//------------------------------// // 31: All this effort, all this pain... // Story: Halls of the Changeling King // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// “Mister Granite! Mister Granite! Mister Granite-” The loremaster adjusts his sleeping helmet as the incessant repetition of his name wakes him up. The pair of glowing blue eyes and lines of multiple purple runes jumping up and down in his castle suite after he fell asleep would be a cause of concern... “-Mister Granite! Mister Granite! Mister Granite-” ...if it wasn’t Three, bouncing on the floor like a slinky on cocaine. “-Mister Granite! Mister Granite! Mister Gr-” “Mhmghh… yes? What’s wrong?” asks the dwarf with growing certainty that something bad must have happened. “Myfriend’sstuckandIcan’tgethimout!Weneedtomakeabiggertunnel,butit’sinthecastle,soweneedtoknockdownsomewallsand-” “Slow down, Three...” Granite groans as he sits up, “Who is stuck where?” “My friend Stompy helped us down in the dark priest home where we went to find another poison sample so that Gem can do something anal-related and help the boss. Wait, is she making a suppository?” Three stops, blinking several times, “Nevermind, as long as it helps. So, we were running back here with Stompy, but he’s too big and he got stuck in a secret tunnel which we had to collapse to stop the spindlies from following us.” To Granite, this makes more sense, but not by much, actually. “Alright, alright,” he takes off his chainmail pyjamas, and puts on his heavy boots under the watchful eyes of Three who has stopped bouncing but is now vibrating at eye-watering frequency, “Let’s start with the simple stuff. You want me to do something.” “Come with me. I’d like to introduce you to Stompy!” Three bolts through Granite’s suite, leaving behind a pink blur. “Geez, I’m just an old dwarf,” Granite shakes his head, “I need my sleep.” Thankfully, he doesn’t have to run, because Three keeps rushing off and quickly coming back like a baby flame spider returning a thrown stick. Granite sighs. Torchy used to be a great pet, at least until he grew up and ate his grandfather. His warm mood dissipates quickly when his groggy head realizes where Three is leading him. The guards standing by the entrance to the secret passage salute him, which he reciprocates and keeps following the drone down into the darkness lit only by Three’s pink runes. Rather well-lit, actually. “OH BY MURADIN’S ROCK-SPLITTING COCK!” Granite screams, suffering a minor heart-attack when he spots a giant ancestor mech made of istrium alloy which lights up as Three approaches, “I mean axe…” “That’s Stompy, mister Granite!” Three beams, “Stompy, this is mister Granite, he’s our friend and he knows a lot of stuff.” “Acknowledged. Welcome back, operator. Welcome, wing commander,” says Stompy, giving slowly recovering Granite another heart murmur. “It speeeeeaaaaksss… W-Wing commander?” stutters out Granite. “The symbol on your helmet identifies you as wing commander. Although the design is unfamiliar to me, it resembles a pre-project military headgear.” Granite’s mind is spinning. A WORKING and intelligent ancestor war machine, right here in front of him. This is a miracle. “This… this is a dwarven loremaster symbol,” Granite taps the three horizontal half-moons on his helmet, “One of many ranks based on the ones of our ancestors.” His wonder finally gives way to logic, and he realizes what Three was talking about. The secret tunnel leading up is too small for ‘Stompy’, and the larger part behind him has collapsed for some reason. “Is this what you wanted, Three? To get Stompy to the castle?” he asks. The drone nods, “We can rouse few engineers from bed, and I suppose there are some miners still awake-” “I’ve got friends who always work late,” Three interrupts him, “I just wanted to know if we’re allowed to ruin this bit of the castle. I know which walls we can knock down without causing damage.” Granite has to suppress the answer that he would happily raze the whole castle if it meant getting an intact ancestor machine like Stompy into his hooves. In light of that, he simply nods, and says: “Alright, Three, you’ve got my blessing. Grab whomever you can, and let’s free Stompy.” “Yaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!” Three whizzes off. Granite sits down by the wall, his mind filled with questions to ask the changelings and the machine later. Right now, all he can do is breathe out: “Holy shit...” Three, on the other hole, is galloping through Brauheim at meteoric speed, air friction heating his chitin up. Castle whizzes by, so do trade quarter and soon after the storage quarter. Rectangular halls give way to uneven mine shafts, which at his speed also means he trips over a newly installed minecart rail, and bounces off of the floor multiple times like a rock skipped across a lake. A crate of mining supplies shakes at the changeling’s impact, making all still working emerald miners who haven’t heard the