Moving On
Burrow stood completely still while the huge angry biped flung the small table through the already decimated window. His refusal to move in the face of danger, however, was not the result of any kind of bravery. In fact he was completely petrified as his friend continued to, to state politely, ‘flip out’.
The drones had bolted for the safety of the bathroom as soon as the first chair had been thrown, locking the door behind them. Aphid had moved faster than he had and was taking shelter behind the kitchen bench, her eyes wide as she peeked out to watch. The pony nurse was cowering behind the couch, hooves over her head.
Burrow was left alone to face the wrath, his legs quivering while the surrounding area was quickly depleted of what little furniture that it already had. With a final growl of rage and a toss of a flower vase, Mr Growls flung the last of the possible munitions out of the broken window. Unfortunately, that meant that the attention was soon turned to him.
“Grung.”
The fact that the word wasn’t yelled didn’t bring any comfort, even the most useless of changelings would easily pick up the sheer threat in the tone. Burrow gulped and followed where the finger was pointing to, his ears folding down when he saw that it was the front door.
“Grung.”
“Okay,” Burrow quickly replied at the harsher repeat. “I’ll… I’ll give you some time alone.” His legs worked again, and he hurried towards the exit without complaint. The front door wasn’t locked, and he easily pulled it open and stepped out into the street where a growing number of his fellows were gathering.
He turned his head to look back at the sound of a door slamming open, but he was unable to see any details before he was buffeted aside by the mad onrush of the four drones.
“He’s really, really mad,” Cypher whimpered as they all hid behind him for protection.
“He just busted down that door and shattered the lock,” Mirror added. “It was horrifying.”
‘A bit of an understatement,’ he thought, before trying to say something to calm the quivering drones down.
He didn’t get the chance, as a sharp yell beat him to it.
“Ah! Growly, put me down!”
“Grung!”
“It wasn’t even my fault!”
Mr Growls appeared in the doorway, a struggling Aphid held in one hand. “Grung!”
“I don’t even know what that means!” Aphid yelled while she tried to kick. It was no use, Mr Growls having managed to get a handhold under the chitin plate at the base of her neck. Aphid’s flailing hooves were unable to reach the arm as a result, but she got her wish when she was set down on the dirt path rather roughly.
Burrow winced when the door was slammed shut in their faces, and he heard the sound of a lock latching soon after. The six of them were still quite stunned at the sudden burst of rage, but it was Aphid who was the first to recover.
“What in Tartarus is wrong with him!?”
She made to stare in through the broken window, but the green curtain was quickly drawn across to block her view.
“Aphid,” he warned. “Let it go. He’s already ticked off enough.”
“I don’t care,” growled Aphid while she glared back at him. “Ungrateful is what he is, he can’t just kick us out like that.”
“He just did.”
Aphid’s hardened glare convinced him to quickly reword his answer.
“What I mean is, he didn’t actually hurt any of us.”
“Speak for yourself,” she returned, showing off her rump to him. Burrow winced at the green bruise that was growing on the left cheek, but continued.
“Well, okay. But I didn’t think he wanted to do that, and he didn’t throw you across the street like he did with everything else. Obviously those clothes meant a lot to him, and I guess having them shrunk just… set him off.”
“Oh no…”
Burrow looked behind him at the whisper, Mirror having bowed her head while the other three drones looked equally depressed.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine if we give it time,” he reassured them with a poor attempt at a smile. “I’m sure of it.” They didn’t appear convinced, but when Aphid trotted back to join them he noticed all of the attention that they were getting.
Changelings of all castes were approaching from inside buildings, from alleys, from the roads, all whispering amongst themselves as they gazed at the furniture carnage that lay in front of the house. Nudging his companions and lowering his voice, Burrow eyed a relatively untouched bakery.
“Let’s go and wait in that bakery for a little bit, out from the crowd.” He began to trot for his goal, the rest following his lead.
“What about Growly?”
Burrow looked around at Aphid’s query, shaking his head when he saw that no changeling was game to even approach the locked house.
“I doubt he’ll be getting any visitors after what just happened.”
Scarlet removed her forelegs from her head and peeked out from her hiding spot, a weight settling down on the couch that she was sheltering behind. The incredible ruckus from before had died down into relative silence, save for the slight flapping of the curtain and a light murmuring.
Despite her concern for her safety, Scarlet found herself slowly getting to her hooves. Glancing out, she spotted the items that had prompted the sudden outburst. The now-useless clothes had been flung against the opposite wall, Scarlet shaking her head at the pathetic sight.
‘Just how did they manage to do that?’ she wondered. ‘Sure, they probably don’t ever wear clothes, but that’s just absurd.’
The thought reminded her of the swift eviction of the changelings, and how Mr Growls had even thrown out the male that seemed to be on the best terms with him.
‘Did he forget about me?’ Scarlet cautiously began to ease out from her hiding spot, preparing for the yelling to start up again. ‘I hope he doesn’t just throw me out into the street with the changelings…’ a shudder ran down her spine at the thought of what could happen. Still, her fear was overridden by her helpful nature, and she continued to emerge. ‘Mother always said that I was soft, even by her standards.’
It was true, Scarlet being suited for nursing from the moment she could talk. Her parents had at first been disappointed that their daughter had no interest in the family history of serving in the Manehattan police force, but eventually even they had admitted that helping other ponies was the most important thing in both careers.
‘He’s not a pony, or even anything else that I’ve seen in Manehattan, but still…’
“Hey,” she greeted, struggling to keep the shudders out of her voice. The beady blue eyes turned to look at her, and she swallowed a lump in her throat before continuing. “Are you okay there?” He looked away from her and just sighed deeply, Scarlet nodding towards the clothes. “I guess they meant a lot to you, didn’t they?”
There was still no reply, not even a growl or a grunt.
Frowning to herself, Scarlet turned away and began to head over towards the beds to give the biped some space. After all, she was already incredibly lucky that he hadn’t even raised his voice at her as it was. Still, it was surprising to find that she still felt bad for him, and she looked over towards the kitchen sink with her eyes focusing on a line of glasses.
‘Actually, I think I might have an idea…’
Daniel continued to sit and fume, the pony already out of his mind.
‘This entire situation is fucked,’ he silently repeated for about the hundredth time. ‘Fuck wherever I am, fuck everyone, fuck Toyota…’
He actually felt a tiny shard of tooth crack off as he continued to grind his pearly whites.
‘Now I’m stuck in the middle of a bloody war between magical horses, surrounded by some weird bug-things that are far too direct, and now I don’t even have any fucking underwear.’
He glanced down at the bedsheet he was wearing, instinctively crossing his legs.
‘Fuck this entire situation…’
He was vaguely aware of the sound of approaching hooves from behind, the clops completely distinctive thanks to the wooden floorboards. The flying-pony emerged from around the side, Daniel glancing down at her with the words ‘piss off’ already primed and on the tip of his tongue.
Those words quickly died upon the sight of the wide-eyed pony staring up at him with a glass of water held in her mouth. The way she held one edge delicately between her teeth was almost sickeningly adorable, and her wings gave a tiny flap when she extended her head out towards him. Daniel couldn’t really think of anything to say, the pony reinforcing her offer by stepping closer and nodding slightly.
“Thanks,” he mumbled. Reaching out to gently take the offered glass from her, his anger softened somewhat when he remembered how he had done the same for her. “I guess you haven’t exactly had the best time of your life either, I suppose.” The pony merely smiled and let out a soft, happy-sounding neigh that caused him to lightly shake his head. “Why does everything here have to be so god-damn cute?”
