The buzzing was drawing closer and closer. Scarlet’s eyes were pinned to the sky, a lump forming in her throat while adrenaline flooded her veins. It sounded like there were so many of them…
“We have to hide!” Primrose cried out, grabbing onto Sclera’s hoof and shaking her. The foal’s eyes were wide and frantic. “We have to hide now!”
“I don’t think that’ll do us any good,” Lens replied in a shaking voice. He adjusted his glasses and pointed up at the sky. “They know where we are already…”
Scarlet followed his hoof. Sure enough, she saw the first of the changelings flying into sight high above the trench. Its black, shredded body stood out against the midday sky like a blackened char mark against the snow. Its glowing, blue eyes locked onto her, sending a chill down her spine. She hadn’t seen eyes that hue since Crystal…
The changeling lifted its head up, letting out a long, spine-chilling shriek that carried for miles in all directions. It was answered in kind by more and more of them, and moments later, the rest of the swarm came into view.
“Oh, fuck…” Scarlet breathed, taking a few horrified steps back. There were dozens of them, if not hundreds. She had never seen so many changelings in one place before. She had never even heard of a swarm this large. It was unheard of… how were they supposed to get out of this?
The entire group retreated as the swarm advanced, the terror felt by all of them filling the canyon with a palpable aura of tension. Primrose whimpered pitifully, clinging to her mother for protection.
“What do we do?!” Sclera asked fearfully. She quickly positioned herself protectively over her daughter, her eyes locking onto Scarlet. “Scarlet, Lens, what do we do?!”
Scarlet looked back at her, opening her mouth to speak. No words came, however. “This is my fault,” she thought, a bottomless pit of regret forming in her heart and festering. “I should have kept my voice down… if I had just listened to Lens…”
She turned her attention back to the swarm. It was hard to see the sky through the thick cloud of black chitin and acidic magic. She swallowed heavily, her horn lighting up with magic. “...There’s only one thing we can do,” she whispered.
The first changelings hit the ground running a few dozen yards ahead of her, charging at full gallop with their teeth bared and their horns glowing a shade of green that sent her coat bristling with hatred. These were the monsters that had murdered her daughter. The monsters that had caused the fall. The demons that now sought to kill her and the ones she loved.
“Fine then,” she thought bitterly, her pupils dilating.
“Scarlet?” Lens asked, glancing sideways at her for a fraction of a second.
Scarlet took a deep breath before a sphere of unstable magic began to form on the tip of her horn. “We break through!” she declared before unleashing the artillery blast. The kickback sent her skidding several feet, drawing a grunt out of her. She lifted her eyes just in time to see the spell meet its mark against the chest of the changeling leading the charge. Its eyes didn’t even have time to widen before it, and the ones by it, were engulfed in a blinding explosion of purple energy. Ash and dust and blood rose up in a wall from the point of impact, drawing the rest of the stampede to a halt.
Scarlet’s heart sang a victorious, bloodthirsty dirge at the sight of dismembered limbs of black chitin littering the ground where her blast had hit. Years of hatred and months of vengeful fury came spilling out all at once. She was going to murder them. All of them. Every last feral changeling. She was going to paint the mountain red with their blood. She was going to shatter their shells and pop their eyes.
She was going to make them pay.
Another artillery shot fired off from her horn, her mind falling into a trance. Her body moved all on its own, firing off shot after shot of hyper-charged magic into the swarm. Explosion after explosion shook the walls of the trench and the grass beneath her hooves. The swarm did their best to scatter around her shots, to evade the hits, but even if she missed the bugs themselves, they were still caught by the explosions when the bursts hit the walls.
She was so lost in the thrill of finally killing some of these revolting creatures that she didn’t notice the ones sneaking up behind the group. Not until Primrose’s shrill scream of terror cut through the air like a razor through soft butter.
Scarlet’s eyes went wide. Remembering the last time she had heard the foal screaming like that behind her, she spun around, conjuring both of her swords and sending them forward to intercept whatever was daring to threaten her. A sickening crunch filled her ears when her blade cut through the neck of a feral that had been mere feet away from Primrose and Sclera. Its chitin split easily under the pressure, a spray of gore coming out to cover the two Free changelings it had been lunging for.
