Shadowed Souls

It’s difficult finding your place in the world, especially when it isn’t your world. But no matter how hard things get or how long it takes, life finds a way. The human race is built on the natural instinct of survival. To succeed in something is a form of survival. The better you are at something, the better your chances. Every race tries to survive, but none are better than humans. Sadly, time allows us to forget some of the things that helped us to survive in the past. Now, in a world of projectile weapons, guns and explosives, mankind has forgotten the way of the sword; the true art of war where enemies would meet face to face and kill each other when within their own reach.

My brother and I used to love the whole concept of fighting. We wanted to join the army and fight for our countries, but as we grew older, my own passion faded from military combat and evolved into melee combat. My brother joined the army at nineteen, and I became a policeman when my time came. Things were relatively simple; I did my job, got paid, paid the bills, chatted with my brother when he wasn’t on mission. Things were steadily leading to a great life. How I ended up where I was now, is a complete mystery to me. I recall walking into a petrol station, unaware of the armed robbery that was occurring. I recall feeling a bullet in my hip, then seeing a white ceiling from a hospital as I was being moved into intensive surgery or whatever they called it these days. I remember the taste of the anaesthetic gas and a white light shining over me. Then I was here.

My mind was riddled with confusion as I was distracted from my thoughts. The sound of metal clanking together. Armour on the ground, keys against the armour, it was all there. My own prison guards had come back for another visit. How I hated them. I could no longer remember the feel of grass under my feet, or the taste of meat. All I knew was cold stone, rotting vegetation and the occasional bodily fluids of my jailers. In a world where humanity is a myth and sentient mythological creatures rule in our place, I stood no chance against their magic, their utter strength, their precision.

I was taken to their leader, or leaders as the case had been. A world that was dominated by a division of three equine species. General, Unicorn and Pegasus. These three species were ruled by two beings that seemed to be a combination of all three. Winged Unicorns, or Horned Pegasi, they had both attributes of the unicorn and Pegasus species, and undoubtedly shared the physical strength of the general equine populace. Their stature was three times that of the public and they loomed over me like a great Dane looms over an infant. Not a creature of magic like they were, I could still feel their power.

I was surrounded by a court of sorts, where these two alicorns sat before me. Among the court, there were yet another six that stood out. I didn’t know them at the time, but whisperings and idle conversation from my jailers revealed them to me. Twilight Sparkle the purple Unicorn; despite her seemingly feminine name, Twilight was a master of destruction and irrevocably devoted to her princesses. Having learned from one of the princesses, the ways of magic and war, she was the General of the team of six.

Rainbow Dash the blue Pegasus. The only one more loyal and devoted than Twilight, she was the Captain of the Pegasus branch of the princesses’ military. Her rainbow mane and tail was said to leave rainbow trails wherever she flew, but that was just a beautiful sight to behold before your demise.

Applejack the orange ‘Earth’ pony. Stronger than any other pony, male or female, her livelihood of applebucking gave her the strength to claim Captainship over the ground forces of the royal army.

Rarity the white unicorn. Despite her seemingly Victorian taste in fashion, her designs are supposedly as protective as the mythological elven armour. Like mythril, she designed the strength of the soldiers armour to be as hard as dragon scales and as light as a feather. Though weak and hardly a threat, she holds a bond with the six that would make her almost impossible to oppose unless the others were out of the picture.

Fluttershy the yellow Pegasus. Her shyness has evolved to a general phobia of life itself. Clinically insane, she is often kept asleep and carried around by Spike, Twilight’s dragon. Should she wake, neither side of a war is safe as she uses her natural affinity for animals to bring forth wild destruction. Dragons, hydras, timberwolves and the like can’t escape her stare as she goes mental.

Finally, there’s Pinkamena Diane Pie. Easily the fearsomest of them all, her pink fur does little to mask her sadistic appearance. Darkened by blood, her mane and tail are straighter than the bars on my cell. Her eyes are constantly watching, never changing, and her smile could frighten the Cheshire cat. When discovered to have had the unnatural ability to appear wherever and whenever she wanted, the princesses ordered her execution, but no matter how many soldiers were sent forth, they all returned just in time to die horribly in some manner. The princesses’ army had been reduced to a tenth before they gave up her execution and hired her instead. Despite her nature, she holds her friends close to her heart and will destroy anyone who threatens her friends.

Had I known what I knew now, I would have likely died of a heart attack. I couldn’t help but wonder that if they were as bad as that, what must the princesses have been like? The sun princess I got an answer from, but the moon. Nothing. As silent as the night. Celestia was a warmonger. She wanted nothing more than absolute domination of everything that could possibly exist. She was a natural born conqueror, a goddess of war. She was the ringleader and Luna was apparently along for the ride, nothing more, nothing less. These creatures frightened me beyond all reason. They spoke in our language, they acted as we did. I didn’t dare try to fight them, an action I regret.