He peered at the glass of water and considered giving it a wipe down before taking a drink, but a second glance at the smiling equine convinced him otherwise. It might have come across as insulting, and considering his recent behaviour…
‘I hope this wasn’t her house, not that it really changes much.’
Pushing the sobering thought that he had just trashed the house of some small equine to the back of his mind to be dealt with later, he took a drink of water and returned to sitting in silence. Evidently it wasn’t good enough, and he watched as the pony trotted around to the other side.
With the aid from a small flap of her wings, the pony effortlessly jumped up onto the couch beside him. She circled once and then laid down upon it with her hind legs tucked up into her body, and her forelegs dangling slightly off the edge. She looked up at him once more, her head tilting to the side.
‘At least she has the decency to not sprawl over me from the get-go,’ Daniel granted. He wasn’t able to tell if it was because of his recent behaviour or if the bug-horses were just more casual with their physical contact, but the pony seemed far more knowledgeable when it came to personal space.
He took another sip of water, face turning to a frown while he watched the curtain flap in a slight breeze.
‘Damn bug-horses, getting me involved in a war with these ponies. Guess Dream-horse is real and right, they do cause problems.’ Another drink of water, and the frown disappeared when he sighed. ‘Still, it’s not like I can really understand why they’re doing it, but that leader of theirs’ does seem like a bit of a bitch.’ He remembered the six he’d kicked out of the house in his anger, how well they’d treated him save for a few minor exceptions, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. ‘They surely can’t be that bad, and I guess they didn’t actually mean to mess anything up.’
“Shit,” he muttered while placing the half-finished glass down next to the couch. “Hope I didn’t fuck things up too badly between us all.”
He looked to the left when the pony stirred, the flying-horse sitting up with her forelegs between her hind ones. Daniel took note of the familiar sitting position, and began to wonder at just how similar the two new species he’d been recently acquainted with were.
As terrible as the thought was, he nearly smirked at the idea of the current conflict being some kind of small equine race war.
The pony neighed, and he took a guess at what she was asking.
“Oh, nothing,” he replied while drooping back into the couch. “Just lamenting about my sorry state I suppose.” He returned to staring at the curtain, and nearly jolted out of his seat when he felt something rest on his back.
The pony quickly withdrew her wing and leaned away with a worried expression. Daniel relaxed slightly when he realised what had happened, but still examined her for any unsavoury signs. He sighed again once he realised that, despite shifting closer to him, the equine wasn’t showing any hints of indecent intentions.
‘Sure says something about my usual company that I can’t let an equine get near me without worrying it’ll try to seduce me.’
“It’s fine, I’m sorry,” he apologised, leaning back once more. “It’s just… well, I’m sure you’ve seen enough of that female bug-horse to work it out.”
The pony just looked puzzled, before she hesitantly reached out the wing again. This time he let her place it down, and the pony scooted even closer as she did so.
They both sat on the couch for a few minutes without any talk between them, but it was calming nevertheless. Daniel had actually nearly completely forgotten about his prior behaviour and mood, instead focusing on the surprisingly soothing motion of the feathered wing. He quickly found himself yawning, already tired despite his earlier rest.
“I think I’m…”
He stopped short as soon as he glanced to his right, the flying-horse lightly snoozing with her eyes closed.
“Well, this is going to look awkward,” he muttered before deciding to just wait until she woke up.
‘Imbeciles.’
Chrysalis scowled at the two so-called ‘Creature-Controllers’ while they cowered before her, the four harem drones wisely staying in the back corner without uttering a word.
“I’ve heard enough,” she told them all. “Obviously you are not skilled enough to perform even the simplest of tasks when it comes to that beast, you can’t even keep it under control! I’m ashamed to have even thought of appointing you! Effective immediately, you are reassigned to normal duties. I expect to see you scouting ahead of us when we leave this town in a few hours.”
The male soldier looked up. “But, My Queen-“
“Silence!”
The echoed thought pulsed through the mental link, all of the changelings in the room save for Scuttle and herself wincing at the command. The soldier in question immediately winced and bowed his head, Chrysalis making a mental note to have Scuttle assign him to the most dangerous of missions.
With Scuttle at her side, she gave a final huff before turning heel and walking out of the pony bakery with a scowl still on her face.
“Now, to deal with the problem,” she growled. Setting her sights upon the house with the pile of broken furniture sitting outside, she stormed towards it with malicious purpose.
“Is this wise?”
“Shut it.”
Scuttle did as told and kept his mouth shut while they approached the house, Chrysalis scowling all the while.
‘This accursed beast is more trouble than it is worth!’ An eye twitched. ‘Even if it is good to feed off, I will not stand for some insolent creature making a mockery of my power!’
Reaching the door, she tried it with a hoof before scowling at the lock. One flare of her magic later and the bolt slid open to allow them entry.
Chrysalis pushed the door aside and stormed in, horn glowing with a paralysation hex in case of attack. Her tongue was ready to unleash a verbal assault of the likes that none had seen before, but on first glance the room appeared to be deserted.
“I sometimes wish that we had space for places like this in the Hive.”
Chrysalis scowled down at Scuttle, her Captain seeming more focused on the wooden floors than on his actual task.
“A complete waste of resources,” she growled, before examining the room again. This time she picked up on the shapes resting upon the couch, her eyes narrowing while she approached from behind.
Coming to face the target of her wrath, she paused upon the sight that met her.
The creature was fast asleep, and clad in the same pink bedsheet that the former controllers had explained about. Internally she scoffed, she would have had the brute go naked like the rest of them.
A far more pressing matter was the grey-coated pegasus resting halfway upon the creature’s lap with her forelegs tucked in, the mare likewise being in a deep slumber. Chrysalis’ eye twitched at the same time that a fluffy wing gave a small twitch, her suspicions somewhat confirmed.
“So much for just being a nurse,” Chrysalis muttered.
“I doubt it’s anything more myself,” spoke Scuttle while he took a step closer. Chrysalis didn’t like the smile on his face. “Most Equestrians do tend to be fairly empathic to those in distress, and if his prior behaviour was anything to go off…” He looked up at her. “Besides, you have to admit that it’s a little adorable.”
She stared at the worthless Equestrian resting upon the huge bloat of a beast, a sour taste rising in her mouth.
“It’s far from that, I do not have to admit nothing.” Her scowl morphed into a less-murderous frown at a small tinge of sweetness in the air. “Still, I suppose that I can partake in some sustenance before dealing with the beast. I will permit you to feed as well, Scuttle.”
“You are most generous, Your Highness.”
Chrysalis paused at the reply, trying to work out if he was being genuine or not. Deciding that it wasn’t worth interrogating him over, she instead rested her left forehoof on a bare fleshy knee and drew deep.
Tasty and satisfying emotion flowed into her, enriching her energy and actually eliciting a relaxed sigh. So soothing was the bountiful feast, Chrysalis didn’t even take notice as her anger ebbed and a pristine calm replaced the white-hot rage. She was dimly aware of Scuttle joining her via the other knee.
“Hmm, so this is the fabled food-creature then,” Scuttle muttered to himself. “I must admit, it is one of the finer that I’ve feed off. Not the best, low magic and all, but it is rather satisfying.”
She merely hummed in agreement, almost having had her fill.
“I’m actually pretty confident that we should keep it around.”
