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// They Wished for Flight... 
// Story: The Red Cyclone 
// by Onomonopia 
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Five changelings with red markings swiftly crossed the empty wasteland, with only the moon shining brightly down upon them as if it were watching them as they prepared to undertake their task. They made no sound as they moved, for they knew not how many forces would be patrolling at so late a night so they took no chances. All of them were roughly the same size, which made traversing the desert simpler, but their leader was a massive changeling and was forced to change himself into one of his smaller partners so not to be as easily seen.

They knew there path well and made no mistakes as they traversed it, allowing them to reach one of the almost unknown entrances to the hive before the moon was half way through the sky. They all came silently to a stop behind some cragged boulders for cover, the lanterns of two guards alerting them to the presences of possible foes. 

Tenna pointed to two of his own soldiers and quickly drew his hoof across his throat before pointing to the guards. The two nodded and vanished into the shadows, while the other changelings watched with hidden smiles for what was to come next. The two guards that stood outside of a small cave looked around before one of them yawned...and then found a blade slice through his soft part of his neck. He dropped with a gurgle, the other guard turning to look in horror before a blade drove itself through his armor and into his heart, felling him as well.

The bodies were dragged out of sight while the other three slipped inside of the hive, some of them snickering silently at how easily it had been to get past the guards, Tenna cursing Chrysalis for failing to train her soldiers properly. He held out a hoof to stop the other changelings as the city came into view, all of them narrowing their eyes as they observed the place they swore they'd only come back to when they conquered it.

There were only a few street lights on, giving a small amount of light to a city that mostly slept in darkness. Tenna took notice of the few guard patrols that walked alone in the empty streets, his mind planning ways around them so not to draw any attention to the group. He quickly figure out a route that would lead them quickly to the castle without any interruptions, allowing a him a moment to smile.

"Stop staring and start moving," Tenna ordered as he slipped into the alleyways, the other changelings matching his movements exactly as they slipped into the alleyways. Their eyes were all completely on alert as they slipped from the alleyway into the streets, making sure to avoid any and all lights in case a random citizen decided to look out their window. Their trek towards the castle road was uneventful and devoid completely of all guards, giving Tenna another chance to smile as the group reached the first castle wall.

"Alright, you two stay here and wait for us to come back out," Tenna ordered as the other two began to work on a way to open up the windows into the castle. "You will help us plan our escape route if we need one. Hopefully the false queen is either asleep or in her private chambers for the rest of the night. But if she isn't, focus on creating a distraction out here so we can escape. Those are your orders."

The two saluted as Tenna took to the skies, joining the other changelings by the now opened window. The three slipped inside quietly and found themselves softly bathed in the candlelight that illuminated the corridor that they now found themselves in. With his knowledge of the castle Tenna quickly led the group through the almost empty hallways, stopping twice to avoid a patrol of loud and very bored guards.

"We are almost there," Tenna instructed his changelings in a near inaudible whisper as they slowly crept down the almost abandoned hallways to the princesses room. As they passed by Chrysalis's room they became as silent as the grave, none of them daring to even breath as they passed by her door. From within they could hear the queen pacing back and forth, grumbling to herself about something that they couldn't make out.

Once her room was passed they picked up the pace again, hardly slowing down until they all came to a stop in front of the princess's door. Tenna looked to his two other changelings and nodded, one of them nodding as they placed a small tool into the doors lock. He fiddled with the lock for a moment before the softest of clicks could be heard and the door slowly swung back, the other changeling blowing out all of the candles that might cast light onto the princess and wake her from her sleep.

Like specters in the night the three slid across the moon lit room, reaching the bed where the princess softly slept with silence and precision. Once they were there, Tenna's horn began to glow as he cast the princess into an ever deeper sleep. Once his spell was finished he picked up Insectum and turned towards the exit silently.

"Insectum, why did I see magical lights coming from your room?" All three of the changelings stopped dead in their tracks as the sounds of the queen's voice followed by the sound of her hoofsteps getting closer reached their ears. They all looked to Tenna, who silently sighed as he returned to his normal size and power. "I swear that if you are up late again practicing magic when you should be sleeping I'm going to-" 

Chrysalis never got to finish her words as the door to the room burst open and knocked her to the ground, dazing her for a few seconds while three changelings sped by her. She had just recovered her senses when she felt a spell strike her in the throat, causing her cough twice before realizing that she couldn't speak. But then with horrified eyes she realized who the changeling running away from her was...and who he was carrying upon his back.

With no concern for her life she shot to her hooves and hurled herself after the kidnappers, never once thinking to alert any of the guards of what was happening. Her only thoughts were to get her daughter back and to kill the changeling that dared to put his hooves on her. She found a shot and fired a spell into one of the changelings behind him, killing it in a flash of light. She raced by it's body without a thought as she continued to chase the two. Her horn glowed again and the area in front of those fleeing turned into a solid steel wall.

"What do we do sir?" the changeling next to him asked before a blast of magic turned him into a corpse. Tenna turned to see that Chrysalis was barreling towards him with murder in her eyes, giving him few options. As weak as a queen as she was, he knew she was magically stronger than him, at least at the moment, which meant that he couldn't fight her. He had to escape.

