107. Return to Trotsdale
With the help of a friendly changeling infiltrator assigned to guide me by Mantis, it's not long until I find my way back to the entrance of the hive. Heh, can I just say that 'friendly' is not an adjective that I ever thought I'd be putting together with anything relating to changelings? It's really odd, flying behind this drone. My hands twitch; I still feel like I should be fighting it rather than letting it guide me. Well, I guess it's a him, considering infiltrators can talk. Not that this one has said anything to me other than a simple “Follow me.”
The changeling leads me back through the tunnels, towards the tiny crevice that leads back out into the badlands, where the sun is starting to set. Well, technically I should call it changeling territory now. I wonder what Chrysalis will end up calling her country? It's not like she can do something like similar to Griffonia, and name it Changelingia or something. That just sounds dumb. Chrysalidia? That's a bit egotistical, but I wouldn't put it past her.
“My Queen has a sense of humor,” the infiltrator grumbles, squeezing out through the crevice after I do so myself. I raise an eyebrow, wondering why he's following me, when all Mantis told him to do was lead me out.
“Yeah, a really sick one,” I retort as the infiltrator pops out next to me. "I'm guessing that's not what you're talking about, though.”
“No, it isn't. You don't remember me, do you?” the infiltrator prompts me. I give him an exasperated stare.
“Gee, you tell me. You all look the fucking same! I can't be expected to remember every single changeling I meet,” I tell him flatly. The changeling clicks its chitinous jaws together, blinking. I can't read their expressions like I can a pony's, but I'm guessing he's annoyed.
“I guess not,” the changeling groans. He reaches up with his hoof and rubs his head. “You and the pony with the rainbow mane gave me a concussion, back during the invasion.”
“Rainbow and I? Well, that narrows it down. Let's see...the number of infiltrators we fought together must have been...hell, I don't fucking know,” I snap, getting impatient. “Look, I can't stick around. I need to get back to Trotsdale before the enemy gets there.”
“Good. The sooner we get going, the better,” the infiltrator agrees, taking to the air as I do. I give him an incredulous stare.
“You're not coming with me, are you?” I demand, flying back over the rock formations in the direction of the mountain pass.
“Yes. If you'd have let me finish earlier, I'd have told you that my Queen has ordered me to accompany you back to the front and assist you in battle,” the infiltrator explains, following me through the air. Ugh, I guess this means I have a traveling companion; a very creepy,insectoid companion that I still want to punch just on principle. “I'm to be her eyes and ears, to gauge the level of threat that we are going to be dealing with.”
“I guess that makes sense...but how did Chrysalis order you? I never even saw her speak to you,” I question curiously.
The infiltrator taps his head with a toothy grin. “It comes with being a changeling,” he answers cryptically. He doesn't seem to want to elaborate more on that either, he just falls silent and follows me through the pass, towards where Dodge Junction is no doubt getting ready for nightfall.
When we fly over town, some of the guards look up and freak out, pointing their hooves and yelling to one another. It's not so much at the fact that I can fly, but more about the large changeling flying beside me. Thankfully they don't start tossing spears. I'm guessing Slate did me a favor and warned some of the guards about what I was down here doing. I'd stop by and say hi, but I need to get back to Trotsdale as quickly as I can. I'll rest a little in the morning.
As one might imagine, the flight back to Trotsdale is nowhere near as relaxing as the flight down. This time, I know I'm walking into a pitched battle that's likely going to make the Canterlot invasion look like a walk in the park. Who knows how many of them are Oppressed and immune to magic?
The infiltrator and I make some idle conversation on the way there. By that, I mean we mostly exchange small questions and one word answers. Neither of us have forgotten that up until very recently, we were enemies. I also find out his name, which is Pterax. I'm a little surprised. I used to think that only the bigger changelings like Mantis got names, but I guess in hindsight, that's stupid of me. No doubt the changelings that can talk all get names.
Other than that, there's mostly silence between us. Now that I'm able to fly faster than before, we're making much better time. By the end of the night, Pterax and I easily make it past the pass between Canterlot and the Foal Mountains. The sun peeks over the horizon, and I start to get a little tired. I can't tell how Pterax feels. I'm not even sure if changelings get tired like we do.