Chrysalis stopped and stared at her subordinate, one thousand reasons as to why the creature would be spending the remainder of his time in a cocoon ready on her tongue. Still, something stopped the words before they left her mouth, and she ceased her feeding in order to try and clear her head.
“I… I don’t know about that,” she managed out with a rather alarming amount of difficulty. “I will…”
“Are you alright, my Queen?”
“I’m fine. As I was saying, I will see how things pan out with the new Creature-Controller before making a decision.” Trying to summon a frown at the memory of the previous beast-handlers, she found herself unable to even manage a slight grimace. “Which reminds me, there is urgent business to attend to.” Turning around, she didn’t even glance back before making for the door. “Come along, Scuttle. We are leaving this place in a few hours and need to prepare.”
With that, she pulled open the door and paused momentarily to rub her head with a foreleg.
‘Huh, why do I feel so strange all of a sudden?’
Dismissing it as an aftereffect of the bountiful feast she’d just had, Chrysalis gave her head a shake and trotted out of the house with Scuttle following behind.
“Only two local guards, both pegasi. That’s five pegasi total that we’d have to take care of first. You three?”
Burrow adjusted his hoofing amongst the tall grass, Sergeant Pillar awaiting his answer while the four of them watched the bustling pony town from afar.
“I spotted the same five,” he added with a sigh. “The rest are earth ponies, and I counted about seventy of them.”
“I got seventy-one,” Aphid contributed with an equally disinterested tone. Glancing across towards his armoured comrade, Burrow saw that she too looked completely down on her luck. “And add in one unicorn, the local doctor.”
The final member of their scouting party, a male soldier named Clicks, nodded to Aphid’s answer. “I got the same, seventy-one with an additional unicorn.” He seemed to pay no notice to the sullen mood, but Burrow noticed Pillar give both himself and Aphid a quick glance.
“So it seems like we have the numbers we need,” he finally said. Glancing up towards the sun, he gestured back towards from the direction they had arrived from. “Come on, the Queen and the Commander will want to hear our report. You all did well, we’re well ahead of schedule.”
‘Yay,’ Burrow thought to himself as he sighed again.
Either he had thought too loudly, or had drawn attention regardless.
‘Don’t be so down,’ he heard Pillar whisper over the mental link. ‘For what it’s worth, I think you did a pretty good job with the big guy.’
Burrow didn’t bother to reply, and instead turned around and prepared his wings.
“We going then?”
The Sergeant gave him and Aphid another glance, before his own wings buzzed and he took off to lead them back to the others.
A grey-furred foreleg swatted away the thing poking her nose, Scarlet frowning while she shifted slightly on her side. She was vaguely aware of something moving in front of her, but it was paid no mind as she tried to return back to a much needed sleep. It didn’t help that whatever she was lying upon was both warm and soft, and soon she was almost returning to the wonderful world of slumber.
That is, before the sound of a throat clearing ruined her chances for good.
Frowning as she opened her eyelids, Scarlet finished a long yawn before looking into a pair of narrowed eyes that were barely a hair breadth’s from her own.
They were a solid light blue.
“You disgust me! Get up at once!”
The shout was enough to get her to nearly leap out of her fur.
The crack of the whip that followed was more than enough to get her to leap up from her spot with wings fluttering madly.
‘I told you, I already completed Year Eight bloody years ago, you outrageous c-‘
Freakish dreams about high school long since passed were cut short at an immense crack that seemed to split the very air.
Daniel jolted awake in a flash, only barely registering a grey-and-crimson blur before a weight enveloped his head and shoulders. “The Fuck!?” He almost toppled over sideways on the couch, but managed to steady himself with one hand on the armrest and the other grasping whatever was resting on him.
He felt soft fur and immediately relaxed his grip when he felt the dock of a tail, but this in turn caused the owner to wrap a foreleg over his eyes to keep hold. Daniel could hear the rapid beating of a heart in his left ear, along with rapid sound of a flapping pair of wings. Getting his balance, he used the hand previously propping himself up to lift the foreleg up so it wasn’t blinding him.
‘I thought she’d be heavier.’
“Just what the Hell…”
All thoughts about the weight of flying ponies and inquiring as to the reason for the sudden head-hug were set aside when he found the answer to the latter, Daniel setting sights upon the lone male bug-horse that was standing in the middle of the room. Rather than the friendly smiles (in addition to the very friendly ones) that he was used to from the creatures, he was instead faced with an outright glare from the small equine. A menacing whip was held in a green magical glow, Daniel taking a moment to work things out.
‘You know, it certainly says a lot about this place that I can’t figure out if he’s trying to scare me or if this is some kind of seduction attempt.’
Playing it safe and deciding on the first option, Daniel narrowed his eyes at the bug-horse. Never breaking eye contact, he slowly reached up with both hands and grasped the flying-pony around the rump and under the chest. She let out a small shiver, but didn’t resist when he pulled her off and set her down upon the couch next to him.
“Stay there,” he ordered, all while the bug-horse let out a burst of angry chattering and cracked the whip again. “I’m going to find out just who this fucking tosspot thinks he is.”
With that, he got to his feet and glared down at the adversary that came up to his waist. The bug-horse to his credit stood his ground despite the irate biped towering over him, but the next crack of the whip was noticeably less enthusiastic than the previous two.
“Mate, you picked a crap fucking day to try and start shit.”
“In only a short time we shall depart this place, and move on to one with an equally good amount of undefended pickings.”
The crowd before her buzzed with a hungry excitement, Chrysalis basking in the glow of their obedience with a wide grin on her face. She had been concerned that her defeat at Canterlot had affected her subjects’ loyalties, after all it had been an extremely embarrassing event, but Scuttle’s decision to raid the isolated hamlets on the border with the Badlands had proven quite popular. Glancing down quickly towards the Commander by her side, Chrysalis twitched an eye. ‘Still, I must ensure that he does not get too confident with his successes…’
Her attention turned back to the crowd, in particular to the stolen wagons lined up and ready to go. Each of the ten transports contained a number of cocoons, the green prisons containing the entire town’s population save for one. She resisted the urge to frown at the thought, her weakness when dealing with the biped… disturbing.
“The next Equestrian town in our path will be simple to overrun, and our scouts inform me that it is completely unaware of our presence.” Chrysalis scanned over the crowd, her eyes noticing the baubles that were stuffed into stolen bags or tied onto backs with rope. There was pots, pans, jewelry, and even stranger items like stuffed toys. While she didn’t see the need for such worthless things, it did no harm for her children to take what they wanted from the hated ponies. “You may of course take anything that you like, save for food.”
There was another cheer from the swarm, Chrysalis preparing to dismiss them. However, she halted upon detecting a change in the overall mood. It started as a small ripple of concern and confusion, before it turned into a wave that swept through the street. A split second later and she spotted the cause, her eyes narrowing.
‘What the…?’
Changelings backed up, parted, and made way for the tall biped stomping down the street. The pink bed sheet fluttered in a light breeze, and the creature was wearing a frown that almost matched hers. The crowd went silent, all watching while the creature approached the platform she was standing on.
Chrysalis could only stare as a changeling was lifted off a shoulder, and placed down in front of her rather roughly.
“Mhmm! Mrhhm!”
The struggling bundle, that she recognised as the newly-appointed Creature Controller, stared up at her with wide eyes. His legs were bound together with the whip that she had given him, and his mouth was gagged with what looked to be some kind of grey fabric.
“Mhrmmhm!”
