continued, "OR YOUR FATE WILL BE MUCH WORSE THAN THOSE OF YOUR FELLOWS."

Tori backed through the air away from the creature before him. "Even if I did," he said, "they would send more men. You can't stand against the might of a full squad of gryphon soldiers."
"Can't I?" the Devourer replied. "You haven't seen everything I can do. If you wish to preserve the lives of those you fight with and for, you will not tell them of my presence: only that these mountains are not to be trifled with."
"And what do I tell them about my dead friends, jackass!?"
"Landslide. Cave-in. Got lost and couldn't find them. Anything that sending more soldiers won't be able to solve," it said. "You'll come up with something convincing, I'm sure."

Tori continued to back away from it. "They'll still send more gryphons, whether soldiers or scouts... you'll be discovered and destroyed eventually."

The Devourer suddenly leapt forward, into the air near Tori. Startled by the large distance covered so fast, he was unable to prevent it from snatching him from the air just as it had done with his group's leader. The Devourer held its face close to his after landing with him, meeting his eyes with its own.

"Are you implying it would be better for me to kill you here and now?" it said slowly. Tori gulped.
"That's what I thought," it said with a chuckle. "Now go my little messenger pigeon. Tell them not to come here, and that sending anyone else would be futile..."

With those last words, the Devourer tossed Tori up into the air, who righted himself and immediately sped off towards the direction his group originally came from. It watched him until his shape could no longer be discerned from the sky in the moonlight -- It didn't worry about whether the gryphon's release would endanger its mission since gryphon and pony societies kept their affairs separate -- before getting to work devouring the remains of the other gryphons. . It then returned to its burrow next to the arch and slept.

More walking. Seems like these mountains were made for walking, and that's just what the Devourer was going to do all over them. It was fairly sure it was still heading in the right direction, it just didn't know how far it would be until the Glass Sea would come into view. It was several more hours of walking, around noon, when it finally caught a breath of salty air.

"I'm getting close..."

It quickened its pace, and a few minutes later a break in the mountains became visible. It smiled triumphantly and quickly made its way to the break, though it still took a while to reach it.

When it finally reached the edge of the last mountain, it climbed to the top of a small cliff and took a deep breath, taking in the sight before it. A large beach stretched far in one direction on the edge of a magnificent blue ocean. Seagulls could be seen overhead, making their signature sounds as they avoided coming directly over the beach's new intruder. In the other direction, the mountains continued and stretched out a ways into the ocean: waves crashed against the cliffs, creating a thick foam that washed up on the beach where it met with them.

"The Glass Sea," it said to itself, observing the surface of the water. It didn't know what the sea's odd solidifying effect looked like... if it looked unique at all. After not spotting anything for several minutes, it climbed down the cliff and took its first steps onto the warm sand, noting the small buildings on the beach in the distance.