I push on for as much as I can, speeding up further to the point where Pterax starts struggling to keep up. I should rest now, but I can see the falls in the distance, and I know we're getting close.
During this process, my tired mind starts thinking. If the ponies call those Neighagra falls, does that mean that they were originally the real Niagara falls? That would mean that Trotsdale is in what used to be New York...but that wouldn't make sense, because if the Everfree is in what used to be Atlanta, then the distance between the two wouldn't make sense. My tired mind tries to make sense of the fucked up Equestria, but eventually I give up. This doesn't make sense. Fuck it, I blame Discord.
Eventually, Pterax starts slowing down even further, so the two of us have to make camp near the point where the railroad crosses the river. It shouldn't be more than an hour's flight to get to Trotsdale, but I also don't want to be dead on my feet when I get there.
“You fly...so fast...” Pterax grunts, collapsing on the ground next to my tent. He suggested sleeping outside, because I only have the one tent, and there's no way I'm snuggling with a changeling. The very thought makes me cringe. “How do you do it? I'm out of magic entirely just trying to keep up with you.”
“That's because I have a shit ton of magic. If you thought there was a gap between us the last time we met, it's become a fucking gorge now,” I brag, stretching out my arms and climbing into the tent. “You're all like insects to me.”
“That's racist.”
“Shut up, I'm too tired to care.”
My alarm wakes me up five hours later, though when I open my eyes, I realize that I didn't even need to set one. It's likely noon, or at least a little past noon, because the sun is beating directly down on my face through the top of my tent. I sit up and wince, because it feels like I've woken up in an oven. Okay, sleeping during the day isn't the best idea. I'll keep that in mind for next time.
I unzip the tent and start packing it up, noticing the sleeping changeling next to it. For some reason, he's shifted into the form of a nondescript pony stallion. “Hey! Wake the fuck up. It's time to get moving,” I call to him, kicking some rocks over to him. Pterax wakes with a start, his eyelids opening to reveal his pupilless green eyes. He quickly shifts back into his original form, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
“Ugh, hungry,” Pterax groans, getting to his hooves and rubbing his chitinous belly. I give him an askance glance as I pack the tent into the bag. Hungry...that means he wants love. Well, I don't know how how he's going to get any love, nor do I know how long they can go without eating.
“Is that going to be a problem?” I ask, slinging the bag over my shoulder. With a slight hand gesture, I signal for the two of us to take off again. It isn't going to be very long before we reach Trotsdale, so I'm waiting to eat until I get there.
“Yes, if I don't get something to feed upon soon. You think there's any loving ponies in Trotsdale?” Pterax responds, licking his lips with a forked tongue. I give him a firm glare.
“It doesn't matter if there is or if there isn't. You are not feeding on any of them. They're all soldiers, and we need them at peak efficiency,” I growl at him over the sound of the wind whipping across our bodies.
“You don't understand. A simple siphon off of ambient love energy won't harm them, just momentarily disorient them,” Pterax tries to explain, but no matter how he words it, I don't like the idea of some bug thing leeching off of their love. “Only more intense and frequent feedings can emotionally damage the target.”
“That's bullshit. I saw what Chrysalis did when she fed off of a guard back during a wedding. It did not look pleasant, and it didn't look like he felt just simple disorientation,” I snap back at him. In the distance, Trotsdale appears, and immediately I notice the differences. “Seriously. Feed on any of these soldiers, and I'll fucking end you.”
“That's because it was during the invasion, and my Queen felt no need to hold back,” Pterax argues from behind me. “We infiltrators know how to show restraint. Do you really think we could stay hidden in a pony settlement if we'd harmed any of the ponies?”
I remain silent, not wanting to acknowledge the admittedly valid point that he'd just made. Honestly, I don't care how many points he makes. I will never like the idea of these insects feeding on the love of others. That just seems wrong to me. There's no way there's not side effects from that.
“Would you rather I starve? I've been going without for days due to limited supplies,” Pterax presses insistently. “I'm going to be fighting with you in the front lines, right? I can't operate at my best without some food.”
“Chrysalis knew this was going to be an issue, didn't she?” I demand, groaning and rubbing my forehead as we descend upon the city, heading for the heavily fortified town hall. “She did this on purpose...”