“Grawb raga.” The biped spat out, before turning heel and marching back from where he had come. Chrysalis was speechless while she watched him leave, the previously excited crowd dead silent while he passed through them. The trussed up changeling at her hooves struggled some more, but Chrysalis had forgotten all about him as she tried to process the sheer insolence that the beast had displayed.
‘Fucking bitch.’
Quick as a flash, Chrysalis whipped her head around and glared at Scuttle as the thought rippled through the mental connection. However, she paused with a sharp admonishment on the tip of her tongue, her commander looking up at her with a jolt.
“My Queen, is something the matter?”
She could pick up no trace of a lie, Scuttle looking genuinely surprised as to why she was glaring at him. Head darting around, Chrysalis looked first to the changeling at her hooves and then towards the watching crowd.
Nothing. No trace of defiance, bravery, or backbone to be found. They were all nervous and jittery, Chrysalis frowning harder when she was unable to find the culprit. Either the changeling in question was very good at masking their mental stare from her, which was next to impossible, or…
She focused back on the departing human, the biped having cleared the crowd and was just about to round the corner of a house. Chrysalis managed to catch a final glimpse before he disappeared from sight, one of the creature’s forelegs held up with the middle digit out of five extended in the air towards her.
‘No…’ she thought, furrowing her eyes and doing a double take. ‘Surely not…’
‘This is the pits.’
Burrow sighed again while he sat on the road, staring out to the east where they were heading off to. In a matter of an hour they would be on the move from the current town to the next, the final resupply spot before they would make the long journey back to the hive.
Although the prospect of going home was a welcome one, he couldn’t help but feel a little disenchanted. Aside from the fact that Mr Growls had kicked him and the others out, it was the thoughts of the future that really got him down. More specifically, how the Queen would handle their recent defeat.
The invasion of Equestria had been far from just a malicious attack, it had been one of the only options left. The hive had grown too big, the occasional abduction of a lost traveller or townspony no longer significant to feed everyone. Even the numerous infiltrators had difficulty in bringing in enough energy, and with the Equestrian’s heightened security after the attack…
‘It’s far from good,’ he thought with a frown. ‘At least the Queen tried to invade when the stores were somewhat filled, but the ponies we have just won’t be enough.’ A darker thought came to the forefront of his mind, and he winced. ‘Still, if the Equestrians decide to attack us back, then we might not need as much food for many changelings.’
Burrow dismissed the thought and sighed again, one forehoof lazily drawing a circle in the dirt. He was nothing but an ordinary soldier, and to be honest a pretty terrible one at that. There was no way any of his thoughts or opinions would have even a slight impact on how things would pan out.
With nothing else to do but sit and feel sorry for himself, Burrow remained in a most melancholy state.
In fact, he didn’t even hear the footsteps approach until it was too late.
“Grawbra.”
“Hey, what the-!”
He couldn’t help but jump when something snaked underneath his stomach and lifted. His wings buzzed on instinct while he was lifted up into the air, his legs dangling down as he was pulled into the air. He barely had time to look to his left and see who was carrying him before they began to move, Burrow tilting his head.
“Mr Growls?”
“Grawb.”
“Uh… could you put me down?”
He received no verbal response, instead a hand slightly lifted up the side of his helmet and gave a little scratch behind his ear. Burrow’s wings stopped moving, and his entire body went still at the motion. The continued to walk back into the town, no mind paid to the varied stares that they both received.
“Burrow?”
Mr Growls stopped walking at the female voice behind them, and Burrow had to try to crane his neck to see behind them. He spotted a fellow soldier emerging from a house with a busted door, and he recognised her immediately.
“Aphid?”
She trotted around the side, tilting her head at him. “What are you doing up there?”
Burrow glanced over to Mr Growls, the biped trying hard to avoid eye-contact with Aphid. “I don’t really know. I was just sitting down and minding my own business when he snuck up behind me and lifted me up.”
Aphid frowned at his explanation, also avoiding looking Mr Growls in the eye. “You haven’t tried to escape? Trust me, he isn’t gentle when he puts you down. Brute.” Before he could answer, she held up a hoof and shook her head. “Actually, I don’t really care. If you still trust him after what he did, then that’s your loss.”
“Gra…” Mr Growls spoke up, using his free hand to scratch the back of his head. “Rawb, graw rabba gaw-“
“I don’t care anymore!” Aphid suddenly snapped, glaring up at the anxious biped. “You’re a… a… good for nothing! Even drones have better manners than you!”
“Grawbra-“
“Shut it, Growly!” Aphid barked. Burrow was just about to ask her to calm down, but Aphid got in first. “You too, Burrow. I’m never going to just let that go. Now trot on off and leave me alone.”
With that, Aphid turned with a huff and began to trot away from them.
It was a mistake on her part.
Time seemed to slow for Burrow, everything going silent as the situation was taken to a whole new level. It all happened so fast, and he could only dangle helplessly in an arm with no chance of effecting the outcome.
Mr Growls obviously wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and Aphid had left herself exposed and open to attack.
The biped lunged forwards with frightening speed, Aphid’s head slowly turning around while she slowed her pace. Burrow watched it all happen, even noticing the way that his comrade’s eyes began to widen as soon as she noticed the arm that was swinging down.
Then, time resumed its normal flow.
“No!”
‘Too late,’ Burrow thought, still watching while Aphid was scooped up in the same manner as he. Mr Growls had a solid hold on her, seemingly not caring about the weight of the two changelings that he now held in his arms on either side.
“Growly!” Aphid squealed while kicking her hooves in the air to no avail. “Put me down now!” There was no verbal response, Mr Growls possessing a smug smile on his face as he turned around and began to walk back to the house that they had been storing him in. “If you don’t, I swear that I’ll bite you!”
The small smile on Burrow’s face vanished at her threat, his eyes widening while he watched her open her jaws wide. While her reaction to being carried had been amusing, this was now no laughing matter.
“Aphid, no!” he warned, M Growls glancing down at Burrow when he spoke. “Don’t you even think about biting him?”
“Wbhy noft?” she managed out with jaws still open and fangs prepared. Burrow raised a forehoof, hoping that he would retain Mr Growl’s attention for long enough.
“Aphid, he’s currently carrying you. Just a few hours ago, he threw a table twice your size halfway across a room and out a window. Do you really think it’s a good idea to bite him?”
Slowly, her jaws closed softly once more.
“Fine,” she grumbled, before resuming her thrashing. “But I still won’t let him get away with this!”
Her legs kicked and occasionally a hoof would graze or scrape a bedsheeted arm or torso. Barely a few houses away from their destination, Mr Growls finally ran out of patience. They swerved into a small alley, and Burrow found himself lowered gently to the ground. Relieved that he was once again on solid ground but worried as to what was become of Aphid, he looked up at his friend as Mr Growls struggled to move Aphid into both of his hands.
“Now, let’s all think about this before we do anything we might regret…”
His words went unheeded by both parties, Mr Growls gripping Aphid under the forelegs and holding her out so she was unable to hit him. Aphid meanwhile continued to struggle.
“Grab, ragraba rawb-“
“No!” Aphid glared at Mr Growls. “Growly, put me down. You’re pure A-grade flankhole!”
“Rawbraga grawb.”
“I don’t care.” Aphid turned her head away while she stopped kicking, her forelegs crossed in front of her chest. “You’re just mean, Growly.”
“Rawbgra?”
“You heard me, mean. Rotten. No good.”
Something she was saying was getting through, Mr Growls seeming to sag a little. Crouching down, he gently placed her down on the ground. As soon as he left go, Aphid swivelled around to face in the opposite direction with her forelegs still crossed.
