“What do you mean ‘They Escaped’?” Chrysalis hissed at one of the Changelings disguised as Royal Guards.
“My Queen, it seems as though Spinnekop has sided with the Ponies. She was not present when the rest of her Squadron woke up. All that was found were two carvings inside the cell.”
Chrysalis shot a green beam at a potted plant, causing it to explode. “That filthy deceiving Artist!” She spat. “I’ll have her head for this. I swear, I should never have let her live past Pupation. I should have squashed her when I first saw her!” Chrysalis slammed her hoof onto the ground. “She must not be allowed to leave the Caverns.”
“My Queen, we are experiencing trouble with the entire cavern system.” The Guard replied. “We cannot risk letting any Changelings guard the entire Cave, unless you wish for them to slip by.”
Chrysalis growled. “Then I will need to find somepony dumb enough to try and kill a Princess…” Chrysalis smiled. “Get my Bridesmaids up here at once. I have a mission for them…”
Burn was currently giving Cara a very wide girth, the fact that Spinnekop had not only done something like this, but done it willingly was driving her insane. “Why? Why would she do something like this?” Cara asked as she paced around the area. “This is so unlike her…”
“Maybe the Princess convinced her?”
“How!” Cara shouted. “I’ve read those letters and the profile on the Target, there is no way she has that kind of mental control.”
“Perhaps a bribe?”
“A bribe? Please…” Cara replied. “Give me a reason why Spinnekop would take a bribe of anything?”
“I’m not sure Sarge, you know her better than us.”
“I just can’t figure this out… Why would Spinnekop go against the Hive? We’re her family.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t think too much on it Sarge?” Seek replied. “I mean… We are nearing the…”
Cypher walked over. “The Queen is handling the Situation.”
“How?” Cara asked.
“She is getting rid of the only one that could possibly recognize her, a Unicorn by the name of Twilight. Apparently she has been causing trouble for the past 24 hours, and the Queen decided to finally do something about it.”
“Like what?” Seek asked.
“She is having her placed within the Caverns, somewhere it is impossible for her to get out.”
Cara grunted. “That’s just what she said for the Princess…”
Cypher glared at Cara. “Sergeant, the only way the Unicorn would be able to escape is if she had wings. There are only three natural Alicorns within Equestria, and the spell to create Pegasi wings would sap her of her strength. Have some faith in the Queen.”
Cara mumbled something incoherent. “Fine. But if we find Spinnekop, I want to talk to her.”
“Would this be the ‘hey I want to catch up with you’ talk or the ‘I am going to beat your face in’ talk?” Seek asked.
“Pick one…” Cara hissed.
“Attention all Soldiers! Two hours till Go time.”
“I’ll worry about Spinnekop later… We have a mission. I plan to see it through.”
Burn saluted. “We won’t let you down.”
“Spindle… Are you sure this is the right way?” Cadence asked as Spindle led her down another tunnel in the mazelike structures of the Caverns. Multiple times they had gone down the pathways to find the way blocked by cave-ins or just walls of crystals. The number of times they had to turn back and retrace their steps through the caverns made Cadence’s head spin.
Spindle tried to keep her spirits up, but the problem is that with every dead end, her panic began to grow. She worried they would never get out, as well as the thought that they were being tracked by some of the other Changelings. If they caught them, Spindle knew the Queen would execute both of them. “I’m not sure… Everything looks the same.”
Cadence agreed, the entire Chamber looked similar, the crystals were all a pale blue or purple, and all grew in similar looking clusters. “If this isn’t the correct way, I think we should take a break before heading back.”
Spindle nodded, she grabbed her pendant and raised it, the needle was pointing towards the south, and it told her she was heading west, the exact opposite of the direction they should be going. “Yeah…”
Spindle hadn’t showed Cadence her real form yet, she was afraid to, she thought it would crush Cadence or she would be angry. A slight flicker of disdain was still clearly there within her, and Spindle didn’t want to enhance it.
“Are you okay Spindle?” Cadence asked.