“She does have a weird sense of humor,” Pterax admits. “That's likely why she sent me with you, instead of another changeling that wasn't familiar with you.”
I remain silent for a few more seconds, trying to come to a sensible conclusion about this situation. However, I eventually lose my patience, causing me to groan. “Fuck it, I'm not dealing with this. You're going to talk to Celestia about this.”
“To...to Princess Celestia?” Pterax looks visibly shaken by that suggestion. “Do I have to? She's...well...”
“Terrifying?” I supply helpfully for him. Pterax gulps and nods, making me chuckle and shake my head. She's a little terrifying to me too, even now, when she's literally our sole remaining hope. Our whole plan hinges around distracting Sombra enough for her to destroy him. So, to a tiny changeling that can't even lay a hoof on me, Celestia probably seems like a goddess. “Get over it. She's the one in charge, not me.”
Our conversation comes to an end as we finally arrive in Trotsdale. The city itself looks wholly different than it did when I left. Now, it looks like it's finally ready for battle. Well, as ready as a town like this can get to withstanding a horde of undead.
There's now an extensive wooden palisade set up around the entirety of the city that isn't backed up against the mountainside. At regular intervals in the wall are set up multiple partitions in which a single ballista is housed. That's smart. Even if the undead reach the wall, they can still fire the ballista out through the small hole.
There are several gates in the wall consisting of a single thick and reinforced sheet of sanded wood that looks to be raised by simple pulley systems. They're good enough to allow supplies and troops in and out, but will still allow a momentary amount of protection before the undead break it down.
Each and every building close to the wall looks to be fortified with barricades and siege weapons. The smaller buildings are supply depots I assume. As I descend, I can see the ponies moving to and from the front lines carrying barrels of arrows and javelins. On top of those buildings are...archers? I've never seen pony archers before, but there they are regardless. They mostly look to be earth ponies sitting on their haunches and using their front two legs to hold the bow. Or in other cases, the bows are attached to the ground by the bottom tip. Huh, so that's how earth ponies fight when they're not using their hooves. The higher buildings have more archers and ballistae on top of them.
Trebuchets line the cliffs further up the mountain side. While I only saw two or three of them being set up before, there's now around fifteen of them, each one fully set up and already loaded with large boulders. If I had to guess, those came from the rockier areas further up the mountain. From where they are now, I have no doubt their range is wide enough to reach far over the walls and deal serious damage.
And speaking of ponies in general, there are tons of them now. I don't even think I’m stressing that enough. There are literally battalions of soldiers throughout the city. There's a perimeter of soldiers several rows deep standing just behind the walls, with an even greater concentration of them located around each of the gates. Every single one of the ballistae are manned, for lack of a better word, by a small group of ponies. Each rooftop with a view of the outskirts of the city is covered with archers. The streets are filled with columns of soldiers, with large groups of unicorns situated upon the clifftops for some reason.
In the distance, I faintly see the outline of something approaching in the distance, coming directly from the Crystal Mountains. There's no doubt about it. Sombra's forces are definitely on their way. From here, I'm guessing it'll take them a little less than a day to get here.
“I've never seen Equestria this prepared for battle since...well ever,” Pterax admits as the two of us land gently down on the streets in front of the town hall. Our very approach is enough to cause the soldiers in this area to react with varying degrees of shock and hostility. The latter is mostly directed at the changeling that is blatantly standing next to me, its true nature on display. Pterax winces, noticing how the guards are pointing weapons in his general direction. “Uh...I don't think they're happy to see me.”
“I'm still not happy to see you, and we've flown together for a full day,” I retort, crossing my arms. I'm technically a commander, so I guess I have at least some authority over these soldiers. I swallow nervously and look around at all the guards. “Don't worry, it's with me.”
The guards look amongst themselves and then lower their weapons after a slight pause. Nevertheless, they never take their gaze away from the changeling. At my words, Pterax gives me an askance stare with a hint of a sardonic expression that I never thought I could see from a changeling apart from Chrysalis.
“'It?' Did you just call me an 'it?'” Pterax demands, unamused.
“Well, what else should I call you? You changelings can be whatever gender you want, right? So, you're an 'it!'” I retort, moving towards the town hall. That's where I think Celestia is, and I feel like I need to report to her. She'll know what we should do next. “Besides, your voice is androgynous as fuck.”
