Elements: Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children

by Nightmare_0mega

Bleeding Mascara

It was a calm, cool night at Sweet Apple Acres. Wind passed between the leaves and buds of newly forming apple flowers, giving the orchard a serene and pleasant atmosphere to the general haunting nature of the night. Every single member of the Apple clan that watched over and worked this vast farm were all asleep, cozy under the covers and glow of the moonlight. All, save for the “honorary” member of the family, who laid upon a hay covered cart as he watched the stars. Applejack’s charge named Monsoon; a new assistant that held a rather colorful history and went about his business in a frank and, quite irritatingly, antagonistically cynical manner. A flexible, dark grey shell with maroon accents covered the just of the biped, with markings and small black number sequences that nopony could make sense of dotted various locations on his body. Pouches made of dark green fabric attached to a dark green belt lay next to him, along side twin black Sais. He gave a deep, artificial sigh as he traced the stars and added personal notes to his slowly growing data files.

The information he retained from his old world was directly useless, save for specific articles and documents, but even the most useless of notes was easily made to act as bases and guidelines for research. It took a couple months, but with the efficiency of his cybernetics, he was able to understand the region’s written language. Not to mention that the spoken dialect was a dead ringer for the English language, which made the process of becoming literate in this colorful equine world all the easier.

And so, armed with the basic knowledge of the world, he constructed a personal encyclopedia over the course of his stay, even having a properly translated atlas created and filed off somewhere in the geography section located in the folder named “hellhole”. His latest venture had him add to a document on constellations and star patterns, which would normally be for navigation purposes, but truthfully it was because he was bored.

Being an assistant to a farmer wasn’t exactly an exiting, worthwhile, or even slightly entertaining venture for him. He felt no joy in harvesting the produce available across the toiled lands, nor did he care that much for the keepers themselves. To him, this was just a side job while he waited for the “benefactors” of the current world to find a solution for him in regards to being stuck here. Truth be told, since he was technically “dead” for all intents and purposes in the world he came from, he wasn’t entirely sure if he SHOULD go back. However, Monsoon supposed he’d cross that particular bridge when he finally got there. In the meantime, he had to play nice, which meant to tend to the farm considering who was hosting him. Even a mercenary like him knew where the lines were to be drawn in that regard, even if he didn’t particularly like it.

It was then, in the center of his boredom that he heard something peculiar. Sitting up from the large cart he was lounging on, he gazed about the orchard, flicking through multiple visual sensors with every pass to try and see what was disturbing the peace. It soon became apparent that nothing that reached his eyes in any way clued him in on what he knew he heard, but something still seemed off.

Suddenly, like a knife cutting through the night, he heard a shrill scream coming from one of the bedrooms of the Apple Family house. Followed by the sound of breaking glass. Monsoon himself rose from the cart, put his equipment back on, and raced to the source of the sound. It was then that he saw fleeing black forms that were swiftly carting away the small form of the youngest of the family.

“APPLE BLOOM!” Applejack, the brilliant gamboge elder sister, shouted from the broken window. Her blond mane billowed in the cold night wind as her green eyes betrayed heartbreaking panic.

Without hesitation, upon realizing the situation, Monsoon activated one of his electrolyte cell packs to give himself an extra boost, before he took off running after the foalnappers.

It was clear that they anticipated pursuers, as they ducked through the trees and headed for the forest, splitting in multiple groups going in multiple directions. However, Monsoon was ready for such trickery. Turning on his thermal vision, he got a clear heat signature from Apple Bloom herself, and chased after the party that held her captive personally. They moved swiftly, ducking and darting between the foliage, doing everything in their power to lose their would be aggressor. However, with every turn, Monsoon followed. Every dodge, the cyborg mimicked. It became clear that he was operating on a level they wouldn’t be able to shake as they were. It was then that they rose up and broke through the canopy of the trees, taking to the skies on bug-like wings.

It didn't take long before Monsoon realized who was behind this, and in a fit of fury, he leaped as high as he could, breaking through the trees, and chucked his Sai at the capture party. The fleeing forms scattered like roaches, including the one that held Apple Bloom in its clutches, but one of them was unfortunate enough to be pegged by the flying weapon, and went down like a sack of rocks. Monsoon watched as the little filly pathetically cried for help as she was carried off into the night as he too descended back down to the forest floor.

For a moment, as the sounds of the foalnappers became more and more distant and the fauna became quiet within the foliage, Monsoon activated his body’s specific ability, and reached forward to grip his Sai with his magnetic force. It was then that he heard a pained cry, but as the Sai returned to him, it was bereft of a body, laced only with a strange ichor. He then turned on his thermoscopic visual program, and gazed about his immediate front, noticing the same fluids upon the ground and in the foliage as there was on the blade of his weapon. He followed the trail of droplets left behind until he saw a sizable enough splatter, indicating where it was removed. Beyond that, a trail of the same ichor could be seen, indicating the insectoid equine had fled.

The cyborg sneered as he followed the path rather swiftly, keeping his eyes open while he followed the trail, only to notice the splatters become smaller and less frequent. It was obvious the creature was trying to desperately conceal its escape, but considering the result of the wound, it was very likely it wouldn’t get very far. Still, he kept on trekking through the forest, with the thermoscope at maximum sensitivity. However, despite his advanced tech, a disappearing trail was a disappearing trail, and he soon came to the final track. He scanned his surroundings, switching to night vision, trying to see if something else could be picked up through the shift in perspective. He moved slow, listening to the sounds around him in order to try to find any inconsistencies.

