//------------------------------// // Flashbacks and Luna's trial. // Story: I'm a loli?!? // by aterriblewriter //------------------------------// Four months ago. Dakota's POV. “Ugh…” I groaned as I tried to get up, nausea assaulting my every sense. “Wake up, Dakota.” An old man sinisterly spoke up, a boot slamming into my ribs and sending me into a nearby wall. “We need to talk.” “Urp! … Where am I?” I calmly asked after I threw up on the floor, the thick carpeting soaking it up like a sponge. I blearily opened my eyes, seeing my kidnapper for the first time. I almost groaned in embarrassment at what I saw. A haggard old man stood over me, his skin barely hanging onto his sinisterly smiling face, his teeth yellowed and sharpened. The large lab coat he wore showed how often he wore the thing, various stains splotched all over. “Great, kidnapped by a crazy, old scientist. Just my luck.” Said man chuckled, amused at the expression on my face. “Oh, you shouldn't feel so bad. I have been around much longer than you can imagine…. Much longer, heheh!” Still chuckling, he pointed a gnarled finger at me, its tip engulfed in a deep cerulean aura. “I suppose I should give you a demonstration of my power!” “And he's apparently a god damn wizard, even better.” I sarcastically thought to myself as he magically lifted me, bringing me close to his face. “So…” I slowly began, hesitantly meeting his bloodshot gaze. “Who are you?” He smiled even wider. “I am Dust.” “Is that what ya named yourself? Or is it something your friends call you?” I blinked at his unusual name. He immediately frowned, sending me flying into the wall with a flick of his wrist. “Don't. Question. My name.” Dust's voice rung in my ears as I tried to recover. “Understood! ......Can I ask where we are?” He glowered at me as he answered cryptically. “A pocket in between worlds, my home. That's all you need to know.” “Huh, okay.” I said as I furrowed my brows in thought, before raising a hand. “Yes?” “Uh, what do you need me for?” Dust gave me his creepiest smile. “Why else? I need your body.” He explained, before cackling insanely. “My newest fixation is the pursuit of immortality. I can't keep this body sustained much longer and I want a fresh, younger one to continue my research. Sadly, I haven't yet made the spell for a mind transfer…” “I don't suppose you have a brother I can talk to? Maybe the most sane and morally straight one?” I drawled in half resignation and hope, only to be slammed again into the wall. “I don't have a brother, anymore.” He bitterly told me. “He's the reason I'm here…. Stuck in this disgusting form. Who in their right mind would test an untested spell on their own brother?!” He shouted, eyes wide as he gripped my shoulders and looked at me for some kind of approval. “Eh, you're asking me? The guy ya kidnapped and just told that ya wanted his body for some kind of attempt at being immortal?” I shook my head. “You really are a piece of work.” Dust scowled and left the room, making my levitating form follow him down a long hallway filled with various pictures and paintings, the old man stopping to leer at one of them before moving on. Raising an eyebrow at what I saw, the picture one showing a bearded, silver unicorn wearing a star patterned robe and hat. “Ooookay….” I was brought into what appeared to be the basement, a large silver magic circle in the center of the room. There were five doors placed symmetrically around the room, two doors on both sides of the place and the last door placed on the center of the far wall. “So, eh, Dust, what's going to happen to me while ya figure out the spell?” I asked as we went through one of the doors on the left, a room full of cages greeting me. “Ah….” He chuckled and shoved me inside one of the smaller ones, locking it with a large padlock. “You know, there is a reason I chose you.” He started with an excited smile. “The spell I used to get you here had a few specific… criteria. First, the person needed to be young, well, way younger than me. Second, he needs to be what your kind calls, a ‘nerd,’ if you will. I've seen some of the things you humans use to waste your pitiful lives with, some of which gave me some interesting theories when it came to magic.” Dust listed off, giving me a knowing glance. “Sadly, those things won't survive my method of transportation to this place.” “Okay, I get it.” I sighed and shook my head. “I'm not telling ya anything.” “Then I won't feed you.” He glared at me, his left hand glowing a dangerous red. “I can make it so that you won't die.” “Yup…” I drawled as I tried to make myself comfortable, resigning myself to whatever comes next. “I’m not going to tell you anything. I know I'm stuck here, with a guy that can most likely kill me, bring me back, and kill me again. At this point, I don't really care.” I finished, crossing my arms and giving him a stony glare. “Feel free to