Chapter 1: Failed Invasion
Drone #2599... that’s not my name of course. My name is Desert Locust and 2599 is just the number I was assigned for the attack on Canterlot. It means I'm the ninety-ninth soldier in attack squad number twenty-five, a squad of a little over 250 other changelings. Most of them are flankholes, but I do enjoy the company of a select few. I was pretty lucky when the day came that we were given our numbers. I was two positions away from being put into squad twenty-six, the squad responsible for breaking down the force field surrounding the city. My chitin was stronger than your average changeling’s, but I still wasn’t so fond of the idea of flying head first into what was essentially a brick wall. My job was taking care of the guards and anyone else who want to interfere with Chrysalis's plans. That is, if we were even going to make it into the city.
For the past hour, we've been watching squad twenty-six bash there heads into the pink bubble shield thingy. I still don't know why we were breaking in this fashion, but it was Chrysalis’s idea and no one, and I mean no one speaks against her. We should have just found some magic relic or something like that. I'm sure there's bound to be one placed conveniently in a cave of some sort.
I groaned and smacked my hooves into my face. I glided over to Arthropod, one of the few changelings in my squad I could tolerate. "Give me an honest answer, do you think this is gonna work?"
Arthropod and I observed one of squad-twenty six's members ascend higher up into the sky. "I got this guys!" he shouted.
At the peak of his ascent, he paused momentarily, began screaming, then started accelerating downwards. Everyone's attention was now diverted to him. Our eyes tracked his descent then suddenly, THUD! I winced at the painful impact then watched his unconscious body start sliding down the side of the bubble shield. I heard someone nonchalantly say "Someone go get him." Shortly afterwards two people glided down to catch the sliding changeling.
"Desert, my answer to your question is... no. I think we're hopeless."
"Same here."
"Do you ever question why we still listen to Chrysalis? I mean, she's kind of hot, but—"
There was another loud thud, interrupting Arthropod, and a changeling began sliding down the side of the bubble. "Someone grab him too!" I heard in the distance.
"Ouch. Anyway what were you saying Arthy?"
Arthropod groaned at my use of his nickname. "Chryalis is hot, but she's a total idiot."
"I gotta agree with you there, wait, hot?"
Arthy's eyes widened. "Did I say that?"
I chuckled. "Yes, you did."
Arthropod ducked his head low. I stopped conversing to let him recover from his embarrassing moment. Suddenly, I heard someone shout something in the distance followed by cheering. I looked at Arthy to see if he had any idea what it was. He just looked back at me and shrugged his shoulders. A changeling flew towards us, screaming ecstatically that the shield had cracked.
We immediately flew towards the cheering and found a jagged white circle with several cracks reaching out in all directions. A changeling stood proudly next to it.
"Guys! I'm awake, and I got this!" said a voice from above.
I looked up and the same changeling that was knocked out a few moments ago was soaring high above me. The words "badass" and "idiot" crossed my mind. He started descending again in the same fashion as before, screaming. I couldn't help but to notice he was traveling faster than before. A lot faster, and this time people were cheering for him. I found myself cheering the guy on as well.
Instead of being knocked out on impact, the changeling punched a clean hole through the center of the crack. The cheering intensified. A few people hovered above the hole and some of us gathered around it to inspect it.
"Now, everyone squeeze in," someone joked.
A small hole created a lot of commotion. Words cannot describe how much more surprised and ecstatic when the shield completely shattered. I remember seeing more and more cracks form, and the cracks from the hole reached out further and further. Eventually, the shield started becoming more unstable and shook violently before shattering into a million pieces.
"LET'S GOOOOOOOO!" someone screamed.
Everyone began diving down towards the city below, including me. I started diving at about the same time Arthy did. I began seeing the ponies when I was few hundred feet from the ground. I spotted two pony guards running down the street. I turned to my left and made eye contact with Arthy. We nodded at each other and adjusted our trajectories so that we would land in front, and behind the guards.
I saw a green aura surround Arthy in my peripherals, then I cast the same spell on myself. Basically, it would dampen the impact significantly so that I wouldn't splatter all over the ground like an insect on a carriage windshield. A moment later, I cratered the ground behind the guards. Arthy landed a split second later. He stood up and hissed at the guards.
"You get that one, I'll get this one." I heard one of the guards say, then one of them turned around and pointed his spear at me.
We advanced on the guards slowly while baring our fangs. They kept their distance and backed up until they were pressed against each other.