It was then that he noticed that the sounds of the forest were all but absent. Birds were all but entirely mum, the wind was dead, and he could hardly hear any creak or chatter of insects. It was strange enough that he decided to try to do a sweep of the immediate area. As he did, he paid close attention to the wildlife and any abnormal movement in the leaves. Soon enough, he noticed a small rabbit sprint away from the corner of his eye, seemingly with a slight limp on its foreleg. Suspicious, he swapped back to his thermoscope, and noticed a big enough mark indicating a warm, open wound on the affected appendage.

He gave chase, which didn’t go unnoticed by the small furry creature, whom then picked up in speed, desperately gritting through the pain. The mercenary, not wanting to drag this out any longer than need be, opened one of his pouches and produced a metal cord. Activating his magnetic abilities, he threw the cord before him, and manipulated it to cut through the air at high speeds before intercepting the little creature and attempt to coil around. The rabbit panicked and fell backward, before strange flames engulfed the body, revealing the blackened form of the injured changeling. With no time to spare, Monsoon made the cord wrap around the unfortunate deceiver, and made a point to jab one end of the cord against the wound to discourage a second fleeing attempt. The changeling was now entirely helpless and completely at his mercy, or lack thereof.

Monsoon approached the pathetic creature, towering over his new captive with an intimidating glower that put the fear of God into the eyes. The cyborg reached down and gripped his new hostage by the head with one hand and held the creature at eye level.

“Changelings,” Monsoon uttered in contempt, “I thought you lot retreated to the hovel you came from. Give me one good reason why i shouldn’t crush your skull right now?”

Demonstrating, he gave the head a squeeze and pulled out another pained cry, before loosening to allow this thing to speak.

“I-I was just following w-what Queen Chrysalis wanted. Honest!”, the little changeling weakly pleaded, terrified and at wits end. It tried to wiggle free from its restraint in vain, but the sharp pain of the cord tight around its body and one end jabbing the open sore kept it from any real success.

Monsoon sneered. “We’ll be the judge of that.”

“We?”

-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-

At the front porch of the Apple Family home, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith all sat outside, waiting for their lost little girl to be brought back to them. Their spirits rose when they saw Monsoon in the distance approach them, but plummeted just a quickly when they realized Apple Bloom was not with him. As soon as he was close enough, Applejack broke away from her family and was about to begin a tirade. Before she could, though, Monsoon chucked the injured changeling by the head into the dirt before them harshly, and made a point to pin its back leg with his foot. It wasn’t necessary, due to the metal cord still bound around the body, but Monsoon wasn’t in a particularly “necessary” or nice mood tonight.

“J-jeez, not so rough,” it said pathetically.

Applejack stormed up to the changeling and gripped it by the face with her hooves. “Where is Apple Bloom? What have ye done with mah sister?!”

The changeling remained silent.

“ANSWER ME!” she shouted as she shook the changeling’s head, before letting go and stepping away before she did something she’d regret. “Ah can’t believe this happened,” she sobbed, “I couldn’t protect her...”

“It’s quite clear from the evidence,” Monsoon started, “That the great bug queen herself is behind this, and considering she didn’t attack anyone else, she must be specifically going after you. Or, at least, going after your loved ones.”

“S-sorry about that.” it squeaked out.

“YOU SHUT UP, YA VARMINT!” she shouted, emotions at their breaking point

“Question is, where would they be located?”

“Their hive, ah reckon,” Granny piped up, “Wouldn’t that friend o’ yers know where it might be?”

Applejack successfully stifled sobs long enough to answer. “Ya mean Twah? I dunno. Maybe she could ask the Princesses if she don’t know herself.”

It was then that Monsoon interjected. “Or, we could get it right from the horses mouth.” He looked down towards his captive. “That is, if you’d like to keep your wings?”

The changeling shrank a little underneath the glare the cyborg was giving him. In truth and under less dire circumstances, as a changeling, it could shapeshift to try to get out of the trouble he was in right now, even with the injury. However, with how much pain it was in, and believing that the strange bi-ped would immediately exterminate it if provoked, the small creature resigned that an attempt would be foolish. If only it were braver and stronger like its brother.

“P-please,” the changeling said, “I-I was just following orders! Please don’t hurt me anymore! I’ll tell you what you need if I absolutely have to.”

Applejack approached the changeling again and grabbed the creature by the face. “Say that again, right to my face,” she uttered with venom.

“I’ll tell you what you need, just don’t hurt me!”

Applejack stared into the scared changeling’s eyes, and let go once again. “Then, tell us! Where are they keepin’ Apple Bloom. Where is yer bloomin’ hive?”

“The hive is l-located to the south, but... I-i’ve never been very good with directions of the top of my head. I usually just follow the others...”

“Useless bug,” Monsoon spat. He stood there for a moment, arms crossed, before he clicked his artificial tongue. “We’ll need HIS help in this, it seems.”

“Ya mean-?”

“Yes... that,” Monsoon shuddered. He wasn’t particularly fond of interacting with Twilight’s charge, for an absolutely massive list of reasons. However, if there was anyone that could fish those directions out of the little changeling’s head, it would be him. He removed his foot from the creature’s limb, before he reached down and picked up his captive, tucking it under one arm. As he began to walk off with the prisoner, Applejack called out.

“Wait! Ah’m coming too!”

“No, you are not.” Monsoon stated matter-of-factly.

“YES AH AM!” she retorted, stomping her hoof hard enough to shake the farm, tears welling in her eyes in sorrow and rage.