But there were more of them. Always more of them.
Lens leaped to Sclera’s defense next, summoning a dome-shaped barrier to catch an oncoming feral. It shrieked in rage at the sudden obstacle before kicking off and flying for Scarlet. She met its charge with her swords, plunging both blades into its chest before slicing outwards, carving the abomination in half.
And then one of them plowed into her back. Scarlet cried out as rough, chitinous hooves pressed into her back with enough force to knock her down. The feral pinned her down, and with a hungry hiss, plunged its fangs into her shoulder. The pain was unlike anything she had felt before. Scarlet’s eyes flew wide open, an agonized scream of pain tearing out of her lips.
“SCARLET!” Primrose cried out from somewhere nearby, the word echoing in Scarlet’s mind as she struggled with the demon on her back.
The feral tore its fangs free. Fresh blood squirted from the now open puncture marks in Scarlet’s shoulder. Gasping breathlessly, she finally managed to retaliate, bringing her sword around to lop the beast’s head off. Another shower of warm blood fell over the back of her head before she rose, shoving the corpse back and off of her.
There were still more of them, and several of them were charging at her specifically. She was out in the open, away from the barrier. An easy target. She looked towards Lens and made to join him, but two more drones quickly dropped from above to block her approach. They lowered their chests to the ground, their lips rippling with animalistic snarls. She backed away, and they stalked after her like ravenous hyenas toying with their prey.
“Get out of my way!” Scarlet snapped, lifting her blades to cut through them next. She heard hooves approaching her from behind, and quickly spun to cut down the one that had charged her back. It fell to one side with a howling shriek that set Scarlet’s teeth on edge.
The two that had blocked her retreat took the opportunity. Scarlet’s eyes bulged in their sockets when she was suddenly yanked back by the yoke on her caller. Her back struck the ground, and she found herself being dragged along the ground at a rapid rate. Desperate, she tried to wiggle free of the yoke, but it was too late. A hoof stomped down into her stomach, cutting off her magic and driving the air from her lungs.
“SCARLET, NO!” Primrose’s voice echoed in her ears.
Scarlet barely registered it before more teeth began to sink into her body. Her shoulder, her hoof, her flank, her leg. She screamed, and she thrashed, desperate to get the starving demons off of her. Her every effort was halted and pinned down, leaving her only recourse to scream her agony to the air.
Soon, though, her cries began to lose their strength. This was it, wasn’t it? This was how she died. Pinned to the earth and eaten alive by a swarm of feral changelings. It was a pitiful way to die, but since when had death ever given a damn about what was a good or poor way to die? She had seen so many ponies and griffons dying in truly pathetic ways during the war. Even renowned heroes with a hundred battles under their belts were not immune to an inglorious end.
She closed her eyes, awaiting the end. “I’m sorry, Prim… for everything.”
For a brief moment, Scarlet gave up any attempt to resist. She had lost. She had to accept that fact…
And then the changelings feasting upon her were scattered to the wind.
Confused, Scarlet cracked open an eye. A brown form stood over her, but it was hard to make it out. Her vision had gone blurry from shock and blood-loss. She squinted at the shape, trying to make out any more details.
Movement. Scarlet gasped when she was suddenly dragged back again, this time being deposited inside the barrier. She could hear voices, screaming and yelling, but she couldn’t make out any words. A stallion’s face came into her field of view, face contorted in terror, blue eyes shimmering with tears.
“Scarlet! Oh, no, no, no no! Say something, please!” he cried hysterically, his hooves moving to the various bite marks along her body in a bid to stop the bleeding.
Scarlet managed a tiny smile. Lens. Sharp Lens. The pony she had fallen in love with. She lifted a hoof to his cheek, uncaring about the blood running in thick rivers down the length of her foreleg. “Lens…” she rasped out. “Sharp Lens…”
Lens took her hoof in both of his, squeezing tight. “Scarlet, please, hang in there! W-we’re gonna get you help, okay?! You’re going to be fine! Just stay with me, please!”