“Give up now, you’ll be screwed if you fight us,” I threatened. Arthropod growled and bared his fangs.
The guard that was facing me looked over my shoulder and smiled smugly. I turned around and saw eight other guards rushing over to us. He looked at me again and waited for us to surrender. How naive of them. The eight guards were engulfed in brilliant, green flames.
"H-how?" one of the ponies asked in disbelief.
"We have some people on the inside." The guard picked up a look of uneasiness and looked over at the castle.
"Now drop your weapons!" Arthy commanded.
The two guards reluctantly complied. "What now?"
I approached the guard and pushed him to the ground. Arthy did the same with the other guard. I told them to hold still as I prepared my magic. A green aura around my horn began to appear. One of the guards turned his head away, closed his eyes, and sighed. I cast my spell and binded the two guards together with a thick, green goo.
The guards eyes widened. "You looked surprised."
"Y-yeah," he said, sounding relieved. "But what in Tartarus is this stuff?!"
"I don't know myself, but I know it's toxic. So don't think about chewing through it."
I heard the guard on the other side start spitting rapidly. "Oh Celestia what have I done?!"
I facehooved. It's not actually toxic. Arthropod signaled me to head out. "You go, I'll stay behind and keep an eye on these ponies." He nodded and took off.
That’s where I remained for the next half hour or so. I passed the time by telling the guard that ate the goo that he was going to die. I told him to watch out stomach pains, headache, nausea, and vomiting as it's a sign that the toxins were kicking in. I think he was on the verge of tears at one point. . I asked him if he had any last words that I should right down and pretended that I was sorry because the death would've been painful. The other guard offered him his condolences and said that he would keep an eye on his children. It was absolutely hilarious how terrified the two of them became. I stopped talking and silently observed them until a changeling flew down to talk to me.
“Hey, number 1543 here, we need your help over at the castle,” he said urgently.
“I’m number 2599, what is it?”
“Six ponies attempted to seize the Elements of Harmony.”
“Oh crap.” I feared for the worst. I've heard stories about how the Elements of Harmony defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, and countless other evils. We would surely be defeated by them easily. 1543 reassured me that the situation has been taken care of and that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were being held captive at the castle. A massive weight was taken off my chest and I breathed a sigh of relief.
"So why do you need me?"
"They defeated over eight hundred of us before we stopped them. We need all the help we could get to keep them under control."
I nodded and trotted over to the supposedly dying guard. "I'm sorry," I told him with false sincerity.
"I DON'T WANT TO DIE, NOOOOOO!" he screamed.
I trotted back to 1543. "What's with him?" he asked.
"He thinks he's gonna die because he ate goo." I chuckled.
1543 raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Never mind. I'll explain later."
1543 shrugged and took off. Just as I took off, I was hit by what felt like a train. My head throbbed and everything became a blur. I had absolutely no clue what was going on. After I regained some of my bearings, The first thing I noticed was that the sounds of explosions and screaming was replaced by wind rushing past me. The next thing I noticed, was the fact that the world was spinning around me. First I saw sky, then ground, then sky, then the ground again. I realized that it wasn’t the world that was spinning, but it was actually me that was spinning.
At first, I panicked, then stopped caring, then eventually got bored. I had actually lost my perception of time because I was soaring so long. The uncontrolled flight was uneventful, except for the occasional bird collision, until the gravity of the situation hit me. It wasn't the realization that I was going to land eventually, but the wave of nausea that came over me that made me realize how screwed I was. When Chrysalis told us to feed, I took it as more of a challenge and less of a privilege, and now, I was struggling to keep the processed love in my stomach, in my stomach.
As time passed, the nausea intensified. I told myself mentally, "Don't puke. Don't puke. Don't puke. DON'T PUKE! I took deep, long breaths. My eyes kept darting left and right to track a single point in the sky. My efforts only postponed the inevitable, at the peak of my next breath, I regurgitated everything. I managed to get in a few short breaths in before hurling again, and again, and again. The experience was uncomfortable and horrid, but still, I felt a lot better after that.
Vomiting is already a dirty process, but vomiting while spinning is a whole ‘nother experience. I could feel the putrid, sour fluid clinging to my body and especially my face. I exhaled sharply through my nose and a small glob of the fluid came out. It was hard to imagine that the substance was once sweet nectar. I couldn't imagine how I looked, but I could care less. It’s not like anyone can see me right now.
