Mane co Mercenaries: The Battles

by Paintpaws

Chapter 6: Hunting

Author's Note:

Sorry about the wait, I guess I've been drawing more and kinda neglecting this serious, I do hope to get it back on track though as I have an idea for a squeal (or just another story in the same universe)

If you want to see my art (which, as I said, I update more frequency than I write) then you can check out my deviantart, I draw a lot of ponified mercenaries

But again, tell me if I got any German wrong, or if I need to correct any mistakes, you know, usual stuff.

Every little noise seemed to scare the mercenaries, they'd all flinch at once and glare in the same direction. That was one thing Princess Cadence had noticed, among other things.

Cadence had tried to make a few mental notes about all of them; the way Engineer took the lead, how nervously excited Medic seemed without Heavy, Scout and Soldier being able to stay silent when it was necessary. Pyro was the only mystery to the young princess, partly because she'd never seen an adult dragon before, let alone a female. She'd read stories about the female dragons being even more fierce and dominant than their male counterparts, so how was Pyro okay with all these stallions?

The Princess let the thought drop, she carefully trotted alongside Medic. While the unicorn was still tired, he had recovered fairly quickly and carried the air of 'nervously excited'. If only there was a word to describe such a thing, Cadence idly thought. The white unicorn was healing each pony (plus griffin and dragon) in turn, he even cast the beam on the love Princess. She'd been surprised by the tingling warmth it gave her, she felt powerful, alert, ready for anything.

"Overheal." Was Medic's only, muttered explanation.

Sniper, Demo and Pyro crept behind them, constantly checking their backs. Sniper was nervous, Cadence could see that quite clearly, his wings twitched at anything and he'd pick his claws when the group halted. Demo and Pyro were far more relaxed, the unicorn getting steadily more and more drunk but still had the good sense to not belch too loudly. The dragon however, was her normal, quite yet curious self. She'd pause the longest at every archway, sometimes when Cadence turned she'd find Pyro staring right at her, only for the dragon to wave happily and hum something unintelligible.

Taking the lead was the last three mercenaries, Engineer, Soldier and Scout. These three Cadence knew were all from Equestria, no weird accents or different languages or different species all together, no these ponies felt most normal to the Princess. She trusted these three the most because of it, it felt wrong to think that way but Cadence couldn't shake it. Her Aunty had thrown her in with a group of strangers, dragons were to be feared, changelings were unknown, she'd never met a griffin, Demo was drunk, Heavy was huge (and Cadence had yet to speak to the real one) and Medic had a distinct dash of crazy. While Soldier wasn't the most sane, she still trusted the three in front of her the most, Engineer more so. She still cursed herself and the nobles for giving her such a racist frame of mind. This group seemed to be challenging that however.

The Royal guard work in unison, but they didn't quite have the same diversity as these nine. Cadence could tell that they were still new to each other, still working each other out.

Cadence stopped behind Engineer for what felt like the a hundredth time. They had reached a fork in the path. The short unicorn nodded to Scout, the latter swooped down the left path, when he returned he shot down the right one.

He fluttered back to the group and landed, "Alright so I go left and it's horrible, it smells weird and there's all this green glowly shit on everything, floors, walls you name it. So I'm like nah I don't think so and go down right and everyone's there, everyone. You got all these changelings buzzing around so I nope my ass outta there so now we're screw. We either get shit on our fur or we get caught."

Cadence frowned, "I would have thought that the right path is obvious."

"She's right!" Soldier said, "We'll go down the right hoof path, because it is right, and kill everyone while we still have the element of surprise!"

"No! No, that isn't what I meant!"

"Laddie I don't think we ever had the element of surprise." Demo muttered, "What with Heavy being a changeling an' all."

"But we're still invisible! Remember?" Soldier pointed out, the rest of the mercenaries eye's widened in realisation.

"I completely forgot." Engineer murmured.

"So that's why they didn't see me." Scout said, "I almost flew right into one of 'em if it wasn't for these bad boys." He flared his wings for effect.

"So we've been creeping around here like wee bloody mice for bloody NOTHING!" Demo almost roared, Sniper still shushed him.

