He hit the soft ground and the first thing he felt was the cold, wet fluids dripping off his coat. He managed to get the liquid out of his eyes. He opened them to a dimly lit room with layers of hay covering the floors. With a cold breeze came a sharp pain, pulling his hoof to his forehead. He felt an unfamiliar horn pointing crookedly out from his own head. As if in response, a jittering noise startled him from behind. He felt something crawling on his back. Turning to look behind him, he saw an unfamiliar, black coat with insectoid wings jutting out at him. His head spun back around but the room didn’t stop. Among all the thoughts and feelings churning his stomach, the sounds in his head rang out a single word: Changeling. He collapsed into the soft hay.
At the edge of his vision, clouded by the pain coursing through his entire body, he saw a door at the end of the room appear with light glowing around it. It swung open, and two changelings approached him. They picked him up off the ground and helped him get his bearings. They led him out of the room, and into the bright light of day. The young changeling watched the guard trot around him and close the barn door.
“Umm...” the young changeling started before losing his words to the confusion of his own voice. He tried to ignore how strange it was. “Where am I?” It wasn't working.
“You're in a small town near the kingdom’s border,” the changeling on his right replied as it guided him over a small hill overlooking the settlement. “You've been asleep for a while, haven't you?”
The changeling sighed. “I wouldn't know... I can't remember anything.”
“That’s good!” it said with a smile. “That means you have less to care about than most other drones!”
“Drones?”
“Recruits,” it explained. Its smile grew larger. “You'll understand soon enough.”
The changelings nodded at one another. The guard and the recruit continued down the trail, and soon approached the town. All the buildings seemed decrepit or destroyed in their own right. At the other side of town, a large crowd of changelings had gathered.
“What's going on over there?” Drone asked.
The guide shrugged. “Hard to say with how quiet this place usually is. For all I know, a couple changelings are just fighting each other with sticks.”
The guide looked up toward the sky for a moment.
“Of course!” it yelled into the changeling’s ear. “She is probably here!” His happiness turned to horror. “Oh, crap! She’s already here!”
“Who?”
The changeling guide grabbed the recruit and pulled him off to the side. He carefully brushed the dirt off the recruit and gently smacked away some leftover goop from behind the recruit’s ear.
“She's gonna kill me...”
“What?”
The crowd parted as a group of changelings stepped through, led by one wearing a helmet and a saddle. Both pieces of armor had a “V” carved into them. Its left eye was missing. The changeling guide gulped down his frown as the armored one approached.
“Verdugo!” the guide exclaimed.
Verdugo stuck a hoof up to silence him. “Is this the breeder I was promised?” she growled in an oddly feminine voice.
“Oh... Yeah! Sure!” The guide chuckled nervously as it prodded the drone forward. “Yep! Trained in the womb, as they say!”
Verdugo glared at the guide. “You mean to tell me this one has no personal experience?”
It reluctantly nodded. “But he’s--”
Verdugo smacked the guide to the ground. “I lost my eye to a liar like you! How dare you dishonor me with this!”
“I didn’t mean to... The cocoons...” Fear and pain ran his words short. A hoof to the chest turned him over and silenced him for even longer.
Verdugo turned to the drone and looked him over. She threw her hoof toward his snout. He instinctively chomped down on it. Verdugo didn’t even wince as the drone immediately released her from his mistake. There was a strange, green substance on her hoof. She licked it off, then spat it out.
“Not as strong a taste as I’d prefer, but you’ll have to do,” she half-snarled. She smiled. “Come along, then...”
Drone fell in line with the three other changelings led by Verdugo. They trotted beyond the reach of the crowd before spreading their wings and taking to the skies. Drone’s wings took him up with them, carrying him as though he had always known how to fly. They made their way across a vast forest separating the dusty town from the rest of the kingdom. The drone’s eyes focused on Verdugo.
“There are rumors that there’s some kind of ‘pony resistance’ hiding out down there!” one of the changelings chirped.
Verdugo turned her eye back toward them. “If there was ever any truth to it, that forest would be routed in seconds.”
“But none of our scouts ever come back! Don’t you think--”
“There are more dangerous things in this world than ponies and changelings, private!” Verdugo snarled back. “Dragons, timberwolves, manticores, the hydra...” She shook her head. “Glamorize that forest all you want, but those deaths were for nothing. If you really think ponies are hiding down there, you’re welcome to die with them.”
“Sheesh...” Drone winced. He looked down at the trees for a moment, raising his head just in time to catch a glimpse of worry in Verdugo’s eye.
“I am not a cruel person, recruit,” Verdugo explained. “I hold no scorn for those who threw their lives away so carelessly. At least they had a choice. At least when they traversed into the forest, they could tell themselves how dead they were about to be.” She sighed. “We changelings always capture our prey alive, but that’s not always been our way.” She shook her head. “Imagine sitting in your own home, and hearing death beat a path to your door.” She giggled anxiously. “You wave it off because nothing bad has ever happened there before.” She slowly nodded. “I wiped out two rival hives for Chrysalis to get my position.”
“Since when were you ever sentimental, Verdugo?” another changeling asked a high pitch chirp.
“What are you on about?” she growled back.