bouncing drone already turn their heads. A second later, a smooth black head peeks out from behind it, helmet askew. “Hi, guys!” Three waves at the miners, “We’ve got to save Stompy! Mister Granite gave us permission to make a tunnel inside the castle. It’s super important.” “The loremaster himself needs our services? OUR?” the foreman’s eyes go wide, “Haul ass, you lazy sods! This is our chance to go up in the world, maybe to the iron mines!” The miners cheer, pack their stuff, and follow Three back into the castle. *** Battlecry yawns. It’s been a long day, and the new batch of mares trying to join the army wasn’t progressing as fast as she would like, taking more of her time, and leaving her able to do her own personal exercise regimen far too late. On the other hoof, she’s been sleep like a filly every day, so it has its benefits. Tossing her armor away without bothering to put it on a ponnequin by the door, she heads straight for the bathroom. A shower would do her good. *Click!* She immediately peeks out of the bathroom when she hears the door click. No one’s there. Furrowing her brows, she walks through her house, listening for anything even remotely out of place. Maybe just someone tried to open her door and shut it again when they realized they got the wrong house? She shrugs. Then she hears trickling water from the bathroom. As she passes by the main door again, she slips on a set of heavy, combat horseshoes, and heads for the bathroom. The door is closed. She didn’t close it. Well, it looks like more training is on order. Kicking the door open, she charges inside, and freezes instantly. Eight, her lips glossy with red lipstick, is standing under the nozzle of the shower, water running down her chitin. “Whuh- ah- what?” Battlecry.exe has stopped working. Eight chuckles, and licks her lips. “From the first moment, I knew my boss wasn’t the only one you had hots for, little cock sock.” Battlecry’s jaw drops when she notices what Eight is sporting between her hind legs. Eight feels the lust practically oozing from the mare now, and sways her hips, laughing inwardly at how Battlecry’s eyes follow the bounce of her crotch. “Mouth first then? Alright, I’m not picky.” *** A white, brown-maned unicorn is lazily strolling through the upper floors of Rift. Unlike Brauheim which is straight up flat, Rift is as vertical city as one can be. It took some time to adjust to the layout of a city which is built into the sides of an enormous crevasse splitting a whole mountain in half, criss-crossed by bridges, but by now, the unicorn knows this place like home. A minotaur female passes by, carrying a large barrel of something hefted over her shoulder. The unicorn turns his head, smiling to himself as he watches the glorious globes of the minotaur’s ass bounce up and down. Minotaurs do hard work and eat well, the best combination to get proper assets. “Like a drop of pure water sliding down a leaf on a spring morning,” he mumbles, “Almost hypnotic. Makes me wish I wasn’t sleeping alone tonight.” The unicorn is no one special. Certainly, without his plate armor bearing the symbol of the sun on its breastplate he would be rather difficult to pick out of the crowd in any pony city. Here, though, he sticks out like a sore hoof, but his exotic nature did give him few very pleasant experiences in the recent past. ”I need you and lord Bright Star down here,” he hears a voice inside his head. ”Oh? OH! GEM?! Took you damn long! I was about to grab him and go kick some pint-sized ass myself.” ”That won’t be necessary. Drop the disguise, and the dwarves should be rather friendly. I need lord Bright Star’s magic. Things here are… not great.” That’s enough to make the unicorn nod to no one in particular. ”I’ll be right there. Can you share the updated map?” His mind is overwhelmed momentarily with much more than a route from Rift to Brauheim. It’s an enormous chunk of the underground as well. After a quick trip to get yet another paladin currently observing late evening life in the city as well, the two descend down through tunnels until they’re stopped by six tiny ponies whose size is dwarfed only by the amount of weaponry on them. The leading paladin’s form swirls in a gust of green fire, revealing a a mane-less changeling of a slim but tough build. The dwarves huddle for a quick talk when they see the transformation, and then aim their weapons at the duo again. “You’re coming with us,” says one in passable common language. The two are led straight to prison and locked inside. The good part is that the dwarves haven’t taken any of their equipment away. “Umm… well...” says the changeling, “That was unexpected.” “Oh really?” asks the other unicorn, this time a real one, “I’m not one to cause an international incident, but sitting here isn’t my idea of a productive evening.” “Don’t worry, Bright Star. Gem knows what she’s doing.” The older paladin looks around the cell, and then sits down on a mattress in the