I slowly crept closer to the bush and parted the spade-shaped leaves with my free hand, lowering the greenery just enough to see the open field below us. In its center was a singular dark hole, leading to what we believed was the Diamond Dog den. Now when Fluttershy first suggested scouting out the Diamond Dogs under the cover of night I thought she was joking, but now here we are. I mean I'm not trying to sound like a pansy, but I was hoping to get some sleep tonight. Despite waking up here I don't think I actually got any rest. Don't get me wrong though, it's fine, we're just scouting their dens after all.
Fluttershy told me the story, about how they tried to ally with the Diamond Dogs after a particularly bad run-in with the changelings left them in bad shape, but long story short it didn’t end well. They had no proof of what the Diamond Dogs did specifically since nopony had tried coming out here after the initial negotiation of peace, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out who was responsible for the disappearance of their diplomatic party. That was the last time she ever saw Applebloom, as well as a long list of other names she’d given me, but obviously, the literal child pony stood out the most.
What had this world come to? I mean, I can't even begin to think of a reason as to why she was there, but the subject seemed too sore for Fluttershy to go into. Believe me though it's not something I'm just gonna leave unanswered.
“You see that?” Fluttershy whispered as she sneaked up to my right side and parted a piece of the bush herself. “That hole is the target. It doesn’t look like much now, but underneath there's an entire cave system.” I shared a nod with her and let go of my piece of the bush, then turned to face our little scouting party.
With us were two of my locust, that being Roc since his keen eye would be invaluable for scouting, and Verus since special ops was practically the whole reason black Therons were bred. Also, he refused to let me go anywhere without him present at all times, Gotta make a mental note to distract him with something else before I go to the bathroom in the future. The rest of the soldiers were left with the ponies under specific orders to protect them at all costs. They were skeptical at first, but a couple growls from me and they fell into line. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this king stuff.
Now Roc was up ahead doing some enhanced scope recon, so the only one I had eyes on was Verus. Alongside my locust were about six of the strongest and least injured ponies Fluttershy could find, Cheerilee, Caramel, a blue pony named Shoeshine, a purple unicorn named Amethyst Star, some other guy named Shamrock, and finally Sweetie Drops even though I was sure her name was Bon Bon earlier. On top of them being the last of the real fighters they had, since most were disposed of by the changelings, they had been pretty vocal so far about trusting me and my locust and wanting to return the favor. Hey, you won't see me complaining. That's another thing off the stress list.
“Alright, Roc, how do things look from up there?” I ask while glancing down the path towards the dense tree line on the left side of the field. He offers a slight grunt in response, and I have to look to Verus to make sure what it was he was even trying to convey. Apparently, that grunt in particular meant all clear, and Verus had no clue as to how I could find that confusing. Jesus Christ, I’m gonna have to talk with that guy about communication when we get some free time.
We've already been out here for a while, so we should have enough intel right? Alright, I have to be honest, I just want to wrap this up and go to bed already, sue me. I turn to Fluttershy and the other ponies for a moment and let out a soft whistle to get their attention. “Alright, Roc says it’s all clear. How's the plan look so far?” My best guess is some covert ops, like flooding the place with sleeping powder to knock them all out, then go in and take hostages. Boom, automatic ultimatum on our hands, help us or be changeling food. Now I know it’s a bit of a stretch to assume they have copious amounts of sleeping powder, but hey I know Zecora can make some crazy stuff. If they don’t have it then they probably have a way to make it.
“We're going to enter in slowly using our ropes to keep our path set. Once we're in deep enough we're going to set off our poison bombs, then lock them in.” She said while pulling out her hastily made bow and testing its string, then setting aside several bright green ceramic balls. Poison huh? That's a weird way to say sleep. "It won't kill them all, but it'll certainly flush them out. When they dig up into the field we open fire on the stragglers." She's joking right? This... this has to be a joke. That icy and dead stare she's giving me is ironic... right?
“You're serious?” I look over to her backup ponies, all SIX of them, for help but not a single one even looked unsure about this. “Jesus Christ, you are serious. Listen I don’t know what you think is going to happen here, but there's only nine of us, and possibly hundreds in those caves."
