Chapter 7
After the ball I had interviews with the press. Apparently the newspaper companies were chomping at the bit to release stories about me but the Princesses had managed to convince them to wait until after the interview.
It was essentially just a normal press conference. Reporters asked me questions, I answered. The only thing that caught me off guard was the fact that the press was surprisingly well behaved. They still asked a few weird questions, like if Changelings produced honey, if I could taste with my hooves like a fly, and other nonsense like that. Still, compared to the press on Earth Bet, the ponies were surprisingly polite. I assumed the Princesses must have paid them off to play nice.
In the next few days the newspapers were all talking about the fact I was benevolent and had allied myself with Equestria against Queen Chrysalis. They were talking me up quite a bit. Much to the displeasure of the nobles in Blueblood’s corner, I was sure.
I stayed another couple days after that, just in case something came up and the nobles wanted to talk to me, but nothing did. So I headed back to Ponyville. On the train ride back I was already planning how to approach re-establishing the kingdom of Griffonstone and ensuring their cooperation with me as allies. Obviously, it wouldn’t be as simple as climbing down the wall of the Abysmal Abyss like a bug, which I could apparently do as I had discovered while working on my hive, and giving the Idol of Boreas to a random Griffon. I could already see a number of problems with that approach.
First, I’d need to find a Griffon I could trust to uphold their end of the agreement. Seeing as I only knew a grand total of one griffon, that didn’t leave me a whole lot of options. I couldn’t trust Twilight or the Princesses so that meant I couldn’t ask them who would be a better King or Queen to install on the throne. So I didn’t really have any choice. I was going to have to approach Gruff and discuss it with him. I just had to hope he didn’t end up screwing me over.
Second, as soon as the Idol was out of the Abyss, the Griffons would likely start tearing each other apart for a chance to get their claws on it. It would likely start another war, which I assumed was the reason why the princesses hadn’t done anything to help them get it back. That or the princesses preferred the Griffon Kingdom to be all but dissolved as it was right now. The implications of that just strengthened my worries that they wanted to make my hive a puppet state but that was something I could worry about later.
The war wasn’t really a big problem. I was fairly certain I could end it fairly quickly with my power set by taking out the leaders of the opposing factions or finding evidence to extort, blackmail, or expose them and undermine their support until there was no one left to oppose whoever I installed. So as long as Gruff could drum up support in the form of soldiers or even just mercenaries, the war itself was irrelevant to me. Mainly because it wouldn’t last long enough to matter. A few months at most, with me eliminating all of the competition for the throne. Feeding myself while I was in Griffonstone might be annoying but the solution for that was easy. If the war did happen, I would have plenty of food at my disposal. Assassination targets, hostages, prisoners of war. I might go awhile between feedings, sometimes, but I wouldn’t starve to death.
What really concerned me was the fact that I would have to spend all of that time away from my hive. I had no idea when I’d lay eggs, how long it would take before they hatched, or anything else. There was a risk that Chrysalis would find my hive while I was gone. So if I laid my eggs before I left I’d be running the risk of her finding and destroying or stealing them. I may not have been very happy about my new biology but I wasn’t about to let my kids be killed or kidnapped. Maybe the plan for a second even more hidden hive that only I knew about could work? Still, being gone for however long it took to end the Griffon civil war… I didn’t like it.
Maybe I could workout a deal with the Griffons instead? Maybe I could go there before all of this and if I need to lay eggs I could work out a deal with Gruff to have a group of soldiers help hide and protect them. Then I’d transport them all back to my hive myself after my business in Griffonstone was over. However, if I went that route then I’d have to trust Gruff and other griffons to actually hold up their end of the agreement and keep my kids safe. So I didn’t like that option either.
There was also a chance it wouldn’t happen any time soon and I was worried for nothing. I wanted to be optimistic, but considering how little I know about my own biology I really couldn’t afford to be. I had to be ready for the worst.
So I kept trying to think of solutions to this problem over the course of the train ride.
Unfortunately my thoughts were interrupted when the train screeched and started to roll and grind off the tracks. I was sent falling and tumbling violently as the train derailed and the car I was in tumbled a couple times before coming to a stop on its side. Fortunately the train seemed to have some sort of magic cushioning system that saved me from any serious injury, but the system could only do so much considering the violent nature of a train derailment.
When it was over adrenaline was blasting through my system. I got up shakily, my dress was ripped and I hurt. Fortunately nothing felt broken. I had just been a bit shaken up.
A massive spike slammed through the wall of the train, which was currently the roof, followed by another and another. Four in total. The wall was then ripped open like a tin can and I saw two massive insectoid creatures staring inside. They roared at me.
