//------------------------------// // Chapter 13/Russia: Most Generous // Story: Red Banners, Red Stains // by BurgerFanMan //------------------------------// "Love the Queen and she shall bring you back that love, tenfold!" [The above is from a Changeling propaganda poster. The Changelings are little more than shadowy nightmares to the wider pony populace, but the closest to the Royal Sisters know just how disastrously close their Queen got to taking Canterlot in the Changeling Invasion. However, after the defeat of the Changelings, and with their population being reduced to a fraction of their original size, the Queen began forming relations with the Royal Sisters via certain individuals; namely, batponies.  Even I am unsure as to how this occurred exactly. I suspect some batponies may have known about the existence of the Changelings even before the invasion, which raises more questions than it answers. Regardless, both the defeat and the following attempts at diplomacy strongly indicate one thing: the Changelings are weak. Perhaps it would be best for ponykind, and their world, to wipe them out once and for all.] Sector 4, Stalliongrad Industrial Complex. August 7th, 2045. 5:37 AM Captain Artimey stood silently next to Captain Rolan, a Royal Guard pony, and a firefighter pony, his arms folded. They watched together as the warehouse in front of them burned, almost entirely obscured by the thick black smoke pouring out. Russian soldiers and pony firefighters worked to put it out, pouring water and tossing sandbags wherever they could. Above, pegasi flitted in and out of the tall, open windows, tossing water in and clearing out before the smoke choked them. A pair of Russian Grizons pulled up in front of them, with large, red tanks strapped to either side. A squad of Russian soldiers hooked a hose to each tank and opened the valve, spraying water at the building. It wasn't as good as a foam extinguisher, but it would have to do. After Lieutenant Colonel Rujy had left the scene, the endless stream of shadowy fake-ponies had continued appearing, melting out of an unnaturally dark spot in front of the doors of the warehouse. The fire from the explosion meant to give them an escape route had spread out of control- there had been gas lines running through the walls, which the engineer squad had not anticipated.  Thankfully, a squad of Royal Guards had responded and aided the Russians as they slowly retreated out of the building, away from the fire, and the wave of shadow ponies had ceased. Captain Artimey hoped that this meant they had stopped appearing, rather than just being blocked by the fire. The fire had quickly become the bigger threat, and now the Russians were working with the Royal Guard and the ponies to put it out. It had been over half an hour, with little to no progress. "All rise for Regiment Commander High Coat, Duke of Stalliongrad," came a loud, commanding shout from behind Artimey.  He glanced around. No one was sitting. Behind them, a fancy pony-drawn carriage came to a stop, complete with elaborate, gold-plated framing, and footmen- hoofponies?- standing on their hind legs, hanging on to the sides. A Royal Guard unicorn rushed to open it, bowing as an imposing, blue-coated unicorn, wearing an actual coat similar to a Russian Admiral’s one, stepped out.  Regiment Commander High Coat, Duke of Stalliongrad, took in the weary ponies and soldiers rushing about, the warehouse belching fire and smoke, and the rows of injured soldiers on stretchers being treated by both Russian and Royal Guard medics. His cold, grey eyes fell on Artimey, and he trotted over. He held out a hoof. "Lieutenant Colonel Ruj-ee?" Captain Artimey accepted the hoof with a forced smile. The pony was evidently young, but held himself up with the confidence of a member of royalty. Artimey wished Rujy had some of that confidence- it was vital in asserting order over subordinates, and showing capability to superiors. "The Lieutenant Colonel is busy at the moment, but he has left me in charge. What do you need, Duke High Coat?" The Duke gave him a sideways glance, the kind given when someone knows you aren't telling the whole truth. "This is an important matter. I must speak to him. Where is he?" Artimey feigned surprise. "One of your own ponies escorted him into the main city. I thought you would know." He enjoyed messing with people who thought too much of themselves. "What? I haven't-" The Duke looked around at his own guards, who offered no explanation. "What about the Princess Luna? Is she secure?" "About that..." Nightguard Safehouse, Stalliongrad. August 7th, 2045. 