//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: Temple of the Stars // by OrphiusOlyandra //------------------------------// I watched from our vantage point, as the guards milled about the entrance aimlessly. I frowned in annoyance, what the fuck were they doing? Their patrols were scattered and there was barely a real pattern to it. It looked more like they were just... following a routine than actually keeping an eye out for danger. We were just a full day’s flight from White Peak, and I was worried about Trixie. I know I should have been trying to watch my thoughts, but it was impossible for me to keep them from the blue unicorn for long. I wanted to get this done as soon as we could, and get back there and make sure she was okay. At my shoulder, Nightmare glanced over at me and ducked back down behind the pile of rocks. “Be careful. Changeling’s are masters at disguise and this may just be another trick. These ones are probably expendable, with the important soldiers inside.” I nodded and shuffled back down out of view. “So what’s the plan? Burst in and kill a bunch of guys until we get what you need?” “With that many all linked by a hive mind? They know we’re coming, and though they are not yet proficient at this type of mind reading, they are learning rapidly. Going in now would be suicidal. We must sneak our way in.” I nodded. “Alright then.” I peeked back over the rock. “So what are we after? Is it just something we can snatch and run, or is this gonna be a scavenger hunt for all the obscure shit you need?” “I don’t know.” The sword was raised into the air, letting her catch a glimpse of what was happening at the entrance. “They have the materials, but I doubt they know what to do with them so they may be in the main room with everything else or in some random room elsewhere.” I rolled my eyes. “Great. Chalk another one up for useless goddess damn intel.” I thought about it carefully. “So what is it we’re here for anyway? We need something to make a ritual for you to break their hive mind or whatever. What is it we need?” “Mainly crystals to focus the magic. Some blood, stuff like that,” replied Nightmare. “Blood?” I asked her. “What kind of blood? I mean, are we gonna have to bleed some gryphon out for it?” “Maybe. Most importantly is changeling blood.” Her eyes snapped to the right. “And on that note, keep an eye out for changelings. We should have seen them by now, but...” “If they’re a hive mind, wouldn’t they be acting like a queen and leaving the gryphon dupes wandering about as drones?” I asked her. “Wouldn’t they be staying hidden and just letting the gryphons take the blows for them?” “Normal changeling’s can’t even control other species. I have no clue how these function, and I’d rather not make any assumptions.” She held her sword close to her side as her ears twitched. “Assumptions get ponies killed.” I glanced over at her, and put a claw to my knife. “Nightmare, I have to ask. Have you been reading my mind at all lately? I mean, you haven’t reacted at all to a few things now.” I turned around, listening out for whatever it was that had her on edge. “We... have not...” Was- was she blushing!? “There are two reasons to not read another’s mind: either their thoughts are too annoying or you... enjoy... their company too much.” I stared at her. Please, oh please tell me it’s the annoyance. “Glad to know it.” I turned away. At least she wouldn’t learn about me and Trixie from my head. “So how’s Luna holding up?” Not that I gave the slightest of shits, but it was a good way to change the conversation. Nightmare smirked. “She’s keeping an eye out for magical attacks directed at us. Highly unlikely, but she likes to check everything at least three times.” I nodded. “So, is what she said about sharing her power with you even half true? Why is it that she won’t tell me where her powers have gone?” “Because she’s a fool.” A grin appeared. “The simple fact is, she cannot use her magic if I do not give permission and the opposite is also true. To a degree of course, we have a bit of magic to call our own, but nothing too broad. That means all those big spells I’ve cast, I’ve had her permission to do so. Bringing down the temple, blowing up the lab...” I blinked. “So she was telling the truth then...” I facepalmed. “Fuck. I can see why she tried to hide that. The bitch is every bit as bad as you are! She’s just hiding behind you and saying it’s not her fault.” I shook my head in frustration. “Filthy fucking whore.” “I keep telling her we’re not so different, but she keeps denying it,” chuckled Nightmare. “And as fun as it is to destroy Luna’s image, we need to get in.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” I waved a claw at her. “We need to get down there and get in without hurting the drones. Once we’re inside, there shouldn’t be as many guards and getting around will be easier.” I frowned. “Assuming the changelings aren’t using Wide Eyes techniques, and judging by those guards down there, they’re not.” It pissed me off to see gryphons like that. Mindless cattle being trudged around like a skin and feather puppet. Bad enough when it was just the females, but the males too? “If I ever get possessed like that, I hope you kill me.” I told her. Nightmare simply looked at me curiously before cocking her head to the side. “Ah, there we go. I suppose that would work.” I blinked. “What?” I shook my head. “What would work?” “If we can grab a changeling, then We can infect the hive mind with our own illusionary world. It’ll be difficult, but we’d be invisible to everything.” “Oh.” I hate it when you’re not part of a conversation. “Alright, so where do we get an infected changeling from? I haven’t even seen what one looks like yet.” “Probably inside,” muttered Nightmare. “Well then you still need me to get you in.” I peeked back over the rock. “And we still need to do it without killing the guards.” “Or getting spotted.” “That goes without saying.” I told her. “Alright, follow me, and don’t pull any of that shit you did at the temple. Seriously, I can get us in without you burning everything down.” “Unlikely. One entrance and exit.” A feral grin suddenly appeared. “Though I do have an idea.” I sighed. “You’re probably wrong. This is a mine, and the first thing they’d do was make a second exit in case of a cave in.” I might be able to get us in the front door without getting spotted, but our chances