//------------------------------//
// No Place Where I Could Run 
// Story: In a Chang(el)ing World 
// by Kaipony 
//------------------------------//

"So you volunteered for this special task group with the mission of rooting out changelings."

"‘Rooting out.’ That’s a word for it."

"Did you wonder, at the time, what that might mean? What sort of places you might have to travel to, what missions you could be sent on?"

"Nopony knew exactly what we were getting into, not in the early days. The bugs weren't like anything the Guard had had to fight in the past. All I knew was that we were out there to hunt them down, and that was good enough for me."

"Had you experienced any dangerous situations before your time in the Task Force?"

“Invasion.”

“Aside from that, Mr. Edge.”

"No. Yes. I wouldn't call them overly dangerous. Civil disturbances. A few confrontations with the odd monster. Nothing of any real consequence, but that's not important."

"I would imagine that hoof-to-hoof combat with an enemy that's trying to drain you of love is something that requires preparations. Preparations that you didn't have."

"You can't prepare for the tunnels of the hives. All you can do is survive and become a better hunter for the next mission."

"A better hunter, you say?"

"Yes. And talking about my feelings like a pouty mare isn’t going to help me when the next attack comes."

"The closest to ‘hunting’ that I get is hunting down my favorite teas in the shops. When I think of a hunter, Mr. Edge, and beg pardon if I’m being too forward, the image of a pony is just about the last thing that comes to mind."

"We learned, Miss Heart. I learned. ‘The predator became the prey,’ as Lieutenant Watch told me. She’s full of it, but those words are true regardless. The bugs learned that a cornered pony will fight back. We taught them that lesson well."

"There's a difference, though, between defending the herd and hunting down another living being. I could see how it may be difficult for a herd-focused, prey-minded pony to transition into the mentality required to be a predator. How did you maintain mental and emotional balance in that state of mind?"

"Some couldn't handle the stress. The sounds and sights. The sensations. The rest of us got the job done."

"And how did you do that?"

"Don't think about it. Put everything in a box, and don't let anything like doubt or empathy keep you from delivering that killing blow. You ignore that cracking sound, wipe off your hooves, and move along."

"‘The predator became the prey,’ you said. It’s clear you took to that mindset like a dragon to gold. Tell me more."


~~*~~


Faith carefully stepped over a lumpy, moss green mass that vaguely resembled a changeling cocoon's remains as she shied away from the walls of the hive cavern. Much of the cavern's vertical surfaces were coated in a sickly, sagging substance that gave off an acerbic odor. Faith wrinkled her nose and rounded a bend in the cave, striding into a wide chamber with a low ceiling. To the rear of the chamber, a series of smaller tunnels branched off into the darkness. Faith's attention, however, was solely on the current occupants in the center of the chamber.

A changeling, dirty and emaciated, lay sprawled across the cavern floor. Faith noted softer features that identified the changeling as a female as she took in the prisoner's state: the legs of the changeling were far more pockmarked than most others of its kind, and the usually vibrant glow of its eyes and glossy carapace were dull and muted; one wing stuck out from beneath an elytron and was bent at an unnatural angle. This was a starved and defeated creature. And standing over the frail changeling, flanked by two other operatives, was Keen Edge. 

Faith could see the cold fire burning in Keen's eyes as the stallion silently brooded over his captive. The changeling seemed to notice as well, and she tried dragging itself further into the hive. Keen stared down at the changeling and, with careful deliberateness, placed a hoof on her back, pinning her to the floor. Glaring defiantly through swollen eyelids at the ponies that stood over her, the changeling struggled weakly to pull herself free, but she was in no condition to resist.  

"Good work, everypony," Faith said as an adjunct stepped up beside her. "What's the final tally?" she asked. 

"Eleven changelings neutralized," Keen answered softly, never taking his eyes off the changeling under his hoof. "This one's the last of them."

"Ahem," the adjunct interjected. "Three captives were rescued from cocoons. All ponies. There was a fourth, but it appears that one recently succumbed to malnutrition."