Without hesitation I blasted a hole through the roof, which was beside me, and flew out. Only to be hit in the side by a rhinoceros. I felt my carapace crack and was sent flying several feet before tumbling to a stop.
Getting up I saw over two dozen changelings. Some were transformed, others weren’t. The ones who weren’t looked like they were wearing armor of some sort.
I launched myself into the air and dodged out of the way as one of the monstrous arachnids flew towards me and tried to impale me on one of its massive spike-like front legs. My horn glowed and thousands of tiny dots of green energy swarmed towards the monster like a wave. It screeched in agony as its body started to disintegrate. The dots of energy burrowing into its carapace then the flesh underneath. By the time I’d ended the spell it had changed back to a normal changeling, unable to maintain its transformation with the damage it had sustained. It was wailing in agony, though its cries died quickly as it rapidly went into shock and passed out from a combination of pain, severe trauma, and blood loss. I felt its emotions fade to nothing as it succumbed to its wounds and died in a matter of seconds.
The other changelings radiated surprise, shock, and horror. Apparently they hadn’t expected that.
While they were still distracted, I grabbed as much broken glass, sharp bits of metal, and other debris from the train wreck as I could. Even grabbing rocks off the ground. All of it turned into a lethal telekinetic whirlwind intended to shred them all at once. As all of the debris was enveloped in a green aura, all of the changelings were pulled from their horrified stupor and scattered to avoid the telekinetically propelled shrapnel. I didn’t relent and split the shrapnel up to attack each of them individually rather than as a group.
“Derailing the train was a bad move.” I growled at them.
One was too slow and my shrapnel managed to reach them. Targeting less protected areas, namely the joints, eyes, ears, and any exploitable gaps in their carapace, I quickly and efficiently shredded them, taking them out of the fight.
A couple of them seemed to figure out the maximum range I could control the shrapnel and stayed out of my range. From there, four of them turned into strange dragon or dinosaur-like creatures, which picked up heavy rocks and pieces of debris with their spiked tails and flung it at me, like living catapults or trebuchets. Others remained changelings and simply shot at me with bolts and beams of magic. Super basic combat spells which I recognized from what little Luna had taught me in my dreams and I had practiced a bit on a shooting range meant for the Royal Guard while I was in Canterlot. I had to dodge and weave through the air to avoid being hit by the debris.
Then I saw something. Ponies were starting to come crawling out of the train. Some were royal guards, some were normal ponies. All of them looked banged up. My telekinetically propelled shrapnel was too dangerous to keep using with civilians around so I dropped it all. This emboldened the changelings. Some of the changelings transformed into rocks, which I hadn’t even known was possible, and the catapult tailed creatures threw them at me. This living ammunition changed shape as soon as it got close to me, turning into manticores, large crocodilian creatures, and various other dangerous monstrosities that swiped at me with their claws, tails, or other appendages or tried to bite me with their teeth.
I turned into a dragon, a bit larger than an elephant. In this form I had pitch black scales, with a white belly and a white membrane between the fingers of my wings. The spikes running down from the top of my head and down my spine were similarly white. I had been practicing with this form and had finally managed to get the jaw mostly right. I only had a few things I needed to finish improving on to achieve the maximum possible biting force this form could produce. However, even with my imperfect understanding of the physiology I could easily chew through a solid chunk of quartz and with difficulty I could break corundum like sapphires and rubies if I tried hard enough, which meant I could bite through bones and carapaces with barely any effort. Plus I had scales which would act sort of like armor and would protect me to an extent.
I snapped a manticore shaped changeling out of the air and bit it in half. Spitting the pieces back out I dived towards the catapult creature shaped changelings and ripped two of them apart with my teeth, claws, and tail. Unfortunately I underestimated the strength of their tails and one of them managed to gouge my hind leg, ripping straight through my scales. I hissed in pain and backed off. I should have realized these things’ tails would be dangerous, considering how easily they were throwing heavy debris but I hadn’t thought of it. Fortunately it seemed to miss any major veins or arteries or I would be in very serious trouble.
After a few moments of getting their bearings, some of the royal guards started to join me. Mainly the pegasi and unicorns. The Earth Ponies were giving orders to the civilians and were trying to direct them to safety. The unicorns made simple firing lines with magical barriers for protection and shot combat spells at the changelings. The Pegasi flew into the air, grabbing clouds, which they stomped on to shoot lightning at the changelings.
“Pegasi, try to focus on blasting their long range attackers! Try to stay mobile! Make it hard for them to hit you back! Unicorns stay here and provide covering fire to protect the civilians and support the Earth Ponies! Be careful, you have no idea if any of the passengers are changelings in disguise so keep an eye on them if you can! These bastards are here to kill me, so I’m going to try to lead them away!” I shouted at the royal guards. Technically, I wasn’t their superior officer so they were under no obligation to listen to me. However, it was a tough situation and I didn’t hear anyone else giving orders so I thought I might at least try to give some tactical advice.