“I'm a male, you ignorant monkey. Just because we can shift ourselves to be whatever we want doesn't mean our original gender changes,” Pterax corrects me as the two of us pass into the town hall. No matter where we go, the guards all eye Pterax with suspicion and hostility, but they don't outright attack. I'm guessing Celestia had something to do with that. “The only female in the hive is the queen. The rest of us are male.”
“Did you just call me a monkey?” I shoot back, offended.
“You called me an insect!” Pterax reminds me, equally offended.
“You ARE an insect!”
“I'm a changeling, thank you very much.”
“Whatever! It's still offensive! Monkeys are ugly, hairy, and disgusting!” I snap right back at him, wanting to punch him something fierce. The only thing that I've been called that's worse than that is a hairless ape.
Pterax angles his head to one side, giving me a matter-of-fact look. “Aaand...your point?” He responds. I reach out my hands and squeeze the air, as if showing him exactly what I'm going to do to him.
“You...I'm gonna wring your little...” I start to growl, but then I'm cut off by the sound of somepony patiently clearing her throat in front of the two of us. Pterax and I turn our heads slowly to see Princess Celestia standing there just in front of us, gazing down on us with a faint smile on her face. We'd been so busy arguing that we hadn't noticed our proximity to the central room until just now. Pterax visibly gulps next to me, having not expected to see Celestia this soon, before he had a chance to get prepared. I blink and stand up straight, pretending that nothing is wrong. “S'up, Celestia. I'm back now.”
“So I have noticed. I heard you from the down the hall,” Celestia teases me, reaching forward to nuzzle me. “It is good to see you back safely. I was quite worried about you going down to the hive all by yourself.”
“Eh, I would have been fine,” I return, playing off her affection even though I know there was a very good chance Chrysalis would have crushed me there if things had gone south. Celestia giggles at me knowingly, no doubt knowing exactly how I feel because she's a fucking mind-reading horse.
Celestia's gaze then moves to Pterax, who visibly trembles beneath her gaze. He blinks his multi-faceted eyes and swallows. Heh. It's pretty funny how utterly terrified he is. I can't help snickering under my breath, covering my mouth with a hand to hide my grin. “Uh...hi,” Pterax stammers, weakly lifting a hoof in greeting.
“You must be an advance unit,” Celestia correctly surmises. Pterax nods his head nervously, recognizing the sheer power of the being just in front of her, as well as keeping the memory of their species' last contact in his mind. Due to that, he looks taken aback when Celestia smiles and drips her head respectfully. “Welcome. My name is Princess Celestia, and I will be your commanding officer for the duration of your time with us, or until such time that your Queen arrives. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Really? You're just going to...” Pterax responds before he can stop himself, his eyes wide with surprise at Celestia's polite greeting. No doubt he expected a glare at least. To be fair, Celestia is one of a kind. While others may show hostility towards the changelings, Celestia is able to keep her composure. She's practically always able to keep her composure. “Ahem. Yes my Que...uh...your High...uh...Ma'am.”
“Just Princess is okay,” Celestia supplies for him helpfully, giggling a little. She directs her gaze back to me. “Now that you are back, we have much to do. The enemy will be here in less than twenty-four hours.”
“So I noticed. Do we have a plan, apart from waiting here and hoping we don't die?” I ask. Celestia nods, and gestures for the two of us to follow her. Pterax looks between the two of us, confused, but when we start to leave him behind, he rushes to catch up with us. No doubt he doesn't want to stay near those guards any longer than he has to.
“Yes, in fact. We will be running a defense against the bulk of Sombra's forces until reinforcements arrive, either from the changelings or from the griffons,” Celestia answers, leading us into the main room, where the map is spread out on the table. Pins are stuck in its surface, each one detailing the postings of each commander and battalion. “Shining Armor assures me that in the case of an all out assault, we should be able to hold out behind these walls for several days.”
“Celestia, Sombra probably sent Oppressed with his army, and they're immune to magic. Even if you go out on the front lines yourself, you might get overwhelmed with numbers,” I point out. Even as strong as she is, their claws and teeth mostly ignore magical protection, so eventually even they could kill her, if there's enough of them.
