Camo the changeling

by M Specter

Chapter 26

Author's Note:

For this chapter the spacing between the paragraphs may be a little off. I've had a little trouble with making the spaces how they should be but I hope that it doesn't distract you too much from the chapter. So without further adieu here's Chapter 26.

Chapter 26

I woke up to find that I had fallen asleep next to my queen. She didn't look as if she was in pain anymore and for that I was glad.

I felt her forehead in case it was still hot but I found it to be warm. I quietly sighed in relief and went to look for Specter. I checked his guest room and sure enough he was their but completely knocked out on a desk next to a book.

I shook him awake and he gasped in shock before realizing it was just me.

"Hey Camo sorry I didn't notice you come in."

"It’s fine you've been overdoing yourself since yesterday."

"Heh, yea I should be a bit more careful. So how's your queen I took a look at her last night when you were asleep and her head was burning hot."

"She seems fine now her head feels fine and she's breathing normally again."

"That's good..."

He then stopped talking suddenly and closed his eyes. He seemed to be in thought by the way his posture was.

After a couple of minutes he opened his eyes and said "we need to talk to Cadence."

His voice was one of complete seriousness as well as urgency. He quickly got up and stashed something in his sweater before walking out of the room.

I followed after him wondering what could have possibly made him change his demeanor so quickly.

"Should I wake up my queen?"

He shook his head.

"No it'll take too long plus she needs to save her strength for the coming battle."
I nodded in understanding as we quickly made our way through the halls to the princess’s chamber.

Once there the guards let us in without much complication. Cadence was sitting on her throne with a long scroll of paper.

Specter cleared his throat allowing for Cadence to notice both of our presences.

"Oh, Specter, Camo what brings you to my throne room?"

"It’s about Sombra."

The pink princess’s face turned into one of seriousness before allowing for him to continue.

"What about Sombra?"

"It appears Sombra is mounting his stage of attack sooner than I anticipated. He and his changeling forces are in the snow lands not too far from here."

Both I and Cadence gasped in surprise.

"The snow lands are only an hour away from here how are we going to defeat him before the crystal ponies catch wind of it?"

"I have a plan princess but you have to trust me."

"Specter of course I trust you Shining holds you with such high esteem it would be dumb not to."

"Thank you."

He then pulled out a piece of jewelry I've never seen before. Judging by the look Cadence gave it I could tell that it was something she had hoped she would never see.

"Where did you get that? Every book in the royal archives say that the Alicorn Amulet was lost never to be seen again."

"I got it from an old friend of mine a zebra named Zecora from Ponyville."

"How? You were with us since you got freed from Sombra's control?" I asked in confusion.

"Yesterday I sent a clone of myself over to Ponyville more specifically the Everfree where she lives."

"How did she come across it?" Cadence asked.

"When darkness took over me one of the things I did was lead another pony down my dark path an old friend of mine named Trixie. I promised her a way to get back at those that mocked her and she said she would do anything. So I lead her to a merchant who had the Alicorn Amulet and she used that to get her revenge. To make a long story short Twilight and her friends stopped her and recided to stow away the amulet for good luckily I was able to talk Zecora into letting me use it for the plan."

"And what is the plan?"

" I Camo and Queen Chrysalis will battle Sombra and his army alone while you Shining armor and your will keep a force field over the entire kingdom all the while any unicorn guards that you can spare will make it invisible. While this happens you beef up the security around the perimeter of the kingdom so that you'll be warned of Sombra in case we are defeated. In the event we are defeated you will use the crystal heart on Sombra."

"Specter we can't do that we can't let you or the changelings die."

"It's alright I won't let anything happen to them if anyone is going to die in this fight it'll be me I swear it on my code as a soldier."

"Specter don't overdo it remember I and Chrysalis are with you as well as Cadence and Shining.

"That may be true but in the end all of this only happened because of me so it's only right if I'm able to make it right again."

With a sigh and a sad look Cadence said "Specter we will follow your plan but make sure you come back safely I would like you to be rewarded for all that you are doing."