Fortunately they did seem to heed my advice. Though it was possible they were already planning to do what I suggested anyways and my orders were redundant. I didn’t really have time to think about it, and it wasn’t important either way so long as they were doing it.
With that I started flying away from the train and sure enough most of the changelings chased after me. I frowned at that. They had heard me shouting those orders, so they would know I was leading them away. I assumed they weren’t stupid, so either they were dead set on killing me to the point of following me away from hostages they could potentially try to use against me, or they had something else planned. The smart thing for them to do would have been to remain right where they are and attack the royal guards and civilians to force me to stay as well or risk causing a political nightmare for myself. Or to at least leave behind half to a third of their forces to put pressure on me, while still having soldiers chase after me in the event I did just cut my losses and run.
Essentially my plan was working too well and I hated that because it meant I had no idea what these guys were thinking. Then again there were only a little less than two dozen of them visible, so it was possible they had more hidden at the train or they didn’t want to risk sending too few to fight me. Though the latter was me being optimistic. If this was all they sent to kill me, I might have a chance to get through this alive, especially with the Pegasi helping me. However, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. A secret ace up their sleeve that I couldn’t account for that would reduce my chances of survival precipitously. Chrysalis showing up in person, for example. I doubted I could beat her right now considering she had a thousand years of knowledge and experience over me with all of the same powers I had, and was presumably far better fed and was thus a lot stronger than I was.
Still I kept flying, morphing into a black and white pegasus to make myself a smaller target whilst still remaining plainly visible so they could chase me. I had to constantly look back and swerve in mid air so as to avoid being hit by the simple bolts of magic they were firing at me.
Eventually a lucky shot managed to hit me in the back right between my wings and agony coursed through me as I was knocked off balance and started tumbling in the air. It was like being punched by a professional boxer while also being burned at the same time. Memories of Lung flashed through my mind, but this was different from him since there was no actual fire involved, just raw magical energy.
As I was falling I flapped my wings and managed to right myself enough to slow and control my descent. Landing on the ground I morphed back into my changeling form. Thinking fast and trying to come up with something to fight back, I started ripping branches off trees with my telekinesis. I quickly broke off any excess branches and stripped them of leaves and snapping them to get something vaguely resembling points. I then started throwing them as fast and hard as I could, focusing more on speed and quantity rather than accuracy.
They weren’t very effective but they did serve as something like very crude makeshift spears and arrows. Five extremely unlucky changelings started falling out of the sky as the extremely crude spears and arrows stabbed through their eye sockets, hit them in their wings, or stabbed through their mouths and into their throats if they had them open for whatever reason. Though the vast majority of my makeshift arrows simply bounced right off their hard carapaces if they hit anything at all. A lot didn’t even hit point first after they left my telekinetic grasp since they didn’t have heads to weight them towards one end or fletchings to stabilize their flight.
Once the pegasi from the Royal Guards started to catch up with the changelings I had to stop my volley and start focusing on defense. This was honestly a blessing as my makeshift arrow idea was leaving me quite vulnerable since I was devoting all of my focus and impressive multitasking ability entirely on offense leaving myself open to attack. So if I had kept it up much longer I would have started getting hit more and more while my enemies would adapt to counter that strategy. Of course, I would have stopped and tried to figure something else out before it got to that point but still.
That said, I honestly wished I had thought of it when I was back on the train. I could have used pieces of broken glass and shredded metal as something like makeshift arrow heads or I could have even thrown it as it was.
As the Pegasi started engaging the changelings again, I turned into a dragonfly. I was small enough that it would be extremely difficult to hit me while I could still fly at roughly thirty five miles per hour, give or take. Dragonflies also had very good eyesight for insects and since I had studied the biological mechanisms behind this back on Earth Bet, I could replicate them with my powers. This changed the colors I saw in, which was a bit disorienting for a second, but it made it easy enough for me to differentiate between the pegasi and changelings. Ironically, my vision was probably as good if not better in this form than it was in my human or changeling form.
I zipped up to the swarm of changelings and morphed into an anteater on the back of one of the changelings and proceeded to rip through their carapace with my claws. Anteaters were capable of digging through solid concrete, so shredding through the carapace of a changeling was relatively easy. My swipe easily severed the changeling’s ventral nerve cord and very nearly decapitated them from behind.
As soon as my claw ripped through the changeling I morphed back into a dragonfly and flew to the next one and repeated the process. Then the next one, and the next one. I continued this several times until I very nearly got hit by a lightning bolt from one of the pegasi. At which point, while my method of attack was relatively effective, I deemed it too dangerous to use whilst fighting alongside pegasi, if not ponies in general.