“Those creatures in the the ruins, you mean? Yes, I have taken them into account. It is why I cannot simply crush the army on my own,” Celestia admits. On her own. Yeah, without the Oppressed, a bunch of undead likely wouldn't be a problem for her at all. She taps the map with a hoof, indicating the area up near the cliffs where it looks like groups of the second division will be stationed. “I will be up on the clifftops to provide the ground forces with magical artillery strikes. That is where I will be except in the case of emergencies, such as King Sombra himself appearing on the battlefield.”
“In which case we're all screwed,” I return grimly. If Sombra himself gets here before we're ready for him, he'll just methodically destroy us while his army kills our soldiers. “I really hope you're right about him not liking to fight up front.”
“It would greatly surprise me if he did so. King Sombra is very vain at times. He no doubt wants us to defeat his armies and face him personally,” Celestia responds with a sigh. After a short pause, she nods and returns her gaze to the two of us. “Now then. In the short time we have until the enemy arrives, I have a few orders to give. To begin with, your specialized squad still needs its members, if you recall.”
“Yeah, I remember you mentioning that. What's this squad even for?” I question, watching Celestia produce several cream colored folders from a cabinet in the room. I take them from her when she passes them to me. One quick look inside a few of them show different ponies with descriptions inside. I'm guessing these are the files she wants me to look through.
“Provided everything goes well and the battle ends in our favor, we will march on the Crystal Empire,” Celestia informs me. “No doubt by now, King Sombra has seized each of the villages that are in his territory. Each one is likely to be defended. If this is the case, then we must liberate each one to prevent him from receiving reinforcements during our fight. I will likely use your squad to help expedite this process through covert operations, in order to reduce casualties.”
“I...this isn't going to be over any time soon, is it?” I groan, though that's mostly a rhetorical question. I've felt this feeling before, at the beginning of our battle with Chrysalis. A feeling that the battle would never end, and that hell awaited me at the end of the road. This time, it's only going to get worse. Celestia smiles at me sadly, likely knowing how I feel. “I guess I understand. What do you want me to do after I've finished looking through them?”
“Take some time to think on them, and then get ready for battle. I want you on the defensive front, with the First Regiment,” Celestia commands. Oh fuck, that means the front lines. Why am I always on the front lines? “However, you need to be careful. With the return of your magic, you are integral to our final victory. We cannot afford to lose you.”
“Trust me, I'm not going to die. God knows you ponies can't do anything without me,” I retort, grinning a bit to let her know I'm joking. Celestia chuckles a bit herself, and then she turns to Pterax, who jumps at the sudden attention.
“What is your name, changeling?” Celestia asks curiously.
“Pterax, Princess,” the changeling answers, nodding its head. “I'm here to gauge our enemies' strength and give our forces an idea of what we're dealing with.”
“I see. Due to the tension between our kind and yours, I'm putting you at Seth's disposal. He will know best how to utilize your strengths,” Celestia orders him.
“Oh great, so I'm stuck with him,” I complain, giving the changeling a withering stare. Pterax doesn't seem too thrilled about the idea either, but he nods in acknowledgment to his orders. He knows better than to challenge Celestia. “Alright, I'll make sure nopony kills him.”
“Good. Now, I have many more preparations to make before the battle begins. Take some time to look over those folders, and to get used to your new magic,” Celestia suggests. Wait, how does she know I don't know any of my techniques anymore? Whatever...she just knows everything. “You're dismissed.”
“Got it. Come on, Pterax. You're apparently sticking with me until this battle's over.” I gesture for the changeling to follow me out of the room. He does so, his chitinous hooves clicking on the wooden surface.
“Gee, how ever shall I survive?” Pterax returns sardonically. I roll my eyes and continue down the hallway towards the exit.
The moment we leave the town hall, I run right into Rainbow, who looks like she was heading right in this direction. Her face lights up in a bright smile when she sees me. “Seth! You're back! It's about time! I could have gotten there and back three times now!” Rainbow declares, running to me. She quickly comes to a halt when she spots the changeling next to me, her smile dampened. “What the...what is that doing here? I...guess it worked, didn't it?”
“Yeah, but it wasn't easy. Chrysalis came out on top with her demands, and she knows it. With this agreement, we literally can't hold her accountable for her actions at the wedding,” I admit, knowing that Rainbow isn't going to take to this well at all. Turns out I'm right.