aren't great. “Though I don’t know where it is...” I frowned. “Whatever. What’s your idea then?” I really didn’t like the way she was smiling. “Even if there was a secondary entrance, this is meant to look like a mine rather than be a mine. A second entrance means another place to guard, which means more guards, and higher probability of being spotted. They probably do have a ‘second entrance’ which is in fact a trap or outright fake.” Nightmare looked at me as though I was an idiot. “And our plan involved a simple construct. We blow a second entrance and send them through. While the guards are distracted, we, slip through the main entrance and take the main shaft down to their main chamber.” I sighed. Yeah, again as much as I hated to admit it, her plan to get in was better than my vague idea of ‘find a back entrance’. “Alright then. I’m following your lead on this one. Let’s just get this finished as quickly as possible.” “Agreed.” She placed her hoof on the dirt, and without so much as a little glow from her horn, it began rising off the ground. Within seconds, it had molded itself into perfect replicas of Nightmare and I. She gazed at them for a second before cutting her hoof on her sword and drawing crazy symbols all over the two statues. Then, she touched her horn to their foreheads in turn, and color rippled outwards. At first I thought she was just messing with me, then I saw one of the statues blink. “The fuck?” You’d think after a week I’d be used to all this magic shit. Well I wasn’t. I’m a simple gryphon who’s caught off guard by any magic higher than levitation. Shit. Maybe Luna was right and I should take the time to learn more about unicorns. “You called these things constructs?” “Constructs. Golems. It matters not. They are simple minded thing, only able to do one act at a time, requiring lots of magic and blood. The blood aspects makes it forbidden magic sadly, otherwise Equestria would be ruling the world with golems doing all the fighting and menial tasks.” Nightmare stepped forward and my eyes widened as she started kissing her own construct-thingie. I swear there was tongue! And then, she turned to mine and repeated the process. Except this time with lots of moaning and wing shudders. “Okay, the bloody fuck are you doing?” I asked, and my voice might have been a little high pitched. “Seriously, just what the fuck?!” She pulled back and looked at me with half lidded eyes. “If you wanted to join in, you just had to ask.” I shook my head. “No! I mean what the fuck are you doing that for?!” I looked at the golem, construct, whatever the hell it was and back at her. “I mean, fuck dude. You’re kissing a statue! How desperate are you?” “We spent a thousand years on the moon. We had to do something to occupy our time up there,” snickered Nightmare. “There is a reason why We didn’t drag the entire guard battalion into our chambers on our return. Ha! It’s a shame you can’t feel Luna blushing up a storm in here. Love you too Lulu.” I stared at her for a second before I shuddered. “Oh goddesses. I did not need the image of Luna fucking half a thousand statues.” “Male statues. They do not actually have anatomy so females are no fun. Males on the otherhoof? All they-” “No!” I shrieked and covered my ears. “No, sweet goddesses no!” I shivered. “Shut the fuck up! I do not need to know this.” Nightmare used her sword to look over our hiding place. “Looks like that yell got their attention. Just so you know, Luna bet me another hour out here saying that there was no way you’d be dumb enough to believe that. Looks like I won. Now my little pretties, time to gallop off into the night and draw their attention.” With a sweep of her horn, the two statues turned and began running away. I stared off after them. “Really? You’d think Luna’d have figured out by now that there’s nothing I’d put past her.” “Apparently so,” she replied. “Though that is an interesting idea. They’d never tire and they’d be as large as I wanted them to be. Do you know how hard it is to find an alicorn sized stallion? Extremely.” I scrunched up my eyes and put a palm to my forehead. “Let’s just go. For goddesses sake, let’s just get this done.” “Have patience. It’ll take them awhile to get the chase underway.” Shadows passed overhead. “And there go the gryphons. Any more coming?” I peaked over. “Doesn’t look like it, but it’s hard to tell much from out here.” I thought about it for a second. “And please tell me that kissing those construct things was part of that spell.” Though I knew she put way too much effort into kissing mine, so there wasn’t much comfort to be had from that. “If that will make you feel better,” she replied as she looked over the boulder. “And there’s one guard left by the entrance. Hidden behind that slight slope.” “Yeah, well, I don’t have night vision like you do.” I replied to her, feeling a bit stung that I’d missed that. “I’m not a bat, what do you want from me?” “You know, you could be. I was successful in making the ritual work in the end, so you could become more... powerful? I suppose is the closest word I can come up with. You know, powers like the ones Slight had.” Even as she said this, she was moving along the edges, keeping close to the shadows as she went. I followed her just as quietly, and using the same stealth she had. “No thanks,” I muttered. “I’d rather not let you or Luna have any more tags on me then you’ve already got.” “You make it sound like We would own you or something. That we’d be taking away your free will. Do not be so silly.” She slipped down into a ditch and notched an arrow. I snorted. “Slight was fanatically devoted to you, even after you were banished. As much as I like the idea that that was real loyalty, I’ve met both of you, and I gotta say, I would not do the things she did for your sake. I’m not taking the chance that becoming a bat-gryphon would leave my brain untouched.” I frowned. “What the Tartarus would a bat-gryphon even look like?” “Ridiculous no doubt.” Nightmare loosed the arrow and it hit the cliff face to the left of the guard. Two more quickly followed, each one stationed a bit further along and soon the guard was wandering away like the brainless idiot he was. “Quickly now.” I jumped down ahead of her, and stuck to the shadows as I dashed to the door. I peeked inside long enough to make sure the room was clear, before diving through the door and padding down the hallway. I