Year 3 Week 22, Friday - Week 23, Wednesday
Skipjack winced as Crash Cart finished wrapping her broken wing. “Think you could make it any tighter?” she hissed, even though his magic was doing a fantastic job of numbing the worst of it.
“Sorry LT, this is the best I can do. Don’t have a lot of magic left.” He said with a sigh as he tied it off.
“I’m sorry too; just a little tired after all this...” She gestured tiredly with her other wing at the carnage left. Fortunately, they’d weathered the attack due to the tenacity of the two earth ponies in the unit, and a bucketload of good luck.
Though that luck had come with its own price. Rising slowly to her hooves, she trotted over to the broken form of Divot, three of the six creatures that had attacked them sprawled limply around him. He’d fought like a pony possessed, killing two of them at once, then the third while the fourth had savaged him from behind.
Holding back her tears, she knelt next to him and closed his eyes with her wing. “Rest easy Divot, you’ve earned your place in the Guard.” She looked up as Anvil came trotting over, dragging the makeshift sled he and Wrecker had fashioned out of a fallen tree from the edge of the jungle. “Alright, let’s get him loaded onto this. We don’t leave him behind for anything.”
“Yes ma’am.” Anvil rumbled as he and Wrecker gently lifted Divot onto the sled.
Skipjack looked back over at Crash Cart. “Still no word from Captain Stardust?”
He shook his head. “No ma’am, I sent a second request for aid, but I haven’t heard anything back.”
Skipjack bit back her curse, knowing that it wouldn’t help anything. Wiping some of the grime and blood from her face, she looked around in a vain attempt to figure out what to do next. “Alright, here’s the plan for now. We need to find the rest of the unit, see if Captain Stardust and his squad are alright, and figure out our next move. So, we’ll follow the curve of the deployment map, try and link up with any other survivors, and then backtrack along the river, maybe link up with Captain Flare and his mission.” 'If they survived' went unspoken.
The three surviving guards saluted, and then began their trek across the savannah.
---
“You have done very well. Very well indeed.” Chrysalis purred as she watched the changelings ferry their new captives into the larval chamber. The ponies struggled weakly, but they were at the limits of their endurance. Each living pony was laid out on the floor, bound with ooze, and left for when a pod became available. The dead were piled unceremoniously in the corner, a team of changelings stripping their armor for later use.
The same male changeling who’d spied on the Field Bureau preened proudly. Fed on a steady diet of his Queen’s appreciation and love, he was already larger than the majority of the drones in the hive. “There is the matter of the two groups that have failed to report back. And the one pegasus that escaped.”
“Hmmmmm... no matter, for the moment. We will focus on the captives we have now. Then we will hunt them down and eliminate them.” Chrysalis turned and paced out of the larval chamber, her minion following after her. “And the other part of the plan?”
“The drones report that the pods will reach maturity within the next few days. We will be able to use them a day or two after that.” The changeling couldn’t help but buzz his wings a little in excitement.
“Excellent.” Chrysalis purred, her laughter echoing through the now claustrophobically crowded tunnels of the hive. Their numbers had swelled as they’d continued raiding the nearby villages for humans, and the hive had already tripled in size. “Prepare the drones. The plan will be set in motion soon.”
As they left, one of the smaller changelings helping to build a pod shook its head, trying to clear the steadily rising headache it’d had all morning. It’d been having restless dreams too, where it was bereft of the omnipresent connection to the hive mind. For now, it had chosen to not tell any of its broodmates, and that worried it too, for proper drones shouldn’t be able to make choices on their own.
---
“Alright Arcane, we’re going to run the test again. I think we almost have it.” Steel said as he focused his magic. A very delicate web of magic reached out, not to Convert the chimp, but simply to surround it.
Arcane reached out with her own magic, letting it ‘see’ Steel’s magic surrounding the chimp as it dug at the anthill with a stick. A few seconds passed, but gradually the magic began to flow from around the chimp towards its hands. Arcane relaxed her spell and opened her eyes. “Steel, stop the spell. I think I have an idea of what’s going on.” She waited until Steel’s horn went dark before she nosed open the tent flap. “Dr Getton!”
Amy looked up from where Suzy and Jimmy were playing. “What is it?”
