The Changeling Chronicles

by Shadow Beast

Emulation Armageddon, Act 2

The Changeling Chronicles

Book 3: Emulation Armageddon

Author: Shadow Beast

Act 2: Remembrance

Chapter 1: Subtle Changes

The doors to the Canterlot Archives were old, but in surprisingly good condition. Midnight stepped into the largest library in Canterlot, unsure why he was summoned. The Colonel approached Midnight as the doors closed behind him.
“Why did you want to meet me here of all places?” the changeling asked his shadowy host.
“I figured you’d want some nourishment before making this decision.”
“You think my book is that popular?” Midnight scoffed.
“Just follow me,” the Colonel said without even blinking.

The pony and changeling found themselves deep within the Canterlot Archives. The Colonel used his magic to pull a book from the shelf and carry it over to Midnight. The changeling looked over it, unsure of the unicorn’s intentions. The book was not his, and didn’t seem very relevant.
“Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?!”
The book was ripped from the changeling’s grasp by the unicorn’s magic and put back in its place.
“Sorry... wrong one!” Another book, several shelves up, floated down to the changeling. “You can feed off that, right?”
Midnight looked at the cover: “The Changeling Chronicles: Origins... by Shadow Beast” was written across it. But when the changeling fed off of the residual emotional energy, he noticed something was amiss. Upon further inspection, he found the problem:
“Why is this book labeled as fiction?!” Midnight asked, his voice deep with anger.
“And I thought you were smart,” the Colonel said, still emotionless. After an awkward silence, he began to explain. “You see, Midnight, Equestria is a vast land filled with thousands of ponies. Your story tells of changelings being basically everywhere! That kind of information, true or otherwise, cannot be released to the public. It would cause panic and chaos!”
“I don’t want to be written off as some fictional character! Besides, my ‘story’ has a good message, and shows that a changeling can be good!”
“Yes... if they’re insane! If they’re so overcome with fear that they don’t know what they are anymore!”
“I know exactly what I am. You read my report, Colonel! You know what the changelings are and what they’ve done!”
“I hate to say it... but I don’t. I’ve had historical analysis done on your books and there are a few places where they simply don’t work out!”
“So? Maybe there are some cracks in my story! Does that matter, though? I’m not a threat to Canterlot, and for once I know my past and am not filled with Fear!”
“What about the Changeling Armada that will be taking over?”
“...What?” Midnight was confused. He had put faith into the Equestrian military; he believed that they could handle anything that Chrysalis could throw at them.
“Once we fend off the first wave of attackers, the battle plans will change. We’ll need more.”
“Then you fend them off again, and the plans change... again!” Midnight added.
“Exactly. That’s why I need you to find more than just their plans... I need you to find the Queen! If we can successfully defend, and know exactly where to counterattack, we could end this war easily!”
“So you need me to get you the Queen’s location...”
“Exactly! I know that you don’t like Hunter, but if you really don’t want to do this... you could teach him that spell.”
“No!” Midnight practically yelled before his brain caught up. “I mean... Hunter is a pegasus at heart, not a unicorn. He’s not... developed enough yet to be good at any spells... especially not one this complex!”
“If you say so, then I will trust your judgement. However, I will require that Hunter be part of your team. He’s been very troublesome to his commanding officers; he’s too reckless. Maybe you can help keep him in check.”
“I’ll do my best... sir!” the changeling saluted the yet emotionless unicorn.

