Tales of a Changeling Commander

by Grazy Polomare

Double-Crossing Pt 1

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Morpheus turned and dashed down the road as fireballs began to rain down overhead. Carbon had finally managed to get to his hooves, heading down towards a florist's shop two blocks ahead. Commander Morpheus followed after him, his eyes constantly checking the sky for any incoming balls of flame.

BAM!

The high pitched ring that came before the explosion caught Morpheus off guard, causing him to pause for merely a second. But it was a second too late, as the fireball crashed into the road, sending the Commander back towards Double, who was merely giggling at his attempts to live.

"Oh Commander," she said, "are you really so naive as to think you could outsmart my power? I think that's enough for today no?"

Morpheus had managed to land himself safely in a clump of trees, his eyes still rolling around in his head as he tried to adjust to his current position. "What in the name of-"

"And this is for Smartypants," Double interrupted, a ball of green magic erupting from her horn.

Before the Commander could react, he was blasted upwards twenty feet in the air. He landed back onto the rubble, his shell taking in the most of the damage. Groaning to get himself up, Morpheus began to crawl before a hoof kicked him right in the snout.

“Owww,” The Commander yelped before falling on his carapace, his eyes still trying to focus in on objects.

“Such a shame that you had so much potential but still threw it all away,” the changeling said sadistically, her eyes fixed on him as he strained to get up on his hooves. “You know, you weren’t like us Commander Morpheus.”

“Wha-what do you mean?” The Commander asked, perplexed.

Double just laughed and stared back at him. “You were born without empathy sickness. I have it. I’m pretty sure Mirror too. Possibly Ditto. We’re all sick with it. But you. You were the only one who never got it Commander.”

“So?”

“Well what’s your secret?”

“I don’t have one,” The Commander growled before firing a beam of magical fire at Double. Caught off guard, the changeling was thrown into a pile of trashcans, her armor causing a crater in the nearby wall.

“My armor!” The High-General cried as she noticed the minuscule dent that had recently surfaced on her helmet. Her eyes then turned to the Commander, and he swore that they had some magical energy behind them because he instantly lost all confidence.

“IT. IS. On!” A wave of fire erupted, engulfing everything and everyone who got in its way. Commander Morpheus jumped to the edge of a nearby stand to avoid the flames as they reduced the wood to ashes. Peeking his head out for a look, he could see that Double was casually trotting towards him.

“I do hope you stop playing this game Morpheus,” she said cheerily, “because I would love to battle soon. And also, you must tell me why you didn’t try to stop Carbon. Did he not undermine you as well?”

“Leave that jerk out of this!” Morpheus yelled, “this is between you and me Double. And it doesn’t take a genius to know that you-“

“-knew you were alive?” Double finished, “Contrary to my honed skills Commander, your arrival was a bit of a surprise to me. I had figured you had died with honor in Canterlot. But apparently, you’ve come back to destroy the little reputation you’ve constructed for yourself.”

“You’re one to talk about reputation,” the Commander yelled back, “You and that Mirror are the real traitors. You work for the enemy. You have let the sickness blind your eyes to the true threat. Perhaps Carbon disobeyed orders, but he never…ever…ever betrayed the race by joining them. You have committed the bigger crime, and I will kill you for it!”

“Commander please,” Double said casually, “you seriously are boring me with your fanatical speech. Haven’t you gotten it in your tiny noggin’ that I was sick since the beginning of my birth?”

“What?” Morpheus rose up, his head tilted to the side in confusion. “You were always like this?”

“Yes Commander,” Double said, “You see, I was raised by ponies. I never was placed into those schools or instructor courses that were taught to foals like yourself. In fact, I never had a Big Brother or Big Sister in the swarm. The Queen took care of that when I was…regrettably, forced to return to the hive mentality.”

“But you never did,” The Commander said, his eyes widening.

“No Morpheus, I didn’t” Double smirked, “ I pretended to be fully converted but deep down, my soul was still that little filly from way back when.”

“You’re scaring me…”Morpheus warned, his hooves backing up.

Double only grinned. “Perhaps it is time you see for yourself. Oh don’t worry about the magic. I have more then enough to satisfy my hunger. No, Morpheus, I will end you with the very enemy you swore to destroy. What a great story it will make! Why, it may even be featured in some book club! Commander Morpheus Meets His End by a Little Pony. Wouldn’t that be great? I think you’d-“

“What the buck are you saying?”

Double closed her eyes, and her form was engulfed in green flames. What came out was a unicorn reminiscent of Twilight Sparkle, except that she was light pink and had more white in her mane then the dark purple. On top of that, a cluster of violet stars stuck out as her cutie mark.

“Say hello to Twilight Wish!”

“Buck you!” The Commander fired another round of magical arrows. The transparent wisps of energy whizzed at supersonic speed before they were halted in mid-air.

“Mistake number one Commander,” Double/Twilight Wish chided, “forgetting to say hi to me.”

SWOOSH!

The volley of arrows were sent back towards the Commander, who was then pinned to a nearby shop advertising cider. Double giggled as she trotted ever so slowly to his side, her breath now coming right into his nostrils.

“And mistake number two,” she whispered, “trying to kill me.”

“How do I get myself into these messes,” the Commander moaned.

-----

“Hurry Forge!” Thresh screamed as his subordinate struggled to keep up. They were within a mile of Ponyville after Forge had caused them to take a wrong turn.

“I’m trying my best Thresh,” the changeling managed to gasp, “why the rush all of a sudden?”

“Remember the changeling I told you about? The one who I said was a hatchling?”

“Yeah,” Forge was now raising his brow in confusion.

“She was alive this whole time!”