Monsoon turned to the little pony, and for the first time ever, Applejack saw something that made her resolve falter. Looking up at the cyborg, she felt something fundamentally menacing about the thing she let stay with her and her family. His stance, the air about him, his invisible stares through his helm. She knew he wasn’t right in the head, and entirely capable of extreme violence, but it was only now that she could actually FEEL his cold, hate filled intent that was powerful enough to make her choke a bit. Even the changeling, tucked under his arm seemed to shrink in abject fear, desperately squirming away from him as much as possible to no avail.

“No,” he coldly replied, “You are not. You will stay right here, and let me handle this my way.” He turned his head towards the south. “I have a score to settle with the bitch.” The present ponies winced at the language, but not a single soul dared to speak up about it. “Besides,” he continued with the much more lighthearted, albeit callous, tone of his, “This whole fiasco was likely orchestrated to draw you out and keep you emotionally unstable, making you easy prey.”

She couldn’t argue with the logic presented, and even though it made her heart and pride ache, she resigned. “You better bring back mah sister in on piece, ya hear?”

Monsoon turned back around and began his trek towards the currently sleeping town.

“YA HEAR!?” she shouted, making sure Monsoon heard her this time. Monsoon, however, never acknowledged the heartbroken plea, leaving behind the farm and its residents. Applejack collapsed to her hindquarters and began to sob as her family came to comfort her, and the mercenary disappeared into the night.

-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-

It was late. Ponyville was always to quiet at this time, with the very rare exceptions. Perfect time to study or conduct research without being disturbed. Which is exactly what Twilight did, as she oftentimes had. This time, however, while she normally would be preoccupied with “the anomaly”, as it had been her top priority for the longest time, tonight she decided to look into the technology that powered Monsoon. Specifically, the substance used to quickly energize his body for more extreme abilities. Discord was kind enough to help supply the cyborg with exact duplicates of his original “power cells”, which made his need to spare the use of the makeshift formula he acquired during the Changeling invasion of the town moot. This also meant that she had access to the original chemicals, which allowed her to test and code the make-up. Considering it was powerful enough to charge a machine as advanced as Monsoon’s body, there was a huge number of possibilities in unlocking its secrets that could ripple the scientific society at large.

As she was zoning into her research, inwardly drooling over the prospective ideas, the front door to the library slammed open, startling her enough to knock over an inkwell onto her papers.

“OH NOOOOOOO!” she screamed in horror, before she angrily rose from her seat to berate whomever barged in at such a late hour like that. However, her rage instantly died when she saw the very center of her subject of research step inside, whom unceremoniously tossed a bound changeling a little further in. The bizarre combination, coupled with the implication of the latter made her pause grow into concern. “What’s going on,” she finally managed to ask, “What’s the meaning of this?”

“I’m afraid we’ve had a kidnapping, orchestrated by our lovely queen of lies,” Monsoon spat, “And this stupid drone knows where they are, but apparently has poor navigational skills. It’s probably a lie to stall us, but-”

“Who was taken!?” Twilight interrupted, now in a bit of a panic.

Monsoon grunted in irritation, before he continued, “-But, I believe coming here would be the best way to chase after Apple Bloom’s captors.”

“Apple Bloom!?” Twilight gasped, “Where’s Applejack?”

“Jack is back at the orchard, as instructed. She’d only be a liability in this instance.”

“A LIABILITY?!” she snapped, “That’s her SISTER that was foalnapped! If I was in her place, I wouldn’t just sit around because YOU told me to!”

“No, you’d go off and get captured or killed yourself, thus shattering your little dynamic of superheroes you’ve got, which would allow them to come for the rest of you.”

“How are you so sure!?”

“They came in the middle of the night, remained stealthy up until the deed itself, and made their getaway at a moderate pace... until they noticed I was the one chasing them. It was a trap for Jack, but they didn’t expect me to go after them.”

Twilight took a step back from retort, which consequently left her very little room to argue with. He was absolutely right. This was just a gambit.

“I-It’s true,” squeaked the changeling, “When we noticed the pony wasn’t chasing after us, we tried everything we could to outrun, uhm, him. That’s when he-” the little shapeshifting creature winced from the twinge of pain coming from the wound, “-captured me.”

“Where are they?” she demanded.

“Th-The Ch-changling Hive, a-and I’ve already confirmed that!”

“Where is it?!”

“I-I-I don’t know off the top of my head! This is alot of undue pressure right n-now!”

“UNDUE PRESSURE?!”

“ENOUGH OF YOUR SQUABBLING!” shouted an all too familiar voice from upstairs, filtered by a gasmask. Everyone turned their heads towards the origin and watched as Psycho Mantis, a sickly slender bi-ped with an immense psychokinetic power, descended the steps like a ghost. “I thought staying in this god-forsaken library would at least give me some peace and quiet during the night. Would you kindly sew your mouths shut so I can return to that? Or, if you’d like to continue, I could always just make everyone in this room forgets how to talk.”

Monsoon shivered a bit, still despising the presence of such a monster in his history, but steeled his resolve. “I’ve actually come looking for you.”

“Me?” he responded. “And what do I owe the pleasure?”

“A small crisis that might keep us here permanently if we don’t fix it. I need you to extract the information we need from that changeling down there, so you can tell us to where we need to go.”

“Wh-what?” the changeling squeaked.

Mantis sighed. “I suppose, if it will get me my respite.” He then approached the bound changeling, and gripped it by the head with both of his hands. Staring into the eyes of the changeling, its terrified face reflected upon the plastic sheen of the lenses, just barely able to recognize the eyes of an ice, cold killer. “Clever,” he uttered finally after a few minutes of staring. “Open your mind, Twilight. You’re going to take those two directly to the hive. And only those two.”