heard Nightmare come through behind me, and she followed me to cover on the right side of the room. The room we were in was a simple storage room like what I’d expect to see in any mine. Tunnels were cut in all directions, and crates were stacked up against the wall. A quick peek in told me nothing else as well. Some new lamps, picks, helmets, the usual stuff. “This way,” said Nightmare as she took the leftmost path. “I’ll take front, you take rear.” I nodded and followed behind her as she led us further in. In hindsight, it might have been better for me to take lead, seeing as I had actual experience and training, but I let it slide. She seemed to know what she was doing. “As tempting as it is,” I said over my shoulder to her as I kept an eye out behind us. “And by that I mean not tempting at all, but no thanks. I have no interest in taking whatever chemical those things in the tubes were fucked over with.” I shuddered, imagining myself twisted and mutated beyond recognition like those... things had been. More talons on my claws, a twisted horn growing out of my head and my wings molting and turning into leather. “Yeah, definitely not interested.” “Merely offering was all,” replied Nightmare with a shrug. “Powerful, majestic, downright hot like Slight. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity you know.” Soft footsteps reached our ears and we immediately slipped back into the shadows, dousing the torches around us as we went. After a couple of seconds when nothing could be heard, we stepped out once more and Nightmare lit the torches again. I shook my head. “Well, that’s a once in a lifetime opportunity that I won’t experience in my lifetime. Thanks, but no thanks.” I told her as we continued through the facility. Once more we came to a junction and once more Nightmare led me down another tunnel. She opened her mouth to say something only for her ears to twitch. “Someone’s coming.” “Well? Hide!” I hissed at her and we took cover in smaller maintenance tunnel to the side of the main one. Hidden behind some crates, we watched as the guards walked past before coming down the tunnel straight for us. I drew my dagger, but a head shake from Nightmare stopped me and her horn glowed. They walked right past us, stopped five steps before me and every fibre of my being screamed at me to kill both of them before they could notice, but after a minute of them just standing there, they left again. I breathed out a sigh of relief as they left. Once they were gone we stepped back into the main tunnel and kept walking. “Why even offer?” I asked her. “You can’t have thought I’d say yes, and I’m not even sure why you’d want that for me.” I frowned. “Other than making me hotter or whatever.” Not that I wanted to be hotter. I mean heck, I’m ugly as fuck and I already have two more ponies than I want falling for me. “As We said, We were merely offering,” replied Nightmare. Another chamber, another crossroads. “And we figured that since you enjoyed the Slight’s tale so much, you’d want to have fun with her powers as well.” I snorted. “Yeah, well offers of power never really interested anyone other than Daring Doo and Con Mane villains.” I snorted. “Great Scars have another saying. ‘When dealing with draconequus, count your talons when done.’ The meaning varies on context, but in this case I’m going with ‘when offered power by an ancient evil, tell it to fuck off’.” “Pretty stupid advice,” replied Nightmare as we turned another corner. “Beyond this corridor is a chamber with the main shaft going down. There should be about a dozen Wide Eyes present at all times guarding it.” I nodded. “Well, I doubt we could fight half of that, so we need to get them out of there or sneak past without being spotted. And if they’re Wide Eyes and haven’t had their brains completely melted, it’s gonna be hard slipping past them.” I hated the idea of Wide Eyes being taken like that. All those years of training and hard work made irrelevant by some bullshit mind magic. No fucking wonder the shit has the reputation it does. “I am just glad they are not yet proficient with their hive mind, otherwise they could link all the Wide Eyes together so they all share the same knowledge and experience, and potentially link that to all the other residents and make them all as strong as the Wide Eyes.” “Yeah well, thank fuck for small favors.” “Small favors like those win wars,” replied Nightmare. “Though I’d take a dumb enemy any day. So how do you want to play this?” I shrugged. “The hive mind knows we’re here by now, so the only reason to stay quiet is stopping all the gryphons from coming at us at once. We need to get down the elevator shaft, and we can both fly. We don’t need the actual elevator. If we could lure them in there with an illusion, then cut the cable once most of them are inside we can take the ones that are left out and just fly down. Though we’d have to get out of here quick before reinforcements show up.” “They know we’re here, but not here. In fact, as long as they haven’t caught up to my constructs, they may still think we’re outside.” I nodded. “I know, that’s what I said, but unless you can teleport all twelve of them out of the room at the same time without them knowing it, I still say elevator is the best and easiest way to do it.” I frowned. “The air vents around here could take us into the shaft, and if we’re quiet we could just fly down that, but moving through air vents is not quiet. Seriously, with two of us there’s no way we could get through it silently and not have someone notice.” “How about an accident then?” asked Nightmare as we rounded the last corner. Almost immediately we slinked back out of sight and hunkered down. “What sort of an accident?” I asked her. “A cave in or something? Some explosives they were retarded enough to leave around just going off and killing them? I can’t think of anything we could realistically fake.” “The rope holding up the elevator snaps, causing it to come crashing down and just happens to land on the majority of them.” Nightmare smirked. “Well they’d have to be standing underneath it for some retarded reason, and there’s no way they wouldn’t be quick enough to just dive out from under it when they hear it start to fall.” “Assuming they hear it fall at all,” replied Nightmare. “And as long as they’re distracted for long enough, we should be able to slip past and get down.” “Right, that