Medic tapped his chin thoughtfully, "Those changeling guards outside the hive could see Heavy, well, not Heavy but a.." Medic shook his head and continued, "Well they saw him but Miss Pauling didn't."

"What's your point, sawbones?" Engineer asked.

"Mein point is that maybe they couldn't see him, but they sensed him. So it's possible that they can sense us, even if they can't see us."

Sniper frowned, "But that juggernaut of a bug could see us bloody well, and it couldn't sense Demo and Pyro setting up bombs behind it."

Medic hummed, but Engineer nodded, "So let's say they can only sense other changelings, right? That juggernaut could be sensed by the the guards so they know we're here. The big guy could see us because the spell was cast on him as well."

The group nodded in confirmation, "But does this go anywhere important truckie?" Sniper asked.

"Listen fellers," He pause and nodded to Cadence and Pyro, "And you gals, I know you ain't gonna like this but.."

"You're gonna split us up again." Sniper finished bluntly, the mercenaries turned to Engineer in shock.

"Listen, just split in half, they'll be expecting us and that ain't good. Scout proved that they still can't really see us, hopefully they don't know that the juggernaut is down. Right may look like a trap but if they can't sense the big guy then they won't sense us, we can sneak through no problem."

"That means don't take Solly that way." Demo pointed out.

"Aww." The pegasus pouted.

Engineer just ignored the pegasus and nodded, "Yeah, we'll need speed and stealth that way, I'm just gonna suggest Scout, Sniper, me and Pyro. We're the quietest and Scout can make up for it in speed. If there's a lot of them then my guess is Spy's down there."

Cadence frowned, "First you say it's a trap now you say it'll lead us to Spy?"

"We just don't know what's down there and it could be one of two things; a trap or something they don't want us to find. The rest of you are our power, but you still gotta be careful." Engineer insisted.

"But why? What are we even doing." Medic asked.

"You gotta search the place," Sniper guessed, Engineer nodded, the griffin continued, "If Spy's not down there then you've got to find 'im, but you lot don't know what your gonna find."

Cadence nodded slowly, understanding, "Send in the most powerful to fight what you don't understand."

"But what about that green shit." Scout asked, flittering about above them.

"I can carry them." Soldier beamed. Medic shuddered at the suggestion, Soldier either didn't notice or just didn't care.

"So it's settled then."

***

The hive hummed, the noise came from everywhere and only got louder.

Soldier had insisted that he could carry both unicorns across the questionable green gloop, but they'd both refused. Cadence suggested that they each carry one. The decision for who-carried-who was made simply; Soldier was larger than the Princess and while Demo and Medic were the same height, the Germane was leaner.

The gloop covered more ground than anyone was expecting, Soldier had to keep touching down on clear pieces of ground to kick off back into the air. He held Demo tightly under one forelimb. Cadence's alicorn magic made it easier to stay in the air with the added weight of Medic on her back, but the unicorn clearly wasn't happy, she could feel how tense he was and how much he wanted to get off of her and back on the ground.

Scout was right about one thing: the place stunk. It was the unpleasant mixture of rotting wood and musk, the sudden humidity didn't help.

Eventually the gloop ended and the pathway opened up into a hall. The flying ponies landed, Medic almost leaping off the Princess, he hit the floor and bounced slightly, the other three finding the same when they touched ground.

"Odd." Medic muttered. He pushed down lightly on the spongy floor with one hoof, when he removed the hoof the floor refilled the space it had been.

Demo experimented with the floor as well, before bending over and smelling it. Medic and Cadence stared at him incredulously. He rose and snorted, "I think this stuff still got gloop in it." He pushed down on the floor hard with two hooves in the same place, the green gloop spilled out from tiny holes.

"But, why?" Princess Cadence asked, she stared at the ground.

"Are those eggs?" Soldier asked, his voice half way across the room.

The other three ponies looked up and, for the first time, took in the room they had wandered into. In the corners and creases of the room, the green gloop seemed to be flowing from the walls. Sticking to the gloop, were little orbs of green, opaque and shiny, they floated in the gloop. Some were bigger they were a darker green and were separated from the gloop and their smaller counterparts. These larger 'eggs' were sticky, all piled together in the middle on the room.