‘Is she really going to be this nymphish?’
“Grawb.”
The word from Mr Growls came out flat, the biped still crouched down with his eyes furrowed at Aphid. A hand was stretched out and placed on her shoulder, but was quickly brushed off by a foreleg.
“No,” Aphid chided with a huff. “Nothing you can possibly do will change my mind, we’re through.”
Burrow didn’t know what to say in order to salvage the situation. Despite her behaviour, Aphid seemed genuinely hurt and resolute to not change her stance on the matter. Mr Growls, meanwhile, glanced at him with a unsure look that, quite frankly, caused Burrow to feel a small amount of dread.
The feeling that something bad was about to happen only increased when Mr Growls glanced behind them and out of the alleyway.
‘What are you-‘
It happened all of a sudden, the action on the very bottom of the list of things that Burrow was expecting.
Darting in with astonishing speed, but yet with a gentle grace, Mr Growls closed his eyes and moved his head towards Aphid. A quick peck was laid upon the bare head next to an ear, before the head was drawn back with eyes still closed.
Burrow was frozen, Aphid having gone ridged at the advance. Slowly, a foreleg was raised up and a hoof touched the sport where the kiss had been laid.
“What did you just do!?” Burrow hissed to his friend, Mr Growls watching Aphid with visible apprehension. “Why? How!? There is no way this is going to end well for you!”
“Grawbra,” came the reply, hands being raised before a finger was pointed back towards Aphid. “Rawro.”
Looking back, Burrow went silent while Aphid began to turn her head. She stared at Mr Growls, forehoof still rubbing the damp patch on her head.
“Growly…”she started slowly, face natural. “What was that?”
Mr Growls was now looking very uncomfortable.
“Raw, grabbra-“
“No,” Aphid cut off the mumbled explanation. She got to all four hooves and walked up towards the biped. Looking up, her eyes locked with his. “Do you really think that that was enough for me to just forgive you?”
Evidently, Mr Growls mistook Aphid’s question and tone, both hands extending out with palms showing. A flurry of growls and grunts came out as an attempt at explanation, obviously as the speaker tried to apologise for, in his mind, going a step too far.
However, Burrow didn’t miss the small smile growing on Aphid’s face.
Nor did he miss her wings begin to flutter.
Nor the tensing of her legs.
Apparently, the ‘forgiveness kiss’ hadn’t been nearly enough to buy any forgiveness. Instead, it had only provided an opening.
“Aphid, no!”
It was too late. There was a buzz, followed by a brief grunt of alarm, followed by a loud ‘whump’ as Aphid propelled herself into Mr Growl’s chest. Forelegs wrapped around a neck, and then there was a sharp clang as a rapidly back-peddling biped tripped over an empty metal garbage can and fell onto his back.
“Mr Growls!” Burrow rushed over and past another line of cans that obscured his vision, only to be met with a very disturbing sight.
A pile of old cardboard boxes had broken the fall, but his friend had suffered a far more shocking fate than a back injury. Aphid had latched on with a strong grip, face mushed into Mr Growls while she furiously made out greedily. Given his position and the changeling on top of him, Mr Growls was pinned down as Aphid, to put it bluntly, took advantage of him. Burrow could only stand and stare for a few moments as legs kicked weakly and wings buzzed erratically.
But then he bolted forwards, forelegs already around Aphid’s barrel to pull her off. She separated with a wet smack, Burrow falling onto his side with Aphid landing next to him.
“Gr… Grawbra?” Mr Growls muttered out weakly from his spot amongst the cardboard boxes.
“That was entirely uncalled for!” Burrow said as he sat up and glared at his comrade. Aphid struggled in his hold, eyes locked onto the helpless biped while her tongue lolled out of her mouth. Something about her look gave Burrow pause, a noticeable spark of lust that seemed unusual even for the normally promiscuous female.
Aphid nearly broke free, Burrow getting to his hooves and using his weight to try and hold her down.
“Lemme go!” she ordered while she continued to struggle and stare hungrily at Mr Growls. “Burrow, get off! I need this!”
“What in the name of the Queen is wrong with you!?” he fired back.
“You don’t understand Burrow, just let me go!”
He doubled his determination and refused to give in, Aphid continuing to fight him for a few moments. It was in vain, however, and soon she began to slow her movements. Glancing back down at her, she seemed far more composed than she had a minute ago.
“Aphid, just what-“
“It was… the best thing,” she panted, before shaking her head. “You need to feel it to understand, Burrow.”
“Understand what?”
“If you thought the ambient stuff was good,” Aphid took a brief pause. “…then what I just got will blow your mind. It was… oh my…” A dopey grin crossed her face. “You just have to try it.”
Burrow frowned, and shook his head. “Eh… no thanks, I’ll pass.” A rustling drew his attention back to Mr Growls, who was now trying to sit upright amongst the pile of trash. Forgetting about Aphid, he hurried over towards his friend and pushed against his back to lend a hoof. Mr Growls sat up with a grunt and a wince, one hand rubbing the back of his head.
“Are you okay?” Burrow noticed the way Mr Growls was moving his mouth like there was an odd taste, and shot a look towards Aphid. “I’m so, so sorry about what Aphid did. I know that you get annoyed over things like that.” He noticed Aphid get to her hooves with a grin, and he watched her carefully. “I’ll keep a close eye on her, I promise.”
“Grung, unga…” Burrow took a step back while the biped got to his feet. A hand came down and hesitantly patted him on the upper back. “Rawg unga.”
Mr Growls then turned his attention towards Aphid, the two staring off for a few tense moments.
“Don’t worry Growly,” Aphid said with a grin, breaking the silence. “I forgive you… for now. However, from time to time I might need you to… renew that forgiveness.”
‘Not dealing with this now,’Burrow thought before giving a long sigh. Wrinkling his nose, he noticed the stench of decaying rash that was coming off of Mr Growls.
“Look,” he spoke up, meeting his friend’s gaze. “You’re not going to like this, but I think you need to get back to the house and take a real quick bath before we leave…”
“Hey, they’re coming!”
“Shh! Get everything ready!”
Scarlet watched on from the couch as the four changeling drones scrambled away from the window and into their pre-practiced places.
After ‘Growly’ had stormed out of the house with a tied-up changeling over his shoulder, she’d been left in the dark over what had happened. The best she could assume was that the earlier angry display had sparked a high-up changeling, likely the Queen, to replace the previous ‘Creature Controllers’. Obviously Scarlet wasn’t exactly sad to see the whip-happy replacement go, but she’d been left alone in the house until the four drones had cautiously sneaked back inside.
With them, they had brought pilfered fabric and sewing supplies, and had largely ignored her as they busied themselves with a hidden task on the other side of the room. Scarlet was fine with that, she had no desire to interact with the emotion-eating shapeshifters if she could avoid it. She would have been able to get her mind around evil changelings, the villainous invaders and defilers of families, but so far these ones…
These ones were just plain weird.
It certainly said a lot that, so far, she understood Growly far better than she understood her race’s twisted cousins.
The door knob rattled, a silence descending over the inside of the house.
‘Muddle, Meddle, Mirror, and Cypher.’ Scarlet went back over the names she had overheard in her head. From what she had gathered, the four belonged to the lowest group of changelings and as such the ‘drones’ were the ones that stood to lose the most if the biped refused to let them near him. The changelings in the group did seem to receive some kind of special status amongst their peers, after all.