He hurled himself out of the nearest window and quickly took to the skies in hopes to escape, but to his frustration he found a barrier of pure magic seal itself around the castle and himself, preventing him from fleeing. He looked behind him to see Chrysalis still right behind him, giving him little time to think. He spotted the courtyard and descended onto it's stone floor, turning around to see Chrysalis land across the courtyard from him, murder flashing again as she began to seethe.

"Hello, Tenna." If her words were weapons, Tenna knew that she would have killed him with that sentence. He never took his eyes off of her for even a second, but he made sure that Chrysalis couldn't get a clear view of her daughter and he turned his body whenever she tried. "You have taken something very precious from me and on any other day that would be damnation for you, but I'm really in a good mood, so I'll give you this chance. Return Insectum to me without any trouble and I promise your death will be a beheading."

"Your negotiation skills are as effective as your methods for ruling are," Tenna replied with no fear in his voice as he stood up to face the queen, the two of them almost the same size in terms of height. "You may be the ruler of these fools, but we both know that without me the hive will eventually fall apart and die. And I will not allow that to happen."

"Do you honestly think you're going to get out of here alive?" Chrysalis seethed with wrath as she prepared to tear the changeling in front of her limb from limb. "For taking my daughter? For threatening to kill my people? No Tenna, when I get my hoove on you you'll wish I was nice enough to grant you death." She fired a spell with a roar of absolute hatred, Tenna barely having enough time to duck out of the way of the attack that would've taken his head off.

"Do not play this game with me Chrysalis. You cannot win against me," Tenna taunted as he ducked under another spell, firing two quick stun spells in retaliation. Despite both of the spells striking Chrysalis head on the enraged mother's wrath made the effects of the spell useless as her rage was too great to stop with magic.

"This isn't about winning! This is about tearing you into an infinite number of pieces!" she screamed as she caused the ground at his hooves to erupt into spikes, one of them stabbing the changeling in the leg. He growled as he took to the air again, needing to get away from the spikes. 

'Dammit all, she's far more powerful in her enraged state than she ever was before,' he mused as he dodged left and right to avoid being killed by her power. 'I do not wish to use my ace in the hole so early, but she is leaving me with little choice. Oh well, it will be fun to see her grovel before me.' He flew back down to the ground while avoiding the spells, a smile on his face that caught Chrysalis off guard.

"This fight is over Chrysalis," he said with an official tone to his voice that made Chrysalis look at him with a smile of disbelief. "You are going to stand down, then you are going to lower the shield that surrounds us. And then I will kill you."

"And why would I do any of that?! I'm not stopping until you-" Her heart stopped as Tenna took the sleeping Insectum off of his back and pointed his horn at her, his smile turning into a massive grin as the fire that was in Chrysalis's eyes was extinguished. 

"That's right, you poor excuse for a ruler, if you do not do exactly as I demand, I will slit your daughters throat and let you watch as the only thing you have ever loved in your life dies in front of you," Tenna said as he regained control of his emotions, removing the grin so that he was in complete control. 

"You monster..." Chrysalis whispered with fear filled eyes glued to her daughter, unable to even breath in fear that he would kill Insectum. "She is a child. She has done nothing to warrant-"

"That is where you are wrong Chrysalis. She is your daughter and therefor she has inherited the same weakness that you possess," Tenna cut in as he held Insectum slightly tighter, getting the princess to cough slightly in pain. "From the beginning I have planned on wiping out your bloodline, but I was planning on waiting for her to get a bit older. And if you do everything I tell you to, she will get a bit older. Now, lower the shield."

With defeat in her eyes Chrysalis shot a single bolt of magic up into the air, the bold piercing the shield and lowering it until it was nothing. Tenna let out a small chuckle at the crushed look in Chrysalis's eyes. The sounds of talking caught his attention and he looked over the courtyard edge to see that a number of changelings had gathered next to the castle, a smile crossing his face as he saw them.

"What luck for those who have come to see what is going on," he laughed as his horn began to glow with a red light. "They all get to say they were there when Queen Chrysalis died!" He fired a blade of magic from his horn, the blade slicing clean through Chrysalis front leg and severing it from her body. She cried out in pain as she collapsed to the ground, tears falling from her eyes as the pain agonized in her mind.

"I cannot tell you how long I have waited for this moment," Tenna said with a loud laugh as Chrysalis gritted her teeth as she struggled to push herself back up, ignoring her bleeding stump as best she could. Tenna unleashed another spell from his horn and Chrysalis screamed again as the magic caught her in the eye, the changeling traitor laughing as Chrysalis held her hoof to it. "To see you on the ground before me, showing just how weak you truly are. But as sad as this is," he began as he pointed his horn at her tear filled eyes, a smile spreading once again. "I must end this. Although a small part of me wishes that it had been more of a fight."

"You wish for a fight?" Tenna had barely registered the words when he felt to massive arms wrap themselves around his midsection and the next thing he knew his body was in the air, but he was looking straight down at the ground. He was driven face first into the stone floor of the courtyard, cracking the exoskeleton around his face as he howled in pain. He fought back to his hooves to see that Insectum had been taken and was now being handed to Chrysalis...by one of the largest creatures that he had seen. The creature then turned back to look at him, a cold rage in it's eyes as it took up a fighting stance.

"Then you fight me."