Greybled

by Honeypunch91

Chapter Three

Chapter three

Strikebolt was rudely awakened by three large, heavy armored changelings. “The queen summons you.” The one in the middle announced neutrally. They all wore the dark purple armor of the queen’s guard, so Strikebolt followed without question.

As he was led through the corridors, the recently slumbering changeling began to think about the possible horrors which awaited him. After hearing about his failure in holding her son back, the queen took her time to decide a punishment. If she declared him a traitor, Strikebolt could even face execution.

The grand doors to the throne room were opened by green magic and the four changelings strode in. When they reached the middle of the room, the three guards bowed and turned around. They left Strikebolt alone with the queen to face his severe punishment. He bowed as deep as he could and held the pose.

Queen Chrysalis stood up from her throne, and walked around the bowing changeling.

“You may rise.” She said casually, while trotting to one of the walls. This wall was full of melee weapons, hanging there like pictures. There was everything, from Saddle Arabian broadswords to griffonese metal Claws. The queen carefully took a changeling mace in her right hoof, swinging it a little to test the weight.

She turned around and was very pleased with the reaction of her disgraced subject. Strikebolt stood there, trying to stand still. Only his widened eyes and slightly shaking tale showed the queen, that he was terrified.

“What are you doing here?” The queen asked calmly. “Speak up now!” She demanded after a few seconds of silence.

“Y-you summoned me, my queen.”

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, “I know that, but do you know why?”

“To punish me for my transgression, my queen.” Strikebolt replied.

“You are right indeed, but what am I going to do with you? I think it would be well within my rights to clubber you right here, wouldn’t you agree?” She was now behind him.

“Yes, your highness.” His voice cracked. As much as his body tried to refuse giving her this answer, he knew that he had no other choice. You don’t object your queen, especially when your life is on the line.

Chrysalis smiled viciously and lay the club gently on Strikebolt’s neck and began to slowly drag it across his back. When the weapon touched one of his wings, it involuntarily extended. She began to talk once again, “That was actually my first idea and maybe the next screw-up will experience it, but I have something better planned for you.”

Strikebolt released a breath he was holding as Chrysalis removed her mace from his body, “I will do everything to make it up to you, my queen.”

“I could find someling more qualified for the task I have for you, but there is one quality I see in you, that most other changelings lack.”

At this, Strikebolt looked up at her with a confused expression on his face.

"Tell me, do you know how long I planned the Canterlot invasion?”

“I don’t know, my queen?”

“Take a guess”

He thought for a little while, then responded, “One year, maybe?”

Queen Chrysalis chuckled, “Not even close, my little changeling. It took me less than a week. I was there to drain Shining Armor of his extraordinary strong love. The order to invade was pretty much spontaneous, after I decided I wanted to keep him.”

She continued her speech, “You saw a chance to profile yourself from the rest of the hive and took it, just like I did back then. Every other changeling would have called for backup, as the rules command, but not you. You wanted all the glory for yourself. You are an opportunist.”

Strikebolt gulped, that was it, he was sure of it, there was a rope on the gallows with his name on it.

The female changeling added, “But I am opportunistic too, I sit on this throne, because the last queen gave me a chance to overthrow her and I did.”

He couldn’t bear the suspension anymore and dared to address his queen, “I am pleased that you like my qualities, but you said something about a mission?”

“I was just coming to that, guard.” The queen replied, mildly angry, “Greybled was seen by an informant, entering a pony village called ‘Dodge Junction’, you will go there and meet up with our Infiltrator, he’ll fill you in on the details of your mission. If you do your job well, we will soon be in need of leading officers, and you could be one of them.”

The devilish smirk, Chrysalis had put on soon infected Strikebolt as he saluted and replied, “I will not fail you, your highness.”

“You better not; The royal chariot is waiting for you at the grand drawbridge, you should be able to reach the pony town in less than a day. Use the intelligence network as you see fit, they will obey your commands. You may go now, report back every 3 days via network hub.”

