It was difficult for Jack to multi-task, resulting in a very slow pace as he and Chrysalis made their way to the Depot. However, it was only a matter of time before they arrived at their destination, the changeling queen quickening her hoofsteps down the hall leading to the Depot and leaving her human companion to continue his extremely slow walk by himself. A flicker of annoyance resonated across both of their minds, Chrysalis irritated that Jack was taking so long, and Jack himself for the same reason.
Finally, the human exited the hallway, finding himself on a short ledge suspended over a large basin, filled with green liquid, carved into the ground, domed ceiling above him. Other ledges were scattered around the edge of the basin, a few even coming down from the ceiling.
Jack observed as a changeling came into the cavern from another entry and stood at the edge of the ledge. The drone retched briefly, then vomited a glob of the same green goo that Jack had magically suspended into the basin. The changeling then left as if nothing had happened. Another drone came in from a different entry, and repeated the process every so often.
With only a moment’s hesitation, Jack thrusted his arm forward, sending his own regurgitated goo over the ledge and down into the green pond. He looked back at Chrysalis, who bore an impassive expression.
“So this is the Depot?” he asked, a disappointed tone in his voice.
“Don’t sound so unimpressed,” the changeling queen said coolly, walking up to the edge of the ledge and peering down. “What you see is more than just a collection of vomited up slime. Everything you have seen, everything we have built, all of it, comes from a reservoir just like this one.”
“But what is it, exactly?”
“...Disgusting as it may seem, for any other species, there would be urine and feces down there. But we,” Chrysalis’ voice became more prideful,” are not so wasteful. We can reuse our wastes, building our hives instead of throwing it into the ground.”
Jack was amazed, looking around himself with a renewed sense of awe. “I don’t know whether I should be shocked, envious, or disgusted.”
The queen turned to look at him. “Tell me, Jack, how do humans build things?”
The teen’s expression became perplexed. “Why do you want to know? I can tell you, it’s nowhere near as efficient as, well, this.” He gestured around the Depot.
Chrysalis simply chuckled, fully turning around before laying down slowly on the ledge, holding herself in a regal manner. “Humor me. I know little of your race, yet you can or do know everything about mine.”
Jack sighed and nodded affirmatively. “Fair enough. Where to start...” He promptly sat down across from Chrysalis.
The queen smiled lightly. “Start with the basics. What makes a human?”
“Not much to it really,” the teen shrugged. “Just your average carbon-based lifeforms. Only real advantages we have are walking on two legs, opposable thumbs, and our brains.”
“There must be more to it than that,” Chrysalis said. “Humans are creatures of olden legends. Is that really all there is to tell?”
Jack began to shrug, a ‘no’ forming in his throat, but his body suddenly froze, a tingling feeling passing over him. He slowly grinned, a new answer coming in the blink of an eye.
“Actually, there is.”
Chrysalis raised an eyebrow, a slight tingling at the base of her skull. The feeling faded as quickly as it came, leaving her slightly confused. Her attention snapped back to her human companion as he stood up and began pacing, talking as he did so.
“You said we’re creatures of legend?” he asked, receiving a slow nod in return. “Then let me prove to you how legendary we are.
“Humans are sort of like you and those ponies. We don’t trust each other, and we can’t coexist peacefully. On a large scale, at least. So what do we do? We kill each other. First with our bare hands, then with sticks and rocks, then with swords, then with bows and arrows, then with bullets...” He stopped pacing and turned his head to Chrysalis, a wicked gleam in his green eye.
“Can’t you see? We progress, we evolve. What we can’t do ourselves, we make tools to do. At first, we used sticks and stones. Now? Now we use computers- like brains, but made of silicon, and able to do so much more... and so much less. We don’t have magic like you do, but we don’t need it.” Jack began pacing again.
“We don’t need magic to move places, we made cars and trains. We don’t need magic to move things, we have robots and forklifts. We don’t need magic to control weather, we just laugh and carry on. We don’t need magic to manipulate matter, we have an endless amount of machines to do anything we want.
“But we have a few crowning achievements. We took a man and put him on the moon. And then we brought him back. We can’t fly, but we made vehicles that can put anything in Equestria to shame. We can’t create real worlds, so we make fake ones. We don’t have a hive mind, but we made something that’s almost as good.
“But the one thing we did, that dwarfs every other achievement? That one thing that places us on top of nature itself?”
He stopped again, turning to fully look at the changeling queen who laid on the floor, expression unreadable.
