• Published 18th Oct 2020
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Changing Expectations - KKSlider



What does it mean to be a Changeling? To the former human Prince Phasma, that means doing what you can to survive and thrive in an utterly alien world.

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74- Wild Hunt

I put the newspaper down onto the table after I finished reading it.

The week had gone by slowly and without note. Luna had been absent from our nightly meetings in favor of speaking with Twilight Sparkle. I had reminded Thorax to keep an eye out for other changelings that wound up in the town. In one last meeting, Luna taught me how to sleep dreamlessly. That helped pass the now empty nights.

“Politics moves quickly when it wants to, huh?”

“Hmm?” Bray looked up from her book.

We had just finished a session of learning spells. We used the newspaper as a prop for our learning. Specifically, Bray had taught me the mending spell, and how it could fix many things. Nothing huge or complicated like armor, buildings, or furniture, but instead simple things like paper, cloth, and the sociological divide between two warring species.

I sighed.

‘There’s going to be a lot of racism against changelings.’

“The prohibition goes into effect two weeks from now.”

“Already?” Bray asked.

“Already?” Search echoed from his desk.

“Figures,” Dew grunted. “The crown moves quickly only when it is in danger, or tax season. Guess taking things away from us lowly ponies counts as taxes.”

The rest of the newspaper was boring contrivances. This high noble voices their support for this bill, that politician decries the moral decay of Equestria, and so on. It seems they all follow Daybreaker’s hoofsteps, regardless of where the trail leads.

“Dew, you know that Princess Daybreaker has a wider view of all of this than us,” Bray admonished.

“What more could there be to banning alcohol?”

“Clearly, she thinks that Equestria became blinded by its vices.”

Search interrupted the argument, “Whatever the case may be, we all will need to read up on the enforcement of this law. As usual, Canterlot’ll distribute information on how we enforce this. It’s not for us to decide whether the law is just or not, just to enforce it. Understood?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Yes sir.”

“Sure.”

Search raised an eyebrow at me but lowered it shortly after.

“Are you still planning on finding another career after your stint here, Sky?”

“Yes. Don’t take it personally.”

“Hard to take it personally when Bray is also planning on leaving eventually.”

Bray nodded, “One day.”

“So Sky, you enjoying your time with us?”

“It’s certainly… calm. With all the stuff going on in the world, this change of pace is nice. Like taking a breather after a run.”

Search laughed, “It’s not everyday that you wrestle with dire wolves!”

I smiled, “True. The help Bray is giving me with spells is nice.”

“I’m always happy to help.”

“Still, I appreciate it. And, uh… Dew exists.”

“When I feel like it,” Dew responded.

Search pressed, “But are you enjoying the actual work itself?”

“Walking around all day in the sun, talking to ponies, breaking up petty fights? Not really.”

“It’s not the most glamorous of work, I’ll give you that, but protecting the peace is one of the highest callings there is.”

“Even in peace, many can suffer.”

I saw Dew nodding slowly at my comment.

“I’m not going to try to change your opinion on that,” Search said, “but please keep your mind and eyes open. You’d be surprised at what you see–”

A shrill horn call interrupted the Sergeant.

It was loud; likely coming from across the entire town, I felt minute vibrations in the seat I was in. The call was high pitched, as if the horn was a woodwind instrument, calling an organic note.

The other three guards in the room had frozen the moment they heard it. After a second of realization, they hurriedly donned their armor.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Get your armor on, Specialist Far Sky,” Search instructed me. “Blackthorn Forest is active.”


Blackthorn Forest. The reason why I was hired in the first place, purportedly. Sergeant Search wanted me not necessarily because they didn’t have enough bodies patrolling the streets– though they appreciated the help, but instead because they needed certain skills when Blackthorn Forest woke from his periodic slumber. A unicorn that could stand on their own against a pack of dire wolves was the sort of help they wanted.

We rushed out from the Guard Station in the middle of town and immediately started heading for the edge of town, the edge that bordered Blackthorn Forest. We weren’t alone in the rush: scores of other Guards from the building had hastily put on their armor and rushed out into the fading sunlight.

This wasn’t guard duty, this was Guard duty.

The bells were tolling now. Across town, the loud chimes echoed through increasingly emptying streets. Ponies were rushing indoors, sheltering in place during the middle of their evening walks or errand runs. Stores were closing doors, shuttering windows, and otherwise barricading their workers and customers within their buildings.

In the setting sunlight, we ran through a once bustling stopping point on one of the most populated transportation routes that quickly became a ghost town. By the time we reached the perimeter wall, we had passed from the center of town, full of shops and parks, to the edge of a periphery neighborhood.

