Left Behind

by origami

Chapter 1

It was over.

An attempt to invade the pony city of Canterlot by an army of large insect-like equine creatures had been repelled, the army blasted out of the city by a wave of pink energy that comprised a shield spell fueled by the alicorn princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her unicorn husband Shining Armor. For any pony that was still outside during the horrible events, they were treated to the screams of these creatures as they were sent flying into the far off horizon, where all hoped they would never be seen again.

However, if one were to train their ears at that moment, one would hear what sounded like the buzzing of a large fly. Were they to inspect closer, they would uncover a rather unsettling fact:

The wave of energy that sent the invading army out of the city...

...had missed one.

---

The lone creature, whom ponies would learn was called a changeling, was hovering in mid-air a good distance above the city. His forelegs were covering his face, and he could be heard whimpering. His eyes were screwed shut, and he had attempted to make himself as small as possible.

In a way, his efforts had succeeded and he had avoided grievous injury, but now he was alone and left behind in what his kind would now consider enemy territory.

Whatever happened to him would likely not be good.

"Look over there!" a voice shouted.

The call caused the changeling to open his eyes and look around. He was still in Canterlot. Whatever the large pink wave had done had somehow spared him.

As he looked around, he saw the damage that had been done. There were craters in the streets where other changelings had rocketed in. Several roofs and windows had been blasted out. Lamp posts had been knocked to the ground, some blown down by spells judging by the scorch marks near their bases.

And among all this chaos was a pony pointing directly at him.

A pony wearing the golden armor of the EUP guard.

"There's one of the attackers!" the pony shouted. "Get it!"

The changeling became quite nervous and began to look for a place it could hide. Even just a dark alleyway where it could change its form to mimic a cat or a small mouse would be enough, and it could slink away unnoticed.

It never got the chance to find one. As soon as it began looking, it heard heavy wingbeats. Looking back, it found itself quickly surrounded by pegasus pony guards.

"Don't move!" one guard shouted at the changeling, a spear held firmly in his hooves. The other guards also sported spears, and they were all pointed at him.

The changeling did the only thing he could possibly do in that situation.

"I surrender!" he said to the guards, his hooves falling limp beneath him.

---

Twilight Sparkle and all the other ponies in the wedding chapel looked around at the aftermath of Princess Cadance and Captain Shining Armor's shield spell. The resinous slime that had been holding several ponies in place was gone, and Princess Celestia, once a prisoner inside of a large green cocoon, was now free, though covered in some remaining bits of the offending slime.

"Princess!" Shining Armor said as he went to inspect Celestia.

The white alicorn coughed up some of the green slime that found its way into her throat, and began breathing again.

"Are you okay?" the stallion asked her. "Should I get you medical assistance?"

Celestia coughed some more and then spat out the remaining bits of slime in her muzzle. "I'll be fine," she told Shining Armor. "Was the invasion stopped?"

"It was," Shining Armor confirmed. "Princess Cadance and I sent them flying with a renewed shield spell."

Celestia nodded. "Good," she responded. "I want all available guards to do a sweep of this city and check everypony to ensure they are okay. Once out citizens are taken care of, I will be arranging a task force to hunt these creatures down and bring them to justice!"

Shining Armor nodded. "Yes, your highness," he said with a bow. "I shall see to it immediately."

As the princess and unicorn spoke, six mares were having their own conversation.

"I'm mighty sorry for not listenin' to ya, Twi," Applejack said with her head hung low. "I just figured the odd behavior was Princess Cadance bein' nerved up about her weddin'."

"Me too," Pinkie added, her mane less poofy but not quite flat like if the mare were well and truly depressed.

"Same here," Rainbow added, sporting her own look of shame.

Rarity and Fluttershy didn't say anything but did nod in agreement.

Twilight let out a sigh. "It's okay, girls-"

"No, it ain't okay," Applejack cut back in. "None of us took yer word and we dang near got taken over by giant bug ponies. Y'all was tryin' ta raise an alarm and we acted like ya was the colt that cried timberwolf."

"We're sorry, Twilight," Fluttershy said in her soft and gentle voice. "Please forgive us."

"Oh, girls," Twilight said to the group, "I've already forgiven you. None of you knew what Princess Cadance is actually like, so you all made reasonable assumptions about her behavior based on what was happening in that moment."

"It still wasn't right," Rainbow Dash retorted. "You tried to warn us and we didn't listen."

Twilight wanted to tell her it was okay, but she eventually gave up. Her friends felt bad about doubting her, and would be feeling guilty for some time to come. She eventually decided to drop it and instead focused her attention on more constructive pursuits.

"Let's talk about this later," Twilight told her friends. "Right now, there's ponies who need help, and we're more than capable of lending a hoof to them."

The five mares looked at each other and nodded. Their feeling guilty for doubting their friend could wait; ponies were in need of aid, and they could provide it.

However, just as they were preparing to split up and offer their assistance, a pegasus guard came flying into the chapel and landed right before Celestia.

"Your highness," the guard said with a bow, "I was sent here to give you news."

Celestia looked at the guard. "What news do you have?"

"The shield spell wasn't totally effective," the guard told her. "We have one of those creatures in custody."

---

The changeling had complied willingly, but was still treated rather roughly as he was brought into the castle. He was prodded with spears and had ropes tossed around him, led into this building like he was cattle in a griffin market being led to a slaughterhouse. His head hung low as the guards pulled him along, more than a few times nearly pulling him off his hooves.