“The very foundation of the universe: the atom. We took the base of all existence, and we broke it.
“We took the atom, and we unleashed nuclear fire on our own planet! We burned away cities in the blink of an eye! We poisoned the earth itself! And with each passing year, we only find better ways to do it!
“Do you understand now? Do you understand the legends? Humans create, humans destroy, all on a whim. We can bend nature to our will, and even the sun has become nothing more than a utility."
“We aren’t perfect, not by a long shot. I’m not claiming that. But we are masters of almost anything we want to be. To accept humanity would be to prosper until the end of time. To challenge us is to throw oneself into Death’s arms.
“That is what it means to be human.”
Finished with his speech, Jack turned around and left the Depot.
***
With the human’s departure, Chrysalis was left alone to her thoughts. While her features betrayed no emotion, in her mind the queen was experiencing a mixture of awe, amazement, respect, fear, and the slightest bit of greed.
With a slowly growing savage grin, the changeling queen realized what the human was. He wasn’t simply some end result of an ancient prophecy, he was a key. A key to unlocking the knowledge and power her race would need to enact its revenge on ponykind. If she could play her cards right, she could not only have him uplift the changelings when the time came, she could have him make them gods of their own world. Beyond, even.
With a short laugh, Chrysalis stood up and left the Depot. She could sense Jack’s intended destination, a place of great importance, and in fact the last stop on their brief tour of Kruziik-Ahrol.
The throne room.
A smile broke out across her face. The queen immediately switched from walking to flying, intent on getting there before the human. He had a head start, but seemed to be in no hurry to get there.
And when he did arrive, she would be waiting for him.
***
Jack kept a stoic expression as he walked through the changeling hive, trying his best to ignore the various pieces of white noise that bled into his head from the Hive Mind. It didn’t help that the odd tingling he had felt before delivering his impromptu speech had returned, lingering as a bizarre combination of energy and fatigue.
The corner of the teen’s lip curled into a snarl for a split second as he checked his heading on his mental map. Self-assured that he was still on course, the human continued onward, focusing on the steady rhythm of his steps to block out the persistent noise in his mind.
A sudden hissing from behind him caught Jack’s attention. He stopped and turned slightly, catching sight of a changeling, which walked up to him slowly, mouth open and fangs bared. The human frowned as the insectoid approached, stopping a single step away. Jack turned around fully, looking down at the beast with the same stoic face.
“Youuuu...” the changeling hissed. “You do not deserve what you have.”
“As far as I remember, that’s not your call,” Jack snapped back.
“The queen gave herself to... fix you,” it continued. “You’re just a shadow. You tell nothing but lies.”
At that, Jack felt his temper flare, but refused to let it show. “Cliché as it may seem, I am many things. But I am not a liar.”
The changeling hissed again. “You mock our queen’s image! Only she may give a spirit, but you... you forced this on me! You are a mocking shadow!”
“‘Spirit’?” the human asked. “So what, you’re all mindless unless Chrysalis says so?” He then blinked as he processed what the changeling had said. “But you said I forced you to become sentient?”
For a moment, the insectoid beast lowered its head, apparently in shame. “I lost to you... I was labelled as the first changeling to be beaten by the legendary human...” It then looked up, anger reignited. “I do not know who did it! You are the queen’s shadow, and only she may give a spirit! I blame you! Monah-lun would never be so cruel to give a spirit as a reminder of failure! So it must have been you!”
With that, the changeling lunged.
The corridors of the hive were too cramped to allow Jack to effectively dodge, but he had no intention of doing so. An electric sensation shot through his body, brushing away any thoughts of defense or evasion. Instead, the human brought his left arm up and, in the blink of an eye, grabbed the changeling by the throat and slammed it into the wall.
“Listen closely,” Jack growled, letting his words echo through the Hive Mind, finally shushing all other voices as they turned their attention to him. “I am no shadow. The queen herself gave the greatest gift she could to me. Life. But it is just that: a gift. It is mine to do with as I please.” The human leaned in closely.
“From this day forward, you will be known as Cain. You will serve me, and me alone. Your life is mine, and you. Will. OBEY.” Jack felt a sudden jolt run through him, a single, almost silent voice sounding off in his head.
The changeling, newly christened Cain, went wide-eyed for a split second before bowing its head. “Yes... my lord.”
Jack held Cain against the wall for a moment more, then nodded and released it. The changeling fell to the ground, kneeling at Jack’s feet in submission. Jack raised an eyebrow in surprise, expecting to be obeyed, but not to this degree.