Chapter 2: Casting Roles

The next morning came, and Midnight entered the military tent as instructed by the Colonel. Hunter awaited him inside; tired and hungry after spending some quality time under the military’s training regimen. He sat upon his bunk, too tired to get up. Midnight was intercepted by a unicorn officer, a large stallion with a black mane and dark brown coat. He had an eyepatch over his right eye. He informed Masquerade that the training was very thorough and would keep Hunter from any “changeling shenanigans.” Midnight’s right eye twitched as he attempted to circumvent the hateful retorts in his mind. The officer stepped quickly out of the way so the changeling wouldn’t shove him as Midnight rushed past him to Hunter’s bunk. He sat down next to the tired changeling, who could barely keep his head up.
“So why’d you do it, Hunter?” Midnight asked calmly, hoping to get a straight answer.
“Do what?” the tired voice replied.
“Choose to become a changeling?” Hunter turned to Midnight, unsure of his intentions. “I’m sorry I got so angry at you before, Hunter.”
“It’s... fine. I’m the one that’s sorry...” the changeling paused to chuckle a bit. “I’ve forgotten why I let myself go in the first place.”
Midnight wanted closure; this “answer” wasn’t helping at all. However, Midnight wasn’t going to let this create a rift between them. It was probably for the best that he had forgotten anyways.
“Get up, Hunter... you can sleep on the train ride there,” Midnight reminded his friend.
The exhausted changeling tried to get up, but his legs were too weak. The saddled changeling braced his friend with his forelegs, and the two were able to trot out of the tent together. They made it to the train with the rest of the troops and took their seats. The engine’s sudden movement caused the passengers to lurch forward, but Hunter was not broken out of his tired trance; the changeling fell asleep almost instantly. Once the train was closing in on its destination, the commanding officer appeared at the front of the troop’s car to brief them on the details of their mission. He was an even bigger stallion than the one with the eyepatch. He had a blue coat with a gray mane that had golden yellow highlights. His voice was deeper as well.
“Listen up, soldiers! We’re looking at a small squad of changeling Assassins. The enemy will be relentless, so use lethal force if you must. In case of disguise, our two changelings will be here to lend a hoof; they’ll expose any camouflaged hostiles. Now it’s very important that everyone here learn to trust each other, so when we get to camp...”
The unicorn captain’s speech was interrupted by a bright flash and a loud roar of thunder. The door to the troop’s car opened behind the captain, and a sopping wet train conductor trotted in to explain. “Sorry, everypony... seems Everfree has kicked up a huge storm for us! The engineer’s got some limited visibility, but we should be reaching our destination within ten minutes.” The conductor quickly left the train car, probably to alert any other passengers.
“Alright, soldiers, listen up!” the captain said, getting everypony’s attention back. “This little downpour has made us late, so we’re going to have to rush out into the rain and construct our Base Camp as soon as possible! We’ll need everypony working together to get this accomplished.”

The train stopped on the tracks outside of the dense Everfree forest as planned. The rain was coming down harder than anypony had imagined as they got off the train car. Hunter finally hopped off onto the damp ground, only to be soaked wide awake by the downpour. Midnight followed, shaking off the first hundred or so drops, then just trying to shake off the cold air. The ponies gathered their supplies and the leader led them all deep into the forest. Unfortunately, the abundance of leaves were no match for the downpour, and the troops found themselves trotting through the forest with large raindrops pounding their heads.
Finally the commanding officer felt they had traversed enough to set up camp. Midnight and the two earth ponies worked together to set up the tents, while Hunter and the two pegasi flew into the storm clouds in an attempt to pacify the thunderstorm. The two unicorns, who were in charge of the operation, kept themselves busy with their own command tent, which took “all of their magic to construct,” leaving the earth ponies and the changeling with the other two smaller tents. The construction took a few hours.
“This is just getting monotonous!” Midnight said over the sound of his hoof hammering yet another spike for the tent.
“I’m sure the captain didn’t realize that the ground would be this hard during a torrential downpour,” assured the orange Earth stallion as he hammered away on another spike.
“Why do the tents need to be this big anyways?” the changeling asked.
“Well,” the pink Earth mare explained as she steadied the tent with her hooves, “these three tents are supposed to support six ponies... and two changelings. That’s eight uh... soldiers.”
“For your information, we don’t take offense to being called ‘ponies.’” Midnight’s hoof struck the spike harder than ever as rain drenched his mane. “If you do... well, you could at least call us by our names.”
A bright flash pervaded the work site, followed immediately by the very loud thunder. Finally, the orange pony spoke. “Well, I guess we’ve never been formally introduced. The name’s Tiger Shark. What’s your name?”
The changeling smiled, and the slight nod of his head shook large drops of water from his mane. “Well, I’m Midnight Masquerade. My friend’s name is Hunter.” He turned toward the light pink pony.
“Well...” the pony mumbled, turning from her associates’ eyes and back to the tent. “My name is Candy Stripe...”
The changeling lowered his head back to his work. They finished the first tent shortly afterwards, then moved on to the next. The pegasi returned from their patrols above, unable to quell the swirling storm. Hunter and one of the guards pulled Candy away from her workstation and toward the lone guard.
“It’s Jet...” Hunter’s friend explained. “His wing got singed by some lightning up there.”
As his friend explained the situation to Stripe, Hunter went to Midnight’s side. The changeling with the soaked saddle turned to his friend to ask what exactly was happening.
“Well, we had to get Jet to the nurse.” Hunter watched the pink pony talk to the blue pegasus, his green eyes filled with fear and pain as he heeded her instructions. He carefully outstretched his right wing, allowing the cold water to splash into his burns.
“That looks like it hurts,” Midnight noted, stretching his neck to peek at the wings.
“He’s burned pretty bad,” the nurse said, not taking her eyes off of her patient’s wing.
“Enough idle chatter!” the commanding officer interrupted. “Get those tents up before we all catch cold in this rain!”
“The ground’s too hard,” Masquerade explained, refusing to subject his aching hooves to anymore punishment.
The one-eyed unicorn trotted up and whispered into his peer’s ear. The faint scent of Fear was almost masked by the unicorn’s soggy mane. The officer shrugged the pony off of his shoulder, “Good idea, Shroud!” He turned toward the pegasus, “Hey, Hurricane! You’re pretty strong, go show these Earth ponies how it’s done!”
The pegasus swooped over to one of the last spikes yet to be nailed all the way down. With one strong swing, he manage to nudge the spike just a bit deeper into the ground. Another swing barely changed anything.
“Enough! Just wrap the ropes around some surrounding trees,” the drenched, impatient officer noted. “...maybe then we’ll be able to get some shelter from this downpour.”
It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