The houses here were utterly unusual. Unlike the small-town-America feel that Downtown had, these homes resembled medieval houses in a fashion. Their first floors were solid stone, lacking any windows. The doors themselves were large, thick, and certainly barred shut from the inside. Starting from the second story up, they had the old white plaster and dark wood combination that wouldn’t look out of place next to a castle. These houses were built with one purpose in mind: survival.

This close to the Blackthorn Forest, this neighborhood was on the front line for potential monster attacks.

The perimeter wall was a tall, solid grey stone and mortar construct that ringed this entire edge of the city. At the end of the main road lay a gatehouse that contained two massive wooden doors, reinforced with several metal bandings. Most days, the gates were opened. The necessity of capitalism trumped the dangers that Blackthorn Forest posed, and as such trading caravans would often come in through the heavily trodden road that cut through the Woods. There was great safety in number, and a great deal of bits to be made off the tired travelers and their hired guards. Attacks on caravans were increasingly becoming rarer and rarer as Blackthorn Forest shrunk due to encroaching civilization. The monstrous critters instead moved through neighboring woods, all headed Southwest to the sizable Everfree Forest, which dominated this section of Equestria, Northwest of Canterlot.

However, now the massive doors now were locked shut and had large wooden poles propped up against them on the town side of the entrance. Right in front of the door, several ponies were being loaded onto stretchers to be carried off to the hospital in town. They were the injured survivors of whatever caravan had been nearby at this late hour, and were the ones who warned us of the approaching attack.

Nothing was coming in through there, not without breaking the entire door down.

The top of the stone walls was a wooden layer that extended slightly out and over the Forest. After I rushed up an exposed outdoor staircase right behind the rest of my squad, I saw that the area on top of the wall was far from glamorous. In fact, it was utterly barren except for some wooden torches, enchanted gemstone lighting, barrels filled with arrows and bolts, and the murder holes.

The far wall, the one that faced the Forest itself, had slitted windows evenly spaced across it, as well as smaller holes facing directly downwards.

It was a far cry from the dilapidated fortifications that I had laid siege to in Canterlot. This was real, actual defenses that saw frequent use.

Guards in the grey, boxy armor that I also wore were lining up by the vantage points on the far walls.

“Positions, everypony!” A large white earth pony stallion shouted.

He was standing behind everyone in armor decorated with golden epaulets. I had been introduced to him briefly when Sergeant Quick Search had formalized my paperwork. He was Captain Lance, and I never saw him outside of his office or the small gym that the barracks had. As far as I was aware, those were the sole two locations he visited in his life.

I got in line behind Sergeant Search. As a special squad, we did not have assigned roles in defined defensive tactics. We acted as a response team, or a spare force that could be assigned to many duties. Right now, Search had lined up with two other sergeants in front of Captain Lance. Their two squads stood next to us, behind the sergeants.

“Specialist teams!” Lance called out, addressing our sergeants. “I want you all on the grounds behind the wall. If any breaches occur, protect them while sending a messenger to inform me up here. Do not let any stragglers through to the town. Witnesses could not describe what attacked them, only that they were quick, came out of nowhere, and were beyond counting, so be prepared for anything. Dismissed!”

The three sergeants saluted and about-faced. Sergeant Search gave us a quick nod and we headed back down the stairs to the small clearing between the first houses and the wall.

As the three squads started to space out, Search addressed me.

“You’re about to earn your pay, Specialist Far Sky. We don’t know what we’re going to be up against, so it’s on you and Bray to hold them off while we formulate a plan. Work together alongside the other response team unicorns to plug any gaps in the wall that come up. The teams on the wall will be dealing with the majority of whatever is coming our way. The rest of us will be guarding you, trust us to watch your flanks as you keep the shield up!”

“Got it!”

“Good. Private Dew, we’re the closest to the stairs, so the moment there is a breach, you will go inform the Captain. Once the information has been relayed– and relayed back to you– return here.”

“Yes sir.”

The bells stopped tolling. Aside from the occasional shouts up above us on the walls, a still quiet had fallen onto the town. Glancing backwards, I saw a foal looking down at us from a nearby house. A hoof wrapped around them and pulled them away from the window as it was barred shut.

I tasted something in the air. It wasn't fear, no. It was the anathema of fear. The utter absence. Bravery or determination, I could not tell. The taste reminded me of strawberries, for some odd reason.

And so, we waited.

Seconds passed.

Minutes ticked by.

Then, they arrived.

First we smelled them. Whatever they were, they smelled like rotting carcasses.

Then, we heard them. It was a quiet rumbling in the ground first. The sounds of their scampering and scratching would be known to us eventually. The shouts above our heads grew louder.

Next, we felt them. Bray and I felt the mana discharge in the air as the unicorns stationed on the perimeter wall open fire upon whatever horde of beasts had decided that they liked their chances going up against civilization. All of us felt the temperature fluctuations as spellfire both heated and cooled the air, depending on which element the spell was.

