“Stupid cave-in,” Mantis grumbled, “Taking all the workers on it. Me? No, I just get an order to work down here. I hate working down here. Too spooky. Not to mention I can’t get to Junebug quickly if something happens.” Mantis plodded along down towards his next assignment. As he traveled down the cave, he didn’t notice how deafening the quiet was. The sound of work was absent and only Mantis’ knowledge of the area kept him on track towards his destination with his frustration distracting him from the obvious. He continued to mutter as he rounded the corner, “Wonder what I’m going to do…” he trailed off when he saw several changeling corpses scattered across the room.
Mantis’ eyes went wide as he took in the scene. ’This is bad. This is very, very bad.’ he thought. His eyes flicked from one side of the room to the next. Tools were scattered and equipment was damaged. It looked like there was a massive fight in here and judging from the smell, it was recent. The question is, how did no changeling hear about it?
A rock clattered, causing Mantis to almost jump out of his skin (and he might have too, if it wasn’t for the fact that he molted two weeks ago). Mantis panicked, ’Okay, bigger question: Is the monster who did this still here?!’ He started to hyperventilate. More rocks clattered. Something was moving. “I-I gotta get outta here!” Powered by adrenaline, Mantis threw himself back out into the tunnel and fired a mining spell several times at the ceiling of the tunnel, causing it to weaken. Cracks appeared and in a few seconds the doorway was sealed with rubble.
Mantis panted from the effort. He was not a strong changeling. As he tried to stand up, a voice yelled at him, “Hey, kid! What’s the big idea?!” Mantis jumped and turned to see that the voice had come from above. The rubble had previously separated an adjacent tunnel and, if Mantis’ mental map was correct, it was one of the tunnels leading to another work site.
“I’m talking to you, dumbass!” the changeling spoke again, snapping Mantis out of his thoughts.
“Get the guards!” he shouted, “Quick! There’s a monster down here and several workers dead! I was trying to trap the monster in with the ceiling!” The other changeling was skeptical.
“How do I know you’re not making this up?”
Mantis facehooved, “Look, either get the guard or explain to them why you aren’t helping with this emergency. There’s something down here!” The other changeling peered at Mantis for a moment before running off. Mantis sighed and collapsed again as the adrenaline wore off.
“Why can’t some other changeling deal with this?” he muttered.
*****
Arachne had a few strong beliefs. Chrysalis is supreme, The Hive is family and family comes first, and if you want something done right, you do it yourself. It was the last belief that led him to the site where a drone had reported a cave in caused willfully by another drone on some nonsense claim. The Hive doesn’t have the time for these setbacks and so he was going to set things straight and make an example out of this dumb drone if he had to. At least that was the plan until he met the drone.
Arachne stared blankly at the changeling before him. Mantis as he recalled. Good drone, but that wasn’t the issue here. “So you’re telling me, that you found a pile of dead drones and you panicked and possibly brought half the cave down on any evidence on finding the one who did this?”
Mantis nodded, “Yes, sir. I also thought I had heard movement and only meant to seal the monster inside the room.”
Arachne sighed. As much as he wanted to facehoof, send the drone to do the worst kind of work as punishment, and tell him there was no such thing as monsters, he couldn’t. Someone had collapsed the front entrance and killed four of his soldiers so far. Including the reports from the drone supervisors, they found out the ones inside were also dead via the Hive mind. The drone in front of him might have very well saved him the effort of trying to catch the killer.
Taking this in, he formulated a quick plan. “Alright then,” he said, turning to the squad of soldiers nearby, “I want every changeling ready to clear the rubble and move into the room. The ‘Hive Dweller’ as I’ve heard you call it, might be in here. This might be our chance to stop it.” The soldiers nodded and quickly went to work.
“N-not to question your orders, sir.” He heard Mantis begin to say, “But are you sure that’s a good idea?” The changeling flinched when Arachne brought his gaze upon him.
“Are you saying you know this creature better than I do?” It wasn’t an intimidating question, but Mantis looked like he was about to piss himself.
“N-No!” he said, “I simply meant that if this monster could kill soldiers, then why are we sending them in? Why can’t we just see into the room with a spell?”
Arachne pursed his lips. He hadn’t really thought of that, but according to his knowledge, there were a few reasons why it never came to mind. “Because scrying spells are rather complex and we don’t even have half of the objects needed for it, not to mention the energy that it consumes. I’d rather not waste more energy than what the Hive has. We’re low enough as it is.” He had to admit, that was quite ingenious for a drone.
