Clypeus’ lungs and throat burned as she screamed out in excruciating pain. Her black, hole-ridden hooves clutched at her abdomen and her wings buzzing furiously on her back. She writhed on the ground, crying and wailing in fear with every explosion of pain that shot through her lower body. She was panicking, her frightened eyes darting all over the thick-walled Canterlot Castle Treasury whenever she was able to open them through the pain. Mounds upon mounds of bits, gems, and other stupidly expensive knick-knacks filled the enormous chamber, a truly mesmerizing mass of the wealth that Princess Celestia had carefully accumulated over the years to run her country.
But all of that beauty was lost on Clypeus when another blast of pain worked its way through her belly and chest, eliciting another scream from her. She felt her hind legs trying to spread apart by instinct, and her fear grew even more.
This can’t be happening, not now! She thought to herself, trying desperately to pull her agony-filled body across the floor to the large, open door. Sadly, she eventually came to the realization she couldn’t go anywhere like this. Knowing it was time, she painstakingly flopped over to rest on her back, her legs apart. Gasping and crying, she was just able to bend her neck and look down with a grimace before, finally, another scream fled her lungs and echoed in the otherwise silent room around her. There was a spine-chilling squelch and plop before, finally, the pain in her body began to fade away, replaced with an ill-fitting sense of euphoria and joy.
That joy was short-lived, sadly, as the reality of her situation came crashing back down on her. Shaking horribly, Clypeus shifted until she could see what had just been dropped out of her body. A little, translucent green egg sat on the ground, glistening with a thin layer of slimy residue, some of which was still connected to her legs. Using her tail to brush the bridges of goop away, she managed to rise back to her hooves and looked down at the egg with a look of horror slowly appearing on her face. “Oh n-no…” she whimpered before reaching down and gingerly picking the egg up off of the floor.
She clutched the small, fragile shell to her chest, and lifted into the air with her wings. Still short of breath, she headed for the massive steel door she had tricked a guard into opening not more than thirty minutes ago and peered out. She had been tasked with scouting out the treasury for possible secret escape routes and, if she found any, she was to seal them off. She had found none and was about to return to the throne room to report to Her Majesty when… everything had gone wrong.
There was an enormous wave of powerful purple magic that had washed over her. It had carried an incredible amount of force and hurled her against the wall hard enough to leave a spider web pattern of cracks in it, and she was pretty sure she might have grown a few new cracks in her carapace in the process.
Had that wall not been there to catch her, she was sure that she would have been flung miles and miles away. However, the wall did catch her, and almost as soon as she had recovered from that spine-crushing force, her abdomen had felt as if it had been struck with a sledgehammer.
Peering out into the hallway, Clypeus cradled the egg even closer to her chest before slowly inching farther out. “The others...” She thought despairingly while listening carefully for any sounds in the hallway outside the treasury. “What happened to the others?”
Where there had been the sounds of her fellow drones dive-bombing the city and putting down what little resistance the ponies had managed to put together, there was now only silence. With a terrible hole forming in her heart, she made her way around a corner and to a tall, broken window. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for what she might find, and gazed out onto the still smoking city of Canterlot.
Nothing. All of the other drones were gone. In fact, she could hear the sounds of ponies starting to cheer with victory outside. They had won. But their elation did little more than instill Clypeus with yet more fear and sorrow. They were gone… all of them. The queen, the invasion force, and Lancea, her mate… Whether any of them were alive or dead, she didn’t know, but she did know that they weren’t here anymore. If any drones remained in the city, they would not be here long, soon departing to try and find the others and regroup at Her Majesty’s hive.
And, with tears in her eyes, Clypeus realized that she would not be joining them. Carrying around an egg in such conditions would cause her to be left behind by the rest... and she would die all alone…
She looked down at her egg, barely stifled a sob, and then quickly retreated back to the treasury. As she passed through the frame, her horn sparked to life as she willed the massive door to slide shut, but not lock, itself behind her. She had enough love in her system to last for a few days, and right now it was too dangerous to try and find a better hiding place. She would wait until things calmed down a little bit outside, then leave the vault and, if all went well, the city. Then she could find a nice spot to hunker down and siphon whatever love she could for her nymph...
Still shaking, and with a limp steadily becoming more and more apparent, Clypeus made her way to the very back of the room, curled up behind a massive mound of bits and set her egg against her belly. She did her best to keep it warm with her legs and tail before slowly laying her head down and closing her eyes, eager to get some rest and make her escape when she woke up.
“I’m telling you Charger, nothing’s in here. They all got blasted by the love-bubble,” a young-sounding stallion’s voice cut through the darkness and echoed in the vault. The unexpected sound drew Clypeus out of her slumber with a start and quiet gasp. She lifted her head to look into the darkness, able to discern that night had fallen. She could hear the footsteps of at least two stallions echoing in the large chamber, slowly drawing closer.
