Living Mark of Courage

by Moowell

CT1's Mercy

Mirror's ears shot up as the sound of pipes echoed from the shaft for the first time in over a week. Without waiting for Trixie's link, Mirrors shifted to wolf form and bounded down the shaft faster and more focused than she had ever before. She pause for a fraction of a second to get her bearings on the branch where the song echoed loudest before sprinting down the next tunnel, searching frantically for the offshoot which lead to the song's source. Faster and faster, she pushed herself until--

She skid to a halt and swiveled her ears backward. A few steps backward and a turn of her head confirmed it: she had found the song's vent. And just in time, too; a few seconds later, the music stopped mid-song. She dropped out of the ceiling and looked around. No drones in sight, and the door was just a few short feet away. Finally, after all this time, her search was over! With a victorious howl, she stepped past the door and into the cavern.

In the back was a wall of drones, all chained to the ground except for two which were unbound and looking at her. If Epona was on that wall... An angry snarl left her throat. "Which one is Epona?"

The larger unchained drone turned away from the smaller to face her. "I don't know who your Epona wass, but if sshe came to me, then sshe iss not the wolf you remember. I'm truly ssorry for your losss."

"She's not a wolf. She's a converted Earth Pony who was stolen from Ponyville almost a month ago, and she's a very dear friend of mine." The drone's face shifted subtly, tensing as though it were trying not to look away. "I can see you struggling against yourself. You know where she is, and you aren't telling me!"

She lunged at the drone with teeth bared, but it jumped up and flew out of reach. "I do know of a convert matching that desscription, but I can't jusst let you take her." She heard a buzzing noise from the hall behind her. When she turned her head back, she saw a swarm of Soldiers flooding the space to surround her. "You sshouldn't have come here, wolf."

She smirked and crouched low, her mane waving and rippling with magic. She expanded her awareness, touching each and every nearby drone with the spell. Like a streak of tooth and claw, she leapt through her enemies, slashing and biting and dodging wild strikes until each and every one of them had fallen. She took a moment for a small breath then turned her eyes upward toward the drone. "Now. Tell me where Epona is."

"I told you before, wolf. The pony you knew iss gone. Now leave my demesness before you regret coming here," it warned.

"Don't lie to me, drone! I heard her song." She crouched low and spread her awareness again to reach the hovering drone. "I will not leave without her."

The drone surrounded itself with a layer of green fire. "Then try and take her from me!"

She pounced angrily at the drone, and it charged back at her. Her jaw snapped at the drone when she passed by, but its flame prevented her from getting a clean bite. A lance of pain shot through her body, starting from her neck and paralyzing her legs as she fell with a crash. "It'ss over."

Mirrors struggled futilely to move as her body returned to its pony form. "No! Not when I'm so close! Epona, where are you?!"

"I am ssorry, wolf," she heard the drone say as it got closer. "I truly am. The love you hold for her iss potent and sstrong, and I can tell you've been trying to find her for a long time, but like I ssaid before, the pony you knew iss gone. SShe may be the mosst sspecial convert I've ever sseen. Quiet, eassy to work with, capable of mussic and a little combat, but sshe iss sstill jusst a convert." The hoofsteps stopped, and she stopped struggling. With the drone's presence right behind her, she knew at this point she couldn't do anything to stop her fate. "And you are jusst an intruder."

Mirrors felt the fur on her neck move aside just before two small pricks pierced her skin.

*****

"Damn it, filly!" Trixie fumed, tracking Mirrors' paw prints through the tunnels via her scrying spell. "Every time we aren't prepared, something bad happens. Why didn't you give me time to link you?" The tracks finally doubled up and moved toward one of the vents. At the base, she found them almost completely covered up by hoofprints. She groaned. "I swear, if you got yourself captured, I'm going to leave you down there for the bugs."

