“How is she? You said that there was something strange with her tests?”
“Fine for now but with her injuries overall… If what the medics said was true it's a miracle she was still standing, let alone giving CPR for Celestia knows how long.” The doctor shuffled through the papers tied to his clipboard, multiple X-Ray images were retrieved before being attached to the nearby wall.
“As you can see here.” He gestured towards the images resembling that of a wing, multiple large dark cracks visible across the bone. “Her wing, apart from being dislocated at the join, should have been turned to dust by the impacts it received. Yet all it managed to sustain were simple hairline fractures.” He pulled out another image, this time it resembled that of a rather large ponies chest. Several more large cracks could be seen across the ponies ribs and one of them was broken off completely.
“The same for her ribs, multiple hairline fractures with only one complete fracture, the detached bone puncturing her lung. We were able to remove the fragment with quite a bit of difficulty and only partially reattach it with the help of some healing spells.”
“Only partially? Explain, I thought modern healing spells could heal such injuries with ease.”
“That is why I called you here. During the surgery to remove the bone from her lung we discovered that the patient's bones are coated in a further layer of material we have yet to decipher. What we can stipulate however, thanks to the apparent lack of a completely broken skeletal system, is that the patient's bones are far, far more resistant to damage and as such requires much more energy than the spell provides to heal completely in one sitting.” The doctor pulled out several more images and documents.
”I could go on and on, princess. The metal attached to their spine, the bones that required gem-tipped screws to set, the two-pronged burn scar tissue on their chest that extended to their heart. Frankly, princess, I could write a whole paper just on their muscular structure.”
“We could have guessed this much already…is there anything else thou would like to mention doctor?”
The pony blinked, “I…guess not princess, I simply wished to inform you of our findings. How…how are you and your sister faring?” Questioned the doctor nervously as he glanced towards the patch covering Luna’s eye.
Luna smiled disarmingly. “I am fine, doctor. My sister will also wake soon, the scars however may be permanent. As for myself, It will take some getting used to… but it will serve as a reminder of what the cost of complacency is…speaking of, how long should recovery take for our Mare?”
“In a normal case six to eight weeks with these injuries, but since this is Six we are talking about. Physical recovery could take longer or shorter, mentally…it's a completely different story.” The doctor sighed. “I’ve had three separate psychologists talk to her, or well try to and she has yet to utter a single word since she’s arrived here. She just stares either out the window, her necklace, or anypony that enters her room. It is…quite creepy if I may be blunt.”
“I see… How are her comrades doing?”
“Ah, Pixy…she will live, but be unable to fly again. By the time we recovered her wing, it was too far gone to be reattached. I have already scheduled a therapy session and put them on close watch when they wake up. The other, Spear… was already pronounced dead at the scene. There was nothing we could do.”
Several days have since passed since the attack at the heart of the equestrian special forces. The fires were put out, the ash had settled and recovery operations were underway for the ponies considered missing in action. It was a massive combined effort with ponies from all walks of life in Canterlot volunteering to help in the search efforts.
Unicorns proficient in tracking spells searched and found those buried under rubble. Pegasi searched from the skies and earth ponies helped clear the streets in their search for those injured and trapped.
No aspect of the guard was safe it seemed from the attack of the changelings. Royal guards were maimed, LSTS were butchered, Wonderbolts were grounded, Horizon squad was decimated and Noble was down to one active member: Sparrow.
He was leading the search efforts, in fact, several ponies say Sparrow hasn’t slept or even left the district since that day. Day and night the equestrian Spartan searched the district, the pegasus disappearing from view for hours on end in his search for his missing comrade.
Spirit was missing in action, a changeling known to nopony but Sparrow. Not that the Pegasus cared, he would find the mare he loved no matter what. They had been running through the streets, racing to find Six and warn them of the Venator's power, when they ran into an injured and unconscious princess of love surrounded by the other members of the senior officers that looked equally hurt.
They were trying to reinforce their position before the changelings bore down on them, reducing them to a small shield protecting the princess. Spitfire was slicing through the air with Midnight holding the ground as Twilight supported both as best she could.
Magic bolts of lavender filled the air as changeling wings were frozen mid-buzz, forcing them groundwards and into Midnights awaiting blades. Naturally not wanting to also be on the receiving end of those blades, Spirit reformed her usual small earth pony visage and joined in on the battle with Sparrow at her side.