Scarlet frowned. He sounded so scared. Why? Confused, Scarlet lifted her feather-light head to try and figure out what was happening.
She saw Primrose at the edge of the barrier, crying out desperately to something that lay on the other side. Scarlet followed the panicking filly’s gaze, and again caught sight of the brown blur from before.
A spray of viscera against the wall of the barrier caused her vision to come back into focus. Her mind cleared, and her eyes widened at the sight of an enormous grizzly bear covered in armored plates, not unlike a tortoiseshell, standing where she had been being eaten. It roared at the swarm of ferals before swiping its claws through the next drone dumb enough to charge it head-on.
“MOM! GET IN HERE!” Primrose cried frantically, pounding her hooves on the barrier with tears rolling down her face. “SCARLET’S SAFE! COME BACK!”
Scarlet’s eyes widened. The bear was Sclera?! But hadn’t her magic atrophied from years without use?!
As if on cue, a blast of green fire exploded across the bear’s front. It reared back, roaring loudly in pain before more flames whipped around its body. When they passed, Sclera fell to the ground. She spasmed and twitched uncontrollably, and Scarlet immediately recognized the motions of an intense fit of magic exhaustion.
“MOM!” Primrose shrieked when the ferals descended on the helpless drone.
A spike of adrenaline flooded through Scarlet’s body. Barely keeping in a scream of pain from the effort, she lit up her horn. With a burst of energy and a flash of light, Sclera was teleported inside the barrier at the last second. The ferals that had gone for her crashed into an ungraceful cluster on the ground but were quick to recover. They snarled and hissed angrily at the infuriating dome before throwing themselves against it in a wild frenzy.
“Mom!” Primrose cried, galloping over to Sclera and putting her hooves on the drone’s side. “Mommy, are you okay?!”
Scarlet grimaced when Prim’s incessant shakes caused Sclera to roll over, revealing the extent of the burns across her barrel. Her chitin had warped and shriveled up from the spell that had hit her, causing her chest to oddly resemble a cluster of burnt popcorn. Smoke rose in thin streams from the injury, filling the air with a putrid stench.
Scarlet, now on her haunches, then looked up at the sky.
She couldn’t see it.
The changelings were far too numerous, and all of them were pounding against Lens’ barrier with reckless abandon. Cracks were forming on the surface already, spurring the drones on to greater ardor.
“Scarlet, are you okay?!” Lens asked from her side, his hooves hovering uselessly around her bloodied form.
Scarlet didn’t answer him. Even if she was okay, what difference did it make? This was the end. They were finished. There was no way for them to survive this. Any moment, Lens’ barrier would shatter, the ferals would descend on them, and they would be eaten alive. Or, even worse, she and Lens would be eaten alive, while Primrose and Sclera would join the swarm of the cursed…
Her gaze fell to the filly in question. She was still clinging to Sclera, who had mercifully stopped spasming on the ground. The poor foal… she looked so scared. Nothing should ever feel such a terror, especially not at such a young age.
Scarlet swallowed heavily before dragging her tired body over. She sat down on the other side of Sclera, her eyes affixed to Primrose. The changeling filly looked back up at her after a moment, sniffling. “S-Scarlet…? What do we do…?”
Scarlet sighed, her ears drooping. “I… I’m so sorry, Primrose,” she whispered quietly. “For everything… for what I did to you, for bringing this swarm down on us… for everything… I am so, so sorry…”
Primrose’s eyes widened, the terror on her face growing several times worse. “B-but… no! No, Scarlet! We’re not giving up, are we?!” she demanded, more tears rolling down her face.
A deafening crack filled the air. Scarlet looked, seeing that a small portion of the barrier had broken in, allowing the ferals on the other side to reach their hooves through in a futile effort to grab at the prey inside.
Scarlet withered and looked down. “...I am so sorry.”