invisibility spell...” I shrugged. “Well, if the elevator has them distracted for long enough, I don’t see why not. But then, I know shit all about magic, so there might be some rule I don’t know about.” I really needed to take the time to learn about magic from Trixie. “The rules tend to be either ‘Don’t do this because it’s an abuse of power’ or ‘Do this and horrible things will happen to your soul’. Only idiots dabble in the second one and we are not idiots.” With our hiding place in the shadows, Nightmare peeked out before ducking back down. “Seems like there are a dozen guards. No changeling's either so they’re probably elsewhere.” “What about that time you turned ponies into monsters and split your soul into two parts?” I asked her in a whisper. “Sounds like you already broke that second one.” I was waiting on her to get started. I didn’t know if she expected me to cut the cable or not, but I knew most of this plan was waiting on her. “We’ll continue this conversation once we’re in a safer location,” she growled back as her horn began glowing. “On three. Got it? Elevator will hit to the top right of the room where most of them are gathered, and there are some crates I’ll be aiming for for some added chaos.” I nodded. “Waiting on you.” I replied and fluffed out my wings for flap. I’d want a quick dash across the room without any excess noise. It’d be okay, but the sound of a gryphon in flight was pretty distinct. Just a quick push at the start was all I’d use. “Three.” She opened her wings. “Two.” The elevator shifted slightly as one of the cables was snapped, tilting it ever so slightly to the top right, but none of the Wide Eyes seemed to notice. “One.” The cable snapped and the entire steel cage swung across like a pendulum. All eyes followed it, most were forced to dodge out of the way and we took off. Keeping low to the ground, I could feel the stone skimming my belly fur as we used the elevator for cover. There was a louder snap and this time, the final rope holding it up was cut and the entire thing crashed, kicking up dust in all directions. Eyes trained on Nightmare’s tail, I managed to follow her down and into the shaft as yelling reached my ears. We dropped down like stones, and I couldn’t help but remember the way me and Dash used to play chicken with. Sometimes I won, most times she did, but I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be stupid enough to dare me to do it in elevator shaft if she got the chance. I know if I dared her she’d totally go for it, but would she start the idiocy or would I? Or would we both be too scared? Ahead of me, I noticed Nightmare extend her wings and pull up out of her dive. I held on a bit before I did so too. I landed to the ground with a muted whump and a puff of dust, where Nightmare landed with a delicate flutter. I smirked. “You pulled up first.” “Your silly games are of no concern to me. And keep an eye out, there may be changelings and Wide Eyes down here.” “Tell yourself that.” I told her, but kept low to the ground as I padded forward into the dark. It was getting a bit hard to see. “This way.” She turned around and within seconds she was lost to the darkness. “Nightmare?” I whispered after her and headed in the direction she’d gone in. “Shit, Nightmare I can’t see you.” Ahead of me was nothing but the thick dark of the underground. “Mother fucker.” I cursed as I tripped over a stone. “Son of a goddess damn bitch,” I muttered as pushed myself back to all fours. I stopped my talking and continued silently into the shadows, barely able to see anything. Where the fuck was Nightmare? She knew I couldn’t see down here. Stupid bloody goddesses... I felt my way ahead of myself with a claw, not touching anything. I couldn’t even see my bloody talons! Where the fuck was Nightmare! I touched something warm and fury, and my breath caught as I realized I might have just grabbed a gryphon. My knife was already drawn before Nightmare’s voice stopped me. “Really, if you wanted to touch my flank you could have just asked,” she chuckled. “I’d even let you lick it if you asked nicely.” I jumped back with a curse. “Fuck, you scared the shit out of me.” I sheathed my knife. “I can’t see a bloody thing, so I don’t know if that was your ass or your face.” “Oh, is that so?” She stepped back, pressing her flank against me. “To think this could have been avoided if you just accepted my offer.” I shoved her away. “Just give me a fucking light.” “And risk revealing our position? Foalishness. Come, grab a hold of my tail and I shall lead you.” I grimaced. “No thanks.” I remembered the way Trixie had shuddered at me when I tugged her tail. Was that like a sex thing for ponies? “I’ll just wait here.” “And get killed by changelings. You are an idiot.” She moved around behind me and started shoving me along. “Come on.” “Stop fucking shoving me!” I hissed at her as I stumbled forwards and almost fell over as my claw bumped something. “Fine, I’ll hold your goddess damn tail.” Why did I even come down here in the first place? A second later, I felt her tail smack me in the face. I grabbed onto it, and tried not to tug on it much as she led us into the dark. It felt like goddess damn hours, but it had to be less than a minute before I saw some light up ahead and I could walk along by myself. I let go of her tail and slunk into the dark as we approached. As we got closer, I saw rock and sand give way to white tiles and bright lighting. Gryphon architecture. Darkness before light. Shock and awe. It was so fucking dumb it hurt my head just thinking about it. “They’re here,” whispered Nightmare Moon. “They know we’re here. Hurry!” She spun around, horn glowing, and the tunnel behind us closed as rocks rained down from above. “That’ll hold them for a bit, but not long. Come on!” I ran along behind her, as she ran into the more brightly lit rooms. We burst into the light, and I had to blink to clear my eyes as I found us in a laboratory complex. It was obviously the same layout as the one in the palace, but this one had been overrun by changelings. Sacks of green goo, and honey comb hives on the wall with larval changelings inside. Test tubes and beakers shattered over the floor, and Bunsen burners tipped over. There were a couple of corpses set in into a wall, decomposing slowly as their nutrients broke down to be turned into thick sludge to feed the hive. “Never been in a changeling nest