“yeah… I’m just…” She began to say, but she stopped as she looked at the flat wall in front of them. “Oh no!” Spindle ran up to the wall. “No. No. No!” She began looking over the wall to try and find anyway to climb it or get around it. Seeing none, she slumped against it and fell to the ground. “I’m sorry Cadence.”
Cadence walked towards Spindle. “It’s alright Spindle… You tried…”
“No it’s not alright!” Spindle cried. “We’re trapped in here. I can’t find the way out! We’ll be stuck in here forever. I can’t see any light shining at the end of a tunnel! Even with all these reflective Crystals.”
Cadence sighed. “Spindle… Can I ask you a favor?”
Spindle curled up by the wall. “Sure…”
Cadence fidgeted with her wings slightly. “Can I… See what you really look like?”
Spindle raised her head. “You… You really want to?”
“Well… I figured that you have been honest with me, so I want to see what you look like. Just in case we do get out of here… I don’t want to see you treated the same way as them.”
Spindle sighed. “You won’t get mad at me?”
Cadence shook her head.
“Alright…” Spindle stood up and let the green transformative fire surround her, changing her back to her natural form. “Here I am…”
Cadence looked wide eyed at the Changeling, cringing back slightly. “How… How do you tell each other apart?”
Spinnekop sighed. “Well… It’s usually small things. Horn curve, Hole locations, facial structure, it’s just easy for us. Like how a group of fish can tell each other apart.” Spinnekop sat back down on the ground. “Not that it would matter…”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Princess… We are trapped underground, I have no idea where we are going, and unless by some miracle the wall behind me explodes, I don’t see any-”
There was a sudden loud explosion from behind Spinnekop as the wall itself blew apart, sending her hurtling through the air and landing in a small tunnel, unconscious.
Below, Cadence looked over the recently destroyed wall, trying to find some evidence of the Changeling that once inhabited the space, but instead found a rather angry looking Unicorn, horn ignited and sparking wildly staring at her.
“No. Wait!” She said trying to back away as the Unicorn tackled her to the ground. She raised her hooves to cover her face “Please, don’t hurt me.” She looked up at the Unicorn that was on top of her. “Twilight!”
“Damn it Spin… Where did you wander off to?” Cloak said as she stalked through the Caverns. She had been told early that day that Spinnekop had helped the Prisoner escape, so she asked as nicely as she could-Meaning not at all- and decided to go looking for her.
She had looked through the closest tunnels nearby, a few that led to dead ends and various walls of crystal. Eventually she decided to give up on tracking, as following the very faint magical trail left behind by Spinnekop was leading her nowhere. So she decided to stalk the other creature that she was with, leading to much better results.
The Alicorn that she correctly identified as Mi Amore Cadenza was a literal walking factory for Love, so much so that the air near where she had traveled was saturated with it. And since Cloak was not as new to tracking as many thought she was Last time Dagger ever dared me to find a pony in a crowd, she followed the trail of it to a strange hole in the wall she definitely didn’t see when she first staked out the cavern system.
Along with that, there was a strong sense of anger on the other side, and while not many know this, not even a lot of trackers, spells held emotion in them too, and the wall was radiating hatred. Curious, Cloak changed her spell to track Changeling magic, and noticed it abruptly stopped where the wall had been destroyed. “Oh Chrysalis…” Cloak said, looking around a few of the smaller tunnels near the bottom of the cavern, finding nothing, she decided to do the only other intelligent thing she could think of.
“Spinnekop!” She called. “If you can hear me, do something loud!”
Cloak perked her ears up to hear anything, but instead felt a small bag fall onto her head. Rubbing the spot where it hit, Cloak bent down and picked up the bag. It was a light blue, the same one that Spinnekop had purchased from an alabaster Unicorn when they went to Crazyville, Equestria, where Cloak had almost been dinner.
Cloak looked at the bag, Spinnekop kept this with her whenever she would be away from the Hive for long periods of time, it carried her old dull carving knife that was in no way in a shape to be doing anything other than mindless whittling. More to the point, it was undamaged.