Without warning, my vision went dark, my hearing became muffled, and everything went cold. I had also instinctively stopped breathing. I was underwater. I shook my head to the left and right to shake off the familiar feeling of disorientation. I saw light bleeding through the surface of the water and regained my orientation.
I swam as fast as I could to the surface. However, a sheet of ice decided it’d be a great idea to cut off my path to air. I didn't have much time left before I would pass out or drown. I swam down a few feet and looked up, surveying the ice for my initial point of entry. There was a small, circular section in the ice where the sunlight was brighter. That must have been it.
I kicked hard and swam to the hole in the ice. When I reached it I was stopped by a layer of ice.The impact forced some air out of my lungs. I watched the precious bubbles of air ascend upwards in the water. The impact had also cracked the ice. "Deja vu, I thought. It was hard to believe that the hole had already frozen over. I punched it repeatedly with my hooves in hopes of breaking it. With each punch, the ice would crack more, but it also made me lose more air. My punches were becoming less energetic each time.
“Need... air...” my mind whispered to me.
I prepared my hoof for one final punch. If it didn't break through this time, I would die. I thought back to the changeling shouting "I got this!" before breaking the shield for some motivation. That might not have been the best idea because the first thing I remembered was him getting knocked out. The thoughts didn't matter, I punched as hard as I could and felt my hoof break through. I stuck my snout through the hole and took a breath. I went back down and started widening the hole then climbed out of the water.
“Air, how I missed you,” I said weakly.
I was shivering violently, I could see my breath in front of me, my legs were numb, my vision was out of focus, and the pain in my ears was unbearable. Instead of drowning, I was going to freeze to death. I looked towards the snowy shore and saw a white fluffball running towards me. I tried hard to focus on it, and when I did, I realized just how much the world wanted me dead. It was a frickin' polar bear.
Author's Note
I need to stop starting stories without finishing my other ones... oh well. By the way, italics in quotations means thought. I'm incredibly rusty at writing, sorry. Still, I hope you enjoyed this!
Chapter 2: Polar Bears and Cliffs
Watching the enormous polar bear run was a bit mesmerizing. The sound of it running on the snow was soft, and that made the entire situation seem surreal. When I come to think of it, the entire day was surreal. Literally fifteen minutes ago, I was raiding Canterlot with a couple thousand other changelings, and now I'm out in the middle of nowhere with a polar bear charging towards me! I became lost in thought and stared into space. The freezing cold does horrible things to your thought process. I was still watching the bear charge at me, but I felt no urgency to run.
As it approached the shoreline, which was about fifty feet from where I was standing, the polar bear let out a powerful roar. The ice underneath me trembled due to how loud it was. I was scared out of my mind, I didn't even know polar bears could roar! The polar bear picked up it's pace into a full blown sprint. I stood for a moment with my mouth agape then went into sprint myself. I was being chased by a polar bear, a freaking polar bear! I didn't know whether to be proud of myself or terrified. I chose both.
I felt the exact moment the bear stepped onto the frozen lake because I felt the ice shudder and crack. I turned my head over my shoulder again to see that the it had already halved the original distance between us. The bear roared again and I felt my eardrums vibrate along with the rest of my body. I let out a strange squealing sound that I didn't even know I was capable of making and felt a chill run down my spine. It was the same kind of chill you get when you turn out the light in a room and begin walking out thinking a monster is going to grab you. Only this time, a monster did want to grab me, and tear me to shreds while it's at it.
"GO EAT SOMETHING ELSE!" I shouted at it. The bear didn't respond, as expected.
I heard two more footsteps from the bear that were more powerful then the others. I turned around and saw the bear in mid-air with it's front paws outstretched towards me. It's mouth was wide open with it's sharp teeth exposed for me to see. I dove forward and everything went into slow motion. I felt one of the paws graze my rear and a rush of wind from the other paw. I heard the mouth snap close then the bear landed back onto the ice. There was a loud crunching and cracking sounds coming from behind me.
Before having a chance to think about what it was, I landed flat on my chest which knocking the wind out of me. I went into a slide. My body hadn't even settled to a stop when I scrambled back onto my feet and began sprinting again. I stopped shortly after starting when I noticed that the polar bear's footsteps were no longer heard. I skidded to a halt and turned around. Only the upper portions of the polar bear were visible. It had fallen into the water and was falling in. It growled angrily at me.
I stood tall, turned my back to the sinking polar bear, and started to walk away. The growls continued, but sounded less angry. It sounded almost like the polar bear was pleading for me to help it. I ignored it and kept walking without turning back. The damn thing tried to kill me, it got what it deserved. The further I got the quieter the polar bear was. Eventually the growling stopped entirely.
