It was Dusk in the Changeling occupied city of Canterlot. The metropolis started to glow eerily as lampposts and torches were being lit everywhere. This really didn't matter however as Changelings could see very well in the dark. Instead they were rather being lit as a formality to show that the city was still thriving, albeit under another banner.
In the Castle, the inside was silent and somber. With the occasional buzzing of Guard Drones patrolling the halls. The late sun was shining dimly through the windows of the dining hall, where two rather important Changelings were talking.
"I'm going to be honest with you, Colonel Web was probably the worst Drone Officer I've ever seen in my entire life. From one officer to another, I'd like to know how in the world were you ever able to deal with his stupidity in the first place?"
"Commander, to this day and very moment... I still have no idea!"
The dining hall burst into laughter after that statement. The two Changelings were having a wine-filled conversation with each other. Both were sipping the blissful liquid from the chalices each had in their magical grasp.
"I didn't actually expect quite a reaction from you about this General. Wasn't he one of your personal Underlings before being promoted to Colonel?"
The General sighed deeply in memory and smiled. "He was actually, I used see potential in him back when he was a Captain. He used to have a sort of persistence that unfortunately died the moment the Queen promoted him. He became greedy and reckless, he also had a temper that from what I've heard, played a detrimental role in his downfall..." The General sipped his wine and sighed in disappointment.
"As much as he was careless though, it brings me a small measure of sorrow upon his death."
"Indeed, the loss of a fellow comrade does bring grief. I propose a toast to what honor he had left in his name." The other officer suggested, raising his cup slightly.
"To Colonel Fang Web, may his mistakes never be repeated by anypony ever again." Both Changelings tapped their chalices together and finished off the rest of the wine they had.
After a few more minutes of friendly conversation the doors of the Dining hall opened to reveal Queen Chrysalis in a rather agitated mood. The two guard drones flanking her sides monitored the chamber impeccably, ready to spring into action should their Queen be under attack. Both Drone officers stood and greeted their Queen with light bows.
"Commander Mirid, General Stinger, will you two gentlebugs kindly tell me where in Tartarus is Lord Shiftwing?" She held an icy glare at the duo as they thought for a moment before General Stinger spoke up.
"Last I heard, he was in the barracks overseeing the soldiers we're taking to the South. I told him his inspections wouldn't be necessary but he persisted in checking anyway." Stinger ground his hoof onto the floor with boredom.
"He's always putting his muzzle into other Changeling's business. I don't like the way he works, nor I like the way he looks. I mean what use does that damn hat give him anyway! We have Celestia locked up in caves, why not just make her dim the sun a few shades!"
"Be quiet you fool! If word gets out that Celestia is still alive then the remaining ponies will surely rise up against us!" Chrysalis glared at Mirid as he took the stern warning well and shut his mouth.
Scoffing at the officer, Chrysalis turned to one of the windows of the dining hall. The Sun was slowly setting in the horizon, almost in a restrained way. The Queen gazed upon her kingdom with caution and uncertainty, something was bothering her beyond reason.
"But that's not the only issue with your remark earlier, you probably chose the worst Changeling to insult in the world! I'm surprised Shiftwing's managed to put up with that attitude of yours and not slice you to pieces like Cicada!" The two officers shivered at the memory of the mangled corpse that was once their commanding officer being dragged from a tower of the castle. Bloodstained and irritated, Shiftwing never spoke a word that day.
Mirid was now regretting his choices earlier, and started to pray to the Gods that Shiftwing didn't sense the insults he threw at him. The officer became fearful to the point he began glancing at all the dark corners and areas of the dining hall to check for the dark Lord of Lies.
The Queen sighed and marched her way back to the large seat at the end of the dining table. She plopped down and rested her head in her hooves. The four other Changelings waited patiently before Chrysalis popped her head up and turned to her guards.
"Send somepony to fetch Lord Shiftwing at once, have him meet us here immediately." Chrysalis ordered. The guards bowed deeply and turned to leave, the doors of the chamber opening and closing to signal their departure.
"So what exactly is going on with the Aurorian situation? From what I've heard it's not going well on the front."
"They've become a painful thorn in my side Mirid, no matter how many troops I keep sending to that Faust damn region less than half of them return alive, and that's not counting the climate either. As much as I hate to say it, the Aurorians have a small advantage over us!" Stinger sat up and banged his hooves onto the table, causing it to shake and spill some of the wine onto the pristine surface.
"I presume we're lucky that the ponies are still oblivious to what has been taking place in the South, who knows what'll happen if they start to rise against us." Chrysalis hypothesized.
