A Changeling's Legacy

by DeltaFlame

Chapter One - New Beginning

A spiraling landscape. He felt a sharp pain coursing through his whole body. And then, black. No more pain.
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His name was Echo, and he had just been tossed over a hundred miles from the preceding shockwave caused by the magical love of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Echo was one of the many changeling warriors that Queen Chrysalis had used to fight for her in her attempt to overthrow Canterlot's throne. He had his occasional doubts before, but now, thanks to this humiliating defeat, he was sure. Echo wanted to be free to live his own life, instead of being one of the Queen's expendable soldiers.
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When he woke up again several hours later, the pain had returned, but it was more bearable than earlier. He then stood up on his hole-filled hooves slowly, making a great effort to stand properly, and looked around his environment, half-dazed from his impact. As his vision finally came into view, his heart broke; he saw his teammates scattered about the area for possibly miles, limbs all twitching like that of squished bugs. Some of them were also starting to awaken at the same time he was, but the others were still mostly unconscious. Others, mostly the weaker, smaller ones, weren't moving at all. And yet, through all of this horrific scenery, the defeated Queen was nowhere to be found. The only evidence that she was there at all was a crater slightly larger than any of the changelings.

Echo then noticed one of his few friends, a changeling commander named Static, and hobbled weakly over to him, helping him up while being careful not to do so too quickly to avoid harming any fractures or broken bones he might have. "Wha.... what.. happened?" Static asked his long-time friend in a daze, hardly even able to stand on his own. "We... failed... we failed our Queen..." Echo replied, all hope gone in his voice. They held each other for a brief moment, grateful that the other was mostly unharmed and alive. Then Echo looked at the ground, a somewhat angry expression plastered on his face. "Wait... this... no..." Echo continued, after thinking a bit. "We didn't fail her... SHE failed US."

"What do you mean, Echo?" Static asked him in sheer disbelief and worry. "We should've fought much harder to protect her, its our fault."

"No, its much more than that, don't you get it, Static? This has nothing to do with us... we are just like.... ants, mindlessly working for our queen without question, and there are always, ALWAYS more workers to cover any casualties or losses. We're worthless as individuals, to her... we don't even EXIST as individual changelings with dreams and lives, we're just tools for her greed and wrath. And now look what we are... she abandoned us, her 'faithful servants'. That's all we ever were to her, and now we have nothing. The Uprising is disbanded. It's time to move on, we might as well, as long as SHE has."

"But..." Static tried to interrupt, at a loss as to why Echo was suddenly so rebellious against the Queen, who was looked upon as a sort of mother-figure for the changeling horde. "Think about it," Echo continued, "We changelings all look almost exactly the same, haven't you never noticed that? We're not ever recognized as individuals, and its time we started becoming the changelings WE want to be. The ponies we saw in Canterlot were so different from eachother, so unique, and they still got along with their differences and lived happy lives. I know this because, before our attack, I was part of the tactical team that gathered as much information about the ponies as possible. ...I just feel like I would like to be unique like that someday. Is that so wrong?"

Echo was completely fed-up with the desolate, conformist life that he had; it was time to start over, and there was no better time than now. Static, however, didn't exactly feel the same way. "No, we can... we'll find her, we... I...." Starting to break down in tears of despair, he knew that Echo was right, but Static didn't want to admit it. Echo held on to his friend in comfort and understanding as he thought up an idea. "...Come with me, let's get out of here, out of the Hive. Let's go and live our own lives. We won't have any remorseless tyrant telling us what to do, won't that be wonderful?" He asked Static, with hope finally returning in his eyes. "........No. I.... I can't... I just can't. I'm loyal to the Queen. Just... go on your own, I'll be fine. ....Go." Static replied solemnly, but with a sure tone in his voice. Echo looked at his friend in sadness, feeling hopeless once more. "Are you sure? ....Well.... f... fine. I'll just... go... on my own... goodbye... Static..."

Echo turned to walk away, but quickly felt a hoof on his shoulder. Static told at him with a smile as Echo looked back, "You'll be great, Echo. Get out there, into the world. I know you'll do great things. Maybe we'll see eachother again someday. Now go." Static smiled as he also turned back, going to the other recovering changelings to help them up. Echo smiled back and turned to face the wide world ahead of him. "This," he thought, "is the first step to a new life." He took a single step forward, and then walked on into the vast and diverse landscape ahead.
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Meanwhile, A rather thin white mare with a long pink mane, known as Fleur de Lis, was helping in the effort to clean up the city of Canterlot with her magic after the attempted Uprising. Everypony was doing their part: Repairing buildings, disposing of rubble, cleaning the cacoon-forming goo off of the streets, walls, and ceilings of rooms in almost every building. However, being a more high-class pony, she put as much effort as she could to avoid getting dirty. She did not know it yet, but her life as she knew it was about to be changed forever, thanks to the unlikely creature that was currently (and unknowingly) heading toward Canterlot Castle.

Comments

[slendergun]

1349959 im thinkin the same (but I missed it beacause I skip a lot of stories)