As I changed back into my changeling form, I realized between the efforts of myself and the Royal Guards the changelings numbers had been reduced to about nine from the thirty or so they had originally. Their morale was starting to crumble and it showed. All they needed was just one last push to force them into a retreat if not a total route.
My horn glowed and a “swarm” of thousands of glowing green dots of energy appeared. Since I’d used this spell so much I decided it needed a name. Not feeling particularly creative I decided to call it “devouring swarm”. I’d try to think of a better name later.
Regardless I decided to use this as an opportunity to experiment. I split the spell into four smaller swarms and sent them flying towards four separate changelings. They started screaming as the swarms engulfed them. The "disintegration" for lack of a better term was a lot slower than if the swarm was whole and focused on a single individual. However it was no less devastating, it just took longer. The increased time conveniently also increased the psychological effects as the screaming and horror lasted for more than three or four seconds like the spell did if it was fully targeted on a single individual.
Unfortunately, those psychological effects worked both ways. I’d barely used it at all and I already didn't like this spell. Or at least not using it this way. It made me feel gross. It just drew things out too much when it was divided like this. When it was a single swarm it was still bad but it was tolerable since it disintegrated them and ended things relatively fast, even if it was messy. But like this? Split into four? No… It was just flat out torture at this point.
Still, since I had started I didn’t want to stop now otherwise I would just be drawing out their deaths even longer. So I kept going as the four changelings fell out of the sky, trying to make sure they’d die as fast as I could make them like this. It took what I estimated was a minute for them to pass out, though it was a very rough estimate since I was distracted at the time. Then I kept going even after they’d stopped screaming only stopping once I felt their emotions fade to nothing, telling me they were dead. I really had been trying to kill them as fast as I could with this spell.
At that point the remaining five had already started to run away. They were too outnumbered and I could tell from their emotions that seeing what I had just done to their comrades had broken them. I had likely given most of them permanent psychological trauma that would require medication and years of therapy to recover from.
Arguably it wasn’t any worse than what I’d done with my bugs back on Earth Bet, just a bit more graphic and presumably more painful. Alexandria’s death in particular, stuck out in my mind. Bugs crawling down her throat, spinning webs in her lungs… Actually, was that as bad as what I’d just done? Honestly I wasn’t entirely sure… Hm… Something to think about, I supposed.
Sensing a couple of the changelings on the ground were still alive, mainly the ones hit by the lightning from the Pegasi, I flew down and grabbed them with my telekinesis. Gathering them up I looked over their wounds. Any of them that seemed like they had sustained too much damage and weren’t going to make it anyway, I shot them in the head with a tight beam of magic, puncturing their carapaces and destroying their brains, killing them. Any that looked like they could survive, I set off to the side and spat a sticky green substance on in an attempt to bind them up.
The royal guard pegasi landed nearby and started running up to me. “Halt! What in Celestia’s name do you think you’re doing?!” One of them demanded.
I stopped and looked at him. “Triage, what does it look like? Some of these changelings are too hurt to survive without immediate medical intervention and I assume none of us here are licensed surgeons with a full suit of medical equipment handy. So they’re just going to die anyway. So I’m putting them out of their misery instead of letting them suffer. The rest, I’m setting off to the side. That substance I spat on them is sticky and once it starts to harden it becomes like rubber. I don’t know for certain if they can get out of it just by transforming, but it’s the best I can do to tie them up for right now. Either way, those ones can be taken prisoner and interrogated.”
“Stop that at once! We’ll handle things from here! Grrr… I can’t believe the princesses are letting a monster like you run around unchecked. You can be sure, we’ll be reporting that disgusting spell and how you tortured those last ones to death. Maybe the princesses will finally see reason and lock you up or send you to Chrysalis in chains!” The pegasus spat, anger, hatred, and overwhelming fear radiating off of him like a lighthouse. If I looked, I could see him visibly trembling, terrified of me but trying to mask it with rage.
The other pegasi felt similar although not quite to the same degree as the one shouting at me. In one I could sense a bit of sympathy and I could tell he wanted to object but held his tongue for fear of his brothers in arms. Likely fear of ridicule or being called a changeling sympathizer or something to that effect, I could only guess. My empathy didn’t let me know specifics, only that there was some minor fear directed at the other pegasi and some sympathy and a bit of guilt directed at me.
I flapped my wings and started hovering in the air. “Fine. But don’t blame me when some of the ones you shot down with your lightning die in transit.” I then turned and started flying away. Pausing and hovering in the air for a moment, without looking back I shouted, “When you give your report to the princesses, you can tell them I’m flying the rest of the way back to my hive on my own. If they have a problem with my methods, they know where to find me.”