corner. “It’s been a slow day, but we’re inside and it’s warm. I don’t mind kicking back a little,” he stretches his legs. “That certainly is an idea I’m not going to argue with,” the changeling nods, lying down on a mattress by the opposite wall. *** ”Love, just all my love...” Five sighs, standing over the neatly stacked hibernating bodies of Six and Seven. She gave away the laser gatling as well as the grenade launcher, and her steps led her back here into the library. Well, in front of it, but after a while she went inside, and sat down. ”But the answer was right here all the time. Love, just all my love...” “I know what you want from me, but it’s just not in me… not in the way you want...” mumbles Five, “And that’s what you will have to understand, no matter what.” She looks at the marble reading table polished into a mirror. The changeling looking back at her is confused and obviously worried. Why, though? What is there to fear? What is there to be confused about? This changeling exists to serve the hive and, unlike others, she’s happy with just that. That’s the simple truth, the truth of all truths. What if she hurts him in the process? She might, especially if he takes the difference between what they both want hard. On the other hole, such wound is temporary, and might even result in growth… ...and that’s all Five wants - a better hive overall in the end. She looks at the crystallized rose tucked neatly in her leg hole, her expression once again that of absolute certainty about her goals. “Alright then, where did Three leave the rocks?” Not even two hours and one initially very annoyed jeweller later, Five finds herself standing in the center of a lavishly decorated room inside a private establishment slightly off of the castle plaza. Surrounding her, there are seven dwarf stallions and three mares, all wearing face masks and patches covering their cutie marks. Curiosity, uncertainty, but most of all - lust are filling the room to the brim, showing to Five’s senses as faint pink mist. Five licks her lips, and flicks her horn, letting green light wash over her, making many small, beautifully cut diamonds set inside her holes glow green, creating the effect of drops of an emerald rain all over her legs. Her body is still a changeling, only one with slight improvements to shape and size which Two had taught her what now feels like ages ago. As she flicks her tail, she gives the dwarves behind her a good show of her new set of diamond piercings, which only adds to the quickly thickening fog of lust in the air. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. I’m sure I can reward your courage accordingly, everypony. I’ve got more holes than you can imagine on any single pony, and for you, ladies… I’m sure we can arrange a fulfilling night as well,” says Five. She walks over to the nearest dwarf, pushes him onto the floor, and leans on the floor to kiss him, face down and plot up. She flicks her tail again to encourage someone behind her, and moans: “Come and get me. I don’t bite unless you want me to.” *** “Oh geez...” says Gem as the prison guards unlock the cell door, and she sees the two softly snoring armored figures inside, “Ten, lord Bright Star? Wake up!” The changeling paladin jumps up, and gives Gem a hug while the unicorn takes only a moment longer, kissing Gem’s hoof immediately after. “I call you and you just fall asleep, really?” she pouts. “Hey, we thought you knew what you were doing,” Ten shrugs, smirking at Gem, “and we knew you’d come for us.” “Yeah, I’m sorry, I was really busy,” Gem shakes her head, “I’ll explain everything on the way,” she waves at the guards outside, “They’re coming with me.” At this point, military dwarves are more than familiar with changelings running things that they simply shrug and let everyone out. “What’s going on, miss Gem?” asks Bright Star. “I need your help. I assume you know how to stabilize magic into an object which isn’t your amulet?” “It depends on the object,” Bright Star nods, “Not every material can be enchanted.” “I need you to infuse a liquid with a destructive spell. Fire is your thing, right?” “Every paladin’s speciality,” the unicorn nods, and Ten joins in, “Servants of the Sun alicorn and so on. Although I’m telling you straight up, if you want a fire spell bound to water, that’s not happening.” “Then I need to make a liquid which can hold a spell, isn’t harmful to us, and also has the properties I need as an antivenom. Ten, I might need you as a battery if I don’t make it the first time.” “Sure,” the changeling shrugs, “I’m full enough from my… diplomatic relations with minotaurs. Why, though?” “Boss really is here, but he’s dying. He’s been poisoned by something I’ve never seen before nor did I think something like that could even exist.” “I don’t know whether to celebrate that we’ve finally found him, or to mourn what’s going on, so you’d better get ‘splainin’ right now, young lady,” Ten smacks Gem softly over the back