“What!? Are you kidding me!? Even after all that she pulled back then, we can't punish her for it!?” Rainbow demands. Her front hoof twitches, and for a moment, I fear that she'll knock out Pterax just on principle. “That's not fair!”
“I hear that, but I'd rather not get destroyed by Sombra either. Besides...I hate Sombra a hell of a lot more than I ever hated Chrysalis,” I confess. Chrysalis is a sadistic manipulative bitch, but at least she didn't kill Amaryllis, my family, and the rest of my race.
“Yeah, but...ugh, I really wanted to pay her back for everything she did,” Rainbow expresses with frustration. She eventually sighs and looks down, her wings drooping. “At least you got back oka...eep!”
Rainbow yelps in the most adorable fashion when I reach down and scoop her up in my arms in a hug. She's taken by surprise by the sudden gesture, and as such she scrambles around a bit, but eventually she settles. “Seth...” Rainbow whines, her head over my shoulder. “We're in public. Can you not?”
“So? Nopony's looking. Just shut up and let me have a moment. When I was talking to Chrysalis, I almost thought that I wasn't going to come back at all,” I tell her firmly, scratching lightly beneath her wing joints.
“I guess...as long as none of my friends see. They tease us enough already,” Rainbow admits, sighing and relaxing.
Behind us, Pterax looks between the two of us, bemused. But after that, he starts to drool, his forked tongue hanging out and licking his lips occasionally. It isn't until I hear his stomach growl that I remember exactly what he is.
“Hey! Don't even fucking think about it,” I warn him, setting Rainbow down and glaring at the offending changeling. Pterax blinks and looks innocent, as if he hadn't just been salivating over the two of us.
“I wasn't!” Pterax protests, holding up his hooves. “But I can't help looking. It makes me so hungry...”
“That reminds me. Go back inside and speak to Celestia about your hunger problems. She'll know what to do about them,” I order him. Pterax nods and retreats back inside, looking a little sheepish that he had forgotten to do so in the first place. “Sheesh, fucking changelings.”
“Was it really about to feed on us?” Rainbow asks with a little bit of perverse curiosity in her expression. I wince. I remember seeing Chrysalis do it, and I'm in no hurry to feel what that's like for myself.
“I don't know, but I don't trust the fuckers. Even though they're supposed to be on our side now, I don't think that's going to change,” I grumble. “Did you see the way he drooled over us?”
“Yeah...creepy. I don't know what's worse: the fact that it was about to feed on us, or that it thought our love was strong enough to drool over,” Rainbow responded, shuddering a bit. The way she phrased that made me raise an eyebrow.
“What's wrong with our love being strong?” The second after that leaves my mouth, I cringe a bit, because that sounds so fucking cheesy I feel like I should go get some nachos to go with it.
“Because it sounds really sappy!” Rainbow complains, blushing. I snort with laughter, because that was exactly what I was just thinking. She glares accusingly at me. “Hey! Quit laughing! It does!”
“I know it does. That's why it's so funny,” I chuckle, ruffling Rainbow's mane. As per usual when we're in public, she nips up at my hand...except this time I dodge it and then lightly press the palm of my hand against her snout, causing her to release a cute little snuffle. Of course, I immediately regret it a second later when she bites down on my fingers. “Yowch! Bad Rainbow!”
“You asked for it,” Rainbow retorts without any kind of remorse. All silliness aside, I still have some work to do, so I start to hover just above street level. “So what now? Applejack and I have just been waiting for you to get back. You're technically our commanding officer now.”
“Please, like you'd ever accept having to serve me,” I remark, causing Rainbow to stick her tongue out at me. Whatever. She knows I'm right. “But yeah, I have a few files to look over. What about you? Has Celestia given you any orders concerning the battle to come?”
“Not really. She just dismissed us and told us to wait for you,” Rainbow answers. With an effortless hop, she starts to hover in the air next to me, her wings flapping leisurely.
“Which basically means she's already putting me in command. She's putting a lot of faith in me...I don't think that's very smart. I've never been in command before,” I admit. “Come on, take me back to where you and Applejack are staying.”
Rainbow nods and ascends above the buildings, with me following her closely. “You sorta were. Remember the invasion? You and I were like, all secret agent and stuff, when we had to rescue all the soldiers. Not to mention you helped beat up Chrysalis and stuff.”
