//------------------------------//
// Chapter One: Lost and Found 
// Story: Conquest 
// by Blaze Spectrum 
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Before the changeling decided to leave his hiding spot, he was viciously spun around onto his back. After he got his bearings, there was a crossbow aimed at his face.

The bolt stuck out of the weapon, razor-sharp edge glistening in the daylight, with a touch of iridescence. Its wielder was a Royal Guard sent to hunt down remaining Changelings. The changeling that he was aiming at seemed very insignificant now. He didn't want to know its name, or how it had skulked for so long. His orders were to capture and banish all threats. Some satisfaction tingled at the tips of his wings, as this was actually the first time he'd caught a changeling.

"You are not welcome in this country," he stated with a sadistic grin, "I suggest you will leave, or we will see to it."

The Royal Guard's gloating had only stated the obvious: both of them knew that the Royal Guard would kick a changeling out of Equestria with force, and as a last resort, kill any changelings that showed too much resistance. The scattered state of the changelings barely called for a proper military unit, not that one was properly maintained by Equestria in the first place.

Just as he was about to call more Royal Guards over to help him, there was a loud blast. A streak of green battle magic flew over and burned through half of the Royal Guard's neck. There was no blood, as the blast cauterized everything it touched. A look of surprise barely had time to register on his face as he slumped over, very well dead.

Another changeling trotted out of the foliage that was in the general direction of the shot.

As he came over to help him up, he said in an aggravated tone, "Thorax, you seem to always know the best way to get caught. It's a good thing you aren't an infiltrator."

Thorax gave a cheeky smile as if he didn't register what he was told, "Why thank you!"

After giving Thorax a menacing glare, he decided to change the subject, "We should get going, you know. We need to rendezvous with Queen Chrysalis. All of our scattered ranks. You're a start. Now be quiet, and follow me. I'm pretty sure there are more of those blasted ponies nearby. Those crossbow bolts penetrate straight through our exoskeletons."

And true to his word, about three different voices boomed around them, "Surrender yourselves, give up the fight, or die!"

Did the two take their advice? Definitely not. They ran off. The trees in the environment were thick enough to prevent anyone, pony or changeling alike from flying above tree level, and this was good for the two. It would be next to impossible to lose three pegasi in the sky. Three bolts slammed into the soil where the two were a second ago.

It would be a while before another shot would be fired at them while the pegasi reloaded. The two had enough experience to realize that.

The pegasi were right on their tails, flying low and finding some difficulty in weaving in between trees. They were engaging in a losing chase, with them having to both fumble with their bolts to reload while maintaining a steady pace. They muttered curses and growled.

After they had reloaded and shot again, the shots went wide, missing by an even farther margin than last time. Thorax tried to take a few shots back at them while running. None of them found their marks. This earned an eye roll from Chitin. The latter then slowed to a jogging pace and pulled two shots. One found its mark on an armored section of one of their pursuers, which him stagger. It also melted through most of his armor on his crest, sure to leave at least a second-degree burn. The other bolt disarmed the same one.

Ultimately, Thorax decided to incinerate the bottom trunk of a nearby tree. The tree fell in front of the two remaining pegasi and blocked their path. The third was trying to retrieve his weapon. That action, while effective at slowing them down, was a double-edged sword. It opened a gap large enough in the trees to allow them to take off. Hopefully, by the time they realized that, the changelings would have attained a good lead.

Chitin disguised himself as a Royal Guard, and Thorax followed suit. It would make the two less conspicuous, but they would both probably have to run the second anypony asked questions.

"How much farther away?" Thorax asked not a minute after losing their potential captors.

"I spent half an hour coming here at a steady trot. The distance is something I can't tell you either. I could have gone in a few circles for all I know."

"Are you implying that you don't know the way back?"

"I know it better than you do."

That was enough to shut Thorax up.





Back at the camp, it was quite clear that the hive wasn't in its best state. Far from it. About only a hundred changelings were stationed around it. And while it was the largest gathering of what was left of the invading force that went for Canterlot, it was only a fraction of the whole army. It wasn't much, but most scattered changelings weren't going to do much harm the way they were. They were much more formidable when organized and commanded under a leader. Most in the vicinity flocked to their Queen, who had mostly withdrawn into a taciturn shell.

At the very edge of the outer Everfree, it was a place that should have had more ponies looking for it. But being next to Ghastly Gorge, not many came.

"It's been a while since the Queen had given orders," Chitin began as the camp came in sight, "Or so I've been told. It's said that she did say a few words earlier on, but was mostly silent. It was a while before I was found. Now, she seems to have ideas about how to get ourselves organized as a smaller group. Most of us are in decent condition around here. Most that were heavily injured probably didn't make it in the first place. The medics we've brought along don't have much work to do."