“Oh.” Mantis looked a bit crestfallen.
“Don’t fret on it. It takes experience to know what to do.” Arachne spared him a glance, then looked to see that the soldiers were ready with half the rubble cleared and horns glowing for the final strike. Arachne raised a hoof, then brought it down. On cue, the soldiers fired a blast simultaneously at the remaining rubble, causing it to explode inwards. Not wasting a second, they all rushed in and fired off stunning spells where they could, leaving anyone inside to face an inescapable volley.
When the dust settled, not a few of them gasped at the sight of the corpses. Being soldiers, they had seen death before, but this was almost too much. Each one looked as if they were peeled apart like bananas and eaten everything inside except the bones. A couple soldiers looked like they were about to throw up. The worst part of it was that the one who did this was gone.
Arachne inspected the room with a critical gaze. “Alright, someone get the bodies out of here and run an autopsy. The rest of you are going to sweep the room for any sign of the one who did this.” He went back over to Mantis who was still waiting out in the tunnel. “Looks like you were right. Something did kill them, and from the smell, it was a while before you arrived so it’s possible that this monster of yours is long gone by now.”
Mantis seemed to pale, if changelings could do that. “Oh no. No no no no nonono. I gotta find my sister!” he said before taking off down the tunnel. Arachne just let him go since there was no point in keeping him there any longer. Right now, he had bigger fish to fry.
*****
In the Everfree forest, a zebra woke up to another day. Zecora smacked her lips, trying to rid the taste of morning mouth and grabbed a jug of water nearby to wet her throat. She went through her morning routine of cleaning and eating like she always did. She was about to start a pot for her next brew when she felt that something was a bit off. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. Everything was still in its place like she left it and her magic wards were still active.
“Was it something I forgot?” she mused, “Perhaps it was a special day, or maybe not?” She just shrugged, figuring it would come to her eventually. Slipping on her saddlebags, she ventured out to gather more ingredients for her potions and brews.
Zecora took a path that led to a patch of plants she used in almost every brew, as well as her meals. They were quite delicious when cooked properly. She started gathering them by the hoof full, when the brush rustled nearby. With instincts and movements honed by years in the dangerous forest, she whipped around and set herself in a defensive stance for whatever came her way. As a personal game to her, she bet it was a manticore.
To her disappointment, it wasn’t a manticore, but instead a small pack of timberwolves. They burst out of the foliage and charged straight at her. Strange, since they would usually try to surround her. No matter, she was in for her life once again. All in a day’s work.
Zecora tensed up, ready to fight, when the most bizarre thing happened. The timberwolves completely ignored her and ran past with their tails between their legs. Zecora watched them pass her by, bewildered at their fear. When they disappeared, she stared dumbly in their direction. “If timberwolves run in fear, then there must be a fearsome monster near.” Zecora thought aloud. As if it just occurred to her, she turned around to see what could have been chasing them, but there was nothing.
In fact, it was quiet. Too quiet. Even with her instincts, she could not feel the presence of a monster with its gaze upon her, eyeing her up for a meal. Somehow, that was worse than if she was being watched. “If there is no monster out there, then what would give the wolves such a scare?” Zecora racked her brain for an answer, but nothing came to mind. Not that she could blame herself. She had no idea what could cause the timberwolves to act in such a fashion, and that’s what worried her. Lack of knowledge in the Everfree was just as deadly, if not more than, anything the forest could throw at her. “I must seek Twilight. Perhaps she will shed some light.” She said. Not wasting a moment, Zecora took off towards Ponyville.
As she ran, the trees seemed to watch her pass, as if to pray for the poor soul who dared disturb the quiet. It seemed as though everything just disappeared. Zecora kept running and she didn’t stop until she was pounding on the door to the library.
To her joy, the door opened to reveal a bleary eyed, lavender unicorn who looked like she just woke up from her slumber recently. “Zecora?” she said with a yawn, “What’re you doing here?”
“Twilight, there is something you must know. I sense a disturbance in the Forest that has quickly grown.”
The unicorn blinked a few times, “Wait, disturbance?” she tapped her chin a few times. If Zecora sensed a disturbance and Discord was acting odd, then the two are probably connected, though it was just as likely not. There was only one way to find out. “I think you better tell me what’s going on.”