“Just because I can fight doesn't mean I can lead,” I point out, choosing to ignore the point she made about the dungeons. I was technically in charge, but I don't think that counts, because I was with just Rainbow, and then Iron took over later. If anypony can lead, Iron can. Too bad he's at Bleak Island or whatever.
“You'll be fine! Quit being uncertain. We can't have you being like that when the battle starts,” Rainbow attempts to reassure me. I guess she's right, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to order them around. Hell, if I get to control where they're posted, they're staying with me so I can keep an eye on them. “Anyway, here we are. What with the evacuation, Applejack and I have been staying in one of the civilian houses.”
Rather than using the door, Rainbow hovers in front of one of the windows, slides it open, and slips inside. Once she's inside, I can hear Applejack greeting her. Shrugging, I fly inside as well, squeezing through the smaller opening. I could have used the door, but whatever.
“Welcome back, Seth,” Applejack greets me as well once I'm inside. The farmer is lying on the bed, sliding into her golden armor in preparation for the fight. “We've been waitin' for ya, commander.”
“Don't call me that,” I groan, even though I know she was just teasing. Applejack snickers at my reaction and returns to armoring herself. Rainbow is starting to pick through her own pile of armor as well. “Sheesh. I can't believe we're about to go into another battle. This time it's going to be worse than before.”
“Ah gotta admit...t'ain't what ah wanna be doin', but it's gotta be done,” Applejack agrees, giving a grunt as she adjusts the straps on her breast(back?)plate. “But this time, all of Equestria's here ta fight.”
“The scale's definitely bigger. Don't worry about it though. We're gonna kick some flank and then go home,” Rainbow assures me. Heh. She's far from being right. There's so much more battle to come...enough to make the changeling invasion look like a walk in the park.
“Right...well, anyway, I'm gonna eat the rest of my rations and look over these files,” I say, walking over to the other bed in the room and hopping on top of it. I take the folders and arrange them into neat stacks on my right. Grabbing the first one, I open it up and take a look.
Time to see who Celestia has picked out for me.
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Woo hoo! Update baby! Anyways, like usual, good chapter.
Insects has 6 legs, so Changelings are not insects.
Monkys has a tail, Seth does not so he is an ape.
It's going to be that hard? I mean, yes, Sombra is powerfull and the human following him could be also very bad, but unless they fight, the zombies could not be hard. Seth can create weapons, unicorns can try to use fire. Celestia and Luna and Cadence are also there, not to say the changelings and Chrysalis coming.
Sombra win because it was a surprise, but if both of them don't fight together, they could lose even with the power he have.
5970532 i think it's just common Prejudice, Humans in stories as often called monkeys, and Changelings are often dubbed Insects. Wonder what they'd call Griffons and Minotaurs? "Beakbrains"? Horned Buffoons? Ah who knows?
I'm sorry, what? I think you meant : "when all Mantis told him to do was lead me to the exit." or something similar. Or did I miss something?
What statement is he responding to, there are no quotes prior to this aside from "follow me"
missing quote
Are you going to re-read and re-edit this chapter? This kind of confusion gives me a headache.
It's kind of ironic that Seth's niece (Maka) had the same battle with the undead and was leading an army against the undead in the past and now in the future Seth himself is finishing his nieces battle AND is leading a squad.
5970873
....my fucking editor isn't doing his job.
5970843
5970532
That, and you really shouldn't think about it too hard. Insults rarely have logic involved. If there's even a remote similarity, an insult can be made.
Why do I suddenly feel the urge to make a Gurren Lagann reference?
5971800 um if you dont mind me asking, would you kindly put another one of those power level things in the author notes again? you had a question mark next to lunas in the last one so i was curious if she is in fact stronger then seth, or is seth stronger then chrysalis. i know he states it several times but in this chapter and the one before it seems like he doubts himself and chrysalis also shed some light on the fact she was training as well. thank you for writing such a wonderful story cant wait for the next chapters
I have nothing to say, just, good chapter.
5975734
Heh, I probably need to, don't I? Yeah, I'll think about it. I might put a question mark by Chrysalis because I haven't revealed her strength as it is right now. But I can help out by fitting Sombra, and Hawke in there, along with the most current set of characters.