6:39 AM knock-knock "That'll be backup," said the Nightguard batpony. She got up from the table to open the door to the garage. Rujy had developed a sudden, splitting headache in the past few seconds that darkened the edges of his vision with a sickly green, but he brushed it off to his stress and lack of sleep. Another batpony, this one a mare with a pitch-black coat, stepped into the small room. She wore a pair of brown bags on her sides, and seemed tired out, looking around in a sort of daze. "What happened to you?" asked the Corporal in concern, leading the other pony to a chair and helping her sit down. "Ah, long flight. I'll be fine." She held out a rolled-up piece of rough, thick paper. "Message from command." "A message? Why not use the radio?" The Corporal took the parchment and unrolled it, scanning the contents. "Too sensitive?" "Yep." The batpony finally seemed to notice the silent Russians sitting around the table. She raised a hoof in greeting. "Hey." "Hello," responded one of the medics quietly. No one else spoke. The Nightguard Corporal finished reading the parchment, and tore it into tiny shreds. Rujy detected some slight annoyance or rage in her actions. "Lieutenant Colonel, you and the medical personnel are to accompany this thestral to the Nightguard headquarters. They want to question you about the... incident. You are to leave any weapons here. Another team will arrive shortly to collect Princess Luna," she reported. "I'll be escorting the rest of your soldiers back to the warehouse after the Princess is secure." The Mauler's driver was the first to speak. "Sounds like a trap-" "I'll go," interrupted Rujy. They were at the mercy of the Nightguard here. At least if he got a chance to speak to their commander, he could get some answers and guarantees about what they planned to do with the Russians, and how, if possible, they could get back to Earth. Refusing would only result in consequences. "It's an invitation, not an... order," explained the Corporal. Rujy shrugged. "I suppose I'm in a generous mood. How are we getting there?" "I have a teleportation rune." The Corporal glanced at the other batpony. "A rune? Only the alicorns can make that. Where did you get it?" "Command will explain," responded the batpony curtly. She opened one of her bags and extracted a small, smoothed stone tablet with a single diagonal line inscribed in it. "To the garage?" Rujy looked sternly at his soldiers. "You all listen to the Corporal here. Make sure you get yourselves and the Mauler back in one piece. Understood?" "Yes, sir!" The soldiers stood up from the table and saluted almost in unison. Rujy returned the salute and led the batpony and the trio of medics into the garage- Sergeant Alekzander had recovered somewhat, and was able to stumble along with the help of his two squadmates- Private Mikhail and Levy- into the garage room. Despite the order not to carry weapons, Rujy kept the empty pistol and knife concealed in his coat. The medic team still hung on to their two, dull brown trauma bags. The batpony shut the door behind them. "Just stand as still as you can. I'll handle the rest." Her voice sounded slightly different; less exhausted and more businesslike. "This may hurt, but don't panic." The Russians stood patiently as the batpony closed her eyes in intense concentration, holding the rune in front of her in one hoof. Rujy's headache persisted, now slightly worse. After a couple of minutes, one of the medics broke the silence. "Are we supposed-" A bright, sickly green flash permeated the room, filling Rujy's vision. Somewhere else... Cold and dark. He could feel green magic emanating from the horn on the batpony's head, in a way he couldn't quite articulate. But batponies didn't have horns. He looked down at his own hands, only able to feel them. They pulsed with a faint version of that same magic. Around him, the medics had a similar aura, but this felt different. Dark red. Back in the physical world... The group appeared in a small, gloomy cavern with walls made of mossy, rough stone- floating about a meter in the air. They were still in the air for a moment until gravity caught up. Rujy fell on his knees, holding out his hands to brace himself. He stood up slowly, feeling nauseous and disoriented. He wasn't sure if it was from the teleportation, his headache, or both. What just happened? In front of him, in the place