before,” I said to no one in particular as we passed through the hallways. For some reason, they kept all the connecting areas clear, but all the lab rooms and glass windows let us see more and more changeling biology. It was gross to see a gryphon in a white lab coat strung to the roof as thick green honey dripped out his mouth and eye holes onto some skittering young ones below, but it was also kinda cool. “So what do we need for you to do your thing?” I asked Nightmare. “Now seems like the time to start looking.” “Crystals. Thirteen identically cut diamonds, some changeling blood, a vial of moonflower nectar and some salt.” “Do the diamonds need to be very big?” I asked her. I took out the gold hoof band I found in the temples from my pockets and tapped her on the shoulder. “Because if not, then this is set with a bunch of them.” I held it out to her. “Those shoul-” Her head snapped back to the ring and her eyes widened. With something that could only be described as tenderness, she held it in her magic as she cradled it close to her chest. To my shock, tears were leaking down her cheek. “Oh, Aurora...” I stared at her. “Nightmare?” I... had absolutely no idea what to do here. I can’t handle it when normal sane ponies cry, but Nightmare...? After a second I put a claw on her shoulder. “Are you okay?” I asked hesitantly. For a second, I thought she hadn’t heard what I said, then she turned to me with tears in her eyes. “I am alright. We are alright. We shall mourn later, for now is not the time. These will do, but we would prefer larger crystals.” Her horn began glowing. “Go. Find the salt and moonflower nectar, we shall find the crystals.” “Uh... okay.” I turned away from her, heading off to find a supply closet. I glanced over my shoulder at her before I left. “If I see a changeling want me to grab some blood?” “The more the merrier,” she replied. “But there seems to be enough in the nursery down there.” I nodded, and went to walk away, but hesitated again. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” The moment I said it, I felt like an idiot for asking. But... I dunno. Nightmare hadn’t ever really done anything to hurt me, and she’d even helped me a few times. We weren’t friends, and I wished she’d just forget about sleeping with me, but it didn’t feel right just to walk away after she broke down like that. “I will be fine, and I have Luna keeping an eye on things for me. Now hurry!” I turned away and made my way through the corridors. Moonflower nectar and salt.... Where the fuck would I find that? Salt’d be in the kitchen or a supply closet somewhere, but moonflower nectar? I had no fucking clue what a moonflower was, let alone where I’d get it’s nectar or how much I’d need. I’ve always had a good sense of direction, so the mental map I built was more than enough to handle the mazelike tunnels. At one point I saw a changeling down a corridor with its back turned to me. Its head was low and it was snuffling the ground. It didn’t look like the pictures of changelings I saw. It was less insect-like; some of its armor plates were missing, exposing muscles and its insides. Its insect wings were big and looked like they were crooked and damaged. I didn’t see its head, but its body seemed... underdeveloped. Like it was damaged and shriveled. One thing I knew for certain though, was it was way bigger than a changeling was supposed to be. This was at least as big as a mare. I thought about killing it, before deciding against it and slipped away down another corridor. It wasn’t long until I found what seemed like a kitchen, and after stepping around the changeling goop on the floor, I opened the pantry. Inside was a pound of salt, along with a bunch of other spices. I pocketed the salt, and hesitated for a second before I grabbed all the spices that seemed undamaged and pocketed those too. Maybe Trixie would like them. Now for the moonflower nectar... Well, two places came to mind where I might find that. One was with chemical supplies, but those would be under lock and key. The other would be in a lab somewhere, being used for an experiment. Assuming that was what the moon flower nectar was for. I looked back at the pile of changling goop, and noticed a gryphon corpse underneath it. I was about to walk past it when I noticed a name tag on its chest. “Flora biology research, department head,” I read aloud. There was a name, but I didn’t want to know the dead prick’s name. He was one of the guys whose work had hurt Trixie. As far as I was concerned, there was a poetic justice to him getting killed here. But then I know exactly fuck all about poetry, so I was probably wrong. Whatever though, flora was flowers and plants and shit, right? So if he was head of the department of flora, that meant his job was probably related to what I was after. With a sigh, I took a deep breathe and began to drag his jelly soaked body out of the goop. Despite not trying to breath, I found myself out of air and had to take a breath. Oh, ugh. This shit smelled like honey and jam mixed with bad corpse. Or maybe the smell of corpse was the dead guy. Either way, it was a retarded combination of nice flavors and rot that seemed perfectly prepared to make anyone puke. I was glad Trixie wasn’t here. No way she’d be okay with this. Ugh, I wasn’t okay with this. Fucking Tartarus. With a final wet slap, I dropped the dead guy onto the floor and patted down his pockets. I found a wallet and pocketed the sticky crowns in it, but more importantly, I found a ring of keys. Yes. Now to find a chemical supply closet, assuming there was night flower nectar in it. It took me a while, but I found a map of the place in the drawer of some desk. After that it was pretty simple to find the floral research supply room, though I had to dodge a few patrols of brain deads, and I saw two more changelings vomiting green goo over a wall. I tried the keys in the lock one by one, and of course the last one unlocked the door. The room was lit by its own zeb powder globe, and I browsed for a while until I found a big gallon bottle with ‘moonflower nectar’ written on its side. It was too big to pocket, and I didn’t know how much Nightmare needed, so I grabbed two bottles of the stuff and carried them in my claws. Walking on my hind legs, I made my way back to where I’d left Nightmare, being careful to avoid all the things that I’d seen on my way here. Eventually I got