If Spinnekop had been the target for the attack, the bag would certainly be burned, if not, damaged in some way. The fact it was undamaged was a good sign.
Cloak looked up at where the bag had fallen to see another tunnel up by the ceiling, cut into the crystal. She flew up to it and looked in, finding a Changeling lying on it’s back, lightly twitching every few seconds.
“Spinnekop!” Cloak said, looking at the unconscious Changeling. “Spinnekop… Are you okay?”
Cloak flew in and nudged Spinnekop, getting no response, Cloak checked her pulse and breathing. She let out a relieved sigh. “Alright… You’re fine.” She grabbed onto Spinnekop’s tail and began to drag her towards the tunnel’s entrance, when she was dangling over the drop; Cloak grabbed her under the forelegs and flew down slowly.
When she reached the bottom of the cave, she laid Spinnekop down on the ground and absorbed the ambient Love left behind by the Princess and focusing it into her horn. Cloak lowered the horn to touch Spinnekop’s Horn and watched as the green flame trickled from one horn to the other. “Come on Spin, wake up…”
Spinnekop groaned as she began to stir, a headache that formed had been receding slowly as she came back to reality. “Another few minutes…”
“Spinnekop…” A distorted voice said.
“Give me a minute…”
“SPINNEKOP!” The Voice shouted, and she realized it wasn’t Cadence.
“Cloak!” She said surprised, her eyes snapped open and focused, backing away quickly from her mentor. “Wait! Please! I can explain!”
“Spinnekop…”
“Please! Don’t kill me!” Spinnekop said, raising her hooves to cover her face.
“Spin…”
“I-I was just…”
“Infiltrator 67!” She ran up and grabbed Spinnekop. “Pull! Yourself! Together!” Cloak shouted, slapping Spinnekop. “I’m not going to hurt you!”
Spinnekop cringed slightly. “You… You aren’t?”
“No!” Cloak said, letting go of Spinnekop. “Ugh…”
Spinnekop hit the ground with a light cluck. “Then… Why are you here?”
“Because I was worried.” Cloak replied. “I come back from finding the Queen some new Bridesmaids and suddenly I hear that you vanished and helped the prisoner escape.”
“Cloak I…”
“I’m not Done!” Cloak shouted. “All the while I get told that if the Queen catches you and finds out that you did it all willingly she will have you impaled on your own horn!”
Spinnekop cringed. “And THEN! I disobey my commander to come in here looking for you, to find you unconscious in a tunnel with the wall exploded and…” Cloak took a deep breath. “What in Tartarus were you thinking?”
Spinnekop tried to shrink herself down. “Well… I was…”
Cloak held up her hoof. “I’ll tell you what I think. I think you were so distraught about seeing your friend in a cell that you felt that you had to talk to her. Then she somehow got you to believe that Chrysalis is making a big mistake and whatnot before you agreed to let her out.”
“But… Cadence said that Chrysalis was only doing it for power…”
Cloak looked surprised, but that wore off very quickly. “Took you long enough to find out…”
“You knew!”
“Of course I knew!” Cloak replied. “She’s the Queen, and what other reason would there be for attacking Equestria? We wouldn’t gain anything from it.”
“Then why didn’t you stop her?”
Cloak looked at Spinnekop. “Spinnekop, be honest. Would you really want to say ‘No’ to the Queen? A Changeling that could simply think, and you die.”
Spinnekop opened her mouth, then closed it. “Uh… No…”
“Exactly.” Cloak replied. “I ran it through my head so many times. The only reason for all of this was power, not food. But the problem is, I still live in the Hive, and I enjoy it there. Well, that and Chrysalis would hunt me down and kill me if I tried to do anything. Can’t have an Infiltrator running around with all the Hive’s secrets.”
“But… Why did you come to find me?”
“To tell you that you have a chance.” Cloak replied. “Listen… If you were to go rogue on Chrysalis, she would simply see you as a waste of space, and if you come back to the Hive…” Cloak ran her hoof across her neck. “So… You can either, Run away. Or you can try to help Equestria.”