of her head. “Alrighty...” *** “Hnnngh...” Five pushes herself up, feeling an industrial amount of various fluids drip off of and out of herself, “...these guys lack a lot of things, but stamina isn’t among those...” With a little pride in her stomach… or possibly a hot lot of something much less poetic, she looks around at the unconscious dwarves, and grits her teeth as her chitin feels about to burst. “Come on, you low-tier sack of flesh,” she growls, “You can do this without throwing up.” Full and sloshing, both literally and figuratively, she leaves the post-credits scene of her organized orgy, and begins hauling herself through the empty late night streets of Brauheim. Thankfully, she did expect her capacity not to be enough, so she picked a love hotel near the castle, after some surprise about dwarves being into this type of thing. This way, her return trip to the library is painful, but she can handle it. Soon enough, she’s standing by Seven’s side, her short horn touching his, and slowly releasing a trickle of lust into him. He either absorbs a lot more than she recalls him being able to, or she’s overestimated herself a little, but few minutes later his eyes open. “Whuh- wha- I- the succubus? Owwww!” he clutches his head, feeling the effects of almost raw lust ravage his body, “Got any love in there, Five?” he groans, rolling over to try and stand up. “Yes, but not for you. Go give Three a horsie ride or something,” Five nods to Six. “Come oooon, there’s a demon loose in the city, don’t ask me how, and we need to stop her!” pleads Seven, “I don’t have time to refill and- hey!” he furrows his brows as Five sends him a quick mental recap of their recent trip into the enclave as well as what preceded it, “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT WHAT?!” “Out,” Five points at the library door. “Wait, this is my haunt, you can’t just tell me to-” “OUT!” “No, seriously, I can’t just go out after what you told me-” A gauntlet of green fire the size of Seven’s head envelops Five’s still pointing hoof, and a dragon claw extends from it, giving Seven the clear signal that he’s either moving in the next second, or he’s getting moved whether he likes it or not. “Fine, fiiine… I’m going...” he opens the library door, and grins at Five, “Just don’t break the poor guy’s pelvis. You look kinda chubby now.” The warrior only smirks as Seven closes the door behind himself, and after a quick mental check that he isn’t on the other side, eavesdropping, she walks over to Six. This is what the love she got from the dwarves is for. She’s not good at it as a warrior, but she does her best to mix it up with lust into something delicious and nourishing for Six. She doesn’t use horn this time, instead opting for long, hot, and wet wake-up kiss. Six slowly opens his eyes, feeling something like a warm massage work his body through and through. His mental links light up one by one, and his eyes cross at the realization that what’s now happening to him is Five’s doing. She raises her head up, sensing he’s awake. “I- Five- I- you- YOU’RE OKAY! IT WORKED!” he jumps up, all hesitation forgotten. Then he furrows his brows when he spots the crystalline rose tucked neatly behind her ear as well as the cut diamond shards scattered all over her legs and… and... “Is that a diamond nose ring? And earrings? And...” his lower posture gives him a clear view of Five’s pierced belly button and more, “Are those the diamond shards I brought?” Five smiles. “I knew you’d love this to be the first thing you see when you wake up.” Six boops her, chuckling at how Five’s nose ring shakes. “You have no idea.” “Try me.” *** Everything hurts. Darkness. Pain. Teeth. Has it ever been different? Has there ever been more than excruciating agony, more than fire devouring my flesh? I twirl a spear made of pure love, and stab a unicorn paladin charging at me. The weapon pierces his armor clean through, but before I can finish him off, I have to let go and jump to the side to avoid the biting teeth of a changeling warrior. It’s been so long… I think. I don’t know anymore. Summoning a love blade, I duck under a swing of princess Celestia’s halberd, and stab upwards, slashing the alicorn’s chest open. She disappears. She’ll be back soon enough. Mom- Chrysalis spits a glob of acidic goo at me from the back. Of course I can’t avoid that while I’m having to dodge a beam of fire from another paladin’s horn. My leg gives way, and I stumble, falling on the black floor. The constant pain combined with my chitin melting under the spit is too much. Everything is just too much. I can’t handle it anymore. Rolling over, I see a small black body curled up nearby. A changeling drone. I’ve been protecting it for some reason. Forever. Throughout this eternity of agony. It’s glowing with love. Not much, but it’s something. Not enough. Still enough for me to push myself up again. Celestia is back. In defense, I slash her halberd in half. She’s