back, and found Nightmare standing in a circle of red and green blood full of intricate crisscrossing lines and symbols. Floating in midair were the crystals, arrayed in three circles at varying heights and sizes. “This is enough, right?” I asked her as I dropped the bottles to the floor and flexed my claws. Those things were heavy, and I’d lost feeling as I’d carried them. I took out the pound of salt from one of my pouches and showed it to her. “This was all they had.” She glanced over at me and I blinked in surprise at the ring on her horn. “That is enough. Close the door and barricade it. As soon as I drop this spell, they’re going to know I’ve killed their young for the blood.” I nodded and threw the salt to her as I pulled the door shut. I locked it with the keys I’d found, and pressed the desks up against it. There was no window to the room, so I just set about placing all the furniture against the door until it was pressed against the back wall of the room. Maybe a bit excessive, but it’d be easy to undo from the inside and damn hard from the outside. “Alright, waiting on you.” “Be prepared to fight them off.” With a flap of her wings, she hovered in the air above the circle. It was only then that I noticed that there was a second circle on the roof above her head. “And try not to look into the light.” Her eyes closed and her horn lit up like the sun, making me raise an arm to shield my eyes. The diamonds around her glowed, and lines began forming between the circles. Though I knew absolutely nothing about magic, the hum was enough to set my teeth on edge and I could feel a pressure on my mind. The door suddenly rattled as something slammed into it. I took out my bow, and aimed it at the door, the light behind me casting my long shadow across the red painted door as it rattled again, and again. I didn’t feel quite like I had last night. I was tired, there were bags under my eyes and I’d been up for at least a full day straight. I hadn’t stopped to rest, because I knew the longer I was gone, the greater the chance of something bad happening to Trixie. My arms were coated in dried blood, and hunger gnawed at my stomach. Yeah, no. I doubt I’d be able to slip into that... I have no idea what it was that had me last night. But I just didn’t have it in me to get back to that place where me dying seemed so right, and killing them felt as heart pounding and badass as getting kissed by Trixie had. The anger I had was there, but it was simmering under the surface, kicking back in a deck chair with its buddy hate and knocking back some beer. Last night they’d been at the front, possessing my thoughts, holding me and dancing through my head like Dash after she won a race, showing off to the whole world. But tonight they were calm, and relaxed. Still in control, but not partying through my skull like they had before. I don’t know if that made me more deadly, or less, but I know how tired I was and how hungry I was. If a Wide Eye came in, I doubt I could take him. The door lock finally broke open, but the door itself was held in place by the barricade I’d set up. I saw a flash of feathers and fur through the crack, so I let out an arrow and heard someone shout in pain as the flechette disappeared from sight. I notched another arrow and fired again. I was rewarded with another shout, this time from a deeper voice. Suddenly the pounding stopped, and I heard the sound of magic before the door shattered completely. In an explosion of green it flew apart, and in the doorway I saw a changeling with its horn glowing. Its blue eyes fixed on me, and I realized it had three horns. One big crooked one, and two smaller ones behind that with a more bent hook shape. My arrow fired and went through its big eye, and it shrieked, pulling back and falling to the floor as it chittered and twitched, its legs waving in the air. A gryphon talon grabbed its leg and pulled it away before I could shoot it again, and a second later I saw a gryphon face in the door. His lab coat made shit armor, and the arrow I put through his breast was enough to end him. More and more scientists were appearing, and dimly I realized these were the drones of this hive. They were worker class, where the Wide Eyes and soldiers were the warriors who protected the hive’s entrance. I was disappointed because I realized there was no one who’d be here in time that could really fight me. No one who could even push me close to the edge, let alone over it. I ran out of arrows after a while, and took out two knives as I waited for them to finally break through the desks and actually close with me. The fight was... short. Really short. I mean, these guys were even easier to take down than the villagers and townsfolk had been. The working class of the gryphon kingdom far out stripped the working class of a changeling hive. Even as tired as I was, fighting them felt so... cheap. The thrill I got from ending them was dull and muted, and they didn’t come at me in the swarm they had the first time around. When they died it was almost like Dash was saying in my ear ‘well, duh. What did you think was gonna happen?’ The tiny thrill of adrenaline was there, but it felt like jerking off compared to sex. Just so cheap, crappy, and almost dirty. A grimace was plastered on my face, and all I could think of was ‘that’s it?’ “Fucking fight you pussies!” I shouted in disgust as another slid to the floor, l looked to the door hoping for more, or maybe something more exciting than these decomposers and walking sacks of nutrients. I almost wished I’d held my tongue as I saw a warrior standing there. He wasn’t a Wide Eyes, I could see that straight away. His heavy plate armor and the two Black Eyes circles on his chest made him a soldier first. But the scars on his beak, and the long sword in his claws proved his strength and veterancy to me. The combat stance he took as he approached was the classic war-fighter’s. This one was trained to kill first. He never learned anything about stealth or intelligence work. No, he was being drilled from dusk till dawn in every martial style imaginable. Open combat, a straight ahead one on one fight was where he had the edge. Which might explain why he was kicking my ass so bad. The only advantage I had was the tight confines of the room, limiting what attacks he could use. Other than that, I was completely out classed. The sword’s superior reach made it impossible