Canterlot
Royal Palace
Black Death walked along the halls towards the throne room. He and his squad had arrived an hour ago and he was to give a report to the Princesses and, if all went well, get some sleep like his squad was now.
As he walked passed several guards he noticed them sweating as he passed by.
Rookies, they scare easy. If only they had seen what I have seen.
Besides being a head taller than most stallions, Black Death also several scars hidden by his armor and some holes and tears in his wings, he was also, unlike most other Thestrals who's colors were in shades of gray, a solid black. He had been in the guard for 25 years and had seen things that still haunted him to this day. He lightly licked his right fang which had been broken in half long ago, one of many reminders of his missions. Black Death was feared by many both in and out of Equestria by many for his skill in combat and some of his more, dangerous feats, including ripping the teeth out of a dragon that had tried to lead a group of teen dragons to invade Equestria some time after the migration.
They had gotten a little ways into Equestria but as soon as the dragons saw him however they turned tail and ran, all but the leader, who thought he could beat a "namby-pamby pony", the rest got away.
He smiled lightly at the memory, after he was done the Dragon Lord had made sure no dragon would try that again. After all, it did violate the treaty Celestia had with him. Thankful the two leaders sorted that all out.
How was that for a "namby-pamby pony" you over grown lizard with wings. At least your followers were smart enough to run.
Coming up to the throne room doors the two guards let him through closing the doors behind him. In the room was Celestria, Luna, Cadance, Shining Armor in full armor and Twilight sat discussing the Timber Wolf issue, they all looked towards him as he stopped at the base of the throne. He stopped before the Princesses, took his helmet off, revealing that the gem was placed like an eyepatch over his eye and a massive scar across that side of his face, and bowed.
"Princesses, Captain Armor, Miss Sparkle."
"Black Death, What do you have to report?" Celestria asked.
"My Squad and I encountered a small group of Changelings in the Everfree but lost them at the castle. Nothing else happened."
"How many?"
"Four but there may have been more."
Celestria nodded. "With the Changelings scattered and their Royals either dead or missing they wouldn't be able to mount any assault for the time being."
Twilight spoke up. "I'm still surprised so many of them surrendered after the invasion."
After the invasion was repelled many Changelings willingly surrendered, much to the surprise of the Guard, and had been nothing but cooperative. When asked why they all give the same answer; "Sitting in these dungeons in Equestria is a much better fate then what awaits us in the Kingdoms. Only death awaits us there with the hives turning on the Royals and each other. Those Royals were tyrants, at least here we don't have to fight for food, water or a small amount of love."
The Ponies, being a forgiving species for the most part, were flat out appalled once the Changeling Royals treatment of their subjects came to light. Even Shining Armor, who had every right to hate Changelings, couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
Quite a few had offered to help with the Timber Wolf crisis. Those that were let out to help under the watchful eye of the Guard always came back.
"The Changeling issue seems taken care of for now so I think it's time we focus on the Timber Wolf issue now." Shining Armor said bringing up a map of Equestria.
"Timber Wolves attacked here yesterday, thankful nopony was hurt or lost." He said placing his hoof on a rock farm on the the map.
"Doesn't surprise me considering the towns folk dished out a tail whipping on the wolves. The only reason we had to evacuate the town was because of the sheer number of wolves." Celestia said.
Twilight looked nervous. "Isn't that were Pinkie's family lives? Thats too close to Ponyville for my liking."
Cadance warped a wing around her.
"It's okay Twilight, we're setting up a Guard force for Ponyville right now. Ponyville is an important area, and we can't lose any more safe zones, besides the Ponies there along side your friends can defend their home from Timber Wolf attacks should any attack."
As they continued to discuss the issue Black Death was deep in though, not on the the Timber Wolf crisis but on something that had been bugging him since the Canterlot invasion two mouths ago.
I don't understand it, the Changelings that attack that day only had one Royal, large numbers of Drones and only a few Soldiers. I've faced Changelings before and there are plenty of variants they could have used, so why didn't they? All the Changelings I questioned all said that since Chrysalis rose to power and took over the other hives she had exiled most of the variants only keeping Drones and a small number of Soldiers. So the question is... why?