Demo cringed, "Did we just wander into a hatchery." Cadence nodded numbly.

"We should turn back and regroup." Soldier ordered.

"No, I think we should look around, your friend might be here."

"Why would they bring Heavy to a hatchery." Medic gulped, "Oh götter what are they doing to him."

Cadence winced, "Probably not what you're thinking."

"Putting eggs in him." Soldier said. Cadence shot him an annoyed look.

Medic look worried for all of a few seconds before he stroked his chin and hummed, "Well that certainly would make an interesting experiment, but when would the eggs come out? And how? Of course you could add a uterus but then what?" He looked at the eggs in the centre of the room, "Of course eggs don't need to stay in the mother but these seem to grow even while outside. Perhaps this is just a big incubator, so the eggs would need to be fertilized while still inside the mother... Well unless changelings are any different to doves."

The room was silent, save for the gentle humming from all around. "...Wait what?" Cadence asked.

"Well yes I suppose changelings would be different from doves, by the look of it I'd say they're more like insects." He adjusted his glasses and grinned at the eggs, black blobs wiggled around inside of the the opaque shell. "Maybe if I replicate the experiment myself..."

He reached a hoof out to the eggs only to have Princess Cadence grab his hoof with her magic and pull him back, "Are you crazy!?"

Medic just blinked in response, Cadence shook her head, "One minute your worried sick about Heavy and now you want to put eggs in him?!"

The white unicorn huffed and snatched his hoof away, "I never said I'd put eggs in him, while he would be the perfect test subject, his strong und powerful und.. oh, what's the word for it, 'Well insulated?'"

"You mean fat?" Demo asked, Medic snorted.

"Nein, no that's not what I mean. Und no, I wouldn't put the eggs in him.. Maybe Soldier.."

"Negative oktoberfest, I've already got my raccoons to look after, I don't need any more children." Soldier said, straight-faced. Demo sighed and facehoofed.

"Do ya understand why I drink now lassie?" Cadence nodded numbly.

Medic snorted again, "Remind me to talk about my experiments in Germane next time so that none of you dummköpfe can ruin it for me."

Princess Cadence tried to protest further, but Demo shook his head, "Leave 'im be, we'll go have a look around." The unicorn turned to his pegasus friend, "Soldier, keep an eye out."

Soldier saluted, his hoof hitting his helmet, "Sir yes sir, am I looking out for changelings or Medic putting eggs in me."

"Err, both laddie."

As Cadence and Demo found, the small room branched off of a much larger hatchery. The pair were able to crouch on a higher ledge that surrounded the room. This room was different, it had changelings flittering between piles of eggs, the gloop dripping from the low ceilings. These changelings however, were much different from the ones the mercenaries had fought, they were paler in colour and had longer, softer looking manes. They were also humming softly, almost cooing the eggs, the strangest part was, the eggs seemed to be humming back.

Demo wrinkled his nose, "Alright, maybe we should turn back, doesn't see to be much here."

"They can't see us, they may be more passages." Cadence reminded the red unicorn.

The unicorn considered this and nodded, "Alright, but we best be slow, we're not the most stealthy." He belched, as if proving a point.

"Ma'am." Came Soldier's voice

"You can just call me Cadence, Soldier." Cadence said, not looking back.

"Cadence ma'am."

Princess Cadence sighed and turned around to face the pegasus, "Yes Soldier?"

"Medic is touching the eggs." He announced.

"What! Why? Tell 'im to stop it." Demo said, annoyed.

Soldier held up his hooves, "Don't panic, he hasn't put them in me." The pegasus paused to look over his shoulder, "..yet."

"Bloody hell." Demo pushed past the pegasus and back into the smaller room.

Medic was sitting beside the largest pile of eggs in the middle of the room, he held a scalpel in his magic and was tapping on the dark green shells.

"Medic, no! Put 'em down." Demo shouted, Cadence filched despite knowing that the changelings couldn't hear them.