Now, after having been questioned about my race, what we were like, our strengths and weaknesses, I was discarded, stored in the dungeons in case of any potential future use. At first, I thought this was all just a bad dream, a symptom of the blood loss to my hip. But the experiences I felt under their watch were more real than any bullet I’d ever taken. My… guards, jailers beat me, broke me, tortured me… even raped me. It was all I knew now. Stallion or mare, either were intrigued by the human and its stamina and endurance both. It mattered little to them whether or not I yelled, broke or just plain failed to achnowledge them. I suffered their various assaults for twelve years and I no longer knew my name, neither my passions as a child. I couldn’t remember my brother’s face let alone his name. The same thing went for our parents.

I heard the bars to my cell open once again. Time for another round. I barely noticed their presence, but I did recognise a third set of hooves. So another participant came to play. There was a heaving sound and a sudden thud. Something or someone heavy was thrown in here with me; that was new. I heard the third party scuttle along the floor while the two jailers chuckled amongst themselves.

“Got you something to play with, Human. You should feel honoured.” the first guard said. He was the male one. An unfamiliar voice responded to his statement.

“H-human? I don’t like the sound of that.” my new cellmate said apprehensively. She was female and had the slightest hint of a flanged voice.

“Shut up, Changeling! Nopony said you could speak. Not that your opinion of the human matters.” the first guard snapped at her. So the voice belonged to a Changeling. She obviously hadn’t seen me yet. Not surprising seeing as I was chained to the wall, the shadows looming over my body like clothing, which I sadly lacked thanks to them. The cell doors closed once more and I could hear the Changeling scurrying once more. I expected her to go to the door and beg to be let out, but instead she joined me in the shadows, still unaware of my location. I heard her bundle herself up and start shaking violently. I began coughing badly, which alerted the creature to my whereabouts. As I coughed, she jumped away in fright.

“What in Equestria are you?” she demanded, sounding as regal as the princess. I hated that. I opened my eyes to her and looked at her face. She must have seen my eyes glowing in the dark or something as she met my gaze and began shaking once more.

“What I am… is beyond any form of rage I can think of.” I said in between wheezes as I started coughing again. The Changeling said nothing more as silence took hold of us, save for my coughing fit.

“You must be someone she really hates to be put down here with me. I hear enemies are often executed.” I said, wheezing again. She just eyed me and turned away. I saw her through the shadows. Her appearance wasn’t that dissimilar from theirs. She would have stood about as tall as Luna, but certain attributes were different from any other pony I’d seen (even if I’d only seen a few). Her legs were hollow, like Swiss Cheese, and her horn looked more like a broken branch than an actual horn. Then there were her wings. Elongated and transparent, holding the same shape as a dragonfly. Even her eyes were unique in the respect that they shared the dragons’ appearance. She was like an Alicorn, but not an Alicorn at all. This was a Changeling; insect-like and slender with a black exoskeleton. Despite her fearsome appearance, she seemed weak, malnourished. Hardly a threat to Equestria, so why was she here? Perhaps she was just an experiment to see if humans and changelings were compatible. I hated those Princesses.

“I have to get back.” I heard her mutter. Curiosity took hold of me.

“Back? Back to where? I highly doubt those bitches would have left anywhere still standing if they’re going interdimensional to conquer other species.” I said. The Changeling ignored me for a while.

“My hive. It’s in the Everfree forest, the one place Celestia can’t conquer. There are too many natural predators in there that would take down her soldiers, and she never gets her own hooves dirty.” she said.

“And Luna?” I asked. The Changeling was hesitant at first, but answered in the end.

“Luna observes, nothing more, nothing less.” I couldn't be bothered investigating further and silence reigned supreme once again.

It was a further three hours before she spoke again. “My name’s Chrysalis. What’s yours?” she asked. Idle conversation was something I’d long since forgotten.

“Can’t remember.” I replied. She was silent again.

“How long have you been in here for?” she asked after another few minutes. I hesitated to answer, but saw no harm in it.

“Twelve years.” I said.

“That’s enough time to think of a way to escape, right?” she asked. I began to wonder if she wasn’t in fact a spy working for Celestia to see if I had any plans of escaping. But there would have been no point. Celestia wouldn’t have waited twelve years to try this trick. I didn’t know much about her, but I knew she was a mare of action. She wanted results and she wanted them fast. Patience was not a virtue to her and twelve years was a long time to wait for such a deceptive trick. No, this Changeling was legitimately a prisoner.

“Possibly.” I replied. She seemed interested in me now. She scurried over to me, forgetting that I was human for a moment.

“Please, help me escape too. I can’t survive on pony food for long. It’s like sating hunger with water, it doesn’t work.”

“Speak up, I don’t think our jailers heard you well enough.” I growled at her. Catching on to what I was saying, she lowered her voice to an acceptable tone and went on.

“I’m the Queen of the Changelings. Help me escape and we’ll forever be indebted to you. You hate Celestia too, right? Take me with you and I can lead you back to my hive. My Changelings will be yours to command and you can storm the castle however you want.” she offered. Such free use of her own hive was more than unlikely. She was lying. She had no intention of simply giving me her Changelings.

“It’ll take more than shape-shifting ponies to defeat Celestia. I’ll let you escape with me. After that, we team up. I’ll help you in whatever way I can, but Celestia is mine to kill, understand?” It wasn’t a request, and Chrysalis knew this. She nodded, sealing the deal with a hoof shake. Or that would have been the case had I a free hand.