of the batpony, was... Queen Chrysalis. Ofcourse. Rujy should have suspected it, given what little the Nightguard had explained about the Changelings in the warehouse. Masters of disguise and infiltration, cunning, devious; they fit all the checkboxes for "evil". He doubted that they had been brought here for a round of drinks and a friendly chat. "The hell is that...?" muttered Sergeant Alekzander. Rujy remembered that he was the only one who had actually seen the Changelings back at the farmhouse. "ahem. Welcome, humans. I hope you enjoyed your trip, short as it was. Guards!" The Queen laughed haughtily as about a dozen Changelings wearing grey-black armour flooded in. They surrounded the Russians, pointing long spears at them. Rujy put his hand on Private Levy's shoulder to reassure him. "Queen Chrysalis, I am not sure that the Nightguards or the Russians would take it kindly if we were to... disappear." The Queen smirked. "Disappear? Are you suggesting I kidnapped you? No, this is merely a... guided tour." This stopped Rujy short. "So... you'll send us back." "Ofcourse. I just need a little favour from the four of you. First of all, let me show you around." And on that menacing note, she exited via the open metal door set in the wall. With the spears of the guards behind them poking in their backs, the Russians had no choice but to follow. The door opened into a curving corridor with the same floor and walls as the cavern before. It was lit by the occasional gloomy green lamp, basking everything in a slight colored tint, with the walls being regularly interrupted by a vertical beam of wood. The corridor curved slightly to the right and upwards. He wasn't sure how deep underground they were. The air pressure felt about the same as it did aboveground. The corridor wasn't very wide, so the guards split into two groups: one in front of the Russians and one behind. As they went, Rujy quietly explained what he knew about the Changelings to the medics. After just a couple of minutes, the corridor straightened out and stopped rising. There were occasional small openings on either side, just large enough to fit a pony. They opened into unfinished, rubble-strewn rooms. As the group continued on, Queen Chrysalis began narrating facts like a tour guide. "Forgive the unsightly appearance. Outpost Asp is only a couple of weeks old, and construction has been put on hold while we sort out a... situation. There are about thirty or forty changelings currently residing here; scientists, workers, and, of course, guards." She paused. Rujy took this as a cue to ask questions. Nothing to lose in doing so. "Guards? For what?" "Pony militias, centipede invasions, sudden visitors. All sorts of things can happen, but our guards are well trained to deal with all of them." "I just hatched two weeks ago- ow!" One of the changelings was silenced by a slight kick to the side by his fellow guard and a glare from Queen Chrysalis. "Two weeks?" asked Rujy in surprise. The guard looked almost exactly the same as the others, with glowing teal eyes, black armour-like chitin, and random holes in its legs. Only a slight height difference and the lack of any scars or tears in its chitin differentiated it. "Changelings don't need as much time to learn as other ponies," explained Chrysalis shortly. They walked on in silence with not much change in scenery, except for passing another changeling who moved to the side and bowed down to Queen Chrysalis. Rujy wanted to use this chance to gather information on their potential enemy, but he didn't know how to phrase any questions innocently. Luckily, Mikhail mustered up the courage to ask something. "How many of you are there exactly? And do you all live underground?" Queen Chrysalis continued trotting on casually, but she responded in a serious tone, "Hm... at least five thousand? Maybe six thousand this week? We're not due a census for another two days. And yes, we mostly live underground in Hives, although we do have an aboveground town. They're usually a lot nicer than this though, this is just an outpost." Five thousand was much smaller than Rujy had expected. With their insect-like appearance, he had imagined huge, swarming underground nests with tens of millions of them, and perhaps millions more infiltrating pony society. He noted that the lights had switched from the glowing, dull lamps to brightly light fluorescent bulbs. They were powered by a long electrical cable pinned to the ceiling. "So you have electrical lights?" asked