The addressed changeling rose and made his way for the door. He couldn’t believe what had just happened, he thought he was going to be killed, but instead, he now had control over the biggest spy network in the world. Whatever the mission was, Strikebolt was confident he would prevail.

***

Artemis set foot on the C.S. Temeraire together with captain Barding. The deck was smaller than he imagined. A few meters overhead loomed the balloon like a smooth raincloud, somepony tied to the floor.

One after another, the crew stopped whatever they were doing to eye the newcomer. As far as Artemis could tell, there were around a dozen of them. They consisted of crystal ponies of the various tribes, but with an earth pony majority.

After a few seconds of silence, a white unicorn mare with a red mane approached the captain. “The cargo will be loaded and secured in ten minutes, sir.” The mare declared with a piercing voice. Artemis flinched a little at the shrill sound.

The captain immediately replied, “Have you taken into account that my men are just staring at us, instead of working, chief?”

Her face fell a little, as she spun around, “Get back to work everypony! You can gawk at the new guy when we are airborne!”

“Yes ma’am,” some of the ponies replied as they all stated to work again. Artemis got the feeling that the white mare wasn’t liked by the crew, for half of them rolled their eyes before continuing their chores.

Satisfied with her handling of the crew, she faced Barding again, who began to introduce the boy beside him, ”Gusty Swan, meet Artemis, our new cabin boy.”

The only female on board glanced at him without actually moving her head and spat out a short “Charmed.”

“Gusty is our chief of staff, that means she is the third in command and deals with the bureaucratic bullshit.” Captain Barding explained.
Barding seemed to notice something and asked, “Where the buck is Almond?”

“Not here, Captain. He said he had something to manage on Mareroad.” A clearly uncomfortable Gusty Swan replied.

Mareroad was the infamous leisure mile in town, comparable to the Trot in Las Pegasus or the Big Columbian Casino in Doge Junction.

The Captain looked ready to burst, but remained silent. He took a deep breath and declared sternly, “When the ship is loaded, we lift off, with or without him.” Chief Swan saluted and went back to coordinating the cargo placement.

Than Barding looked back at Artemis “Your first order of business is lookout. Get on top of the balloon and shout if something above us is on collision course. Got it?”

Artemis was thrilled about his assignment and he let it show. With a broad grin he saluted and answered, a little too loud, “Yes sir!”

He spread his wings and pushed himself from the ground to start his mission. The moment he began flying, all eyes were on him again. Some of them formed to slits from angry glares.

The colt landed again and asked in the round, “Is something wrong?”

Behind him, the captain facehoofed. “Do you know nothing about seafaring? NO FLYING ON BOARD!”

“Then how am I supposed to get on top of the balloon?...Sir?” Artemis was glad he remembered the ‘Sir’ because he felt like he was already being insubordinate.

Another facehoof. “What do you think?”

“The ladder?” The prince guessed.

Barding didn’t even reply anymore, only one crew member slowly nodded his head. That was all the sign Artemis needed.

As a Pegasus, he actually never climbed a ladder, since he was a little filly and this kind of soft rope ladder was something else entirely.

In front of the whole crew, including the Captain and the chief of staff, Artemis tangled his limbs in ropes while slowly making his way to the top of the balloon. There was a small platform, only big enough for one or two ponies and a railing.

On his post, he could hear a muffled order to continue work given by Gusty Swan.

A little out of breath, the boy sat down and hoped, he would still be accepted by the crew, after making an ass of himself. He actually knew that there was no flying on ships, he just forgot in the moment and now everypony thought he was a greenhorn.

The lift off went smoothly, but was exhausting for the colt who tried to scan the whole sky rigorously until they were out of the harbor and on the way to their first destination.

The only sound that reached him was when captain Barding yelled at somepony. From what he could hear, it seemed that the first mate, Almond, made it to the ship, but only by flying after them. Now the stallion got a loud lecture about responsibility. He was even threatened demotion.