Chapter 3: The Campfire

The soldiers waited for hours under their tents before the rain finally stopped. It didn’t take long for the unicorn officer to order Tiger to get cooking. The group gathered around the fire he had made, and Tiger Shark left with Swift Hurricane, Hunter, and the officer to get more firewood. This left Midnight Masquerade, Candy Stripe, Jet, and Shroud back at the camp without much to do. The four ponies seated themselves around the campfire.
“So, ‘Midnight,’” Jet said, breaking the silence. “How come you’re not...”
The changeling lifted his eyes from the red flames and into the green eyes of the pegasus. His fangs reflected the light of the fire as he spoke, “...what? Evil?” His tone was emotionless, as he knew ponies were typically unsure of his alignment.
“Well... yeah.”
“Let me tell you a story,” Midnight said, leaning in toward the fire. The others leaned in as well. “A long, long time ago, up there!” The changeling gestured toward the full moon overlooking the campsite. “There were special telescopes made that could transmit unicorn spells great distances! The purpose of these devices was simple: to create a beautiful landscape across Equestria. The spells would enchant the land, causing flowers to grow across its great fields!”
“Is this story even true?” Shroud interrupted, slouching back into his seat.
“Well, if you don’t trust me, then I guess it doesn’t matter... but yes, this is a true story.”
“Well, I don’t see any flowers around here,” the one-eyed unicorn said mockingly, turning his head to either side to double check.
“If you’ll let me continue...” Midnight said, his voice deep with impatience. “You’re right. There are no flowers. Do you know why?”
“Because that was a long time ago and now they’re all gone?” Candy wondered.
“Do you even know why?” Jet asked, looking toward Shroud to exchange a grin.
“Not exactly, Candy. As for you two... yes. I worked up there with those telescopes and helped with many of the spells. You see... when the Great War started and Nightmare Moon took over, we were told to use a very different set of spells for the ‘scopes. And here we are: The Everfree Forest.”
“So you helped make Everfree, but never got rid of it?” Shroud smiled under his black mane.
“Well, once Nightmare Moon was finally defeated and Luna came back to us, we were told to undo the curses we had beset upon Equestria! However, the new spells aren't perfect, so many places are still suffering from Everfree. While most of it has gone, places like Ponyville, Froggy Bottom Bog, and even the border to the Deadlands still have--”
“Badlands,” Shroud corrected.
“What?”
“They’re called the Badlands... not the ‘Deadlands.’”
Midnight rolled his eyes. “O whatever... it’s the same thing!” Midnight sighed, unsure of where he left off. “The point is... these telescopes were designed for good, used for evil, but then were still able to be used for good again! So you see, what you are doesn’t define who you have to be!”
“But you were born evil, not good,” Shroud pointed out.
“Well you see... I was reborn as a changeling. Like you, I was born as a unicorn!”
“You?” Shroud laughed at the sentiment. “You’re nothing like me.”