Rujy. It seemed like a fairly non-threatening thing to ask. Queen Chrysalis glanced upwards. "Oh, these things? The Nightguard supplied them, they're quite useful. It runs on the Equestrian MANES line." Chrysalis spelt out each letter of 'MANES'. "Mains?" said Rujy confusedly. "MANES. I'm not sure what it stands for." Chrysalis fell silent. After a moment, one of the guards spoke up uncertainly. "Magically Amplified Network for Electrical Systems." "Hmmm?" asked Chrysalis in her loud, authoritative tone. "That's what MANES stands for. Your Majesty." The guard seemed quite tense. Queen Chrysalis responded dismissively, "Oh, right. Whatever." Rujy quietly filed away the exchange in the part of his brain working on escape plans as the group came to a sudden halt. The corridor opened into a much wider one, and he could actually see the end now: a heavy, vault-like gate set into the far wall. The walls on either side were formed of much smoother stone with a brick texture cut into them, and the floor was laid with amateurish but pretty multi-colored bricks. There were several large doors cut into each side. All were closed except one, which a pair of changelings exited out of. They both wore stark white lab coats, which seemed ridiculous on top of their dark chitin. "Aspen, please-" "I don't care what the ethics committee says, I need a pony and I need it now! Back in my day, we recycled young, non-compliant changelings like you!" barked Aspen. "Please don't remind us of your age, Researcher," commented Chrysalis drily. Half of the guards dispersed, heading into various rooms, while five remained surrounding the Russians. Sergeant Alekzander glanced at Rujy, evidently asking if he had a plan to escape. He shook his head. Meanwhile, Aspen had noticed Chrysalis. "Your Majesty! You've brought the specimens, yes?" It shoved past the Queen and limped towards the Russians, waving the guards aside. "They're just guests, Aspen! Don't do any of your weird experiments on them." "My experiments have saved the species several times over, I'll have you know!" The scientist stopped in front of Private Levy, inspecting every inch of his body. "You are a youngling, I presume?" Aspen whipped out a clipboard and pen seemingly from nowhere, taking rapid notes. "The markings on your coat... perhaps your status in your society? Or just a military rank? And these... talon-like extensions, they seem useful in complicated manual tasks. If I had to guess, I'd say your society is much more advanced than ours, mmm?" Poor Levy was overwhelmed by all these questions. "Uhhh... what?" He turned desperately to Rujy, who stepped forward to greet the researcher with an outstretched hand. "Greetings, researcher. I am Lieutenant Colonel Rujy, the commander of the Volki, an elite battalion of the Russian Armed Forces- are you listening?" The changeling was intently taking notes on its clipboard, flipping over pages at an astounding rate. "Hm? Yes, yes, do go on." "What if you showed them the lab, Aspen? I have business to attend to. Scream for help or something if they try to murder you." Queen Chrysalis didn't wait for an answer, instead continuing down the corridor and leaving by the vault door, which opened into a pitch-black cave. The guards followed her, leaving the silent Russians alone with a muttering Aspen and the other researcher changeling. They collectively stared at Aspen. "Do we... murder him? It? Them?" whispered Private Levy. "Where would we go? I say we go along with it." Alekzander looked to Rujy for confirmation, who nodded. The whole situation was utterly bizarre, but they had learnt plenty about the Changelings so far. "Aspen? Sir? Maybe we should show them the l-lab, like the Queen ord- suggested?" said the other changeling gently. Rujy was unable to guess their genders because of their androgynous tones, overlayed with that slight insect-like buzzing. "Yes, yes, ofcourse. Plenty to do in the lab. Come along now, humans." Aspen led them through the open door into a decently sized laboratory. There were two rows of smooth stone tables, cluttered with the various objects stereotypical of a lab: scattered papers, gas burners, and vials filled with strangely-colored liquids. A row of sickbeds lined the opposite wall, separated from the main lab by thick curtains. Another changeling wearing a gas mask and lab coat exited that area, then immediately turned around and went back in when he spotted the humans entering. Aspen took a seat at one of the stools, setting