"I'll try my best but I don't deserve any reward for what I’ve done."

He then looked at me.

"Camo make sure Chrysalis is awake and able to fight once she is debriefed on the situation."

I saluted and said "will do."

With that I returned to my queen’s bedroom to find that she was still asleep. I gently shook her to try and wake her up but to no avail. The only thing I resulted in doing was managing to get myself caught in between her hooves as she cuddled me close to her chest.

Back home in the hive she usually slept with a bear from one of her past disguises. Maybe she thought I was that bear it would explain why she grabbed the first thing she could over to her in her sleep.

I wiggled out of her grip and shook her again a bit harder.

"My queen you need to get up this is urgent."

"Just five more minutes Camo the council can wait a little while longer."
I chuckled a bit and said "My queen this is serious you must get up NOW."

She sat up and rubbed the sand out of her eyes before saying "fine I'm up what is it?"

I explained to her the current situation and the plan Specter came up with. She progressively grew more unhappy as I continued to deliver the news.

"I see this is some troublesome news indeed."

"Are you feeling any better? I felt your head this morning and it was at normal temperature."

"I feel fine I'll be able to fight."

"That's good I'll tell Specter that you’re ok."

As I was about to leave Chrysalis stopped me.

"Camo promise me that you won't kill any of my children. When any of our kind die I feel despair usually it's small but if many die at once I don't know how I'll be able to handle it."

"I'll try to subdue instead of kill as best I can."

"Thank you."

I then went to Specters bedroom and told him that all was well.

"Perfect now all we have to do is go out and fight."

The howling winds of the snowy biome before us chilled us all to the bone. I never thought it was this cold just outside the crystal kingdom.

Specter began trotting out into the horizon and we both followed him.

After a while we could hear the sounds of hooves marching towards us. Then as if by fate the weather cleared to the point of where we could clearly see Sombra and his forces.

When I looked at the changelings before us I could tell that there was nothing left within them but darkness. Not much was different from what I could tell but through my experience i've learned that looks aren't everything. I then noticed a black diamond shaped mark on each of their flanks. It pulsed and radiated dark aura from within it.

When he noticed us he raised his hoof effectively stopping his advancement.

"So the former queen, her second, and my old protege are here to try and stop me. You do know that these Changelings are stronger and faster than what they previously were right?"

"It's not going to stop us from trying to stop you." Specter said as he stared Sombra down.

"I applaud you for your courage but sadly I must crush it until it is no more.” He then raised his hoof and pointed at us. “Changelings Attack."

His army of changelings advanced on us. Specter quickly turned into his smoke like form and made a beeline for Sombra leaving me and my queen to fend of the changelings.

"Camo are you ready?" Chrysalis asked.

I nodded and we charged toward what were formally our compatriots.

Right away they split I and my queen apart, leaving the both of us to fend for ourselves. I resorted to hoof to hoof combat so that I wouldn't waste all my magical energy completely. So far it seemed to work, I was able to dodge most attacks and block others that got a bit too close for comfort.

True to my word I tried my best to knock out our kind without killing them. This prolonged the fight heavily and for every moment I knocked one out another took their place. I figured at this rate if I didn't stop holding back we would be overwhelmed.

As I was thinking this a changeling caught me off guard with an uppercut to the face. I flew through the sky dazed and slightly confused and I didn't even get a chance to land before I was attacked again by a hoof to my side. I then felt myself being juggled by punches and jabs between a few changelings before inevitably being punted towards the ground.

When I finally did land on the snow covered ground I felt very weak. Pain was the only thing I felt and it only grew worse as I tried to do anything other than just lay their doing nothing.

Soon six of the seven council members strode up to me covering each side of my form. For a moment some of their faces held sadness and regret but as soon as I noticed it, it disappeared. For a while I thought that it was just my eyes playing tricks on me but I stopped thinking on it when I felt a swift kick on my side.