Fluttershy looks to me with trepidation as she starts wrapping bandages around her hands, sharing an uneasy glance with Sweetie Drops for a split second before continuing. "This isn't our first rodeo, we've taken out leagues of changelings using this same tactic,” I have to stop for a moment and think. Just how callous has she become? She's truly willing to go through with this without a second thought? "Those mutts are gonna get what's coming to them."
All of the ponies begin nodding along in solidarity, but all I can do is put my hands on my forehead in disbelief. I look over to Verus, then to the ponies, and growl slightly as I grab Fluttershy's arm and pull her aside.
“What the?” She says in surprise, but oddly enough she doesn't fight it. I’m not usually one to pull people around like this, but right now I don’t really care.
“Listen, Fluttershy, you seem great. A strong leader, you care about your ponies, real pretty and outspoken, but there's just one problem. Why in the fuck did you not tell me the extent of this mission before we came here?” I saw her glare at me for a moment so I immediately threw in a caveat. “And don't say because you never asked. I signed me and my locust up for some scouting, strategizing... not murder.” I am genuinely curious to hear her explanation. What kind of thought process drives someone to do something like that? I mean she was the shy one, obviously, but she was never depicted as the stupid one. That was Rainbow Dash’s job.
“Because we've lost everything! Because we are on the verge of losing what little we have left, and if we don't do this, then we might as well just give ourselves to the Changelings. I thought you of all ponies would understand that.” She fires back angrily and even forces me to step back for a moment as she gets in my face. I look to the side and see all of the ponies, and worst of all Verus, staring at the both of us.
Alright Ben, keep your cool. You know how to handle this, in fact, you know scarily well how to handle this. In your old story, the whole reason for the revolt was the disgust at the Locust and their actions. Their willingness to attack the humans just to escape their war, and not even thinking to approach the situation peacefully. This is how it starts, and unless you want Gears of War Equestria edition where you're the star of the show, you need to nip this in the bud.
I stand back up to full height and shut my eyes. Come on man, channel the anger! Political tweets, Shitty family members, Retards trying to tell me how to live my life when they don't even know me! "Listen," Oh man I can feel it, I am pissed. "If we do this then we'll be no better than the changelings. We'll be the monsters who showed up in the middle of the night, dooming them to extinction!" I snap at her and for a moment I can see her flinch. "And why? Because we were too scared to face them? Too scared to try and bring the peace back to a world that sorely needs it? I already took part in a war that had no reason to start, and I will be damned if I repeat that mistake!"
I stop for a moment and catch my breath. Man, I have no idea where that came from, but I'm glad it came when it did. Suffice to say, I think I got through to her.
"Fine... then go." Pardon? I barely even have a chance to react as she turns and walks away from me. "We're going in with, or without you. So if you want to save those dogs so much, you'll have to stop us." She says as she throws a quiver of arrows over her shoulder and faces me once again.
"Watch. Your. Tongue." Verus hisses as he stomps towards her, the venom practically dripping from his mouth. Hold on... wait no that's just saliva. Gross, Verus. I quickly step in front of him and shoot him a glare, which seems to be enough to force him back, but I can tell that he's not happy about it.
I turn back and look at Fluttershy, but I know the look of a stubborn person, or pony I guess, when I see it. They're much more similar than I realize apparently. I watch the color fade from the others as the possibility of fighting us gets presented, and not gonna lie I kind of want to see them try, but that doesn't matter because I'm not going to let it get that far. To stop it though, this girl needed to be taught a lesson. Someone needs to remind her what it means to think before you take action.
I mean I suppose I'm not one to talk here, but regardless I have to do something fast. If this shit goes anymore south we're gonna hit Brazil, so once again I'm forced to be the responsible one. I shake my head slowly, buying myself a few more precious seconds to think of a response. It doesn't seem like much, to the average person of course, but to me and my high school improv skills, it's all the time in the world as I manage to cobble something together. If she thinks bloodshed is the only answer, then I guess it's time to show her she's wrong.