Spinnekop looked at Cloak curiously. “But… How can I help?”
Cloak smiled. “There is an exit to the cave system down there.” Cloak pointed at the giant hole. “Just keep heading down that way, and you will find the source of the opening. The attack is supposed to start in… About an hour. That is plenty of time for you to get over there and into Canterlot.”
“What about you?” Spinnekop asked.
Cloak smiled. “I was never here. Now get going. I don’t think Chrysalis is going to just let Cadence re-enter the city without any problems.”
Spinnekop thought about it, and nodded. “Thanks Cloak.”
Cloak winked before stepping away from Spinnekop. “I was never here.” She said as she was surrounded by a shell of flame and pulled into the ground.
Spinnekop sat there for a moment before seeing her saddlebag lying where Cloak just disappeared; she quickly grabbed the bag and strapped it on, running in the direction Cloak indicated.
Cloak reappeared from the ground in a back alleyway, secluded from view, she swiftly changed into her newest disguise, a near replica of the only Mare that did not seem affected by the chaos of her visit, a gray Pegasus with golden eyes and a blond mane.
Cloak stumbled out of the Alley, as one does when they suddenly go wall eyed from a transformation, and she remembered why she never enjoyed having to become a pony with a vision disability.
She managed to straighten herself up and look as natural as possible walking down the streets while trying not to bump into any of the ponies that were around. She made sure to keep an eye out for anyone running hastily around, or any giant beams of light from the Heavens. No stop thinking about it!
When she managed to meander her way to the destination, a small bakery, instead of going into the store, she walked behind it and changed to her much more favored Pastel Disguise.
“What were you doing Cloak?” A voice said from the alley.
Pastel quickly straightened up. “Nothing sir.” She replied.
“Nothing?” The voice replied again. “Because, I could have sworn that you were underground, talking to a certain Changeling.”
Pastel gulped. “You realize that by my authority I should report you to the Queen.” The Form stepped out of the Shadows. “But since I know just how much trouble Spinnekop is in already, and how bloodthirsty the Queen is, that would be a terrible idea.”
“Mimic you bastard!” Pastel said. “You scared me!”
The pony smiled from under the cloak as he lowered the hood. A red Earth pony with pale blue eyes stared back at her. “And they say I don’t have it anymore.”
Pastel let her heart stop racing for a moment before replying. “So we’re on the same side here?”
“Allegiance to the Queen without threatening the Hive’s existence? It seems so.”
“You figured it out too huh?”
Mimic nodded. “I figured it out not too long ago, back when she was promising us endless food.”
“Despite the problems we would face should all of Equestria fall into war.”
“Exactly.” Mimic replied. “So did she manage it?”
“Accidentally if anything. I found her unconscious in a tunnel around thirty feet off the ground. I think Twilight Sparkle was a bit more than the Queen anticipated.”
Mimic sighed. “I hate the idea of rebelling against the Queen, even if we aren’t the ones doing it…”
Pastel waked over. “It isn’t a rebellion.” She said. “More of a…” She twirled her hoof. “Abandonment of the Hive by Spinnekop.”
“You realize that if we see her after the attack begins, we are going to have to kill her.” Mimic said. “Or be branded as Traitors.”
Cloak lowered her hoof. “Yeah… Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Or let’s hope Cara doesn’t find her first.”
Mimic nodded. “Thirty minutes till go time.”
Cloak looked at a nearby clock tower. “Who is going to be stationed by the Cave entrance?”
“Clobber.” Mimic replied.
“Oh no…” Cloak replied with a sigh.
“Indeed.” Mimic said in agreement.
“So it’s a shame about your old breeder friend huh Cara?” A captain asked as they lined up.
“Shut up Blitz…” Cara said. “Spinnekop chose her course…”
“Well now she has to deal with the consequences. “ Another Alpha walked up to her. “The Queen has orders to detain her, and if she resists, we are told to kill her.”
