Two weeks had passed by quickly. Two weeks of infiltrating nearby towns to gather love and build up our defenses. Not much has changed from where we first started out. At least, our defenses haven't changed other than a few magical barriers placed around the camp, powerful enough to stop one, maybe two timberwolves, but useless against something larger, for example a manticore which, by the queen I hope we won't ever have to deal with.
As for our food sources, gathering love was, of course the top priority to begin with. Infiltrators would travel to the targeted towns every few days to gather whatever love they could before returning and sharing it with the rest of us. It was enough to keep us happy at least. The first time they came back from a pony town full of love, one of them nearly started a fight over who should get what amount of love. It was lucky that the warrior is as strict as he is and dealt with the matter at once before our already fragile group was shattered by our own hostility.
Speaking of the warrior, he seems more... tolerable than he was to begin with. However I feel that that is only because he's trying to win my decision for the retrieval of the throne rocks. For now I'm still in disagreement about it. Perhaps Fang wouldn't mind sharing his opinions on it? It would make me feel easier if he had a say in it as well.
Moving on to today, the camp was silent. Not that it was different from any other day. The changelings that hadn't already been sent on the love run were going about their own buisness, talking amongst themselves. Passing the day in whatever manner they pleased. For me, I had much on my mind to bother with small talk or take a break.
As I said before, the infiltrators, in teams of three, travel to the pony towns, take love by disguising themselves and absorbing the delicious emotion before returning back here. Despite it being my orders to do so, it is not something that we can keep on doing for much longer. It's been two weeks and we are not one step closer to accompolishing any of our goals. If we keep it up I worry that the morale of the group will drop drastically and after that, we will be fewer in number than we already are. Hmph... Perhaps I should start considering the warrior's idea? Maybe. I'll discuss this with Fang tonight and see-
"Swarm leader"!
In an instant, I found an infiltrator in front of me. Though not just some random infiltrator. This was one of the three I had sent to retrieve love this morning! Normally they wouldn't return until the evening so there shouldn't have been any reason he would be back so early! He was nervous. I feared the worst!
"What's going on? Were you found out by the ponies"?
"Well, yes and no Swarm leader"!
"Explain"!
No sooner I asked did I hear the buzzing wings of what I assumed to be the other infiltrators ascending slowly from above. When they landed, I immediatley knew what the issue was. Both of them carried an unconcious pony on their backs each. One male, one female. Both of them earth ponies. The moment they landed, the remaining four changelings scattered around the small camp had come closer to see what was going on before talking among themselves, unsure why the infiltrators had brought the enemy to our hidden camp site.
I wasn't sure what I should feel. Anger, confusion or even happiness. I decided to wait to hear their side of the story before I decide. They explained right away.
It turned out that the infiltrators had found the pair past the outskirts of the town who asked them for help handling their wagon. A long story short, something fell from the wagon and onto one of the infiltrators horns, cancelling their disguise for a mere moment. Enough for the two ponies to put two and two together. And since they knew of their existance they could not be allowed to escape and warn one of the very few food sources we have. A few knock out shots later, followed by the destruction of the wagon for good measure, and the infiltrators headed back at once with the witnesses. And now it's up to me to decide what happens to them. In fairness, it was hard to be angry after hearing the story. And considering it all to be true, I dismissed all but the one who warned me of this to begin with.
"Was there anything that may have been of use in the wagon"? I decided to ask. You never know what ponies are carrying that may be of use. One-ling's trash is another-ling's treasure. Better to know just to be sure.
"Only a bunch of pony food and farming tools". The first infiltrator replied. I simply nodded in response.
"I see". I gave a moment of thought as to what the best way of dealing with these ponies were. Out of all the possible answers, one rose above the rest. A simple method that befalls most ponies caught.
"Find out if they were meant to be meeting up with any-ling. We need to make sure our tracks are covered before we make another move on that town. Once you've done that... cocoon them. And make sure to place them high above on the trees. I don't want any predators to get at them".
The infiltrator nodded. "Yes Swarm leader". He then turned and instructed the others in his team to carry out what I had asked. Cocooning is an easy enough process to learn and understand. In order to 'store' love, we need the freshest sources we can find. In this case, ponies. Once they are placedinto the cocoon, they quickly fall unconcious thanks to the materials changelings produce to form the cocoon. Nothing that harms them, but unless the cocoon is ruptured, they will remain in a sleep-like state for the remainder of their natural born lives.
At least it would save us from making too many trips to the towns. But two cocooned ponies for eight changelings, that isn't enough to keep us full for long. Meaning more trips to the towns, meaning the possibility of more incidents like this. And if one of these incidents were to get out of hoof...
I would not feel comfortable about this but...
"Warrior. A moment of your time". I called out, causing our only soldier to make his way over to me. Here goes nothing."You have your wish. Tomorrow morning, I want you and Fang to head back to the fallen hive and find out about the remains of the queen's throne".
I never thought I would see a smile appear so quickly on the warriors usually stoic face.
"Yes Swarm leader". He nodded.
"However"! I quickly snapped before he could leave. "If and when you find them, you will contact me first before you do anything else. And if any of those abominations begin to suspect you, you will retreat from that place at once! Understood"?
And thus, the frown returned. For a moment he said nothing. Before I could repeat myself he responded with "Yes Swarm leader" and dispersed from my sight.
Tomorrow is going to be an infuriating day.