for me to close in with my knives, and he didn’t give me the time to throw any of them. I could barely block his heavy attacks, and so, more often than not, I was forced to dodge without the chance to counter. I realiszed that this was the guy. He wasn’t just pressing up to the edge, he was shoving me over it. I honestly could not beat him. I was about to die. I was smiling as the hilt of his sword smashed into my face and threw me back. His follow up punch almost winded me, but I breathed the air out of my lungs to stop that. The next slash from his sword left a deep cut in my arm, and the counter attack I gave wasn’t even enough to scratch his armor, let alone hurt him. I only just ducked under his sweeping sideways strike, and the follow up from his armored fist blackened my eye as I was thrown into the barricade of desks I’d set up. I cackled as I slowly sat back up. Man, I was so fucked. I looked up at him, and noticed the cut on his cheek. Huh, had I don’t that? A look at the knife in my claw proved I had. My tail snagged around a chair, and I tossed that at him before I dived straight at the bastard. If only I could give him what he gave me. I realized this wasn’t fair on him. In this fight, I was the letdown. The dissappointment. He was barely having to work for this. It just wasn’t right to him. Anger uncoiled in my mind, and hatred sat up and took notice. They were slow at first, hung over and a little drowsy from the beer, but as I settled into it, they started to party in my head again. How the fuck was this fair?! Why couldn’t I give him what he gave me?! No! I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a fucking pushover! I return my favors, and pay my debts. I don’t scooch beer from friends, I don’t sleep on your couch without paying for it somehow, and I do not get pushed to the very edge of my life, and not! Push! BACK! I slumped to the ground and panted in exhaustion, heavy breaths escaping my beak as I stared at the dead warrior. My knife was in his eye, and for the life of me I had no idea how I put it there. As the hate and anger fled my mind, exhaustion overcame me and I realized I was so tired I could barely hold my knife. There was blood on the floor where I’d been lying as I pushed myself back to all fours. I wearily walked over to him, yanked the knife out of his head and put it in its sheath. I looked from his bloody sword down to the slash on my chest. I’d been scarred before, but this was a new one. A long deep one that was bigger than any I’d ever had before. I looked down at the warrior, and knew that he’d earned it. He’d earned the right to leave his signature on me like that. And I’d earned a trophy. With clumsy claws, I unbuckled his sheath and strapped it over my back. I didn’t want his sword, that was his. I wanted his sheath. I turned around to see if Nightmare was done, and exhaustion made me stumble. Before I knew it, I was on the ground. With a growl of frustration I pushed myself back up and took a deep drink of water from my canteen. I looked back over to Nightmare who was still busy with her ritual. The bright flickering lights brought sunspots to my eyes, so I looked back at the door in time to see two more scientist drones charging in. I was too exhausted to do much other than stagger towards them and unsteadily draw my knife. I was tackled to the ground and I felt claws wrap around my throat. My vision started to blacken and a dull ring filled my head as my brain screamed for more oxygen. I was doing the best I could, clumsily stabbing him in the back repeatedly, not caring for vital points or important parts, just stab stab stab. Eventually his strangle hold on me was forgotten, and he collapsed on top of me with blood spewing from his mouth over my face. I gasped in air and choked on his fluids as I threw him off. Coughing and gagging I pushed myself back up to see that the other gryphon was staring at Nightmare’s ritual, seemingly trying to figure out what it did. He took a tentative step forward to interrupt her, before I slid a knife between his ribs and punctured his lung. He let out a wheezing gasp and he reared back onto his hind legs before toppling over onto me. I gasped in pain as my back hit the ground, and lay there for a few seconds before I pushed him off me. With a groan of effort I stood myself back up, still feeling woozy from the almost strangling. I looked back to the door and... I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed that there was no one there. And that was when the larval sacs lining the walls opened, and white wormy things dropped out. White wormy things with very large and very sharp teeth. Dagger in claw, I ripped one in half without a second thought and stumbled back as another took a chunk out of the ground I was standing on. Hobbling back, I took a swipe here and there, but they stayed just out of reach as they slowly surrounded me. A quick glance over my shoulder and I swore. Though it hurt like a bitch to flap, I raced back towards Nightmare, talon sinking into one as it leapt for the alicorn. It exploded in a shower of guts and blood as I slammed it into the wall. Spinning around, my dagger sliced another open before my vision swam and I collapsed onto one knee. Never stop moving. I rolled to the side as a white blur shot past. Stumbling back onto my paws, I slowly moved back until Nightmare was behind me and they had us all surrounded. Two, maybe three dozen of the slimy, writhing bastards, and with each breath I took, my vision blurred more. Out the corner of my eye, I noticed some were feeding on the corpses of those I had killed. One bite. One bite and the bodies ended up missing an entire arm or leg. Shit. What the fuck were these things? And that’s when my legs gave out from under me. The daggers fell with a dull clutter, and though I tried, I couldn’t get back up. Figures. I wouldn’t be killed in some duel or some epic fight. No, I’d be eaten alive by some squishy meatbags. Fuck. Worst death ever. The larvae leapt as one, descending on my prone body even as I struggled to lift a claw in some form of defense. I could see the individual teeth. I could see that the rightmost grub was missing a tooth and that the one to the left of it had some fabric stuck between its teeth. The first one bit down on my forearm sending a bolt of adrenaline through my body. Somewhere, somehow, I managed to find the energy to