try. You went through all this trouble to get me, I'm pretty sure you won't harm your future body too badly, am I right?” He stared at me for a moment, almost in disbelief, before leaving the room in a huff. Sighing in relief, I quietly laughed as I tried to calm my nerves. “Ohhhh, heheh! That's my best acting yet!” I cheered. “I knew drama club would come in handy some day.” One month later. Dust left me alone for the most part, only coming to see me when it was feeding time. Time passed quickly pretty slowly for me after I found that my captor enchanted the cage to burn me if I tried to mess with its lock. He even set it up to shock me if I made it move across the floor, after my most recent attempt at escape. “Hey, lemme go!” I heard a girl yell, Dust kicking in the door to the cage room as he magically threw her into the cage next to me. “I’ve got you a roommate. Be careful, she bites.” He laughed as he listened to the girl's angry screams, leaving the room shortly after her yelling stopped. She started sobbing in the corner of her cage, the sound low enough for me to hear. I quietly took in her appearance, her blue dress ripped and torn in various places, she looked maybe five years old. “Hey, uh, what's your name?” I tried, speaking softly to the distraught girl. “I'm Dakota.” She continued sobbing for a moment, looking away from me. “Alice.” “How old are you?” Alice sniffled and turned towards me, her big blue eyes wide. “I'm eight…. Are we going to die?” I didn't flinch, meeting her terrified expression with a warm smile. “That’s not going to happen.” I assured her, trying my best to make her feel better. “I'm a smart guy, the kind that can come up with a way to get us outta here.” “Really?” She asked, the hope in her voice practically hurting me. I nodded, seeing her hopeful expression. “Yep. See that, over there?” I pointed at the other side of the room, a small key hanging on a hook a few feet off of the ground. “That’s our way outta here.” She blinked at it, before turning back to me. “How can we get it?” Frowning, I gave her a look. “Well… Here's the thing… I can't move this anymore.” I gave my prison a little heave in one direction for an example, the cage inching over as electricity suddenly arched from the bars into me, each one hitting like a Zeus bolt. “Hnnnnnggg!” I held in a scream, before slumping over as the electricity stopped. Alice gave a small worried scream at my pain. “Mister! Are you okay?” I chuckled tiredly as I stayed down, nodding a little as feeling came back to my body. “Shhheee?” I slurred, my tongue feeling numb. “He dishint do shat to yersh…” Alice shook her head. “I don't like where you're going with this.” “Yesh. Yer goinsh to needsh go getch shat key!” I finished with my numb tongue, giving her an encouraging smile as the feeling faded. “So can you be a brave little girl for me? Then we can go home.” “I…. I’ll try.” She whispered, nodding with determination. She quietly inched her cage across the room, us both flinching when the metal screeched overly loud at a few points. Reaching the wall, her prison hitting it with a loud clang, she poked her arm through the top and tried to get the key, one finger just barely nicking it. She gave me a look, jumping a little in an attempt to get it. “I can't reach it!” I frowned and nodded, putting a hand to my chin. “Try to flip your cage, it's longer than it is tall.” “Are you sure he won't hear?” Alice asked, looking at the steel door. “It's gonna be loud…” “Pfft! He won't, I'm sure.” I laughed, before explaining. “Dr. Crazy works on the other side of this mansion, probably because he likes being alone… And that I forced the guy to move his lab after singing Hooked on a Feeling every day at eight.” I shrugged. “Make as much noise as ya want.” It took a little effort, but Alice did flip her cage on its end, giving her the extra reach she needed to get the key. Quickly, she got out of her prison, running over to mine and freeing me. “Eeeewww… You stink!” She exclaimed, covering her nose. “Do you really think he'd let me use the bathroom?” I sighed, knowing all too well how bad I smelled. “The only thing he uses to clean up in here is a quick blast of water from his hands.” I shook my head, opening the door that led to the hallway. “Let's get outta here, kay?” “I knew I heard something.” A thoughtful voice came from the hall. “Simply marvelous. You can't seem to give up on escaping this place, even if I keep catching you.” “Run!” I yelled, picking up Alice and dashing in the opposite direction, only to be wrapped in a blue glow. “Damn it!” Alice wilted under the Dust's glare as he lifted us to him, making him chuckle cruelly. “Oh, don't be scared. I already have the preparations done, you should live after the ritual is completed.” He smiled widely, leading us down the hall into a small chamber with a magic circle etched into the stone floor. “I don't