Honor the Dead
by BinaryTroll
Pre-read by Honored Service
Chapter 23: “Fallout 2305272.9.”
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I suddenly remembered Shyvanna, forgetting the picture scratched into the doorway. “Hey Vi, we came here with another pony, a half dragon. Where is she?”
“Shyvanna is in the cell three doors down.” Vi replied, her emotions unreadable.
“Right then.” I set off down the hall.
I found the door and reached out to pull the handle. I touched it and then pulled back instantly.
“Are your doors supposed to be burning hot?” I asked Vi, sucking my fingers.
“No...”
BOOM
The door crumpled and melted, releasing a wave of heat. The room inside was filled with smoke and fire. In the middle was a blue-grey half dragon with (literally) flaming red hair. Shyvanna's eyes glowed.
After a few seconds the flames died down and Shyv returned to her normal self.
“What the fuck?” I asked, brushing small ashes off my face, arms and chest.
“I got bored.” Shyv replied, seeming to suck in the flames around her.
Vi's jaw was on the floor. “How did you-?”
“I set myself on fire.” She stepped out of the room and blew a little ring of smoke. “So who are you?”
“My name is Viridi Apis.”
We were all silent for a few seconds.
I decided to be the one to break the silence. “Guys, I'm still standing half naked here. With no shoes. On a hot floor.”
“Suck it up Wards.”
I started walking. “Fuck you. I don't feel like it. What I do feel like is some food though. Is there any food here?”
Vi thought for a moment. “I think there is, but it's near the center of the hive.”
“Oh good, I might meet Half Life on the way. Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone.”
“You want to take on the entire hive, bare handed? Are you insane? ”
“The answer to both of your questions is yes.” I replied. “And besides, I have fire breathing half dragon and a man who can hit a fly with a bullet from half a kilometer away. I think I'll be fine.”
“Still...”
“Trust me, I've killed thousands of armed men bare handed. I think I can handle a few changelings.” I didn't add that I had killed them all within an hour of each other. Or that I was fifteen at the time.
I could tell she didn't believe me. Hell, I wouldn't have believed me if I hadn't lived it. “Alright, if we keep following this corridor then we should get there.”
“That's strangely convenient.” Joel commented.
“You don't trust me?”
“Would you trust someone who stuck you in a cocoon?”
“Well, yes. I often sleep in a cocoon like that. And before Honored Service killed my mother, she would place me in it.”
“Honored killed your mother?” I asked, turning left.
“Yes, she died in my hooves. She saved me, even in death. I hid under her and lay still while the human checked the corpses of my friends and family.”
“And you have no grudge against humans?” I asked, saddened by her tale.
“No.” She sighed dejectedly. “He was just doing what he had to do, I would have done the same. I don't hold a grudge against him, I don't hold a grudge against you for being human either.”
“Damn, if actual ponies were like you, well... maybe changelings could live in harmony with other ponies. But politics isn't my thing. If it was me trying to sort out this shit, I'd probably end up killing a bunch of people.” I laughed humorlessly. “I wish I could solve it, and maybe I will. But I still haven't managed to find Canterlot, so I'm not going to be talking to the princesses any time soon.”
“I just want my family back.” Vi said. “Ponies would never be able to stomach that we feed off love anyway.”
“At least you knew your family.” Shyvanna said quietly, eyes downcast.
“You lost your parents too?” Vi asked.
“My mother died simply because I was born and my father exiled me, so you could say I lost them. My father is still alive, but he's dead to me.”
“Jesus, your lives are more of a mess than Australia's political situation.” I muttered, rubbing my face with a palm.
“Dammit Wards.”
“What?”
“This is not the time for bad jokes.”
“There's always time for bad jokes.” I said with a half-hearted grin. As I turned the corner I noticed some of the green changeling gunk on the walls. “I think we might be getting close.”
The goop only got thicker as we neared the center. It started to coat the floor, until we were basically walking on green honeycomb. I started to hear quiet chirping and buzzing, like that of crickets. I consciously started walking more quietly, I could tell Joel was doing the same.
“Hey Joel, can I borrow your knife?”
“Sure.” He threw the knife into the air above my shoulder and I snatched it out of the air.
“Thanks.” I flipped the knife around before catching it in a reverse grip, as usual.
I peeked around the next corner and saw a pair of changelings quietly chatting. I held up my hand and clenched it into a fist. The others stopped just behind me. 'Stay here' I mouthed. Shyv and Vi nodded, Joel just unholstered the Glocks and screwed on their silencers, ready for if things went wrong.
I jumped out and slashed the knife through the first one's neck, spun using the momentum from the strike, and rammed the knife through the other one's skull. They both died silently. I dragged the bodies down the corridor and back round the corner.
Shyv looked sick. Vi just stared at the changelings sadly. I closed their eyes and sighed. “Requiescant in pace.”