“Can you come over here? I have some news for you!” She led Amy into the tent, where Fluttershy was nuzzling the chimpanzee’s reddened hands. Arcane still had no idea how Fluttershy always knew when to come by, but had just decided to accept it. “I think we have the beginnings of an explanation for why magic hurts chimpanzees, gorillas, and humans, but not other life.” She took a breath. “I think it’s the fact that you think.”
Amy frowned. “So, what are you saying?”
“Okay, think of it like this. Magic is energy, without anything giving it structure or order. When a unicorn uses their magic, they visualize what they want their magic to do and release it. I think a similar effect happens when a chimp or a human is in the presence of uncontrolled magic. It naturally tries to gather around you, because your minds can give it purpose. However, that also means that you absorb it in uneven concentrations, so the rest of your body doesn’t recognize the parts saturated in magic as part of it anymore.”
Amy nodded, though her expression was still puzzled. “So is there a way around it?”
Arcane hesitated. “Well, I guess if there was a way to completely turn off your brains until we could saturate your entire body with magic, then maybe... But I’m just running off some simple tests here. This would need a lot more research before I could say for sure.”
Amy sighed. “Well, it’s a start, at least. Let’s get this one taken care of; he can wait until we get resupplied with more serum.”
Outside the tent, Jimmy and Suzy ran back and forth, having decided to play tag while their mother was busy.
“TAG! You’re it Jimmy!” Suzy giggled as she took off running.
Jimmy fell into a mad gallop after her, but skidded to a stop as something new caught his eye. A giant creature, that looked kind of like the small bugs he’d find under the sink back home every so often (though after the first time, he’d learned they were not food), was trundling along into the grass. He nudged it with his nose and recoiled as it suddenly took off, buzzing a considerable distance into the tall grass. The game of tag forgotten, he romped after it eagerly.
Suzy stopped running, a wide smile still on her face as she turned to look for her brother. “Jimmy?” She couldn’t see him anywhere, and that worried her more for the fact that he could be sneaking up on her to tag her. “You’re not going to sneak up on me!” She started creeping around some of the stacked boxes. Coming to a blind corner, she grinned as she heard, anticipating the look on Jimmy’s face when she pounced him first. She dug her hooves in and leaped, colliding headlong with a human. Blinking the dust from her eyes, she shied away as she recognized the crazy man her mother and the others had brought into their old camp before they moved.
The man jerked back in terror for a second, before hesitantly extending his hand. Suzy thought about it for a second, then slowly pushed her head forward and nuzzled the hand. ‘Show kindness and it’ll be repaid,’ Mom was always saying to them. “Umm, have you seen my brother? I was playing tag with him and now I don’t know where he is...” She folded her ears back as the man babbled at her in his strange language. “I’m sorry mister, I don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Suzy? What’s wrong?” Both heads turned as Nimbus came trotting over.
“Miss Nimbus, I can’t find my brother.” Suzy said plaintively.
Nimbus snorted. “Well, let’s go look for him. Do you know where he was last?”
Suzy nodded. “Uh-huh! We were over near the tent.” She led Nimbus to where she’d tagged Jimmy, the crazy man following.
Nimbus looked about carefully, her annoyance turning to worry as she spotted a set of hoofprints leading into the tall grass. “That colt is going to be the death of somepony. Alright, I’m going to go find him. Suzy, I want you to stay here.”
“But-”
“No buts.” Nimbus fixed her with a stare honed from months of practice. “You’ll stay here.”
Suzy’s ears folded flat and she quailed. “Yes ma’am.”
Nimbus nodded smartly and turned to the man. “You can come or stay, it’s your choice.” Not waiting for an answer, she trotted out into the grass, twitching an ear as she heard the man start to follow her. Keeping her eyes forward, she followed the trail of hoofprints slowly.
Jimmy was starting to get bored with his new bug friend. Sure it looked cool, but all it did was buzz loudly and fly away when it was poked. Scuffing a hoof, he looked around and thought about going back to camp before Mom found out he’d snuck off, but froze as he saw the grass up ahead of him rustle. Taking a few hesitant steps forward, he started as the grass suddenly parted, revealing something terrifying he’d never seen before. So he did the only thing that children do when they see something shocking and scary. He screamed.
Nimbus’ ears snapped straight up at the cry, the armored pegasus leaping into the air and swooping forward, where she could see a single shape of disturbed grass running from a much larger patch. Landing in front of the single patch, she caught Jimmy roughly as he tumbled into her. “Jimmy, are you alright?” She could hear the man coming up from behind her, stopping anxiously next to Jimmy.
