The proclaimed Daring Do had limped through Ponyville to return to the library. She was exhausted and in a lot of pain. Practically dragging her hooves across the floor, she trotted through the main room and headed for the staircase. The intensive exhaustion was overpowering—even climbing up the stairs was a struggle.
Reaching the top of the broken staircase, Daring cautiously entered what appeared to be Twilight Sparkle’s old bedroom. It was just as trashed up here as it was on the floor below. Boards were scattered across the floor; her dresser and mirror were tipped over and broken; the windows were all shattered. The bed was also in rough shape, but it looked more than welcoming for her.
Coming from her mane, Mercy flew up into the air, finding a nice spot on the ceiling to hang upside down. Daring looked up to him and yawned, “Tired too, eh Mercy?”
The bat on the ceiling wrapped himself up in his wings and remained silent. The pony smirked and trotted on toward the bed. Yawning loudly, she climbed up onto the turquoise bed sheets and collapsed onto her side with her head on the pillow. This sure beat sleeping in a cave, and it didn’t take her long before she drifted away from consciousness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Chitin paced back and forth in the nest hall next to the open entrance. Patiently waiting in silence were Trek, Dozer and Flake. The captain of the group was grumbling through his frustrations.
“Where is that parasprite?” he grumbled and twitched. “He should’ve been back hours ago. What’s taking him so long??”
“Perhaps he lost track of time?” Dozer suggested.
“Shut up, Dozer,” Chitin quickly replied.
Trek cleared his throat. “The three of us separated and searched the perimeter like you suggested, but I recall seeing Plague fly far out of bounds. I’m not sure where he was going, but I thought nothing of it.”
“Uuuugh.” Chitin rolled his eyes and clunked his own forehead a few times with his hoof. “What is wrong with that idiot? Why didn’t he listen to my simple orders??”
Looking over the horizon outside of the opening in the wall, he frowned and put his hoof to his chin. After a short cringe, he grumbled and turned away from the opening and marched down the hall.
“Chitin?” Flake looked over to the frustrated changeling making an exit. “Where are you going?”
“To have a chat with the Queen,” Chitin replied, expressing his irritation with a snarl in his voice. The other three just shared glances with each other and shrugged.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Pushing through the doors to the throne room, Chitin marched inside and confronted Chrysalis. She was startled by his sudden entry. “What is it, Chitin?”
“Plague hasn’t come back yet,” Chitin abruptly exclaimed, getting straight to the point.
Chrysalis raised a brow and leaned back in her seat, putting a hoof to her chin. “Hmm, that’s unlike him. He isn’t usually tardy. Something must’ve happened.”
“If I have to, I’ll continue the search without him.” The captain frowned. “Uuugh, I gave him specific instructions to search the area near the falls, but apparently he flew out of bounds.” He stomped his hoof. “Why can’t he listen to my simple orders??”
“Because, he was listening to mine.” Chrysalis stood and frowned down at the guard. “Plague may have been a burden in your eyes, Chitin, but he was certainly not expendable!”
“Uh… Yes, your Majesty…” Chitin cowered, and there was a moment of silence before anything else was said.
“New orders,” the Queen exclaimed as she sauntered up close to Chitin, which made him feel uneasy. “Tell the others to continue their search. As for yourself, go to Ponyville and find Plague.”
“What. Me?” Chitin winced at that, and then he stood up straight with a dumbfounded look. “Wait. Ponyville?”
“Just do as I say.” Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “When you’ve all returned, I want you to come and see me here.”
Chitin stood there, wondering why he would have to go to Ponyville of all places. “You sent Plague there?”
“No, I didn’t,” Chrysalis exclaimed, turning back to take a seat in her throne. “I told him to follow his instincts. He’s been doing this job for longer than you have, you know. You should take his advice sometime.”
The captain winced at that. “I’m a higher rank than he is.”
“And that can easily be taken away,” Chrysalis threatened, pointing a hoof to the door. “Now go and find him!”
Chitin briefly paused, and backed away squinting. He didn’t like the tone Chrysalis took on him, but he was no changeling to disrespect her authority. “As you wish, my Queen,” he murmured quietly, and turned to exit the throne room.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Daring slept soundly in the comfort of Twilight’s old bed. Mercy remained hanging upside down on the ceiling, wrapped in his wings.
The mare’s slumber however was abruptly interrupted when she heard the sound of creaking boards. “Nnnh…” she murmured and rolled over, clenching her eyes tight, subconsciously trying to ignore the sounds in the background disturbing her sleep. The sound echoed through the library again, which made her eyes open in a jolt. She quickly sat upright and gasped. Her ears twitched to the constant pattering sound of hoofsteps coming from the room below.
“Oh, no no. Oh please don’t tell me…” she whimpered quietly to herself, and then shut her mouth, trying to keep quiet. Silently, the pegasus climbed off of her bed, and crawled over to the staircase, trying to keep low to the ground. She peaked down to the bottom of the steps, and—just as she had feared—a changeling was searching the bottom floor. A moment after the changeling came into her peripheral vision, his neck turned quickly with his turquoise eyes glaring straight at her. The moment he set eyes on her, she immediately backed away to hide from his view. She cowered to her haunches and froze, hoping that he didn’t notice her, but she knew it was too late for such wishful thinking.