fling it off my body, leaving a perfect half circle on my arm. Then I collapsed back down, panting heavily as my entire body refused to move. After a couple of seconds, they closed in once more, and this time, I couldn’t even summon the energy to care. Out the side of my eye, I watched some approach Nightmare. Fuck, who ever knew my life would end like this? It was almost as funny as dad choking on his own puke. I wonder what they’ll put on my grave? Or, you know, if I had a grave. Dying down here, I’d just be turned into more nutrients for the next generation of mutant changelings. Maybe that generation would be a pack of bitchy alcoholics. The idea would have made me chuckle if I wasn’t so exhausted. I knew there was no way in hell that would make any kind of sense. Ah well, there goes my life before my eyes. I’d like to say it was fun while it lasted, but it wasn’t. One of the grubs finally reached me, and though I tried to lift my arm, nothing happened. Mouth wide open, it hovered there above my leg for a second before descending. There was no pain, no light at the end the tunnel and no sudden flashback of memories. Nothing. After a tense minute, my eyes slowly cracked open and I was staring at the ceiling. I looked to the right and saw a bunch of grubs writhing on the ground. A wave of dark blue rolled out and a high pitched screech filled the air as the closest one fell over dead. With each wave, more and more died until they all lay prone on the ground. Even the unhatched larvae had stopped moving. “Well now, that took longer than expected.” Nightmare swayed dangerously on her hooves as she looked down at me with unfocused eyes. “And you look rather beat up. Give me a second and I’ll patch you right now. If you die on me, I shall be most displeased.” Only thing more disappointing than dying from changeling larvae, was thinking you were gonna die from changeling larvae and not. I opened my mouth to say something snarky back to her, but all I managed was an unsteady gasping, “Fuck.” I was gonna say ‘you’, but I just returned to heavy breathing. “You look like it,” she replied as she half collapsed onto her knees beside me. “Now this will feel weird, but it’ll stop you from dying on me.” Her horn began glowing and I felt some strength returning to me. Not enough to take on a manticore, but enough to actually get back to Trix. My cuts and bruises also faded a bit. The blood on my chest and arm dried and the wounds scabbed over. I slowly climbed back to standing, and I only stumbled slightly as I took my first step. After that one though, walking got easier as Nightmare’s magic wiped the exhaustion and pain away. “So the spell worked?” I asked her. “We can get back to White Peak now?” “Without dying? As long as we don’t find a wyvern or something,” she replied wearily. I nodded, still breathing heavily. “So... are we done?” I asked her. “I mean, can I go back to Equestria now?” She hesitated for a brief second before nodding. “Yes. That was the deal after all.” I stared at her for a moment. “Please don’t tell me you're lying. I swear to all the fucking elders and goddesses that if you or Luna drag me and Trixie off again, I’m just gonna... Shit I don’t know. But it’ll be violent.” I wonder how seriously anyone could take a threat like that. “We said, a deal is a deal,” growled Nightmare as she took a couple shaky steps. “You and Trixie are free to go back to Equestria.” I nodded as I said, “Good,” and stepped out the door into the hallway. “Can you teleport us to White Peak, or are we flying?” “Ha! We’re walking. I’d rather not pass out midflight and crash.” “Walking could take days.” I frowned. “Could we like... find somewhere to sleep for a bit, and then fly back to White Peak in the morning?” I looked around. “I mean, as nasty as this place is, if all the changelings are dead, isn’t it safe now?” “Unless the researchers wake up and are not brain dead, in which case we’ve got to deal with the Wide Eyes,” she replied with a shrug. “I am not happy about this either.” I nodded. “Alright, let’s just go. Uh... Let’s just go outside and find a place to rest the night. And in the morning, if you’ve recovered enough, you can teleport to White Peak, right?” “That works.” She nudged one of the dead changling’s. “They look even worse than I remembered.” “I don’t think they’re normal changelings. In the pictures of them I saw, they didn’t look like that.” We made our way back into the darkness of the cave leading to the elevator shaft. “Uh... I’m gonna have to hold your tail again.” I told her. “I still can’t see shit.” “Very well. And no tugging.” We walked on in silence. “Oh. Right. I caused a cave in to block the only entrance and exit.” I paused as I remembered that. “You suck.” I frowned. “So, now our only way out of here is teleporting.” “We can just barricade ourselves in somewhere,” she replied. “Come, to the kitchen! We are feeling rather ravenous.” “Uh... alright.” I followed her back into the labs, and took the lead as I led her to the kitchen I’d found. On the way we saw some dead changelings and unconscious gryphons. I unlocked the door with the keys I had and let her in. “Mind the corpse.” I told her as I was hit by the smell from earlier. “Lock the door and let us barricade this place. I shall cook for both of us, as I doubt you know any vegetarian dishes.” I snorted, remembering the recipe Trixie showed me. “You’d be surprised.” I told her and then paused for thought. “Wait, you eat meat?” I asked. “Of course not!” Her wings flared open. “Do not suggest such things.” “Then... how do you know how to cook it?” I frowned. “Unless you were planning on me eating a salad or something.” “We learn skills. We have diplomatic ties to both dragons and gryphons. They do not eat purely vegetarian dishes.” She leveled a glare at me. “Now get to work!” I sighed and set about barricading the door. I heaved the dead guy out of the room, before locking and closing it. I shoved the tables against the door, and barred it shut as best I could with just what was available. I leaned some desks up against the window, but honestly, if someone wanted to break that in, there wasn’t much I could do. I suppose with the curtains drawn they might not know we’re in here. When I was done, I fell to a clean part of the floor and closed my eyes. The food was forgotten as exhaustion caught up on me, and before I knew it, I was out like a light.