With that I resumed my flight. I flew back to the train, searched through the wreckage. It was stupid. After all this, I was actually thinking about my damned pills. But I knew I’d probably need them more than ever after this. Rather surprisingly I managed to find my remaining antibiotics and painkillers without much trouble. Picking up my pills, I crawled back out of the wreck and started flying away again.
I was in a horrible mood as I flew my way back to Ponyville. Not only had Chrysalis finally made her move and attacked me, but I messed up that spell by dividing it which made me feel a bit guilty. It wasn’t worse than what I’d done in my final fight with Scion, but that had been an extremely different circumstance with extremely different stakes. And while I did feel guilty about what I did at that time, I knew it had been necessary so I didn’t regret it. This? This hadn’t been necessary. I could have done any number of things differently to end that fight, so I did regret what I had done in this case. To an extent. They had been trying to kill me. Then after that I had to put up with that asshole of a pegasus and resist turning back into my human form just so I could punch him in the face after his rant.
God I wanted to punch that guy… But it wouldn’t have helped. If anything it would have made the situation worse since the pegasi were already on edge and I might have triggered a fight with them which could have been a political disaster for me.
As I flew and the adrenaline started to fade and I started to become aware of just how much pain I was really in. My entire body was in agony. I could keep going but it hurt. Apparently I hadn’t come out of the train crash as unscathed as I initially thought I had, and the injuries I sustained in the fight were really taking their toll on me.
That was going to be fun to deal with. My bullet wounds and burned stump had just started to hurt less too… Damn it…
Landing I decided to tend to my wounds as best as I could. My dress was in tatters anyway, so I just tore a scrap off of it with my telekinesis and used it to bandage the worst wounds. Mainly the ones that were bleeding. I probably should have tried to clean them, but I didn’t exactly trust river water. Who knew what sort of bacteria might be in it and I had nothing to boil it with. Nor did I have peroxide, rubbing alcohol, or any antibiotic creams. So I was just going to have to rely on the antibiotic pills I had left over and pray I wouldn’t get an infection, because I didn’t have any intention of going back to the hospital right now. Even though I knew I probably should. Maybe I’d change my mind tomorrow, after I’d had some time to rest and cool off, but for right now, no. I wasn’t going. I didn’t think I could take the false smiles and forced kindness they’d surely give me, an “evil changeling”. Not right now.
I sighed and wondered how long it would take for me to recover this time.
When Ponyville was in sight, I turned into a hawk and flew the rest of the way there in that form. No one would bother me in this form and I didn’t feel like dealing with any more ponies for the rest of the day. I just wanted to be alone.
I flew straight over Ponyville and continued into the Everfree. Diving beneath the trees I turned into a dragonfly and flew the rest of my way to my hive in that form to ensure no one would be able to track me the rest of the way.
Once I reached my hive, a tiny hole just big enough for my current form opened up for me and I slipped inside. Inside there were a couple permanently active enchanted crystals embedded in the roof I’d made to provide light for me. I didn’t have a proper bed in here yet, but I didn't care. Finding a nice secluded corner, I curled up in a ball and laid down. I saw my bucket of crystals and decided to pass the time practicing my enchanting.
This wasn’t anywhere near the worst day I’d ever had. Even back in Brockton I’d had worse days between the time Bakuda started going on her psycho bombing spree and when Leviathan attacked Brockton. So today was pretty par for the course, if I was being honest with myself.
As time ticked by and the tedium of continuously enchanting crystals set in, I was still in a bit of a bad mood but it had degraded into mild annoyance and frustration. That guy pissed me off. His tirade against me reminded me of the Trio, which had just hit the wrong buttons, but I was already starting to get over it. Sulking in my hive enchanting crystals all day wasn’t going to help anything. I’d probably go to the hospital soon, like I should have done as soon as I got back. Dealing with their fake smiles for a little while would be better than running the risk of getting an infection.
“Hello? Weaver? Are you here?” I heard Twilight’s voice call out to me.
I estimated it had been roughly two hours since I’d got back to my hive. I guess she’d decided to come looking for me since I never arrived at the train station or checked in with her at the Library.
I sighed. I’d have liked to have a bit more time to myself before I had to deal with anyone else, but it seemed like I wouldn’t be getting it. Oh well, I supposed. It was nice while it lasted.
“I’m here, Twilight.” I called out. Getting up I flapped my wings and started hovering in the direction I’d heard Twilight.
It didn’t take me long to find her.
Her eyes widened as soon as she saw me. “You're hurt!”
“I’m painfully aware, thank you.” I said in a deadpan tone.
She blinked at me and shook her head. “Why haven’t you gone to the hospital?”
“I was in a bad mood and didn’t want to deal with them. I’ve calmed down a bit since then and was planning to go soon. I’ve already bandaged myself up so it wasn’t like I was going to bleed out right away and I’m not dying. So I could afford to wait a bit.” I told her. I then took a deep breath and slowly released it. “So… Did the princesses send you?”
“Uh… Yes and no… I did get a letter from Princess Celestia letting me know the Changelings attacked and derailed the Friendship Express, and that you helped fight them off… They did also mention that you used some unnecessarily cruel methods to defeat them that unsettled the Royal Guards ponies stationed on the train, though she didn’t specify what… She wanted me to let you know you aren’t in trouble but wanted me to ask you to not do it again, if you can, but she said I could tell you the next time I saw you. When I learned the train was derailed and you were attacked I came looking for you myself. I just wanted to make sure you were alright since you never came to the train station or the library. I checked the hospital first, but you weren’t there. So I assumed this was the only other place you could be.” Twilight explained.
“Uh huh… Well, I’m fine. I’ve had worse and I’ll be going to the hospital soon. I even managed to get my leftover pills from the wreckage before I came back.” I told her, trying not to show my irritation or take it out on her. It would have been sooo much easier if I had my bug powers so I could off load my expressions into my swarm.
“Well, that’s good… Uh… So what did you do that was so bad, if you don’t mind me asking?” Twilight inquired.
My horn glowed and my devouring swarm spell appeared next to me and began eating a hole through the wall, causing little bits of the wall to start accumulating on the ground as it started to disintegrate. I ended the spell before the hole got too deep. I was already going to have to clean up the mess and repair the damage. I didn’t want to make any more work for myself than I had to in order to make a point.
Twilight looked at the spell and the subsequent damage to the wall in surprise.
“I used that on a few of them. Only, it turns out, I can split the spell so I can use it to attack multiple people at once. The problem that I didn’t think of in the heat of the moment, is that the more I split it the slower the spell works but it still has the same effects. If you can imagine what this spell does to a living being, you’ll realize why it working any slower than usual is a bad thing. It’s already pretty bad to begin with, but imagine that being drawn out even longer than necessary. I’m…” I sighed and shook my head.
“I’m still mentally debating whether or not it was worse than some other methods I’ve used in the past… If you’re wondering if I regret it, yes. I do. But only in that it took too long for them to die. They were trying to kill me and they obviously didn’t care who got hurt or died to make that happen. So they did deserve to die. Just… maybe not as brutally as they did.”
I looked at her. She looked horrified, but was clearly trying to put on a brave face and hear me out. “I’m not like the Slaughterhouse Nine, Twilight. I’m willing to take lives if I have to — especially since this is a war and killing is going to be unavoidable no matter what — but I don’t enjoy it and I certainly don’t enjoy causing unnecessary suffering. So I can’t promise I won’t use that spell again. Especially since it's one of the very few truly lethal spells I know, meaning it's one of the only weapons I have to defend myself in life or death situations. However, I can try to use it sparingly and avoid dividing it so many times. That way things don’t get drawn out quite as long.”
Plus I was planning to try to build flamethrowers at some point in the future since I knew enchanted crystals could generate fire, and the spell really couldn’t be all that much worse than burning alive. Though I didn’t say that part aloud.
Twilight frowned. “I think I get your point, but I don’t like it. I don’t think the Princesses will either.”.
“You don’t have to like it, but it’s not going to change the reality. Chrysalis and her hive are trying to kill me. They aren’t going to give me a choice but to kill them first. They made that pretty clear today. So I’m going to do whatever I have to in order to survive.”
Twilight sighed. “I understand… Though I hope you don’t mind but I’m going to be looking into other methods you might be able to use. Maybe I can find some way to end this without violence or maybe I can find non-lethal spells that we can work on adapting into changeling magic. That way you’ll have ways to defend yourself without having to go that far?”
I couldn’t help but smile at that, even if the smile only lasted a moment. “Twilight, I appreciate it, I really do, but my very existence is a threat to Queen Chrysalis’ power. So I’m going to tell you now, there’s no possible way this ends peacefully. The only way this ends is with one or both of us dead with a mountain of bodies in between.”
I was going to continue and explain exactly why it wouldn’t work but I sensed Twilight’s emotions. She was getting sad and somewhat scared. I still hadn’t yet disproven my theory that the ponies had some way to trick my empathy, like the slaughterhouse nine tricked Cherish’s. However I decided it was probably a bad idea to go off on a long tirade about how there was no way in hell a peaceful solution could ever be achieved as long as both Chrysalis and I are alive.
“That said, if you can help me learn some less lethal magic I could use to defend myself, I would appreciate it.” At the very least, I could use it to capture changelings alive and take them prisoner for interrogation and information gathering.
Twilight smiled at me, happiness and excitement blooming from her. Though the sadness and fear was still there, albeit more muted now. “Yes! We can definitely work on that! I’ll start looking through my books to find relevant spells that you might be able to adapt as soon as I get back to the library! But first, we need to get you to the hospital. You just survived a train derailment. I still can’t believe you didn’t go there as soon as you got back!” She chided.
“Fine…”
Earlier that day…
Pharynx and the remaining survivors fled for their lives. Things had not gone according to plan! The false queen was far more dangerous than they’d anticipated! This was supposed to be an easy mission! Derail the train, confirm the False Queen had died in the crash, and finish her off if she hadn’t and bring her head back to Chrysalis… After all, the False Queen was a pony sympathizer so everyling assumed she must have been as pathetic and pacifistic as them too. They were wrong… Very wrong… This mission had been anything but easy! It was bucking suicide mission! And the False Queen was more vicious and terrible than any creature he’d ever encountered!
Images of those four being devoured by her magic kept replaying through his mind over and over again. He could still hear the screaming… By the swarm… The screaming… That horrible screaming… He’d grown up with some of those lings since they’d hatched…
He shook his head to try to clear his thoughts and refocus. They needed to get away! They needed to warn the hive of what they were up against.
He dreaded how Queen Chrysalis would react to the news, but she needed to know.
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you keep misspelling the word "vicious"
11740940
Ah. Yeah, I've been having trouble with the difference between viscous and vicious. I'm trying to work on it. Thank you for pointing it out so I can fix it though, I appreciate it! Fixed!
I don't know the source that Taylor's from, but based on the descriptions here, her being a bit numb to extreme brutality makes some sense.
As for Sombra, he's a shadow so some kind of focused light spell?
11741081
Light, huh? Yeah, I can definitely see that. With Sombra being made of shadow it would make sense that he'd have an aversion to light. Just started rewatching the episode and Shining Armor even seems to imply he typically only comes out in the dark.
"We'd better get moving... There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark."
Thank you for the suggestion, I really appreciate it!
11741081
Taylor's setting can be crystalized to this:
Local superman is slowly careening towards multiversal omnicide without most people knowing.
A group that was the second best thing were Illuminati trying to stop the superman, lesser heroes were under fluctuating control of the Illuminati.
All powers except illuminati and Superman were designed to promote conflict in the long term.
Super-Kaiju created by superman and his dead wife haven't destroyed the World because they are all sandbagging while casually mind-raping or murder-blendering 1/3 to higher counts of heroes and villains trying to stop them in massive suicidal last stands, and one of them still sank one of the Japan's home islands while basically binding their legs and one arm behind their back.
Taylor gains the power of bug control after a hero in their civilian identity and her friends mentally torture her for many months and then lock her into a locker with biological waste and used tampons. Taylor tries to become a hero. Becomes the villain for a long while.
It ALWAYS gets worse from here.
I wonder if this transformation into Queen shouldn't have improved their vision to shapeshifter form, since they can see in the dark among other things, and this can be corrected using this healing factor that the entity said she has but which did not see action beyond the wound to the back of the head.
11741199
The healing factor is still in effect. Think axolotl or molting insect rather than wolverine. So she can regenerate limbs it just takes time.
Honestly the whole missing leg thing is becoming a chore to deal with narratively so I'll probably have her molt and get it back relatively soon.
As for her vision, I didn't want her transformation into a changeling to fix all of her physical issues or she would have been fully healed the moment she was dropped into Equestria.
If she manages to earn ascension like Thorax did in the show, not just redemption but becoming the changeling equivalent of an Alicorn, I'll probably have that fix her vision issues.
First you said:
but then:
Is this a mistake?
"devouring swarm" Clichés exist because they usually work. And because it is a name, it has to be capitalized, I think.
As for Taylor's reaction to the spell, I found it appropriate. In her world she has participated in much more violent spectacles, she may not be completely desensitized to it, but she is clearly already used to it.
11741203
the way you explained it, it's better narratively and means the character doesn't have everything in his hands, I liked this reasoning
11741206
Yes, that was an editing mistake. Originally I was going to write it as three but I decided to change it to four. The number really isn't relevant, just a technical detail. Thank you for pointing that out! Fixed!
This Taylor you're talking about. Warlord Skitter Taylor. Who has bugs rot off crotches, eat eyes, and devour people from the inside out. If anything I really think you have her reacting too much. She should be more "meh" about it.
11741203
As a shapechanger she can just adjust the lenses in her eyes now. She doesn't need ascension to fix them. You're nerfing her too much like this.