Chapter 4: A Dish Best Served Cold

The other soldiers returned with plenty of firewood for Tiger to cook up some delicious hay for all of the ponies. The chef immediately began grilling over the now blazing campfire. The others came toward the dancing flames and Shroud retreated to his tent.
“What’s up with your friend?” Hunter asked the officer.
“He...” the unicorn’s voice trailed off as he attempted to find the right words. “He doesn’t...” Finally the words came through, “he doesn’t like changelings... at least, he doesn’t think any of them are worth the Trust we’re giving you two.”
Midnight looked toward Jet to see if he too was going to scurry away; he didn’t. The group once again sat around the fire, and waited for the food to be done.
“What’s the ETA on the assassin squad?” Midnight asked, turning back to the officer.
“Well, when I saw that you were all in good shape I knew they hadn’t struck yet.”
“So... we don’t know when they could appear?!” the changeling asked despite knowing the answer... just for the chance it wasn’t true.
“We must always be prepared...” the unicorn said. He turned to find his associate returning from his tent.
“Where’ve you been?” Jet asked starkly.
“Meditating,” Shroud quickly and emotionlessly answered.
The officer turned from his friend, smiling as if he knew the truth. He looked at Midnight, “so what’s the attack pattern of a group of assassins that find an unexpected enemy encampment?”
“Well, it depends...” Masquerade started. “If they are nothing but Assassins, then they will just run through and try to kill as many enemies as possible as soon as they see them.”
“Is that a possibility?” the concerned officer asked.
“You guys have the plans... you tell me.”
“They should have reached the perimeter by now,” the officer started, before making a startling realization. “But the rain probably slowed them down!”
“It might have...” the changeling considered. “But if it didn’t, then we have bigger problems.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the only thing that could hold back a squad of Assassins is a squad leader... an Executioner.”
“So... the executioner would give them a strategy... a new attack plan?”
“Yes. The only silver lining is that Executioners are the highest in military leadership. Find the Executioner, and I can get us the Queen’s location!”
“Food’s ready!” Tiger happily exclaimed, breaking up all of the idle chatter.

All the ponies grabbed a helping of what appeared to be delicious flame-grilled hay. The only one to deny the offer was Midnight, who sat back and watched as everypony ate. He wasn’t expecting there to be any food leftover.
“Have some hay, changeling,” Shroud offered.
“No thanks... I don’t eat solid foods.”
“We can’t let anything go to waste out here. Besides, it’s good stuff!”
Midnight had already admitted to himself that the grilled hay looked delicious.
“Well, I suppose a taste wouldn’t hurt.”
Green magic enveloped a portion of the hay as it was lifted up and into the open mouth beneath the glowing horn. As the fangs closed down upon the food, a burning sensation spread throughout the changeling’s snout and his gag reflex sent the hay back onto the plate. Greenish mucus oozed from the changeling’s mouth and nose. A long string of it connected the tongue to the food that was once in his snout. The string was soon broken as the horrified unicorn dropped the plate that he was holding with his hooves. The changeling’s chest heaved with each breath as the greenish mess made it difficult to breathe. Candy rushed to Midnight’s aid, able to diagnose his “hay allergy” very quickly after ruling out a “cold.”
“I... I couldn’t have known!” Shroud pleaded before being sent away by the officer.
“Ugh...” Candy muttered as her hoof accidently came in contact with the slime. “What is this stuff?”
“It looks like the kind of goop that the changelings use for cocoons,” Hunter noticed.
“Isn’t that how changelings reproduce?” Candy asked. “So hay is a kind of--”
“No!” Midnight managed to get out between difficult breaths. “It’s just... an allergic... reaction... that’s all.” Despite the difficulty, the changeling had to be sure that the pony was corrected.
After the gunk was finally under control, but still caked onto the changeling’s snout, the changeling was able to breathe regularly again, but only through his mouth. His nose was stuffed up with the substance so much that he could not smell anything. Hospitalized, bedridden, and now handicapped in his most important of senses, the changeling just looked up toward the ceiling of the tent from his cot. The Moon was probably out of view by now. He laid on his back and waited... breathing through the green gunk that was still keeping his jaws close together like some kind of disgusting mask. The stuff in his nose wouldn’t budge to airflow, and he realized how bleak this mission’s outcome was beginning to look.