suppose I can get you to let us go home, can I?” I nervously asked as he placed me onto the edge of the circle, leaving a squirming Alice on the other end. Dust chuckled, the circle lighting up with green energy as a green blob oozed its way out of the center of it. “I believe that gives you your answer?” He smugly said as he stepped into it., the blob slowly growing to engulf him, it stopping at his neck. “And….. Start!” He yelled, the gelatinous thing suddenly growing to cover his head. After a moment of eerie silence, it shot out and latched onto both Alice and I. My head felt like it was going to burst as the blob forced its way into my ears and nose before I blacked out, a sharp scream echoing throughout the room. Change to 3rd POV. The blob dissolved Dust's body once it finished with Dakota, the old wizard finally in control of the younger man's body. Next, it moved onto Alice’s face, forcefully shoving itself into her nose and ears, her panicked eyes going cross-eyed as it shoved Dakota's mind inside the little girl. It gently lowered Alice onto the stone floor once it finished, going back into the center of the floor without a sound. Dust chuckled a little as he did a few experimental movements with his new body, finding it to be way more comfortable than his old one. “Ahhh….” He sighed, a few pops coming from him as he stretched. “Maybe I should've kept him in one of the guest bedrooms… There's some soreness in the lower back area….” He noted, before turning to the little girl, her small body twitching every so often as the two minds clashed against each other. “Fascinating… I wonder which one will be the dominant one.” He shrugged and picked the girl up, heading towards the guest bedroom. “Ah, no matter. This gives me the perfect opportunity to test the prototypes I've been working on.” He blinked, stopping for a moment. “Wait….Why am I saying this out loud? Eh, must be a side effect of the transfer.” He quickly and gently placed her onto the old bed once he got in the room, deciding to keep her there while he takes care of some experiments he had put on hold. Without a second thought, Dust left the room without locking the door behind him, knowing that the little girl won't be waking up anytime soon. A few days later... Once he got to the lab, he strapped the still unconscious girl face down onto the operating table. With a small frown, Dust dug around in the nearby cabinets for a moment, pulling out a small jar full of strange leech things. He stared at them briefly, remembering the disgusting method he used to create them. “It’s all going to be worth it….” Dust told himself, pushing aside the memories of screaming mothers. “I'll finally be able to go home and get my birthright….” He glanced at the girl on the table, a thoughtful smile on his face. “Maybe….. Maybe once I'm done, I'll raise her as my own. But first…” He sighed, placing the jar down and pulling another object out of the cabinet, the device's wiring all tangled up. “Gahhhh!!! How did this happen?!” Three very frustrating hours later. Dust chuckled exasperatedly as he finished untangling the copper prototype’s wires, each one sorted by which organ each is supposed to attach to. “Well…Heh, heh. That took longer than I wanted it to…” He scratched his chin, reviewing his old failure of a project. The device looked like it was some kind of clockwork nervous system, the windup mechanism made to attach to the lower section of the subject's spine already had its key inside. The theory behind this prototype was to keep its host dependant on whomever has its key, the only downside was that some of the parts need to be replaced every few months, or the host could... Dust shook his head at the thought, trying to remember why he didn't use it before, growling a little as he modified some bits. “There, that should work until I can make a more permanent one for her.” He then grabbed the tentacle jar and pulled out one, the little thing squirming wildly in his grip. “You are going to be the first step towards getting me home.” He told it with an excited smile, before grabbing a scalpel with his other hand and making a small incision into the little girl's left shoulder blade. Dust muttered a small incantation, making the cut glow a gentle green as he slowly inserted the tentacle. The little thing wiggled a little in protest, before willingly going deeper into the cut and making its home somewhere in the girl's body. Dust mumbled a little in thought, nodding and leaving the room, deciding to let the tentacle mature a bit before he implanted the prototype. Present day. Inside the changeling hive, just outside the entrance to the Pitt. The group had left the dining hall after the small feast. Luna, finally having the thought to have her guards help the changeling’s cleanup crew, sent her guards in squads to the most affected areas. Spoon and Chrysalis were ordered by