//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Changelings! 
// Story: Another Death, Another Life 
// by Teal 
//------------------------------//


Another Death, Another Life
By
Teal


Prologue: Changelings!

Changelings! 

Changelings coming by the swarm, from everywhere!

From our front, our backs, and on both flanks, changelings swarmed in, filling the large cavern with their insect like forms, as the annoying buzzing sound of their wings echoed through the stony walls, sending chills through my spine.

As I look in front of me, I could see a wave of black figures coming in a gigantic torrent as their teal eyes glowed in the darkness. The hissing sound they made, as they attacked, made my bones shake within me, as I felt my body quiver in fear. In turn, I could feel my hooves shake because of this, yet I tried my best to fight off my emotions and concentrate at the task in front of me.

From what they thought us back in training, the best way to stay alive in a mission was to forget all your fears and focus. Because once your fears take over you, then you would begin to hesitate, and when you hesitate, you’ll find yourself biting the dust. So the key was to concentrate and forget all fear.

Too bad that was easier said than done.

With hordes upon hordes of changelings rushing through the tunnel, bent on killing you, trying to stop my fright from overrunning me was just as hard as fighting the changeling from overrunning us all.

Trapped in a large cavern, deep within the Changeling’s Catacombs, me, and every single pony in my platoon, found ourselves surrounded and cut off from any form help. With hundreds upon hundreds of changelings pouring out of the tunnels and only forty of us, it was clear that this battle wasn’t looking good for our side.

Using my helmet’s visor, which was enchanted to see through the dark, I could see the silhouettes of our enemies charging upon us, as their horns glowed green, ready to strike us. Normally, in open area situations, a changeling would disguise themselves and sneak up upon you, using the image of an ordinary pony as camouflage. But in these dark and cold tunnels, a changeling wouldn’t need a disguise to disguise themselves, as the darkness provided them the perfect cover. Good thing we had the enchanted helmets to help us or else we would be completely in the dark.

Keeping a tight grip of my double-bladed weapon between my jaws, I tried to concentrate on the approaching enemy.

Let them fire and get close, once in range, you swing your weapon and slice them apart. Keep the swings sharp and quick. When things get too hairy, fire you’re blunder bust and fall back.

If I stick to those tactics, then things would probably work well for all of us. Tunnel Raiders before me had used this tactic to great affect before, I sure as well hope it would work now.

Streaks of green beams flew pass me, as the changelings shot their glowing green balls of fire at us. We were told that our armor was specifically made to absorb these beams, keeping us safe from enemy fire no matter how many times they fired at us. But I didn’t believe them. Nopony did. Sure, maybe they could fend off one or two direct hits, but I was pretty sure that they can’t take them all. Because if they could, then the EDF would receive a lot less casualties than they usually do.

The thought of my armor not being up to the job was actually scaring me once more, as I felt my body shake at the thought. This made me realize that I was doing a lot more to scare myself than keeping my head on the mission.

One of the many shots fired by the changelings landed a couple of feet in front of me, causing me to yelp in fear and jump back in surprise. As I opened my mouth, the handle of my bladed weapon fell from my jaw’s grasp, as it went towards the floor. The sound of metal hitting the stone floor echoed, as it attracted the attention of the pony beside me.

“Hey, Rookie…” She said, not even turning her head to face me. “…try to keep it together here. I know this is your first time and all but, try to calm down, for Celestia’s sake. You know what they say I Basic, right? Fear is only on the side of the enemy when you let it get in to you. So just take a deep breath and calm down!”

Calm down? Easy for her to say. She had been doing this for a long time now and knew how to control her emotions.

From what I knew, Scarlet over there has served in five tunnel operations, which brought her to the deepest crevices of the changeling tunnel systems. Now, five combat operations may not sound a lot, but for any member of the Tunnel Raiders, five was plenty to make you a veteran. 
To survive one operation was a gift on its own, to survive five was a sign from Celestia herself.

But despite my initial hostility at her suggestion, I decided to do what she said and try to calm down. She was the veteran and I was the rookie. If I wanted to survive this, then I must follow every bit of advice they give me.

Just calm down. Think of nothing but you’re training.

Picking up my weapon, I could feel the heavy blade shake under my grip, as I once again held it between my jaws.

