Feather Duster was straight up not having a good time.
It was a little known fact, but the Maid and Servant industries in Canterlot were a lot more cutthroat than most ponies outside the business realised - maids and servants came and went, but the masters always stayed the same.
That was the job. Feather Duster was well aware.
Its just that she wasn't expecting to be the one that got sent packing when all the cards were down.
"Go to Canterlot" They said. "Its literally your talent to be a maid, you'll breeze right past the competition!"
And Feather Duster, the fool she was, listened.
It went well at first. A bit choppy since she had to get used to the unwritten rules of both Canterlot as well as dealing with the nobility, but all in all it went well.
She made good bits.
She got given a room in the mansion.
She spent five months living the life a pony of her background had no business living - during her time off, that is.
Her gaze drifted down towards a nearby puddle, her uniformed reflection staring back up at her in turn.
But it all went away as quickly as it came...
One day some government pony knocked on the door of her master's mansion, and suddenly the Lord she served decided to cut on costs.
It just... it wasn't fair. Why her? Why now!
She should have seen this coming. Mother always warned her to have bits saved for a rainy day-
Oh BUCK, her mother!
Feather Duster couldn't show herself to her, she'd be so disappointed. Her mother expected, deserved, better. Feather Duster had failed.
The puddle rippled as a drop of water splashed against its surface, distorting the image.
Feather Duster just sighed and slumped her head further. She had to... she had to find somewhere else to go. Something else to do.
Away from Canterlot and all those blasted nobles that didn't want her.
"You're looking awfully down, miss."
Feather Duster's head snapped up to the source of the voice: an annasuming blue unicorn stallion, just standing there besides her on the deserted street.
After a moment of silence, she gave a small nod. "Yeah. Yeah, I haven't had the best couple of days."
The stallion nodded too. "I can see."
Silence filled the air once more, the two of them just standing there in silence. Feather Duster watched the stallion glance at the puddle, then at her maid uniform. He wasn't judging she thought, just... curious?
"I lost my job." The words spilled from her mouth before she could stop them. "I was a maid. For a noble. They... they didn't need my services anymore."
The stallion tilted his head at her. "Just like that?"
For some reason, that prompted a chuckle out of Feather Duster. "Just like that." She confirmed.
For a second, neither of them said anything. Then, the stallion took a look around the street, confirming that it was empty except for the two of them. No lights shone through windows, and the guards seldom patrolled this area of Canterlot.
It was a lonely night.
"I know an employer. She won't... she never dismissed anyone from her service without reason." The stallion's eyes locked onto hers. "She can pay with food and board, for now."
Feather Duster blinked at the fortunate offer. Any other time she would have laughed the offer off as the highway robbery that it was.
Work for the 'privilege' of working another day? It was ridiculous!
But... right then? At that very moment? It sounded like perfection. Like exactly what she needed.
Feather Duster gave another nod, more resolute this time. "That sounds entirely acceptable. Is there anything I need to know, before I decide if I take your... employer up on her offer or not?"
The stallion stood motionless for a moment, simply staring into her eyes, before he erupted into green flames.
What remained after the flames died down was a monstrous sight that every pony in Canterlot knew well. A cruel caricature, abomination, of the pony form. A monster draped in chitin black as the darkest nightmare, its own form seemingly withered away, horrific holes littered throughout its body. Feather Duster stared into those alien, blue orbs that the faux stallion had for eyes.
A Changeling.
Feather Duster was standing before a Chabgeling. One of the creatures that launched the attack on Canterlot just under two weeks prior... and it was offering her a job?
Was this technically treason on her part?
Was she insane?
She watched as the monster moved, lifting an atrophied hoof off the floor and upwards. Towards her. As if it was offering a hoofshake.
Its voice was shrill, with a rasping quality. It almost sounded like two creatures were speaking at once.
"You just have to be fine with this, and the fact that we will take a small bit of Love from you, every day." The creature wiggled its hoof. "Its a long, long way to go, if you accept."
Feather Duster was going to die. She knew it. A certified monster stood before her, offering a deal, just like in all those foal's stories her mother used to read her.
And just like in those stories... she was tempted as Tartarus to take it.
She did.
Her own cream hoof reached up and intertwined with the monstrous one. Her soft fur rubbing against the hard chitin. The empty spaces within the Changeling's hoof noticable in her grip.
Feather Duster managed a crooked smile as a sudden wave of excitement flooded through her at the prospect of the deal she just made.
"Well? Where are we gonna go?"
The chair he used as a makeshift shield shattered into splinters as the sickly green beam tore through it, scorching the stallion behind it in the process.
Stalwart dropped the now useless remains of the chair and fell back with a pained yelp, clutching at his shoulder.
"The Queen is going to be disappointed."
The voice of one of the monsters assaulting him echoed over itself. Soon, the voice of its fellow abomination joined in.
"Nah. We did exactly as she asked. Not our fault that this pony is an idiot."
Stalwart gritted his teeth to stifle a retort. Now was not the time for defending his honour, he was beaten and his attackers were distracted.
Slowly, he reached out with his hoof, sending pulses of pain up his shoulder and as he did so.