The door opened up after a moment, Scarlet able to catch the four drones hiding something behind them thanks to her spot on the couch. She continued to watch as Mr Growls and the two changeling soldiers entered, the trio stopping in front of the drones. The glances given were certainly ones of curiosity, but Scarlet noted something odd about the newly-arrived group.
‘Is it just me, or does he seem much more nervous of Aphid than before?’
“Wow, that smell…” Meddle broke the silence with a wave of a foreleg in front of her nose.
‘Or is it Muddle? It’s hard to tell these changelings apart.’
“Mr Growls had a… unfortunate encounter with some trash cans,” Burrow glanced over towards a grinning Aphid before looking back at them. “As of such, he needs a bath.”
One of the drones, Scarlet thinking it was ‘Cypher’, raised a hoof. “But the Queen said that we’re going to be leaving soon.”
“It’ll be a very quick bath,” Burrow reassured them. “It’ll be over hours before we need to go.” Scarlet tilted his head when he looked at her. “Get the pony to help you, heat up some water, and fetch whatever tub you put him in last time. If you work quickly, it’ll be over with quick as a flash.”
Aphid trotted forward, before one foreleg went over her chest. “And with me as the leader, we’ll have Growly bathed in no time!”
“No.” They all looked towards Burrow, who was shaking his head. “Not this time, Aphid. You’ve already traumatised him enough today.”
‘I wonder what he means by that?’
“You will sit down and stay on the couch,” he continued with a point of his foreleg. “Mr Growls will be let alone to bath in private, I’m sure he can cope with that by himself.”
Scarlet looked up at the mentioned biped, finding that Mr Growls was still silent and wary while Burrow focused away from Aphid and back on the drones.
“So let’s get a move on, we need heated water and soap.”
“Okay,” one of the four answered. “But there’s something we need to do first.”
“Make it quick… and don’t do anything to upset him. He’s had a rough day already.”
Under Burrow’s watchful eye, the four trotted forwards the biped and all looked up with wide eyes. Mr Growls made to take a step back with another glance towards Aphid, but halted when four horns lit up and a number of bundles and a piece of parchment was levitated out towards him.
“We’re really sorry about your clothes,” the changeling Scarlet assumed was Mirror apologised. “We were only trying to help get them clean for you.”
“You got really mad and kicked us out,” Cypher joined in, Meddle and Muddle nodding along. “And so we thought we’d make it up to you.”
“They’re not as good as the ones you had before, but…”
Mr Growls, after a moment of pause, grabbed the first bundle from the air and held it up. Scarlet recognised it as a large shirt when it unfurled, certainly large enough to fit the large biped. From the looks of it, it had been sewed together from a mixture of green bedsheets and yellow pillowcases.
The drones hesitantly passed him the second item, this one being a set of long pants made from the same stolen materials as the shirt. Scarlet tilted her head, long pants were normally reserved for very formal occasions and seeing a set made from bedsheets just seemed… wrong.
The third item was the most curious, a smaller set of pants that was made up solely of white pillowcases.
“We don’t really know why you wear pants under pants,” Muddle admitted. “But we made you some anyway.”
Mr Growls continued to examine all threes item with a blank expression, the last item being hesitantly levitated up towards him.
“So,” Meddle asked while all four stared up at him. “Do you forgive us, Growly?”
Scarlet caught a brief glimpse of the parchment, a large ink drawing displayed upon it. The surprisingly passable artwork consisted of a large love heart with a picture of Mr Growl’s face in the middle. All around the love heart was six changelings… and even a sole pegasus that could only have been her.
‘I don’t know if I should be flattered that they thought to include me… or concerned.’
Mr Growls stared at the parchment for a long time, before he glanced back at the gifted bundle of clothes.
“He doesn’t like them,” Mirror whispered with her head bowed. The other three continued to look up with a rapidly fading hope, everyone in the house waiting to see how the biped would react.
“Rawbrag,” Mr Growls finally said with a nod. “Gra… Graw rabba rab.” He cautiously bent down onto one knee, the items carefully being placed on the floorboards next to him. With a sigh, he extended his arms out to the sides. “Grab raw ung.”
The meaning of the gesture was clear, and after a brief pause the four drones wasted no time with rushing forward and leaping up onto their hind legs. They all giggled as Mr Growls was smothered with hugs in return, Burrow grinning happily from the side while Aphid sat with a frown on her face and forelegs crossed.
Scarlet couldn’t help but give a small smile at the display, for a moment the evil changelings almost seemed to act like normal and well-adjusted ponies.
“Aw, thank you Growly,” one of the drones buzzed merrily as they all slowly let go and dropped down to all four hooves.
“Grunga braw,” he replied with a uncertain smile. He only had time to give Burrow a quick pat on the back, before the four drones raced past him and out the door.
“We’ll be back with water and a tub!”
Mr Growls picked up his gifts and stood back up, glances being sent towards Burrow and Aphid. “Grung?”
“Aphid, on the couch,” Burrow ordered. “No excuses.”
There was a loud harrumph, but Aphid did as she was told and approached. Scarlet shifted right up to the opposite side as she was joined by the surly changeling. Burrow, meanwhile, looked back up at Mr Growls. “I’m going to find some soap that hopefully won’t shrink you, not that I don’t trust the drones, but still. You stay here, and,” a foreleg was pointed right at Aphid. “Don’t let her cause you any problems. Keep an eye on her.” Then, Scarlet found the focus turned onto her. “Same for you, pony. If Aphid tries to… ‘interfere’ with him, then at least try to stop her.”
‘I don’t know how I feel about that.’
“Um… okay?”
Burrow nodded and turned, and as such he completely missed Aphid lean over and whisper dangerously.
“Try to stop me, and I’ll find out just how different ponies are under that fur. You get me?”
A shiver ran down Scarlet’s spine.
“I, uh…” the front door closed as Burrow left, leaving her stranded with Mr Growls and the most unbalanced changeling out of the lot. Aware of the pair of eyes boring their way into her skull with a menacing glare, Scarlet made the wise choice to leap off the couch and make a mad dash for the bathroom. “I’m going to make sure that there are plenty of fresh towels!”
“Good pony,” she heard Aphid praise from behind her. Then, the sound of a back hitting a wooden wall was audible even in the tiny bathroom. “Now Growly, I think it’s time that I get that hug that you gave everyone else.”
The sound of trotting hooves on wood started up, Scarlet folding her ears down while she focused fully on rummaging around in a cupboard.
‘Sorry Growly,’ she mentally apologised. ‘But not even I can help you out with that.’
“Grawb… grunga rawb!”
“Oh what are you going to do? It’s just a hug you big nymph.”
Burrow trotted up towards the house while ignoring the stares of any changeling that passed him. Granted, he must have looked an entertaining sight with a box of soap powder in his mouth, but it wasn’t nearly half as weird as some of the other items that he had seen his fellows pilfer.
He paused outside of the door and cocked his left ear, a loud thump coming from inside of the house.
“Careful Muddle, you almost destroyed that sink.”
“Hey, it was you who was supposed to be steering the tub, Meddle!”
‘Ah, looks like the drones got here before me.’
Hoof reaching for the door, Burrow pushed it open and trotted inside.
Only for the soap box to fall out of his open mouth.
“Aphid!?”
Seated on the couch was Mr Growls, an irritated frown on his face while he stared blankly ahead at the wall. The source of his discomfort was obvious, Aphid having draped herself over him with her forelegs around his neck. Lovingly nuzzling the underside of Mr Growl’s ample chin, Aphid didn’t stop when she opened one eye up to look at him.