“What!?” she exclaimed almost in protest.

“I must agree with the purple one. What are you playing at, mentalist?” Monsoon spat.

“The two of you need to reach your destination quickly, and the hive itself holds a little secret that would be very bad for anyone but you or I, as this creature seems to believe. Furthermore, sending more than just you and the captive would only feed them.”

“What secret?” Twilight asked.

“It wouldn’t be much of one if I told you, now would it?”

Twilight scowled at the coy response, but huffed, knowing there was nothing she could do or say to have him share the information. “Fine. Where do i send them?” Mantis stared directly at Twilight, and a flash in her eyes signified a strong epiphany, which caused he to rub her temples. “Ugh, I’ll never get used to that.” She turned to Monsoon, whom pulled the changeling away from Mantis with his magnetic power and tucked it back under his arm. “Are you ready to go?”

“I suppose,” Monsoon answered.

“C-can we please talk about this?” the changeling pleaded, which fell on deaf ears.

“Alright then,” Twilight began as her horn started to crackle with magical energy, “Stay safe.”

“No promises,” Monsoon retorted. With a sudden flash of magic from Twilight, he and the changeling were suddenly gone, leaving Twilight and Mantis at the first floor of the library.

Twilight just stared out the door that had yet to be closed since the Desperado’s intrusion, looking out into a now seemingly haunting night sky. There was no telling what would happen with that mad cyborg on the case, but one thing was for certain. He would get the job done.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Mantis said, breaking the silence as he moved towards the kitchen, uncaring of the situation at hand, “I’m going to make myself some coffee.”

Twilight inwardly growled, but relented, “I could honestly use a cup too...”

-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-

In a sudden burst of light, Monsoon and the small changeling appeared at what seemed to be the edge of a forest, overlooking a barren landscape of rocks and dead trees. In the distance was the likely cancer to this dying land: A twisted set of black spires that appeared as a still lick of flame, buzzing with activity. Monsoon smirked as he gazed down at his hostage, whom was busy shaking inside its bindings. Hazarding the dare, said changeling looked up towards the cyborg and gave a weak smile.

“W-well,” the little thing began, “You’re here now, so I suppose you don’t need me. You could just let me go, and I’ll just be-” before he had a chance to finish and flee from the obvious danger, Monsoon simply dropped the thing, which landed with a painful thud. “Ah-haow...” it coughed out. Then, it felt the bindings loosen and uncoil from its body. Confused, it slowly stood back up, rubbing its wound gently. “I, uh... didn’t think you would, ya know... let me go.”

“You aren’t free yet,” Monsoon announced, “You’re still my hostage in this little negotiation. If you try to run, I will skewer you down like a specimen to a bug collector.” The changeling winced, knowing how painful it was to be stuck with the object he’d likely use. “No, you’re going to lead me into this hive, and take me directly to your queen. If any of your kind fights me, I will retaliate.”

“D-don’t hurt them, p-please...”

“You’re in no position to make any requests. Now get moving,” he demanded as he gave the changeling a light kick, pushing it forward toward the barren land. Scared, but wanting this to be over with as little incident as possible, it moved forward as calmly as it could, hoping its kin would recognize the massive threat the cyborg was and avoid attacking. Though, considering many of the members were headstrong soldiers, it was doubtful.

Sure enough, as they got to the perimeter of the hive’s outskirts, a platoon of changelings flew out of the spires, buzzing like angry hornets and darting down to the position of the intruder. The captive changeling closed its eyes and covered its ears just after the sais were drawn.

Monsoon stepped forward to greet the hoard with an ear to ear grin before its helm slid down and clicked into place. Like a whirlwind, Monsoon moved with expert rhythm, smashing each attacker out of the way with enough force that knock out even the toughest individual in one strike. He was like a torrent of destruction, as changelings by the seconds fell to the ground, slammed into rocks, or collided with each other as the mad cyborg took that platoon apart. Not a single attacker landed a blow, and were simply left broken and defeated before his might.

As the dust settled and the sounds of battle subsided, the captive changeling uncovered its ears and gazed about in shock. “SCAPE! TARSUS!! Oh gosh, PLEASE tell me you’re all alright!”

Monsoon’s helm rose back up to where it was previously. “Don’t concern yourself, bug. They’ll get to keep their lives.”

“Oh, thank you!”

“They’ll live long enough to watch their Queen die,” he said with a sinister laugh.

“... oh...”

“Now, get up and take me to the front entrance. It’s time to end this charade.”

“W-well... just wait a minute.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t know where THAT is.”

“N-no, that’s not it. The thing about our hives is that, well, they change, like us. Just wait a bit and,” just as he explained, a hole opened up before them, leading to the hive’s interior, “Well, that.”

Monsoon raised a metaphorical eyebrow as he witnessed the hive literally open the front door for them. “Huh...”

“I-It’ll close in about a few minutes, so w-we should probably get inside now, or risk looking for a new entrance later.”

With that said, the two entered the domain of the changelings as the opening, as predicted, sealed itself behind them, likely to open up somewhere else. “Here I thought you’d be useless or, at the very most, uncooperative...” Monsoon stated with mistrust laced in his words. “I’d like an explanation.”