Made out of the strongest material and sharpened to the point that it could cut you by mere touch alone; the Standard Long Sword was the primary weapon for the Tunnel Raiders of the EDF. Sharp enough to cut through the strongest of armors and long enough to give some distance, for the user, against his or her attacker, the SLS was the perfect weapon for changeling hunting.

In tight confined areas, the sharp end of the weapon could be used for stabbing, while the swinging tactic was commonly used for more open spaces, one that were very similar to the situation we were currently in.

Having only used this weapon during training, I was completely nervous to actually use in now, in combat. The usually light sword no felt heavy, as my internal fears was starting to kill me from the inside.

I could see the horde only a couple of feet away, as I hear my teammates grunt, preparing to swing their deadly swords upon the changeling hoard.

Standard training told us that the swords were the weapons that we should use against the enemy, as it was an effective weapon that could hack and slash through hoards like this. In theory, the combination of blade and armor would keep our lines stable, enabling us to hold until somepony came to rescue us.

It was a good tactic and I’m sure it would have worked for me if I didn’t panic during that moment.

When I saw those pair of glowing eyes approach me, I felt my nerves break as I choose the wrong decision.

Instead of using my sword, I slowly backed away and fired my blunder bust upon the approaching hoard.

Attached to both sides of our sides of our armor’s side plating, the blunder bust was a one-shot and close range weapon, designed to spray dozens of little metal pellets upon a clustered force in front of you. Fired by removing the safety and pressing upon the trigger by nudging your legs backwards, the blunder bust was only used when somepony gets surrounded and needs to blast their way out or give covering fire to distract their enemy long enough for them to make a getaway.

But for me, none of these scenarios were the one I faced. For instead, I acted in pure panic that was a result of my fear. So, apparently they were right, fear is on the side of the enemy when you let it get to you.”

As my blunder bust went off, creating a loud bang inside the cavern, the sheer force of the weapons, plus my backwards movement, managed to push me a great deal backwards. Backwards till I tripped on a rock and fell on large a depression that I didn’t notice before.
With these caves carved by time and changelings, there were many area that a pony could easily trip on and fall. Apparently, I just happened to come across one of them. Luckily for me, it was only five feet deep.

The sounds of screaming and battle could be heard from the top, as the battle intensified.

With me gone from my position, the strong line of defense my platoon has created now had a gap, open for any changeling to breach. It would only be a matter of time before they were all overrun, unless the gap was filled.

So I acted quickly, by climbing up the small hole I fell in. But my attempt to get out was cut short, as something hit me and caused me to fall back down.

I ended up on the rocky floor, with something heavy squashing me, as it lay on top of me.

Opening my eyes, I began to see what the object on top of me was.

It was one of my platoon mates, hit by changeling fire and kicked down the very hole I was in. The area on which the shot hit was still warm, as I could feel heat emitting from it. Inspecting the hole on the armor, trying my best to see it with my visor, I saw burnt red fur sticking out from the edges of the hole. My eyes widening, I suddenly realized who this was.

Scarlet…

My heart immediately sunk as I felt the fear within me suddenly return.

If a seasoned veteran like her could easily die in a battle like this, then what are the odds for a rookie like me? All hopes of escaping this alive suddenly vanished, as I found myself trapped within a massacre.

Looking towards the top, I could still hear the sound of battle going on, as screaming and hisses echoed around.

Changelings jumping over the hole and attacking my platoon mates covered the sight that I saw, as I listened to the chaos unfolding.

Then, it was during that moment when I head a different voice.

“Yes! Kill them; leave not a single one alive.”

The loud booming sound of the voice echoed loud and clear, as I suddenly saw large feet stand by the edge of the hole I was in. Despite being a rookie, I clearly knew who it was, as anypony in Equestria recognized the leader of their number one enemy of Equestria. It was Queen Chrysalis!

Half of me told me to hide and make sure that she doesn’t see me in my hole.

But then I realized, what would that do? I was still trapped here, with no way out. If I hide, I still had no chance of getting away.
Instead, another force drove me, as I tried to position myself in the perfect angle. With one blunder bust still ready to use, I decided to give the changeling queen a little gift before my inevitable death. I tried to push the dead body of Scarlet away, so that I could get a clear shot of my target.

But this action made our armor hit each other, causing a clamping sound that attracted the queen’s attention. She looked down at me and stared, before her horn glowed, ready to send an attack at me.

The moment I fired was also the same moment she shot at me.

I didn’t really remember much of what happened next, other than the bright light that engulfed me.