Imbalanced

by Nameless Narrator

Invaders: A Little Hiccup

[Blazing's Entry]

...

Nervous. Sweating. Nauseous. Scared.

Invasion is over, Equestria is saved. Bigger problem is incoming.

She's looking at me. Are we an item now or what? I mean it would be nice but can I actually do it?

I've been doing nothing but blackmailing ponies, fighting and running away for past year. Returning back to training rookie guards... can I even do it?

If she was serious when the rift closed then it means I have to do something for her. Backrub, breakfast in bed?

Something more?!

Bedroom thing-

NOTE: Restock on pencils.

[End Entry]

---

I knew it was all too good to be true. Once again I believed things might go my way and I might squeeze out few nice weeks with Chokey before she would inevitably leave me for somepony better. How could I have forgotten about whatever was following me after the Nightmare world?

Despite everything I'm an incurable optimist apparently. And an idiot.

Focus!

Right.

I don't hear any voices outside. There is no panic, no screams, not a sound. Nopony is talking. On a train full of soldiers and other ponies coming back to Canterlot that is the only clue I need to know that something is wrong. Aside from feeling the presence of Nightmare changelings of course.

I peek through the coupé door. Nothing. I'm not surprised as this part of the train is the one with coupés instead of being filled with small half-open booths and any sound would be muffled enough anyway.

So... there is nothing and nopony in the walkway.

*Thud*

The sound behind me inside the coupé makes me turn and I immediately slam the door when I see Chokey on the floor, a faint trail of magic swirling around her.

Sleep spell. Standard Nightmare changeling tactic.

Forced sleep is more a natural ability than magic but the traces are there and I wake her up easily.

"Whazz g'in on?" she mumbles and then sits up, fully awake from my touching her head.

"The train is under attack by changelings who put a sleep spell on everypony I think. Can you stay awake?"

"I-I guess," she says, still trying to digest the information.

"Good. Betty will stay here with you and I'll go investigate."

"Is it a good idea?" asks the Element.

"The best one I have. Chokey isn't used to the changeling presence and might not resist their magic easily so you will have to repeatedly wake her up and defend her if worst comes to worst. I can deal with being outnumbered and if the real worst case happens and Nightmare Moon herself is here then you wouldn't help anyway."

I can almost see the Element scowling but the fact is that even with one of the Elements of Harmony Nightmare Moon was impossible to fight.

Choking falls back down on her face.

I nod to Betty and leave. Looking into other private suites proves uneventful. With no changelings in sight I creep as fast as I can towards the front of the train. If the train runs out of coal then it will stop in the middle of frozen tundra where the changelings will be able to feed off of their victims without risk, at least until another train rams into this one.

The suites are safe then, at least for now, so I sneak into another car which is designed for general public and soldiers.

The booth to the right!

A dark green blur hides behind the wooden planks dividing the sets of four chairs in each booth. Fortunately for me, most ponies and other creatures have no clue about the flexibility, reach and grabbing ability of my arm and I reach through the empty space serving as an entrance behind the 'wall' without exposing myself and pull out a creature smaller than me.

It looks like a standard changeling drone, only dark green, bigger and with normal eyes which are light blue though, apparently some changeling traits are impossible to get rid of.

Its jaw drops when it looks at my face and its entire body goes limp.

"Help please, my king," it squeaks.

"Movement in that car!" comes from the entrance on the other side of the train car.

A military sounding voice. Perhaps the soldiers are fighting off the changelings?

I roll into the booth still gripping the changeling who isn't resisting in the slightest.

"What's going on?" I whisper.

"T-the firstborn went to look for you and we followed. She worked out the travelling spell from apprentice Trixie's notes and we've been jumping to find you."

"The spell was supposed to work only for me. How did you use it?"

"I don't know," he whispers and squirms helplessly, "I don't understand it."

"Alright. Why were you looking for me?"

"Our entire world is dead. Nightmare Moon let us feed until there was no living being left and then we began starving. We're the only ones left and the firstborn decided that we need to find our king who is responsible for our creation. It was that or staying in the world full of rocks."

That'll have to wait. The steps are getting closer.

"We'll talk about this later. Now stay quiet!" I order and the changeling, released from my grip, gets ready to jump at whatever is coming our way.

In a flash of steel a sword buries itself in the wooden plank next to my head and I don't wait for it to be retrieved.

Jumping outside I swipe with my claw which screeches when met with heavy armor of a unicorn who is trying to use his magic tu pull the sword free. Unfortunately there's three of the soldiers and the second soldier, also a unicorn, is armed with a crossbow which sends a bolt straight at me from behind.

Twitching to the side, I feel a splatter of blood when the bolt pierces the armor of the stuck unicorn and then hear a scream when the changeling's fangs bite through the other unicorn's platemail.

"TWO HOSTILES IN THE CIVILLIAN CAR!" screams the third pony of the group before I jump at him and pummel his face.

Looking back, I see the changeling ready to bite through his victim's neck.

"Don't you dare!" I bark at him.

To my surprise he backs off.

"Yes, my king."

"How many of you are here?" I ask.

"Twenty."