“Why are you kneeling?” he asked. “I would think that you would be resentful.”
“Never,” Cain answered. “I was wrong. You are not a shadow. I am yours to command.”
Jack paused for a moment. “Then get up.”
The changeling immediately did as it was told. Jack observed his unwitting creation for a moment. Narrowing his eyes, he felt for the voice in his head that was closest, getting the desired reaction in the form of a slight ear twitch from Cain. With a nod, Jack turned around and continued on his way, his new changeling servant in tow.
***
Before long, the teen and his changeling arrived at the entrance to the throne room. An impressive set of obsidian doors greeted them, symbols, pictures, and what could only be the changeling language all carved into the glass-like material, arranged in no particular order, flowing across, over, under, and adjacent to each other in such a fashion that everything flowed from one part to the next, and eventually looped on itself almost unnoticeably.
To Jack’s surprise, there were no guards of which to speak, allowing his to simply raise his gauntlet and, with some amount of effort, use his magic to open the doors. He walked inside, Cain closing the doors behind them.
The inside of the throne room was sparse. Several pillars that appeared to have simply been avoided when the room was constructed were placed haphazardly. Numerous bioluminescent orbs were scattered about, the only organization to be found was the placement of a dozen or so that created a definable approach to the queen’s throne. The throne in question was carved from obsidian, though whereas the doors were artistically created, the throne was a jagged, harsh construct, more akin to a broken stone than a seat of power.
Chrysalis the Changeling Queen sat regally in her throne, looking every bit the royalty she was. Approaching the throne, both Jack and Cain kneeled before her. Chrysalis regarded them as the kneeled, her expression unreadable.
“Rise,” she commanded. Jack stood up, but Cain remained still. At this, the queen raised an eyebrow.
“I order you to rise, child,” she said, irritation creeping into her voice. Cain remained as it was.
Jack felt the corner of his lip twitch. Smirking at Chrysalis, he looked over his shoulder and issued one command. “Stand at, ease.”
Cain stood up.
The queen nearly leaped out of her throne, eyes wide in angered shock, forehooves slamming on the arms of her throne as she leaned forward, a snarl coming from her mouth.
“WHAT IS THIS!?” she bellowed, with both her physical and mental voices. Cain shrank away from his enraged queen, but Jack simply stood where he was.
“This?” he asked. “This is where your authority ends, and mine begins.” He turned to his changeling servant. “Cain, come.”
Without hesitation, the insectoid walked in front of Jack, bowed, then turned to face Chrysalis, who seemed to be barely restraining herself.
“Explain yourself,” she hissed.
Cain remained silent.
Jack’s smirk became a smile. “Explain yourself.”
Cain turned and dipped his head. “As you wish, my lord.”
Chrysalis hissed and slammed a hoof down on her throne.
Cain turned around to face his queen. “My queen. I am sorry, but my lord has given me a spirit. When I acted against him for it, he made clear that he was the stronger, not I. He bears your mark of approval, and so I am forever bound to his service. I will not, cannot obey you-”
“-unless he orders it,” the changeling queen hissed. She turned her furious gaze from her former subject to the human who commanded it. “You dare to challenge my rule?”
“Never,” Jack said, waving his hand dismissively. “But I was hoping you could shed some light on this situation, and what this whole ‘spirit’ business is.”
Chrysalis sighed loudly and reclined back into her throne, placing a hoof on her forehead and closing her eyes. “This should be impossible.”
“What, exactly?” the teen asked, giving a mental order for Cain to stand next to him.
“This,” she said, gesturing to Cain. “Noling but the queen may give their subject a ‘spirit’… though I believe ponies refer to it as a ‘soul’.”
Jack was taken aback. He had been aware that changelings seemed to be drones at best, but to think that a soul was such a scarcity? Among such an incredible race?
“When Cain first approached me, he was angry. He said that I was just a shadow and a liar.” Jack’s eyes flicked to Cain, who winced. “It wasn’t until I pinned him against the wall that he thought otherwise.”
The changeling queen sighed. “I see where he would think that. Tell me, how did he obtain a spirit?”
Cain stepped forward, sparing Jack the trouble. “I was defeated by the human. I was labeled as the first to fall to him. When my siblings saw me as such, I was… blessed… with a spirit.”
“So what, changelings become sentient because others label them?” Jack asked. Chrysalis shook her head.