The hoofsteps from below were then coming in her direction up the stairs, and she could hear a faint hum of magic, and a translucent green glow emanated from down the stairs as he came closer. She backed away, turning her neck to inspect her surroundings while trying to come up with a place to hide. Mercy then swooped down and screeched from above her, and he flew around her head to get her attention. She watched the winged mammal flying off and out the open window. “Good boy…” she frantically turned to follow the bat toward the window to make an escape, and she heard the changeling behind her launch his spell. The green dart of magic beamed at her, and struck next to her hooves, leaving a neon puff of dust in her tracks, and she dove out the window.
Once she had hurled herself out the window, she found herself plummeting down to the ground below. Falling closer and closer to the Equestrian floor beneath her from the library’s treetop, she spread her wings, and closed her tear-leaking eyes. “C’mon wings… C’mon!” She flapped them a couple of times, getting her nowhere with the painful burn in her right wing. Feeling the wind ripple through her mane, sudden flashbacks struck the back of her mind; voices of neigh-sayers. Ponies who believed she was nothing; that she would never be as great as she knew she could be. Her eyes jolted open with a determined frown. “NhaaaAAAH!!” Ignoring all pain and overcoming all self-doubt, she flapped her two powerful wings, and just before hitting the dead grass below, she pulled back at an incline and flew back up into the air. A wide grin formed over her face, and a burst of excitement rushed through her. She was flying. “Yes! Yes, finally!”
Soaring higher and higher into the air, she turned back and saw that the changeling was flying closely behind her. “Oh-oh shi—” Her eyes widened as the changeling fired a burst of magic at her. With little time to react, she quickly dove downward, taking a nose dive toward the ground. The spell that he fired at her zipped past her and hurtled into the clouds, and she continued diving toward the Equestrian floor.
“You can’t outfly me, pony!” the changeling shouted to her, charging another spell.
From below, Daring was flying over an open field, and not far ahead was the forest. Frowning at the changeling’s last comment, she felt challenged. Flying faster toward the ground, she inclined to fly straight once she was leveled with the grey earth. The changeling was hot on her tail.
Daring could feel her heart racing faster as she got closer to the trees. She felt this was the easiest—although dangerous—way to lose track of her hunter. Closer to the trees, closer, closer, and she entered the borderline of the forest and soared through the haunted woods of fog and mesh, dodging tree after dead tree. Her eyes were widened from the adrenaline rush, steering left and right at sharp angles, and the changeling followed her through the vacant forest.
Up ahead, the trees seemed to be closer together. Her eyes widened, and taking a chance, she tilted sideways and straightened out her wings, slipping between two trees. Leveling back out, she steered to the left, then to the right, and then there was a crackling sound behind her.
“Aaah!” the changeling shrieked as he crashed into a horizontal branch, and flipped forward through the air over the branch that cracked on impact. Dropping toward the ground, he hit a few more branches on the way down, collapsing into the dead grass like a rag doll with a hard thump as shavings of dried up bark and twigs rained over him.
Daring had stopped to turn around, and found the changeling lying motionlessly in the fog. She hovered for a few moments, and then flew to the ground and landed on her hooves in the dried up grass. Frowning, she cautiously trotted toward the downed changeling. She quietly came closer and closer, and just as she approached him up close, he growled as he stood up in a jolt with a wounded limp on his front right leg. The pony stepped back and stood her ground, squinting at him. He huffed from exhaustion, and winced in pain. Lifting a hoof, he rubbed his horn and grumbled. Trying to stand strong on all fours again, he cringed. “You…” He was sidestepping with a limp in his right hoof. “Of all places, pony, I didn’t expect to find you here.” He grit his teeth. “The Queen will surely be pleased when I bring you back.”
Daring just frowned at that. “Who are you?”
“Right to the point, I see.” The changeling cleared his throat. “I am Chitin. Captain of the changeling guards.” He stepped forward, building up magic in his horn. “It’s inevitable, pony. You’re coming back with us.” As his horn charged of green magic, he cringed painfully, as if he was having a difficult time conjuring a spell. Daring watched the changeling struggle with his magic, and realized that he must have hurt his horn crashing through the trees.
In his weak state, and with his magic temporarily out of commission, she figured that now was her chance to act. Daring galloped toward Chitin, throwing him off guard, and she leapt straight for him through the air with a powerful thrust of her wings. Chitin rose up on his hind legs to try to counter her attack, and using his front hooves, he knocked the pegasus out of the air, hoofing her in the snout. “Gah!” She flipped over the changeling and collapsed on her back in the dirt behind him.
“I have to tell you, pony.” Dropping back on all fours, Chitin muttered and turned to face her. “You’ve got guts.”
