//------------------------------// // 17 - Detainment // Story: Fallout: Equestria - War Does Change // by tom117z //------------------------------// Chapter 17: Detainment “Welcome to the hive…” Ugh, why is the sky made of metal…? I mean, it’s all grey and… boring. But at least it’s not brown, so there is a plus side to the change in colouration. It’s still a bit boring though. I had expected a bright blue, like in those old pre-war posters and such. Maybe there is no such thing as outer space, and the world is in one big metal box… Or maybe I’m just in a metal room, that works too. And really, I was waking up with the most pounding of headaches. And I thought getting hit by a grenade was bad, what was in that- Gas. We were gassed. And like that, I was sat bolt upright and more attentive than I had ever been in my entire life. We were in Stable 84. We’d made it! But there was a changeling! And he was in stable security barding or something and he looked all ‘Oh shit!’ and then… He’d gassed us, locked us in and gassed us. I’d… thought that had been it, the end. But now… My friends! I gave a frantic look over of the room I was in. Or should I say prison cell, because that’s exactly what it was. It was an unfurnished completely square room with zero comforts or bedding to speak of. The floor, three of the walls and the roof were the same grey metal that the rest of the stable was made from. The fourth wall, well, it wasn’t a wall as much as it was a door. A large door with a pane of probably bullet-proof glass revealing the next room over. But I left the examination of that until after I addressed the pissed off looking unicorn in the room. “Welcome back to the world of the living,” Cobalt dryly greeted me. “Again.” He was alive! Like me! And that would mean… Wait. Where was Stripe? “Where’s Stripe!?” I suddenly shouted, getting up off of my ass and trying to enter a battle-ready pose. Too bad I was still reeling from my impromptu gassing, and immediately fell back down. “Hay, take it easy Action Colt,” Cobalt deadpanned, though with the barest tinge of concern in his voice. How nice of him. “As for Stripe, I don’t know. I woke up a short while ago.” “Yeah…” I muttered, grasping my head with my hooves. “You feeling this too?” “It’ll wear off,” he promised. “But I haven’t seen a hair of Stripe since regaining consciousness. Or any changelings, for that matter. They’ve just left us in here.” Well, at least they didn’t kill us. But they had taken Stripe! What were they doing to her!? By Celestia, if they hurt her… “We need to leave,” I announced, taking a stock of my equipment. I still had my barding and my PipBuck, so that was good. My saddlebags were also in the room, so I grabbed them and made a quick parse through my PipBuck’s inventory screen. Food, some of our remaining medical supplies… No weapons. “I’ve checked, they’ve left us everything but our guns,” Cobalt stated. “Probably just took them and haphazardly shoved us in here while they decide what to do with us.” “You would think that they’d take everything…” “Clearly they don’t do this very often.” Deep underground in a hive full of ghouls… no wonder. “So, about leaving? You can teleport out, right?” “Riiiight, because I’d never have thought of that without you,” he said with a small amount of sarcasm directed right at me. “Tried it when I saw the lack of guards. Got magical feedback as a result. Don’t light your horn in here, there are magic suppression talismans buried in these walls.” Duly noted. “There must be a way…” I muttered, walking up to the door and pressing up against the glass. The room outside seemed to be some sort of security office. There was a desk with a flickering terminal in one corner of the room, and the far wall was lined with lockers. The exit sat on the opposite wall from, as did a window that probably overlooked the stable hallway beyond. However, the window was obscured by the shut blinds. Trying to peer to the left, I think there were also a couple more cells next to ours, with us being in the far right one. Or would it be far left, if you were facing us…? Whatever. “Maybe Stripe’s in one of the other cells?” I suggested. “Maybe,” he replied. “But we can’t know for sure. It wouldn’t surprise me if these cells are soundproofed too.” “Well, there must be a way!” I shouted as I gave the glass an experimental buck. …Fuck. That… really hurt. I know I’ve never been the strongest stallions but… Ouch. And just to rub it in, the little bars next to my hind legs on my PipBuck’s status screen seemed to decrease quite significantly. Oh, and don’t you give me that flat look, Cobalt! “I’ve looked around for access points,” Cobalt explained. “Anything I might be able to hack and exploit. But there’s no panels or anything in here, Stable-Tec clearly thought it through. No locks for you to pick