Psycho
Chapter Twenty Seven
Chrysalis departed the castle of her former enemy northbound, thoughts heavy and wings fast she pushed herself harder than she had ever before. The last couple hours burned into her mind like a searing hot brand.
"I'm certain Jack intends to use your subjects against us... But how..." Celestia wondered, sweat beads growing through her face.
"The Crystal Empire, that is where he plans an attack Princess" Chrysalis hissed, clearly irate at her current predicament.
"Hmmm..."
"You know something Princess?"
"We have evidence of an attack in the near future, I sent the Elements and a group of humans to investigate and aid in the-"
"Humans? Like Jack then... They can be trusted?" The Queen sneered angrily.
"They can be trusted, they have been fighting Jack for a long time it would seem"
"And how can you not expect them to turn on us for their own kin!?" Chrysalis flared as she raged.
"Peace Queen, would you have me loop your children into the same crimes you committed solely on their kinship to you?"
"I... Bu... No Princess... Forgive my outburst..."
"Your rage is justified Chrysalis, but only if controlled towards our true enemy. I will not condemn you for emotional outbursts"
The changeling queen stared into the regal alicorn's eyes for several moments, unsure of what to say. She was certain Celestia would take the opportunity to banish her to Tartarus and be done with her. She had not expected such... kindness. She finally snapped away from her thoughts long enough for a final conversation.
"I must go north, to the empire" The queen stood straight and tall.
"In your condition I cannot suggest that, are you not starved for power?" Celestia asked, more concern in her voice than what the queen expected.
"My power matters not... if I do not hurry then the city may fall before your 'Elements' can do anything about it!"
"What? What do you mean!?" The alicorn's calm demeanor broke at the sudden comment.
"My son... he is playing the city for a fool..." The queen lept out the window and took off into the night. Celestia could only stand and watch as the Changeling Queen flew off into the night.
Caine lay in his spot in the snow, nearly a day gone by with no sign of Carapace completing his mission. The Hyperion Infiltrator was patient, but this was becoming a problem. The invasion is supposed to happen today, where ever that changeling was had better of been important he thought. The infiltrator lay in his spot for several hours more before something caught his eye.
A single round shot into the air, from the speed it looked like a sniper shot. A thought crossed his mind, those vault hunters were on the planet. Chances are, they were in the city. Caine scoffed a little as he pulled out a red cloth scrap from his pocket.
"Mordecai..."
The infiltrator shot up and ran towards the city, his body disappearing into the snow as he activated his stealth camouflage. Carapace wouldn't stand a chance against the vault hunters, but that was not what concerned Caine. If they were their then he had to make sure the objective was completed.
"Hey Mordie..." The thick accented berserker began.
"Ugh... No Brick... I'm not answering you again..." The pegasus answered.
"... Can I-"
"NO BRICK! I CANNOT EVEN LIFT YOU! ugh..."
"What are you two going on about now!?" Lilith turned to scream at the arguing stallions.
"Ugh- Nothing Lil!" Mordecai raised a hoof to the back of his head. Still getting used to his new form, he almost tumbled to the ground balancing on three hooves.
"Are... are they always like this?" Applejack whispered to Gaige next to her.
"Yeah... I think so anyways. If you didn't know any better you might think they were related haha" Gaige laughed as she flapped her wings.
"They sure do act like it... Makes me wonder how the family's doin back at the farm..." The farm pony began to wonder.
"Farm huh? Used to live on one myself... probably nothin like what you do" Axton spoke, finally getting his hooves to walk with him.
"Really now, Ah wouldn't ah taken ya for a farm pony with how... pleasant ya are" Applejack slightly glared at the commando.
"The battalion does that to you, not saying I'm proud of it but it's just who I was before I got... discharged" The commando concluded.
"So what did ya do?" The farm pony began to pry.
"Mostly made Rakk Ale" Axton smirked.
"Ah meant about that battalion thing, what is it?" Applejack glared again.
"War is hell AJ, that's all I'm saying on it" The commando finished as he trotted up to the front of the group.
Applejack watched him wander to the front, and almost began to feel sorry for him. She wanted to apologize if she said something wrong but was stopped by the blue unicorn behind her.
"Let him be Applejack, it's a rough life being a vault hunter. We all left something behind to get where we are today. Axton left a lot more" Maya comforted Applejack with a soft hoof on her shoulder.
"Thank ya Maya. You just let him know ah said sorry if ah said somethin wrong"
"I will" The unicorn smiled as she also trotted passed towards Axton.
The large group of ponies stopped their trek when the larger earth stallion in the lead suddenly froze in the road.
"Hey Krieg, whats up? Something in the-" Gaige began but stopped when she saw him.
"MINIONS! YOU GUYS GOTTA RUN! WHAAAAAAAAA!"
"No seriously, what the buck was that bout?" Vinyl asked shortly after Claptrap dashed out the door way.
"I... have no idea..." Carapace slowly began to catch up to what happened.
"Carey, he flipped out when he saw your cutie mark I think" Crissy noticed. "What's it supposed to be anyways? A gold H? What could that mean?"
"It... has to... do with.......... umm...." Carapace knew that they would become suspicious as he tried to think of what his 'special talent' could be. An idea sparked in his head. "Jewelry, I uh... am kinda embarrassed to admit to it."
Carapace figured coming up with an embarrassing talent would make up for the delay, like he was building his guts to admit it. And besides, he did have a small talent for finding colorful rocks.
"The golden H is supposed to mean wealthy and healthy, I got it when I made my first gold ring" Carapace continued to lie. He didn't have the slightest clue what the H was for, besides it being something Caine used as a logo of some kind.
"Oh! so you are a jeweler!?" Crissy seemed to beam with excitement. "Maybe you can show me your work sometime! I would love to see how such trinkets are made."
"Of course! Perhaps later in the week though, I will need to gather supplies you know" Carapace smiled, he didn't enjoy lying to these ponies. He considered them his friends, in his head he scolded himself for the thought of making attachments on a mission. A part of him just wanted to stay a pony forever however.
The three ponies finished their meal and continued up towards the castle. Along the way, Carapace felt a sense of dread nearby. He politely excused himself from his friends down a narrow ally. His surprise was un-noticed as the tall human in bright yellow armor stood before him.
"Carapace, I thought I told you the invasion was today..."
The changeling stared into the infiltrators eyes, fear building in his own four legs. He barely noticed the small moth landing on his back as he was cornered into the wall...