As they went, he wondered if a part of him didn't deserve this. He hadn't wanted to be involved in the invasion, but he had been forced to come anyways. Not coming would've meant a punishment far worse than anything the ponies could ever dream to inflict upon him.

He let out a sigh as he was brought to a room and pushed inside. The sudden motion caused him to trip and fall muzzle first into the floor. One of the guards that led him there then slammed the door shut and locked it, trapping the changeling inside.

Getting back to his hooves, the changeling took a look at his surroundings and quickly deduced that he was in some kind of interrogation chamber. There was a table with two chairs on each side of it, as well as a light hanging down from the ceiling. Sitting on the table were a pair of microphones that had wires that fed into a hole in the wall. The thin layer of dust told the changeling that the room had not been used for some time.

Seeing as he had nothing to do whatsoever, the changeling chose the chair furthest from the door and sat down. Truthfully, he could've picked the other chair if he wanted, but something told him that this was the chair he was supposed to sit in. He shivered a bit as his flanks met the cold metal, and wished that there had been at least some kind of cushion there.

Once sat down, the changeling was forced to wait. He did whatever he could to pass the time, but the room gave him limited options in that regard. He felt like he'd been sitting there for hours before the sound of the door unlocking caught his attention.

Looking over at the door, the changeling saw another guard pony enter. He had on his armor, but his helmet had been removed. He was a unicorn, and he carried a piece of parchment, quill and ink pot in his magic.

"I'm here to ask you a few questions," the unicorn began as he took his seat, "and it's in your best interests to answer them truthfully, understand?"

The changeling nodded.

"Speak!" the unicorn guard barked out. "Do. You. Understand?"

"I understand."

"Good" the unicorn said as he dipped his quill in ink and prepared to write. "First, for the record, state your name."

"Thorax."

"Your age?"

"Twenty-ish?"

"Twenty-ish?" the guard parroted, then scowled. "Explain."

"I don't really have an actual birthday. We're hatched from eggs, and I don't know the exact day and year I was hatched, so twenty is about as accurate a guess as I can give you."

The guard glared at him for a few minutes but then scribbled the information next to Thorax's name.

"Why did your kind invade our city?"

"Desperation."

"Really?" the guard said with a snort. "Desperate for what?"

"Food."

The guard looked at him again with a scowl. "What kind of food?"

"Emotions. We sustain ourselves on the emotional energy of other creatures, specifically that from love. The wedding was supposed to create so much love it would sustain us and then some."

The guard didn't show it, but Thorax could feel the rage bubbling up in him. "You mean to tell me that you feed on the love of other creatures as a kind of food?" the guard asked, his anger not well concealed.

"The energy tied to it, but yes. I wish we didn't."

The guard didn't say anything else for a moment, but going off the emotions that he was radiating, it was so he could calm himself down. Once he had done so, he continued the interrogation. "At the wedding, there was a large female with what looked like a crown on her head. Who was she?"

"That was Queen Chrysalis. She's the ruler of our hive."

"Queen," the guard snorted. "So you all follow her?"

"Mostly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Most changelings go along with whatever she tells them to do. I didn't exactly conform like what's expected of other drones."

"You talked about a hive earlier. Where is it?"

"It's in the badlands south of Dodge Junction. Nopony goes there."

The guard looks at him with a smug grin. "Well, some ponies will certainly want to go there now, won't they?"

"I'd advise against that."

The guard's face goes from smug grin to irked scowl. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"The hive is protected in a few different ways. There's constant patrols for intruders, and the hive is enchanted to constantly shift and change so intruders can't find their way around, and there's an anti-magic field that prevents any creature besides changelings from using their magic."

The guard calmed down a bit and continued writing down the information.

"One last question. How can I trust that everything you've just told me is the truth and not lies to send us on a wild goose chase?"

Thorax looked a bit nervous but gave his answer. "I don't have any other changelings to vouch for the information about me, but you could head to the badlands and walk around with your horn lit until it fizzles out. The hive looks like a big spiky mountain full of holes."

The guard leered at Thorax for a moment but then gathered up his things. "Don't try to leave this room," he warned the changeling. "The guard outside is under orders to blast you into nothing but dust if you attempt an escape."

Thorax gulped as the guard turned and left the room, leaving Thorax to his thoughts. Besides what was going to happen to him, the changeling had only one other question on his mind.

"Why didn't I get blasted away from the city with the others?"

Author's Note:

So, why was Thorax spared the fate the other changelings suffered?

Guess we'll find out as we keep reading

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

Hmm this is a very interesting star of a story and also interesting scenario of what if stories so after Shining Armor and Cadence love Shield blasted all the changeling including Queen Chrysalis away from the city only one changeling actually was left behind his name is thorax and somehow he managed to escape from the blast but unfortunately he got captured meanwhile everybody we're trying to recover and Twilight's friends apologize for not listening to her but then they got the information that there was one Changeling is still here and it looks like thorax kind of Spill the Beans about his species and reasoning and basically for all the madness so now he has to wait I wonder how this will go

[Killjoy1221]

Wow, look at Thorax squeal. One might consider this treason.

On a humorous note, that is how you're supposed to talk to pigs.

[Screw]

Other than two language error, this is a pretty strong start.

Plus, I love the fact that TheOwtcast is almost officially the de facto expert in all things Thorax, and maybe Pharynx.