"Was!" Medic jump in alarm, taking a fighting stance. He relaxed when he saw Demo, "What? I'm not touching them."

"He's lying!" Soldier yelled back, he flew up to Medic, "I saw it with my own two eyes! He was touching those eggs! I know he was!"

Medic stammered for a moment and huffed, "You can't even see anything with this." The unicorn hit Soldier's helmet with his scalpel, it wobbled atop the pegasus' head.

"Ha! That's were you're wrong maggot! I can see everything, this just stops you from seeing me see everything."

"You're both bloody idiots!" Demo joined the shouting match.

Soldier landed with a crunch, "No need to shout Demo."

Medic stared at Soldier's hooves in horror, "Eh, Soldier would you.."

"Speak up maggot." Medic just pointed downwards, Soldier followed his hoof, "Oh."

The pegasus flapped away from the egg he had just broken, Medic backed up as murky slime crept towards him. Out of the slime a black blob emerged, it's head bobbed up and two big, glowing blue eyes opened. The creature blinked twice and looked at Medic, who pulled a face and backed away.

"Is it a baby?" The unicorn hissed, "Can it see me?"

Soldier swooped down and patted the baby changeling on the head before anyone could stop him, the baby cooed in delight.

"Don't do that, we need to get away." Cadence whispered.

Medic nodded, apparently regaining some sense, and dragged Soldier away from the cooing baby. The pegasus pouted, but allowed himself to be moved. The group made their way to the bigger hatchery but a shrill noise made them all flinch as one.

"WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The baby was crying.

Demo noticed one of the changelings flying towards the source of the noise and realised that they were blocking the entrance, "Scatter." He hissed.

The group split into two pairs and hugged the wall, the changeling buzzed past them and hovered over the crying infant, humming gently to it. After a few moments the baby stopped crying and began to hum along.

"This way." Cadence whispered. The Princess crept across the ledge and down a slope, leading into the hatchery proper. She was able to weave between the piles of eggs with the three mercenaries in tow, the four of them reaching the other side of the room with ease. She nodded, "There, that wasn't so hard."

"Don't say that lass, you'll jinx it." Demo muttered.

"There's a path way up here." Medic called, he pointed to a large hole in the wall.

Cadence frowned, "Are you sure that's a path?"

A changeling buzzed past them and into the hole, Medic grinned and stood on his hind legs to get a better view. "Just as long as it doesn't go up, we're fine."

"You lead the way then, doc." Demo said, the red unicorn grabbed the other's rump in his magic and pushed him through the gap. Medic yelped in surprise and faceplanted, he quickly jumped up and dusted himself off.

"Come on then dummköpfe." He said, lighting up his horn and trotting down the path. The remaining three jumped up and joined him.

The path was slimy and dark, clearly not made for walking on. The group slipped and and skidded occasionally, along with all the twists and turns, but had managed to keep their balance so far. The hole was also very difficult to breath in.

"This is the worst idea." Medic huffed.

"It was your bloody idea." Demo hissed.

"Don't worry, if we don't find an exit we'll just turn around and come back." Cadence said in an attempt to stop another argument forming.

Medic hummed and stopped walking without warning, Demo crashed into his back, Cadence knocked into Demo and Soldier stopped a few feet away from them. "What's going on oktoberfest?"

"There's a drop and, and why do you keep calling me that?" Medic said, irritably.

"It's your codename."

"Why do I have a codename?"

"So that no-one knows your a medic."

Medic stammered in confusion, "W-what? That's, that's just stupid why are you.."

Without warning Soldier suddenly rammed the group down the slope, the three of them screaming as they slid down the slimy path. Soldier jumped after them with a "GERONIMO!".

At the other end of the slide, the two unicorns and alicorn flew out, landing gracelessly on the thankfully spongy flooring. Moments later Soldier joined them, landing ontop of the three.

Medic choked, "Herr Soldier I hope you realise that my real name isn't Medic. Medic is already a codename, I don't need two."

Soldier gasped, then burst out laughing. He hauled Medic onto his hooves, "Oh that's a good one, you almost got me there." The pegasus wiped a tear from his eye as Medic stared at him, "Next you'll be telling me your not really from Equestria."

