The moon was at it's peak, bathing the forest below in a soft glow. A shape quickly darted between the trees and rocks avoiding the light as much as possible till it stopped at a small cave hidden by shrub. Stepping carefully into the light at the cave mouth the shape revealed it's to be a Changeling drone carrying a small bag in it's mouth. The drone lifted up a foreleg and knocked three small and two large taps against the cave mouth.
In the darkness two pairs of red eyes appeared, "Dragonfly," one of the eye pairs said.
The Changeling said something back but it was muffled by the bag in it's mouth.
"What?" the other eye pair said.
Taking the bag out the drone said, "Wings,"
The two eye pairs walked forward revealing two more drones though the left one was a little bigger and wearing some sort of armor.
"Did you get it Darter?" asked the larger Changeling.
"Yes, it wasn't easy. I think I may have alerted a Thestral patrol but I'm not entirely sure," Darter said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Shaking his head, the larger Changeling turned to the drone on his right, "Spotter, keep a lookout. If Thestrals are looking for us we need to ready to move right away,"- he turned to Darter -"Come on Darter, Seeker is waiting for us."
The larger drone and Darter moved deeper into the cave while Spotter climbed up the wall saying in the shadows till he had a good look outside.
The two Changelings entered a bigger area with about 15 Changelings sleeping or keeping watch. A tall Changeling stallion meet them at the entryway.
He bore a resemblance to a Royal Changeling but had a tall, large fin instead of a mane, and a tail like that of a drone, just longer and wider towards the tip. His eyes were red and his back plate was silver in color, all the Changelings around them shared the same eyes and back plate colors.
"Rhino, Darter, did you get it?" he asked.
"Yes Seeker, I got it," Darter said as he give the bag to Seeker. Taking it with his magic, Seeker opened the bag and looked inside, finding a hayburger and hayfries.
"Sorry its not much but that's all I could grab before I had to hightail out of there," Darter said.
"It's better than nothing and this should be enough to get our Prince on his hooves." Seeker said as he closed the bag. "Come, let us wake our Prince.
He turned and walked into a smaller camber with Rhino and Darter right behind. In the center of the camber was a cocoon holding a young Royal Changeling stallion with a silver back plate, red mane and tail, and four red dragonfly-like wings. Seeker walked up to the cocoon.
"Time to wake my Prince,"
He carefully placed the tip of his horn against the cocoon and slowly channeled some magic into it. Cracks started to form from the center to the edges until it split open. Green goo fell to the floor while the Changeling within slipped into Seeker's waiting forelegs. He lowered the Royal to the floor as the Royal groaned, both from soreness and relief as he took in fresh air for the first time in a long time.
"My Prince? Prince Dragonfly, how do you feel?" Darter asked, concerned.
"I feel like crap. I can't see, I'm starving, and I'm numb all over," Prince Dragonfly said rubbing his head and opening his red eyes.
"Your eye sight and feeling will return in a few minutes, as for food we are low on love rations but we do have some solid food," Rhino said as brought the food bag over.
After Dragonfly had eaten and recovered his sight and feeling, he stood up and started stretching.
"How long have I been in that cocoon?"
"A full year," Seeker said.
"A full year?" Dragonfly asked, Seeker nodded grimly.
"What the status of the hives? From the fact that I'm standing here talking to you I'm guessing its not good," Dragonfly asked.
"Worst, much worst." Seeker sighed and continued. "The hives are gone, the Royals except you are dead or missing, Queen Chrysalis is confirmed dead, the remain Changelings are either fighting each other over scraps of love, food and water, and the Ponies are hunting for any Changelings still in Equestria."
"The invasion was a total disaster, if Chrysalis had kept an eye on her prisoners instead of gloating, she would have won," Rhino said shaking his head.
"She never did play with a full deck, and the hives turned on their Royals and each other in a two month civil war, nothing remains of the Changeling Kingdoms now," Darter said resting his face against his hoof.
"Its THAT bad?! First-Mother, I knew it was going to be bad but not that bad," Dragonfly said shocked.
There was a pause, finally Dragonfly spoke, "What's our status?"
"We only have around 15 Changelings, mostly drones, plus us and 30 nymphs, love rations are low, we have enough to last for a while but we should gather more love as soon as we can,"
"What are you orders my Prince?" Rhino asked.
"Well first off we need a good spot for a hive of our own, we can't go back to the Kingdoms, nothing remains for us there and the Guard most likely is watching the boarder closely, the major cities like Baltimare, Fillydelphia, Manehatten, and definitely Canterlot are out of the question." He paused tipping his chin. "There is one spot I can think of but... you guys wouldn't like it,"
The three Changelings looked at each other for a few minutes, before their eyes went so wide Dragonfly was honestly surprised they didn't pop out of their sockets.
"You can't be serious sir," Darter said on the verge of panic.
"Sir, with the most possible amount of respect, THAT location is just as bad as any of the cities if not worst!" Rhino Shouted.
"Dragonfly, you know as well as I do what or rather, who lives in that town," Seeker said with panic in his voice.
"Okay first panicking is not allowed, second we don't have any other spot as good for emotional energy as that town, it's the easiest place for the Gathers to get that energy there and as long as their careful, they only have to worry about a single pony, third I didn't say IN the town, the forest next to it, I know its full of danger but acts as a barrier if we need it, and fourth-"
Dragonfly was cut off when Spotter suddenly shouted over the hive mind;
ALARM!! THESTRAL PATROL HEADED THIS WAY!!! Two Horned, three Cave, and four Winged, wait... OH BUCK BLACK DEATH IS LEADING THEM!!!
BLACK DEATH!!? THE PRINCE SAYS MOVE OUT OF HERE! Dragonfly yelled over the hive mind zooming into the main chamber like Pinkie Pie on a caffeine high.
On your hooves! Get the nymphs out through the back passage! Seeker, Rhino, Spotter and I will lead them away.
Wait, WHAT?!
You want us to draw away an ELITE Thestral and his squad? Well... Buck!
Didn't you once bite a Thestral on the tail Prince?
Yes I did and I'm still top priority that Thestral's hit list, now we need to move, Seeker, Rhino, and Spotter with me, everybuggy else, the back passage GO GO GO GO!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The two Horned Thestrals stalked forward slowly, their horns giving a harsh yellow glow. they wore armor similar to the standard Night Guard but with a saddle and a ring at the base of their horns, both had several glowing yellow crystals fitted to them. Behind them the Cave Thestrals kept looking left and right on full alert, their legs were more heavily armored than the rest of their bodies with a number of yellow crystals fitted to them. The Winged Thestrals brought up the rear, their armor was no different from the standard Night Guard armor.
In the center of the group was a large winged Thestral, a good head taller than his squad. His armor covered more of his body leaving only his jaw and eyes exposed, over his left eye was a black colored gem stone, a cape-like cloth that covered his plot and tail, three scars on the left side of his lower jaw, and a gold left fang. His armor had several medals on the breast plate.
The large Thestral held out a wing and the squad stopped, he tiled his head upwards and sniffed the air. Looking forward the corners of his mouth pulled back into a slasher smile.
"Let the hunt begin,"