Artemis didn’t know how long he would have to stay up there, but he didn’t care. He guessed that, sooner or later somepony would climb up and release him from his post. Until then, he enjoyed the feeling of the wind in his mane.

***

Greybled was sitting on the lower part of a bunk bed, inside some police station. The room was actually not so bad, it was clean and warm, something that was not self-evident, back in the hive. On top of his head he could feel the cold touch of metal, as a magic incapacitor was slipped over his horn. An incapacitor was just a chain mail sock, in which your magic would just fizzle out.

He found it odd, that he was already held in this cell for three days. There were only four cells in the building, and in the other three, the prisoners were always released, transferred, or new ones added. It was as if the other cells were temporary, whereas his door wasn’t opened once.

There was food delivered in uneven intervals through a hole at the bottom of the metal door by a white hoof, which most likely belonged to one of the ponies who arrested him.

On his first day, after he was shoved in the cell, the guards tried to remove his leg armor, but failed. He convinced them, that it was a prostatic which could only be removed by his doctor. He saw no way to escape, as his magic was still suppressed and all his legs were cuffed together.

Another strange thing was, that he was not questioned at all. At first, Greybled was glad that he was not asked questions, he could not give an answer to, but now he felt like there was something off about this whole situation.

The door made metallic sounds, as a key was inserted and turned. Two guards came in, Greybled supposed they were the ones who captured him, but he couldn’t be sure as all the guards in Equestria used an enchanted armor to look the same. Only color patterns on their helmets and shoulders allowed it to identify their ranks.

“Stand up, you will come with us.” The unicorn guard ordered.

His pegasus colleague stepped around the prisoner and shoved him from the bed with his wing before he had the chance to stand up on his own.

Greybled growled, “This is a big misunderstanding, I found the bits in the park and was just about to search for the owner.” This was the excuse he made up during his stay in the prison. Maybe they would believe it and would let him go.

“You don’t have to explain anything to us, you will answer to the stallion you stole from.” There went his hope to just being released. They made him ready to depart, by adding a chain from each of his fore legs to their respective legs. The pegasus was currently locking a chain with the keys in his mouth.

“Are you even guards?” Both ponies glared at the halfling.

The unicorn, who was tied to Greybled’s right, raised his front hoof to deliver a punch. The gray colt avoided it by ducking and simultaneously tugged on the unicorn’s chain. The attacker lost his balance and tumbled over the prisoner and was bucked to the face.
A split second later, the half-changeling pushed himself from the floor with all his might to the left, to slam his shoulder into the pegasus who hit the cell wall hard. As the air was knocked out of him, he spat out the key ring. Greybled reached for them and tried to open his cuffs, but the struggling guards on both of his legs made it nigh impossible.

He decided he would have to knock them out completely to escape, but just as he was going to buck the unicorn a second time, a pink blast hit him from behind and everything went dark.

***

SLAP

Greybled’s eyes shot open immediately, before hitting the ground. A figure beside him took the chair he was tied to and raised it back up.
“I’m not sure he’s awake yet.” A familiar voice said. The bound half-changeling looked up.

SLAP

This time, his chair didn’t fall over, even though the punch was harder than the last one. Greybled shook his head, to stop it from spinning and took a look around.

Directly in front of him stood the zebra, he had knocked out a few days ago. The one who spoke was the green unicorn from the alley. From his peripheral vision, he saw two ponies behind him, most likely the two guard ponies. The room was definitely an office of some sort. In the middle of the room stood an oaken desk which was decorated by some miniature buildings made from gold plated metal.

There was one pony in the room, Greybled didn’t know. A dark brown earth pony stallion who was currently watching through a windowpane, his back turned to the other ponies in the room. From the window, the earth pony had a view over an enormous room below, full of ponies, tables and blinking lights. The bound changeling had never seen anything like it, not even Chrysalis’ throne room was that grand. Most of the ponies down there looked like they were having a good time, pushing buttons on machines or drinking colorful drinks.