“Oh, well, Queen Chrysalis taught us all at a very young age on how the hive works, so that we could learn to become capable brood for her. It’s necessary for every-”

“Not that,” Monsoon spat, “It makes sense that the brood would learn how the hive layout appears and operates. That’s just efficiency in nature, and no different to ants or wasps and the like. No, what I wanna know is why you’re even bothering to being so cooperative. You’re my hostage, and would have very little desire to behave that way, outside of survival lest I decide you're life is no longer worth my patience.”

“O-oh...” the changeling sighed, a little deflated. “W-well... I have my reasons...”

“Do you now?” Monsoon sneered.

“A-and one of them is that, well, you’re very well capable of probably tearing this place apart as much as you want, without much effort. I just... don’t want to involve the rest of my family in this, if possible.”

“Family?”

“Th-that’s the pony equivalent, right?”

“And your Queen?”

“I... n-no comment.”

“Is she not your ‘family’ too? Then, I suppose you won’t shed a tear when I-”

“I-I said no comment!” the changeling interrupted as best as he could.

“Struck a nerve?” Monsoon asked mockingly. The changeling remained silent. Monsoon sighed as he tapped the changeling with his foot and pointed forward with his sai. “Fine, then take me to your Queen, and make it quick.”

The hostage begrudgingly began trekking down the ever shifting halls and chambers of the labyrinth as Monsoon followed closely behind. Monsoon took the opportunity to swap between his various vision modes to survey his surroundings. Sure enough, he could detect faint electromagnetic distortions, however scant, all around the surfaces of the cave like structure. It was as if the hive itself were ever so gently pulsating. Monsoon mused at how different it was compared to the slimy, dark caverns that he experienced when he first met the Queen of Lies. He also wondered if the murals made deep in said caverns were some sort of ruse to help her convince the mercenary as he thought, or were real. The only way to find out would be to look for something similar within the walls of this forsaken, over-glorified termite mound, but now wasn’t the time to satiate his small curiosities. It didn’t take long for him to notice shadowy forms in the dark hovels, and shining eyes accompanying them, that seemed hard pressed to confront the cyborg. Good, he thought, it’ll make this whole thing easier.

On the other hand, the little changeling that lead him through the winding paths of the hive shrunk and sweat under the gaze of its kin. For a race that relied predominantly on deception as its bread and butter for survival, among other things, it couldn’t help but feel a little guilty, as if it was betraying the entire hive by simply leading the cyborg through. Nerves were taking a massive hit with each glare from the darkness was met with its own anxiety clad eyes. All it really wanted to do in the moment was crawl into some deep, dark hole that no one cold find and just cease to exist to the world. At least, it would be a preferable alternative to what may come shortly after the incoming altercation.

Finally, after many minutes of walking through tunnels, advancing through to the higher portions of the hive, the two arrived within what Monsoon suspected to be the most important chamber within the structure. There, at the back end, sat what seemed like a large black throne that appeared to befit edgy comic book villains. He chuckled to himself over the little musing, before he could hear the small, sweet-like voice of Apple Bloom, as she emerged from the darkness in a panic, racing towards the two.

The changeling took a small step back as Monsoon eyed the small filly, whom skidded to a stop.

“Oh, thank g-goodness yer here!” she exclaimed, eyes darting around in a panic. “I was s-so scared!”

“It’s only natural,” Monsoon stated rather automatically, “Being abducted by creatures for some frighteningly unknown reason, never knowing if you’ll ever see your family again. It would scare any small child.”

“Mmm-hmm,” she agreed with a slight whimper.

“Before I take you home, could you indulge my curiosity for a bit?”

“A-ah suppose,” she stuttered with her fear still prominent. “B-but, we should make it quick, before they catch us.”

“I figured your captors would have had you secured somewhere so you wouldn’t be able to escape. How come you run free?”

“U-uhm...” she fidgeted, “They did lock me up, but they didn’t do a very good job. I was able to wiggle free from the cell they put me in.”

“You would be small enough to fit through just about anything, wouldn’t you?”

“Hey, uh... Mister?”

“Yes?”

“Where’s mah sister? I thought she’d be here to rescue me, ‘n all.”

“That’s a very easy question,” Monsoon replied with a grin, “We felt it would be the safer option if I came here by myself, with the hostage.”

Apple Bloom watched Monsoon gesture behind him with the sole, nervous changeling shrinking more and more behind him, avoiding her eyes. “What were ya plannin’ ta do with ‘em?”

“The plan was to use it as a negotiating chip to get the Queen of Fraud to cough you up, but seeing as you’re already here,” He gazed about the room, “I suppose that’s not necessary. I have you, so I can just leave with that.”

“O-ok!” she exclaimed with vigor.

“But!” Monsoon said as he raised one hand before him.

“But?” Apple Bloom parroted with a grain of concern.

“I have one more question, that maybe you could help me answer.”

“Uhm, ok, I suppose...”

“Where oh where,” Monsoon started, “Have all the changelings gone?”

“Huh?”

“I have a suspicion that where we are right now is quite the important chamber to the hive. If they operate like other like minded creatures, we should be absolutely swarmed by them by now, but only you have arrived from the shadows.”

“H-heh, that is strange...” she said awkwardly.

“Especially since it would make a lot of sense that any number of them should have been hunting you down.”

“W-well, talkin’ about it ain’t gonna help. We should just try to git outta here as quick as possible and get me back home.”

“Yes. We should.” It was then Monsoon drew his other sai, twirled the two of them in his hands, before he threw one at the little filly’s hooves. Said filly leaped back with a startled yelp before being engulfed in green flames and transforming into a changeling.

“B-but, how?” the changeling sputtered.

