//------------------------------// // Love Bugs // Story: Night Wing // by Gravity012 //------------------------------// Breaking Armor I crept through the darkened halls of the castle towards my target. I had my pony disguise on and my golden armor donned. I had received the order only an hour before via the hive mind. It did have a limited range, large though it was, so we had groups of changelings acting as relay points everywhere. The orders were clear. Erase the memories of changelings from Nightwing’s mind or, failing that, kill him. I regretted this happening to him, but the queen gave orders for a reason. To protect us all. I was accompanied by two other disguised changelings as I approached the door to our target. Once we arrived outside I looked both ways down the hall. Seeing nothing, I cracked open the door and peered inside. I could see everything clearly with my night vision. I looked over to the large bed and saw Night’s sleeping form. His chest slowly rose and fell under the covers. I motioned for my brethren to follow me inside as I skittered into the room. We all walked slowly up to the bed and took positions around Nightwing’s head. Looking at the others I nodded and we all lit our horns. After a few seconds small strings of light came off our horns and made their way to the birds head. Once they connected to his forehead he jerked for a second before calming down. Then everything went wrong. Nightwing I slowly opened my eyes to the strangest feeling. A tickling on my forehead. As I opened my eyes enough to see around me they shot open the rest of the way. Changelings! Now, I didn’t have much knowledge on changelings other than that they were evil in the show. And admittedly adorable. So my first reaction was to lash out. My left wing shot out and threw the two on my left into the wall, knocking them out. The one on my right jumped back and charged up his horn for something. I didn’t know what but I knew it probably wasn’t good. I launched across the room and tackled him to the ground before head butting him to sleep. Never a dull moment. Third Person Far away, a certain queen frowned as she felt three of her children go unconscious. Nightwing I dragged three limp lumps down the hall in a bag. I nodded at the very concerned guards I passed on the way to the small dungeon we had. Down the stairs and down the hall, come on bugs! Let’s have a ball! I rhyme inside my head for no reason. You three are heavy! I nodded once more at a random guard. He had a very concerned look on his face. “U-um. Do you need hel-“ He stopped as the bag twitched violently. “Did....Did it just move?” ‘No.’ I looked directly at him. ‘Please fetch Starswirl and Celestia. Let Luna sleep if she is sleeping. And tell her guards to keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious.’ I continued walking as he hurried off to do as I commanded. I finally reached the door leading under the castle. Sorry guys, gunna get bumpy. I apologized as I started heading down the stairs. I could have used magic to lift them, but you know what? They were doing something to me in my sleep. So they may have deserved to get a little roughed up. Besides, they have natural armor. They’ll be fine. Once at the bottom of the steps it was just a short trip to the first cell. They were all empty so far. I dragged the bag in and walked out, shutting the door behind me. I’ll get the key later. I had left them in my office. Why carry a key ring to bed? Apparently in case you have to arrest people in the middle of the night. The one time I decide to sleep. I grumbled slightly. The captives stirred inside the prison cell as they awoke. A panting Starswirl and Celestia raced down the stairs and though the door. “NIGHT! What’s wrong!? What happe-WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT PONY!?” Celestia screamed as a changeling stepped from the bag. As amusing as her reaction was I had to stop her from opening the door to help the ‘wounded pony’. ‘They’re fine Celestia. They are changelings, they just look like that.’ A wave of fire covered the changeling as he saw us. Breaking Armor appeared when the flames disappeared. ‘Or that.’ I sighed. ‘They’re shapeshifters.’ “Fascinating!” Swirly exclaimed as he pressed up against the bars. “Can you talk?” He asked the changeling. The changeling simply sat down and stared into space for a few seconds. “Can they talk Night?” Swirl turned to look at me. ‘Yes. Though this one seems to be acting difficult.’ I walked closer to the bars. “Difficult? I will not let a moody creature stop my studies!” Swirl announced. “And I will not let my children be experimented on.” A regal voice came from the cell. The changelings eyes had turned green. “Now, I have your attention. My name is Queen Lytra. I am speaking through the drone you see in front of you.” She paused to look around her cell. “The only reason you are being graced with my presence is because you have not murdered my subjects like so many others.” She focused in on me. “And you. You have knowledge of our species now. That is why I sent these three to erase your memories or...dispose of you should that fail.” Lytra jumped back as Celestia slammed into the bars. Celestia’s eyes glowed and her horn had small sparks flying from it. “What did you say?” She asked in a deadly tone. “You were going to dispose of our brother!?” The bars began to melt around her as she stepped forward. “You come into our kingdom, change your forms and infiltrate our guards, then threaten to kill our family members!?” The bars were now nothing more than puddles on the floor. Celestia walked fully into the cell with her eyes glowing and her horn alight. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t end your life now.” I ran in and jumped in front of Celestia. I spread my wings wide to block them from seeing each other. ‘Hey hey hey! Calm down!’ I looked her in the eyes. ‘I’m still here! I’m not dead yet! Let’s at least hear her out.’ I had to admit that I was curious as to why she was speaking to us. ‘Just back out of the...hole in the wall I guess.’ The cell was now just a room on the side of the hall. All the bars had melted. Celestia stared at me for a few seconds before her eyes returned to normal. “Very well. We shall see what this cur has to say.” She stiffly walked out of the room to stand beside Starswirl. Swirl took a small step away from her. Never making her angry. I turned around to look at the body Lytra was speaking through. ‘What is it you want exactly?’ I looked closely at her. Him. Whatever. “What do I want? Well you had better get a lot of paper.” I simply stared at her. “Oh fine, your no fun.” She looked around again. “It would be nice if we could take this somewhere more comfortable.” ‘I quite like it here.’ I wrote. “Fine! Have it your way. I wish to...make a treaty.” At all of our confused looks she explained. “You see, I can’t simply get rid of you all. Not only would that be impossible while also maintaining our secretive status, it would also remove our food source.” Celestia began to heat up again. ‘They eat emotions Celestia.’ The room cooled down again. “Ooh! Quite knowledgeable this one. And how, may I ask, did you come across such information.” The queen looked at me curiously. ‘No where you need to worry about. No one knows except for those in this room.’ I answered in a reassuring way. “Very well. I believe you. Hard to lie to us anyway. What with our ability to detect emotions.’ She smirked at me. ‘Yep. So what are the terms of this alliance, or treaty.’ She seemed disappointed that I wasn’t surprised. “Well, it’s simple really. You tell no one about us and allow us to feed off of your emotions! We won’t hurt anyone of course. That wouldn’t make sense. If we hurt you ponies, we lose food.” She told Starswirl and Celestia. “And in return we can provide assistance in any future battles you face. Your friend Night has already witnessed our battle prowess at your latest skirmish.” ‘It’s true’. I wrote on my wings. ‘I did witness them helping.’ “And you didn’t say anything!?” Swirl asked loudly. “Your sure our ponies will not suffer from your feeding?” Celestia interrupted. “It will be like we were never there.” The queen smirked. Celestia chewed on her lip for a minute. “Very well. We accept. It would be nice to make some allies for a change.” She walked forward and shook hooves with the queen. ‘Wait! I have one request to make before we seal the agreement.’ I interjected. The three changelings smiled as I wrapped them in my wings and crushed them in a hug. I agree with Celestia on this matter. It is very nice to make allies for a change.