Six Six to stay back in the castle with Dakota and her pets until either Late Thunder returns with the key, or when Luna finishes her trial. Luna was led by Six Six to the large pit on the southern side of the cavern, the only visible way to enter was the simple wooden elevator manned by a raggedy looking changeling. The poor drone had a large seeping crack on his right foreleg, the thing showing the green muscle below. “T-T-The trial is s-s-set up.” He stuttered out, his eyes wide as he pointed a shaky hoof at the Pitt. “W-Why did you w-want it out? Y-You can't believe h-how happy I am that it c-can’t fly.” Six Six raised a brow in concern. “Mulch, I hope It didn't give you too much trouble, did it? Mulch gave a shaky salute, flinching a bit. “N-No, sir… It's just that it came a little too c-close to getting me than I would've liked.” He showed them both the large crack on his side, a slow trickle of green blood coming from it. “It got a cheap s-shot in before I got it in the arena.” “Go and get that looked at, Mulch. I got the rest.” “Y-Yeah… I wish you the best of luck, princess.” Mulch told Luna before he limped away. Six Six sighed as he watched him leave, shaking his head. “Poor guy, he's been working here as a beast wrangler for about five years now. Not a job I would want.” He walked to the lever beside the elevator, giving Luna a look as she curiously peered over the edge of the Pitt. “You're not going to see anything from up here, enchantments to keep all of the flying creatures from leaving the place make it pitch black at a certain point in there.” Luna frowned at the darkness she saw. “What do we have to fight?” Six Six smiled widely, his sharp teeth gleaming. “It’s something the hive discovered during the construction of this place. I think you're really going to love it.” “... Well…?” “Oh! Er, uh, it's a crystal golem.” Six Six sheepishly added. “We have to do what!?” Luna yelled in disbelief, not using her Royal Canterlot volume. “How in the world did thee get an entire crystal golem?! We thought those were all destroyed long ago!” “I thought so too, until we dug one up.” Luna’s horn glowed brightly as she summoned her weapon, it still in its altered state from Dakota’s dream, the sword embedding itself into the ground in front of her. Grumbling a little that it wasn't her usual scythe, Luna levitated it into a ready position by her side. “What are the terms of this challenge?” She sighed, her left eye twitching a little. “And how many have perished to it?” “Three.” Six Six said without hesitation. “There's always a crew on standby if a match looks like it could end with a fatality. All you have to do is either beat it into submission, incapacitate, or kill it.” The lunar princess gave him a feral smile. “Hmmm…. This challenge, we believe, will be somewhat entertaining for us.” “Just hop into the elevator here and I'll lower it into the arena.” Six Six smiled in excitement as he announced through the hive link that the match is about to begin. “It'll take only a few minutes to reach the bottom once I flip this lever. Are you ready?” “We are.” Luna gave another feral smile, taking her place on the elevator. “Good luck, princess.” Six Six pushed the lever, sending Luna down into the Pitt. “....Not that you're gonna need it, heh.” He muttered a few minutes later as he observed her decent. “We heard that!” Luna’s voice echoed, making the fake king jump back in surprise. Six Six took a few steps away from the Pitt as his horn lit up, the hive link telling him that Late Thunder is back with the windup key. With Luna. The lunar princess allowed herself a moment to be baffled once the elevator hit the bottom, the scene before her raising many questions. “What…..in the world?” The eight foot tall, pegasus shaped construct of various crystals and long lost magic, was chasing a single butterfly that had somehow found its way down here. It kept chasing after the bug with its mouth open wide, as if trying to eat it, before slamming hard into the granite wall. At this, Luna saw the large chunk missing from the left side of its head. “Wonderful. Just wonderful….” Luna dryly muttered to herself. “It has brain damage, that's how they've kept it down here for so long! It has the mentality of a foal!” At the yell, the golem looked over to the princess and smiled. “Hiiii!” It stupidly greeted, waving a glowing hoof at the dumbstruck princess. “Iz tink Iz broked teh pretty ting!” “....Thou can talk?” Luna curiously asked, keeping her weapon out of sight. “Yeah!” It nodded its head vigorously. “Iz learded allz by myzelf!” It proudly stated, before giving the princess a thoughtful look, the missing part of its head sparking. “Youz…. Iz seez youz ‘forez…?” It closed its eyes for a moment as it tried to remember, before suddenly glaring at her, its green eyes turning red. “Luna….. Teh king wantez youz dead…” “Then come at us!” Luna