A Different Breed of Changeling

by Zoljen

Coming to Pass

It had been a few days since the negotiations took place, and Talon found himself in the hive’s library, though this time he was reading a history book. He flipped a page of the book with his magic, slowly reading the history of Equestria. He had passed most of the stuff and was into the more current times. Celestia being the only alicorn in Equestria at the moment, her sister being banished to the moon.

He paused in his reading, staring at a drawn picture of Celestia. The artist that drew her tried his hardest to capture everything he could about the alicorn. He gazed at the picture for a good while before finally moving on. He continued to read about much of the semi-current events going on in that land, like Canterlot becoming a bustling city like Manehatten.

He sighed after a bit and put down the book, looking towards the rows of books he had access to. He closed it with his magic and levitated it up its spot on a bookshelf, then looked over the shelf for another book to read. He glanced along the shelf, letting his eyes pass over each book before a small gurgle distracted him.

He glanced down, sighing some as his stomach let itself be known. He shook his head slightly and stood up. “Seems food is in order,” he spoke quietly to himself. Ember was right, he’d probably forget his stomach without her around.

As he made his way out of the library, he did wonder where Ember was. He shrugged slightly as he trotted along, nodding to each changeling he passed. He made it just to the entryway when he felt the earth shift underneath him and catch the tail end of a transparent rainbow shockwave pass through. He suddenly heard screams, both real and in his hive mind as he glanced in the direction the shift came from.

He saw the walls start to crack and crumble around him, parts of the ceiling falling, and more screams echo out. He gasped and quickly started towards the queen’s chambers, knowing full well what was going on. He could only watch in horror as he ran, his fellow changelings trying to dodge falling rocks and failing.

He kept running, the natural lighting of the cave gems fading as it fell around him. A few fellow changelings taking a turn towards the hive’s entrance and making it down the tunnel before its entrance collapsed. He slid to a stop and looked around, watching the hive crumble around him. He closed his eyes and angled his head down, a tear streaking down his cheek as his ears went flat against his head.

“Talon!” His head snapped up as he looked in the direction of the queen’s chamber. He instantly stood up and took flight towards it, pumping his wings as hard as he could down the corridor. He tilted and angled his body as he flew, dodging falling rocks and bouncing off walls.

After a bit of flying, the tunnel started to become too small for flight, so he had to land into a run. He kept going as he bounced off a wall, the screams in the back of his mind fading into nothingness as he neared his destination. There were a few joyful whoops to be heard, but they were faint in his mind.

He slid to a stop in front of a pair of doors that looked awfully familiar. He didn’t even wait as he used his magic to open them open and quickly step in, looking around. His eyes eventually stopped on the form of his queen, half buried under part of her large bed and stone slabs.

He gasped and ran up to her, his horn a glow and surrounding one of the slabs to try and lift it off, to no avail. He tried both using his own muscles and his magic to do so, still barely getting it anywhere.

“Talon.” He heard coughed out, he stopped lifting and looked down to his queen. He sighed and stopped trying to lift it, as he sat down next to his queen. “This was meant to be,” she said with a groan, looking up at her changeling.

Talon closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears. “You can still survive! Just help me lift the stones!” He snapped them open, focusing on the stones again and trying to lift it again.

“No.” Talon kept focused on the stone, barely feeling the weight of something on his back. Only when he felt something tap his leg did he stop, looking back down at his queen. “I am sorry, my little changeling, but this has to be.”

“No! We can still escape! We can…” he trailed off, the area around him fading from the crumbling stone room to being outside of the mountain.

“Sorry,” Is the last thing he heard in his mind as he stared directly at a collapsed cave entrance, he yelled out as he almost pounced on the opening and started tearing into it. Using both hooves and magic to toss aside stone.

---

Talons’ mind was blank as he sat there on the grass, staring at a boulder that was seemingly wedged into place to bar his path. It had scorch marks on it from him blasting it, and chips in it from him trying to dig into it with hooves. He tried reaching out with his hive mind, but with no center hub, he couldn’t hear any other changeling.

It had been an hour or so since he got forcibly teleported out by his queen, and by now if any others had made it out, they would have found him. He continued to stare at the boulder for a few more minutes before flopping down, closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh.

He slowly stood up, glancing around at the pile of rocks, his eyes stopping on a satchel. He trotted to it, limping slightly as his sore hooves let themselves be known. He sat by it and looked it over, taking in its simple appearance and noticed its two pouches were full, like she was expecting this to happen.

He winced slightly as he used his magic to open one of the pouches, a note sliding out slightly. He sighed, letting his magic rest for now as he picked up the note.

“If you’re reading this, then the premonition that we both saw has come to pass. I am sorry. Sadly, the cause of the collapse escapes me, but it happened anyway. There is a town to the east that you should head to, it is a few days by walking but the rations in this satchel should suffice. Also keep that anklet close. – Leviathan”

Talon sighed as he put the note back in the pouch, then opened the other side to see a bunch of trail rations and some gel. He took out one of the rations and started to eat it when he noticed a book in the first pocket. He slid it out partially, noticing it was a book on spells, one he hadn’t read yet.

He took one final look back at the fallen entrance, sighed, stood up, slung the satchel onto his back, and started off in the direction he hoped was east as he went away from the setting sun. He trotted along, limping slightly from the pain in his hooves after trying to dig through stone.

He took a few steps forward, stopped and looked back towards the boulder. “I’m sorry,” he spoke softly, his form changing to the unicorn appearance as he walked into the forest.

Talon kept walking, forging his own path in the untamed forest. He eventually came to a small clearing with a gentle stream running through it. He went to the stream’s side and flopped down, letting his aching hooves fall into the water as he stared into it. He stared at his own rippling reflection for all of 2 second before he closed his eyes, holding back the tears as he lowered his head.

His nose dipped into the stream as he laid there, sniffling and trying to hold back the sorrow that crept at his mind. He opened his eyes, staring into his reflection as it stared back at him. He growled and swiped it away with a hoof. He turned and reached into the satchel and pulled out another ration and started to eat it, letting his tail swish into the water as he tried to relax, letting his mind empty itself of the events of the day.

He kept his ears folded back as he looked through the satchel, idly munching on the rations as he fished through it to see what else was in it. He pulled out the spell book he didn’t know, the note, and what looked like a map.

He glanced over the map, trying to find both where he was and his destination, but maps weren’t his thing, and he just sighed, folded it back up and stuffed it into the satchel with a growl.

“Stupid map, stupid fate,” he mumbled to himself, glancing upwards towards the starry sky and sighed. He curled up, pulling his tail out of the stream, shivering slightly.

Author's Note:

Since this story is going to focus on Talon, Ember gets her own little story on how she goes about life after this.

Comments

[The Forgotten Comrade]

Let the adventure begin.

[Jim Hoxworth]

Fantastic start. Tracking.