“Did you know that you changelings have a very interesting thermal signature? To a normal creature that can’t see beyond the light spectrum, you appear exactly as what you’ve turned yourself into. However, through viewing you through an infrared perception, suddenly, no matter what form you take, you appear just about invisible, save for a faint electromagnetic distortion. And suddenly, I knew you weren’t the missing apple.”

“Oh, curses,” a familiar female voice commented from all around, “And here, I thought we’d actually be able to trick you, but I suppose that’s what we get for underestimating an alien construct.”

“Ah, the Queen of Cowardice. It’s so lovely to hear your shrill voice once more... before I violently rip it from your throat.”

“Empty threats are very unbecoming of you,” she snarled, “And you shall address me as Queen CHRYSALIS.”

“I’ll address as I see fit, you moth eaten sock,” Monsoon snapped back, “So, instead of hiding in the shadows and continuing to prove my point, why not step out into the chamber and face me honestly?”

Out of the various dark holes all around the chamber, hundreds of changelings crawled and scurried out to take up space around the walls, ceiling, and many around the floor of the chamber, keeping a very hefty distance away from Monsoon. They all hissed and bared their sharp teeth at the intruder and terrified hostage. It was then Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, descended down to the throne from her wings and made a show of her presence of authority.

“There,” she said with a dark grin, “I’m not one to refuse a final request, even to my enemy and a traitor.”

“Traitor?” the little changeling behind Monsoon asked.

“Yes, Thorax, TRAITOR!” She barked, “You were part of the platoon to foalnap the little whelp to draw out the one element away from the safety of her friends, and you drag THIS nightmare back into my life? The only reason you’re still alive now is that I have to deal with THIS wretch first.” She gave a sigh, and ran her hoof through her greasy, dark cerulean mane. “Which shouldn’t be much of a problem.” She then began to laugh maniacally. Monsoon then started to laugh just as wickedly, which gave Chrysalis pause. “And, what’s so funny?”

“I don’t think you remember how your last encounter went.”

“Oh, I do, but the situation is changed. You’ve stepped into my home, and MY home has a little secret that cancels out ALL magic within the limits of the kingdom.” She then leapt off of her throne to the floor of the chamber and began to slowly approach the cyborg. “You lost before you even began this fight. Once I give the order, my entire Changeling empire will descend upon you, rip you apart piece by piece, and leave your head behind for me to do as I please. Maybe I’ll mount it next to the pod that carries that little filly, so that you both can be forever reminded that you failed, and she’ll never go home... not for real, at least.” It was then Monsoon busted out laughing even harder crazed, horrific, and ominous cackles that shook the Queen just a little. Why did he seem so confident? She snarled, before commanding, “My Children. Destroy these intruders!”

Monsoon then stopped laughing.

“On my mark!”

Monsoon’s helm slid down with an audible click.

“Ready?!”

His body erupted with purple, electric energies, that seemed to cause his body pieces to shift ever so slightly.

“SEIZE THEM!”

It was then that every changeling under her command did everything in their power to jump the cyborg, hoping to dog-pile and tear him apart, just as they were ordered to. Before they could get close, Monsoon’s body parts suddenly shot away from where he was, scattering hard, and slamming into changelings at ludicrous speeds. Every single drone, soldier, or other subordinate under the Queen’s command was struck with an amazing force that could easily crack chitin. Each piece, upon striking one, sped over to a fresh opponent, and repeated the striking. It was like a hurricane of debris being flung to and fro, knocking each and every one of them away with ease, some right out of the air, others even before they attempted to move.

All the while, the Queen stood back in silence as this chaotic display utterly ruined her army. Mixes of anger, confusion, despair, fear, and even a little bit of envy flooded her senses as she was utterly stunned, unable to really register this horror. On the other side, the one known as Thorax, the hostage now labeled traitor by its own mother, just laid submissive beneath the eye of the storm, which was the only thing keeping him away from the prying clutches of the rest of the changeling army.

This madness only lasted a handful of seconds however, whereupon the last of the aggressive changelings were soundly downed moments before all of the pieces returned to their origin, easily reconnecting. Once whole, Monsoon flexed his fingers for a moment, before he casually wiped spittle and splotches of ichor from his body as if he were shooing away spiders.

“H-how... HOW?!... HOOOOOOOOOOWWW?!” Queen Chrysalis screamed in fury.

“What was it that you said before? That you had ‘a little secret that cancels out ALL magic within the limits of the kingdom’? Haven’t you forgotten? I’m not powered by magic.”

“No. No, no no no no, that’s impossible. EVERYTHING in Equestria, even machines, are powered in some way by magic! You should be no different.”

“I,” Monsoon started, magnetizing the previously planted sai to his hand before twirling both of them in anticipation, “Am NOT Equestrian.”

Queen Chrysalis’ eye twitched as her pupils dilated and her brow furrowed. Her lips peeled back as she bore her sharp teeth in what seemed to be a growing, frothing rage. It was then, without the decorum and authority, she savagely lunged at Monsoon, screaming at the top of her lungs. Monsoon, rearing back and giving a sly, knowing smile, mirrored the now psychotic Queen, and easily tackled her out of the air due to his weight, propelling her through the chamber wall into a neighboring section of the hive. As they tumbled, she began flailing, kicking, scratching, and biting at the mechanical mercenary, trying to inflict as much pain and damage as she possibly could, to no real effect. She was entirely unprepared for how tough and sturdy the materials that comprised his frame were, but it would also be safe to say she didn’t care. Monsoon, on the other hand, was finding this pest’s attempts on injuring him to be somewhat pathetic, if a little sad.