Then again, it's a good thing she only had that or things could have gone really bad.
Luna, who hadn't said a word the entire time, noticed his silence. "Black Death?"
When he didn't respawn she reached over and shook his shoulder. That brought him back to reality.
"Black Death,- " Luna asked again "- what is on your mind? You were very deep in though."
"Sorry Princess, I was just thinking over some that had been bugging since the invasion."
"And what would that be? please speak your mind." Celestia said.
He pulled a small book from a pocket underneath his armor.
"My journal,-" he said setting it on the table, "-form when I was still in the Night Guard before I became a Royal Knight."
He opened the book and showed the page to the others.
"The Changelings we faced were not a full strength hive."
The others were surprised.
"What are you talking about?" Luna asked.
"The Changelings we faced only had three of many different variants."
"Different variants? You mean there are more types of Changelings!?" Twilight half asked half shouted.
"Yes, what you and your friends faced that day were a Royal; Chrysalis, Drones, and a few Soldiers. There are more that you didn't face, like the Shock Trooper, Skirmisher, Flyer and Commando."
"And why didn't you tell us before the invasion?!" Shining asked glaring at him.
"Firstly, I haven't seen any Changelings for over ten years. Secondly, I did file a report but my arrogant plot head, excuse my language, of a commander at the time just dismissed and through it out. And thirdly, I've been away from Equeastria for a long time doing missions so I could file other report after that commander had passed and by that time I had forgotten about it."
"Stop you two!" Celestia ordered. "What happen has happen and we can't change it. Black Death, tell us what you know about Changelings. It may help us in case of any future attacks."
"Okay thank you Princess. Keep in mind that this intel might not be 100% accurate, it's been ten years since I wrote this. Let me start with the Worker Case. The Worker Case are Changelings rarely seen out of the hive. Workers are not fighters but will defend themselves if cornered. The Workers are,-" Black Death showed them a picture of a Changeling that was smaller then the Drone with a shorter horn but looked otherwise the same.
"- Worker; The Worker does things such as hive maintenance, moving eggs and other tasks along that line."
Next was a Drone sized Changeling with what looked like large butterfly wings and a horn spit in two half way down.
"Healer; Basically a Changeling Medic, they also tend to the young and eggs."
He flipped to the next page to reveal a large Changeling (Twilight guessed around the size of Big Mac) with two sets of large fangs and a long horn.
"Next is the Fighter Case. Breeds of this case are the frontline troops of the Changeling Hives. The one you see now is the Berserker; A powerful and heavily armored breed used to smash through enemy formations and wreck havoc among them. Be thankful you didn't encounter this one Miss Sparkle, these one are quite dangerous.
Twilight couldn't help but agree. "Black Death, you know you can call me Twilight."
"I work on that Miss Sparkle." He said, with a smile to show he was joking with her. Twilight just smiled back with a sigh.
"Next is-" He was cut off as a wisp of smoke appeared though the window heading towards and landing in front of Twilight.
"Spike send a letter? It must be important since I told him I was going to be in a meeting this morning."
She opened the letter but only read a few words before a look of sheer panic appeared on her face, much to the concern of the others around her.
"PONYVILLE IS UNDER ATTACK BY TIMBER WOLVES!!!
Celestia didn't waste any time. "Grab hold of me, we aren't losing other town to the wolves!"
They did and Celestia's horn lit up with a teleport spell, they disappeared in a flash.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Ponyville
Near the schoolhouse
The six of them appeared among a crowd of Ponies watching two massive Changelings finish off two Timber Wolves, as soon as the two saw the six of them they took off into the Everfree Forest. The large of the two stopped and locked eyes with Black Death for a second before disappearing into the trees.
"Princess, what where those?" Twilight asked looking at her mentor." They looked like Changelings but-"
"I know just what they were!" Black Death said.
He turned to her.
"Those Miss Sparkle, were ChangelingJuggernauts!!"
"Juggernauts?"
"Yes, one of the most powerful Changeling breeds."