Cara sighed. “I know…” Her leg burst into flame as she pulled out the small figurine she had been given by Spinnekop all those years ago. “I just hope she has some sense left in her…” Cara said.
“You better hope Clobber doesn’t get to her first.” The Alpha replied. “He’s been dying to beat Spinnekop’s faceplate in for years.”
“If he finds her, he will make it bad…”
Cara sighed. “I. Know!”
Cypher stepped forward. “The Queen wishes to capture Spinnekop alive. If he kills her, then he would break that stipulation.”
“Alive just means breathing.” The Alpha replied. “She’ll be doing plenty of that, it will be difficult for her, but she will manage.”
“You’re not helping.” Cara hissed.
“I’m not trying to be helpful, I’m telling you what will happen.”
“All Soldiers, Mobilize towards objective.”
Cara sighed. “Spinnekop… You better be running as far from Canterlot as possible…” She mumbled. “Because I don’t want to have to put you down…”
Spinnekop had followed the direction Cloak indicated to her, it was a bit startling at first to see that there was a glint of light that caught her eye. She followed it through the caves to find a large crystal reflecting it from the other side of the cavern.
She flew quickly through the rest of the cavern, taking in a few of the crystal structures that were scattered around, a mine cart that looked like it had been used recently, a few pillars, one crystal that looked an awful lot like a skull…
Spinnekop kept flying, determined to get out. As she landed on the small platform where the only shaft of light was visible, she smiled and began to fly towards it before she felt a pang of emotions nearby. She looked over towards the emotions and found three unicorns fighting over a bouquet of all things.
Spinnekop shook her head as she flew up to the hole in the cave, when she got out; she transformed into Spindle Weave and looked around.
She was inside the Purple shield that surrounded the city, but just outside the City’s walls. She ran up to the wall quickly and, after making sure no ponies were around, transformed her hooves back to allow her to climb up the wall. Once she was inside the city, she looked up into the air and felt her jaw drop.
Flying above the Shield, as if in one giant black cloud, was what must have been the entire military of the Hive. All of them flying above the city, slamming into the purple shield slamming their bodies into it. Those must be the Betas… Spinnekop thought. She stood and watched them for a few moments before seeing the entire Swarm rise into the air and come crashing down onto the shield.
Spinnekop held her hoof in front of her eyes as she heard the sound of the shield crashing down with a rush of air. She looked up to see the Swarm beginning to dive bomb towards the city, slamming into it with shields engulfing their bodies.
“I need to get to the castle!” Spinnekop said, running through the streets, she could have kept going, if it wasn’t for one Changeling in particular slamming into the ground in front of her.
The armored Changeling stood up from the small crater, its dark blue armor sitting on the large form. It glared down at Spindle as it stepped out of the crater. “The Queen’s been looking for you.” He said.
“C-Clobber.” Spindle said, backing away. “F-Funny seeing you here huh?” She said nervously.
Clobber stepped closer towards Spindle as a few more Changelings flew towards them. “No… She’s mine.” He said waving off the Changelings, who flew off to cause more pandemonium.
Spindle backed up further, but Clobber began to walk towards her. “I don’t need to tell you how long I’ve wanted to show Chrysalis how much of a waste it was to keep you in our Cluster.”
Spindle felt herself back into a building, and she stopped as the Changeling stepped forward. “But I’m under a rather strict order from the Queen to take you alive. So make this easy for both of us… Give… Yourself… Up.”
Spindle began to shake as Clobber snorted at her.
“Hey Buggy!” A voice shouted as a vase flew over and slammed into Clobber’s head, making him stagger back.
“What are you waiting for?” The voice called out at Spindle. “Don’t just stand there!” Spindle looked over quickly to see an Earth Pony waving Spindle over. She didn’t argue and quickly scrambled over, looking back over at Clobber to see him standing back up.
She ran up to the Earth Pony, and felt the wave of adrenaline filling her legs. “So what were you doing?” The Pony asked.
“I was trying to get to the castle.” Spindle replied.