either.” “Well… horseapples.” This really was not our day, or the next day if the date on my PipBuck was any indication. And Stripe… was she even alive? Or had the poison taken her by now? No, she’s alive. She had to be… “I think we just have to wait until the changelings come for us,” Cobalt said, albeit reluctantly. “Maybe we can talk to them then. But at least it may be easier to make a run for it once they’ve opened the cell.” “Well… how do we pass the time then?” There didn’t seem to be much for us to do in here... Ah! The radio! I brought up my PipBuck and switched to the radio tab. But as I tried to switch to DJ Pon-3, nothing but static greeted me… “No signal down here,” Cobalt explained with a shake of his head. “We’re too deep. Either that, or it’s the cell. Or both.” “You’re the egghead, you tell me.” “Unless I take a look at the stable’s internal systems, this is all educated guessing,” he rebutted. “But there’s always the memory orb you snagged from Chrysalis’ room. Ah, I had forgotten about that. I retrieved the orb, giving the shiny magical object a good looking over. Well, it was better than nothing. “Try and wake me if the changelings come back.” “I’m not sure if I can.” Well, what else was I to do? I made the connection, and then I watched as Cobalt and the prison cell melted away. Okay, this was new… I was thankfully a stallion this time, judging by the presence of certain parts. But I also noted the chitin and broad purple eyes staring back at me from the mirror, which was odd from what I had briefly seen of other changeling drones and their bright blue eyes. But still, I was definitely a changeling drone nonetheless. Oh, right… ‘Legate Wrede, assassination’. The orb had been tagged. I was about to watch this changeling kill someone. But for now, the changeling was just staring and his own reflection in this mirror. He appeared to be in some fancy looking bathroom, with shiny polished wood panelling lining the walls. He closed his eyes for a moment, and everything went dark. I could hear him taking in some deep breaths, before opening them again and glancing at his hooves. There was a dead zebra there. The zebra was in a red legionnaire’s uniform, his dead eyes wide open and staring lifelessly into space. The changeling stripped him of a small sidearm and clothes before dragging his body into one of the cubicles, stuffing it inside before closing the door and using his magic to lock it. And what came next felt… tingly. Not unlike being held in somepony’s magic aura, I guess. But my vision went perfectly green, and when everything became normal again the changeling- Er, zebra looked into a mirror? I guess they really do shapeshift. He’d taken the form of the zebra he’d killed. Next, he slipped the uniform onto himself and holstered the dead soldier’s pistol for good measure. Taking a moment to give himself a look of satisfaction in the mirror, the changeling then left the bathroom and stepped into the hallway beyond. It was just as expensive looking as the bathroom. A lush red carpet coated the floor, and the structure was made up of wood. At least on the surface, who knew what was behind those panels. Several zebras were also patrolling the halls, several of them wielding battle saddles far deadlier than the little pea shooter strapped to the infiltrator’s leg. But the changeling just walked down the hallway with no hesitation, and with no indication that he didn’t belong. A few of the other soldiers even seemed to give him respectful nods as he passed them by. Or at least, they nodded the person they thought he was. I guess he’d killed someone who’d been pretty well respected around there… The infiltrator turned a corner and peered directly at a doorway midway down the next corridor. There was a rather large and ornate set of double doors guarded by two huge zebra stallions in full armour and miniguns strapped to their sides. Really, would those guys even need Equestrian power armour? But the guards didn’t seem to bother the infiltrator at all. Instead, he was looking at the two talismans flanking either side of the door, just behind the two guards. He then turned away from the corridor and approached another doorway, and upon opening it I saw that the space beyond was far less decorated. The walls were just bare concrete, and a flickering light hung from the ceiling, illuminating the metal staircase leading downwards. The changeling just slipped on in and followed the stairs down until the sound of rumbling generators became audible. He emerged into an industrial looking space, large generators filling up most of it with a few zebras in technicians’ outfits examining the equipment while a single guard watching them work. Several booths sat around the room, unfamiliar robots sitting idly within. The guard saw me, or rather the changeling, and