“Alright,” I start to reach for my lever-action shotgun and pull it off of my armor magnet. It only dawns on me now that I haven’t gotten a good look at my weapons yet, but I suppose there'll be time for that later. “If it means stopping pointless bloodshed, in a world with enough already, then I’ll stop you.” I see her back up and tense her muscles as I pull out my…. Bladed gnasher!? Holy fuck that’s cool! Calm down Ben, focus, you need to focus! While looking directly at her, I slowly take my weapon and hand it over to Verus, who looks at me with momentary confusion before dutifully accepting it.
Everypony else dons similar expressions as I repeat the process with my onyx Lancer, my boltok revolver, and all of my grenades, handing each one to Verus so he can holster them. Once I'm fully disarmed I face the hill concealing us from the field. Okay, step one is complete, which means it's on to step two. Gandhi mode activate.
“Verus, I forbid you from coming after me unless I explicitly order you to over the comms. Give me an hour and a half, and if any of them try to come to the tunnels before then you WILL stop them by any means necessary,” Verus looks to me with confliction, and I'm not even sure if he'll let me do this for a moment, but to my surprise he drops his shoulders and accepts my orders. “Once the time is up, you will not interfere with their attack and allow them to proceed. I will return, and It will be at that point..." I look over at Fluttershy and stare directly into her glaring eyes. "That we go our separate ways.” Her sneer gets even deeper as I say that, but I want to believe that the prospect of killing me too will give her pause for thought. Only time will tell I guess.
I honestly feel bad for her. I know that things shouldn't have been this way. She should be nice, meek, and appalled at the idea of mass murder. This wasn’t her, it was the world that did this to her, and hopefully, this can be a step towards fixing it. I start making my way over the hill so I can slide down to the edge of the field. I hear Fluttershy take a few steps forward, but then the loud hiss of my Theron stops her in her tracks. There’s no way in hell they’re gonna mess with him.
I shake my head in preparation and start marching down the hill, ready to get this show on the road. Honestly, I scare myself sometimes with how good I am. I mean, could anyone other than a genius come up with a plan this fast?
Because…. wait, what’s my plan again? Oh right, it's simple. Waltz into this place... unarmed? Wait, no that can't be all of it, can it? No, no there's more, right brain? Try to convince a bunch of bipedal dogs to listen to me? Wait, seriously? Is that all!? How the hell am I gonna do that? Politely suggest to them that they should help some random guy and his rag-tag bunch of murderous psychopaths? Only an hour and a half? Why did I say that? So if the dogs don't kill me, then the poison will. Great fucking job Ben!
Oh shit, what grade did I get in improv again... a D? D minus? You're shitting me! I can't believe it, I forgot that improv is the fucking worst! I’m still walking towards the holes, why!? This isn’t some game! I’m not in a movie! This is real life, and I’m about to fucking die! Maybe if I turn around now then I can still-
“Halt!” Calls a deep and booming voice to my left, and just like that I know I’m fucked. From all sides large mounds of dirt spring up as four hulking bulldogs covered in armor jump out and point spears to me. They all start barking orders, and I have zero clue what the hell they’re trying to say, so I do the only thing that makes sense.
I put my hands up and interlock my fingers behind my head, then slowly get down on my knees. Once I'm in position I initiate the first phase of my new plan, titled 'get me the hell out of here'. "Verus! Verus help!" I scream out. I don't care anymore, just kill these ugly bastards, I don't want to die! They all start looking at each other in confusion, then one of them walks around to my front and starts sniffing me. "Verus, this is an order from your king!" Why isn't he responding?
The dog gets close to my face and starts to get his slobber on me, and boy does it not smell good. Once he’s done getting a good whiff he backs up and nods towards the other dogs. "Okay, we take now." He says, prompting them to grab my arms and legs and carry me closer to the hole we'd been watching this whole time.
"Help goddamnit!" I scream one last time before they lift me over the hole, giving me a chance to peer at the dark filled straight drop below. You know, it's a good thing I'm afraid of heights, or else I might've never regretted this.
They then toss me inside.
Fluttershy and her scouting party watched from the top of the hill, all of them laying in a low prone position, as the King walked out into the field without weapons, and without fear. Was he crazy? They were going to kill him the moment he made contact. She looked off to the side where his Locust was standing, but he made no move to stop the madman, he just stood there and watched with his arms crossed.