“Miss Nimbus, it’s... it’s...” Jimmy stammered incoherently, and Nimbus pushed him roughly behind her as the grass rustled and parted, revealing ten beaten, bloody and exhausted guards.
“Hey there Nimbus.” Skipjack wheezed. “Sorry about scaring the little colt. There any chance you might have something to eat? The grass around here doesn’t taste too good after a while.”
Nimbus gaped, her eyes flicking from one guard to the next. She only recognized Connor and Backburner, the latter with a broken leg, as well as Dusty. All showed signs of some injury or another, and her stare lingered on the litter one of the earth guardponies was dragging behind him. “Oh Skip...”
“Don’t.” Skipjack’s voice was hard. “He fought hard, and died proud.”
Nimbus felt overwhelmingly sad to see that spark of humor gone from Skip’s eyes, but nodded. “Alright. Our camp is this way. I’ll go ahead, get everypony ready for you and your wounded.”
Skipjack nodded. Nimbus turned back to Jimmy. “I need you to help these guards back to the camp. It’s a big responsibility, can I count on you?”
Jimmy threw a sloppy salute. “Yes ma’am!”
Nimbus nodded and spread her wings. She took off and flew back for camp, angling in toward the unicorn standing next to the boat. “Flare! Code Black! Code Black!”
Flare jerked his head up, first at the tone of Nimbus’ voice, then the meaning of the words sank in and he jolted into motion. “A Code Black? Here? What’s going on?”
“It’s Skipjack, and nine other Guards. One fatality. Multiple injuries.” Nimbus reported hollowly. “We need Dr. Getton and the unicorns to prepare the tent to treat them.”
Flare nodded. “You got it.” While he nominally outranked her, the Guard’s ‘Code Black’ superseded the command structure, making the declaring guard the acting officer. While the lower ranks knew the drills for responding to a Code Black, they were repeatedly trained about how serious declaring one was.
Aegis, Lariat and Dawn came galloping over. “What’s got your mane in a twist Nimbus? The foal’s not coming, is it?” Lariat asked half-jokingly, only for his smile to fade as he saw the looks on her and Flare’s faces.
Nimbus explained the situation to them and all three changed, their normally jovial attitudes falling back into professionalism. Nimbus and Dawn took off, leading the earth ponies to where the guards could be seen.
“Madre de Dios...” Lariat breathed as he trotted to Anvil. “Allow me to take that from you-”
Anvil shook his head. “Nyet. Divot saved my life. I will carry him.”
Lariat nodded slowly, and turned to Wrecker, taking one of the heavy bags. “This does not feel like a standard kit amigo.”
Wrecker shook his head. “We brought a souvenir.”
“Souvenir? What kind of souvenir?” asked Aegis as he offered to heft Backburner the rest of the way. ‘Offer’ translating into ‘order’ in this case.
Skipjack shook her head. “I don’t think this is something that we should show you out in the open sir. Do you think we can use the tent?”
Nimbus nodded. “It’s being set up for you all right now. Come on.” She led the guards through the camp, ignoring the worried muttering of the mercenaries as they saw the condition of the living guards and the body on the litter. She nodded to Amy, who held the tent flap open for them.
Inside, Arcane, Steel, Flare and Fluttershy were waiting for them, all the medical supplies they had piled on the nearby table. Fluttershy stifled a gasp at their condition, and very nearly fainted at the sight of Divot, but managed to hold herself together.
Amy put a hand on her shoulder. “Fluttershy, can you go keep an eye on Suzy and Jimmy for me? I think between all of us here, we have things under control.”
Fluttershy hesitated, but in the end nodded and scooted past the guards, closing the tent flap behind her.
Once Amy was sure that Fluttershy was gone, she turned to the guards. “Okay, before we get started, let’s get this one onto the table here. I’ll take a look at that leg for you.”
“You heard the Doc, Backburner. Careful now.” Aegis moved over next to the table and, with a minimum of movement of the injured extremity, Backburner was transferred into Doctor Getton’s care.
“Alright,” Skipjack said tiredly, “Lariat, feel free to unwrap that thing.”