spoke to them in an unfamiliar language. Unfamiliar, and yet one I was somehow able to comprehend. Was that because of the memory orb? “Sir, what are you doing down here?” the zebra asked as he stood to attention, looking surprised. “This is no place for-” “I will decide what place is and isn’t for me, and I simply wish to examine the work of our local Propoli,” the changeling responded back in fluent zebra. “Y-yes, of course,” the soldier corrected quickly, stepping aside. “As you wish!” The changeling looked towards the engineers. “Propoli, I trust all is well?” “Yes, perfectly!” one of the engineers, perhaps the most senior, responded. “Nothing but the best for the Legate!” “Good,” the changeling responded. “I also understand you received replacement parts for damaged equipment.” The Propoli engineers looked between each other nervously. “Y-yes. Everything checked out, though I’m not sure why the parts were ordered. Everything is fine here.” The infiltrator hummed in feigned suspicion. “Hm, I wish to examine them. Soldier, assist me!” The soldier gave his confirmation, and then led the disguised changeling over to a small pile of crates sat nearby to a wall terminal of similar design to its Equestrian counterparts. What was this bug up to? The infiltrator looked between the crates and idly glanced back at the engineers as they gathered to watch, clearly hoping they don’t earn the faux zebra’s ire. The changeling then turned back to the crates, choosing one of them and bringing it forth. With the soldier’s help, he opened it up and began to inspect the contents. It all seemed to be pretty standard looking piles of scrap to me, Celestia knows I’ve seen enough of it in my lifetime. But then the infiltrator spied something in the bottom, and with a hoof… opened a secret panel? “Hm, look at this…” he said to the soldier. A solider who never even had a chance to shout as the changeling brought out a silenced 10mm pistol and blew his brains out. The engineers gave a start. A couple of them froze in fear, one tried to run while the fourth attempted to reach for a large red button on the wall. Was he going to activate the robots? Sound an alarm? Both? I never found out. He gunned them all down within seconds, the only thing reaching that button being a few drops of a blood splatter. I… I could understand the soldier but… Those others, they hadn’t been fighters. They were just doing a job, working the machines… And he’d murdered them without a second thought. Indifferent to his crime, the infiltrator moved back to the crate and recovered a small talisman from the compartment. He then moved over to the terminal and hooked the small device to it, causing the screen to flicker and distort momentarily before bypassing the password screen without needing to even hack the device. With access gained, the changeling began to scroll through the options. I couldn’t read them, though. It seemed the orb’s translations didn’t extend to text. He selected something, and he grinned. “I guess ponies can be useful,” he muttered as he took the talisman from the terminal and crushed it under hoof. “No more magic detection for them.” The changeling took a look at his silenced pistol, and then just discarded it casually. He departed from the room, heading back upstairs and into the hallway again, the zebras beyond unaware of what had just transpired. Confidently, the changeling headed down the previous hallway and up to the guarded door. The guards studied him for a minute, but they didn’t otherwise move a muscle. He walked on through the massive doorway, barely even glancing at the now inert talismans. Beyond the doorway was a large dining hall. A dining table spanned the room with a single occupant, carvings of various zebra figures I didn’t recognise decorated the room while a large window that would usually look out of the building was obscured by red velvet curtains. The zebra within was a well-built stallion in decorated armour that clearly identified him as Legate Wrede, and he even smiled as he saw the changeling enter. “Ah, son,” he greeted. “Come, come. I was waiting for you.” “Is there anything new with the ponies?” the changeling asked in false interest, moving towards the Legate. The Legate hummed, looking down at a large map sprawled across the table. “An Atori fleet was attacked by the ponies, led by the HMS Celestia. Only one ship returned, and the survivors suggest an imminent strike at one of our ports. The question the Caesar wants me to find out is: which one?” The changeling stood next to the zebra now. “And, Father? Do you know where we must go?” “I’m close,” he responded, gesturing to a few spots on the map. “If we can intercept the fleet before it arrives, we can both save the port and I won’t have to pull any of our troops from Equestria’s borders to defend