"Sweet Celestia, he's serious." Sweetie Drops said in disbelief as he walked closer and closer to the hole, his pace not slowing down in the slightest. Fluttershy watched on in shock until she balled her fists in anger. She started gritting her teeth as the world slowed down and warped around her until the only thing she could see was the king.
Why would he do this? Why did he even care what happened? He had no idea what they'd been through, so where did he get off telling her she had no right to attack them? If he got himself killed then it was no big deal, the plan would continue as normal. So why? Why was she so angry? Why was she grabbing onto her bow? Why did she want to go down there and drag his ass all the way back to the cave?
A loud click snapped her back to reality, and all of the ponies froze in terror as Verus pointed the small one-handed weapon towards her. He let out a shrill laugh and salivated at the thought of tearing her head off with a single shot, but orders were orders. He could only hope she'd be stupid enough to run for it.
Fluttershy looked at the Theron, then down at herself as she realized that she'd gotten on her hooves without even thinking. She growled in frustration and let go of her weapon, then laid back down and continued to watch the king approach the Diamond Dog den. The Theron grunted in what sounded like disappointment and reholstered his weapon, then crossed his arms once again as they watched.
A minute or two of silence passed by when suddenly several large mounds of dirt burst forth, and from them a gang of Diamond Dog guards all pointing their spears and barking at the lone man. He didn't flinch, and instead simply got on his knees and placed his hands behind his head. Fluttershy couldn't believe what she was seeing, his sheer resolve in the face of danger like that made her heart race, that is until he did something very strange.
"Verus! Verus help!" He screamed in desperation as the dogs got closer to him. They all turned to the locust in question, but all he did was stand there silently.
"Uhh," Cheerilee said as they all turned back towards the field and watched as the dogs continuously chanted and jabbed their spears at him. "Should we help him?" She asked the Theron, her confusion overriding her fear of the scaly creature.
Verus laughed and shook his head at the feeble-minded, taking great amusement in their misguided feelings of uncertainty. "Fools. My king is simply luring them into a false sense of security, letting them think that they have the power. He is obviously still in control." Suddenly they heard the king scream bloody murder as the Dogs surrounded him more closely and put away their spears.
"Verus! This is an order from your king!" He was then grabbed on all sides and quickly brought closer to the den's entrance.
"I-if... you say so," Fluttershy added, unsure of how to feel as she watched the capture continue.
"Help goddamnit!"
Is it over? Am I dead? I-I'm too scared to open my eyes but I don't feel like I'm falling anymore. No, it feels like I'm being dragged. I slowly open them up just a smidge and let out the biggest sigh of relief when I see dim torch-lit hallways and not dark pits of death.
Okay, so the good news is I'm alive, the bad news is that plan 'get me the hell out of here' is a bust. Looks like I need to follow through with plan 'act like you have any idea how to convince Diamond Dogs to help you peacefully'. It's a bit wordy, but it's all we've got. Step two: Gandhi mode is complete, so now we move on to figuring out what the hell step three is. Should have plenty of time to do it as these bulldogs drag me through their tunnels.
Suddenly they take a sharp right, and once again I am left to eat my words as we enter a massive cave throne room with a ceiling about fifteen feet high, and it's floor packed wall to wall with Diamond Dogs. Step three: Shit myself is a go, now on to step four.
As we pass down the middle of the crowds I look at the dogs on either side of me. I can already tell that there's more than a couple hundred, so in short, we'd be suicidal to try and attack this place. I can see from how each of them looks that they're much more... photogenic than the dogs I saw in the show. I can see some poodles, some retriever looking dogs, some labs and shepherds, and all of them are just as stylized and humanoid as the ponies are. AKA the females all have more curves than a race track, and the males look like they do nothing but workout and eat protein all day. Another thing was that none of them wore clothes, but thankfully their fur seemed more than sufficient enough to cover them in the same way.
Now listen I'm not a weirdo, but I can admit when my eyes lingered for a bit too long, Okay? Wow, look at me. I'm trying to justify my actions to myself. Who gives a shit, I'm the only one here, I'll stare for as long as I damn well please. My train of thought finally gets cut off as the bulldogs drop me onto the floor and step to either side of me. I get to my knees and look up to see a large staircase leading to a stone throne where a black and white husky dog sat.