The green unicorn broke the moment of silence, “I think he’s awake, boss.”

The earth pony took seat at his table and made eye contact with his prisoner.

“My name is Lucky Flutter, and you are the colt who wanted to steal my hard earned bits?” He concluded.

Greybled remained silent.

The earth pony continued, “Then you beat up two of my best employees.”

Armor rattled, as the two guards swelled with pride.

Lucky Flutter’s hoof went to his face as he deadpanned, “Not you two morons, them!” He pointed towards zebra and unicorn.

It rattled again, as the guards deflated.

The bound half-changeling felt the need to defend himself, “Mr. Flutter, you have your money back and your goons look just fine. You kept me locked up for three days, so why not let me go?”

“Boy, I didn’t get where I am today because I let the ponies go who tried to screw me over.” He smirked, “I just wanted to see the one who beat Zerico and Poison Mist, before we set an example. The next days are going to be very unpleasant for you, little unicorn.”

A muffled noise came from the entry room in front of the office.

“That will be Chelsea Smile, my specialist.” Lucky smiled menacing.

The smile vanished when an older guard stepped in, followed by a young mare who looked at Lucky Flutter and began to explain hysterically, “I tried to stop him, Mr. Flutter, sir, but he just went on and-”

“Thank you Marcy, leave us.” The boss told his secretary, who was close to tears. She left the room and closed the door.

The new guard in the room was the most decorated guard, Greybled has ever seen. Ribbons with emblems covered his chest and shoulders. His stare went over everyone in the room, as it reached the two guards, they saluted and one of them greeted, “Captain, what a surprise.”

Lucky Flutter spoke up, “What do you think you are doing? Have you run out of money or something? Bought to much golden bling bling for your troop of clowns?.”

“Watch your tone, Flutter, I am not your puppet!” The stern unicorn stallion replied. “And you are in a lot trouble if you don’t release the colt this instant, do you know who that is?”

“Humor me, Lion. Who is this nobody?” The earth pony replied through grited teeth.

Greybled gulped, how could they know who he is? Did Chrysalis inform the ponies? He thought about the consequences, maybe imprisonment to be used as a bargain chip. The ponies would be very disappointed with the amount anyone would be willing to pay for him. At least it seemed he would not get the opportunity to meet this ‘Chelsea Smile’.

“He is the prince of Saddle Arabia!”

Everyone in the room was silent.

“You two, untie him!” He ordered while everypony was still baffled. The two guards looked towards Lucky who didn’t move. “Do you know who I am?! Untie him!”

Now Greybled understood what was going on, ‘Do you know who I am’ was an old changeling trick to get a little information about the pony you are impersonating at the moment.

Unfortunately for the infiltrator, the guards didn’t reply. The unicorn looked at the pegasus, who nodded. Then they went and untied Greybled and removed the horn incapacitor.

Lucky pushed himself up to a standing position, his goons following suit. The tension in the room was unbearable. The earth pony analyzed the situation. There were him and his two goons on one side, the guard captain and the ‘prince’ on the other. Also two guards whose loyalties were unclear. His odds were not good enough to just attack them, so he sat back down. “Watch your back.”

Greybled and his saviour left the casino with the two guards. Once again, inside a small backstreet, the captain dismissed the guards and turned to Greybled.

“In the name of the royal guard, we are very sorry for what happened here.” He said politely.

“Why are you continuing this act? I know I’m not an Arabian prince. Who are you? What do you want?” Greybled asked.

The changeling sighed. “Couldn’t you just play along, freak?”

The half unicorn jumped a step back and readied for battle. “I won’t go back, Strikebolt. I’ve beaten you before, so just tell her to leave me be!”

“It is Commander Strikebolt now.” He smirked prideful, “and as much as I would like to beat you to a pulp, I have another mission. So, farewell.”

His horn flared up. He vanished with flash, leaving behind a confused halfling.

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[Grekoy]

It's back! YES!