Chapter 5: The Catalyst

Candy rose with the sun and checked on the saddled, bedridden changeling. The pink hoof on his forehead indicated he was not experiencing any fever, which was good... right? She didn’t know anything about changeling physiology, so the most she could do was stop the sacs in the... pony’s mouth from squirting goop everywhere. Despite countless herbal remedies, there always seemed to be some runniness amongst the dry gunk. His mouth still couldn’t open all the way.
“How’s our patient doing?” the commanding officer asked as he trotted into the medical tent.
“He’s not having any more trouble with breathing...”
“That’s good,” the unicorn said with a smile.
“...but he’s lost his scent of smell and everything I’ve tried thus far has done nothing to the stop the flow of... well, whatever in Equestria this stuff is!” The changeling’s blue eyes winced and his head reached for his forehead, obstructed by his horn. Candy caught his hoof before it could do any more damage. “Midnight, stop! You might smear it...”
The greenish goop appeared to be too much for Candy, despite her experience treating ponies throughout her career. Maybe it was just too sticky...
“When can we expect his sense of smell to return?” asked the captain, trying his best not to look directly at the mess on the patient’s face.
“I have no idea... I’ve never seen anything like this.” The pink pony took a cloth in her mouth, scrubbing the slime off of her hooves. After placing back into the bucket of water, she turned back to the officer. “Sir... you know that I would never question authority, but I’m not 100% sure about this diagnosis...”
“What do you mean?”
Candy couldn’t look the captain in the eye, no matter how hard she tried. “Well... sir, how long have you known Shroud? Would he have any motive or method of poisoning Masquerade?”
The unicorn sighed. “Shroud has no method beyond a simple allergy... which he himself said he did not know about and I believe him. It was a simple accident, Stripe.”
“Then why hasn’t he visited? He’s the only one in camp now that hasn’t come to this tent to check Midnight’s status...”
“Last night was a huge step for him. He's been absolutely terrified of changelings since the whole wedding fiasco. Half his squad changed... like that! After finally meeting somepony... er... some changeling that seemed nice enough... well, he’s been devastated.” The captain turned around toward the command tent. “He’s been sitting in that tent all morning. It’s almost like he’s not even there... but he’s just meditating. I just hope he’s meditating on the right thoughts.” The unicorn’s head turned back around to face the nurse.
“I hope so too.”

Candy said goodbye to the captain and turned to see Midnight barely able to keep his eyes open. Without his nose and mouth fully open, sleep was much more difficult than he needed it to be. The nurse let him rest and took a seat on the pillow next to her things. She could hear Midnight finally get to sleep, and the irregular breathing that followed. She let it pass. Somehow the changeling was always able to wake up and his breathing would go right back to normal.
“You there, nurse?” Jet’s voice called from just outside the tent.
“Jet? Is everything okay?” Candy hopped up off of the pillow and began trotting to the entrance just a few feet away from her.

Before Jet could make it inside, a loud, high-pitched wail could be heard from above followed by a changeling landing on Jet’s back. Midnight was shaken awake by the noise and upon seeing the Assassin, immediately fired upon him with his horn. The magic was able to knock the monster to the ground, where it quickly burned to ashes. Candy galloped to Jet’s side, only to find that he had been killed on impact. Shroud appeared at Jet’s broken side, as if wanting to say something but in shock. Finally, he shook himself out of it and brought Candy back into the tent... without their fallen friend. They took shelter near the back and out of sight, just a few feet away from Midnight’s cot.

The shrieks and screams outside echoed throughout the forest. With Masquerade weak and lacking his sense of smell, the ponies did not have much of a chance. Another changeling Assassin fell to the hooves of Hurricane and the captain, but they were both badly hurt. Yet another Assassin appeared, crushing Hurricane and targeting the wounded officer. Hunter appeared and locked horns with the changeling. The captain tried to gallop away, but the changeling pushed Hunter away and sent a final, devastating spell to the officer. With three ponies down, only Hunter remained in the open. The Assassin turned, his horn glowing as he charged another spell. Hunter’s eyes focused on his enemy, but fear soon took over and his eyes drifted away from the glowing horn. Then he noticed the bright blue eyes of his friend... and the Assassin turned to see the cowards as well. It left Hunter to destroy these new targets. Hunter flew toward the tent, his wings not weighed down with armor, and intercepted the Assassin. The evil changeling jumped back, and fired his magic spell at Hunter, who attempted to counter it with his own. Within five seconds a small explosion marked Hunter’s defeat. But he was still alive. The Assassin stood over him, ready to finish him off with another spell. Midnight got up from his cot to defend his friend, charging up his own spell. The Assassin saw this masked changeling and laughed, firing his spell at him. Midnight struggled to counter it in time, but once his beam had met the Assassin’s he put full power into it. The saddled changeling’s beam pushed forward more and more, and the Assassin soon realized he was overwhelmed. He released his spell and tried to jump out of the way of the beam, which managed to catch his hind legs and disable them. The Assassin floated on his wings and charged at Masquerade with his magic. Midnight charged his horn and fired at the flying changeling, whose magic was too weak to counter. The Assassin finally fell to the ground, then to ashes.

Midnight turned from the fallen foe and trotted to his old friend, who was very badly injured. His horn was destroyed in the encounter with the Assassin. His friend lifted him onto a cot and Candy examined the wound. Midnight reseated himself on the cot next to them. The nurse galloped away to find some medicine, leaving the two changelings time to talk.
“How... how bad is it?” Hunter asked in his suffering.
“Well... could be... worse...” Midnight replied, still struggling to talk with all the goop covering his snout. “At least... you’re a... pegasus... at heart.”
“Yeah...” The changeling chuckled a little. “Good thing you’re a unicorn at heart.”