“What is it?”
Burrow did a double take. “You know what I’m talking about, I told you to stay away from him.”
“Not quite. You told me to stay on the couch, and that’s where I am.”
Burrow winced and sighed, his teeth grinding together before he managed to calm himself down. “Can’t you tell that he’s uncomfortable?” He glanced around the house, eyes narrowing. “And where is the pony?”
“In here.”
They both looked over towards the bathroom, a rear half of a drone poking out from the open doorway. Glancing towards Aphid, Burrow narrowed his eyes at her in warning before moving over to investigate.
He squeezed around the side of the drone, raising his head into the room to get a better look.
The drones had managed to get the large wooden tub into the small room, somehow, and were busy filling it with a mixture of boiled and cold water. The pegasus, Scarlet, was carefully arranging a set of two towels while obviously trying to avoid the drones as much as she could.
“She’s been in here since we got back,” Meddle told him, before lowering her voice. “Aphid apparently threatened her to get to Growly.”
Burrow turned to tell the pony off, but paused at the look of sheer terror on Scarlet’s face.
“She threatened to skin me,” the pony nurse whispered while trembling. “She’s sick.”
‘No argument there.’
“Still,” he persisted. “Did you at least try to stop her? Now she’s sprawled over him and considering what she did…”
Mirror tilted her head at him, and the others halted in their work. “What?”
“Not now, I’ll tell you later.” Burrow took another look at the bath, and deemed it ready. “Anyway, that’s enough water. Leave his new clothes nearby and we’ll let him have some privacy. That means you as well, pony.”
All obeyed the command without question, and they followed him out into the main room.
“Bath is ready,” Burrow announced, pointing with a foreleg towards the bathroom. Mr Growls deepened his frown, likely having figured out what they wanted, but a glance at the location of the tub and the changeling clinging to him soon prompted him into action.
“Grubra,” he growled, both hands snatching up the surprised Aphid and pulling her off. She was practically dropped upon the seat next to him, and quick as a flash Mr Growls was off the couch and making a mad dash for the bathroom. The door slammed shut, Aphid racing from her own spot only to reach the door right as the lock was latched.
“Growly!” she wailed, banging up against the door. “We talked about this, we were going to have a bath together!”
Burrow sighed and paid her no mind, instead he clambered up onto the couch and laid down for a much needed rest. He looked to his right as the pegasus joined him, Scarlet keeping a fair distance away while she sat and watched Aphid moan against the door.
“Should we… do something?” she asked, while the drones moved to lay down in front of the couch to wait and watch as well.
Burrow considered the question, and weighed up the consequences versus the effort. Finally, he shook his head as he reached a verdict.
“No. Just let her tire herself out. She’s bound to stop sometime soon.”
He’d been wrong.
“Growly!”
Burrow winced again as Aphid whined with a particularly high pitch, the others around him also grimacing with their own discomfort.
It’s had been ten minutes since the biped had first entered the bathroom, and Aphid had been relentless with voicing her complaints. Burrow seriously didn’t know what was going on with her, she’d been acting weird… well, weirder, ever since the incident in the alley.
She didn’t even stop when the front door was slammed open.
“Why are you all not ready to depart!?” In stomped a furious Queen, followed by Commander Scuttle. Burrow immediately jumped off of the couch and bowed to her alongside the drones who did the same, only Aphid refusing to follow the proper protocol. Chrysalis scanned the room, and behind her Burrow could see a mass of changelings moving down the street. “Where is the food beast?”
Before anyone could provide an answer, the Queen’s attention was directed towards Aphid. Burrow winced at the way Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed and began to glow.
Someone was going to die.
“Growly!”
Instead of an execution, Chrysalis’ horn lit up and Aphid was plucked off of the ground. The Queen levitated her up to eye level, the monarch’s glare fading into a intrigued eye raise. “Hmm, what is this?” Aphid was too busy sobbing to resist, as she was spun around in the air and examined. “Bright eyes, shiner chitin…” the frown returned. “Pining for the attentions of a male.” The attention was turned to him. “This soldier is suffering from over gorging, why did you permit her to feed so wastefully?”
‘Oh wow, how am I going to explain this to her...’
“Well uh, you see Your Majesty-“
“Enough.” Aphid was set down surprisingly gently considering the Queen’s entrance and mood. “There is no time. We are to leave… now.” Chrysalis turned to stare at the bathroom door. “Is the food beast ready to leave?”
Burrow immediately jumped off the couch and made to move to incept his Queen. “I was actually just going to check up on him.” He moved beside her, and knocked on the door with a hoof. “Hey, buddy? Um, the Queen is here and she wants you to get ready to leave…”
He had barely finished before he was roughly pushed to the side by a foreleg, Chrysalis glancing down at him with a frown.
“Fool. This is how it is done.”
One glow of a twisted horn later, and the door lock unlatched.
“Urg… Grawbra?”
Despite the protest from inside, the Queen placed her hoof upon the door and prepared to enter.
“Your Highness, that’s not a good-“
Chrysalis evidently had no time for listing to warnings, the royal changeling opening the door and walking in.
“Grawbra! Gra-grung? Grungrab!”
The Queen stopped hallway in, Burrow not even game to look. Aphid however wasted no time, her tears gone while she leaped up to her hooves and rushed to peek her head in through the door.
There was a few moments of silence, Aphid’s tail waving all the while. Then, Chrysalis backed out slowly and turned around for the main door.
“Why does it have teats?” Shaking her head, she glanced back towards Burrow. “It is no matter. We need to leave. If it’s not ready to fly within two minutes, then we’re leaving it behind. Scuttle, with me.”
With that, the Queen and the Commander left the house, Burrow going a shade paler.
“Just how are we going to get him to fly in two minutes?”
With that, Aphid turned around with a grin on her face.
“I’ve got an idea, but you’re not going to like it…”
An armoured purple shoe cracked a wooden plank underneath it, the owner glancing down before returning her frown to the front.
Luna continued to move through the street, silent as her guards combed every building in the small town.
“Princess,” a bat-pony mare in dark-purple lacquered armour trotted up to salute her. “The town is deserted, and there is no sign of the enemy.”
Luna nodded, still no change in her expression.
“That is to be expected, they have taken this town’s population and moved on to a new location. It is most likely that they will repeat their foul actions in the nearby areas.”
Both of them looked towards the pile of ruined furniture lying shattered in the middle of the street.
“Whatever happened here, it must have been a terrible occurrence.”
The guardmare nodded in agreement, her purple batwings giving a small flicker.
“As it appears, Princess. Our enemies must be of the most merciless kind indeed.”
“What the fuck are you doing!? I did not agree to this at all!”
Daniel gripped onto the side of the tub for dear life, not even paying any mind to the amount of rapidly-reducing water as it sloshed out over the sides. It would dip from side to side, sometimes even seeming to nearly tip, as his unusual method of transportation stopped and started.
“Chzrrt crt!”
He received a face full of grey tail, one of the bug horses attached to the rope sagging slightly. The other three buzzed their wings harder to make up for it, Daniel staring straight ahead at the swarm of bug horses that were flying ahead of them. It was that, or taking the choice of looking at the ground to see just how far above the ground they were.
It wasn’t that surprising, but flying in a bathtub suspended under four flying bug-horses while naked was hardly his preferred method of travel.
‘I’d rather fly with Tiger,’ he thought, before he closed his eyes and prayed for the trip to be over as soon as possible.