Lariat frowned at the vehemence in her voice, but carefully set the bag on the ground and unrolled it, revealing its contents. A black-coated, pony shaped body lay sprawled on the blanket, a glossy carapace covering its back. Part of the head was caved in, presumably from a blow by a hoof, but one solid blue eye could be seen. A pair of thin wings emerged from its sides, while a jagged horn rose from its forehead. Its legs, horn and wings had numerous holes in them, and its ragged mane was a blue-grey hue.
“Madre de Dios!” Lariat shouted, taking a half-step back. “What is that thing?”
Skipjack’s eyes were hard as she looked down at the creature. “I don’t honestly know. When we first encountered them, they looked like hyenas. But then they just... changed, and then looked like this.” She heaved a sigh. “But then, as the fight got more chaotic, they changed again, this time into... into us.”
Nimbus stared, jaw hanging open. “You mean...?”
Dusty stepped forward, his ears flat. “That’s how Backburner got his leg broken. One of them came at me looking like him, spun me around and I attacked what I thought was the creature, and struck him instead.”
Nimbus blinked. “So these things can mimic us? Right down to the armor?”
Solaris shook his head. “No, while it looked like they had armor on, it was just part of the illusion. I picked one of them up while they still looked like hyenas, and they felt almost... greasy.” Crash Cart nodded his agreement.
Flare thought for a few seconds, then looked up in concern. “So, I guess the question now is, were any of you alone during the fights or the aftermath?”
Anvil started to shake his head, then stopped, his gaze swinging around to Connor. “Da. We ran into Connor alone, he claimed the rest of his unit was lost. At the time we thought nothing of it, but now...” Wrecker turned with a snort and the two earth ponies took a step toward the pegasus.
Connor put up his hooves. “N-Now hold on, I’m telling you the truth! Captain Stardust ordered me to escape when things went bad and more of those monsters joined the fight. I swear to you, I’m the real Connor!”
Anvil snorted. “A likely story. And how are we to know you are telling the truth?”
“Now hold on there, Anvil...” Aegis stepped in front of the Corporal. “Conner here may’ve been found alone, but I don’t think there’s a one of us in here that ain’t been alone at some point recently, even if only for, uh, private matters.” Aegis chuckled. “Why, I wandered off to play with a rhino just th’other day.” The newfoals in the tent just gaped at Aegis, not entirely sure if he was joking or not.
“Si, amigos,” added Lariat, “and Solaris said they felt ‘greasy’, so let’s just see if the Master Sergeant, or any of us, as far as that goes, feels grasiento in the magia, eh?” Lariat looked to the unicorns in the room.
Flare nodded, and motioned to Arcane Light and Steel Glimmer. “The three of us will handle this, since none of us have had contact with these things. I’ll handle Master Sergeant Connor. Arcane, you handle Skipjack’s squad. Steel, take Dusty’s.” The other unicorns nodded and trotted to their respective squads. Amy finished binding Backburner’s leg and left the tent to let them get to work.
Once he was sure Amy was far enough away, Flare turned back to Connor. “Alright, just hold still.” Connor nodded and closed his eyes as Flare ignited his horn, reaching out with his magic and sweeping it over the pegasus carefully. After about a minute, he released the spell and met Connor’s eyes. “You’re clean. We can trust you.”
Connor nodded. “Thank you sir.” As Flare moved to the next guard he looked at the ground for a second, half-wishing he had been taken instead.
Soon, all ten guards had been cleared and Nimbus opened the tent flap to tell Amy it was alright to come back in. She immediately started tending to Skipjack’s wing, despite her protests to tend to the others.
“So, what’s the plan now?” Nimbus asked, looking at the others worriedly.
“Connor, you said Stardust ordered you to flee when things got bad. Did you see what happened to the others?” Flare asked.
“Well, I only got a short look, but it seemed like they were starting to carry everypony away, back towards the jungle. I tried to stay for a better look, but more of them were taking off after me, so I had to fall back.” Connor admitted, his ears drooping.
Dawn clapped him lightly on the back with a wing. “You did good. Nopony could have expected you to take them all on your own.”
Connor nodded, but his heart wasn’t in it.
Lariat snorted. “If they are taking our companeros hostage, they cannot mean anything good for them. I say we find where these monsters hide and strike at them for a change!” He thundered his hoof into the ground for emphasis.
Anvil, Wrecker and Dusty stamped their hooves in agreement, their eyes flinty.