“So was I.” The blue Earth Pony replied. “Name’s Deep Freeze. You?”
“Spindle Weave…” Spindle replied. “That was quick thinking…”
“Yeah… My Wife’s going to kill me for breaking that…” Freeze replied. “Anyway, let’s get moving before he get’s back…” A green bolt shot next to them and exploded.
Spindle looked back to see Clobber glaring at the two of them with a small crack near his left eye. “Captain Clobber, requesting support.”
Freeze looked around to find something else to throw before another Changeling flew down towards him and rammed into him. Pinning him to the ground.
“Freeze!” Spindle charged her horn and fired at the Changeling, sending it hurling into a wall. “Freeze. Run! He’s after me!”
Freeze got up and looked at Spindle. “That…”
Spindle burst into green flame and glared back at Clobber. “Oh… I’ll just leave you two then…” He quickly got up and ran back down an alley.
Clobber reached up and rubbed the spot where the crack had formed. “So… You decided to ally with the Ponies…” He said. “I always knew you were weak.”
Spinnekop growled. “I’m not siding with them, I’m trying to keep us safe.”
Clobber wiped the small amount of blood that had spilled from the crack and flicked it onto the ground. “Now I am going to beat your Chitin in… And I’m going to enjoy it…”
Spinnekop swallowed and stepped back slightly as Clobber began stepping forward. “I hope you enjoy the taste of your own blood.” He spat. “Because that’s all your going to be able to drink before the Queen decides to execute you publicly.”
Spinnekop looked over Clobber, knowing that it wasn’t going to be a fight she could win. Clobber was a Captain, an Alpha Captain, trained to practically enjoy pain. While she hadn’t needed combat training for over five years.
“I’ll tell you what, Give up, and I’ll only break your legs.” Clobber said cracking his neck. “Or I can just break everything else first. Your choice.”
Spinnekop ducked down into an aggressive pose, prepared to defend against anything Clobber might throw.
“Near death it is then.” Clobber grunted.
Cara had been flying around with her squadron, taking advantage of the times when the Ponies’ were trying to cower; unaware of the Emotional traces they were giving off with their cowering. It wasn’t too long before a group sent after six ponies contacted them, and were apparently getting their flanks handed to them.
Cara was in charge of the group afterwards. They flew into the tall tower, climbing down the walls, as they needed to. “Squad 7 are you still there?”
“These ponies are a lot tougher than we…” There was an abrupt cut as a loud crash was heard outside the door.
Cypher walked up to Cara. “Sergeant I got that request you wanted.”
“You found her?” Cara asked excitedly. “Where?”
Cypher looked at the door. “She was found by the southern wall… Clobber found her first.”
Cara’s ears fell. “Oh… I… Can you do me a favor Cypher?”
“As long as it does not interfere with the codes put-”
“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah… Yes or no?”
“Yes.” Cypher replied.
Cara sighed. “Make sure she’s alive…”
Cypher saluted. “I will do my best to ensure her survival.” She flew out of the tower.
Cara sighed. “Squad 7, Status?”
“HOLY Chrysalis! What is that Pink one doing!”
Cara heard a variety of magical blasts slam into the walls before one of the soldiers replied. “They’re coming towards the tower.”
“Alright boys! Here they come!”
The Door was pushed open, and a group of six ponies gave a small smile at getting it open, before all of their looks turned to frightened frowns as they saw the large group of Changelings inside. “Get ‘em”
Clobber kicked Spinnekop in her stomach. “Insignificant Breeder.” He growled. “Everything was going perfectly fine. But you decided to forsake the Hive, all to save your pathetic Pony Princess.” He walked over to where Spinnekop was lying and bucked her across the ground. “But because I know how close you are to Cloak, I’ll give you one last chance to get out of this peacefully.”
Spinnekop began to push herself up, her legs trying desperately to hold her up, shaking with the energy she needed to try and stand. All the while her body ached from bruises and pain caused by the force of the Captain’s hits. She managed to stand up and tried her best to glare at Clobber; it was made difficult by her swollen eye. She looked over the Captain, and noticed that his armor and even his body showed almost none of the damage she wanted, no, Needed to have done for her to keep going.