I stumbled onto the shoreline and collapsed in exhaustion. My body was warmer after the chase and feeling returned to most of my legs. The ends were still numb and my ears were also still very painful. I turned back to the ice lake and looked for the polar bear. There was nothing, just vast whiteness. The hole in the lake had frozen over and the polar bear was nowhere to be seen. I sighed in relief, that's one problem dealt with. Now to find my way out of here.
I stood back up then began surveying my surroundings, I was surrounded by mountains, fairly short ones. They looked like they were only six or seven hundred feet. The lake's source was from several small creeks flowing into them, and the source of those was probably runoff from the snow on the mountains and wherever else there snow. I came to the conclusion that I was in a mountain range. I looked up at the sun and shielded my eyes with my foreleg. Judging from how far the sun was from the horizon, I still had four or five hours of light left.
I couldn't see anything from my vantage point. The lake was at the bottom of a bowl formed by several mountains. I glanced around and decided to scale the peak closest to me. The incline started out shallow, but it quickly got steeper. When I reached the top, I was gasping for air. The wind was strong enough to almost blow me off the ridge line, and it was so cold that my ears completely stopped hurting. They just went numb completely.
I made my time up there as short as possible. I scanned the surroundings quickly and concluded that I had two choices. One of which will kill me, and one of which might kill me. I could turn around and head back to the lake then deeper into the mountain range, or continue forward and walk down a hellishly steep slope covered in jagged rocky outcroppings. At the bottom of the steep slope were plains, and it looked like there was civilization in the distance.
I looked down the slope again and gulped. The peak was about 500 feet tall from the lake, but it was at least 1000 feet tall from the plains. Walking down was going to be dangerous, stupidly dangerous. I had no other choice though, I stood up, looked down the slope, and began to take the first step. Before I even finished the first step, my wings buzzed as my anxiety levels skyrocketed. I turned my head around and looked at the rapidly vibrating wings. I facehoofed and started a slow glide towards civilization. "This cold really is screwing with me... I thought.
Even though flying was much easier than walking down the slope, it was still treacherous and tricky. The winds made my face raw and my wings throb with pain. The muscles connected to my wings were straining as they fought the wind to stay on course. A particularly strong gust of wind hit me suddenly. I tried to stay in control, but my right wing muscle was pulled by the unwelcome gust. I struggled to keep my right wing going despite the pulled muscle. It was no use, the right wing gave out and I went into an uncontrollable spiral. It was a familiar feeling.
I managed to overcome the pain for a short moment and unfolded my right wing. The pain was excruciating but my flight was stabilized somewhat. The spinning slowed down enough so that I could see what was going on. I looked ahead of me and my heart jumped when I saw a carriage being dragged by a few ponies. I was moving too fast and the carriage was too close for me to pull up in time. I started slowing down, closed my eyes and covered my head. Impact was inevitable.
"OW! OH MY GOD THAT HURT SO BADLY!" I shouted before screaming in pain.
I was looking up at the roof, there was a large hole where I had broken through. Sunbeams shined down on me through the hole. Dust particles were floating around. My whole body coursed with sharp pain. I wiped my hoof on my back and looked at it. It was covered in blood. "What did I land on?!" I asked myself before examining the ground. I was surrounded by bags. I opened one of them and was greeted by broken glass glistening in the sunlight. It was just my luck to land in the only carriage in Equestria that's carrying broken glass.
"What just happened?" I heard through the walls of the carriage.
"I don't know! Come on, let's check it out." I heard footsteps headed towards the rear of the carriage.
"Oh crap oh crap oh crap. I thought.
I thought back to the first pony I could think of and changed shape just as the door opened. I stared at the ponies and they stared back with gaping mouths.
"Y-your majesty, what are you doing in here?" said the pony on the left before bowing.
"Majesty? Bowing? Just who did I turn in to?" I asked myself. I looked down at my hoof, white fur. I looked up at my forehead, there was a long, pearl white horn sticking out. On my back were two large, majestic wings. Also, I had a cutie mark of a sun.
"Er, uh, hello... subjects. I was just inspecting your carriage... filled with broken glass." I winced in pain after being reminded of the couple of hundred lacerations on my back.
Author's Note
Ugh... I hate my laziness. I keep getting rusty at writing then whenever I get back to updating chapters. Sorry for any atrocious grammar.