"I'm not, I'm from Germaney."

The pegasus was silent, then started laughing again, Medic rolled his eyes and pushed away from Soldier. He found himself joining Cadence and Demo in staring in awe at the room they had landed in.

It was glowing green, the whole room in the same eerie colour. Pony sized sacs lined the walls, transparent in the middle and stringy at either end. Most were empty, save for a few with pony shaped blobs inside them, curled up in foetal positions. Some of them twitched and moved unnaturally.

Medic was the first to snap out of his awe, he ran up to the nearest sac and squinted at the figure inside. "Heavy?" He whispered. The creature's eyes snapped open, Medic yipped and jumped away. "Nein, nein." He muttered before turning to the next occupied sac.

Demo shook himself from his stupor, "He's not gonna be in one of those doc, he's too big."

The changeling they'd seen use the tunnel before appeared again, pushing it's way through a small entrance, buzzing past them and flying back through the tunnel. Cadence frowned at the entrance. She approached it with caution, then pushed the walls to the side and peered in. The Princess called to the other mercenaries and showed them what she had found.

A room for a single giant sac, hanging from the ceiling. Inside Heavy, the real Heavy, floated upside down. The giant looked like he was asleep. Medic let out a horrified gasp, he pulled his bonesaw out of his saddlebag (which had somehow survived the trip) and threw it with surprising force at the stringy material holding the cocoon to the ceiling. The cocoon dropped from the ceiling, crashing onto the floor and bursting open, Heavy spilled onto the ground along with a wave of green slime.

Heavy coughed and gagged, Medic rushed to his side, slipping in the slime but remaining upright. The unicorn cast his healing spell on the giant earth pony, who wiped the slime from his eyes.

"You alright lad?" Demo said, taking a step forward.

"Ah!" Heavy flinched as if he'd just noticed his teammates, he snorted, "Tiny bugs cannot trick me again."

The gathered mercenaries frowned, "What have those maggots been doing to you?" Soldier yelled, he flew up to Heavy and grabbed his face, "What did you tell them?!"

"Nothing," The giant rumbled, he gave Soldier a hard shove and got to his hooves. He glanced once at Medic and nodded, "Nyet, you are real."

"You were quite easily convinced mein freund."

"They used the wrong horn colour, was all green. Not doktor's colour."

"I see."

"Somepony had to of heard that." Cadence called from the entrance, "We have to go!"

"Lassie, there's no way our Heavy's getting through that gap." Demo pointed out.

"Ja, and we can't get him back up that slope." Medic added.

"We can't just take him another way, the changeling's will see him." Cadence hissed.

"Wait, explain to Heavy what's going on." The giant demanded.

Demo started to explain, then frowned, "What do you last remember?"

A thoughtful look crossed Heavy's face, "When tiny Soldier flew away with doktor."

Demo whistled, then briefly caught the giant up on what he had missed.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hive, Engineer found himself with the short stick. He hadn't counted on the need for flight, in hindsight, he really should of. It was silent, fast and they could weave through the changelings without any trouble. The unicorn however, ended up clinging to Pyro and the flying members of the team effortlessly swooped around the changelings. Engineer told himself that he was just imagining the changelings turning slightly as they flew past, there's no way they'd feel a breeze and think it was us, he thought.

What wasn't helping the unicorn's nerves was the fact that he's never flown before, he'd never even been in the air. He could teleport, why should he ever need to fly. He was starting to feel slightly sick with the way Pyro swayed from side to side as she flew. The only way he could distract himself was to talk with Pyro, but even that made him anxious. Not the dragon's mumbled replies but more what if they can hear us?.

Eventually, the ride ended. Engineer was glad to dismount.

"Alright mates," Sniper whispered even though they couldn't be heard, "We gotta take this nice 'nd slow, we don't need any attention."

"Why not, we're freakin' invisible man." Scout said, he did a loop-de-loop before landing.

"Just don't touch them and don't move anything," Sniper hissed, "They'll still see that."

Scout snorted, "Whatever."

"Truckie, what's the plan." The griffin addressed the unicorn.