When he was in the right position, just before he rolled to a stop, he pitched her off of him. The throw was enough to get her a good distance away to allow him to get up, but not enough for the Queen to strike against a wall. Never the less, Chrysalis, still in a blind rage, managed to right herself, and race back up to Monsoon as fast as a viper strike and leaped at him again. This time, out of instinctual spite, she poured her changeling magic into her jaw, attempting to make it as physically powerful as a cragadile’s. The bite landed its mark and managed to sink into the arm enough to be locked. If this would had been flesh and blood, the bones would have been broken, and the skin and muscle already torn. Monsoon, however, swung his free fist at the offending shapeshifter, sucker-punching the side of her head enough to daze her and force her to loosen her grip, before violently swinging her off of him and into a wall. She hit with a hard crack, but still running on adrenaline and pure rage, she jumped at him again, hoping to land the jugular this time. Monsoon saw it coming, caught the changeling mid-flight, before launching her towards another wall. Before she could right herself and attack again, Monsoon lunged forward and stuck his sai in each of her foreleg holes, pinning her down. She continued to thrash and gnash like a savage animal as Monsoon gripped a large piece of broken wall. It was so large, that if swung hard enough, it could shatter like glass while severely smashing whatever it hit. He turned to the thrashing Queen, and began tensing himself like a spring, readying a crushing blow. It was just before Monsoon catapulted the loose structural piece at the pinned changeling that she managed to snap out of her psychotic breakdown and activate her horn for an impromptu shield.

The move worked, but the force was enough to smash her through to the outside, which she fell through the air for a moment or two without control before opening her wings to stop her decent. Upon looking back up, she found that Monsoon had already dived after her. One thing was absolutely clear: he wasn’t going to stop. She summoned another shield out of reflex as he landed upon it, violently stabbing at it with his recovered sais, cackling madly. Her subsided rage had quickly become overwhelming confusion and despair. Why was this construct willing to go to such lengths just to end her?

Her answer would have to wait, however, as survival was more important, and this thing was becoming dangerously close to piercing the barrier she placed between them with his constant, surprisingly powerful, strikes. In a spark of inspiration, while Monsoon was in the middle of bringing down one of his sais, Chrysalis harshly rolled to the side and dumped the cyborg off of of her. Free of the menace, she encased herself entirely with a new shield and began ascending back to the throne room, hoping to regroup somehow.

However, Monsoon was far from finished, as magnetic energies pulsed around his body, and shot his legs down to the ground in pieces lined up vertically. Some of said pieces were manipulated to flip upside down at certain spots and juiced with his innate Lorentz Force, causing hard polar repulsion in his magnetic powers, creating impromptu giant slingshot. As the rest of his body descended, the electromagnetic force tethered to him slowed his decent until he just about touched the ground, only to shoot him upward like a bolt, where his leg pieces soon followed and recombined with his body. The force of the super jump was enough to reach the edge of the hole he made prior, just barely managing to grab it with his hand and pull himself back inside.

Once back in, he sprinted back through the other hole in the wall he created, and reentered the throne room, where Chrysalis was upon the ceiling of, tearing down what seemed to be a glowing green pod. Monsoon was somewhat dumbfounded, less on the fact that he didn’t notice it the first time while inside, but more on what it contained. Apple Bloom was within, curled up, out like a light, most likely oblivious of everything going on. The queen noticed as her magic tightly gripped the pod. Giving the cyborg a glare, she pulled it back as high as possible and gave a toothy, evil smile.

“This is what you were looking for in the first place, right? If you don’t surrender right now, I will destroy this pod and the whelp within.”

“You’d really get rid of a source of food for you and your brood just to get me to stop?” Monsoon scoffed.

“Ponies are a dime a dozen, construct. I can always foalnap another as I see fit. While this was an exercise in crippling that team of maggots lead by Twilight, I’m not inflexible. Getting rid of this child, one that the farming family most assuredly dearly loves, should do fine enough for the time being, despite the waste. Besides, that failure to keep her safe would be your fault, and that would be victory enough!” she exclaimed with a manic expression. “Now, I will command you one more time. Surrender, or resign her fate.”

Monsoon clicked his tongue in annoyance as his confidence wavered, and as he gazed about to assess his options, noting that the rest of the changeling army was subdued, It was clear that, despite being dominated through direct combat, Chrysalis had gained an upper hand at this point through Monsoon's own negligence. His single minded goal of vengeance turned on him, forked over any advantages he had, and forced him to weigh his options. Judging by how far away she was from him, no matter how fast he could move, there was the slight possibility she could get away and enact her ultimatum. If he moved wrong, she could easily throw Apple Bloom’s case to any one of the spikes all around the throne room and risk piercing the filly. He might be able to stop it, but there was no telling if Chrysalis herself would take the opportunity to attack him while distracted, and while the damage he’d take would be minimal, it would be enough to throw him off and fail the rescue attempt. She could also easily fly outside and let gravity do the job, which would probably play out similarly.

Before he could act, however, something swiftly moved from the corner of his eye and straight at the pod. Chrysalis had no time to move it out of the way as the form of a changeling, fangs bared, cut through the shell of the pod, breaking it open, and allowing the contents to spill out, including the unconscious Apple Bloom.

“NO!” Chryasils screamed as she turned her attention to the changeling that committed such an act. “THORAX, YOU TRAITOROUS APHID! HOW DARE YOU!?”