yelled as she threw her sword at the back of its head, only for it to harmlessly bounce off the crystalline skin. The golem laughed at the attempt. “Hah! Iz getz youz nowz! Rahhhh!” It roared, its wings pointing at the princess and firing two continuous beams of light at her. Luna dodged them with ease, the beams making the ground explode a few seconds later. Taking to the air, she was assaulted with crystal feathers, most of them being shot out of the golem’s wings, that cut into her skin like little daggers whenever she failed dodge even one. “Ah! Thou….!” She kept herself from screaming out once her wings got hit, making her crash hard against the stone floor, her head painfully hitting the wall with a loud crack. “Hah! Prinzezz is bleedin’!” It laughed with a cruel smile, its mouth shifting into a sharp toothed monstrosity. “Diz migh’ be eazier than Iz thoughz!” It took a few steps toward the downed princess, a few crystal feathers piercing her wings, not noticing the pink glowing sword behind him. Luna saw it, frowning a little as she looked up at the golem. “Thou might want to turn around.” It laughed. “Iz may beez stoopid, but iz not dat stoopid!” The sword started floating upwards as the golem started its rant, the glow engulfing it suddenly shot towards the ground and vanished, the floor rippling a little from where it hit. Almost immediately, the arena started to distort itself into an endless expanse of darkness, a single cherry blossom tree and large lake growing into existance out of the ground right where the sword was. Two moons and a rainbow colored sun suddenly appeared in the sky of the strange realm. One moon was a deep purple crescent on the left side of the sun, whereas its opposite was a pure white, whole orb to the right side of the sun. The golem turned around, confused at what’s happening around it. Suddenly, a single pink sword made of energy pierced the center of the golem’s face, stopping at its hilt. “Aaaahhhhh! Blade! In! Face! Whyyyyy!” The golem screamed in confusion, somehow managing to sound even more stupid. A white robed mare appeared in a flurry of cherry blossoms, six pink wings made of thousands of the various colored glowing petals flowing from her back. Her white furred head had two small horns that turned a deep black towards their tips. The mare's milky white eyes blankly stared ahead, the sight of which made Luna think she was blind. “Hmmm….” The mare blinked, a small scowl on her lips as she grumbled to herself a little. “Why am I here…..?” “Whoz youz? Iz doeznt afraid of anydang!” The golem charged at the mare, its forehooves turning into blades. The mysterious mare only perked an ear at the golem as it quickly approached, her blank eyes seemingly focusing on the dumbstruck princess before she started to slowly walk in her direction. “Scattter….” Her quiet voice echoed throughout the void, a thousand colossal blades emerging from the air around the golem, forming a prison around the doomed being. “That's it! I'm going to ask her what she did to Moonshine!” Luna screamed in her head, thinking about all the things that could go wrong. The blades suddenly disintegrated into more flower petals, all of them converging onto the golem in one quick swoop, it screaming in pain as it was torn apart piece by piece, cell by cell. It ended as fast as it began, all of the petals dissipating and showing the few ground up crystals in a pile. The mysterious pony practically teleported in front of Luna once she finished with the golem, the arena turning back to normal in a few moments, before the mare glowed and turned back into the sword. Luna stared at it for a moment, picking it up when she deemed it safe. “Well… that was definitely a surprise.” “Princess!” A changeling screamed as it flew down towards her, another one following close behind her. “What happened?! Your sword just did something crazy!” “Silver, quiet down.” The other one calmly spoke up. “But it just made a dome of magic!” Silver yelled in awe, pointing at the sword. “We couldn't see anything inside of it!” She started drooling as she stared at it. “The work put into it….. Mmhh! Can I buy it off of you!” “Uh, no.” Luna shook her head with an unsure laugh, wincing as the crystal feathers dissolved and left a few gaping holes in her wings. “Though, we believe that our wings need to be tended to…” With Silver Spoon, inside the royal bedroom. “What took you so long?!” Spoon yelled, glaring at the pegasus pegasus guard. “I heard you say that you're the fastest one here! It took you two hours!” “I am.” Late Thunder began, lazily holding up a hoof when the filly tried to interrupt. “In my defence, I did get there in a few minutes.” He yawned as he pulled the key out of a pocket in his armor. “I just had to take the long way back, there was a black cat, you see….?” “Ugh…. Fine, just give me that.” One of Spoon's eyes twitched as she kept