Engineer blinked, "You tell me slim, you were sounding pretty confident there." He said, still feeling a little nauseous.

Sniper fell silent, "..'preciate it, but I'm not a leader."

"Yeah but this is your forte Snipes," Scout said, "Your chance to boss us about. Oh wait, you already have."

The griffin was still uneasy, "I'll help but I won't lead, alright?"

Engineer sighed, he managed to rid himself of his nauseous long enough to survey the area. Here there were less changelings swarming, they were perched on a high ledge which lead into a small cave like room. Engineer guessed it was some kind of nest or home. Below them the changelings swarmed, the buzzing of their thin wings deafening.

The unicorn peered over the edge and below, "We need a way outta this room, I'd say."

"So where to." Scout said.

Engineer turned to find the other three mercenaries looking at him expectantly, "Oh Celestia, I don't know. Y'all got wings, you figure something out."

The three flying mercenaries exchanged looks, Sniper spook up, "Sorry truckie."

Engineer sighed, "It's fine, I'm sorry too. Ah don't really know what I'm doin'."

Pyro stared curiously at the flying changelings, not only did she notice how flammable they all were but she also noticed that none of them were talking to one another as well as the fact that they were all moving. She hummed as she lent on the edge of the ledge, scratching at her chin thoughtfully as she noticed more and more.

Scout was the first to notice how the dragon was behaving, "What's with you, mumbles?"

"Humm." She said, pointing down to the floor, the other three joining her at the ledge.

Far down on the ground, two changelings were standing still, their blue armour glinted in the dim light. Sniper reconsigned them, they looked similar to the guards outside the hive itself. This time, they appeared to be standing outside an archway of some sort.

Engineer nodded, "So we're going down." He grimaced at the thought of another flight.

Just as the four had agreed on a plan a changeling buzzed down onto the ledge. The mercenaries froze and stared at the oblivious changeling as it as it wandered into the cave.

Scout let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding, he flared his wings to take off but Sniper grabbed him. "Hey! What the hell!"

"It'll feel us if we fly." The griffin hissed, he nodded to other changelings moving to holes in the walls, "We gotta climb down."

The young pegasus looked horrified, "Climb? I ain't got no claws."

Sniper grumbled for a moment. He looked over his shoulder at Pyro, who grabbed Engineer and shook her head. The griffin sighed, "You're with me."

"What! No way man you smell 'a piss." Scout said, he pulled away from Sniper.

The sharpshooter just glared at the pegasus through his aviators, "Alright, ya little ankle biter, come 'ere."

Before Scout could react Sniper had seized his ankle in one claw, the griffin leapt from the ledge onto the soft walls, his claws dug into the walls and allowed him to perch. Scout dangled below him, the griffin digging his sharp claws into his ankle, drawing blood.

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry! Just let me get on your back jeez." The pegasus squirmed and flapped his wings on instinct, Sniper shook him and hissed but allowed him to climb onto his back. The pegasus' grip around the griffin's neck was uncomfortably tight.

Pyro and Engineer watched in silence from the sidelines. Engineer tutted and shook his head, "They'd been getting along fine all day."

"Srnn jesss edgrrr." Pyro explained.

The dragon offered her arm to the unicorn, who reluctantly accepted. Pyro joined Sniper on the wall with Engineer under one arm, she used her wings to hold onto the wall for extra stability.

Pyro and Sniper crept down the wall as more changelings retreated to the caves.

Scout frowned, "Is it bedtime or somethin'."

Eventually the four reached the bottom, Pyro and Sniper detaching themselves from the wall and releasing their passengers. They studied the two armoured guards from a distance.

"They can't be the same ones can they?" Sniper asked.

"Might be," Engineer replied, "Don't know how long we've been here, hell they probably have changing of the guards here."

"So what, we just walk past 'em. They can't see us." Scout said. Sniper shifted uncomfortably, Scout grinned, "What? You think they can smell us or somethin'?"

"To be fair the Princess never said they couldn't." Engineer pointed out.

"Nrr hhppg." Pyro mumbled.