I might have been thinking about this in a completely wrong way.

Yea. I don't think these guys are an invading force trying to eat another world.

"Can you contact them somehow? Normal changelings can use the hive network to communicate over short distances."

"Yes, I can."

"Then tell them to gather in the train car where private coupés are and find the one where there is a flying sword and a black batpony with red mane."

"How does the place look?"

"Huh?"

"We've never been here before. I don't know what a train or a coupé is and some of us have already been captured and killed."

"Damn! Go that way then," I point to the entrance to the car where I came from, " then keep going and looking into the small rooms until you see anything resembling what I said and try to look as non-threatening as possible or you'll die. Tell whoever is inside that you're looking for Betty and Chokey and tell them you met me. Then call every changeling there. I'll keep going through the train because your sleep spell will get us killed if I don't."

"Really? I can tell the others to disperse it but it will still take some time for ponies to wake up."

"Then do it," I say and leave the worried changeling.

Can he be trusted?

It's a risk but he seemed to be telling the truth.

You're risking Chokey's life.

Not really. Nightmares don't kill their victims, they just feed until the sleepers die of starvation. If the train stops then everypony will get hurt. I'm more worried about the soldiers who think I'm one of the 'attackers'.

Hiding every few steps, I keep going to the front of the train. I throw away my caution when I see an armored earthpony with a sword locked around his leg defending a unicorn with military decorations on his helmet from five changelings.

"BACK OFF!" I yell and when the changelings notice me they jump away from the soldiers.

I was sort of hoping that would happen. Apparently the changeling wasn't just blowing smoke.

As soon as I take another step forward I'm tackled from the sides by two more soldiers. Struggling with all my might, I'm still not able to shake off two guys in platemails.

The changelings growl and bare their fangs when any of the soldiers approaches them but don't attack. The soldiers don't push their advantage aside from dragging me towards their obvious commander.

I don't like my position so I decide to change it as soon as I can. I stop struggling and when I'm close enough to the commander I pull backwards, surprising the soldiers and then rush forward and tackle the leader.

I realize my mistake when the point of the earthpony's sword scratches the inside of my ear. These guys apparently know about changeling armor hardening enough to score a fatal blow if they can.

And that they could use one of their group to pose as a commander while the real leader is disguised as a soldier.

In my defense, I didn't have time to think things through.

"Fancy seeing you here, sargeant," says a smug voice of the earthpony and the sword leaves the inside of my ear.

The earthpony looks familiar. Eyepatch, custom made sword locking around his leg, grey coat.

I release the fake commander from my grip and stand up, facing the earthpony's chest. Damn it!

"Solid Steel, commander of the If-I-told-you-I'd-have-to-kill-you," he salutes and smiles.

"Ah, the secret service," I remember, "It's been a while, Solid. So... am I gonna die?"

"Nope, I didn't tell you anything," he grins, "It was longer for you from what I was told. The princesses sent us to keep an eye on you."

"How nice of them. In what case were you supposed to kill me?" I ask innocently.

"Only if you began eating the civilians along with the train, sir," Solid winks.

"Fine by me. If I get hungry I'll just nibble at the engine a little. One of the changelings told me you captured some of them."

"Yes, we have their leader. Want to see her?"

"Yea. In the meantime, there are few of your guys sleeping throughout the train for a different reason than the sleep spell. One of them has a crossbow bolt in the chest. Leave the changelings alone for now, they won't attack you. Then find Choking Darkness in the private coupés along with the rest of the changelings. If you harm a single one of them then you'll have to face something terrible."

"What?" asks one of the soldiers skeptically.

"Me," I say calmly and before I finish I'm standing in front of him with one claw an inch from his face where it isn't covered by his helmet.

The soldiers look at Solid who just nods and then gestures me to follow him.

He opens a locked bathroom from which a bigger and tied changeling falls to the ground. From the first glance it's obvious that she's a queen-type changeling.

Her chitin is dark blue and her mane and tail are of a lighter shade of the same color. She's way smaller than queen Chrysalis and when she looks at me I get a glimpse of her sapphire blue eyes.

A horrible suspicion races through me when I look at her black belly armor with thin bronze streaks through it. She blushes when she catches me examining her.

"Hi, dad!" is the confirmation of my worst fears.

Comments

[Acsvf]

Finally!
Congrats!
oi57.tinypic.com/2wel0ft.jpg

[Nameless Narrator]

6544377 WHAT?! WAIT, WHAT? That's a joke, right? I haven't got any message or anything about it. WHAT? AAAAAAAAAAH!

Alright, if it's real and not just my half-insane head playing tricks on me, then you've made my day by showing me this because I would have completely missed it.

Okay, I'm literally just sitting here and staring at the screen like an idiot :D

Never expected anything like this to happen. Wow...

[Anonymous Critic]

6545584
Welp, I figure it's from the high like/dislike ratio.

[JazzyWaffles]

"T-the firstborn went to look for you and we followed. She worked out the travelling spell from apprentice Trixie's notes and we've been jumping to find you."

Fuck. That's dozens of universes potentially dead.

"Hi, dad!" is the confirmation of my worst fears.

PFFFFFT