Chapter 1
“Hey, wakey wakey, fucko!” Said a voice and The changeling on the floor was awakened with a swift kick to his gut.
“Oof!”
“Get the fuck up, shithead!” He cracked his glowing blue eyes open to see a copper colored pony with a red mane glaring down at him with angry hazel eyes. He reached down and grabbed the Changeling by the collar, dragging him off the ground. Over the pony’s shoulder he could see a diamond dog standing behind him and a griffon sitting in the background, the light of a cigarette visible as the smell of tobacco and mold filled his nose in the dingy cement room.
“Well lookie here, we got ourselves a fancy fuckin’ officer of the queen.”
He says upon spotting a tattoo on the changeling’s neck of his family crest and his rank.
“All hail to queen bitch, right?” The pony asked sarcastically and gave the changeling a hard jab in the jaw.
“Fuck you.” The changeling swung his rear legs at the pony, getting his front hooves on the wall, and kicking the equine off of him. The pony went tumbling backwards, tripping over his own hooves and falling to his haunches.
“Glad one of you pricks knows how to fight for once.” The pony sprung up to go at him again, only to be grabbed roughly by the shoulder by the diamond dog.
“Don’t be a fool, you heard what she said to us.” The pony glared at him. “Keep out of it, it’s not like you dogs are any better.”
“He at least had the honor not to attack someone who was out cold.” The changeling remarked.
“I’ll get to you later, you fucking mosquito.” The pony turned back to the diamond dog.
“If you’re government weren’t our allies I would have wanted to go to war with you too. Your leaders a fuckin’ psycho.”
The canine growled at him.
“You ponies are puny and cocky, we would wipe you out easily.”
“Bullshit!” The pony yelled and leaped at the diamond dog but he was caught around the neck and lifted with just one paw, being forced against the wall. The pony coughed as the wind was knocked out of him.
“I can crush your trachea right now.”
“Enough!” The griffon took a final drag on his cigarette before smothering the end against the wall behind him. He stood up, displaying his much larger size compared to the pony and changeling, however slightly smaller than the diamond dog.
“Naydenov, release him, now.”
He said with an air of authority and the dog snarled but complied and dropped the pony who held his throat and looked at the dog with a scowl. The griffon stepped forward into the light, revealing his emerald eyes that glared with ferocity and a scar that barely missed his right one.
“No one here is perfect, and very far from it.” He turned to the diamond dog.
“Your government offers equality, but they take away freedoms.” He went on the changeling.
“Your queen is a fucking tyrant whose only goal is world domination.” He went to his final target, the pony.
“And you all are over-privileged, have too much money, and are too cocky to realize your own vulnerability.”
The three individuals glared at each other silently.
“Now all of you are going to shut the fuck up because none of that shit matters anymore. We are in this together wether we like it or not.”
“Fine Lachlan, whatever you say.” The pony grumbled.
“Oh, pout away, Brass, like I give a shit.” The griffon replied. Both the pony and diamond dog gave each other a look of animosity before leaving to sit in opposite corners of the dark room.
“Now then…” The Griffon went on and sat in a chair in front of the changeling, grabbing another cigarette from his pack and trying to light it with a lighter.
“Do you smoke?” He asks and the changeling stares at him, frustrated and confused.
“Who are you and where am I?” He asks angrily.
“Pardon me, how rude of me. I’m Officer Lachlan of the Gryphus Air Force, the pony who just throttled you was Corporal Brass Knuckles of the Equestrian Military, and the dog is Sergeant Naydenov of Barkcelona’s Infantry and you are?“
“Officer Konstantin, and I think you know where my allegiance lies.” The changeling replied.
“Of course, of course, well welcome to our little group of hateful bastards. ” He extended his talon and the changeling shakes it hesitantly.
The changeling looks at the room.
“Where am I? What’s going on?”
Lachlan gave a half smirk.
“To be honest I barely know myself, apparently it’s an experiment of some kind. See if a group of people who really hate each other can survive.”
He finished his sentence with a long drag from his cigarette.
“Well what’s keeping us from killing each other?”
The changeling asked as he began to get up but stopped and gasped.
“Ow.” He said and grabbed his chest and stopped in his tracks, looking down at a little scar.
“That.” He says and opens up his own uniform to show him a scar of his own down his front.
“They set up a machine in our hearts that are linked together with some sort of spell or radio or something. If one of us dies it stops the valves in our hearts from opening and we die.” He says simply.
“Or some sort of bullshit like that, I’m just telling you what she said.”
“Quit playing the pronoun game and tell me who you’re talking about!” The changeling replies with fury.
“Some cunt scientist who was talking to us early on the speaker system of this place. I don’t know who the cunt is I just know that she wants us to go through this and if we don’t we all die.”
“So what are we supposed to do? Sit in this room until someone unlocks the door?”
“As far as we have been told on the intercom, that’s what we’re doing.”
“How is this even an accurate experiment? The three of you are allies, I’m your one enemy here.”
“The term “allies” doesn’t necessarily mean friends, doesn’t even mean we like each other. We could loathe each other and still be on the same side of a fight. In fact we do. Besides, I don’t think she cares. Bottom line, that’s all the information we have about all this. Feel free to socialize, or don’t, to be frank I don’t give a shit, just gotta say one thing.” Lachlan says and takes another puff of his cigarette.
“Don’t die.”