Unluckily for him, he wasn’t going to be that fortunate.
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*chuckles* Ah, good stuff.
Hohoho, an update! And it's a good one~
Called it. He totally is addictive. If this doesn't end with Lord Growly, King of the Crack Bugs, I'll be sorely disappointed.
Molested by the tiny bug horse. Oh, the shame.
*snicker* wow, so much chuckles from this. Anyway since Chrissy more or less can understand him...wonder if they will 'talk'?
Ah just the story update I needed.
Aphid just gets more and more insufferable to me every chapter. Daniel has the patience of a saint.
Do you cpme from a land down under? Where woman blow and men plunder.
@-@
Great stuff! Keep up the excellent work!
6978868
I was pondering a combined instinctive: 'You don't hurt part of your own hive' and 'don't hurt high quality food source' myself. He is kinda connected to them mentally, after all. Time will tell.
Aphid is kinda disturbing here. Either she's gonna regret this later or she's got (not so) buried issues.
Nice to see this isn't dead.
Aphid is the best with her crush on Mr. Growls! I ship it! They are just so adorable together!
Definitely flattered. I mean, you are a part of the gang now! That's worth a lot!
Definitely the most heartwarming moment this chapter!
It is better that way. I mean, she can't expect to stand a chance when facing against true love!
Love tends to make you a little crazy or loveSICK in this case! So you can't really blame her!
I already love this shipping! Just let her in!
Changelings are all about love, and he can't even recognize one of his best friends falling in love?
I say that's bull. It's the power of love! And not even you, Author, with your scientific theories can deter me from that idea!
Aphid should get a raise in her love rations for that ingenious idea!
This is getting crazier as it goes, awsome!
And is Daniel connected to the hive mind?
That can lead to even more crazy things!
So glad to have this continue. Please don't stop.
Daniels thought on landing. I am NOT giving this an A 10 rating.
And so the insiduous diffusion of human mental commands continues to suffuse its way through the Queen, to the rest of the hive, all while filtering through his assistants into the Queen by proxy.
How long before Chrysalis finds herself, upon looking upon the occupation of a town in action, sat down, with a toy cat in her forelimbs, stroking it steadily, and cackling. Fly, Fly my pretties. And every time she meets Daniel, the feeling grows of her getting ever smaller and he getting ever more overwealming, in happiness, security, and able to fit her through an opening half her size without having to open it first.
6979525
Eh, I'd rather have the changelings continue to be people rather than pets.
I love this!
Aphid's emotions toward Daniel are about midway between normal Pony love, and Love-Locking in my Changelings' terms.
I wonder how he is going to claim "bathtub hauled by flying bug-horses" on his frequent flyer miles...
Well, that was amusing and cute, although it looks like the real fun will be next chapter. You may be talking up what will happen between Luna and Chrysalis, but the real fun will be when Daniel gets involved and forces them to play nice.
I've been looking forward to the updates for this; as always, it's hilarious and awesome.
Looking forward to the fate of poor Mr. Growls' bath in the next one.
my sides.
Another amazing chapter, eh? XD
I'd love to see Daniel communicate to the ponies in a later chapter!
You can say any fuck you want, But... but why... Whyyyyy Toyota
Uhm... let me see. Moon and Sucker-Love? I will say Tsuki.
Unless... she ruins everything
That's right~ Take that bath you dirty little biped
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*Shiver*
God, That remind me THAT kenpire.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/roachface.jpg
UPDATE!!!!! YEAHH!!!!!!!!!! SO FRICKIN' HAPPY!!!!!
*ahem* Sorry bout that. Just haven't heard from this story in a long while. Anyway keep up the good work. I'm not sure I can hold out for another year or so hower, so I beg of you to please give me more. The story needs to be devoured.
There is no forgetting Meuller
6980074 don't give Delta Airlines any ideas.
Hot.
Daniel in the flying tub....yeah, taking off is always the easy part in flying.
Somehow, I can see those four changelings carrying him giving lessons to Rainbow "Crash" when they set him back down
Just read through the whole story so far, really like what you've got going.
Currently my favorite story, looking forward to every time it's updated
Also the last equestrian bit.. truly merciless when it comes to clothes. And yeah, you changelings may be eaters of emotion but humans are overwhelming with the amount they have.
What a wonderful ending. It's like a magic carpet ride, only wetter.
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Mmm, maybe in time when he realizes he can think at her to communicate. At the moment, I believe he was just thinking really hard on one thing (that venom laced insult) and that's what Chrysalis picked up on. Considering he's not remotely like a changeling, that's quite a feat. Maybe with practice he could mind-talk with the Queen, but for now, he has no idea he can and noling can tell him that it works. This is also assuming that he can get better at it, and that he can mind-talk to more than just the Queen herself.
A more immediate problem is that the tub is sloshing with rapidly cooling water and he's butt-nekkid. When they land, he's going to be all pruny and cold and mad. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why he's like that.
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Emirate(?) airlines already has a shower stall in their high-end jumbojets.
Heh. Another fun chapter, and continues the trend of me spending twenty minutes post-reading going about the house muttering 'Rawb grawb' and collecting funny looks.
I hope the protagonist's apparent telepathy helps him be friends with Luna again because she is best pone.
Aaaaaaand the cliffhanger
Pretty sure that's supposed to be trash. Other than that, good job Dropbear
Yay we're back. I've missed you story. Great chapter with some interesting setup for the future. Can't wait to read more.
I can't wait to see when Luna's forces meet Chrysalis's. Should be something to see.
The various effects of feeding off of Daniel is interesting, and i'm curious to see what the effects end up being on Chrysalis.
Well to be honest Luna should be able to trump Chrysalis. This is based of what we know of right now. The reason is all chrysalis has been feeding on is a magicless "Mr. Growly" and a couple of ponies. If this was a hoof wrestle or something of pure physical nature than Chrysalis would have the upper hoof, but this isn't the case. Since Luna is generally considered a pure magical fighter I thoroughly believe she should win.
Last note: where is sunbutt?
Chrissy has mellowed out a lot, is she in a near-full state too? Little magic but his "flavor" thing seem to do more than that. Whenever she see him its like all agression leave her.
Alphid. Not sure if i should pity her or not. She got what she wanted, but got something better/worse for it.
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Currently completely unaware of what is happening, considering that her sister has rushed off to sort out the problem all by herself.
She's probably wondering where Luna went all of a sudden, though.
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She has brought everything upon herself. The other changelings are able to remain (relatively) civil.
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Must exist!
pHHhbt
I like the mental thingy starting
I await a chapter :3
MOR!!
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Thanks. Hopefully it continues to hold up as the chapters go on.
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Next chapter sounds like it'll be particularly exciting, haha.
Caught up! Was indeed the case, haha. I'm kinda hoping some sense gets smacked into Aphid, and maybe Burrow too to a lesser extent, but I'm still really enjoying all of this.
Regardless, I'm officially invested in this story. I'll be here hoping for a happy ending of some sort after a good bit more of this awesome series of strange events. Has been a pretty interesting ride, fairly unique in approach (thankfully) given all the HiE stories out there. Characters are strange but adorable. Scarlet is an adorable sweetheart.
Awesome work on all of this.
Love this story. The characterizations are great, and the plot direction seems good so far. Not sure how that mental link is going to work out, but based on your writing, it's going to be awesome.
What happened with all the stuff he was carrying? The toolbox and the stuff in his pockets? It seems they were just forgotten.
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They're still there, and there is mention of them. It's just not a large part of the story right about now.