He had piercing blue eyes, a scar on the left side of his snout, and wore a thick black biker jacket with torn-off sleeves. Finally, on top of his head was a shiny silver crown cementing his position in my eyes without a single word needing to be spoken. He glared at me for a moment and bared his teeth, an action that made all of the rooms whispers fall silent.
It’s now or never I suppose. I stand up and clear my throat in preparation. Step four: ???? is... a go? “Hello, good sir,” I say while offering a bow to him. I look back up and see him hide his teeth once more, his fierce look turning into one of scrutiny. If he doesn’t respond then… is that a queue for me to continue? “May I ask your name?” He just raised an eyebrow at me? Alright, I guess his name is off the table, but is he going to say anything at all? Oh right!
“Right, where are my manners, I should offer my name first. I am King…” Oh shit, my name. What the fuck was my name? King Ben? Ew Gross. King Sera? Better, but no. Come on man say something already! “...Coigne. King Coigne.” I say with another bow of my head. Alright, I think I saved it right there. It's a decent name in my opinion, but I should probably make sure I'm better prepared for something like this in the future. Oh, really Ben? Ya think? Ya think being prepared is a good idea now? Big effing surprise, I'll just put that in the section of the brain titled no shit sherlock.
The dog atop the throne grunts and beckons one of the guards beside me over to him. They share a whisper for a moment, but it doesn't take long for the head dog to start getting angry. "What do you mean you didn't ask his name! We have a report system for a reason you idiot!" He stands up and looks out onto the crowd. "Did anyone run a report before you brought his... thing into our den?"
The crowd of dogs all start mumbling like morons, and the leader just starts rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Of course, why would I expect any of you to be able to follow even the simplest of tasks," He plops himself back down on the chair in exasperation and leans his head against his hand. "What do you want?"
I shake my head and straighten myself out. I guess I should thank these dogs for being so dumb because they just bought me a leader who has his guard down. This should be easier to negotiate with so long as I play my cards right. "I came to warn you," Suddenly the whispers returned, and the husky raises his ears in an admittedly cute fashion. "There is a large group of changelings on their way here now, and they're not planning on taking any survivors." There we go, blame it on a common enemy, now that's thinking ahead.
The dogs in the room all start murmuring even louder, and this causes the king to raise his head with a look of shock on his face. He sits up straight in his throne and looks around at the crowd angrily before setting his gaze on me. "What are you talking about? No changeling knows the location of these caves, it's impossible." He says with a dismissive wave.
"I know they do. Are you familiar with the village of ponies in the Everfree? The ones who sent a group here some time ago? They've already been decimated save for a handful. If my information is correct an attack on the cave is imminent." As I finish the proclamation, the king shakes his head.
"And just who do you think you are?" He says while standing up from his throne, and man he is way more intimidating than I gave him credit for. The man… dog thing, looks strong enough to break a boulder with his paws. "You come in here with this warning, but I don't even know who you are. Your information? Is that supposed to mean something to me?" He slowly starts walking down the steps as he talks, and as he gets closer I realize that he's a head taller than me and all the other dogs. "How do I know this isn't some changeling trick?"
I look him dead in the eyes, fighting through his intimidation to get my point across. I may have been lying to an extent, but if I want his help I need to take some creative liberties. "Because I wouldn't be here talking with you. I'd just let the massacre commence." The room falls silent as me and the wolf glare at each other for god knows how long. I guess being a locust king means I'm really good at staring contests now.
Eventually the dog stops his staring and walks back up the steps with a growl. He stops about halfway up and faces the crowd once more. "Everyone remain calm and return to your places of work. I have everything under control, but there are matters I must attend to!" The crowd becomes filled with confused looks as the dogs just stand around and attempt to understand what he said. In response, the king growls to himself and just shouts out a much simpler order. "Get out!"
As soon as he shouts, the dogs drops to all fours and scurry out of the room, leaving me and him in the massive throne room by ourselves. He looks around for a moment and pinches the bridge of his snout in aggravation. "Imbecilic guards, I didn't mean them too!" Geez, these dogs were almost as dumb as me. "I swear, sometimes I question the worth of being a king of idiots." He steps back down and starts heading for a door near the back of the throne room while beckoning me to follow.
