//------------------------------// // VII - Sasori // Story: Zebrabwe's Secret // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Torque’s sleep spell was impressive, but enough noise and commotion could break it. The scuffle had already roused her slightly, and Zecora’s shout was enough to get her to open her eyes.  She saw the not-changeling husk attacking her.  Torque let out a scream so inequine it froze Zecora to the spot, sending chills up her spine.  Torque released a flash of blue fire coupled with a burst of magic that tore the beast to shreds. When the fire was gone, what sat in the bed was not a pony anymore: black carapace, tattered wings, and blue eyes with a narrow pupil running through the iris.  A Changeling, to be sure, though one larger than what Zecora had encountered.  The Changeling-that-had-been-Torque didn’t attack, didn’t scream… didn’t even try to speak. She just looked at the four husk skulls laying around the room… and burst into tears.  Zecora stared at the crying changeling, expressionless. “Torque” didn’t even notice—she was unable to process anything besides the empty Changeling husk heads laying on the ground.  Carefully, Zecora began to remove the heads and place them out of sight.  “What are you doing?” Gustave asked. “Why aren’t we running?” “Our friend needs help to stop looking like a sorry whelp.” “She’s a Changeling!” “Crying her eyes out. You should not doubt.” “But… but… but…” Zecora sat down at the foot of “Torque’s” bed, looking at her with calm eyes. The Changeling kept crying for quite some time. Every now and then, she would open her eyes, and there wouldn’t be any husk remnants—there would only be Zecora, looking at her calmly.  In time, the Changeling carefully sat up and locked her eyes with Zecora’s. “...Why aren’t you running?” “You need your friends with you, that I am certain is true.” Gustave growled.  “My griffon friend, not all Changelings seek an evil end. Many live alone in the world, in ways that would make their Queen furled.” “Love-stealing insects…” Zecora sighed, returning to “Torque.” “My dear, what has you steeped in fear?” “Isn’t it obvious?” She threw her hooves wide, still talking in the same accent as before, though with a slight buzz in the back of her throat. “Somethin’ did that t’ my fellow Changelings! Turned them into … those machines! I… It was bad enough this was a dead hive, but ya had t’...” She flopped back down onto the bed, trying not to cry. “Something rotten fills this castle that is causing us all this hassle. These dark runes are causing suffering on my dunes.” “I can feel it…” as she shivered, her carapace clanked against itself, giving off a rattling sound. “Beneath us, there’s… there’s somthin’ wrong.” Her angled horn lit up, shrouding the room in a blue glow. “I… don’t know what it is.” Zecora’s eyes widened. There had always been a unique magic about Zebrabwe, even when she was young… could it be more than just a natural background pattern? Focusing on the arcane energies beneath her hooves, she found herself wondering why she hadn’t bothered to check before. “We need t’ stop it,” the Changeling said, suddenly. “Go down there, put an end t’ whatever this is… doing. It ain’t good, I know that.” “How do we know zis isn’t a trap? Set by you?” Gustave pointed.  “Look at me. I ain’t an ordinary Changeling!” “‘ow am I supposed to know zat?” “You’ve… never met one of us before, right, right…” She sighed. “I am Sasori. A Changeling Queen.” Zecora stared at her. “Chrysalis destroys all others, is that not true? So that they will not make the hive anew?” “It is,” Sasori said, frowning. “She… she tries to end us all. As far as I know, I’m the only one of us who got away.”  “Zen why do you care of these ‘usks?” Gustave asked. “Zey are not your family anymore.” “They are still my people,” Sasori hissed. “I may not be able t’ nor want t’ rule, but I ain’t gonna let this horror stand.” “Neither will I,” Zecora declared. “I do not intend to let my homeland die.” “Are you crazy?” Gustave blurted. “Someone wants us gone. Instead of letting zem send more monster-insects at us, we should flee!” “It ain’t likely they’ll let us run,” Sasori sighed. “They have wings too, y’know, and now that we know their secret…” “Zen what do we do!?” Gustave waved his talons. “‘ow can we take zem on? Zere is only zree of us!”  