I wailed in pain and as I did all six of them decided to kick and stomp on me. I could feel natural armor breaking with every hit and no matter what I tried to do I couldn't escape from under them. They kicked without mercy without breaks and soon enough I began to cough blood.

Finally I decided I had enough. My horn glowed with energy as I blasted each one of them off of me.

Using my magic I healed my wounds as best I could and then took a fighting stance. They did the same as they walked slowly around me as if I was the prey and they the hunter. I knew for a fact that I couldn't fight all six of them without getting outmatched but I decided to see if I could at least outsmart them.

I charged at Light Blue who was in front of me, with a punch but he blocked it with a hoof. I then quickly used my other hoof to punch at him which he caught as well. Using his wings he kept himself and I from falling as two other council members punched me in the stomach.

I wheezed as I fell to the floor gasping for breaths. They didn’t let up as they all did a changeling dive bomb on me. I was able to block it with a force field and with much effort I was able to empower it enough to make each of them bounce off.

I took this moment to try and get away but before I could move on I heard screams of pain from the changelings around me.

I quickly made my way to the fallen council members and said "what's happening to you?"

Apparently whatever spell Sombra had casted on them to make them mindless warriors had disappeared because they were able to answer me back.

"King Sombra put a curse on all of the changelings he had under his control." Purple began.

"If for any reason Sombra is defeated in battle all changelings will die a terrible death." Yellow finished.

"You can't our queen will feel so devastated."

They all smiled despite the pain they were feeling.

"She has you and although that won't make up for thousands she will lose today you'll be there to take care of her."

"I'll miss you all I'm sorry your lives had to end this way."

"We do to."

No words were spoken afterward the lives of my former comrades soon left their body's leaving a hush to come over everything. Snow began to fall again but a lot softer than it had previously. After mourning for a while near the fallen council members I looked for my queen.

I found her near a large body of dead changelings. As I approached her I took notice of how many changelings were directed towards her way. I reasoned that she had been with them before their final breaths left them.

I silently approached her side and sat down next to her. She turned her head slightly to acknowledge my presence and then continued to look at the dead changelings around her. No words were spoken between the both of us. I put my hoof on my queens back letting her know that she wasn't alone.

After a while tears began to flow from my queen. They were slow at first but quickly became more abundant as time passed.

"All of my children gone on one instance all because of 1 unicorn."

"Sombra was an evil mastermind he did somehow make an entire kingdom forget what he did to them after all."

She dried her tears and stood up.

"My queen where are you going?" I asked as she trotted away from the seen displayed before her.

"Away, the world no longer needs our kind plaguing the world so as of today the hive is no more."

I was stunned.

"My queen you can't what I'm I supposed to do without you."

"I..."

She never got to finish what she had to say because Specter appeared before us.

"What happened to Sombra."

He then held up the Alicorn Amulet and smiled.

"He's sealed within the confines of the amulet. No more trouble will come out of him when I'm through with hiding it."

"Is the crystal kingdom safe I saw you and Sombra fighting near the gates?"

"Yes their citizens are fine luckily we didn’t breach the force field that surrounded the kingdom."

He saw they look on my queen’s face and the dead changelings around us before he said in a softer tone "I'm sorry for your lost and I know nothing that I say or do will ever amount to what you've felt but I can talk to Princess Celestia and Luna about letting you live within her borders."

The brown stallion said this with sincerness clearly etched in it. He really wanted to help her feel better.

"You have some time to think about it, your guest rooms in the castle will be ready for you, for now though I'll get rid of this amulet once and for all."

He then disappeared in a green flash and I and my queen returned to the castle. She never got out of her room once since we got back. I checked up on her for the next couple of days but each time I did she simply said to go away. So after a while I simply left her alone and awaited the day she decided to come out willingly of her own accord.

Comments

[Votederpycausemufins]

makes me want to do something that happened at the end of a doctor who episode i watched recently (i forget the title)
changeling drone 1: died with honors
changeling drone 2: died with honors
changeling drone 3: died with honors
changeling drone 4: died with honors
and so on....