"So, you do believe me," I say as I catch up to him and follow through the long hallway behind the exit.
"Let's just say I'm intrigued for now. I'd rather discuss things further when we're in a more… private setting."
"Understandable." We both fall quiet, giving me some time to think about things once more. I can't believe step four worked man, I mean I'm still in shock. Hold off on the celebrating for just a little bit longer Ben, we're in the end zone now so we just need to score.
In the meantime, I look at the dog beside me and start taking notes on the most interesting fact so far, namely his intelligence. I mean, how could this Diamond Dog be a thousand times smarter than all the rest? I guess it makes sense that he finessed his way into being king, out of all the dogs it was only a matter of time before they made one with an I.Q in the triple digits. It would either make it harder or easier to relate to him depending on the circumstance.
We step through another door at the end of the narrow hall and enter a large square room with nothing but a table and a couple of chairs in the middle. He gestures to it, but I shake my head and let him know that I prefer to stand. This room seems a bit strange now that I think about it, but maybe it's some kind of secure area for planning? Although I question how much planning he could even do with a populace that's been collectively curb-stomped a couple of times by the stupid fairy.
"So… let's get down to business." I start as I walk further into the room.
"Yeah, let's." Suddenly I feel a sharp burning sensation in the back of my head as my body falls to the floor, limp and unresponsive. What the hell did he just do? Why can't I move? I try to look up at him, but my angle won't let me see anything but part of the wall and ceiling. Shorty after being stunned, I hear the sound of rushing fire echo around the room, changing the lighting from a dim yellow to a very dark green.
"Alright, that should keep him out for a while. Now time to grab my food and get the hell out of here!" A new voice calls out, this one scratchy and sounding like it's been put through a reverb filter. I already know exactly what's happening, but just for the added closure I watch as the once hidden changeling steps into view and places his forehead against the wall. Suddenly his magic reveals several ponies hidden in green cocoons behind the wall, but thanks to his attack I can't tilt my head to see who they were. "I can only take two at most, but which ones?" He contemplates as he stares at the cocoons.
Alright, Ben, it looks like he thinks you're unconscious. Maybe you have more resistance to the spell than he thought, which means that we can turn this around. Do not panic. I focus all of my energy on my right hand and after a few moments, I feel it twitch ever so slightly. If I could smile right now I would, because this asshole is in for one hell of a surprise.
"Maybe the grey one? With the funny eyes? She did always taste sweet." I start focusing all of my energy into my legs and begin to sweat as they start twitching and moving ever so slightly. "Oh, but the yellow one's dreams of her family are so much stronger than the others. They do always turn bitter though." Listening to him pick between his favorite 'snacks' is really starting to piss me off. Step five: kick the shit out of this bug, is a go!
I grit my teeth and supercharge my limbs, and soon I start to lift myself from the floor and shuffle my legs beneath me as I listen to him ramble. "I'll have to take the new one unless I kill him now of course." Oh shit! Come on body, push it! If you don't I swear to god I will work out sooo hard when we get home, I'll make you want to die. I hate exercise but if it teaches you to listen to me then I'll do it! My little proclamation seems to be just enough to spur me on, as I keep pushing myself further and further up until I stumble to my feet. At this point, there's no hiding my recovery, as my heavy breathing catches his attention.
"W-w-what the hell?" I stand straight up and ball my fists as I look down at him, his undisguised form actually being a head shorter than me as opposed to the husky from before. He backs up against the cocoons and begins to tremble before gritting his teeth and stepping forward angrily. "Grrr, take this!" He shouts with anger as he charges magic into his horn.
I take a step forward to stop him, but immediately after I do I feel both of my legs give out once more. "Oh shit." I trip forward and narrowly dodge his spell while slamming my upper body into the wooden table. My full weight proceeds to then smash the legs on my side and send it into the air just enough to smack against the Changelings horn.
"Fuck!" He screams out as he backs up against the cocoon wall and clutches his now lightless forehead. I attempt to recover from my fall, but the only thing I can manage to do is hop around on all fours and kick frantically as my legs fade in and out of control.