"My Queen." The Commander announced. "As Captain of the Drone Guard, I'll see to it that if a rebellion does occur then I will crush it quickly, I'll execute any who dare resist our rule!" Mirid proclaimed.
"Unfortunately that's a problem Commander, we can't kill them all if they do because we need their love to keep supplying us with food, plus it would leave too much bloodshed and fear in the minds of the ponies to successfully feed off after such a traumatic event." Chrysalis explained, she buried her head in her hooves again in exhaustion.
"That leads to an impasse then eh? So then we should be focusing our efforts then into destroying the enemy as quickly as possible before any ideas of rebellion start taking root." Mirid announced.
"That's what we've been doing for the past few years though, and yet we still haven't gained any real footing onto enemy soil." The General explained, looking down in disappointment.
"Actually." Chrysalis interrupted. "Shiftwing is directing an operation I've helped plan to infiltrate the Aurorian Capital, whether it succeeds or not will determine the outcome of this conflict. Plus, he has a project that the Crafter Drones have been working on for him. He says it'll give us the edge in destroying this threat quickly. He just hasn't told me whether or not it's ready to be used.
"And what might he have in store for us now?"
"I don't know. All he ever did tell me about it was the project's name: Singe."
*Cough *Cough "couldhavecomeupwithsomethingbetter" *Cough *Cough
The doors to the dining hall opened once again, and this time a Changeling in a bloodstained lab coat and glowing blue goggles strode into the chamber with a serious expression. The smell of blood and roses filled the room as the scientist bowed to the Queen and the two officers.
"I'm afraid that's the name of the project whether you like it or not Dear Commander" Doctor Carapace replied in his oily voice.
"Dear Faust Carapace, would it kill you to wash that damn coat!" Stinger complained, retching at both the sight and smell.
The current apparel that the Doctor was sporting was covered with countless bloodstains from recent experiments. The Changeling Scientist still wore his safety goggles which glowed a light blue in the dimly lit dining chamber, the others could also see the many syringes and vials of blood and poison sticking from his pockets.
"Whatever do you mean General? I just washed this yesterday." Doctor Carapace replied, tilting his head confusingly.
"Ugh, that would explain the flowery scent with the blood." Mirid said, covering his nose with his hoof, until he realized he was still breathing through the holes in them.
"Can we not talk about how often I wash my lab coats and more on the project I was told to explain to you?"
"Very well Carapace, but we must wait for Lord Shiftwing, in the meantime can you please... freshen up?" The Queen asked.
"My Lord, I apologize for interrupting you at this moment but the Queen wishes to see you." The guard looked on as Shiftwing himself was currently training his sword skills with a few Changeling soldiers in the occupied Canterlot barracks.
"Tell the Queen I'll be at her disposal as soon as I'm finished with this business." He told the servant drone, the drone watched as Shiftwing entered the barrack's arena. Accompanied him were three massive looking Changeling soldiers that looked highly intimidating to lesser beings. Shiftwing noticed the presence of his opponents didn't bat an eye.
As soon as all fighters were in the arena a Drone sergeant entered the ring. He was rather small compared to the massive trio of Drone soldiers on one side of the arena and the tall Changeling noble who stood opposite the latter. All four of the fighters were greatly intimidating, yet the sergeant managed to speak in a dignified manner.
"This training match will be fought with stun-sabers, these training weapons will be used to prevent any lethal damage dealt either intentionally or accidentally with real swords." The sergeant held the training weapon up to present it to the lord and his adversaries. "A single strike of this to your opponent's body will result in a powerful charge of energy that will knock him out upon contact with the blade part. Magical projectiles will not be allowed in this fight as well." The drones were starting to look bored once the sergeant finished explaining the rules.
"Ready!" The sergeant shouted, Shiftwing was looking calm despite the trio of hulking opponents that faced him. He stretched his neck and ground his hooves onto the hard stone floor, awaiting the call to begin combat.
"Take Stance!" Each of the Changelings in the arena took a fighting stance. The other guards who were spectating the match cheered in favor of Shiftwing's opponents, wondering if they had what it took to beat the lord. Some were even betting bits as to who would win the match, most of them betting against the lord.
"En Garde!" At the sound of those words two of the drones took to the air with haste, while one of them remained on the floor of the arena and simply charged at the dark noble. The charging guard hollered out a thundering battlecry to try and paralyze Shiftwing with fear.
Which was a grave mistake.
With frightening speed, he quickly sidestepped to the right and avoided the forceful attack completely. He retaliated by quickly striking his opponent on the back with the butt of his weapon and elicited a pained grunt from him. With his cloak fluttering from the breeze of his movement, he smiled teasingly and beckoned the drone try the tactic again.