“Not quite,” she explained. “When one of our kind becomes something unique, when one changeling achieves a feat that is not easily replicated, they acquire a spirit, provided their queen allows it.”
“So you have to be unique to be an individual?”
“In a broad sense, yes. There is a fine line between independent thought, and independent being. We exist in the former, but can easily become the latter.”
Jack thought for a moment. “But that doesn’t explain how Cain became sentient. All he did was lose to me in a scrap.”
The queen regarded him for a moment. “You truly do not understand how important you are, do you?”
Chrysalis flew off of her throne, buzzing over to Jack and touching down gently in front of him. “You do not know. I will let you see.”
Before the human could ask what she meant, Chrysalis touched her horn to his head, and the world exploded into a sea of colors, before fading to grey and then disintegrating into nothingness.
***
Jack snapped back to awareness. He found himself in a whirl of constantly mixing colors, standing on nothing. He looked around the multicolored void, frowning in irritation of his situation.
“Oh, stop with that,” a familiar voice called out. Jack turned and, to his surprise, saw another human.
The human in question, a female, strode towards him with absolute grace and regality. Her form presented an attractive figure, young, healthy, and physically fit, and filled in at all the right places. Her pale skin contrasted against her black attire, robes fit for a queen, clawed gloves, and a pair of shoes that seemed to be as much for appearance as they were for actual use. Striking, poisonous green eyes stared out from underneath cerulean hair, which fell down to the middle of her back, folded against which were two large translucent wings. On her head rested not only a black crown, but also a twisted, wicked-looking horn.
Jack was stricken by this new human. She could only be described as beautiful, majestic. He couldn’t help but let his eyes trail over her form, summing her entire physical self as hot.
“Well,” he said. “I never knew you cut such an attractive figure, my queen.”
Chrysalis rolled her eyes. “Stop your flattery. It will get you nowhere.” She then snapped her fingers. “We are here for a reason.”
The prismatic void flickered, seeming like static. It then began flowing downwards, shapes suddenly appearing as their coloration sank into their forms. What was once a void quickly transformed into the top of a volcano, deadly sulphurous gasses drifting up from the strangely calm lava below.
An impossibly thin ledge, ending in a large spherical platform, stretched out over the volcano, looking as if it would crumble under its own weight at any second. At the end of the ledge, a small, glowing, golden orb held itself up with a number of small golden tendrils. The orb itself seemed to be covered in golden veins, the entirety of the orb giving off a creepily organic feel.
“What is this place?” Jack asked.
“This is a cursed place” Chrysalis answered. “This is a blessed place. This place represents everything right and wrong with the world. This place is where order and chaos meet on equal ground, where violence and peace begin and end.
“This place... is known as Entropy Summit.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Then why are we here?”
“We are not ‘here’, per se,” The queen explained. “We are reliving a memory, one so ingrained into the Hive Mind, even the deaths of a thousand queens could not erase it.”
Before Jack could question her further, a deep voice rang out through the air.
“Ah, here at last!”
Jack and Chrysalis turned and were greeted with a particularly odd sight: a multi-species group clambering up to the top of the volcano.
At the forefront of the group was a large, brown-furred and heavily muscled minotaur. A heavy pelt was tied around his shoulders, and several teeth were pierced through his skin. The minotaur placed his fists on his hips, grinding in pride for a moment before a weak gasping caught his attention.
The minotaur chuckled and turned back around, reaching down past the edge of the volcano. A white hoof grabbed onto his hand, and the minotaur pulled up a thoroughly exhausted Celestia.
Jack started, fist clenching and spines flaring. He was about to lunge for the pony princess when an arm shot out across his chest.
“This is just a memory,” Chrysalis reminded him. “It is not reality.”
With a low growl, Jack nodded and relaxed slightly, continuing to watch events play out before him.
Celestia panted, sweat visibly dropping off of her brow. Her once-flowing mane hung limp, for once seeming like actual hair. As soon as she regained her breath, she looked up at the minotaur and smiled gratefully.
“Thank you, Knossos,” Celestia said. “I am glad we are finally here, at this... infernal place.”
“Heh,” a third voice said as a yellow eagle’s claw grasped the crater’s edge. Its owner, a griffon with bronze armor, black beak and silver-tipped feathers pulled itself up without any assistance. “You always did need a little workout, Celestia.”
The white alicorn smiled good-naturedly. “Says the griffon who nearly ate Equestria’s pie companies out of house and home.”
The griffon grumbled, ruffling its wings and moving away from the edge.
