Aftermath: A Changeling's Punishment

by Kastrinn

The Many Years That Pass

Queen Chrysalis was sitting on her throne, her Changeling subjects buzzing around doing various activities around the hive, the noise creating a slight annoyance to her ears. She tapped her hoof impatiently, still awaiting on a plan to conjure up in her mind to have her General return into her hooves.

Being around 2 years since they first tried and failed to capture Canterlot, the known where-about of General Bellose were unknown besides the fact he was being held prisoner. Besides all of that, Chrysalis had been thinking of a plan, scheming of a way to get the General back, and all what was needed was time.

"From a Queen to a Princess, I will have my General back, dear Celestia. Just wait and see for what I do to ponies who cross me like you have....." Chrysalis muttered under her breath in a vile tone, eyes narrowing and soon closing into a fit of laughter, maniacal laughter.

The same nightmare replays in my mind, every single time, it's always there. I'm chained, broken, imprisoned in a literal hell. I never thought I'd make it this far, 6 years of hell and yet I'm still alive.

I scream out in confusion and anger, startling the guards to my cell. I long since stopped caring about them, no snarky remarks or comments against them. Like became a blur that never ended, an endless blur of suffering for me. I was through with it.

"Unchain the prisoner, the Princess wants a public speaking with him." a voice called out to the two guards stationed at my cell. I didn't have much interest, but my ear still perked.

"I can't do that, Captain. The prisoner is to remain down in the cell at all costs."

"Then shall I get the Princess down here to correct this... misunderstanding?" The voice spoke out again, making the guards nervous with his tone.

To a surprise, my cell was unlocked and I was brought out from it, and dragged along the dusty stone floor, (Which wasn't a surprise).

By the time we were outside, the sun had blinded me until my vision became restored and had thus adjusted. I then felt a stallion's muzzle edge close to my ear, making me flick my ear in irritation.

"Bellose, I want you to listen closely..." The Captain whispered into my ear, catching my attention. "By the Queen's demand, we are here to retrieve you and bring you back to the hive."

I was about to respond in question, but he slapped me, silencing me. Turning my head to look up at the stallion in anger. When I met his eyes, I witnessed them flash from blue to green, and back. Completely catching me off guard. My maw opened and closed, but no words came out.

"Keep quiet, we'll take of the rest..." The fellow disguised Changeling said, motioning for me to look forward as we continued down through the courtyard path way.

As we passed along multiple patrols of royal guards, we were finally stopped by another Captain of the royal guard, a real one.

"Where are you taking the prisoner?'" The Captain asked cautiously.

"The Princess wanted a public speaking with him, finally proceeding with his execution." My escort replied, lying through his teeth.

"The Princess hadn't informed me that we were holding an execution for the...... Changeling......" The Captain's face changed into a stern expression of curiosity, leaning close to my escort. "What's your identification, Captain?"

Without hesitation, my Changeling escort suddenly punched the real Captain in the throat. I watched as the pony fell to the ground like a rock. Rearing back a few steps, I looked at my escort once more in concern.

"Keep running till you get to the gardens. There's another group of us waiting there to help you further escape from Canterlot." He said, motioning for me to run quickly.

Doing what I was told, I ran as fast as I could, creating a panic amongst the guards and then a cluster of ponies along the way. I soon came to a small blockade of five royal guards as they tried to block my path.

"Stop right there, Changeling scum!" One of them shouted, holding out a spear in my direction, and when I didn't stop, he threw the spear right at me.

With quick adjustments, I ducked under the spear, sliding along the dirt pathway into the guard, performing an uppercut, landing the punch right into his jaw. Soon becoming surrounded by the four other guard ponies, I quickly realized the risk of staying and fighting them off.

"Stand down if you know what's best for you." A royal guard exclaimed, holding a spear pointed into my direction. Little did he know I didn't care about what was best for me.

Immediately, I rammed into the guard, knocking him down to the ground. Repeatedly throwing punches into the guards face. As soon as the other guards started moving in on me, I picked up the spear, prepared to kill anypony in my way of freedom.

