The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

Book 3 - Chapter LX

Book 3: Equestria Abides
Chapter 26

“Well that was disappointing.” Sunny said dejectedly as they exited the old changeling hive. Hours of searching had only given them plenty of time to find out that no matter how long you stayed, you never got used to the smell of dried changeling goo... There was very little else in the old basement, and most of that had probably been there before the changelings even moved in.

She sat down on the cobblestones, grateful for the fresh air and looking up at her beautiful sun... a few hours seemed too long to go without looking at it; she missed watching the flames of its corona play across the surface. It was a shame other ponies couldn't see it the way she did – it was a lot more complex and beautiful than the simple orb of light most ponies took it for... why, the fun she had with the sunspots alone...

A quick movement up above distracted her for a moment... had she just seen something there? She stared at where she thought she saw it... and there it was again! A little black something flitting into a window high above, landing on the ledge for a tiny moment before crawling in. She carefully counted the windows to the side and to the bottom before taking her eyes off it and grabbing Twilight.

Ignoring the sticky yellow mess on her as well as the unicorn's protests, she pointed her friend at the building she had been watching. “Seventh window from the left, twenty-fourth window up,” she said, “watch it!”

Twilight seemed more than a little bewildered at this, but did as she said... just in time to see a black shape crawl out of the window, crawl up the wall next to it a little way, then release and fly off. Her eyes opened wide. “That's it! That must be the new hive!”

* * *

Twilight stepped carefully around a thick rope of green slime stretching from the ceiling all the way to the floor. That confirmed the suspicions of her nose that they were drawing near to the hive. The new, active hive didn't have the overpowering stench of the abandoned one... more a sickly sweet odor with the hint of something chemical, maybe acidic? ... but it was still the distinctive smell of changeling. She doubted anything else in the world smelled quite like that.

Approaching the door, she whispered to her companions, “Okay... this should be it. Now... I'm going to go in and try not to alarm them... you two stay behind me, and only come in if it comes to a fight, okay?”

Bracing herself for the worst, she stepped up and knocked on the door, wincing as sticky green strands peeled off, staying on her hoof. Inside, she could hear quite a commotion going on, lots of hissing and buzzing, but no words. With a sigh, she decided to hope that those hisses and buzzes translated to 'welcome, come on in!' Using her magic this time, and avoiding direct contact with the sticky door, she pulled it open, to find herself face-to-face with half a dozen identical-looking changelings, all with the same black shell, twisted horn, and blank eyes. Unfortunately, none of their facial expressions seemed to say 'welcome' at all. As one, they hissed at her.

“Uh, good morning!” Twilight opened up, “I was hoping we could talk maybe?” The faces continued to stare with a mixture of rage and fear... but at least they didn't attack. “Really, I just want to talk... I have a, uh... job to offer.”

She didn't seem to get much of a response at first... they just continued to stare and hiss... but then, they parted, revealing another changeling behind them... this one seemed feminine, a little larger than the rest... and her eyes seemed to even have the beginnings of irises in them. Was this a new changeling queen developing? That would be a dangerous development! ... But then again, what if they could open up relations and actually be at peace? Twilight decided to hope for the best.

“What do you speak of, pony?” She asked in a reverberating voice.

“Ah, well... we need a... a spy.” Twilight decided to be honest. “We need someone to sneak into an enemy camp and tell us where their leader is.”

“Why changelings do this?” said the apparent changeling leader, “Changelings happy already now, not want pony friends.”

This was the part that Twilight knew would be difficult: giving the changeling a taste of the reward. She began forcing herself to feel love, admiration, and gratitude towards the female changeling... and she couldn't just fake it either; they had to be genuine emotions, or they wouldn't feed the bug. She tried her best, imagining how she would feel after the changeling had helped rescue Trigger and her friends. After a few moments, though, she couldn't keep it up anymore... they were just too weird. She looked up, hoping her efforts had been enough.

“MORE!” The female changeling was right in front of her now, literally drooling at Twilight's feet. “Make more!” She insisted.

“After you've helped us, we'll put on a parade for you... you'll go by hundreds of ponies... and they'll all be feeling like that for you.” Twilight promised, hoping it would actually be true.

“Hundreds?” the changeling asked, licking her lips hungrily.

“Hundreds.” Twilight promised. “And all we need is a spy or two.”

The creature seemed conflicted... it seemed to go against its nature to purposely have dealings with and help ponies... but those emotions... and aimed at her, not somepony she was mimicking, but directly at her... she looked like she was caught between two things she couldn't do. She couldn't deal with ponies... but she couldn't pass up a treat like that either... After a few whole minutes of conflicted silence, she finally broke free, choosing one alternative. “We help!” she said simply, but leading quickly to an impatient demand. “Now tell how!” She seemed very eager to get her perforated hooves on more of those emotions.

“Easy,” Twilight said, because after all, it would be easy for a changeling, right? “We have a mare in our fortress you need to mimic, then sneak into a mine in Trottingham, and find a leader of the ponies there, named Black Diamond. Then, just use magic to tell us where he is and get away.”

“And then feed?” the changeling asked eagerly, the reverberations of her voice filling the room as she intoned the last word greedily.

“Um... yes.” Twilight agreed. That was the bargain, after all.

* * *

Comments

[Mooncrash]

[khatre]

2089099
thanks
I did not know if changelings were officially a kind of pony or not. It is good to know that they are not ponies in any way. (just shape and form which is kinda mutable with changelings )

[ocalhoun]

Wow... only a dozen chapters left...

2089764

I did not know if changelings were officially a kind of pony or not. It is good to know that they are not ponies in any way. (just shape and form which is kinda mutable with changelings )

Well, my story isn't exactly canon... Maybe in reality, they are evil ponies.
...Nah.

2089318

[Mooncrash]

2091632

[ocalhoun]

2092660