Faith grimly nodded. "At least we got three of them." She cast her gaze around to the sagging cave walls. "What of the hive itself?"

"Small. Based on previous hives we've broken up, this was likely once an alcove that was minimally excavated to provide basic shelter. Certainly not the beginnings of a major hive."

"Any casualties? I didn't see anypony hurt when I arrived."

"Minor injuries only," the adjunct replied. "One shallow bite, a fractured metatarsal, and a few bruises."

"They weren't in a condition to put up much of a fight," one of the operatives near Keen added. 

"Are you going to kill me too?" the changeling hissed, staring defiantly into Faith’s eyes. 

Faith shook her head. "As much as you might deserve it, we're sending you to the castle dungeon. You'll be questioned, but you'll live." She nodded to the two operatives flanking Keen. "You two come with me to fill in the details for my report. Keen, secure the prisoner for transport." The two operatives saluted and departed. Faith gave Keen an appraising look before she fell in behind the two operatives. 

A sound made her pull up short after having turned the corner. A soft crack followed by a squeaking yelp. Quietly, she peered around the bend in the cave. Faith found Keen leaning over the changeling, her face twisted in a grimace of pain. The stallion leaned in further and the same sound, a soft crack, punctuated the appearance of a small fissure across the changeling's carapace. The changeling’s mouth was agape in a silent, agonized scream as she pitifully squirmed under his hoof. His ears twitched at the sound, and his right eye fluttered as he sucked in air through gritted teeth.

Faith held back as Keen removed his hoof from the changeling's back, and she scooted away from him. "What's wrong, bug? The Lieutenant said you're going to live."

"Lies," the changeling spat. "I can taste the hatred inside you, and yet you call us monsters. How many of my kind have you already murdered? You ponies have always been such hypocrites. Especially once your precious harmony is broken."

The stallion's eyes narrowed, and a thin frown stretched across his face as he stepped over to the changeling. Keen leaned over, bringing his face close to hers. "I'm authorized to use deadly force if you resist." His snout was almost touching hers as a hoof moved to her neck and pressed down. "Give me a reason. Beg. Plead." The changeling coughed and struggled, kicking him weakly in the haunches, but she couldn’t fight him off. He snorted, a cruel smile twisting his face. Faith lifted a hoof but still held back. Instead, she continued to watch.

"You're nothing but a plague," Keen growled as he silently pressed another hoof down on the changeling's neck. He pushed down hard with both hooves. The changeling sputtered, and her chest heaved. She struggled desperately, her forelimbs flailing as her mouth wordlessly opened and closed, fighting for air. "I decide whether you get to Canterlot in a chariot or a box!" 

Faith quickly moved from her vantage point and crossed the space. "Operative," she called out. He did not respond or look away from the suffocating changeling. "Operative! Keen!" she shouted, bodily shoving the stallion aside. The changeling sucked in a ragged breath, coughed, and gasped as she greedily drank in air. 

Keen Edge clambered to his hooves as Faith interposed herself between him and the changeling. "That's enough," Faith ordered. "We need whatever information she might have on the other hives."

Keen looked at her in surprise, glowering as a hint of betrayal flashed across his face. "Move aside, Faith," Keen hissed. "We’re here to squash these bugs! Not to talk, capture, or reform them. Or, what, did you suddenly start to sympathize with these things?"

"We'll never find them all if you can't control yourself," Faith countered. She jerked her head in the direction of the cavern exit. "Regroup with the rest of the team. I'll have somepony else secure the prisoner for transport." Faith watched Keen as the operative stepped over to bind the changeling, ready to intervene should he do something rash.

Keen snorted, and the muscles in his legs rippled and quivered with strained energy. Faith lowered her stance and slowly shook her head, keeping her eyes on him. The changeling, still catching her breath, glanced wide-eyed between the two ponies.

Slowly, Keen Edge relaxed and assumed a rigid posture. "Very well, ma'am." Then, he stomped away.