The first Praetorian they jumped had barely a moment to process the sudden approaching aura of Spirit before his neck was twisted suddenly at an unnatural angle. His blade barely had time to leave his magical grasp before it was already taken in Sparrow's grasp and thrust towards another changeling soldier.
Using the opening created by the now combined efforts of Sparrow and Midnight, Spirit was able to reach the captain's shield. With a small knock against the barrier and some gesturing towards the medical kit attached to her hip Spirit was granted access to the injured princess of love.
She had never once been this close to the changeling god of food before and the emotions contained within the shield were thick. It almost overwhelmed her, the sheer amount of love the alicorn radiated. Spirit had to fight the urge to visibly salivate as she got to her knees and began to treat the injured princess.
Blood dripped out of Cadence's ears as a not-insignificant amount of the crimson fluid stained the edges of her mane indicating a possible head injury and concussion. Being quick to act, Spirit inspected the princesses' features and found the makeshift bandage they had been using before her arrival. It was a torn piece of Shinings uniform and it was already bled through. Moments later a far better and cleaner bandage was applied to the wound ensuring it would not reopen nor get infected once the dust had settled.
As if prompted by the disguised changelings' efforts the alicorn began to stir as the fighting outside began to take a turn for the worse. Spitfire was getting overwhelmed, Sparrow and Midnight were losing ground and Twilight's magical energy was getting low. Seeing that her help was needed, Spirit leaped out of the captain's shield and onto the back of an unsuspecting flying drone as Shining rushed to his now awake wife's side.
Nopony knew exactly how much time passed during those precious moments after Spirit lept from the safety of the shining bubble. It could have been seconds. It could have been minutes, but the moment Spirit reached her beloved Sparrow to save him from a changeling pinning him to the ground, everything went pink.
To Spirit, it felt as if a solid brick wall had suddenly impacted her carapace at the speed of a moving train. Love energy, so densely packed together, cracked and healed her carapace as it pulled her along for the ride. She barely had time to turn her head and see the outstretched hoof Sparrow held for her before he was nothing but a speck on the burning landscape below her.
The others among them didn’t even see the disguised changelings get swept up in the wall of love, their attention too focused on trying not to be dragged along as well by the changelings that held onto them for dear life.
That was the last time Sparrow had seen Spirit since the end of the changeling sneak attack. Every night he would wait on the outskirts of the district, where it bordered the forest. Searching, waiting for Spirit to return. Oh, how he wished he could just leave, to just abandon his post and find the no doubt injured, changeling and bring them home to him. And on the fifth night after the attack, all his sleepless nights would pay off.
It had started like any other night of watch for the large pegasus. He made his rounds, walking the broken streets, listening out for any muted cries for assistance. There were never any, most had already been found and those that weren’t were most likely dead by now. Sparrow tried not to dwell on those thoughts. Stains of not fully washed away blood-colored the streets in hues of red and green, marking places where ponies and changelings alike fell. He passed one particularly bloody alley, a makeshift plaque hung from the wall naming the heroics that happened there.
One guard who was barely out of basic training stood their ground and protected a critically injured member of the Wonderbolts. The guard (Sparrow believed his name was Cutter) managed to take down seven separate changeling warriors before the love wave hit. Both ponies survived and from what Sparrow could gather the guard was going to be awarded a medal for his actions. If Sparrow also had to hazard a guess that guard would also be getting VIP tickets to Wonderbolt shows for life, but that didn’t matter to him as he passed the dark green alley.
He continued walking down the street until he reached the district's edge, his bandaged wing ruffling against its itchy bindings as the moonlight began to scatter through the forest's trees. His gaze scanned the treeline, looking for any hint of movement.
Nothing, not even a flutter of movement from a wild avian.
With a sigh he continued down the path, continuing to scan the foliage to his sides as he did every night since the attack. Much to the chagrin of the Medics telling him to lie down and rest instead of going on, in their words, useless midnight walks. A small bit of flexing of his metaphorical and literal weight as a member of Noble team stopped their whining for the meantime.
