//------------------------------// // Aaron - Professional Spy Man (Very Minor Revisions) // Story: Dreaming of Lucidity // by Swordoath //------------------------------// CRACK The tree was sundered nearly in half as I slashed across with my own arm. I'd been practicing my transformation skills, and had managed to devise my own, unique limbs. At that moment I practiced combat with long, scythe-like arms with wicked edges more akin to obsidian shards in both color and edging than anything else. The rest of me was normal, well, human normal. I'm still a bit foggy on the whole 'Changeling-or-Human' thing. Why can't I be my own kind, dammit? Anyways, I had this as my preferred combat style, but the other changelings still went for a more the confusing approach of transforming into copies of the target's allies. It's alright, I suppose, but boring as hell. Pony's hooves are only good for bashing and clubbing, not cutting and scraping, which are more deadly. Bleeding out is much more effective than temporary unconsciousness, and that's if you're lucky. Then again, prisoners do make for valuable trading in war. Hm. "Aaron, how goes the training?" Asked Vog, the changeling who oversaw my practice. I could've easily killed him... or, uh, her if I felt like it. I still don't understand the genders of these things. Nor do I really want to. "Better than the rest of those worthless runts." I grunted, decimating another tree. "What the hell do you want?" "Her Highness wants to see you." I reformed my arms into normal hands with flicks of the elbows, and left the carnage and splinters of my making behind me. "What do you want?" I questioned the Queen, who's name I knew now to be Chrysalis. She cleared her throat. "Oh, sorry. What is it of me that you request, Your Highness?" It was immediately apparent she didn't pick up on the sarcasm. "That's more like it. I have a mission for you." "Do I get to maim, kill, or hurt anything?" "No. Not yet." "Aw." "I'm sending you and Alf to go scout out the defenses of the town before we begin our attack." "Alf? Didn't I-" "Yes. Work with Alf equally, and if you hurt your companion in any way, I'll see to it your exiled." I groaned, but nodded my head. "Good. You'll be departing immediately. Alf will meet you at the edge of the forest." She began to laugh, quietly at first, then with increasing gusto. Eventually she was laughing like a madman. Then it petered out to silence. I waited for her to say something else. Eventually I had to prompt her, after an uncomfortable silence. "By your leave...?" "Hm? Oh, yes, you are dismissed." Is she really new at this or something? I wondered. It didn't take long for me to find the edge of the woods, and I found Alf waiting for me in the form of the carrot pony I saw in town. Freshly, the memories of our encounter surfaced, along with that anger. It's a lot harder to suppress without the others, I'll admit. I contented myself with clenching my fist until I couldn't stand the pain my nails were inducing. Neither of us spoke on our way into town, save Alf's explanation of his/her alias, Carrot Top. God, I hate that comedian. Apparently s/he'd made a few friends in town already, so I might end up sucked into doing some shit with them. I groaned inwardly, and smiled unnervingly at her/him in response to alleviate my growing frustration. "Carrot!" A call from across the market sounded. "Carrot, where you been?" "Oh, hi Vinyl!" Called Alf in response. "What's going on?" "You just missed it, there was this huge pink hairy elephant, and-" 'Vinyl' paused and turned to me. "Hey, haven't I seen you somewhere before?" "Probably. I'm a professional spy." I deadpanned. The truth is rarely believed when I speak like that. She laughed, a short gasp of air. "Right. Anyways, like a said, a pink elephant walked right through town and into the woods, right over there. I saw that little dragon dude and, get this- a human girl running after it." "Oh?" Jenny. Perfect, a target on the loose, just what I needed. "Yeah. Right by the castle. I bet Princess Twilight and that other human with the glasses didn't even look up from their books." Will was with royalty too? So much for originality. "You haven't heard anything about a fourth one, have you?" I asked. "No, not since that one asked me for directions earlier today." "C'mon Aaron, we gotta get going. Nice seeing you Vinyl!" Alf tugged at my sleeve with his/her mouth. I followed, unhappily wiping my sleeve off on another pony's back. So the others found things to keep them preoccupied, I thought. Good. Less likely they'll know what I'm doing. This'll be easier than... than... Hm. I honestly couldn't be damned to think of anything. Still can't. And that's when all hell broke loose.