Faith watched as the stallion disappeared around the corner, and one corner of her mouth turned up in the barest hint of satisfaction. "You'll get plenty more chances, Operative Edge. There's always more work to be done."


~~*~~


Rain clouds, having recently shed their watery payload, hung in lazy clumps near the dark horizon. A bestial snarl shredded the night air as a full moon cast its glow down upon a small gathering of ponies and one alicorn. The group stood on slick, mossy cobblestone pavement in a courtyard, surrounded by the dilapidated walls and slumped towers of the Castle of the Two Sisters. 

Princess Luna stood tall, looking over the horn of Captain Shining Armor. He stood protectively between the Princess and another stallion who was engaged in a brawl with two of her house guards. 

Keen Edge cursed and thrashed as the two armor-clad guards struggled to pin him to the ground. The enraged pony twisted in their grasp and managed to crawl another meter toward Luna before he was successfully pinned.

"Get some restraints on that pony," Shining Armor commanded. A mare, this one dressed simply in the tunic of a member of Luna's retinue, moved forward with a pair of metal cuffs and clasped them around the caramel pony's fetlocks.

"It's going to take more than that," Keen Edge spat, straining against the restraints. "Traitors. Fools! What the buck are you thinking!?" He glanced around the courtyard at the assemblage, his eyes enraged yet pleading. "After everything they’ve done!"

"Captain," Luna began calmly, "who is this stallion?"

Faithful Watch, standing off to one side, stepped forward and cleared her throat. "If I may?" she asked of Shining Armor, who nodded. "His name is Keen Edge, Your Highness. He is..." Her ears and tail drooped. "He was one of our best operatives."

Shining Armor, still standing between Luna and Keen Edge, regarded the frothing stallion cautiously. "Pity. If he were truly so keen, he wouldn’t have pulled this stunt."

"They don’t deserve help!" Keen shouted, still struggling. “They don’t deserve anything but the gallows!” An additional guard had to be called over to keep him immobile. He looked at Faith, his face twisted in rage. "I thought you cared... but you were just another bleeding heart politician!" Then Keen, swallowing hard, turned his fiery glare to the Princess. "You and your sister are inviting monsters into our homes. Are you blind? Are you stupid!?"

Faith closed the distance between her and Keen in a blink. She leaned down and shoved her face into Keen's, their snouts only an inch apart. Her flashing eyes speared him as she gritted her teeth.

"That is more than enough from you, Operative. Stand down." Keen spat in her face. Faith glowered at him, wiping her muzzle with her fetlock before saying, “Muzzle him.” As one of the guards approached Keen Edge, Faith turned and bowed to the Princess. "Forgive him, Highness. Keen Edge has more cause to hate the changelings than most." The mare's hard gaze softened. "It's what made him one of our best. But, it appears that his single-mindedness may have also blinded him to many things."

Princess Luna's lips were a tight line as she silently studied Keen Edge. The stallion, to his credit, weathered the scrutiny without flinching. Luna nodded to Faith. " Your Guard needs discipline. He needs guidance.” She gave the stallion a sympathetic glance. “But I understand the cause of such terrible passion as has consumed him." She lowered her voice and stepped past Shining Armor, leaning in so her words could only be heard by Faith.

"And I suspect he needs help that we can not give him. Accepting changelings, even reformed changelings, into Equestria is going to be more difficult for some than others. I know some of the best in the business. One of my aides will send you the information."

Faith's tense muscles relaxed, and she bowed again. "I understand. Thank you, Your Highness. I'll see to it." Luna withdrew and turned to her entourage. She signaled to them and, without another word, leaped into the night sky.

"Equestria is doomed," Keen called after her, his voice muffled behind the muzzle, but still dripping with venom. He turned his glare on Shining Armor. "Of all ponies, I expected better from you..."