"Come on then. You can't be that weak after a single blow. Show me your true might." Shiftwing watched as his opponent gathered himself together and tried again to charge the lord. This time, igniting his horn with magic to maximize the force of impact.
"Imbecile..." Again Shiftwing stepped aside with little effort and let the guard gallop straight into the arena's wall behind him. Making a large hole in the stonework, he chuckled as the other soldiers laughed at the self knockout the guard performed on himself.
Shiftwing inspected the unconscious soldier before he remembered the other two that had taken to the air, he gazed up and realized one of them was about to dive-bomb to his level and strike while he was distracted. He thought out a strategy though, and as the drone came into close proximity he leaped into the air and easily evaded the powerful blow from his opponent. Once in the air he immediately rushed back and cleanly struck a blow to the head of his opponent, rendering him unconscious.
He sensed something wrong after, and quickly lifted his weapon to block a sudden attack made by the last enemy. This one was smart and began to move in an erratic and sophisticated pattern in an attempt to prevent the lord from predicting his moves.
"A very good tactic if I might say so myself, but you're doing nothing but wasting vital energy using it against me." Shiftwing calmly scanned his opponent, he saw that even while the drone was trying to hide it, he was becoming increasingly tired from moving around so quickly. He could now hear light panting coming from his enemy and noticed his movements slowing down. Shiftwing raised his brow in curiosity and moved closer to his opponent calmly.
The drone was now looking tired, as it could barely keep up its erratic movements in order to confuse the lord. With almost little effort, Shiftwing raised his foil and knocked his opponent's weapon from his grasp. Disarmed and exhausted, the drone admitted defeat and bowed to show his surrender.
Shiftwing nodded at the gesture and prepared to exit the arena, only to jump back to avoid a powerful attack from the drone who plowed himself into the wall earlier. Shiftwing shook his head and mumbled in disappointment while returning to his fighting stance.
Now recovered from earlier, Shiftwing's opponent started to slash recklessly with the training foil, attempting to overpower the lord with the ferocity of his strikes. Shiftwing himself smiled lightly and proceeded to evade and parry each and every blow the attacker tried to land on him. Each time the training swords of each fighter met, a loud and sharp pitched clang was heard. Each guard watching the spectacle was amazed with how the lord was managing to easily outmatch his much bigger adversaries.
Tiring of this game, Shiftwing proceeded to strike back with his weapon. The Drone barely managed to block multiple accurate jabs and swipes by the Lord. This angered the drone greatly, due to the fact that he hadn't landed a single hit on Shiftwing despite his best efforts. After many more strikes Shiftwing sensed a golden opportunity and let his guard down purposely, displaying a menacing grin at the same time.
Puzzled by the lord's sudden move, the drone took the bait and thrust forward to deal a good stab to Shiftwing's open front. With another display of supernatural speed, Shiftwing quickly evaded the attack and without further warning struck the drone square in the muzzle. This instantly knocked out Shiftwing's last opponent and ended the "training" match. When the referee entered the fighting ring again, he quickly buzzed over and checked the trio of unconscious soldiers for any real damage done. The guard from earlier was still waiting for the lord by the entrance, when he caught notice of Shiftwing incoming he stepped back in slight fear.
"Where am I to be expected by the Queen?"
"The dining hall my Lord, she wished to see you at once." It replied. Shiftwing quickly trotted past the Drone with haste and disappeared into the shadows.
"So Doctor, I've heard that one of your abominations have been successful for once?" Mirid questioned.
Carapace grew excited as his goggles glowed a brighter blue than usual and scoffed at the officer, "I would hardly call it a monstrosity Commander, we're fitting our subject with the very best of stealth technology available to us, this will greatly enhance its efficiency in quietly disposing of key targets without revealing its position or compromising the mission. It's perhaps the crowning achievement of the Crafter Division of Changelings." Carapace boasted.
"Well if your creation is so great then why in Tartarus aren't we using it against the Aurorians already? Or better yet, why aren't we using it to enforce our rule over these pathetic ponies!" Mirid yelled.
"While we are trying to form it into a perfect assassin, it is currently extremely volatile to both friend and foe alike. It's not one of those weapons were we can just point and destroy, rather we turn it loose on the battlefield and get as far out of range as possible. If we let it loose onto the streets the entire city will be leveled in a matter of minutes. I am sure that if-"
"If that's the case then you should be fixing this! Are you not a Drone of Science! Fix it!" Mirid interrupted. Carapace was now starting to look very annoyed with the pompous Drone officer.