She felt Lens’ hoof on her back a moment later. He didn’t say a word, simply letting her lean into his side for support and comfort. She felt his muzzle against the top of her head, and a moment later, his voice in her ear, barely even a whisper.
“If this is the end, then… I love you, Scarlet…”
Scarlet closed her eyes. “Heh… sentimental dolt,” she breathed before going quiet and awaiting the end.
More cracks filled the air, the barrier steadily starting to lose power. Scarlet could hear the changelings whipping themselves into a wild frenzy, their hungry calls filling the air. She could hear Primrose’s terrified whimpers, and she could just make out Sclera’s voice, whispering assurances to her only surviving child.
And then everything went frighteningly quiet.
Confused, Scarlet opened her eyes. The changelings had all stopped in their assault, their heads tilted to point one ear up at the sky. The only sound was that of their buzzing wings, but even that seemed quiet than it had been before.
“W-what… what are they doing?” Scarlet asked quietly, her mind reeling. This didn’t make any sense… what were they waiting for?
Her answer came in the form of a sound tickling the edges of her hearing. Less than a second later, it came again, louder this time. A rush of air being pushed aside by something large. It came, again and again, each time drawing closer and close. With every repetition, she realized what it was.
The flapping of enormous, leathery wings.
And then the owner of those wings came into view. What light from the sun managed to cut through the swarm was entirely eclipsed, a deafening roar filling the air. Scarlet’s eyes widened.
It was the dragon.
Acting on pure reflex, Scarlet’s horn lit up, and she channeled as much power as she could into Lens’ barrier, patching up the holes and reinforcing it with what remained of her strength. Not a moment too soon, either, as an instant later, a veritable tsunami of emerald-green flames washed over them and the swarm. The deafening roar of the fire filled her ears, and she had to squint her eyes to see through the blinding veil of light.
The flames persisted for several seconds before passing, and to her shock and relief, the vast majority of the swarm had been incinerated. Their ashes painted the scorched earth in an unappealing shade of gray. Those that remained, barely even a dozen of them, watched the sky in terror.
Scarlet followed their gazes and caught sight of the dragon overhead. Her eyes widened. “That thing is gigantic!”
The dragon was at least thirty feet long from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail, while its great leathery wings practically swallowed the sky. It flew in a lazy circle, bleeding altitude as it came back for the trench. Scarlet could not make out any significant details from here, but she saw its eyes, like two glowing emeralds in the dead of night.
An uneven fang of rock jutted up from the edge of the trench, rising perhaps fifty feet into the air. The dragon came in and latched onto it, sending an intense tremor through the earth. Scarlet fell down outright from the force of the quake, though her eyes never once left the behemoth that now glared down at her and the ferals that had been trying to kill her.
The armored scales of the dragon were purple, while its segmented underbelly was a pale shade of green. Emerald-green spikes and spines ran down the length of its spine, culminating in an arrow-shaped tip on the end of its tail that looked like it could easily puncture even the sturdiest of materials.
Green flames licked at the edges of its maw as it reared back. Its wings fanned out wide, blocking out the sun and bathing the trench in shadow. The dragon then turned its head to the heavens to unleash a long, bellowing roar that dwarfed the entirety of the swarm that had preceded it. Scarlet’s hooves flew up to cover her ears, desperate to shut out the deafening sound.
Then, with a single mighty flap of its wings, the dragon leaped from its perch and landed hard in the center of the trench. The feral changelings scattered out of its way, turning to fly down the trench and away from it. The dragon watched them with a bored expression before opening its maw and sending forth another torrent of emerald fire. The remaining ferals barely made it five yards before they, too, were burnt to cinders in the flames of the dragon’s wrath.
Slowly, Scarlet and Lens allowed their barrier to dissipate. Primrose clung to Sclera as the burned drone forced herself up to a standing position. Scarlet looked around in uncomprehending disbelief. They had survived… somehow, someway, they had lived through the swarm.
Her eyes fell on their savior, and any desire to celebrate ceased to exist.
With a low, ominous snarl, the dragon turned its head to glare at them.