Zecora looked down. “Find the magic deep beneath the ground to end the tragic runes they have found.” “You don’t even know what’s going on down zere, ‘ow are we t—” Sasori lit her horn and placed her front hoof on the ground. Quickly, a hole opened up in the floor, taking them to the level below.  “...What!?” “This is a Changeling Hive,” Sasori said. “Dead or not, I’ve got the juice to move it. We’re goin’ down.” She hopped into the hole. “Ya can come or risk flyin’ away. I won’t stop ya.” “I recommend following us,” Zecora said as she jumped into the hole. “I do not wish you to end up a pile of puss.” Gustave grimaced. He didn’t have to think long, however: he quickly grabbed his pack, made sure all the samples of zebra food and his own ingredients were within, and hopped down the hole. “Zis is a terrible idea.” ~~~ “Penny for your thoughts, why was ‘Torque’ the name on which you threw your shots?” Sasori lifted a hoof again, going deeper and deeper into the earth—far further than Zecora had ever thought the castle extended. “One of the first ponies I copied from a place called Hope Hollow. She had a talent for fixin’ things, I had a fascination with machinery, it just ended up workin’ out well. I’ve been Torque for years, wanderin’ the skies with my girl.” She gained a wistful expression on her face. “Chrysalis could never find me up there, and I’d never been so happy…” “Do you not get hungry from being so lonely?” “...Sometimes,” Sasori admitted. “I think I have a high tolerance. I can get all I need from simple, friendly interactions. No need for harvestin’. Maybe it’s part of bein’ a Queen, I dunno. Mother wasn’t exactly interested in teachin’ me, ya understand.” “Wait, ‘old it… ‘ave you been feeding on us!?” Gustave blurted.  Sasori winced. “I… nothin’ active, merely ambient…” Gustave had no response beyond a huff. There was only silence after that as they kept descending.  The further they went, the less Zebrican the construct appeared. All that remained was dead, unmoving Changeling halls, riddled with holes and complex twisting tunnels. Had they not been with Sasori, the tunnels would have been impossible to navigate. As it was the estranged queen could ask any wall to open, and it would.  Zecora felt the magic in the ground increase the more they descended. Now that she was fully aware it was here, she found herself studying it. It didn’t quite feel like Changeling magic, but it was similar enough that Zecora was surprised she hadn’t noticed the connection when she had visited the living Changeling Hive. Then again, she’d been fighting for her life there… maybe she expected too much of her observation abilities.  Something nagged at the back of her mind. She was missing something… Her thoughts were interrupted by the next drop. They had reached the bottom of the dead Hive’s basements, coming to a circular room filled with cobwebs and cave-like stalagmites. In the center of the room floated a small, orange crystal, shimmering with the light the husks and the runic machines had all over them. The ground was not stone, like the rest of the room, but rather the unusual material the group had seen everywhere up above.  “The power source…” Sasori breathed. Zecora remembered how The Crab had been impossibly constructed. Here was the answer.  “It seems my drones are even more moronic than I thought…” A reverberating voice called from the crystal. “You tell them to take care of one threat and they fail miserably…” “Threat? Why are we a threat?” Zecora pointed at herself. “This is my home, I give this nation all my tears and sweat!” “You are from the old way. You left before I showed them the light… and you returned with one of my SISTERS. It would have been simpler to just end you.” “...Sister?” Sasori asked, tapping the ground tentatively.  A wispy magical essence projected from the crystal, taking the translucent form of a large Changeling. She was female and considerably taller than Sasori, but her eyes… while the husks’ eyes had glowed with power, this being had no eyes whatsoever. Nothing but black, soulless voids in a fleeting orange presence. “Yes. SISTER.” She pointed her head at Sasori. “I am Xie, the fallen Queen… and you are in the way of my revenge.”