Monsoon acted fast, put away one of his sais, launched his now free hand from his body, grabbed the falling child, and pulled her back to him. He tucked her under his arm and put the other sai away, only to pull out a red phosphorus grenade. “I may have underestimated your ‘flexible’ nature, but don’t underestimate mine. I’ll be back for my proper revenge next time. Enjoy your life while you still have it.” He then pulled the pin, and booked it for the hole in the wall he had just came back from.

Chrysalis, distracted from the fury of her subordinate betraying her directly now, only just caught the tail end of what Monsoon said, before the grenade was dropped. Her eyes grew wide in panic as she summoned what magic she could to gather her fallen children to try to flee the bomb she recognized the last time it was pulled.

Just as the small explosive went off as intended, Monsoon with Apple Bloom under his arm and a single changeling leaped out of one side of the throne room while Chrysalis just barely made it out the other side with a large magic bubble filled with the unconscious bodies of the rest of her brood. Entirely too preoccupied with her kin collected and out-cold, she had no choice but to watch her foes flee the hive as she began to plan repairs from the collateral damage due to their skirmish, the regrouping of her subjects, and finally revenge against her maniacal nemesis.

-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-

Well past the outskirts of the hive, deep into the thicket of the forest, Monsoon placed the sleeping Apple Bloom down under a tree as he checked himself over and took note of his personal inventory. Everything, aside from an expended grenade, was accounted for, including his sais. He was slightly disappointed that he couldn’t kill her this time, but priorities needed to be tended to first. If anything were to happen to the little Apple, he’d suffer massive consequences, no matter what he’d do to the changelings afterwards. His pesticidal usurping of their queen could wait for now. At least with this show of force, he made it very clear that any aggression in his general vicinity would elicit a swift retaliation.

“Uhm...” came the meek voice of the new tag-along and former hostage.

“What?” Monsoon responded curtly without turning to face the little changeling.

“I uh... You could have killed all of us, if you wanted... Why did you hold back?”

Monsoon crossed his arms for a moment, before he answered. “Thorax, correct?”

“Yes!”

“If the Queen would have gotten to you at all, would she have followed through her threat to you as a traitor?”

“... Most likely.”

“Then... consider it just giving the condemned a final request.” He turned to Thorax. “You only get one.”

“O-oh,” he responded sheepishly.

Monsoon turned back to Apple Bloom, whom was stirring a little in her sleep, opting to pick her up more gently this time, getting ready to carry her home on foot from this point. Thorax tried to follow, but all it earned him was Monsoon’s sudden stop and drawing of his sai with his free hand. “Following me would be a GRAVE mistake. I WILL kill you, if you do.”

“I-I can’t go back home...”

“That’s not my problem.” Monsoon then put away his sai. “You’re a big changeling. You chose to thwart your Queen, and you can choose to go where ever you want.”

Thorax fell silent as Monsoon began walking again. The little changeling watched for a moment before it uttered, “Th-thanks...”, which earned no response. Thorax’s eyes turned to the changeling hive for a moment, before said gaze changed further north. If exile was the only future available, then the frozen north would be the only place to be. Besides, Thorax had a lot to think about and consider in regards to the events that transpired between the changeling race and ponykind, and spending time as far away as possible from the kin would help settle his jumbled thoughts and ideals. He knew he’d miss his siblings, but perhaps one day, he could return in a bit more confidence.

-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-

As the sun slowly began to peak over the horizon, after hours of trekking through the foliage, following the star patterns to gauge his position on this forsaken land, he finally found himself upon train tracks. Following them proved useful as he finally ended up upon a station that was still active, even all the way out in the sticks. Having managed to accidentally bring along enough bits for the ride home for the both of them with some change, Monsoon bought two tickets and waited for the train that would end this journey for real.

It wasn’t until the train finally pulled into the station that Apple Bloom had finally woken up. Realizing she was far and away from the safety of her home with the strangely stoic Monsoon sitting nearby had her puzzled and a little scared. Barely remembering the bits and pieces of what happened between her abduction and now only fueled that, but that soon began to die as she saw Monsoon realize she was up and aware and give that awful grin.

“Good,” he said, “You’re awake. That’ll make the rest of this trip much less awkward.” He flicked her the ticket he purchased and stood up. “Get on the train. You’re going home.” He then walked away, entering the car with a stunned engineer stepping back to let him through.

Apple Bloom grabbed her ticket, and hopped off her seat, only to call after him, “Hey, wait! Monsoon! What happened?!” But the question fell before an uninterested and uncaring party, leaving her to board the train behind him and take her spot in the locomotive. Despite her burning curiosity, she knew better than to pester the imposing alien on the details, and simply surrendered herself to the train-ride homeward.

The ride itself was long, uneventful, and filled with nothing but silence between them, aside from a scant few gawkers and gossipers that swiftly minded their own business once they knew they couldn’t get any answers from either individual to satisfy their curiosity. After hours of riding, and expending the rest of his currency on buying a few snacks for the little child to keep her a bit fed and preoccupied, Monsoon was glad to see the destination town in the horizon, knowing that his mission was over.

Author's Note:

Atreyu

Comments

[Late_Night]

good shit as usual
when's the next?

[Nightmare_0mega]

10205656
I have no clue. I have an idea for Adna’s chapter, but I gotta take the time to do a little research on the Pony of Shadows and Stygian Imostly on details on what happened). Then, I gotta write it, and make sure that I make a compelling enough story that also reaches above 8000 words.

After that, I have a story idea lined up for Mantis (one that I’ve had for years, ever since the conception of this Anthology series) but I just have to take the time to actually write it.

[Late_Night]

10205664
so, how goes it?