As they were moving closer in on me, the third royal guard, behind the two others, suddenly changed. The guard, or now changeling, took hold of the other two guards heads and slammed them both together, knocking them out.

"Well then..... that was...." I started, confused and impressed at the same time, trying to find the right words to describe what had just happened.

"That was subtle?" The other Changeling said, finishing my sentence.

"Not exactly...... Shall we get going?" I asked, dropping the spear in my hooves and came down all fours, prepared to bolt.

The changeling nodded, and we started running to the gardens once more.

By the time we got there, I followed the other Changeling into the maze, supposedly to where the other group of changelings were. But thus when we finally reached the rendezvous point, our escape plan had been compromised, noting the dead bodies of my fellow Changelings.

"My my.... Six years and now you have back up for your escape, General. Well done." I looked up from the bodies of my comrades, to the same damn Alicorn, Celestia. The smug look on her face pissed me off. She was sitting down on a bench, a sword that brandished her style of white and gold by her side, impaled into another Changeling corpse.

"I'd say it's about fucking time I did escape." I replied, letting my anger go into the tone of the remark, my gaze narrowed at her, anger filling my thoughts.

Without a second thought, Celestia stood up and with great speed, she drew her sword and stabbed the Changeling right next to me, killing him instantly.

She then lowered her next to whisper into my ear, taking the opportunity while I was frozen in shock at her actions. "We've been through this before, General..... Just give up now."

Celestia was about to slice me down until another voice called out from behind her, followed by a blast of magic of a green hue. Celestia managed to dodge the blast, turning around to see the figure who had attacked her, eyes widening.

"Not so fast, dear Celestia. We still have business to attend too." The voice called out again, her vile bug like tone emanating through out the garden.

"Chrysalis......" Celestia muttered under her breath, getting into a defensive stance, sword drawn and all.

"Queen Chrysalis." The voice called out again, finally coming into view for me, I saw my Queen. Ready to fight for my return into her ranks.

"My Queen? What are you doing here?" I asked, worried for my Queen's safety.

"I cannot leave behind a Changeling who has more use to me and our conquest." Chrysalis replies, her gaze kept upon Celestia, still in stance for combat if needed.

"Unfortunately, Thou will have to leave thy Changeling behind!" I grimaced, knowing that voice all to damn well.

"Luna! What are you doing?!" Celestia called out to her sister, the situation becoming more stressful by the second. She soon flew to her sisters side, while I ran over to Chrysalis's side, creating a four pony stand off.

"We shall take the General, dear sister. We assume you can handle yourself perfectly well." Luna exclaimed in her usual old Canterlot voice, seeing it was a habit of hers over the years I was trapped here.

Besides from the two Princess's conversation, Queen Chrysalis and I had one of our own. I must say, it wasn't a welcome back.

"Don't screw up this time, You take the Lunar foal, I have a score to settle with dear old Celestia."

I didn't say anything, for thus my gaze was adverted to the Lunar Princess. As quick as lightning, we both separated as we bolted into a half circle around the two Princesses, forcing them back to back. Celestia and Luna looked back to one another, giving each of them a confirming nod before they bolted to their selected targets, I getting to face Luna while Celestia faced off against Chrysalis.

Luna was the first to throw a punch, I countered with a block and two jabs to her torso. As a result, she fell, but then hopped back and conjured a sword of her style to use in combat. She charged once more, her sword following suite, sweeping over my head as I ducked barely in time.

"Stay still, vile trash!" Luna screamed in anger, sword slicing through the air with keen precision, but I kept dodging her efforts of attack.

"But where's the fun in that?" I retorted in a snarky manner, grinning at her failed attempts.

I felt alive again, adrenaline shooting out within me as I was fighting. In a way... I enjoyed it. At long last I was having a successful attempt of escaping, after six long years of being confined with in the dungeons of Canterlot. I smiled, landing few punches and jab, but I still got my own injuries. But for me it didn't matter, I was along side Queen Chrysalis in this battle, so I knew for sure that this time, this time we will succeed in this battle.