“Aww, what’s the matter Buckbeak?” Knossos chuckled. “Sweet-beak proving to be your downfall?”
“Can it, maze-head,” Buckbeak said harshly.
Suddenly, a figure flipped up from beyond the edge, somersaulting through the air before landing gracefully with its compatriots. The hooded cloak that concealed the figure was flipped back, revealing a white-and-black-striped head of a zebra. The newcomer tossed its messy mane back, grinning.
“Now now, my friends,” the zebra spoke softly. “There’s no need for us to argue like this.”
“Ah, Anansi,” Buckbeak said. “Ever the frantic negotiator.”
“Ah Buckbeak,” Anansi smiled. “Ever the one with barbed words, but not with barbed wires.”
The griffon started, but Knossos placed a hand on his shoulder. “You know he’s right,” the minotaur said, clearly suppressing a smile. Buckbeak grumbled yet again, but dropped the issue.
The next to clamber to the top of the volcano gave its presence away with a holed hoof that grasped the ground. Wings fluttering, a changeling queen pulled herself up. She resembled Chrysalis almost exactly, the only difference between them being that this queen had yellow eyes and hair, as opposed to green.
“Come to join us at last, Mitosis?” Anansi asked, a small smile on his face. The queen smiled back, flicking a strand of hair out of her face.
“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Mitosis said. In response, everyone’s cheerful demeanor dropped.
“You know that isn’t funny,” Celestia said gravely. Mitosis simply shrugged.
A loud rumbling shook the entire volcano as an enormous red and black dragon head rose up. The beginnings of a long neck connected the head to a body that remained unseen, and if the head and neck were any indication as to how large the dragon was, it was likely the beast could have neatly fit its entire body inside the volcano.
“I, for one, thought it was hilarious,” the dragon chuckled. Celestia’s lips twitched at the dragon’s mirth.
“I’m glad YOU do, Geon,” she said. “Not all of us share an apocalyptic sense of humor as you two do.”
“Always so grim, Celestia… a seventh voice spoke.
As the entirety of the multi-species party, save Mitosis, turned every which way in confusion, Jack recognized the voice as not being spoken, but transmitted mentally, much the same as the Hive Mind.
Eventually, they seemed to catch on, as Celestia’s wings flared and her face bore an angered expression.
“Discord,” she spat. “We will not have any of your games today. Let us speak to your oracle and leave.”
With a flash, the chaotic draconequus appeared before the group, who all bore varying degrees of anger, mistrust, and even fear at the sight of him.
“And here you all are,” he said, extending his arms welcomingly. “The ‘great’ leaders of every nation, all together for the express purpose of seeing my oracle.” He chuckled. “I’m so honored.”
Anansi stepped forward. “Do not fool yourself, Discord,” he said, eyes narrowed. “We are here for the oracle, not for you or your so-called ‘honor’.”
“Bah.” Discord waved his paw dismissively. “You all are such a boring lot. No chaos at all.” He grinned. “I’ll just have to wait until after you’ve heard these little ramblings.”
With a flash, the draconequus disappeared. The seven leaders looked at each other in worry, but eventually shook off the nervous air Discord’s appearance had created. They could not dispel the tension, however, especially not that their true purpose for coming together was so close.
Celestia, Knossos, Buckbeak, Anansi, and Mitosis proceeded down the ledge one at a time, gathering around the golden orb. As for Geon, his incredibly long neck allowed him to simply stretch his head over the rest of his companions.
The group collectively closed their eyes. The air around them began simmering with multicolored lights, each light corresponding to a different species’ leader. Celestia, yellow; Knossos, brown; Buckbeak, silver; Anansi, purple; Mitosis, green; Geon, red.
The lights blended together, forming an odd rainbow of colors that stretched towards the sky, before coming down on the orb.
The effect was instantaneous.
A blood-red, gelatin-like substance began seeping out of the oracle, encapsulating it and the golden strands that held it up. The golden glow the orb had been giving off was quickly muted by the gel, making the oracle seem like a giant red eye, with the orb as its’ pupil.
“Oracle, we have answered the call,” Buckbeak said. “Show us what you have seen.”
The oracle’s entire form dimmed and brightened quickly, giving the twisted impression of blinking. Gel from its’ body began flowing like liquid, falling off the platform to the lava below. As soon as the first drops hit the molten rock, the entire volcano shuddered.
Abruptly, several streams of lava shot straight up into the air, not a drop escaping the molten columns. The lava coalesced into a ball that hung in the air, swirling with contained fury. The leaders watched as several images began to appear across the hovering lava.