The leaves to his side began to rustle, grabbing his full attention as he drew his weapon. Sparrow wasn’t going to take any chances. It could be Spirit, it could be a hostile changeling or it could be nothing at all but he wasn’t going to risk it. He preferred not to gain any more holes in his body for the time being.
“Identify yourself immediately or I will attack!” He called into the dark.
“Oh, shut it, Sparrow.” Came the tired, annoyed, and relieved voice of Spirit, the limping form of the changeling he loved stepping out from behind the brush. They looked terrible with the ripped and blood-stained remnants of her armor and uniform clinging to her cracked chitin. It seemed like a miracle that their exoskeleton remained intact and not scattered across the forest.
The changeling could barely take another step before she was embraced by the large Pegasus. She didn’t have the energy to resist and she didn’t want to as she pressed into her fellow Spartan, her tired hooves giving out under her as she was held in her lover’s embrace.
“Verdammt! Verdammt! VERDAMMT!” Cried the Venator in rage, his writhing sword cutting through the tree he swung at with ease. The furious changeling having resorted to cursing in his native dialect to express his rage. His armor whipped around his body as if its metal was consumed in a wildfire. Its form bubbling and spilling as if barely contained within its armored form.
‘Calm down Venator! You completed your mission, you’ve crippled the ponies elite forces! You should be celebrating with your warriors, not turning trees to stumps.’
“Calm down?! That demon still lives and you want me to calm down!?” With another yell of rage, a further tree fell to his blade. “I had her within my grasp! I was seconds away from avenging my failure, my shame…And she got away!” With one final yell, the Venator struck his blade into the ground, the changeling managing to bury it to the hilt as his broken horn Sparked with wild green flames.
The ghostly form of Redfang appeared behind the buried blade, her form sitting upon the newly formed tree stump the Venator had created in his anger. Looking up Mobius could see the frown that marred her face. She sat upon that stump as if it was the throne of the Empress herself as she looked down at the Venator. Then she spoke, her tone that of a mother scolding a petulant child.
‘I am disappointed in you Mobius.’
For some unknown reason, hearing Redfang say those words struck Mobius to his very core. His body becoming stock-still with his armor following suit, as if frozen in a moment in time
‘You are the Venator. The warrior that's sentenced to serve the Empress’s will to the end. This petty obsession with that pony is above you.’
The Venator was about to open his mouth, but a look from the red changeling silenced his voice.
‘I know she is a threat, perhaps one of the largest Equestria has against us. But acting like a spoiled child for not killing them after crippling the ponies' military is not becoming of a Venator. Quite frankly it's embarrassing and disrespectful to all those that have come before you. So get your chitin together, and abandon this obsession before you get yourself killed and damned by the Swarm as the Venator who chose a personal Vendetta over the will of the Empress herself. Are we clear?’
“I… You're right…” The Venator conceded, his posture drooping. “The Swarm is one step closer to dominating the ponies and all I can think about is how I couldn’t kill one mare among the hundreds we did.” As he spoke those words his armor began to recede, its form returning to what it once was as the fire of his rage extinguished. Within a few short moments, the storm of living metal that had engulfed his armor had disappeared completely.
Redfang smiled
‘Good, now get up. You have a visitor.’
Standing up straight the Venator turned to face the approaching changeling. It was one of the Praetorians, specifically the one that was tasked with dealing with the goddess of food.
“My Venator, forgive me for my….” The praetorians' eyes glanced around the destroyed foliage surrounding the pair. “...intrusion but I have received news.”
“Speak.”
“As you know, near the end of our attack I ordered to deal with the princess of food.”
Mobius raised his eyebrow “I am aware.”
“Moments before our attack I felt an intrusion among my warriors. At first, I thought nothing of it, but after recent events, I am not so sure.”
“Explain”
“My Venator, I believe there may have been a Hiveless among the ponies, possibly helping them.”
“A Hiveless…working with the ponies.” The Venator stood in thought for several moments. “Undergo a headcount of our troops, they were most likely also ejected by the barrier, if they’re still here I want to know, and if not begin the search for them.”
“Yes, my Venator.”
“And once you’re done organizing the count, go and find the priest and get him to find your memory of the intrusion. Having the Hivelesses signature will help in the search for them. Now go, the Queen will want to hear of this.”
“Understood, my Venator.”