Aegis snorted. “Hold yer horses, colts. Ain’t nopony going anywhere until you’ve had food and, more importantly, rest.” Aegis pointed outside, in the direction of the mess tent. “As for a retrieval mission... I’m going. This is exactly the sorta thing I did back home in Snaffleton, and buck me to the moon if I’m gonna let these... things....keep our fellow guardsponies.”
“Changelings.” Every pair of eyes turned to look at the voice’s owner, who flicked her ears. “Well, that’s what they sound like.” Dawn Breeze said quietly.
“You must be joking.” Nimbus snorted. “You’re really going to sit there and suggest that these things are some fairytale come to life? After what they did to Divot?”
Flare leaned against her. “I know how it sounds, but to be honest, everypony’s accounts match up with the story. And usually, legends have some basis in fact. Like Nightmare Night or The Reign of Chaos. It may not be what they actually are, but for right now it’s as good a name as any. As for any rescue attempt, I’m in.”
Nimbus straightened. “I’m in too.”
Flare did a double take. “Now I know that I didn’t just hear that. There’s no way under the Sun that I’m letting you go anywhere near that place.”
Nimbus rounded on her coltfriend. “And there’s no way I’m not going to go! Not only would I not be able to live with myself if I ran away, but you need pegasi to provide recon. And don’t feed me something about taking one of the ones who came back, they’ve already done their share!”
Dawn Breeze stepped forward. “With respect Nimbus, you’re not thinking clearly.” She raised her wings disarmingly as Nimbus shot her a glare. “You are right, they do need pegasus recon. But that recon will be me. You’re working for two now, after all, and you need to remember that. If this goes bad, you don’t want these changelings to kill your foal, do you?”
Nimbus recoiled as if slapped, her eyes looking from one side to the other as she tried to come up with a retort. But eventually her ears sagged and she nodded slowly. “I... I understand.” She looked up at Dawn. “I expect you to bring everyone back safely.”
Dawn nodded once. “You have my word.”
Flare trotted over and wrapped his neck around hers, squeezing tight. “And I promise, we’ll rescue everyone, and be back in time for dinner.”
Nimbus shut her eyes, trying not to let the tears she felt welling up come out. “I’ll be sure to make it just like you like.”
Flare finally broke the hug, and looked to the others. “So this is my suggestion. We send Nimbus, the wounded, Amy and her foals, Fluttershy, Arcane Light, Steel Glimmer and the humans back to Kinshasa.. The infiltration team will consist of myself, Aegis, Dawn Breeze and any other remaining guards who are at combat capacity. We’ll stay with the boat for a ways until we reach the edge of the jungle, then split off and try to pick up their trail. Any disputes?”
“Not from me amigo.” Lariat said firmly.
“Nyet.” Anvil said firmly.
The other guards all shook their heads in turn or, in the case of those too wounded or otherwise unable to go, gritted their teeth in frustration.
“Sounds like a plan to me, Flare, but one thing...” Aegis motioned at Backburner. “Dusty broke Backburner’s leg. I’d hate to think what would happen if I connected solid with one o’ ya’ll. Can you think of anything to tell one of us from another if they try to pull the same dirty trick?”
Flare thought about it for a second. “There’s a couple things we could try, but we’ll need to sit down and figure out which one works best.” He got to his hooves. “Now, let’s get to work.”
---
He stirred, side flaring as his broken ribs ground against each other. His coat was soaked through, and the sluggishness of his movements felt like he was submerged in mud. Realizing his muzzle was under, he tried to move for what felt like the surface, but something kept him still. He tried to keep his mouth closed, but it reflexively opened as he finally had to suck in a breath. Wincing in anticipation of the burning pain suffocation brings, he was surprised to see that it didn’t hurt.
Deciding to open his eyes, he could see that whatever he was floating in was tinted a light green, glowing slightly. Swinging his head, he realized that he could see movement and pushed himself closer to get a better look.
Dozens of black forms, shaped like the ones that had attacked him and his squad, scuttled by, a few stopping to look directly at him before moving on. Recoiling, he tried again to move, feeling the same sensation of something restraining his movement. Managing to swing his head to look down, his eyes widened as he saw his lower body.
Captain Stardust’s scream of horror echoed throughout the larval chamber, the changelings returning it with a mocking buzz of their wings as they swarmed for the exits.