“What is that?” Knossos asked aloud, pointing at an outline of a figure that slightly resembled his species.
“I believe they’re called ‘humans’,” Anansi answered, rubbing his chin. “They’re a common element in several of our darker folktales.”
“Look there.” Mitosis pointed to another image. “All the races of Equestria...”
Geon sneered. “Well well well, looks like that draconequus is feeling a little hot-blooded today.”
Everyone looked at the third, final image: that of the human leading an army of almost shapeless figures against a globe.
Various expressions broke out across those gathered. Celestia, of horror; Knossos, of grim realization; Buckbeak, of hope; Anansi, of mixed sadness and eagerness; Mitosis, of confidence; Geon, of humor.
“Can there be no end to this?” Celestia asked, a tear rolling down her cheek. “No end to this senseless violence?”
“Never,” Anansi whispered. “Whether by hate or by fate, war will always exist.”
“War...” Knossos rumbled. “War never changes.”
Mitosis cackled. “Then it’s settled. We’ve waited too long for this.”
The volcano shook as the ball of lava fell back to its birthplace. The gel that surrounded the oracle receded back into the golden orb. The leaders all bowed.
Then the memory vanished.
***
Jack’s vision slowly returned. The teen found himself still standing in the throne room, Cain looking up at him expectantly. Chrysalis drew away from him, her horn losing its green glow. The pair regarded each other, a feeling of understanding flowing between them.
“Now you know,” Chrysalis said quietly.
Jack’s gaze dropped to the floor, his eyes wandering the ground. “I suppose I do.”
The queen cocked her head to the side, feeling conflict from the human. “Something troubles you?”
“I...” Jack shifted once, twice, then looked up at Chrysalis. “I don’t really matter, do I?”
“Come again?” Chrysalis asked, becoming confused and somewhat concerned.
Jack’s lip lifted in a snarl. “I don’t matter to you. All you want is your damn prophecy fulfilled.”
The queen took a step back in shock. “No, not at all. That’s not-”
“Not what you tried to convince me of?” he snapped. “Oh, believe me, I’m fully aware of your little games. I’ve had enough.”
The teen turned on his heel and began walking out of the throne room. “I’m leaving. Cain, follow.”
Chrysalis began to panic. Everything had turned upside down. “Wait, Jack!”
The human paid her no heed as he left, his servant in tow. He only paused at the doors, laying his left hand on the glassy surface and turning his head to look over his shoulder.
“Don’t follow me.”
With a green glow of magic, Jack rapped his hand on the obsidian, sickly green cracks spreading through its entirety before the door shattered into innumerable fragments. With a snap of his fingers, the other door followed suit, leaving a pile of shards around his feet. Then he left.
Chrysalis could only stare in horror as he destroyed millennia of heritage, then left her sanctum with one of her children in his unbreakable thrall. She winced as he viciously rooted through the Hive Mind, seizing and forcing the knowledge of teleportation from it. A gasp escaped her as she felt him forcibly drain energy from the entire swarm, depleting precious reserves that she could not afford to lose. She bowed her head as she felt him teleport himself and Cain out of Kruziik-Ahrol, and into the wasteland beyond.
***
Jack collapsed into the sand, winded from the drain the teleport had effected on him. He was glad to have the energy he did, otherwise he would have been as crippled as Chrysalis had been when she teleported them.
Standing up, he scoffed at her idiocy. She was a fool to think she could control him. He saw through her ploy, and while she had had him in her hoof for a time, her biggest mistake was letting him see that memory. Now, armed with the knowledge that he had nowhere to turn that would honestly accept him, he would have to travel Equestria with naught but his loyal minion.
Jack forced the distressed voices of the Hive Mind to the back of his mind, forcibly ignored their cries and focussing solely on Cain’s mind. The human turned his gaze to the horizon, noticing the sun beginning to finish its descent. With an aggravated sigh, he began walking away from the changeling hive, intent on being anywhere but there.
***
The sun had finally vanished from sight, leaving Jack and Cain to travel in near-darkness, the only illumination coming from the crescent moon that hung in the sky.
The human felt drained from walking underneath the sun, even for the brief time it had been up. Now that night had fallen, the cold air sapped at his strength even more. Beside him, Cain still marched on resolutely, showing no signs of tiring.