ready, though, and blasts me with magic from her horn. Chrysalis lands on me, biting into my neck. I try to kick her off, but I’m too weak this time. When she rolls away, I hear wheezing with my every breath that’s not coming from my mouth. A chunk of my chitin and flesh underneath is missing. She looks at the drone, and rears her head back to spit her corrosive goo at it this time. The second to breathe… or wheeze, is enough to summon another spear of love which I lob through Chrysalis’ skull. She’ll be back soon enough. Three feral changeling warriors surround me, fangs bared. “You’re just food, drone!” growls one. I wish we didn’t have to fight among ourselves out of starvation. The changelings are slaughtered by an attack from behind. A bearded paladin cleaves all three in one wide swing. “NO!” I scream, and charge at him, summoning a burning green chainsaw this time which slowly bites through his flying sword, then his helmet, and with the roaring of its engine and quickly stopping scream of the pony even the paladin himself. The corpse disappears. Star Trail will be back. A burning pink oval appears hanging in the air nearby, and a blood red mare with leather wings steps out of it. “Phew,” she says, making me back off, ready for another attack, ”Honestly, now that I can feel it, I understand why no one else could get through to you. Let’s make this a little more… bearable.” Second after second, the constant pain I’ve been feeling… I’ve always been feeling… subsides. I’m still exhausted, still hurt, but the background fire eating my body from the inside is, at least for now, diminished. “Who… are you…?” I croak. My throat is sore from screaming and gasping for breath. “Hard to think with that pain and adrenaline-fried brain, is it? Buuut I admit I am a little hard to recognize,” she chuckles. Changeling fire mixed with something new and pink burns her body away, leaving behind… a changeling. “I… I think I know you...” my legs buckle under me, “One… One?” stumbling towards her, I start crying immediately. I can barely see when I reach out and embrace her, “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… I was all my fault...” tears don’t stop. They can’t stop, “You… Nine… maybe Four. I’m sorry for being too weak to make Eight help you. I’m sorry you had to protect our egg instead of going all out. It was all my fault. I know I will never be able to tell you this… but I’m sorry. I’m so sorry...” “Heh… heheh… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” she starts laughing, making me wipe my eyes and back away a little. Eventually, she starts gasping for breath so she shoves her hoof inside her mouth to calm down, “Ohhhh boy… you really are the exact opposite of Chryssie! She blamed everyone else for her failures while you take responsibility for things you should let go. Anyway, I’m not dead, and if you can find it in you to keep fighting, you might get to have fun with a literally divine changeling.” “Whuh?” my moment of clarity fades, and with it returns my complete exhaustion. I can’t think, so I just repeat, “Divine?” “I had no idea before I got this amazing opportunity, but do you know what can happen to a lust-based creature like a changeling if you add divine power to the mix? I’m lust incarnate now, boss, a succubus. So, keep going, because at the end of the road, I will be waiting, and trust me when I say - I’m waaay better than I used to be. And you know how cockbreaking I was already.” I just nod. Nothing she’s saying makes sense. I’m so tired. “But it looks like our time together is growing short, and I can’t keep shielding you from the pain of your body forever. Well, I can, but I won’t. You will have to earn your reward,” she chuckles, and points at the small body behind me. Right, I was protecting it… for some reason, “That little ball of love is what you should be focusing on.” Right. One’s always been smart. She knows what to do. I just… if I ever get some rest again… then I’ll… think about something. For now… I just need to obey One. “Heh, that’s just like you. Gotta earn everything.” I wave at her as she disappears back into her portal, “Bye, hallucinated One.” I ready myself for another attack, but there’s no one around. Even the pain is returning slower than I thought it would. It’s kinda… maybe not that good. It kept me awake. Now… I’m cold. So cold. So weak. I just need… ...some rest. I collapse on the floor again, darkness wiping out my vision after an eternity of pain. I regret a lot of things, but on some level… I’m afraid to admit it… I welcome peace. Oh right… Three was the drone sleeping here the whole time. My best friend Three. He likes hugs. And crayons. . . . . . . . . AND HE’S ON MY FREAKING FAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEE! I sit up, screaming into Three’s belly as my whole body aches. “He’sawakehe’sawakehe’sawake!MissFourbossisawakeitworkeditworkeditworked!AaaaahstoptryingtoshakemeoffIhavethepowerofhugs!” Can’t… breathe...