“Then how come Spearhead was unconscious by the door after the battle, Dart? And how do you explain the door being left unlocked?” another stallion asked, this one’s voice sounding deeper, older and gruffer. “It’s better to be safe than sorry. Now shut up and help me make the sweep. Sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go to bed.”
There was a reigned chuckle. “Alright, you got me there,” the younger voice replied casually. They were getting closer, and Clypeus could see the light from their horns reflecting off of the coins around the bend of her mound.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no, no no…” she whispered as quietly as she could to herself, pulling her egg closer and looking down at the ground to hide her glowing eyes from the patrol. This was bad. If they found her, what would they do to her? Even worse, what would they do with her egg? Would they crush it? Would they take it away from her? She struggled to keep her breathing under control as scenario after horrible scenario began to play themselves out in her mind, each one worse than the last, each one making her entire body shake more and more.
One errant twitch of her hoof caused it to smack the mound of bits she was hiding behind, sending several of them spilling to the floor in front of her. The jingling sound they made was almost deafening in the relative quiet, and a startled squeak slipped out of her throat alongside an alarmed buzz of her wings. She went absolutely rigid as the rolling sound of the coins died away, and she listened for the ponies.
They had stopped talking, and their hoofsteps were slower and quieter. The light from their magic was getting closer.
They had heard her.
Panicking, Clypeus stood up with her egg held tightly in her hooves before shooting into the air as quickly as possible. She could hear the two guards shouting at her a moment later, and her blood ran cold when she heard the sounds of swords sliding out of scabbards.
“GET THAT BUG!” the gruff one shouted, the beams of light from their horns illuminating her from behind. Crying hysterically, she flew as fast as she could over the mound of coins to head for the door, only for her flight to be stopped near the top by a firm grip on her tail. Turning around, she saw that one of the pony’s had her tail held firmly in his auburn magic aura, while the other climbed up the coins towards her, his horn sparking dangerously with golden light.
“Leave me alone!” Clypeus shouted, kicking the coins under her hooves with both of her hind legs, sending a wave of them cascading down onto the climbing guard. He grunted in discomfort from the onslaught but managed to push through.
“Gah! Stupid little…” He growled angrily when he finally reached Clypeus, lifting his sword up into the air over her head to strike. Clypeus let out a terrified wail and clutched her egg as tightly against her chest as she could, screwing her eyes shut. Any moment now, that blade would bite into her, and she would be dead. Her egg would be in the hooves of creatures that no doubt despised her and her kind. It would be crushed. Her baby would be dead before it even hatched.
However, when several seconds passed without the sharp edge of the pony’s sword carving a new chasm into her chitin, she dared to peek open one of her eyes to look at the stallion. He had stopped mid-swing, his own, green eyes wide open and looking at the egg in her hooves with shock and horror. “Merciful Celestia…” he breathed, sounding mortified.
Clypeus took advantage of his momentary shock to kick out with both of her legs, hitting him squarely in the face. A sickening crunch was heard, and he screamed, a few drops of blood flying out of his nose while the light on his horn winked out. His sword dropped down from the air, though its angle caused its edge to drop right into Clypeus’ shoulder. White-hot agony erupted where the blade fell, drawing an agonized scream from her. She writhed and twisted in the air, the blade finally falling out of her and clattering down onto the bits. The guard, meanwhile, oblivious to her plight through his broken face, began to roll backward down the mound. The other guard let out a grunt of pain when he rolled right into him, causing his magic to sputter and fade.
With her tail now free, Clypeus dropped to the top of the pile before scampering down the slope opposite of the guards. The unstable surface of gold coins caused her to lose her footing halfway down, sending her falling forward. Thinking of her egg, she quickly rolled herself into a ball, holding the precious ovoid shape tightly against her belly to shield it from their descent. More pain rattled her body as it was battered with every impact against the gold, until finally, she came to the bottom. Her head hit the floor at the end of her tumble, and her vision exploded with colors from the impact, a deafening ringing sound flooding her ears.
Dazed and confused, she only realized too late that her beloved egg had slipped out of her hooves and was now rolling across the floor towards an odd vanity mirror that sat secluded in the shadows against the wall, it’s ornate and artistic purple frame coated with cobwebs from, presumably, many years of neglect. Wheezing in pain, Clypeus reached a hoof out to it and her egg, a tiny whimper slipping past her lips.
Then the egg disappeared.