When she made it to the cavern, she found two live changelings inside, one pinned under the other and taking a heavy beating, and a wall in the back lined with dead ones. "To know that in the end, everything you did wass for noth-- Well now, iss that what I think it iss?" Trixie's eyes widened as it looked directly at her. Wait... No, not at her. Through her. She turned her view around to see a small changeling standing there. "It iss! That'ss the convert I brought from Ponyville!"

Trixie grimaced. If this was Epona, where was Mirror Child?

"6-64, run!"

"No no, 64, don't run. I jusst want to play, that'ss all." Epona just stood there, staring through her at the drone on top. "You ssimple-minded creaturess like gamess, don't you? I've got a great one! Do you know how to play dead?"

"Get out of here, 64!"

"SSilencce, trassh!" Trixie heard another thud. "I didn't ssay you could sspeak!"

Suddenly Epona flashed green and blasted through Trixie's vision, startling her. She turned around to see the filly standing next to one of the drones, while the other was getting up from among the dead in the back. "You jusst charged me..." It started to laugh, almost maniacally. "You, a convert, jusst charged me!" A moment later, copied the maneuver and slammed into Epona, sending her flying back through Trixie. "Well two can play that game, and believe me: I am infinitely more exxperiencced."

"Leave her alone, Collector!"

"Leave her alone? After sshe attacked me? Oh no, my dear, sshe brought thiss on hersself. Don't worry, CT1. I'll be back for your traitorouss head ssoon." It pinned the injured drone to the floor then sprinted out of the cavern. Trixie turned to follow, but she hesitated. She now knew Epona was alive and kicking, but she still hadn't found Mirror Child.

*****

CT1 just laid there. With the injuries she had suffered, she was too weak to even try breaking free from the goo pinning her to the floor. Yet even in her state, battered and broken among the dead converts, all of whom she had cared for, and waiting for a psychopathic Soldier to come back and kill her, her thoughts remained on 64. Or was it Epona? She couldn't tell anymore. How had the little convert escaped the squad? Her skills in combat had been surprising, but not good enough to face a trained group like that. And besides that, why would she come back and intentionally draw the attention of a Soldier from whom there was no chance of escape? Against whom there was no chance of victory?

"64, you foolissh little convert... What were you thinking?"

A pop echoed from behind her. "If I know Epona, she was thinking 'That drone just hurt my friend.'"

"Who'ss there?" She picked up her head and turned to see a light blue unicorn with a silver mane stepping into view. One that every changeling was trained to recognize. "Illussionisst..." She paused for a moment, then started to laugh weakly. "What a day. I've been attacked by a wolf, my convertss are dead, and I've been branded a traitor by Collector. 64 iss going to die, and now you are here and I don't even have the strength to warn the Hive." Her head fell to the ground. "Do whatever it iss you are going to do. I can't sstop you."

"Wonderful. Now listen closely, because we don't have time for me to explain this more than once. I'm going to mark you with a tracer spell, and you're going to tell me where you keep your love crystals. After that, I'm going to give those crystals to you and set you free."

"Wha--"

"Don't interrupt! You're going to devour them until you're healthy again, and then you're going to rescue my wolf. If you're fast enough, the two of you be able to find 64 in time to keep her alive. If Epona is the filly she's rumored to be, you should have at least a couple minutes. Once you find her, I'm going to teleport the three of you outside, and all of us are going to return to Equestria."

"Why are you helping me? Couldn't you jusst ssave them both yoursself?" she asked as Trixie's horn glowed.

"Possibly, but I don't know the Hive well enough to move quickly. The wolf would either be a thrall or emotionally drained when we finally met, and 64 would likely be executed before I found either of them. You, however, know both exactly where to find both of them and how to get there, so I suggest you let me help you help me before we both lose what we want. I've already set the tracer, now tell me where you keep your crystals."

Comments

[FUomega]

This is a great story cant wait for the next chapter.
Keep up the good wook.

[Brainstorm]

yessssss.... delicious updates.