Once more, it was another stand off against this lunar princess. "Consider this round three?" I exclaimed once more, exhausted from this battle that was taking longer than I liked.

"Stop this chit chat and fight us!" Luna yelled with exhaustion in her voice as well, the battle taking a toll on our stamina.

She suddenly dropped her sword and charged at full speed, readying a punch to follow through. I prepared to block but thus I was too slow. Suddenly Luna appeared before me, landing the punch right into my chest, knocking the wind out of me. I gasped for air, tongue and all, as droplets of blood spilled out.

"GAGH!" I screamed out in pain as I was launched back into a stone statue, crumbling on top of me as my body literally shattered it into pieces on impact.

In a glimpse through the stone bits, I saw her smile in appreciation for what had occurred. But in her distracted state, I began to throw the stone bits from the now broken statue at Luna, landing couple of stones after another, but with her magic, she began to throw them back at me, piercing my body, some even impaling and passing through my body. I screamed in this new found agony, placing a hoof over the wounds that was caused by the stones.

I examined myself, and noted that I was bleeding profusely and realized I couldn't stop all of the bleeding. When I looked up, I saw Luna tower over me, a grin on her muzzle and enjoyment in her eyes, holding her sword against my neck. I then looked over to Chrysalis and Celestia, and saw what would be my doom.

"Fall, fall in front of the Princess of the Sun, Chrysalis. Realize the mistake you made in challenging me once more!" Celestia chanted at the top of her lungs, charging up another round of magic against Queen Chrysalis.

"You haven't won just yet, Celestia! I Will Be Back!" I heard Chrysalis yell as she shakenly stood up and magically teleported away. Just as she left, I then saw few Changelings in the sky fly away, some being shot down and realized I was being left behind once more.

Celestia then joined her sister's side over me, glaring down upon me. "It seems that your rescue has failed, once more....." Celestia stated, no emotion in her voice.

I stayed silent, knowing that it was over for me. It was one thing to fail a rescue operation, but twice meant that there was nothing that could be done in my favor.

"Just kill me...." I demanded weakly, "You can't gain anything from me, just do it and get this mess over with."

The two princess looked at one another, nodding at the truth and looking down upon a broken soul once more, their final decision on what to do with me made once more. It would be over finally.

"Mares and Gentle Colts, We bring you all hear today to witness the execution of the General Bellose of the Changelings..." The crowd gasped at the news, but all listened well intently at what the announcer had to say. "For crimes of the Changeling Invasion on Canterlot, Attempted assassination of the Princesses, and the Murder of innocent Royal Guards to the Princesses, General Bellose will be executed on this day by hanging!"

The announcer had finished his speech, I was finally brought up to the stage, were my life would come to an end by a rope. I looked amongst the crowd of ponies, observed the crowd's expression of fear, shock, and anger. I stood shackled as they carefully brought the noose around my neck, cautious that I would retaliate, but thus I didn't.

"Any last words, Changeling?" I was asked finally, knowing that it was time, and so I stayed silent. The executioner was given the go ahead to pull the lever of the trap door below me.

As if like a snake, the noose tightened around my neck, constricting me once I fell through the trap door as it opened below me. I almost struggled, but I stopped knowing that there would be no mercy. I could feel the burning in my lungs without oxygen, suffocating as I soon came to loose sight. In my final hours before I become lost to the world around me I saw one thing. My gaze adverted to the Princesses, who looked back at me with no remorse nor emotion, just blank stares.

As if the curtain finally came to a close, the lights dimmed. The show came to an end, my time was up and I accepted the fact. There would be no more. And all came to a peaceful end, my suffering drifted away as well as my life. No more...... and thus thy play was over, a result unlike no other, there were no hero's, and thus only villains.

My body hanged, swaying in the breeze as the ponies watched, slowly exiting the town square as the presentation was over. I died...... but what few would consider a sad ending, for me it was a happy ending. A smile planted on my muzzle in my final seconds, I was glad for it to be over.