Clypeus’ eyes widened when she saw it touch the surface of the mirror and then pass right through with a small shimmer of magical light. For a moment, she just looked at the mirror, dumbfounded. But as the ringing in her ears died away, allowing her to hear the two guards yelling at one another, she wasted no time in struggling to her hooves. She hissed in pain when her wounded shoulder reminded her of its condition, and she almost fell over once again. But with maternal instincts driving her on, she forced her mind away from the pain and quickly stepped through the mirror after her still unhatched child.
Stepping through that odd portal was a… surreal experience, to put it mildly. The whole world became a kaleidoscope of colors and energy and strange sounds that washed over her from all sides. Unseen forces pulled and plucked at her body as if trying to change it into something else, but her form persisted in spite of those efforts. As if enraged by her changeling physiology and it’s stubbornness, that same force then latched onto Clypeus and began to throw her around like a ragdoll. She couldn’t tell what way was up, what way was down, if she had food or rocks in her stomach, if she had two eyes or seven. Finally, though, the madness ended with a loud snap and a flash of blinding light. She fell forward to the cold, hard ground in a crumpled heap, groaning and gasping in pain and discomfort.
A cold breeze washed over her, and she swore she could hear an owl hooting somewhere in the distance. Was she outside, now? After a few minutes of just catching her breath, she managed to pick her head up off of the stone ground and take in her surroundings. She wasn’t sure how to describe what it was she was looking at… it vaguely resembled a castle or a palace, but it was far smaller than would be expected. Furthermore, there were way too many windows to be tactically sound. The front doors were made up of completely transparent glass with smooth metal supports. The front ‘courtyard’ was filled with lush green grass and a few very carefully maintained bushes and trees, tended to look uniform and beautiful.
Clypeus glanced over her shoulder for a moment as she stood up, inspecting the portal she had just passed through. It was very different on this side, appearing to be the base of an enormous stone statue of a horse rearing up on its hind legs. Beyond the statue, she could see the night sky filled with stars and the full moon. Crickets and night-birds made their sounds known and, for a moment, she was completely entranced by the sudden difference in her surroundings.
That trance ended when she remembered her egg and spun back around, scanning the ground in front of her for it. She saw it soon enough, sitting maybe twenty feet ahead at the edge of the grass lawn of the ‘palace.’ Relieved to see it undamaged, she took a step towards it.
Only for her wounded leg to give out, sending her crumpling to the ground with a cry of pain that echoed around her. Groaning, she lifted into the air on her wings before fluttering forward and gingerly lifting the egg and cradling it in her hooves. Again, her wounded leg burned horribly in protest to even that tiny action, and the pain almost made her drop the egg.
She glanced over her shoulder at the portal again, her ears drooping against her head. What if the ponies saw her going through? What if they found the mirror? What if they followed her…? She couldn’t run away from them for very long, not in her condition, and if she got caught… what would happen to her baby? She looked down at the small thing in her hooves as those horrible scenarios began to play themselves in her mind’s eye over, and over, and over again.
No, she couldn’t take that chance. She couldn’t.
With tears forming in her eyes, she looked back up at palace in front of her, then to the other buildings that rested on the other side of the street in front of it. They weren’t made by ponies, that much was clear. The architecture and proportions were all wrong; too big. A pony would have to stand upright on their hind legs all the time for the height and design of the doors to be justified. The windows were too high, as well. Clypeus looked at the portal again, then at her egg, and then the houses on the other side of that dark, smooth-stone street. Not ponies… or anything she had ever heard of. But if the ponies had a portal to these things just lying around, then, Clypeus figured, the locals here must have been peaceful enough for the ponies… right?
Barely containing her whimpers, she lifted herself over the street and settled down by one of the trees near a relatively nice looking house. She looked down at the egg in her hooves again before leaning down and planting a kiss on it. When she pulled back, she slowly sat down on her haunches and put the egg down in front of her, so it was resting against the tree. “I… I’m going to come back for you. But if I can’t, then... I just h-hope that whoever these creatures are, they shower you with all the love in the world…” she whispered, a tear dropping from her cheek and landing on the smooth surface of the egg.
With those parting words, she stood back up, cried in pain from her injury, lifted into the air on her wings and slowly flew back for the portal. She had to draw those guards away. If they found her egg, she was sure they would break it apart. Once she reached the statue, she paused and looked across the street at the tree she had left her egg under. Her eyes locked on the small thing, and for a second, nothing else existed to her. She silently swore to come back for it one more time before facing the portal and stepping through it, vanishing from the ‘palace courtyard’ and returning to the treasury in Canterlot Castle with another glow of light.
She never did come for it back, though. When the moon reached its peak and began its descent for the horizon, the portal closed without even so much as a sound. The statue was just a statue, the mirror back in Equestria was just a mirror...
And Clypeus’ egg remained under that tree, lost in a different world without its mother.