Jack suppressed a shiver as the wind blew gently across the desert. His clothes offered little protection, and his shoes only seemed to sink farther into the sand with every step. It was sickeningly reminiscent of a beach. The only positive things so far were that he had escaped Chrysalis’ manipulative grasp, and that the Hive Mind had fallen silent.
Rubbing his eye, the teen cast his gaze towards the moon. The giant white orb hung resolutely in place, just barely providing enough light for him to see. It was nearly flawless in its crescent image, with hardly a dark spot in sight.
Jack froze, realizing that he was covering his left eye.
Slowly dropping his hand, Jack forced his eye open, making the moon immediately flash to a more realistic image. Where there was once a white crescent, there was now the view of a blemished and pockmarked satellite. Like it should be.
The human frowned at the sight...
… right before three black shapes zipped overhead.
Cain hissed loudly at the shapes before Jack clamped its mouth shut, shushing it. The pair watched as the shapes passed over them, the moonlight glinting off some fashion of metallic armor.
“They’re heading towards Kruziik-Ahrol, aren’t they?” Jack asked. Cain gave a short nod in confirmation.
“Are we to go back?” the changeling asked. Jack lowered his head in thought.
It would be awkward for him to go back after his less than pleasant departure, and Chrysalis would in all likelihood not be too pleased with him. But three ponies didn’t just fly out into changeling territory for a joyflight, and if they hadn’t been intercepted by now there was almost certainly something amiss.
“Come on.”
***
Jack and Cain traveled as quickly as they could back to the hive, but as only Cain could fly, and Jack didn’t have enough energy to teleport them back, the moon having already reached its apex and beginning to fall by the time the massive perforated dome of the hive came into view.
Jack squinted, trying to see if he could make out the same shapes from before. He was able to spot a single speck flying out of the hive, climbing high into the sky and touching down just beyond his sight. Silently motioning to Cain, the pair dropped into a crouch, sneaking closer to the mysterious shape.
As the two snuck up on the figure, its form was gradually revealed to be the familiar profile of a pony. Dark blue, almost black armor protected the majority of its body, and the moonlight shone down through a pair of bat-like wings. Luckily, the pony’s back was turned, allowing Jack and Cain to creep closer undetected.
“Bat pony, stallion,” Cain relayed. “Part of the Night Guard. They haven’t been seen in over a millennium.”
“Something we need to worry about?” Jack asked. Cain bit its lip.
“Maybe.”
The conversation was interrupted as Cain pointed a hoof towards the sky, two more specks flying out of the hive. The human and changeling dropped to the sand, trying to avoid being seen by the newcomers. The two new ponies touched down in front of the one that was already there, the trio exchanging a quick series of salutes, nods, hoof-bumps, and wing flares.
“Report,” the bat pony who had been waiting ordered.
“Nothing big,” the one to the left responded. “There doesn’t seem to be a set sleeping schedule with these things, so sneaking around was harder than I thought.” The pony received two affirming nods. “Other than that, I found some rooms filled with green eggs, but there was almost no activity.”
The guard on the right shivered. “I went pretty deep into the tunnels. In fact, I’m almost certain that the hive goes underground. There was a weird lake at the bottom...” He shivered again. “You can feel the magic in there. It’s... not something I would recommend being near.”
“Anything else?” the leader asked.
“On my way out, there was some kind of arena. There was fresh blood all over the place, but not a changeling in sight. That’s about it.”
The leader smiled. “Well, I suppose I had the most success. You won’t believe this, but I managed to sneak inside their queen’s throne room.” The other two guard’s jaws dropped as the leader continued.
“It was empty, surprisingly. The floor was littered with some kind of glass, probably obsidian. The throne had an arm cracked, recently by the looks of it. Probably the same thing that broke the obsidian. But that’s not the best part.” The leader’s companions leaned in closer.
“Almost their entire army is asleep. There must have been at least five battalions in cocoons, and enough room for another two. One and a half thousand changelings, just sitting there. and I can tell you, there are more crawling into those cocoons every day. I saw two get in myself.”
The other two guards gaped before grinning to each other.
“I think we’d better get back to Canterlot,” the left one said. “Now that we know why that patrol went missing a month ago.”
“The Royal Army’s going to love this,” the one on the right said. “A whole hive and a half of changelings, and almost all of them are asleep. Let’s see how they like being invaded.”
The leader spread his wings, his fellow guards falling into formation behind him. The trio leaped into the air, rapidly gaining altitude...