Finally, we saw them.

As the Captain expected, there was a breach in the wall. What almost no one expected was that it happened almost immediately. What absolutely no one expected was that the breach was not in the walls or the gatehouse.

It was underneath the door itself.

A massive spray of dirt coated the interior section of the doors and the walls next to them, with the remainder of the spray covering the road leading to the town. Immediately, all of us six magic casters put up layered shields in front of the earthen geyser.

Through the rainbow layerings, the invaders crawled out of their suddenly-made tunnel.

They were overgrown rats, half the size of a changeling. Or pony, considering I was surrounded by them. Their maws were covered in giant, gnashing teeth. Their paws were webbed, and their hides seemed to be covered in dirty scales. From their mouths, a substance dripped that I knew for certain was going to be green in color.

As it was, I actually recognized what they were. Coxa had pointed out the skull of one down in one of the cold storage rooms back in the Hive.

“Breach! Breach! Breach!” Sergeant Search yelled.

Dew was already halfway up the staircase.

“Lavellan,” I quietly gasped.

‘What the hell are these things doing outside of the Underhive?’

The other two teams had came closer to the gatehouse and arrayed themselves next to us. One of the unicorns was heavily panting, and with a grunt, their shield went down. That sent my attention back to the immediate danger.

There were at least two dozen of the rats within the space between the gates and the shield layers already. They were hacking and slashing at the shield with the small claws at the end of their webbed paws, but were primarily biting at the magical bubbles using their oversized teeth.

Another unicorn grunted and another shield went down. Then a third. These things were putting their sheer cutting power up against our shields, and they were winning very quickly.

The bells started ringing again.

A breach was not expected, but it was always feared and prepared for. A second ringing would mean that the wall was breached, and that ponies should prepare to defend their houses and homes.

“Unicorns in the back! Pegasi above! Earth in front! Let none through!” Captain Lance yelled as he leaped from the top of the staircase down two floors to the ground level. He leaped forward from his landing and skidded to a halt in front of us. Back on the stairs, ponies were hurriedly descending the stairs to give us aid.

“Hooferville has never fallen, nor shall it ever will! Let’s show these vermin just whose boss in this neck of the woods!”

Another shield fell and Bray started gasping next to me. The rats beyond the shield were only increasing in number with each hoof of ground they took.

Within seconds, her shield fell and I felt the strain that the horde had put on on the previous unicorns now on my very horn.

There were hundreds of teeth and claws, each vying for their chance at clawing at the barrier. The strain felt like a truck had been put on my shoulders.

I dug my hooves into the ground, hissed slowly, and held the shield.

Ripping, biting, tearing.

Bray looked to me with surprise, her horn visibly smoking.

Hacking, shredding, spitting poison.

‘Hold! I have to hold until the guards are in position!’

They were pouring from the staircase. We had expected the monsters to assault the walls and scale them, as they had in the past a few times. Hooferville never had to deal with burrowing enemies. They had no combat experience against a hungry horde of Lavellan.

Scratching, slashing, biting, biting, biting, BITING!

The Guards arranged themselves in formation, pointing spears out from in front of them. Pegasi rose above, equipped with their hoof blades that had not seen action in quite some time.

“Let none pass!” The Captain yelled.

I let the shield drop.

I could have held much longer but I would need the strength for fighting. I'm fact, I was sure that if I had enough food beforehoof, I could have held all day. But instead, I had only just recovered from my extended period of starvation. My spells were far from their apex of strength.

The last shield vanished in an instant and the ravenous horde surged forth and clashed against the ponies' spears.

The bells were still ringing.


The town Guards were holding the line against the Lavellan.

The earth ponies held the line, stabbing forward with their spears, while the pegasi swooped in from above on diving runs, picking off Lavellan with each successful hit. Us unicorns were literally cooling our horns. Aside from myself, every other unicorn was suffering from having their shields forcibly dispelled. Any spell failing on you is an extremely disorientating and mildly painful experience, I knew from experience.

For as many Lavellan as there were, they simply could not come through their tunnel quick enough to overwhelm the Guard force.

So they simply made another tunnel.

I was alerted to this development when a massive spray of dirt launched me off my hooves and up into the air. I hung there for a moment, twenty hooves off the ground, slowly spinning. Eventually, I got a look at the ground. The unicorns near me– Bray and one other– had been thrown aside by the eruption of dirt.

I could already see Lavellan clawing their way out, springing up from their egress. Their pale blue scales reflected the setting sun despite the dirt coating many of them had.

The ponies were turning around to face the threat but it felt like slow motion.