from facehooving, taking the key from the dumb guard. “Seriously, how did you get hired?” Thunder laughed, his mask preventing the filly from seeing most of his face. “Because I am pretty good at what I do.” He told her as he pulled a small book out of nowhere, quickly starting to read it. Chrysalis, still in her disguise, spoke up. “Spoon, let's just wake Dakota up, okay? No need to be trying to start a fight with the guard.” Spoon sighed, nodding as she moved to the unconscious girl’s side. “Alright, let's hope that she's going to be fine when she wakes up.” Alice, from her seat by the door, looked up from the book she was reading. “She should be fine, if a little grumpy.” She told them with a small smile. “Are you sure?” Spoon curiously asked, giving the hybrid a small frown. “The other key melted into the device…” “For the most part, I think? I did some searching around while I was up in there.” Alice shrugged, pointing at her head. “She’s pretty much an expert on just about anything magical, evil or otherwise.” “Really?” “Yup, I'm pretty sure if anything tried possessing her, heh, it'd be in for a shock.” She laughed, smiling widely as she remembered something. “I'm going to bet that that key was like some kind of thing in her nerdy comics, I think it was called Venom.” Frowning, she added, “I think?” “That doesn't sound good.” Chrysalis narrowed her eyes her. “What is it?” “Uh, I dunno…. All I remember was that it's weaknesses are sound and fire.” Alice held a clawed hand to her chin as she tried to remember. “Though, it was much bigger than what we saw….. Huh….” She shook her head, throwing her hands up in defeat. “Whatever, let's just wake her up already! I have some questions for her anyways.” “Alright, alright.” Spoon raised an eyebrow at the hybrid girl, before inserting the key into Dakota's back, the mechanism sparking a little. “Whoa!” “Uh, that supposed to happen?” Thunder asked, his one visible eye widening a little. “It didn't happen the last time.” Spoon replied, worried for the unconscious girl. “I guess I just turn this…” She hesitantly turned the key once, a few more sparks shooting out. Inside of Dakota's mind. Her POV. I blinked as I was broken from the flashbacks by a loud click, startling both Shade and I, causing the few I haven't seen stay forgotten. Groaning a little at the sudden dizzy feeling, I looked around, trying to calm down from the terror I felt from the memories I saw. Shade quickly helped me up, before hurriedly taking a few steps away from me. “Mama, I have to go back to my room before you wake up. Just call for me when you need something broken…” She ran away before I could stop her, her form vanishing into a nearby shadow. “Odd… I thought she'd stay with you.” Nightmare nonchalantly said as she took a few steps toward me, putting a wing over my shoulders. “Well, you said that you'd help me with my revenge plans. So I suppose I'll let you stay in control for a bit while I make said plans.” Before I could say anything, another click echoed throughout my mindscape, causing both Nightmare and I to start fading. Nightmare seemed a bit surprised as the final click came even faster than the previous one, us both blacking out as the fading consumed us. The next thing I knew, I felt like I was suffocating as I took a deep breath, hearing a few panicking voices as I woke up. Groaning, I slowly pushed myself onto my back, an object popping out of the keyhole as I moved with a loud click. With my eyes still closed, head pounding, I spoke up in English. “Am I still in the hive?” “Yep.” Alice confirmed, popping the p, taking advantage that she’s the only other one that speaks English. “Still here. The princess is here, er, Luna?” There was a silence as she thought about it. “Yeah, its Luna.” “Heh, she do the whole ‘thee and thou’ thing?” Alice smiled as I opened my eyes to look at her. “Yeah, I think it makes her seem more royal. She even has this whole….feel about her, legit princess stuff.” “You should see her sister. Complete showoff, with hints of motherly love.” I chuckled a little at the memory of her first impression. “Instead of teleporting the normal way, like I've seen Twilight do a few times, Celestia freaking does this whole ‘gliding down from the heavens’ thing with a whole squad of guards.” I winced a little. “They, uh, heard me call her that, thanks to a botched translation spell.” Alice visibly tried to not laugh at the story, only to laugh really hard. “Can you two please speak in a way the rest of us can understand?” A masked pegasus spoke dryly asked from his position by the wall, a familiar orange book held by his wing. “Goddammit….. Kakashi as a pony, never thought I'd see that. Who’s next? Pein? Mr.T? …..Q?” I sighed in my head, forcing a small smile. “Okay. I don't word good, dough” A few chuckles came from the obvious ninja. “It's fine, kid.” “What I miss?” I asked, sitting up