Jack gritted his teeth, his left hand lighting up in the night. The bat ponies barely had a moment to realize they were not alone before the human let loose with a magical bolt that flew into the sky. The bolt struck the leader’s wing, the smell of burnt flesh filling the air alongside the sound of screaming.
The lead bat pony fell ungracefully to the ground, his companions whirling around just in time to dodge another bolt that had been launched by Cain.
“And where do you think you’re going?” Jack asked loudly.
The Night Guards looked at each other, nodding once before separating. The guards flew at their opponents, one taking on Jack and the other taking Cain.
The guard that was attacking Jack landed nimbly in front of him, spinning around and lashing out with a buck that the human leaped back from. The pony quickly used its momentum to land solidly on its back hooves, then pushed off and took to the air once more.
Jack quickly gathered up the energy for another bolt, keeping track of the airborne bat pony as it circled him. After a few moments, the pony dived, aiming to crush the teen with all four hooves. Jack rolled out of the way, springing back up and keeping track of the guard as it ascended.
The human formed the bolt in his hand, but instead of throwing it, he passed it to his right hand, waiting until the bat pony was about to dive again. Catching the sudden banking that signalled such, he briefly held the bolt in both hands, winding up before throwing it like a pitcher.
The bolt rocketed towards the pony, who dove to the side the second before it struck him in the face. Oblivious, the guard turned his attention back to Jack, unaware of the bolt suddenly arcing high into the sky, then coming down like a fiery green comet. The guard took two more leaps before the bolt caught him in the back, flash-melting his armor into slag. The guard yelped in pain as the force of impact sent him forcibly to the ground.
The guard shakily pushed himself up with his front hooves, looking up to see Jack’s sneaker right before it connected with his face with a loud crack. Unconscious, the guard fell back to the sand, blood pouring out of the corner of his mouth.
Jack turned to see Cain and the other guard engaged in a brutal brawl. The two were rolling in the sand, punching, kicking, and in Cain’s case, biting at each other. The guard’s metal armor seemed to be giving him an edge, offering almost protection from Cain’s blows while the guard’s were backed by his armor’s sheer hardness.
The changeling managed to sink his fangs into the pony’s neck, making him yell out in pain. The guard gritted his teeth, slamming a metal-clad hoof against Cain’s head until it let go and fell to the ground, dazed, allowing the guard to stumble back.
Jack began running toward his servant, already seeing the outcome of its fight. Jack’s hand lit up as he prepared to blast the pony into oblivion, but the energy just wouldn’t come fast enough...
The guard hissed as he grabbed the spot where Cain had bitten him, then glared at the downed changeling with fury. He turned, lifted his front hooves into the air...
Jack’s perception slowed down to a crawl. The events in front of him played at an agonizingly slow pace, and he was powerless to stop them.
The guards hooves came down...
Jack was so close to gathering enough energy, just one more second...
…CRUNCH.
A searing pain erupted in Jack’s mind, utterly destroying his concentration and making him feel as though he had lost a limb. The magic he had gathered dissipated back into his body, his lack of concentration not allowing its use. A scream tore itself from his lips, and he collapsed into the sand, holding his head as it pulsed with agony.
The bat pony flinched at the scream, backing away slowly as the teen continued to writhe in pain. He hesitated for a brief moment, unsure of what was happening.
Then, suddenly, the screams stopped.
Jack stood up, pain replaced with an unquenchable rage. His entire body shook as he beheld the guard before him. The bat pony took one step back, then turned around and spread his wings, taking flight to try and get away. Jack snarled, lifting his left hand and snapping his fingers.
In an instant, he teleported directly above the Night Guard, falling on the pony while simultaneously mounting him. The human grabbed the pony by the snout and back of his head. He tugged to one side, the pony fumbling as it tried to compensate for the extra weight on its back. Jack put all of his strength into moving his arms apart...
SNAP.
With another snap of his fingers, Jack teleported back to the ground, watching in dark enjoyment as the guard’s lifeless body fell to the sand.
“Oh snap,” he said, turning around. “Ya bloody ponies.”
Jack kneeled down in front of Cain’s body His eyes lingered on the changeling’s broken neck, hoping that the instantly deadly injury would heal, and his servant would spring back as if nothing had happened.
Jack stayed where he was, motionless until the sun began to rise, casting warming rays over the desert. The human finally bowed his head, acknowledging Cain’s death with finality.
He stood up, opening his mind to the Hive Mind. Voices flooded into his head, varying in every manner imaginable. But he pushed them all to the side, save for one.
“Chrysalis...” he said. “We need to talk.