I trot over to him on my hands and knees and catch him just as he removes his hand and looks down, tackling his legs with all of my body at once. He lets out a small grunt of pain before losing his balance and falling onto his back, giving me enough time to pull out the massive knife from my waist and press it against his neck. He leans his head back against the ground and grits his teeth in fear before raising his hands in surrender.
"Okay, okay! You win, just don't hurt me!" Jesus how quick the tones change when he's not the one in control. He was ready to kill me just a second ago, but now I need to be the one showing pity? I scoot the rest of my body onto him until I'm sitting right on his chest and hunched over to put extra pressure on his throat. Obviously, I'm not gonna kill him, but that doesn't mean I have to be nice to the little bloodsucker.
I look up to the now revealed cocoons on the walls of the green room and see six ponies in total. There were some nameless ponies, like a dark brown stallion and an eggshell white mare with pink hair, but the two that caught my eyes were an unconscious Derpy Hooves and a young Applebloom who was only slightly smaller than the others, almost like she was a teenager. Funnily enough, she seemed to have her sister's Stetson still perfectly positioned on her head despite being inside of the changeling goo. It seems that I've stumbled on a real conspiracy here, but now what? "These are the missing ponies that were sent out here. You've kept them locked up all this time?"
The changeling looks up and softly nods his head while trying to avoid my knife. "Yep, pretty much." There's a moment of silence shortly after as the changeling attempts to just leave it like that.
"Well? Explain bugboy!" I say as I press the knife a bit harder against him. He squirms a bit and pops out his eyes in fear, so I make sure to retract the blade just a bit to give him room. The last thing I want is to accidentally slice him up like an idiot.
He stutters a bit as he tries to find the words before finally spitting it out. "I-I-I just couldn't let them in! The bottom line is, I knew that if they and the dogs worked together they'd share some of that green stuff. They'd find out I was a changeling, then they'd have me killed! I couldn't chance it!"
Green stuff? Did he mean the zebra stripes that all of the ponies had? I wondered what that stuff did. So it was some kind of agent that revealed changelings when they put it on? It makes sense, but until I hear it from the horse's mouth I ain't lending credence to his claim. Oh, and pun intended of course. Mental self five!
"Oh, and all this? Having them locked up for god knows how long? That was just happenstance?" I gesture to the cocoons with my head to make sure he was indeed seeing what I was seeing. "Or maybe, you just wanted more, and more, not caring that you had a literal army of dogs to feed from."
"What?" He responds in pretty believable confusion. "You got it wrong dude. I'm not like other changelings, I-I-I need them in pods or else I can't eat! Not only that, but the other changelings want me dead! That's why I'm trying so hard to protect this place, I've got nowhere else to go. Though I guess that doesn't matter now since they finally know where I am." Now I like to think I can read these ponies well, and I've been able to so far, but man is it hard to tell if this guy is actually as distraught as he sounded. I guess that's the benefit of being a creature whose sole existence revolves around deception.
"Listen," He continues with a somber voice. "These guys are fine, I'm only one changeling. I couldn't overfeed them even if I wanted to. I was going to let them out... eventually. I just couldn't find the right time!" I crack my neck and roll my shoulders as the feeling in my body returns to full force.
I stand him up while holding my knife to his neck and face him towards the cocoons. "No time like the present, am I right?"
"N-now!?" He stammers in shock. "There's no time! The Changelings!"
I can barely contain my excitement as I crack a shit-eating grin and look at him. "Oh, the changeling attack was a lie. They have no idea where you are as far as I know."
He stops trembling for a moment, and instead of responding he just… looks down in shock. "But.... but I. You..." God bless the guy, he can't even finish his sentence. Am I a bad person for finding this just a little bit funny? Or maybe a lot funny?
"Yep, the ones who are attacking are the ponies, seeking to avenge these guys who they think are dead. I'm not letting you go, and if you want to make a good first impression I'd recommend doing it with ponies who aren't stuck in cocoons. Whaddya say?" I begin to fear that I might've broken him with that as I get no response aside from him staring at the ground with wide eyes, but thankfully he comes to his senses and starts silently linking his magic to the wall.
Step five: Complete.