“What!,” Forge almost lost his breath and fell onto the ground, before getting back up, “You mean the changeling is alive? Then maybe we can-“

“She’s the High-General…”

Forge froze; his eyes regarding Thresh with a look that spoke you’re insane. Thresh heaved another sigh, wondering why of all times his subordinate would doubt him.

“Her name is Double, and if we don’t hurry now, I may not get another chance!”

“Thresh,” Forge said slowly, “Double is a wild card. She tried to disable you for Chrysalis’ sake! Why would you ever-“

“Because it’s my fault she got there in the first place.”

It had been spoken in the softest of tones that for a moment, Forge had to lean in to listen. Thresh wasn’t a changeling to mix emotion with work. He was trained to be cold and calculating. He was trained to be a High-General himself.

Before the Commander initiative, High-Generals were the true second-in-commands. Only recently with Double’s promotion did the need for a Commander arise later on with the political disputes from the Joint-Chiefs or Council of Generals.

Thresh sighed before speaking. “I know it’s hard to go back to your enemy. Even harder to find forgiveness. Which is why I understand if you would want to leave.”

Forge took this in for a moment. He could run away now. Leave right now and never speak of this again. But Thresh was his mentor. Thresh had been his Big Brother when the colonies were formed. And Thresh was still his Big Brother more then ever.

“Ever since you raised me,” Forge began, his tone growing confident, “I’ve never once left your side.. I’m not planning on it any time soon either…”

Thresh grinned, his fangs shining brightly in the dim sunlight.

“…but I made that promise to Cloak and Blend as well.”

The smile was wiped clean off the old High-General’s face. “What?”

Forge pawed the ground, his eyes shifting from rubble to rubble, “I won’t leave you Thresh, but we need to go back for our fellow changelings. They need to know they still have a leader watching over them. And they, unlike Double, haven’t tried to kill you. You may be a cold-blooded, paranoid old-timer. But you’re still the only force they can trust. And right now, I think we could all use a little trust, contrary to our nature.”

Thresh nodded, a smirk arising over his lips. “Then let’s round up the last of our partners shall we?”

-----

Transparence had managed to hide out for most of the battle. It appeared as though changeling was fighting changeling and all the in-between. It had even escalated to the point where entire neighborhoods were demolished. Carbon’s plan for a successful invasion had gone up in smoke.

“If only we freed the Commander,” she squeaked, her green pegasus form still keeping her protected. She hadn’t shed it off since seeing that guard so far away. Even though she had the feeling she could sense a changeling nearby, she didn’t want to take any risks at all. Especially after that stunt with the captain and-“

“You there!” A familiar voice shouted. Transparence turned to see no pony other then the unicorn captain march right up to her. Sucking in her fear, she flared her wings, her eyes shooting a poisonous glare at his eroded armor.

“You’re the florist’s friend right? Or should I say the changeling who couldn’t lie to save herself. I already knew who you were. And now I can finish you like the sorry-“

“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Both equines turned to see a dark blur suddenly whiz right towards the captain. Before the unicorn could react, the object collided with him head on, knocking the stallion into a wall.

It was then that Transparence noticed the Commander himself lying over the unconscious stallion, unharmed thanks to his temporary cushion.

“Commander Morpheus!” the drone squealed, “I knew you would get out eventually. It’s me Transparence, from the-“

“There you are,” came the cheerful chirp of another familiar voice.

Turning around, Transparence saw High-General Double walking neatly over the new pile of rubble, a comatose Carbon held in her magical aura.

“Why Transparence!” The High-General squealed with delight, “I’m so glad you decided to come! Commander Morpheus here and General Carbon have both been branded traitors by Chrysalis. Leaving it my job to take care of them.”

Transparence stood dumbstruck. Traitor? The Commander? Chrysalis? Monkeys? It didn’t make sense at all, but if what the High-General was saying was true, then Transparence had no other choice. She was the elite strike team leader after all. And she answered to the High-General, not to a Commander.

“Well…” Double asked impatiently, “are you going to help me or not?”

Comments

[Grazy Polomare]

Do apologize for the temporary absence and shortness of chapter. I'm not expecting any of them to be very long at the moment. However, I do thank you for your patience.

Enjoy the latest installment of Tales of a Changeling Commander.

And...quick question. I'm sorry if this sounds a little too soon and all, but if there was ever a sequel or prequel to this, would you read it? Or would you like the Commander to make a cameo appearance every now and then in random changeling stories? Just a question I was curious about.

Thanks again and hopefully, I can find more time to continue.

[TeaPartyCannon]

Seeing Double mercilessly beat Commander Morpheous into the ground while staying so cheerful makes me smile in a sadistic way. Regardless, I hope the Commander can find a way out of this mess, maybe through Transparence?

Sure, I'd read a sequel or prequel. I'd even take the second option. I like the Commander.

[DeltaΔ]

Or you could do both...

[shutaro]

Morpheus is fun and seeing him, let's say, preparing a prank or being generally silly would make me smile.
I'm not sure how you would make a prequel to this. Maybe Double's life as a foal in Canterlot? Whether I'd read a sequel depends on the end of this story, so no pressure, eh.

[TeaPartyCannon]

1080840

I'm going to be writing about Double's life as a foal in Canterlot as a side-story in Smoke and Mirrors, but some of the details between our two stories could be different concerning that. I suppose we'll see, won't we?

[shutaro]

1081006
I'm no longer ashamed to say that I have 100%, total, complete and utterly lost track of the origin of characters in this wonderful cluster of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey beyond the leads.
But I'm looking forward to that nevertheless.

[Grazy Polomare]

1081006

If you have any ideas, just let me know. I would love to have a character reference in your story. But it's up to you of course!

[jose41296]

yay

[Razzy]

Welp, she's cracked.

Cya
Raziel-chan