Command & Conquer: My Little Psychic

by unknown2

Arrival

A blue flash, and the stone walls of the my castle are replaced with a clearing surrounded by trees. I allow myself to feel just a little disappointed. You’d think that something as grandiose as travelling through time would be a bit more dramatic, like the G-forces I experienced when I first left the Earth to oversee the construction of a lunar colony, or some sort of proverbial river of time that you would travel through… No, it's over in a blue flash of light.

Ah, that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that I’m alive, and I can begin my conquest of history. First step: determine where and when I am. First one is easy: I’m in Transylvania. I captured the design notes of the Ally’s Chronosphere, not enough to build one of my own on the timetable that I had, but enough to know that the time machine does not have any way to travel through space. Well, aside from the compensation to maintain the same position relative to the original gravity well, but that is something entirely different. I should still be in Transylvania.

When I am… Well, that is a little tricky. I know for a fact that I set the machine to travel into the past: wouldn’t do if my enemies decided to lay a trap for me in the future. I also know that the castle had existed for eight hundred or so years. The fact that there is a forest here means I must have severely overshot my original goal.

Oh well, I can always make another trip. I should have enough energy for…

…

This could be a problem.

***

Chitin’s day was fairly bland. Well, technically it was day all the time, because Chrysalis could no… had no reason to move the sun in the sky. Chitin certainly didn’t doubt the capabilities of Queen Chrysalis. He was an obedient worker drone, after all. And obedient drones don’t doubt the proclamations of their queen. If the weakling pony ruler could do it, so could the Queen. It would just be a waste of valuable love energy. After all, why bother with the night? With all the food they had, the changelings did not need sleep. And the ponies, well, all they were fit for was harvest. So it all worked out in the end, just like the Queen planned it to be.

The Queen was never wrong. Why, just... yesterday? she had figured out the location of the resistance. The raid had been glorious, with the pony leaders captured, and many more fresh food sources acquired. Of course, some of them had managed to run away. But that’s where he and his cluster of five came in. They were to scout the Everfree, and capture any escapees.

When Chitin learned of the opportunity, he jumped at the chance of bringing in more ponies. After all, it was custom for the bug who captured a love source to get the first pickings, while the love was still freshest. Now, in the sweltering summer heat, Chitin was starting to regret choosing this assignment. The mission had been going on for several hours, and there was still nothing. Not even the infamous beasts of the Everfree made an appearance, having learned long ago not to antagonize the swarm. Not that anybug in the cluster would want to face one. Being this far away from the Hive would mean certain doom if they had a bad run in with a manticore pack. Suddenly, boredom seemed much more preferable to excitement.

The cluster was beginning to give up and call an end to the patrol, when suddenly, a noise was heard. Normally, in the Everfree, a loud noises meant you scrammed, as it was more often than not the sign of a Hydra or Ursa or some other large, nasty thing had woken up and was looking for lunch. However, this noise was not something that would be found in nature. The only thing it could mean was that some foolish unicorn had used some form of magic. The five changelings began converging on the unicorn’s position.

What they found was a clearing, occupied by a strange half oval building. Next to the building was a bizarre looking creature: tall, bipedal, resembling an incredibly scrawny minotaur, and bald, with metal bits sticking out of its head. It wore some sort of dress made out of fur. Despair and panic radiated from the creature, seemingly directed at the structure.

“Well, it's not a pony, but it's something,” Mandible began. “Maybe this patrol won’t be a waste after all.”

“We don’t know what that thing is, or what it can do,” Ocellus protested. “Besides, it doesn’t seem very appetizing to me.”

“There’s five of us and one of it, we can take it,” Stinger countered. “I don’t want to come back to the Hive empty-hooved. Besides, if it can feel that kind of despair, its intelligent enough to love something just as strongly. And if it tries anything, we’ll burn some love to incapacitate it.”

“Well, then what made the sound then?” Ocellus continued.

“It doesn’t have a horn, so it can’t do magic. I’d wager the noise came from that oval it's looking at. Maybe it's some sort of contraption. And you can’t use a machine if you’re taken by surprise,” Mandible explained.

Compound began strategizing: “You know what’s great about land critters? They never look up. Mandible, Stinger, Ocellus, and I can attack from above and carry it upwards, one bug for each limb. Chitin, you’re new to this and will probably screw it up, so stand back and watch. If something happens, report it to the hive.”

With that in mind, the four took off. Compound’s rationalization had proven false: the thing did in fact notice them, craning its head to look up. Fortunately, it did not flee, instead gawking at the four, confusion emanating from its form. That confusion quickly turned to panic as it was lifted up into the air. It began struggling, but it was for naught: its captors had experienced far stronger adversaries, from yaks to earth ponies to actual minotaurs.

Suddenly, in a fraction of a second, the panic transformed into a cold, almost cruel calmness. Before the attackers could figure out what had changed, everything went wrong.

A purple wave sprung forth from the prisoner, moving in all directions, catching all four of the changelings who had tried to incapacitate him. They fell to the ground, not moving. The thing, on the other hoof, got up, dusting off its clothes.

Chitin was not caught in the primary blast. However, even from his concealed, observational position, he could feel the effects of whatever strange magic that was unleashed. He struggled to formulate coherent thoughts after his mind was scrambled by sheer power of the blast.

He managed to regain enough cognition to feel a presence in front of him. Looking up, he saw the one responsible for his state. Its beady little eyes seemed to stare directly into his soul. Whatever grasp he managed to acquire on his consciousness began to slip away, as if a drill was tearing apart his brain and scrutinizing the leftover pieces.

And then, a single, mighty command subsumed his being.

OBEY.

Chitin was an obedient worker drone. He did as he was told.

Comments

[Taltharius]

There are not enough C&C fanfics, let alone ones with Yuri staying true to his character.

I like what I've seen here so far. More?

[ZZaner67]

I just finished playing the soviet campaign when I found this... This will be interesting.