“So what do you say Spinnekop? Die a casualty of war, or die a traitor. Just say yes and I’ll knock you out.”
Spinnekop’s legs shook; the only thing she could hope for was to hold him off for a little longer and maybe something fantastic would help save her. She spat out a bit of her blue blood before replying in a very raspy voice. “No…”
Clobber stamped on the ground. “Well then, I guess I’ll just start by ripping off those wings of yours.” He bent down, preparing himself to launch at Spinnekop, but right before his body went through the motions, he stalled, turning to look back at the Castle. “What?”
Spinnekop looked back at the castle as well, the white stone holding a nova of pink that was steadily growing. She gave a painful grin as she saw the flame getting larger and larger.
“No… That can’t… How?” Clobber turned to glare at Spinnekop. “You little shit!” He quickly flew up to her, slamming her into the outer wall of the city before throwing her to the ground. “The Queen will see you killed for this!”
Spinnekop managed to lift her head up and cough before replying. “Tell her… She can do what she likes…” She coughed up a little blue blood. “They won…”
Clobber walked over to Spinnekop, he propped her up onto her Backplate and bucked her across the ground, seeing her spin as she slid against the ground and into a building.
“We’ll see what get’s you first, the Ponies, the Timberwolves, or Chrysalis.” He hissed, pushing himself off the ground and flying above the wall.
As Spinnekop managed to right herself and push herself up straight, the nova of love burst from the Castle, sending a shockwave of pure love outwards, she noticed the various black specks that she noticed were Changelings. They were all being hurtled out of the city. All of them were hurtled above the wall and sent out of the city.
All but one…
Due to Spinnekop’s proximity to the wall, she was not only launched into the air at a rather fast velocity, but since she failed to get enough height to make it over the wall, she ended up slamming into the wall and hearing a deafening crack as her backplate cracked from the force.
She cringed when she first collided, but that was quickly exchanged with a scream of pain as the shield began to resist against her body, pressing her into the wall harder and harder. Her screams were soon dwarfed by the growing cracks of her chitin as it began to split from the pressure it was under. As the cracks began to work their way towards her head, she began to pray that the wall would break, anything to stop the pain. It didn’t take long for that pain to make it’s way to her jaw line with a loud crack.
She began to feel tears leak from her eyes as she prayed that her Endoskeleton would hold her together, but ultimately that proved false when she looked at her right foreleg to find it bent unnaturally.
She felt her tears begin to enter back into the cracks within her chitin as the pain mounted, she closed her eyes and began to hope that something would save her from being crushed by the wall. And then…
The shield stopped.
Spinnekop quickly opened her eyes to see herself hanging around ten feet in the air, looking down at the stone roads of the city below. She then became aware that Gravity decided to work again.
She felt herself peel from the wall and time seemed to stop. She looked down at the stone street, the stone wall, and then at her own broken forelegs, covered in large fractures.
She began to scream again as she plummeted towards the ground, hoping that by some miracle she would land in something soft.
Instead, she slammed into the street with her underbelly, feeling a rush of warm blood flow out of her onto the pavement.
For a few long, terrible seconds, the only thing Spinnekop was aware of was the pounding of her heart, only occasionally interrupted by her shallow, raspy breathing. Her eyes shot open and darted around her field of view, trying to find someone to help her.
“…help…” She tried to shout, but all that came out was a low raspy quaver.
“…please…anypony…help…I…” Her vision began to fade out, replacing the white of the city with a pitch-black color. Spinnekop let out a low whine as she thought it would be the last time she ever saw again.
The next thing Spinnekop became aware of was the low, hushed tones of ponies all around her, some asking questions, some simply whispering amongst themselves. In a last ditch attempt to help stay alive, Spinnekop tried to move her legs.
The reaction was instant as the presumably dead Insect pony began to move.
“It’s still alive!”
“Somepony get the Guard!”