Vi looked around the corner and said “The hatchery is at the end of this branch. Stulte will be there.”
I sneaked around the corner again, this time with my friends following behind me. I was surprised at how stealthy the mares were, despite having no actual training (That I knew of, at least). The buzzing of changelings was steadily increasing, and it was starting to get annoying.
Suddenly the corridor narrowed, becoming so tight I could only just fit. Fortunately I was the tallest (and widest) of the group, so Joel, Shyv and Vi would have no trouble following. After a few seconds of crawling through the claustrophobic space, it opened into an huge room. The ceiling was tall, for a vault at least, and I could see stone underneath the honeycomb of whatever the changeling's green goop was. Hundreds of complete cocoons hung from the ceiling, their contents obscured from view. The floor was lined with massive, ant-like eggs.
Oh, and about fifty changelings were climbing across the ceilings and walls, tending to the cocoons. I quickly retreated back into the passageway.
“Okay, where would... Umm, what was the guy's name?”
“Stulte?” Joel reminded me.
“Yeah, him. Where would he have taken my stuff?” I asked in a hushed voice.
Vi thought for a moment. “He probably would have taken it to his cocoon, he likes storing all his knick-knacks there.”
“Man, haven't heard knick-knacks be used in a long time.” I mused. “Anyway, where is his cocoon?”
Vi sighed. “I'll get your things, stay here.”
“Ok, thanks.”
Vi easily squeezed through the narrow space, disappearing from view.
I sighed as I watched her go. “I hate sitting and waiting.” I muttered.
“Yeah, same. But if we ran in there like madmen, we'd probably get killed.” Joel whispered back, slumping against the wall.
I snorted. “You might, if I got my teeth into one of them, well... Everyone dies I guess.”
“And anyway, I thought you said you liked changelings.”
“Yeah, I do. Which is why I haven't charged in and killed everyone.”
I heard a shout from the hatchery and Vi dived through the tunnel, holding a bundle of clothing. She handed it to me and looked back at the tunnel fearfully. “I think we should run.”
I pulled on my socks, zipped up my boots and slipped on my T-shirt in a manner of seconds. People often wonder how I can get dressed so quickly, it's just a thing I can do. I finally put on my coat and checked the pockets. My combat knife was still in it's sheath, Luna and Celestia were safe in theirs'. The ballistic knife was in my pocket, along with it's spare knives, a few dragon scales and the clips for the Famas. The only thing missing was the Famas itself.
“Fuck me. He took my gun.” I muttered, searching for it anyway.
“Doesn't matter, we have to get out of here!” Vi shouted, bouncing up and down restlessly.
I sighed. “Alright, go. Leave me a trail I can follow.”
“What?”
“Go, I gotta get my Famas back.”
“It's not that important!” Shyv said, as anxious as Vi was.
I groaned. “It's not sentimental value, it's saving our asses. If Half Life manages to find out how that thing works, we're screwed.”
Vi conceded the point. “Alright, make it quick.” She turned and ran off down the hall. Shyv followed.
Joel didn't. “I ain't ditching you this time Wards.” He pulled out the AWP and loaded a round.
I smiled at him, glad for the company. “Well then, lets crush these bugs.”
The wall that held the tunnel started to shake. “And that's their cue.”
The wall cracked and split, shattering into a million tiny shards. A small army of changelings waited on the opposite side, including one that held a G2 Famas in his hoof. He smiled, showing of his elongated canines. “Hello humans, how nice of you to come out and play.”
“Can I have my Famas back?” I asked, not really expecting it to work.
It didn't. “No. I have too many plans for this little weapon.” He waved the Famas around like it was a toy. “I could build an army with this, I could take revenge on you humans for killing my brethren. I could take over the world!”
“You could shut the hell up.” Joel said, and shot him in the face with the AWP.
The crowd of changelings were speechless as Stulte crumpled and fell. They were still speechless as I shoved them out of the way to get my gun. They didn't move as I picked it up and slung it across my back. I turned back to them and looked at the questioningly. “Any particular reason you aren't trying to pull my legs through ass right now?”
I was only met with silence.
“Okay then. I'll just be leaving.” I said awkwardly.
As I started to walk away I heard a thump. I stopped. There was another thump. And another. And another. They started to get faster and louder. I turned back, confused.
The changelings were stomping the floor rapidly, and some of them were even smiling.
“What the fuck?” I asked, staring at the changelings in bewilderment.
“I think they're clapping for us...”Joel said, just as confused as I was.
“Uh, any particular reason you're clapping?” I called out to the changelings.
“You killed that stuck up prick!” One called back.
“Umm, yeah. But should you be over here trying to tear my face off right now?”
“Why would we?”
I stared at the changeling who had spoken. “I just killed that guy, not to mention a human by the name of Honored Service killed your queen and nearly wiped you all out.”
“Your point?”
I blinked. And then I got a really stupid idea. “Follow me.”