"Queen Chrysalis? I doubt that she'd be the type to ever be quiet," Thorax scoffed, "The main reason why she was up for Queen of this hive was that she had ambitions, and was more than a little open about them."

Chitin shook his head, "Apparently, she's decided to do so. I'm not sure if I should blame her. She did get blasted out of Canterlot when everything was falling into place. But now, she's piecing her force back together. She also likes to have new arrivals check in with her when they arrive. She wants a precise count of how large her force is. For now."

When the camp came nearer, some of the finer details became apparent. There were no tents, and the only shelters built happened to be made out of twigs and leaves, and they weren't very large. Most of them could hardly support their own weight. None of the trees had been brought down. Some droppings left by forest critters were used to make fires. While fecal matter was not the best choice for a smokeless fire, the army's charcoal supplies were depleted long ago. This arrangement did have the benefit of producing less smoke, so it was a happy coincidence.

It wasn't too suspicious, considering there was nothing unique about this part of the Everfree. All in all, it was relatively inconspicuous. It would definitely be noticed if anypony got close on the ground, but it wouldn't attract much attention if it was searched from the sky. Furthermore, the strange weather patterns around the Everfree dissuaded most pegasi from passing over anyways, if they could even see through the foliage in the first place.

Eventually, the two stopped at what appeared to be a central structure. It had a small wooden frame, and some large leaves placed on the top as a makeshift roof. The inner area couldn't have been larger than a few square meters. The ground was actually damper and nastier than it was outside. And sitting on the ground was no other than Queen Chrysalis. With her larger-than-average stature and gracile shape for a changeling, she usually radiated superiority. But that was not the case now, which made the previously bigger-than-life Queen look almost pathetic.

She turned her gaze up, almost absentmindedly.

"New arrival?" she asked.

Chitin nodded.

A ghost of a smile flashed across the Queen's face, who then responded with, "That makes a hundred and seven. I'll assign you two with a few other changelings later. Go find more of our forces as soon as you can."

Upon leaving the tent, Thorax turned his head haphazardly to Chitin.

"Couldn't she have added a "glad you made it" or something like that? Is the amount of changelings being recovered suddenly rising by so much that she doesn't see any need to do so?"

Chitin replied without even turning his head, "I wouldn't think much of it, losing Canterlot has probably taken a toll on her. Come on, the more changelings she bunches together, the more she'll have to find scattered troops. Therefore, the more changelings she gathers, the quicker she'll retrieve more troops. Simple math, let's go."





The scan of the Everfree Forest was showing results much quicker than expected. The Royal Guard expected to find maybe several changelings at most within an hour, not encounter dozens. The search of the Everfree also cost them a lot more than anypony anticipated, with a few fatal casualties already—almost unheard of in the royal guard

Shining Armor usually didn't lead groups hunting down the changelings. Scattered around, they didn't have much potential to harm anything. But the Queen of the Changelings herself was observed by many to have gone somewhere in the Everfree. So he saw it fit to lead the groups himself. Several teams of four were handling the situation, but most changelings spotted got away.

Not only that, but they had more casualties than they had inflicted. It had only been half an hour, and one pegasus was dead, shot in the neck by battle magic. And there were a few minor injuries that followed afterward. While it was confirmed that there was changeling activity, he felt that that simple piece of information cost them too much.

They had initially sent out a team of pegasi to scout the area from above. Apparently, it wasn't that simple. The thick foliage covered most of the forest, and the unusual weather patterns spooked most pegasi. And so, off into the forest they went.

As of now, three hours had passed. A total of twenty-four ponies had gone in to check, half pegasi, half unicorns. The same number was on standby. Two were confirmed to be dead, one was missing, and about ten of them had injuries that ranged from burns to broken bones. The two teams sent out with crossbows also had one of them damaged badly, with the string weakened, and the handle incinerated. About three spears were broken, and several pieces of armor needed to be replaced.

All in all, it was getting costly. The process of digging out changelings in the other surrounding areas of the nation was generally slow, tedious work. Half of the time, no changelings were found poking their heads out. Now though? There were more than a few reports of guards that swore that they saw blue eyes watching them in the shadows. Eventually, this had made them more wary, and they had then managed to find, and capture a few changelings.

He didn't know for sure, but he could say that the Queen was probably there in the forest. He couldn't find a better reason for why the changelings were putting up a good fight. Surely, several dozen could have easily assembled under her. And that meant that the changelings were getting their act together. It wasn't something he would confirm without hesitation.

He had more guards on standby. They probably wouldn't find much more without a larger force, and the search teams of four weren't cutting it. There were too many changelings being sighted and then getting away. If a group of royal guards could stay on the trail of a group of changelings, they might just find the Queen.