Candy galloped back from the other side of the tent to treat the broken horn on the changeling. Midnight turned around to see what had become of Shroud. He was still in the corner, his one eye closed. It was as if he had become sad or depressed by this chain of events, but Midnight couldn’t tell. All he could smell or taste was the goop; no emotions were able to get through.
“Are... are you... okay... Shroud?”
“Are the changelings gone?” he replied sternly, opening his eye.
“There were... three,” Midnight explained. “There’s... usually... four... changelings... per squad.”
“So there’s still one out there?”
“Maybe... but they... they... usually... swarm.” Midnight glanced outside for a short moment; seeing the broken bodies of his fellow soldiers caused him to shudder back to the face of Shroud. “These... attacks... they were... organized.” He took a deep breath after the extra syllable. “They knew... when and... where... to strike. That takes... the... leader...ship of... an Executioner.”
“So the boss is still alive, huh?” Hunter wondered as Midnight was taking another breath.
“It... appears... so.” Masquerade turned again to Shroud, “You’re... not scared... are you?”
“What difference does that make?” Shroud asked with irritation in his voice. If there was anger, Midnight wouldn’t have been able to smell it anyways.
“Their attacks... focused... on the... ponies... with Fear. An afraid... target... is an... easy... target.” The changeling came to a sudden realization. All changelings trained for the front lines always target those with Fear... like a bride getting ready for her wedding day, or a sergeant whose team was filled with deception. He remembered this from his days as an Executioner. The masked changeling realized his eyes were a bit too wide, so he closed them and rested on the cot. Shroud left the tent soon afterward.

Chapter 6: The Masked Executioner

Midnight awoke in the dark as the Moon was setting. He knew Candy would be up in a moment and the sun with her. He sat up in his cot, contemplating what to do next. He could barely remember the specifics of his training as an Executioner, which didn’t help him come up with a counter-attack plan. Of course, this plan was not for the remaining ponies in the camp... their leadership had been passed down from the deceased unicorn to Shroud. Midnight felt that swift action was all but necessary to intercept the last changeling... the Executioner. Suddenly, inspiration struck as he once again realized Shroud’s natural Fear of changelings. Still suffering from the allergy, the masked executioner hopped out of his cot. As long as the Moon was out, there was still time to put his plan into action. All he had to do was wait. Shroud would come.

Masquerade trotted to the far flank of the tent, where the ropes had been tied to the trees. He slipped underneath and deep into the brush, venturing in the darkness to where he believed he would confront this executioner. He stopped in a small clearing of trees as the sky grew orange as the sun rose over the unseen horizon. The changeling’s head rose to the heavens as he observed the color change. His nose began to twitch under its greenish covering, and his chest began to heave. The changeling sneezed, but his body was not used to this kind of force. He sneezed again, feeling air move and tickle his snout some more. He sneezed a third time, and breathing through his nose only brought more agitation. He sneezed a fourth time, this time it was louder and strong enough that he found himself staring at the goop-stained ground upon opening his eyes. He raised his head, his throat exhausted. He sneezed a fifth and final time. Finally being able to smell again, the odor of a changeling immediately found its way into his nose.

He turned to find Shroud standing a few paces behind him. Everything was going as planned.
“Candy told me that you were too sick to be wandering around...” the unicorn said, his head lowered slightly.
“I’m feeling... much better,” the changeling explained, now able to pronounce three syllables without taking an extra breath.
Shroud chuckled a bit. “So you go out on a morning constitutional?”
“I have to... find that... Executioner.” He lowered his voice a bit, “I think he’s... close by so... try not to... panic.”

Midnight breathed in through his nose, expecting the Fear he had heard so much about, but there was nothing. The changeling scent had gotten stronger, though. This worried him.
“Where’s... where’s Hunter?” Masquerade asked, hoping he was only smelling his friend.
“He’s back at camp with Shark and Stripe of course! You don’t just trot off a broken horn, and Tiger wasn’t too well either... he managed to kill a Breeder though! Imagine that...” A smile creased the unicorn’s face as he continued. “Candy’s taking care of them though; I wouldn’t worry about them too badly...” There was still no emotion in the air.
Another sudden realization sparked another question: “So... what happened to... Shroud?”