and letting my sore tentacles stretch out, a few pops coming from their base in my back. “Ooohhhh, that felt nice.” “Weeeellll….” Alice hesitantly started, making a face. “Luna….. Sort ooofff…. Accidentally.... Made a quarter of the ceiling crush the hive.” “That…. bucking Idiot!” Nightmare’s voice yelled in my head, making my headache to grow even worse. I took a deep breath, trying really hard to not facepalm. “How?” “She…. Yelled.” Alice winced, scratching her head. “Just my luck….” I groaned, dramatically falling back onto the bed. “Let's hope there won't be a war.” Meanwhile….. A certain thick headed unicorn guard was walking alone through some of the hive’s many alleyways, grumbling not so quietly to himself and offending any changeling he came across. Finding a good spot out of sight, he sat down and pulled out an old pipe and a little baggie of some kind of blue plant from a hidden compartment in his breastplate. “These bucking bugs…. Solaire’s going to have a field day with these things.” He chuckled lowly to himself, a sinister smile on his face as he packed the blue leaves into the pipe. “Welp, it's not my problem.” He sighed as he lit it with a quick burst of flame, taking a long drag from the pipe and blowing out a little smoke ring. “Oh? What is this? A royal guard using something that is illegal in Equestria?” Oculus amusedly asked as she popped into existence right in front of him, having been following the idiot since he made his dislike for her species well known. “I wonder if I should tell the princess about your little… problem.” He coughed a little in surprise, the pipe falling out of his mouth and landing onto the ground. Oculus took advantage of the moment to quickly grab it, examining its contents with a few quick sniffs. “I was right! This is the very same stuff some of the smarter diamond dog slavers pump into the mines to keep their slaves nice and docile, some very addictive stuff.” She hummed a little in thought. “Needed a little something extra to calm you down, eh?” “Hey! You bucking bug…. You are going to get it!” He growled out, taking a swing at the scout, only to suck and deliver a powerful kick to his head, just hitting the base of his horn. “Gah! Sonuva! You are gonna regret this….!” He hissed out as the mare pinned him to the ground with a few quick movements. “Help! The bugs are attacking!” He yelled as loud as he could, only for an eerie silence to greet him in response. “Noponies’ gonna hear you while I keep my silence spell up, but feel free to try again, if you want, I love it when my prey screams.” Oculus gave him a toothy grin, making her teeth appear like knives. “I am soooo going to enjoy what I am going to do with you. Kind of hard to use magic after smokin’ that stuff, isn't it?” She chuckled, pushing a little harder on his left foreleg. “Oh, and just so you know, WE ARE CHANGELINGS! NOT BUGS!” A loud crack signaled that she broke his leg, the guard visibly shaking as he held back his scream of agony, not wanting to show weakness to his tormentor. Oculus blinked in surprise, he was tougher than she expected. “Huh… What's your name? I might as well know the name of the pony to top my list at record speed.” She calmly asked, giving his broken leg another press and earning a hiss in response. “It's Jagged Edge, you. mother. bucking. Insect!” He growled, his attacker’s hoof cracking against his horn. “Aaaahhhhh!” He screamed as his horn cracked at the base, stars of pain appearing in his vision. “Hmmm…. What was that?” Oculus asked in fake concern, putting a free hoof against her lips in thought as her horn flared up for a brief moment. “Oh, say nighty night!” She chuckled and slammed his head for a final time, managing to knock the piece of trash out. “Take him to the catacombs, make sure nopony will find him.” Six Six said as he came into the alley, another changeling following close behind the false ruler. “Mirror Image will take his first assignment as a newly graduated spy; Taking his place.” Mirror gave the unconscious guard a distasteful glance, a disgusted grimace on his face at the sight of the greasy coat. “Do I really have to? He makes me feel gross just by looking at him, just imagine what it would it be like being him.” He gagged a little. “He even smells horrible… Guuurk!” “Too bad.” Six Six deadpanned, giving the new guy a look. “Look, it's either you or no one, and we can't really let a guard mysteriously disappear. It won't look very good for us.” Mirror let out a shuddering sigh, shaking a little. “Okay, okay, geez… Way to put the fate of the hive in my hooves like that….” He groaned, quickly transforming into Jagged Edge and letting out another disgusted groan once he finished in a flare of green fire. “Ugh, I feel like I've been rolling around in bacon grease….” “Yep, you're a real hero, alright….” Oculus sighed, her faith in this plan sinking to abysmal levels.