//------------------------------//
// Ch 14 The Queen of Snakes (rewrite) 
// Story: Enforcing Change 
// by Scootaboom1 
//------------------------------//

Changeling Scout

When I was told that we were going to be sending scouting parties to forest around the border of Equestria I thought it was a joke.

It was not but at least when they explained what we were looking for it started to make sense.

Now we can finally end this farce. The love stealing rival has been located and is making her move.

Celestia

When Nightlight told me that he needed three of my most skilled guards and a train no questions asked I knew something was wrong.

Unfortunately I can't lend a hoof myself since they were heading outside our borders.

I can only hope things turn out okay.

Dizzy Twister

I couldn't believe it. When I first became a guard Nightlight did not seem like anything to special. In fact he remained in the position we started at for years but then seemed to be reassigned yet nothing seemed to change.

Some of us joked that his job was to make sure that the recruits don't slack off after they officially join.

Now here we are in a train heading to the middle of nowhere and I don't even know way.

It started when I was going to the sparring field with Silver Arrow when Iron Shield tells us to come with him right now away.

When we got on the train and started moving Iron Shield asked Nightlight what was going on he just said that he would explain later.

All we really know is that we are going to the north west border of Equestria.

What makes it even worse is that Nightlight apparently now out ranks me somehow.

The train we were using was meant for deploying a large number of soldiers quickly so with just one cart with the four of us we were going even faster.

What's more I now have to sit here and listen to Iron Shield and Nightlight talk about their children.

Nightlights' son Shining Armor was turning nine in two months and his daughter Twilight Sparkle was four.

I just want them to shut up.

Eventually we came to a stop in what looked like the middle of nowhere.

Geared up we were going to walk through the woods to our destination. Do we get an explanation for what we are doing here, no.

It was starting to get dark and I was on my last straw.

Walking at the back of the the group I had a clear view of every pony in the group.

As we followed Nightlight I noticed that he had a dagger in his forehoof.

Suddenly he throu it behind him and straight for my forehead.

I ducked but before I could yell at him I heard it hit something.

I looked back and saw the dagger in the head of some kind of snake with arms.

Nightlight looked to the left and told a pony named Trick Star to come out.

I had heard about Trick Star. He often caused trouble but was mostly harmless.

Getting all our attention Nightlight decided to finally explain what was actually going on, "Now that we are all here it's time to explain what we need to do."

His tone of voice told me everything I needed to know. If we don't listen to his orders then we will not be going home.

The creature that was sneaking up on me was called a naga. Nightlight gave a quick history lesson about their history including their last ruler The King of Poison Bašmu pronounced Bashmu, their princess, and the Orochi.

I couldn't believe it he has been investigating this for about thirteen years at this point.

Iron Shield was annoyed that Nightlight apparently never mentioned his first encounter with the Orochi member.

I also learned that I was not autherized to know about his foreign contacts who are helping us out from the shadows.

Iron Shield had a slight grimace but Nightlight whispered something into his ear that made him give a reluctant sigh.

I may not have known who he had connections to but they were clearly not good.

What kind of life did he live when traveling with his parents.

Silver Arrow asked if we should worry about the enemy noticing the scout missing.

Nightlight pointed out that his stomach was so full and the other supplies he had on his person meant that he was not expecting for some time.

He even pointed out a few of a potion used to keep them warm in a cold climate.

We decided to bury him off to the side with Nightlight taking a few things saying that it would be wasteful to not take anything.

As we made our way to our destination Nightlight explained what he knew. The naga are going around towns gathering up the townsfolk and draining the love from them for an unknown purpose.

They are currently working from an abandoned castle that has been long forgotten.

There is a lack of internal guards since most of them will be out gathering creatures from a nearby town.

One of the Orochi members should be in the town commanding the troops. The rest will be somewhere in the castle.

When we enter the castle we will spread out in order to find their princess and stop their plans.

But their was one more thing that we had to keep in mind.

Apparently some kind VIP was somewhere in the castle and their life is more important than any of ours.

This was strange to me. Why couldn't these seemingly incredibly competent foreign contacts just rescue this VIP themselves.

After Iron Shield explained Nightlights' power I began to wonder how much he actually knew.

As we approached the castle I started to notice the nagas patrolling the grounds.

To get passed them we used some sort of small wooden totem that is used for a short range teleportation gate. We are going to use it to enter the castle without alerting any guards.

According to Nightlight we had the highest chance of success if Silver Arrow stays at the entry way to make sure that the returning Orochi member can't provide support for the other members.

Trick Star was to go down a corridor to the right and keep going down stairs. If he encounters an Orochi member he should distract them for as long as possible.

Iron Shield was to go down a corridor to the left and stay on the ground floor.

Nightlight and I would go up to main staircase to the second floor. My role was to look for a way to enter the tower in search of the naga princess and/or VIP.

If we run into an Orochi he will stay back to delay them.

Before we dispersed Nightlight had us make him a promise.

A promise to come back alive.

Well it's now or nothing.

Cadance

When I was too young to remember I was found alone in the woods by an old earth pony couple.

They took me home to their village who helped care for me.

Now these nagas have come here and are stealing the love of others.

I tried to stop them but being about nine years old I failed and they tried stealing my love.

When they saw that it didn't work they stuffed me in a sack.

Now I'm in a cage in what I thought was a kitchen, but the naga called it an alchemy lab.

I heard the guards transporting talking about their reasons, but despite what they said something is wrong.

Something is wrong with the naga princess.