Shining Armor shook his head and sighed. He motioned to Faith and bid her to follow him a short distance away. "Take Keen Edge to the brig and post a watch outside of his room. Let him cool his hooves in there for a week or so, then place him under house arrest pending evaluation. Until further notice, he is to remain under constant surveillance and won’t be permitted to move about without prior authorization and an escort. Is that clear, Lieutenant?" Faith nodded once. Shining Armor signaled the guards restraining Keen, and they hauled him away.

"I trusted you!" Keen shouted at Faith. "I bled for you, but you were just like the rest of them..."

One of the guards, evidently having had enough, tightened the straps on his muzzle, silencing any further words from the stallion’s mouth. Faith did not respond to his outburst. Instead, she whispered, "I'm doing this because I care."

If Keen Edge noticed Faith's lips moving, he did not acknowledge the words. He grunted and strained, but the other ponies dragged him along until he vanished around a corner.

Shining Armor and Faith were left alone, and silence quietly reigned until Shining sighed loud enough to make Faith jump. "If I could get over what the changelings did to Cadance and I, why is he having such a hard time?"

"With all due respect, Captain Armor," Faith began, "you came out of the attack with a headache. Keen Edge lost someone who was family to him. Everypony on my team has been to places, seen things, and has had to do things that most guards never will." Her voice chilled. "Things nopony should have to lower themselves to doing." She stepped up to Shining Armor, and her gaze bore into his eyes. "But they did it, without complaint or hesitation, because that's what their country asked of them. It's what their commander demanded of them."

Shining Armor's expression softened for a moment, but then he renewed his commander's mask. "Lest you forget, Lieutenant, they made a mockery of a royal wedding, drained me to the point of near zombification, and left my wife beaten and starved in the caverns to die.” Faith straightened as he looked her in the eyes. He took a breath to steady himself. “If what you say is true, then your operative shouldn’t have been given the green light to join the team in the first place. So tell me, Lieutenant Watch, why was he?"

Faith set her jaw, but said nothing. Shining nodded, narrowing his eyes at her. “What you all did was necessary, and you all have the eternal gratitude of the Throne for your sacrifices, but something here doesn’t add up. You have my honorbound promise that I’ll get to the bottom of it. Pending the results of an inquiry, you are hereby placed on restriction. You will limit your movements to your home and your office.”

Faith opened her mouth, but Shining Armor curtly interrupted. “Dismissed.” With that, he walked past her, his guards following. Faith sat alone in the dilapidated ruins of the old throne room for a time, shoulders hunched and head bowed, before finally taking her leave as well.


~~*~~


With a rattling squeak, the heavy door of a small prison cell was yanked open, and a young mare, her cornsilk coat and cobalt mane peeking through the full suit of armor she wore, stepped into the room. Lieutenant Faithful Watch closely followed her. 

"Attention," the sentry ordered, with far less gusto than expected. "Officer on deck." When the room's occupant failed to respond, she kicked at the bars separating them from the small cot where the lone prisoner lay. "I said on your hooves, Guard."

"At ease, Corporal Stanza," Faith commanded. "Wait outside. I need to have a chat with the Sergeant here."

Corporal Stanza cast a wary glance at the stationary form of Keen Edge. “Is that allowed, ma’am?” she asked with a scowl. “Word is that you’re on restriction because this pony snapped and attacked Princess Luna.” The sentry’s voice remained neutral, but her eyes danced with the glint of restrained disgust. “Scuttlebutt says you’re the reason he’s like this.”

Faith kept her expression blank. “I’m here as a follow-up to check on my Guard. You can note in your log that I’ll be going straight home after this, Corporal.” The sentry paused, and then snapped off an exceedingly rigid salute before exiting the room, shutting and locking the cell door behind her.

There was a moment of quiet before Keen growled, "You sure that's wise?" His eyes stared up at the ceiling, unfocused and unblinking. "I could be dangerous."

"You are dangerous," Faith agreed. "That's why I wanted you on the team." She sauntered over to a bare wall across from the cot and leaned against the cold stone, taking in the décor of the cell. It was spartan: gray, with a single narrow cot and a combination toilet and sink fixture.

