Report of a changeling soldier

by Harasha the Gryphon

Day 5

Day 5

I haven’t thought to add anything into this field diary for a few days because until today not much of note happened. Fortunately for us my right hoof man regained consciousness pretty quickly after being knocked out. In terms of our mission General Pharynx had ordered us to guard the caves to prevent any of the ponies from escaping. With so much time having passed we only assumed that the changeling army had gained total control of the capital. I figured the best way for us to fulfill our orders was to set up a proper ambush for the fleeing ponies. Early on when we were planning our invasion we considered these caves as a means to infiltrate the city. Because of this several scouts went into this cave and mapped out a large. That said the scouts only scouted from points of cavern entry and were never able to figure out how some of the cave entrances connected. We needed to head in the direction of these exits. If ponies were going to attempt to escape we needed our ambush spot to be somewhere along that road. And if all else failed, if we reached a cave exit we could guard.

There are plenty of good ambush spots on the map, but I decided to ignore them and search deeper into uncharted parts of the cave. I figured that once the capital was fully locked down other squads will make their way to the charted parts of the caves. Even if we couldn’t find a good ambush spot, as long as we kept our compass bearings we’d probably find one of the known cave entrances. Sadly our search for a good alcove for an ambush in the uncharted areas was rather lacking at the time. After several hours of searching one of my squad-mates complained about our fruitless wandering. He promptly suggested that we could just shapeshift into crystals or set up a bile net to catch fleeing ponies.

My squad-mates sadly, have had little experience in serious warfare. I scolded him for the suggestion and explained the reason we needed a good ambush alcove but in my head I chuckled. I recall on one of my first tours of duty having a similar argument with my commander at the time. One day they’ll learn, though, I’ve just gotta keep coaxing them. We needed a good alcove with decent access to multiple tunnels and enough room to store captured prisoners for later feeding and interrogation.

It took us several hours, but we found our way to the end of the mineshaft and by extension the end of the map. There's nothing beyond that point but shimmering crystals. The second day and third day ended without us finding a good spot and I'm starting to wonder if there aren't any good spots in this direction at all. I know there’s a few cave exits to the east and I’m pretty sure that's the direction we're heading.

On the fourth day we finally came to a point where the crystals that illuminated our path gave way to what I assume was sandstone. We didn’t have to go too far into this part of the cave before it became so dark we couldn’t see normally. The darkness in this part of the cave is a blessing because we can more easily sneak up on unsuspecting ponies. I ordered us all to shape shift our eyes for low light so we could see better. At some point we came across a part of the cave that had completely collapsed. One of my squad mates suggested that it might be safer to go back the way we came. I scolded the changeling who said that, but I’m beginning to think he might have a point. Alas, General Pharynx's orders were abundantly clear, and I fully intend on carrying them out. What's more I figure we’re better off to press on. We’re more likely closer to an exit than the entrance we came from.

As we made our way through this part of the cavern, several small stones fell on us. In hindsight, I should have taken that as a sign that we were entering an extremely unstable area of the cave. I just assumed the fallen rocks were a result of the battle raging above us. A few hours after that a massive tremor rocked the cave and the ceiling started collapsing all around us. My squad mates froze up in fear at the cave in but my instincts wouldn’t allow me to do that. Most of my squad mates were well clear of the cave in but one of them sat motionless at the whole event. I shoved him out of the way of a large incoming rock before he could get flattened. Within moments though several tons of rocks fell between my squad mates and me. The last thing I heard them say before I lost them was my right hoof man calling after me. I had little time to think as I ran to dodge the falling boulders but the collapse was gaining on me. Just before I got squashed, I shifted into a rock as the tunnel’s ceiling at last fell on top of me.

I had survived the cave in, but I was trapped in rock form under several boulders. A situation as dire as this calls for me dipping into my bile reserves. I secreted a protective shell to keep the boulders in place and then secreted some more bile to seep through the cracks to find a way out. Fortunately, for me, my bile revealed I was extremely close to the edge of the cave in. Meaning I could safely shape shift my way out of the cave collapse without risking serious injury.

After doing so I came to the sobering realization that my squad mates were gone, trapped on the other side of the collapsed cavern. I feel absolutely horrible, General Pharynx has always taken such good care of me and my squad. And what do I go and do? Brazenly ignore obvious signs of danger and needlessly risk my comrades lives. I had no time to mourn their loss though I had to get out of that unstable part of the cave and carry on with the mission. As of this moment, I’m declaring my squad mates MIA. Hopefully, they survived and can go get reinforcements to rescue me but that’s hoping for too much. All that matters is the mission and if I find a way out of the cave all the better.

Fortunately, for me, I finally found not only a fairly stable area of the cave as it’s made of the hard crystal I’ve seen farther back in the cave. And fortunately for the mission this area is a perfect spot to set up an ambush hideout. There is a massive chamber for holding many prisoners. It’s isolated and cramped which means it’s off the beaten path not to mention the cave in has made the area harder to assail. But most importantly there’s several small tunnels stretching all over, small enough too not be easily noticed yet large enough that I can drag ponies through them. Presumably at least one leads to a probable escape route for any pony stragglers that I can catch off guard. For now though I’ll rest up and set up my base here tomorrow.

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

Comments

[shining paladin]

great chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter