Changeling Campfire Dirge

by WindigogoGadget

[Extra] Don't Tell The Guard We're Under Canterlot

Antennae sat in the cave, holding a leg with splintered chitin jutting every which way. With some luck, he'd be finding his way home with the other sixteen members of the force that had been sent out this far. He'd been left behind, every-ling else had left to gather what meager sources of love they could around night-time.

Green magic tried to adjust the shards to be more orderly but every attempt just kept shooting pain into him instead. At least it stopped oozing. He thought he was going mad, and kept hearing steps echoing around, but that should be impossible, nobody could have followed him here.

Weary and alone, he saw no reason to be foolish all to himself, and he buzzed his wings, the elytra rubbed together in soft, low strums. He remembered seeing one of the drones do this before said drone was told to cut it out.

...

Did he fall asleep? He stretched, remembered the state of his shell, and contracted his leg again. His wings hummed together again in low vibratos.

"Hello sister dearest, how are you?" Antennae closed his eyes. "The roads at home must be covered in mud again."

"Stars are falling in Luna's dawn sky-y. Just don't tell mom where I am." Trying to get love from memory from his time in disguise was foolish, but comforting.

"We had a bad raid from the wolves, our sachem's gone and she's coming home with black tulips." A weak tune, it'd suck if he croaked from singing.

"It just makes me want to curse this bloody war..."

"It just makes me want to curse this ponies w-a-ar!"

It felt good to let these things out. "Tomorrow is coming, we'll clean our shells and forget the war." His muzzle scrunched up "It reeks of copper and no-ling wants to sleep, it was a hard battle."

"Three of us didn't come back, it makes me want to cr - y" He paused with a breath. "Just remember, don't tell the guard we're under Canterlot."

"The convener wants to counter-strike, under cover of night. The Canterlot Fortress."

Antennae smiled and felt his blue fins flutter. "But I've still got Roptera with me, I bet he'll make it out of this."
Again, he swore he heard footsteps in between the strums of his elytra. "I'm with my friends and Baetis, I bet we'll make it out of this."

"Just don't tell Chrysalis we're under Canterlot," he murmured. Oh boy, not a single changeling could've anticipated how south things could have gone.

Hey, if we come back with a few ponies, would that make her send more of us out here, or less?

He took a deep breath. His thorax didn't like that very much. "Again pony I give you my warmest regards," the strumming of his wings continued for a moment before hearing the steps suddenly stop. "But for some reason, you haven't struck first."

"So I ask you one little thi - ing. If they ask you what you saw, just li - e!" Antennae opened his spell-struck eyes and saw a grey pegasus staring back at him through the static he called vision. "Just don't tell the guard we're under Canterlot."

"Just remember, you won't tell the guard we're under Canterlot." He repeated, exhaling.

Then he hacked up a green resinous glob directly at the ponies face, confused and sightless it fluttered its wings and made itself open for another glob to its wings.

"Just remember, you can't tell the guard we're under Canterlot."