The unicorn grinned, showing his fangs as he lifted his head. With a blink of his eye, it turned from a blue to bright green and reptilian. Green flame exposed the true form of “Shroud,” the changeling Executioner himself. He was taller than Midnight, with a blue mane instead of black. His right eye winked off the ashes of his eyepatch.
“To answer your question, fallen drone, the unicorn known as Shroud was eliminated in his sleep a few days ago.” His voice was deeper than Midnight’s.
“You’ve had... Manipulation... training...”
“How else do I keep a bunch of drooling, bloodthirsty Assassins from just charging into their own devastation?” the Executioner scoffed. “I must admit, ‘Shadow Beast,’ that your little story has been quite entertaining so far. I especially liked that little deception with the ‘true royalty’ or whatever that was...”
“That wasn’t... written... to impress... you,” Midnight said angrily, his voice almost as deep as the Executioner’s.
“I would’ve just struck down those incompetent guards, but I suppose you’re too foolish to try something so sufficient.” The Executioner wouldn’t quit with the mocking tone.
“In my eyes... you are the... fool.”
“And why would you say that, you diseased drone? Aren’t you sad that no one will know what happened to you since there will never be a third book? A shame...”
Midnight’s hooves wiped all the scum off of his snout, but his mouth remained closed as he breathed in and out through his nose.
“Ah, I’m glad to see you’ve finally gotten over that little hay allergy of yours...” He paused to look at Masquerade’s face. “Yes, by the look on your confused countenance I’d say that you’ve forgotten how we knew each other all those years ago, ‘unicorn.’”
“I’ve heard enough!” Midnight exclaimed, somehow out of breath despite not having gunk all over his snout anymore.
“I don’t think you have. You see, Masquerade, I find it hilarious how little you know about those soldiers who fell trying to protect you, despite your allergy and all the lack of worth that it caused!”
“Shut up...”
“One condition! Tell me the name of the Captain of our squad.”
Midnight’s head lowered as he didn’t dare to look his foe in the eye. “I... I never caught his name.”
“Of course you didn’t. Just like you never caught on that I was a changeling or even that Stripe was our nurse. She has that red cross on her uniform for a reason!”
“I guess I’m not as big a social butterfly as you are...”
“You’d make a terrible Manipulator.” The Executioner chuckled some more. “Oh and I suppose I should tell you that our little Captain’s name was Blue. Dusk Blue. Not that a dead pony’s name should matter at all, right?”
“Are you all done?”
“This is only the beginning, ‘Midnight.’” The Executioner let out the unmistakable scent of Anger as he said the changeling’s name.
“Funny that you try to use my own words against me, when you’ve forgotten one of my greater talents that’s outlined multiple times.” Midnight smiled, and channeled magic into his horn. A beam shot out, and the Executioner dodged it with ease.
“You really think I came all this way to fight you?” the changeling asked with more Anger than before.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to,” Masquerade pointed out as he gestured to the newborn Timber Wolves created just a few feet away from the Executioner.
The Wolves pounced on the changeling, who seamlessly tore them apart with his skills and magic. “I suppose there was an Allergy spell in that brain of yours too that let you heal expeditiously from the blight of that cooked hay?” the changeling presumed, with ample breath after the fight, trotting toward Midnight.
Midnight tilted his head from side to side and spat some goop at his enemy. The goop hit the changeling in the face, blinding him and probably blocking his sense of smell as well.
Finally, he answered the Executioner’s question: “It’s helped a lot, but there are a few side effects. And of course, I have to smear this gunk all over my face each morning so that Candy doesn’t know I’m cheating....”
With that sentiment, Midnight spat a bit more on the Executioner’s limbs. Once he was secure, the saddled changeling used his magic to look deep into the enemy’s memories. He saw Shroud’s defeat, the attack carried out by his minions that destroyed his friends the day before, the wintry Badlands somehow, the Hive, and finally finding what he wanted inside a cave in Everfree. The Queen’s location had been found at last. Finally, he stood over the Executioner. Blind and beaten, the Executioner moaned in pain, especially the horrible headache that the spell caused.
“I warned you, Executioner. Now this... THIS IS FOR JET!” His horn lit up and a beam struck the Executioner. “FOR HURRICANE!!” The spell intensified. “FOR BLUE!” The spell intensified even more. “AND THIS... THIS IS FOR SHROUD!” The spell intensified to the point of breaking the Executioner and reducing his blind resistance to ashes before Midnight. It was finally over. The world swirled around the changeling. It was as if every part of his body were screaming at him. He screamed with them, unsure if it was the hay allergy. Then everything was silent. And everything was dark.

