Report of a changeling soldier

by Harasha the Gryphon

Day 1

Day 1

My name is Cephalon and I’m a corporal in the changeling royal army. I lead the fifth division under the command of the leader of the third army General Pharynx. I am beginning an field diary for the purpose of providing an in depth report to high command of my squad's current mission. My squad has been tapped by high command to lead a full scale invasion of the pony city of Canterlot. Our queen infiltrated the city several weeks ago with the purpose of undermining a massive magical barrier the ponies erected to protect them from any potential attackers. Grand general Cadrodia gave word just this morning that the barrier had finally weakened to the point that a concerted use of brute force on it could bring it down. So we went to work on ramming into the barrier. Not at full force mind you, that would only turn us into bug guts shaped stains on the shield. However, with a steady and consistent hammering, we knew that we could shatter it. I remember when I first felt the vibration of the shield about the give. I saw General Pharynx grin as he flew out a bit further than the others to ram the barrier harder. My general was obviously trying to set a good example to the others in his squad. Naturally I followed his lead and mimicked his flight pattern. Three more strokes like that was all it took to completely shatter the barrier like glass.

My orders as a corporal in the changeling army are simple: follow any order given by General Pharynx. The details of our main battle strategy were generally doled out on a need to know basis and me and my squad didn’t need to know. I saw many changeling soldiers fly in the direction of a tower near the central castle. I joined this massive swarm until Pharynx called out to me and ordered me and my squad away from that swarm. I’m glad my general is there for us, the last thing I wanted was to risk a court marshal for going the wrong way. Nevertheless, General Pharynx ushered us due south into the city toward what looked like a large fortified, building. As we approached the building General Pharynx gave me our instructions.

“This is the main royal guard headquarters for this part of the city. Cadrodia want’s us to secure it.”

Pharynx lead the bulk of the squads himself against the front door but ordered my division and me to enter through a second story window. With my specific orders in hand, I led my squad to the left hoof side of the building. I figured our infiltration wouldn’t be noticed by the huge mass of guards at the front. As we flew towards the building, I told my right hoof soldier to shift himself into a rock to shatter one of the windows. The confusion he caused by breaking the window more than gave us the upper hand in defeating the small handful guards inside the room. It also kinda helped that by sheer coincidence my shifted squad mate accidentally smacked one of the guards square in the head. Regrettably, there were only three guards in the room and there were five of us. We needed to drain these creatures of their love energy. If we didn’t than we’d run out of changeling bile and that would severely hamper our ability to fight. I was offered up a guard and I drained him of his love. Not to the point of being lethal, though. The queen had given all of us strict orders to not gorge ourselves too much on our new meal tickets. I drained more than enough to replenish my bile reserves and have enough energy left over to keep me alive for close to a year. It’s pretty rare for a changeling to eat this good.

With those guards subdued, we burst out of the room and made our way through the building. We didn’t find many combatants on the second floor so we headed downstairs to join the main force. When we emerged from the second floor stairwell we ended up flanking the large mass of guards fighting with the rest of the general’s squads. I like to believe that my flanking maneuver distracted the guards enough for General Pharynx to finish subduing the guards in the station. But I find this thought absurd, these guards aren’t soldiers they’re nothing but lowly policemen. I could tell as I combated them that not a single one of these so called guards had seen a single day of war. They probably just sat around eating doughnuts all day; they were never any real match for our battle hardened changeling warriors.

Thankfully it didn’t take long for us to scour and rout the remaining resistance in the guard post. We cocooned the guards for a later feeding but not before my comrades replenished their bile reserves. Some of my squad mates wanted to wander out of the building to look around for stragglers but I put a stop to those ideas pretty quickly. We don’t move until General Pharynx ordered us to, I’ve gotta give my squad mates a lesson on the chain of command when the operation was over. That said I’ve gotta commend their proactive initiative. So we just stood there in the main hall of the HQ awaiting orders. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait too long as I saw General Pharynx going around issuing instructions to the various squad leaders. In due time the general got to us. I was quick to salute my general and thankfully my squad mates joined me. I informed him that we awaited his command to which he praised me for my diligence as a soldier and my spectacular work in flanking the enemy. Then he issued us our current orders:

“There’s an old crystal mine a few blocks south of here that opens up into a cave. I want you to go there and make sure that nopony escapes the city through those old tunnels.”

I knew about the tunnels he was talking about. Grand general Cadrodia had told us all about the tunnels as a means of infiltrating the city unnoticed. But now with us in control of the city it fell on my squad mates and me to prevent any of the enemy from ex-filtrating through those same tunnels. With an enthusiastic yes sir me and my squad departed for the crystal mine. When we got there ! found another changeling corporal guarding the cave entrance. Apparently another general had given this squad a similar instruction to ours. There was a bit of a squabble at first about who should guard the tunnel. In the end my squad agreed to head deeper into the caves to set up an ambush for ponies who manage to slip by them.

So me and my squad mates entered the tunnels to find a good spot to ambush any passing ponies. We've been searching through these tunnels all day without finding any good ambush spots. A few hours after we had entered the cave the guards above unleashed some kind of magical pulse from the surface. It propelled me and my squad quite violently into the wall of the cave. We didn’t sustain life threatening injuries but my right hoof man got himself knocked out from the force of the impact. It’s a good thing we’re made of sterner stuff than those soft ponies. There's no way any of them would be able to stand up to an impact that intense. I ordered my squad mates to pick up my right hoof man to carry him deeper into the tunnels. The guards had unleashed a powerful spell and I didn't want to risk capture by staying so close to the surface. Eventually I decided to rest for a bit to wait for my right hoof man to regain consciousness unless of course someling comes to relive us.

This is Corporal Cephalon, commander of the fifth battalion signing out.

Comments

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

So, this is between S2 & S3. Cadence has already been rescued. If captured there will be a problem feeding them.

[Starcat5]

Hmm... Now how long is this squad going to be stranded behind enemy lines I wonder... Will they go native? Sneak out of Canterlot months after the Wedding? Hold out long enough that Pharynx has to pull them out himself after his Brother takes over the Hive? So many ways for this story to go.