“I’m just saying...” It snickered. “You seem to care a lot about those freaks you've killed.”
“I'm a great general,” Verdugo explained. “But that doesn't make my own troops immortal as well...”
“Yeah, but... All that talk about dying at home...” a changeling with a deeper tone added.
“Exactly. That fear motivated a lot of changelings to join Chrysalis again. I became their general, and inherited their woes.”
The changeling nodded. “Understandable.”
The trees rumbled below them for a moment with a deep growl.
“Let's pick up the pace, yeah?” the third changeling called out from the back.
“Why bother?” Verdugo argued. “Sun’ll be down in a few hours and the checkpoint is coming up.” She looked down at the rumbling trees. “I don't know about you, but I prefer this company to some of the guys we'll see there.”
“Hey, Verdugo,” the first changeling piped up again. “You still haven't filled us in on our mission...” It glanced at the new drone. “Why’d we need a new recruit?”
She glared back at him.
It shrugged back. “I mean... It's probably best if we don't go into a mission blind.”
“Well that's too bad,” Verdugo said as the checkpoint appeared on the horizon. “Because the decision not to brief you isn't mine. The Great Queen Chrysalis simply put these points on our map. We rest at this checkpoint, head to the castle in the morning, and then the mission begins.”
“But what's the mission?”
“That remains to be seen.”
The sun was setting on the horizon as the team landed at the checkpoint. It was once a small pony camp at the edge of the Everfree; now the changelings had taken it over and it stood as a resting place for those who had no better place to be. A sign was posted at the perimeter, scrawled on with different hoofwritings:
“It has been 0 days since the last timberwolf attack.”
“Get it together, you idiot!”
“Why do we even HAVE this sign?”
The third changeling sighed. “Please tell me we won't get wrapped into pest control... Again.”
“You really think Chrysalis thinks that lowly of Her best general? Having us take care of a few wolves just to be able to sleep at night?” the second argued.
“Would you idiots just shut up already?” Verdugo sternly suggested. “If Chrysalis didn't want us to know the mission She sure as heck doesn't want everyone questioning it, so keep quiet and try to act professional.”
Her team finally stayed quiet for more than a minute. They kept their eyes open for any form of shelter that could exist in such a dump. The other changelings around seemed more ragged than those from official towns and colonies. Many of them carried the scars of timberwolf attacks, one of them being held down and screaming with fresh wounds as the others tried to patch it up.
“The more places I see like this, the less I believe that anything can live in that forsaken forest...” Verdugo noted.
“You!” a changeling chirped from their flank. “You're Verdugo!” It approached the team excitedly.
“Calm down, pal!” Verdugo put a hoof to it. “We're here on official business.”
“Well of course!” It chuckled. “You're here to deal with that rogue changeling, right?”
Verdugo stopped. “Rogue changeling?”
“Yeah! The bastard’s in the forest! He keeps sending those wretched timberwolves after us. You've got to stop them...”
Verdugo’s eye twitched.
“Since when can changelings control animals?” the recruit asked.
The resident crooked his head.
Verdugo crooked her head back. “Well?”
It snapped out of its trance. “Yeah... some guy called ‘Shadow Beast’ told the Queen that he could tame the Everfree for Her.” It gestured toward the screaming changeling. “You can see how that's been working out.”
“‘Shadow Beast?’ Really?”
The changeling shrugged. “He's an immigrant from Equestria. Came with that name and apparently the talents of mastering the Everfree.” It shook its head. “Now, I'm not sure what to believe.”
“Well, don't worry...” Verdugo smiled. “We'll sort this out first thing tomorrow.” She gestured to her team. “We've been traveling all day and need a place to sleep.”
The resident nodded. “Alright. Come with me.” It guided them to a makeshift shack at the edge of town, as far away from the forest as possible. “It's the best place in town. You being next to royalty means your team are more than welcome to stay here for free.” It gestured toward the door. “Have a good rest. I'll go spread the word that these attacks’ll finally end tomorrow.” It trotted off.
“Whatever,” Verdugo said, shrugging it off. She turned to her team. “Come on, let's get some rest.”
They trotted inside to find several mounds of hay making up the beds. Verdugo took the one in the corner and began removing her armor.
“So, is this really necessary?” one of the soldiers spoke up. “Isn't stopping some freak in the forest going to hurt our time?”
“Oh please.” Verdugo laughed. “Beast is just an idiot. I've dealt with him before.” She smiled in recollection. “I took this request for old time’s sake.” She shook her head. “I still remember... We had taken over Canterlot. My troops intercepted reinforcements, which were lead by a pony princess. Heh... She was easy. Changelings had already made up half of her team and quickly ‘persuaded’ her to surrender. Then Beast shows up. He had to have his pony form forcibly removed, the poor fool. He pleaded for his life like a frightened child, claiming he had some talents with healing and nature. We took him to the Queen for judgement. She just let him go, telling me She expects him dead in the forest within a week.” She shrugged. “That was a few months ago. I guess I'm a bit curious to see what happened.”
“And what if this gets one of us hurt or worse?”
“Then it's a learning experience.”
The team slowly nodded at her outlook and picked out their beds. The moon appeared in the sky through the holes in the shack’s ceiling.
One by one, the troop fell asleep.