Keen snorted and blinked. "Yeah. The team you let them disband, just when it's needed the most." He rolled his head to the side and looked up at Faith with heavy eyes. His expression was a mirror of the stone walls surrounding him. 

"When Princess Luna says that enough is enough, there is no further discussion," Faith countered. "The changelings, for the most part, are not what they once were." Keen snorted. Faith offered a hoof, shoe up, in supplication. "Most of them are not a threat anymore. Only the Queen, and a minimal number that weren't in the Hive at the time, managed to escape. They've not been spotted since the Reformation by our scouts, nor by Thorax and his new changelings."

“We’re meant to trust him? A changeling can't change," Keen hissed.

"Neither can some ponies, apparently," Faith mumbled. She pinched the bridge of her snout. "Those days are gone, Keen. We're living in a new world, and we all have to adapt. I'd hate to think that you'd let the world pass you by and choose instead to rot away in the brig," she added in a softer voice.

“You lied to me, Faith.”

Faith set her jaw, narrowing her eyes. “I never forced you to join, Keen. You came to me. Remember that.”

Keen sat up on his cot, glaring at her. “Was I just some tool to you? Something to be used up and thrown away? You were there, you saw the caskets being lowered into the ground. You headed the sending-off! You knew what the buck you were doing when you gave me that offer, and I’m the bad guy here?” Keen laughed, running a hoof through his mane. “And here I thought you were different. That you understood.”

Approaching the bars, Faith said, “You knew what you were getting into when you accepted, Keen. What we’re doing now, this is what the princesses have deemed to be for the betterment of Equestria. It’s out of my hooves.”

Keen went silent for a moment. He then rolled out of his cot, stalking towards the bars until he stood before Faith, staring into her eyes. “I see it now. That’s what I can’t stand about you, Faith. You were never a predator. You’re just a pony, just prey.”

The weight of the contempt in his voice was palpable enough to cause Faith’s ears to flatten against her skull. Looking into his eyes in that moment, she could recognize none of the pony she’d accepted onto her team all those years ago. There was something sparkling in them then that told her that, even though he was hurt and confused and burning at the thought of revenge, he still was driven by something more. Now, though, his eyes were dull, the fire that pushed him forward having burned through him. It was as though he were on autopilot and the pony at the wheel had long ago abandoned ship. A slimy feeling enveloped Faith’s spine, like that of a snake tightening its hold on its victim. It was all she could do to stop herself from trembling. "You're going to see a specialist,” she declared, carefully watching the pony as she backed away. “She's somepony who helps others that have difficulty adjusting after traumatic events. Her name is Luminant Heart."

"I'm not the one who needs his head examined," Keen shot back. His right eye twitched. It lasted only a moment before Keen settled with a grimace. "What I need is to get back out there. What I need is to get away from another two-faced deceiver like you."

Faith squared her shoulders. "I would rather this be a request, but if I have to, I'll make it an order. You're going to see Doctor Heart. Is that clear?"

"Whatever," Keen Edge muttered with a dismissive wave of his hoof.

Faith frowned and pulled herself up to her full height. She stood at rigid attention and clicked her hooves together. "I repeat." Her voice was strong and unwavering with an undertone that made it clear this would not be argued. "Is that clear, Sergeant?"

Keen Edge went rigid for a moment. After he relaxed, he shook his head as though trying to loosen something inside his skull. Fluidly, he matched Faith's posture and expression. 

"Crystal, ma'am."

"Good." Faith turned and knocked on the cell door. She paused at the threshold as the door was unlocked. "Don't make too much trouble, and you'll be out of here in a week." When Keen did not move or reply, she glanced over her shoulder at him. "We're all family in the Guard, Keen. Don't forget that."

As she crossed into the hallway and the door began to swing shut, Keen's voice drifted out to her.

"Family, huh? I had a family." The door clanged shut with a resounding finality.