Chapter 7: Going Home

Midnight’s eyes opened to see the rose eyes of the nurse staring back at him. Seeing a confused look on his face, the pink pony raced to her supplies to pull out a mirror. In the reflection, Midnight saw a changeling he didn’t recognize. The manipulation spell he used had transformed his body, as he was now a bit taller, with a pale blue mane with black highlights, and a second set of fangs coming in on his lower jaw. His eyes were now reptilian, and their shades of green confused him for a short while. No longer high-pitched, Midnight’s voice was now about as deep as a regular pony’s, but it still sounded a bit off. Almost as if there were another pony talking at the same time. At this point, yelling would become the equivalent of the princesses’ Royal Canterlot Voice, but that might be taking it too far. Candy wanted to know what happened to cause such a transformation, so Masquerade explained that it wasn’t really the hay that was giving his “transformation glands” a workout. The nurse was relieved to know that her allergy medicine didn’t hurt the process at all.
“Umm... Candy? Where... what happened to my wings?” Midnight asked in his new voice, which seemed to hide his Fear. His face was another story.
“I believe that your ‘wings’ were the reason I found you unconscious in the middle of the forest,” the nurse explained. “You seemed to have gone through a bit of a growth spurt, but your wings were broken and couldn’t grow properly. They were causing an excruciating amount of pain for you and there was nothing I could do to fix them.”
“I... I can’t feel them. What kind of anaesthetics did you use?”
“None. I’ve been giving the anaesthesia to Hunter since he lost his horn. And now you’ve lost your wings.”
“What?” the changeling said, still trying to make sense of his surroundings since passing out. “You mean... you amputated them?”
“You’re not upset, are you? I hope you understand...”
“I’m not upset. Thank you. I was getting tired of those withered old things anyways.”
“I’m just glad I could save somepony. We’ve lost so many...” her eyes fell away from Midnight.
“The mission’s over. It was a success,” Masquerade explained. “We can finally go home.”
“Home?” the earth pony asked, turning too quickly and exposing a tear. She turned back away, “You... got the location of the Queen?”
“And killed the Executioner!” the changeling added with a smile. “We have a good chance of winning this war!”
“Sounds like we’re going home then...” the pony said, the corner of her mouth turned up, creasing the side of her face.
“Home,” the changeling thought aloud... visions of Palomoono flew through his head. He tried to shrug them off, remembering that the changelings were now gone and going to attack Canterlot. His wings were gone now anyways... “it’s not like I’m going to fly there.”
“What?” Candy asked, raising her head just a bit.
“Nothing... just thinking out loud. Sorry.”
“Well you’re looking better!” Tiger said, trotting into the medical tent.
“You’re one to talk!” Midnight replied, surprised to see somepony other than Candy trotting around.

Being questioned about the day before, Tiger explained that he only suffered “minor injuries” and only needed a bandage and a few stitches. Midnight looked to either side and realized he was alone in the tent. Hunter wasn’t bedridden anymore. The loss of his horn barely affected the changeling beyond some headaches that could be suppressed with some simple anaesthetic tablets. Tiger explained that Shroud had sent Hunter off to a nearby Equestrian military outpost to explain their situation and arrange transportation for the four ponies and their belongings, as well as the fallen heroes.
“Not sure why he didn’t keep you in mind,” Tiger wondered.
“That’s just because Shroud was really the Changeling Executioner. He knew only one of us was coming back,” Midnight explained as emotionless as possible.

Hunter soon returned with the news that a transportation had been successfully arranged, and that he needed another dosage for his headache. The four ponies packed up and worked their way to the station. The train arrived a few short moments later, and another officer, this time a pegasus, appeared to hear the mission progress. He was greeted by Midnight, who explained that the mission was complete. The officer flew off to inform his superiors, allowing the ponies passage onto the train.
As they all boarded their car, only Midnight and Hunter talked to each other. It was obvious that the loss of their fellow soldiers had affected the Earth ponies. The two changelings chatted about the changes their bodies had undergone. Both were slightly worried but overall optimistic about their new looks. They were also sure the Military would be happy being able to tell the two apart by more than their voice, despite Hunter still being taller than Midnight. After a few hours of idle chatter and awkward silence, the train pulled into Canterlot and the soldiers were finally home. Tiger and Candy went onto different assignments, but it was obvious that the Colonel would want Midnight and Hunter together for the next and final trial: The Elimination of Queen Chrysalis.

Comments

[Shadow Beast]

What a twist!
Sorry, I always wanted to do that...
Anyways... the epic conclusion that is Emulation Armageddon, Act 3 will be posted in the next couple of weeks at this pace!

[Lunar-Flare]

Wow, I actually just read part 1 yesterday and well... Found part 2! Great timing I suppose. And also, you dont have wings now Shadow.

[Shadow Beast]

1376202
Who needs wings when you have awesome magic?

[Lunar-Flare]

1377835 touché.