Once more, the doors of the dining hall opened and in stepped Lord Shiftwing. With a tip of his wide-brimmed hat he greeted the Queen and the others.
"You're late Shiftwing. I'm sure that your inspections went well?" Stinger questioned.
"They are weak, slow-minded, and complete imbeciles... this will do well with the next stages of my operation." Shiftwing answered. A servant Drone had entered the room and placed a tea tray in front of Shiftwing, the servant levitated the kettle with its magic and poured a steady stream of the steamy substance into the Teacup which sat before the Lord. With a thank you from the Lord, the Drone left the chamber and Shiftwing started sipping his drink.
"Tea? Why don't you have a real drink like some of this wine-"
"Silence Commander, I'd like a few moments to enjoy this. Besides, I don't drink from a dead drone's liquor, it's undignified." Shiftwing replied, sipping the hot tea preciously. Mirid kept silent but wondered how in Tartarus did he know he stole the wine from Web's stockpile.
"I doubt the Doctor is finished speaking about my project" Shiftwing spoke, he glanced at Carapace who took the hint.
"As I was saying earlier, while we've managed to grow and stabilize the creature into such a deadly form, we've had problems where it refuses to follow orders or kill anything, almost as if it retained a measure of sentience still."
"Yes, I've seen this problem first hand... I trust that you'll fix this in due time, won't you Doctor? Shiftwing asked.
"Your patience is greatly appreciated Lord Shiftwing, I'll have the issue dealt with in a timely matter. If I'm not pestered by any annoyances..." The doctor adjusted his goggles and glanced at Mirid grimly.
The Drone Commander himself looked upon Carapace with disdain at the insult and muttered a curse at the Lab Drone. Carapace however, had a neutral expression on his face after announcing his statement. Though the others could see he was enjoying the restrained anger Mirid was harboring while loathing in his seat.
Chrysalis seemed more and more intrigued about Carapace's experiment as she listened to the conversation, she finally sat up a bit and voiced her concern. "I'm curious Carapace... You mentioned before that the creature retained its sentience? Was the subject once an actual sentient being before you decided to experiment with it?"
Carapace remained silent until he finally replied after a few moments. "I-I'll leave that question for Lord Shiftwing to answer My Queen."
Chrysalis turned to Shiftwing in curiousity, the Lord set his teacup down and cleared his throat to explain. "While the subject's origin looked Draconian in nature, the Swarm Division had injured the creature almost to point of death. We found it during the Canterlot Invasion in a state where we just couldn't identify it's species from the amount of injuries it sustained. Even when we did manage to heal and restore it, it's mental state was shattered beyond comprehension. A mix of anger, sadness, fear, and grief was all that we could sense from the dreadful thing."
"When Lord Shiftwing brought it to me he mentioned it would be a kindness to kill it and be done with it. I saw potential though, and through my experiments with it, I made it into the killing machine it is now."
"It's tragic... how far we've fallen from grace..." Stinger mused.
"The perks of that however is that we can't fall any further though. I will be in my laboratories continuing to work on the subject and "improve" on his capacity to follow instructions, if I'm needed send a Drone down." Carapace then stood from his seat, leaving a bloodstain on the chair.The Changeling Scientist almost started to slither away from the table as the doors opened for him to exit.
"I suppose that I should get back to overseeing the city..." Mirid thought out loud. He excused himself from the table and trotted to the balcony. Moonlight was now the only thing to be seen in the sky, the stars themselves seemed to had disappeared with Celestia's rule. Without even a goodbye, Mird buzzed his wings and took off into the night sky.
"I'm going to retire now, we have a long journey to the Antarctic ahead of us, and I want as much rest as I can get." Stinger stood from the table and trotted to the exit of the dining hall. The doors emitting a resounding boom from his rough opening of them.
"So, how's our operation going?"
"I'll have to check..." Shiftwing used his magic and took the communication crystal from his pocket and activated it. The image of two Changeling twins appeared on the surface and bowed to the Lord.
"Report"
"The first agent has been successfully inserted into enemy ranks, awaiting orders for the next infiltrator unit."
"Excellent, remember to be patient with this, and that not all of your Underlings may survive."
"Yes Lord Shiftwing, we will be sending our next agent very soon."
"See to it that he is placed close to the Elements. I want somepony monitoring them at all times."
The Twin Changelings both bowed to the Lord before ending the magical link between the crystals. Shiftwing held his head and grunted in pain for a brief moment before placing the crystal back into the confines of his cloak.
"You should have Carapace examine that later, to me it looks like you're growing weaker."
"Later, for now we have more important matters on our hooves..."