“You're all like insects to me.”
“That's racist.”
“Shut up, I'm too tired to care.”
Ah I love the comedic elements, despite the story being dark.
Also I like Pterax. Can't wait to see him Seth and Rainbow get along. They seem to behave in a similar way.
So the battle is soon to come
Starting off, Seth leaves the changling hive with a changling infiltrator. I'm fairly certain Pterax is the changling that took Seth's form in the dungeons, as he was the only infiltrator class changling down there, or at least as far as it was described. Having him as a companion is going to be interesting in future chapters, particularly if he starts bitching and moaning about the concussion to Rainbow and Seth. Still, it's pretty cool that we now have another changling character besides Mantis and Chrysalis, giving changlings a personality and characteristics makes them become very intriguing characters, as their motivations and stealthy nature put them at odds with all the other characters.
After leaving the hive, the two fly back towards Trotsdale, this time going as fast as possible. At least until the changling runs out of magic and they have to crash for a few hours. Pterax bringing up the changling feeding habits is going to be a bit of a complication in future chapters I suspect. By nature changlings are like emotion vampires, draining there targets to various degrees to survive. They can't eat like a pony can so they need that love energy, but doing so risks screwing up the pony guards right before battle, not to mention how untrustworthy it would make all the changlings seem (not really a hard thing to do after the invasion, but with Celestia's treaty, the ponies would at least accept them being there) and would start a lot of infighting that could prove disastrous with Sombra right around the corner. I can't wait to see how Celestia intends to solve this.
After the nap, the two bickering companions make it back to Trotsdale, which has been rigged up for a siege. The arrows are a good call and I wouldn't be surprised if ballista towers had been set up. Nailing the undead at range, especially the Oppressed, is the best move, because up close they are a vicious and ruthless and since their dead, pain won't really do much to slow them down, so its basically kill them or die, no trying to wound them. After arriving (and having a hilarious discussion about changling gender and some back and forth insults) Celestia arrives and gets Seth up to speed. His task of leading a covert ops team to take back several villages sounds really cool, and Seth will likely be happy of the fact that it will keep Rainbow and AJ away from Sombra for the time being. Overall the current team is really well balanced, with Seth being the equivalent of an alicorn, with magic, flight and strength, then we have AJ the earth pony muscle, Rainbow the speedy Pegasus and Pterax the shapeshifting magic user. Whomever else gets added will certainly help in overall team strength, but a good balance has already been made here. Still be interesting to see who he picks, and whether or not we have already met them.
After his discussion with Celestia, he finally catches up with rainbow. She is obviously pissed about the Changlings getting off scott free after their crap at the wedding, but she at least recognizes that it's the lessor of two evils right now. I like that Seth was the one to initiate the hug. Being out in the open has left Rainbow pretty self conscious, especially after all the teasing her friends give her, but she settles into it nicely once she knows nopony will give her grief over it. With a big ass battle on its way, its nice they can have some sweet little moments like this, as they will soon be a lot trickier to sneak in. Seeing Pterax drool over their love is hilarious, as the cheesiness of it is immense and it leaves Rainbow flustered. I've noticed that now that Seth has settled into the relationship more, he's far less flustered about romantic and sappy things then she is. Still, Rainbow is definitely the more likely of the two to throw in teasing when she can.
After this, Pterax goes to get his feeding situation sorted and Rainbow and Seth catch up with AJ to prepare for battle. Things are definitely getting busy and soon it's going to get very action packed. I can't wait!
I just finished rereading this. Doing so has cemented my opinion that this is the most underrated fic on the site that I have read. Probably because it's length puts off many new readers. Though I would recommend looking over some of the first 25 chapters, after he went to Equestria. I felt that some of the bits could have been a bit smoother. Or maybe that's just because I can't associate myself with Seth's aggressive personality. Jerk I can do. Anything physical, whilst I am able to do things like that better than most (which is probably the cause of my reluctance to carry them out), I don't ever retaliate with violence (unless they used violence).
Either way, you should be proud of this. Once it's done I might have a go at writing a full review of the good and bad whilst avoiding spoilers. Honestly though, there's not a lot of flaws. It's just slow at points.
So yeah, as I said before, well done.
There's not much more I can say than that.