it.” “And what does the shaman think?” The Legate sighed. “The shaman speaks in riddles. Though she seems to believe the spirits around us are growing restless. That is… troubling.” “Indeed, for they are smarter than you,” the changeling replied as a green flash surrounded his body and ripped away the veneer and the uniform he was wearing. The Legate didn’t even have time to react as the changeling pounced on him, and I felt a warm sensation fill his body and accumulate in his mouth. Magical energies began to radiate from the zebra, who could only weakly groan as he… Oh Luna, he was just shrivelling up! As I watched, it was like his body aged decades at a time until it all but mummified, and little of the Legate remained. He was dead. The changeling gave a sadistic little chuckle, licking his lips as… Wow, OK. This body was suddenly feeling really strong all of a sudden. “I get a belly full of love, and the ponies get to blow up a port and draw zebras away from Equestria,” he mused to himself, another flash enveloping him, and he next spoke with the Legate’s voice. “I love this arrangement.” He then took the Legate’s clothes as well as his face, before walking out of the room as if nothing had happened. When I emerged from the orb I couldn’t help but feel a little… disturbed by what I had seen. So far, from the memories I’d collected, I’d seen an indifferent and cold queen that was Chrysalis; and yet I’d also seen that same queen show both anger and fear for her people long before the former event ever occurred. I’d seen first hoof the fear in that security guard’s eyes as he put us to sleep, but the drone I’d just seen… He’d been different. He had enjoyed himself as he killed those zebras. Stealing the love energy from the Legate and bleeding him dry. Was what I’d seen… the mindset of the individual, or was this what I could expect from all the changelings? But whichever one it was, I think I could see why Chrysalis thought the ministries would be interested in allying with the hive. The infiltrator’s brutality aside, the mix of changeling shapeshifting and Equestrian tech and planning had been… devastating for the zebras. I could only imagine the loss of Wrede had caused havoc for their forces. But… I couldn’t get his attitude out of my head. It was a mindset far too many ponies had out in the Equestrian Wasteland. Were all the infiltrators really like that? Were- Only now did I realise that I was not in the prison cell anymore. Crap. Examining my new surroundings, I realised I was now sat in a chair and had been slumped against a cold metal table. The room was larger than the cell, though still largely enclosed and bland. A large mirror sat on one wall, and I could see a single green bar on my Eyes Forward Sparkle. And Cobalt was not here. In one shadowy corner of the room, almost completely concealed aside from her green eyes, was a changeling. The changeling was tall, her irises almost cat-like as those slits stared over at me curiously. As I peered into the darkness, I could just make out a large jagged horn that looked like it could cut me to ribbons with ease. It was her. “So, you waken,” the regal voice noted. “I must apologise for your… greeting. My changelings have not seen a situation like this for two hundred years. And our… state did not help the guards’ nerves or rash actions.” “State?” I questioned, not taking my eyes off of the figure, wondering if I could make a break for it if I needed to. “Yes, I’m afraid the lack of love energies has made us quite weak over the past two centuries since the stable door was shut tight,” she explained. “The reserve we have left was only for when the door opened, which it now has thanks to you.” So… they’d been trapped in here? But the door had opened just fine for us! “But now, for the first time in generations, my changelings feast on love and are becoming strong again,” the changeling announced with no small amount of happiness in her voice. “But the reserve reservoir will only last for so long, which is why I feel that we must talk, little pony.” “My name is Scrap Heap,” I corrected her, before shooting the shadow a smile that was far more confident than I was actually feeling. “Chrysalis.” The figure blinked, and she then gave a small wry chuckle. “Chrysalis? I can see why you would think so, but I’m afraid not.” Huh? But… The figure emerged from the shadows, and I finally got a good look at the Changeling Queen. She had a long teal and partially transparent mane that seemed decently well groomed and largely covered her right eye, though it was still partially visible due to its transparent nature. “Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am the Overmare of Stable 84, Insidiis,” she greeted cordially. “Daughter of Queen Chrysalis, and Princess of the Equestrian Hive.” Footnote: Halfway to Level…