He just had to reach his spear. He had the training. He was a Royal Gua- he was a Guard.
He had a duty to do.
"Yeah, no." The spear Stalwart was desperately reaching for suddenly became enveloped in that sickly green glow and floated up, out of his sight. "Seriously, pony, we aren't the grunts you had to deal with in Canterlot."
"We're properly fed, for one."
"And we've been doing this a lot longer that you've been playing soldier, so kindly stop squirming!"
Stalwart gasped as he felt the heard chitin dig into his burnt shoulder, grunting as he was forcefully turned over to face the home invaders.
A pair of Changelings. He thought the things back when he was still stationed in Canterlot.
These ones were different.
His eyes bore into them with the most fierce glare he could give... but the two creatures were barely paying attention. One of them was fiddling with some kind of pot and the other was twirling the spear around their head.
"Are you sure that the Queen gave the okay? She ordered us to be 'nice' to the ponies." The one in with the pot said.
Stalwart could hardly believe his eyes. Was this delirium? Had he already passed out from the pain, and this was all a dream?
"The Queen decreed that we are to be nice to HER ponies." The one with the spear threw a hoof in Stalwart's direction. "This one got thrown away by his 'Princess', and he still worships the ground she walks on. What has you being such a grub, anyway?"
The one with the pot looked at Stalwart for a moment before turning its attention to the other Changeling. "Phantasm told me about the Queen's latest outburst. She took a wall off the Hive, this time."
Both the Changelings shuddered in unison. Stalwart once more tried to crawl away, but the one with the spear roughly hit him in his bruised shoulder with the spear's shaft.
Finally, the Changing managed to get the pot open. The other Changeling's wings buzzed once it saw.
"What do you think?" It chittered monstrously. "Full drain? We've got the pots for it!"
Stalwart didn't like the sound of that.
Thankfully, the pot Changeling shook its head. "No. We're supposed to make it look like an accident." It glanced at Stalwart. "Quarter drain, I say."
The other Changeling slumped. "Oh fine."
Both the monsters suddenly turned to face Stalwart, and the last thing that the demoted guard saw was a blinding green glow.
Tarnished Silver lead a good life. He had a distant but loving family with a little cousin he adored, he had a decent apartment in the well-off-but-not-rich part of Baltimare, and he had a powerful job.
Had.
Something happened to have the guards suddenly put far more effort into their jobs than they had any right to, and the small empire he built with his own two hooves all but collapsed over the past week.
More thorough searches. Questioning. Mage support. What even happened for the police to have such support?
Now he was stuck in some jailhouse in a no-name desert town, caught by a guard patrol that wanted to prove themselves.
He'd go to Canterlot for trial, they said.
He'd go to prison for a very long time, basically.
His mind thought back to his associates, the ones that helped him build his empire. Lavender, that corrupt police detective that helped him stay a step ahead - she had gone missing, disappeared into thin air, probably the first to be nabbed. Squeaky Clean, that trusted businesspony of his, getting off scott free after she promised to testify against him in court. The countless underlings and consumers of his...
Well, all in all, he had a good run.
In this run down small town jailhouse, it wasn't like anypony could break him out was still free anyw-
*BOOM*
Tarnished instantly leapt to the floor as an explosion rocked the entire building.
His ears rang with white noise as he stumbled upright, bracing himself against the bars of his cell. He stumbled forward to get a better look but whatever was going on, it was out of his sight.
He stood there blankly, like a confused foal, until suddenly his hearing returned to him.
Screams. The clash of steel against steel. The arcane sound of magic being fired.
A local deputy suddenly appeared within his vision, running like her life depended on it, only for a blast of green to suddenly hit her in the back and seemingly sap all the strength from her legs.
Tarnished watches as the deputy tripped and crashed muzzle-first into the wall, standing there for half a second until the mare crumpled to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. Whatever magic hit her, it was incendiary. Green flames slowly spread over the deputy's jacket.
Tarnished Silver took a wise step back further into his cell.
The battle was over quickly, the screams of ponies and metal dying down to only leave the soft crackling if fire. And the steady hoofsteps approaching his cell.
Tarnished tensed in anticipation, eyes flicking around his cell for any sort of weapon. He found it lacking, likely due to the fact that it was a jail cell.
The hoofsteps reached his cell, and then their owner his vision, and Tarnished couldn't help but release a startled laugh as that familiar trenchcoat and detective hat came into view.
"Sweet stars above, Lavender!?"
The mare in question smiled a smile so wide it may as well have been Celestia's sun itself.
"I'm gone for two weeks and everything falls apart? Why aren't I surprised, Tarnished?"
Tarnished could only laugh. "You did- the deputies, the explosion- how?"
"Baltimare, Equestria, is a bit too hot for your right now, old friend. How I know a place in need of your connections." Lavender's smile grew into a smirk. "There's bits to be made, down the road. What do you say?"
He shook his head in disbelief.
"Lav, I'd follow you to Tartarus after the stunt you just pulled. I'm in!"
Lavender made a gesture, and the door to the cell slid open without issue. The mare suddenly erupted into green flames, revealing a Changeling - still dressed in detective's garb and sporting that familiar smirk of hers.
Tarnished Silver could only laugh.