11741581
Fair enough. I may have over corrected due to my initial mishandling of chapter 6. Sorry about that.
11741588
This, however, I have to disagree with. I put restrictions on her shapeshifting for a number of reasons. First, if she could shapeshift to alter herself however she wants, she could just stay in her human form 24/7 and just morph her body as needed. There would be no point in ever taking any other shape when she could just give herself claws, wings, venom, spinnerets, her horn, and adapt whatever biological mechanism she has studied to use them in whatever given situation. She needs super strength at some point, easy! Just give her human form huge muscles and don't bother turning into anything to use those biological features. Oh her hand gets cut off again? Just pinch the skin shut and wait to molt again. In the meantime she can just morph herself to give herself a fake hand to use in the meantime. She needs to sneak into someplace? No problem! Just shrink down to the size of a moth and give herself wings without actually turning into a moth an voila! Instant infiltration, and then she can hide behind a bookshelf or something and spy on whoever without ever being seen.
This story is about if she was turned into a Changeling Queen. The limits I placed on her make her incapable of going full chimera, thus forcing her to use a variety of different forms, thus giving each form an actual use and keeping the story interesting. Thus, her changeling form does not immediately become invalidated or obsolete. While the eyes in particular might be a relatively small matter, if I let her do that it would be inconsistent with the rules I've already established.
Second, I need to leave room for her powers to expand. She has limitations now, but assuming she achieved ascension like Thorax did, some of those limitations would become less strict thus making her ascension actually mean something narratively beyond a simple visual change. And considering I'm a terrible artist and this isn't a comic, visual changes only change the descriptive text.
Third... Did you see her in chapter 7? I'd hardly call the restrictions a nerf considering what she did to those changelings. At least not a significant one. She's still got quite a bit of power and ingenuity behind that power.
If she needs ultra good eyesight, she can take a form that naturally has insanely good eyesight like a hawk or an eagle. Or maybe one of the bird people from the movie with the Storm King. It's not a major issue.
11741634
I meant in her changeling queen form she should be able to give herself good eyesight. Her Taylor body comes with bad eyesight, That can't be changed. But her queen form should be able to have good eyesight. Her Taylor form can buy some glasses.
EDIT: It's canon that Taylor is nearsighted as hell.
People with vision that bad can't read unless they're wearing glasses.
You've already established Taylor can shapeshift herself some clothes.
So she can shapeshift herself a pair of glasses.
11741896
She can shapeshift glasses, but it would mainly be aesthetic. Specifically because she wouldn't know how to shape the lenses to bend the light the correct way for her eyes. If she were an optometrist or lens maker she might have some idea but she was a super hero/villain.
That said, if she had actual glasses or even contact lenses her magic could shapeshift them with her, just like she can shapeshift the dress rarity gave her. Like, say for example she wanted to make herself look like Alexandria. Her dress would change to look like Alexandria's costume along with her body. The magic would work on glasses too.
So, I can easily just let her have a pair of glasses. In fact, I was considering letting her do that while she was in canterlot. Honestly I probably should have. Eh... I can just say she went while she was there but had to have them delivered to Ponyville since she hadn't stayed long enough to get them.
11742142
Please make sure to have them magically adjusting too.
There's nothing worse than glasses that have the ear pieces press in too hard behind the ears. They can cause splitting headaches. Something that had me whimpering.
I finally just broke the ear pieces off and used tape and rubber bands instead.
11742453
I have glasses myself. I'm near sighted. The optometrist said my eyes can focus perfectly up to two feet in front of me. So I get that. I mainly have that issue when I wear headphones and glasses at the same time. And since I sit at a desk most of the day, that's fairly often.
Anyway, as long as they're designed to fit well on her head, her own magic should be able to do the rest whenever she transforms. So that sort of thing won't be a serious issue for her in the first place. The biggest issue is going to be getting a second pair of glasses or even just the lenses, so she can put them into a mask or a pair of goggles or something. That way she doesn't have to deal with them falling off in the middle of a fight.
Woop woop! Let's go!
I wasn't sure who was saying that until the end of the paragraph. I'd either put something like "I ordered" or something else distinguishing at the start. Actually, I think it's because in the last paragraph you talked only about the guards, so it feels like you'd be keeping the action by having one of them speak. Maybe add an "I noticed" at the end or something?
This is unnecessary. We can infer that either the changelings are still running or this is in the past, and the scene works either way.
Personally I think that Taylor is a bit too eager about killing, though I can follow her reasoning. That said, her reaction is fine. Like Ariel Schnee said, she's seen and done worse.
Good chapter!
the dragon fly thingn? it's winter when she triggers, how many dragon flies you think are around?
after that? likely never thought about it, like she didn't think of aquatic arthropods