Spinnekop barely held onto her hearing before it faded out again to the sounds of Ponies beginning to panic and shout. Making death threats most likely.
She remained there on the ground until the sound of metal colliding with stone as she struggled to open her eyes. She saw the shimmering light reflecting off the golden clad Royal Guard, and what looked like a large cage behind them.
Spinnekop’s raspy breaths began to fill her ears as a group of two Guards walked over and attempted to move her. They reached under her forelegs in an attempt to lift her.
Instead of painlessly lifting her, as probably would have worked if she was a normal Pony, she was lifted up and felt the intense pain as her cracked Chitin shifted against her uncomfortably, and if her leg wasn’t broken it would be bearable… But since it was… She released a loud scream of pain before she fell unconscious yet again.
The next time she regained her vision, she was looking at a group of ponies from inside a cage, being pulled down the street. Her hearing was practically gone, so all she could see was the emotions of the ponies. All of them feeling fear, anger, worry, and a few of them were feeling concern… whether it was for her or others, she didn’t know.
A few more guards had come to help escort the cage, and Spinnekop could see why, in the few seconds she had been conscious, she noticed a couple of ponies throw objects at them and a rather mad looking pony walked up to one of the guards and began shouting. However she didn’t see much else as she faded out of consciousness again.
When she next woke up, she was in a dark cell, with no light other than a magical torch in the hallway. She was also lying on a bed, a rather uncomfortable and stiff bed, but a bed nonetheless. Feeling a distinct lack of pain, Spinnekop looked down at her forelegs, and what she saw made her almost tear up again.
Her left foreleg was in a cast that worked its way down the bottom portion of her leg, the upper portion was practically shattered, the chitin covered in cracks working up and down her leg.
She followed the cracks to look at her right foreleg, it wasn’t as badly injured, but it would hurt to walk on for a while. The same would definitely be said of her hind legs, which were heavily bandaged but they looked like they wouldn’t be too bad to walk on.
She looked back at her wings, which were now crumpled and broken. Being much different than a Pony’s wings, they most likely couldn’t figure out how to heal it. The worst part was looking at her back, where the brute of the wall had pressed on her. Her backplate was shattered; looking as though a sledgehammer had been brought down on it, the web of cracks extending from the center of the backplate down the rest of her Carapace.
She felt a light stinging as a tear rolled down her cheek. Raising her hoof to where the stinging was, she felt a small crack that worked it’s way towards her jaw, stopping at the end of her mouth. Sure it wasn’t as bad as say, Dagger’s crack, it would heal eventually, but not soon…
Her chitin cracked and broken, some of it leaking small drops of blue blood, but overall she had been bandaged up and kept alive… She only feared that they wouldn’t be so kind later.
She looked over her body again, taking into account the various cracks and injuries, the only thing that wasn’t damaged, was the small portion of chitin and skin where her wings connected to her body, covered up by a small blue bag.
She began to tear up even more, for the first time in her life she was alone. Truly alone. No Hive to comfort her, no one to talk about it to, just herself in a cell. Waiting like a bug in a box, waiting for those who think she is an evil, love-sucking monster to decide what to do with her.
She began to sob silently as she began to think about what she left behind, Cara was a big one. Her best friend for her whole life, was now an empty hole, most likely she wouldn’t want to see her again. So now she threw away everything she knew…
“Spindle?”
Spinnekop looked up at the voice, and saw the pink Alicorn looking at her worried. “Spindle Weave, are you alright?”
Spinnekop cringed; she looked back up towards Cadence. “I-I’ll never see the Hive again. Will I?”
Cadence gave Spinnekop a small reassuring smile, but with Spinnekop seeing her emotions, it was clear she didn’t believe so. Spinnekop began to sob louder, the echoes floating around the dark dungeon.
Spinnekop was Alone…
Her family was gone; the Hive would kill her on sight. She was a traitor, disobeying the Queen and aiding in her defeat. She would never see another Changeling, and she could never have a normal life again.
Spinnekop regretted her decision…