Without a word, Aurick stepped off the train, Ashwyn close to his side as he moved. The ponies in the crowded station seemed to know better than to stand in his way, a small ripple in the sea of bodies being enough to open a path for him.
Princess Cadence was not so lucky. The moment she was spotted, a veritable horde of ponies approached her, seeking to wish her well on what was supposed to be the day of her marriage.
The group of four was split into two. Aurick and Ashwyn proceeding onward, leaving Cadance and Carina behind to deal with the ponies of Canterlot.
~-~
Alae let out a yawn as she watched ponies pass her by. She was supposed to stand guard within the city and keep on the lookout for certain individuals. Evidently, Queen Chrysalis had suspicions that the Enchanter and his companion would be returning to the city. A fact that she found improbable.
She had heard that the queen sent Aldrin to ensure such an outcome didn’t happen. There was no possible way that he could have failed such a task. He was far too strong for these weak creatures to defeat.
So it was with some minor irritation that she continued her watch over the passerbys. The only thing to break up the monotony of the job was the occasional stallion that caught her eye. It had been quite some time since she had gathered love for the hive, and she briefly wondered when her next opportunity would be.
It got to the point where she began to rate stallions based on how much love she thought she could feed off of them. She was so caught up in this that she nearly missed the disturbance in the crowd.
Ponies began to part, mild looks of fear crossing their faces as the seemed to avoid something. That something was swift to reveal itself as it rounded the corner, and it was enough to make Alae’s jaw drop.
The Queen’s suspicions were right, the enchanter was back. She had to go tell her, she had to… Why was he staring at her like that?
Her instincts taking over, she tried to turn and run, but she swiftly slammed into some invisible force, knocking her onto her rear. She barely had time to get to her hooves before a she saw a large shadow envelope her. Shakilly, the disguised changeling turned around, seeing exactly what she feared.
The enchanter stood before her, his face dark, and a cold fury rolling off his body in waves. Alae’s legs locked in that moment as her eyes met his, and she knew in the back of her mind that she would not like what came next.
~-~
Shouts of panic filled the street as this scene played out, resulting in the elf holding the changeling by the throat. A flash of magic dispelled the disguise it wore, revealing the chitinous truth.
Ashwyn watched as the Alpha held this changeling in his grasp, struggling against the grip with a terrified look on its face. She felt a modicum of sympathy for the bug pony, having to face the Alpha’s gaze like this must have been no easy task.
“Has your leader moved from the castle?” He demanded, glaring daggers. The changeling let out a squeak before shaking its head. “Good.”
Before any party could fully comprehend what was happening, the Alpha’s hand glowed before a large projection of force surrounded the changeling’s head, vaguely looking similar to a hand. Then… it closed around the changelings head, a sickening sound ringing through the ears of everyone who could have heard it.
Screaming redoubled as whatever ponies were still on the street made their best attempts to get as far away as they possibly could. Ashwyn, however, sat there watching as green fluids seeped out of the ethereal hand. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared, letting the body fall to the ground and giving Ashwyn a good view of what the results were. The Alpha seemed unfazed by this, standing up and moving off as though nothing had happened.
Ashwyn did not follow.
Her eyes were locked on the corpse of the changeling before her, her mouth agape in shock and horror. In her mind, she knew the Alpha had killed before. She knew he sought to bring such a fate upon the changeling leader, but to have seen it happen. To see him so easily kill someone and walk away as though it didn’t concern him…
She had killed things before, seen the Alpha kill things before, but it had never been something like this. It was always an animal. Something so that they could eat. This was nothing like that.
The Alpha killed this changeling in cold blood. Sure, she didn’t particularly like the changelings either, but she didn’t want to kill them like this. Sure, in the moment when they had taken him, she thought she wanted to, but she couldn’t when it came down to it.
Regret filled her heart as she realized she was the one to have pointed out this changeling in the crowd. She had been the one to lead him towards it… this changeling died because of her…
Eventually she tore her eyes from the corpse, attempting to see where the Alpha had gone, only to find him already at the end of the road. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she forced her legs to move. One paw in front of the other as she slowly left the corpse behind and attempted to catch up to the Alpha.
The only thing running through her mind was the image of the changeling that she left behind, and what she could do to prevent similar sights on their path to Canterlot Castle.
~-~
Carina and Princess Cadance had finally managed to escape the throng of ponies wishing their princess well and a happy marriage. At first the pair were happy by the much quieter atmosphere as they moved onwards, but eventually they came to notice something strange. Specifically the lack of ponies on the streets. They found this odd, until the pair came across the reason for this.
Sitting in the middle of the street was a corpse. A corpse that Carina recognized.
In a flurry of motion, the changeling rushed forward, leaving a shocked Cadance behind. “Alae!” He cried out, his voice choked as he viewed the lifeless body. “He… he…” He didn’t need to take a guess as to figure out who had done this.
He cursed himself for not being there. For not going with them to prevent this from happening. He knew Aurick was murderous. He knew this and still let him go. Carina hadn’t even attempted to try and convince him not to take out his rage. He was too scared. Too much of a coward.
Why was he like this? Why couldn’t he just…
He was pulled from his thoughts by a hoof on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Cadance standing next to him, a look of sadness on her face as she gazed upon the corpse.
“We must go.” She told him in a silent voice. “W-we need to catch up to him. We need to stop him from leaving a trail of bodies to the castle.”
Carina couldn’t help but agree, his head nodding without a word. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he forced himself to turn away from Alae’s body. As the princess lead him away, he silently vowed that he would stop being so cowardly. He would try to fight Aurick if he had to…
He just didn’t want to see anyone else die.