Sniper picked at his claws, "I don't know, just what the doc said about the turning towards us when we came in." He shook his head firmly, "Let's just go."

When the four approached the archway, Scout was the one who hesitated, Sniper glanced back at him. The pegasus ruffled his feathers, "Now your making me do it."

Once past the guards both Scout and Sniper turned back to them.

Both changeling guards were still facing forwards.

The pair glanced at each other, "Alright so we're both paranoid, but lookie here, nothin' to worry about." Scout said, Sniper still seemed nervous, but allowed a smirk.

"Ah, fellers." Engineer gulped, "Might wanna look at this."

Scout and Sniper both turned to face the room. More guards dotted the walls and two more stood either side of a black, mottled throne. Lounging atop that throne was a large changeling, very different from all the others the four had seen. The changeling appeared female, with a long mane and larger, more defined eyes. Her horn was tall and gnarled, but her body appeared more whole. Atop her head sat a small black crown, shaped almost like a bouquet of black and blue flowers.

"The Queen right?" Scout asked quietly, though he didn't know why he was suddenly quiet.

"Looks like it." Engineer murmured back.

"We should get outta here." Sniper said, he pushed his hat down and began to leave when Pyro grabbed his back paw.

"Trrr!" She said, pointing behind the throne. It was darker across the back wall but the mercenaries could just make out the outline of a cage.

"Who keeps prisoners next to royalty!" Scout almost shouted, "Who does that!"

Sniper shook his head, "Not prisoners; trophies."

"You think so slim?" Engineer asked, "'cause if you're right then Spy'll be there."

"So we just gotta get past that sheila."

"Eyup, looks li-"

"THEY CAN'T SEE US!" Scout shouted. Both Engineer and Sniper took battle stances, but no fight came. They both glared at Scout. "What, it's true, see?"

"I don't like this." Engineer muttered.

"Whatever, I'll just go." Scout said, he took off and swooped towards the cage. The other three hesitantly followed.

Scout landed when he was closer to the Queen, he glanced up at her. She hummed quietly to herself, Scout smirked, she don't even know what's happening. He waited for Engineer, Pyro and Sniper and he was just about to open his mouth to speak when he heard to Queen take a sharp breath in.

"Oh," She leant forwards and sniffed the air, "Oh, what's that I smell?" Her voice was warbled, like two people were trying to speak at once.

All four mercenaries froze in fear as the Queen rose from her throne, "It smells like dinner that thinks it can hide from me." She chuckled darkly, "Your spell won't help you save a traitor!"

The Queen's horn flashed a bright green, there was a sound like braking glass. The mercenaries found themselves surrounded by the same green light.

"Go!" Engineer shouted, but it was too late, the Queen had them in her magical grasp. The armoured guards either side sprung to life and circled the four.

"Only four of you? What a pity." The Queen said, gazing at each mercenary in turn. "Well, adleast my trap got some of you."

The mercenaries could only stare in silence, the Queen smirked, "What, no witty remarks? Now I really am surprised, especially since you'll all just a rag-tag bunch of misfits. That's why Celestia sent you on this mission, she doesn't care if you get killed!"

"That ain't true!" Scout blurted out in a sudden bout of confidence.

"Oh, you do have a voice." The Queen chuckled cruelly, "How can you be so sure, what makes you think Celestia really cares about any of you! Half of you aren't even her subjects!"

The mercenaries were silent, the Queen grinned, "Don't worry dears, we'll look after you. Isn't that right, Spy?"

The only thing the group could do was stare helplessly as Spy stepped out from behind the throne. His suit was torn and had turquoise changeling blood smeared across it.

"Yes, my Queen."

Comments

[Coffee Bear]

God this story is amazing. MOAR

[Derpsterette]

6324194

[Ephedianroyalty]

He fluttered back to the group and landed, "Alright so I go left and it's horrible, it smells weird and there's all this green glowly shit on everything, floors, walls you name it. So I'm like nah I don't think so and go down right and everyone's there, everyone . You got all these changelings buzzing around so I nope my ass outta there so now we're screw. We either get shit on our fur or we get caught."

I’ve actually ised that phrase before