the notes from its clipboard aside and grabbing fresh pages. It motioned distractedly towards the huddled group of Russians. "Pass your bags, please. I assume they contain medical supplies?" Rujy nodded to confirm that they could give the changeling their bags. Their contents were entirely harmless- he hoped- and the sooner they were done here, the sooner they could leave. Aspen accepted one of the bags and zipped it open, unceremoniously turning it upside down and dumping the contents on to the already cluttered table. Sergeant Alekzander, tired out from the walk because of his injuries, took one of the stools. The other changeling stood a little distance away from them. It made the occasional, almost nervous buzzing sound. The bag was quite bare, only containing a few items: two rolls of sterilised bandages, a large, plastic bottle of strong disinfectant, two small bottles of an unknown substance that Rujy suspected was vodka, various pieces of surgery equipment, a tablet, and a couple of adrenaline syringes. Aspen picked up one of the syringes, inspecting its label. "Adrenaline... 0.5mg, 1:10000 solution... This is the substance you injected into Her Highness, Princess Luna?" The researcher's guesses were uncannily accurate. "How did you- ...yes. Just one syringe, it's usually just enough to get someone awake and active. It just lasts a few minutes," explained Private Levy automatically. "You probably shouldn't-" Aspen had immediately picked up a syringe on the words 'just one syringe', turned around, and injected its assistant with it. The other changeling gasped, its small, insect-like wings beating frantically, and eyes pulsing with brightness. "Wow... wow, that is STRONG." "Don't waste it, Spir, we only have one more-" "...of our adrenaline shots..." muttered Rujy. "-so just describe how you feel, then we'll move on to tests." "OK... OK... my heart is beating really fast, I really want to do a spinny, and my magic is feeling especially powerful," burst out Spir. "I can feel all your emotions! I'M A MIND READER NOW!" Rujy was slightly concerned about that last part, but he was content for now to watch the experiment. He drew out a stool and sat next to Sergeant Alekzander. The other changeling was taking down notes at lightning-fast speeds. "Let's do a little magic test. Levitate that stool there, gently as you can." "Right, Aspen!" The stool in question was surrounded by a thick green glow, and almost immediately skyrocketed into the ceiling, shattering into pieces. "...oops." "Magical... ability... greatly increased..." muttered Aspen. "Alright, try some other exercise. The foal stuff. And remember, as gently as you can." The researcher only sounded slightly enthused, but that was a step up over its earlier complete disinterest with anything aside from his notes. "Try levitation again." The changeling's horn glowed again, and it lifted up the last unused stool in the room. This time, it was much gentler, dexterously picking up the light wooden object. "Feels a lot lighter than usual, Aspen. And-" The stool moved towards Aspen and began orbiting its head, rotating on every axis as it did so. "-I can manage the more complex stuff now!" "So... both more power, and increased control over that power... fascinating. Try teleporting across the room. Hurry, we don't have a lot of time." Spir was a bit less enthusiastic about this. "Eh, I'm not sure I want to end up splattered in a cave somewhere..." "Don't make me call the Queen." "Right, I'm on it." Spir closed its eyes, concentrating, and just... vanished. Rujy had expected some sound, or at least a dramatic flash, but it had simply disappeared entirely. He looked around the room but couldn't see the changeling assistant. Aspen made a disappointed noise. "I just got that assistant a couple of weeks ago. Ah, well." He bent over his notes, apparently unconcerned by the loss of his fellow changeling. "Should we... do something?" asked Sergeant Alekzander. There was a slight pop as Spir appeared into view again, exactly where he had been before. "Phew, miscalculated the shot a bit. Ended up falling several hundred meters above the Industrial Sector, but I was able to charge up the spell in time to get back." Aspen was, somehow, entirely uninterested. "Yes, good job, Spir. Shapeshifting, now, please. Not a lot of time." "Who do I shift-" The door to the lab swung open loudly, and in entered a pair of humans. Rujy's jaw physically swung open in shock as he recognised one of them. "YOU!" "...me?"