Then, I landed on the roof of one of the buildings and bounced off, the air pushed out of my lungs with a gasp. I rolled through the air and landed hard onto the ground. As I lay there, now unable to even gasp for air, I noticed that I had landed right behind the new Lavellan tunnel.

Lavellan were voracious eaters who would consume anything before their snouts. I felt the putrid smell of rotting flesh brush against my nostrils, their last meals. Worse yet, I knew they could smell me. For above all else, a Lavellan craves insects. It was like Love to them, their nectar and ambrosia, their cocoa. And here was the biggest bug they had ever seen, right in front of them.

Six immediately turned to face me, their noses twitching.

With a gasp, sound returned to me. I didn’t even notice it was gone. I also got a lungful of their foul stench. My mind was racing a million miles per hour.

The six lunged at me, slobbering poisonous mucous onto the ground as they did. But I had finished casting, and was ready for them before I could even make it to my hooves. Ten blades of sharpened orange mana flicked out from around my horn, slicing straight through their scaled hides.

With a move that resembled a buck, I pushed myself up off the ground using my forehooves and got my hindhooves on the ground behind me. The Lavellan were slashed to pieces as they dove for me. The two that had actually not been diced smashed right into my thick chestplate, bouncing off before their teeth could find purchase. A recalled blade put an end to their struggles.

I reduced the number of summoned blades to five for better control, and prepared myself for the next wave. The Lavellan were ignoring the readying pony lines behind them in favor for having a bite at me, the insect. That was a mistake on their part.

More concerned with survival than my cover, I unleashed my arsenal of specialized spells against them. I missed being able to use God-Splitter in this fight but made do with the veritable armory of elemental spells that I had learned from Officer Katydid. After launching out the blades, I let them fizzle out as I conjured a freezing storm of small icicles, pinning many of the Lavellan in place.

“Come, show me what passes for fury amongst your misbegotten kind!” I yelled.

I couldn’t resist the reference in times like this.

I ceased the storm in favor of Focused Will, picking out targets and blasting into them with orange laser beams.

‘And to think, this time yesterday I was arguing with Bray over the best type of pizza!’

I felt a tugging sensation on my right shoulder and looked down to notice a Lavellan had bit into my right hoof. I lifted the entire metal appendage and smashed downward, ending that pitiful threat.

The swooshing of wingbeats sounded loudly above and behind me and I felt hooves wrap around my barrel. I continued to shoot Focused Will beams into approaching Lavellan as I was lifted off the ground, but stopped when I was no longer sure that I wouldn’t hit the ponies behind the rats.

I craned my neck around to look at the guard who saved me but was surprised to see that it was none other than Nimble Wing, Thorax’s disguised self, who was rescuing me from the gnashing force of rats.

“Th– Nimble?”

“Frick, you’re heavy!” He panted.

He practically dropped me onto the tiles of a roof and I had to scramble to keep from sliding off. Thorax landed next to me, panting heavily.

“You need to hit the gym, Sky!”

“Thanks for saving me,” I said while spinning around on my belly so that I could look over the edge of the roof.

Already, ponies were surrounding the new hole and attacking the Lavellan that emerged from it. The five other unicorns that were on the response teams had recovered and were beginning to rain spells down upon the two fronts of attack.

“No problem, Sky. Though you should probably avoid dying yourself next time.”

“Uh huh? Not that I don’t appreciate your help, but your involvement will raise questions.”

“Saving your hide isn’t good enough?”

“It is. Thank you for that, Nimble, but you might want to make yourself scarce.”

“Yeah yeah. But I do have something you should see, something outside of our usual meeting spot. Ask for the night off, and meet me at Stir’s Cafe.”

“You and your coffee… Alright, I’m sure I can do that. Now go, before more ponies see you.”

“See you tonight.”

With the pounding of wings against air, Thorax took off behind me and went further into town. I was still watching as the guards dealt with the Lavellan below. I had prepared to pick off any Lavellan that made it out of the containment but luckily none had. In fact, the number of oversized scaly rats emerging had slowed down drastically. The battle was not over, but it was won.

The hungry attackers had been defeated before the town proper could truly be breached. Still, this was the first breach in over two hundred years. Search had said that the walls stood unbroken for that long…

Speaking of, I saw him and the rest of the squad break from formation and look around for me. Bray, who must’ve seen the entire thing, pointed to the new tunnel that was being surrounded by ponies, and then pointed up to me on the roof, peering over the edge.

I gave a little wave.

I now noticed the change in the atmosphere. In addition to the determination, the complete and unwavering focus, that I had tasted earlier, there was a new emotion. Hatred. The ponies utterly despised the foul invaders for breaching the sanctity of their home.

Made me almost sympathetic for the little guys.

As the adrenaline wore off, my chest started to feel sore as hell.

‘Oh damn it, I hope I haven’t aggravated my chest injury.’

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