She frowned and struggled to her hooves, wiping her snout with a hoof. Returning back to her hooves, she stood defensively and huffed. She scraped her front hoof in the dirt and spread out her wings.
“Hmh. Relentless, too,” Chitin remarked. “I admire your persistence.”
“Come any closer and I’ll kill you, too!!” Daring yelled furiously.
From the way she worded that, he realized what she meant. He winced and furrowed his eyes. “Plague… What did you do to him?”
Daring just frowned at him in response, making her facial expression an obvious enough answer. Swallowing any fear that she may have felt, Daring took a step closer to him. “Go back to your Queen, and tell her that Daring Do has no interest in going back with you to your hive.”
Chitin stood defensively, frowning. Daring acknowledged that he was feeling slightly threatened by her in the respect of her victory against the previous changeling. Using that to her advantage, she took another intimidating step toward him, and when she did, he took a step back.
There was a long stare-down between the two. In the silence, the haunting wind whistled through the skeleton trees, making a suspenseful humming noise. Several long moments passed, and Chitin slowly changed his timid expression into something fierce.
“Uuugh!” Chitin’s eye twitched, and he charged toward her in full gallop. “I don’t have time for this!”
His sudden sprint toward her caught her by surprise, and she lifted up on her hind legs as if it were instinct. He galloped into her and leapt up on his hind legs too, and they began throwing hooves at each other. A few of the front-kicking attacks were blocked, but after a few swats in the air of clashing hooves together, Daring felt one meet her jaw. “Ogh!” She fell over sideways, and was quick to get back up on all fours.
Wiping a bleeding lip, she frowned, and leapt right back into the fight. “You can’t have me!” She threw herself against him, knocking him over at his chest. He fell over onto his back with her on top, and she began slamming hooves down on his snout. “You son of a—” After four or five blows to the face, Chitin pulled his hind legs back so they were under her, and he kicked her off of him with a hard buck to the gut. “OOhf!” She fell back, and collapsed onto her side, holding her belly with her hooves. “Ooohhgh…” She cringed and curled up in a ball.
The changeling stood back up, and furiously wiped the blood from his nose and lips. “If my orders weren’t to bring you back alive, I can assure you, you wouldn’t be!”
Daring spat blood into the ground, and growled as she tried to stand. Bracing herself, she found her balance, making it back on all fours, and she snarled at the changeling. “You… couldn’t kill me… anyway…” she huffed between her words.
“Hmm, back on your hooves again…” Chitin lifted his chin, keeping his glare on her. “There’s no use in being so stubborn, pony. You’re only delaying the inevitable.”
Daring only frowned in response, and spread out her wings, standing tall. Chitin felt intrigued by her strong will to keep going.
“Tell me, Daring Do.” Chitin slowly trotted up to the pony, and Daring just kept her stance while keeping her eyes on her hunter. “Why fight when you know how incredibly outnumbered you are?” He frowned and stopped a couple of feet in front of her, glaring at her eye to eye. “Back in the hive, there are thousands of us.” He squinted at her. “And there’s only one of you…”
There was a moment of silence before Daring answered in a very solemn, whispering voice, “Sometimes, it only takes one.”
Chitin just squinted at her response, and he rose up onto his hind legs. “Aah!” making a quick assault with his front hooves in the air, Daring lifted up her own hooves, blocking his first two attacks, and on the third, she got a firm grip on his hoof. Then with a powerful flap, she thrust herself to the side while holding onto the changeling’s limb, and a crackling sound emanated from his shoulder as he flipped over onto his belly. “AAhAH!”
She pinned him there, standing on his spine while holding onto his front leg that she had twisted behind his back.
“Now, go back to your hive!” she yelled down next to his ear. “You tell the Queen my message! She can try sending all the changelings she wants after me, but she won’t take me back! I will fight for my freedom!” She twisted his arm tighter, making him cringe and groan. “You got that??”
“Agh, let go!” He squirmed, but she just pressed down harder on his spine, making him flinch.
“You got that?!?!” she repeated louder.
“Yes, damnit, let go!!”
With that, she released his hoof, and gave him a kick to the back of his head before she stepped off of him. Chitin was quick to scramble back to his hooves, but he couldn’t put any pressure on his wounded leg that she had twisted behind him. He turned to face her, frowning and limping backwards. With his arm in this condition and his horn’s magic not working properly, he knew he couldn’t keep fighting. “You won’t last a week out here, pony.”
Daring squinted and leapt toward him. The changeling cowered when she made the sudden lunge after him, and he backed away faster with a few stumbles. The pegasus stood there in front of him, glaring at him with her teeth grit and her wings spread out. Her intimidating gesture was enough to have him turn and fly away.
She watched him fly back to the mountain, and she proudly stomped her hoof, claiming her victory once more. A squeak echoed from the trees, and her ears perked from the familiar sound. She looked to see Mercy flying down to her, and he flew up close, inspecting her wounds.
“I’m fine, Mercy,” Daring sighed, trotting slowly back to Ponyville. “But I think we’re going to need a new place to hide…”