Scattered

by ConfusedBrony

Failed Invasion

Chapter 1: Failed Invasion

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Drone #2599... that’s not my name of course. My name is Desert Locust and 2599 is just the number I was assigned for the attack on Canterlot. It means I'm the ninety-ninth soldier in attack squad number twenty-five, a squad of a little over 250 other changelings. Most of them are flankholes, but I do enjoy the company of a select few. I was pretty lucky when the day came that we were given our numbers. I was two positions away from being put into squad twenty-six, the squad responsible for breaking down the force field surrounding the city. My chitin was stronger than your average changeling’s, but I still wasn’t so fond of the idea of flying head first into what was essentially a brick wall. My job was taking care of the guards and anyone else who want to interfere with Chrysalis's plans. That is, if we were even going to make it into the city.

For the past hour, we've been watching squad twenty-six bash there heads into the pink bubble shield thingy. I still don't know why we were breaking in this fashion, but it was Chrysalis’s idea and no one, and I mean no one speaks against her. We should have just found some magic relic or something like that. I'm sure there's bound to be one placed conveniently in a cave of some sort.

I groaned and smacked my hooves into my face. I glided over to Arthropod, one of the few changelings in my squad I could tolerate. "Give me an honest answer, do you think this is gonna work?"

Arthropod and I observed one of squad-twenty six's members ascend higher up into the sky. "I got this guys!" he shouted.

At the peak of his ascent, he paused momentarily, began screaming, then started accelerating downwards. Everyone's attention was now diverted to him. Our eyes tracked his descent then suddenly, THUD! I winced at the painful impact then watched his unconscious body start sliding down the side of the bubble shield. I heard someone nonchalantly say "Someone go get him." Shortly afterwards two people glided down to catch the sliding changeling.

"Desert, my answer to your question is... no. I think we're hopeless."

"Same here."

"Do you ever question why we still listen to Chrysalis? I mean, she's kind of hot, but—"

There was another loud thud, interrupting Arthropod, and a changeling began sliding down the side of the bubble. "Someone grab him too!" I heard in the distance.

"Ouch. Anyway what were you saying Arthy?"

Arthropod groaned at my use of his nickname. "Chryalis is hot, but she's a total idiot."

"I gotta agree with you there, wait, hot?"

Arthy's eyes widened. "Did I say that?"

I chuckled. "Yes, you did."

Arthropod ducked his head low. I stopped conversing to let him recover from his embarrassing moment. Suddenly, I heard someone shout something in the distance followed by cheering. I looked at Arthy to see if he had any idea what it was. He just looked back at me and shrugged his shoulders. A changeling flew towards us, screaming ecstatically that the shield had cracked.

We immediately flew towards the cheering and found a jagged white circle with several cracks reaching out in all directions. A changeling stood proudly next to it.

"Guys! I'm awake, and I got this!" said a voice from above.

I looked up and the same changeling that was knocked out a few moments ago was soaring high above me. The words "badass" and "idiot" crossed my mind. He started descending again in the same fashion as before, screaming. I couldn't help but to notice he was traveling faster than before. A lot faster, and this time people were cheering for him. I found myself cheering the guy on as well.

Instead of being knocked out on impact, the changeling punched a clean hole through the center of the crack. The cheering intensified. A few people hovered above the hole and some of us gathered around it to inspect it.

"Now, everyone squeeze in," someone joked.

---

A small hole created a lot of commotion. Words cannot describe how much more surprised and ecstatic when the shield completely shattered. I remember seeing more and more cracks form, and the cracks from the hole reached out further and further. Eventually, the shield started becoming more unstable and shook violently before shattering into a million pieces.

"LET'S GOOOOOOOO!" someone screamed.

Everyone began diving down towards the city below, including me. I started diving at about the same time Arthy did. I began seeing the ponies when I was few hundred feet from the ground. I spotted two pony guards running down the street. I turned to my left and made eye contact with Arthy. We nodded at each other and adjusted our trajectories so that we would land in front, and behind the guards.

I saw a green aura surround Arthy in my peripherals, then I cast the same spell on myself. Basically, it would dampen the impact significantly so that I wouldn't splatter all over the ground like an insect on a carriage windshield. A moment later, I cratered the ground behind the guards. Arthy landed a split second later. He stood up and hissed at the guards.

"You get that one, I'll get this one." I heard one of the guards say, then one of them turned around and pointed his spear at me.

We advanced on the guards slowly while baring our fangs. They kept their distance and backed up until they were pressed against each other.

“Give up now, you’ll be screwed if you fight us,” I threatened. Arthropod growled and bared his fangs.

The guard that was facing me looked over my shoulder and smiled smugly. I turned around and saw eight other guards rushing over to us. He looked at me again and waited for us to surrender. How naive of them. The eight guards were engulfed in brilliant, green flames.

"H-how?" one of the ponies asked in disbelief.

"We have some people on the inside." The guard picked up a look of uneasiness and looked over at the castle.

"Now drop your weapons!" Arthy commanded.

The two guards reluctantly complied. "What now?"

I approached the guard and pushed him to the ground. Arthy did the same with the other guard. I told them to hold still as I prepared my magic. A green aura around my horn began to appear. One of the guards turned his head away, closed his eyes, and sighed. I cast my spell and binded the two guards together with a thick, green goo.

The guards eyes widened. "You looked surprised."

"Y-yeah," he said, sounding relieved. "But what in Tartarus is this stuff?!"

"I don't know myself, but I know it's toxic. So don't think about chewing through it."

I heard the guard on the other side start spitting rapidly. "Oh Celestia what have I done?!"

I facehooved. It's not actually toxic. Arthropod signaled me to head out. "You go, I'll stay behind and keep an eye on these ponies." He nodded and took off.

That’s where I remained for the next half hour or so. I passed the time by telling the guard that ate the goo that he was going to die. I told him to watch out stomach pains, headache, nausea, and vomiting as it's a sign that the toxins were kicking in. I think he was on the verge of tears at one point. . I asked him if he had any last words that I should right down and pretended that I was sorry because the death would've been painful. The other guard offered him his condolences and said that he would keep an eye on his children. It was absolutely hilarious how terrified the two of them became. I stopped talking and silently observed them until a changeling flew down to talk to me.

“Hey, number 1543 here, we need your help over at the castle,” he said urgently.

“I’m number 2599, what is it?”

“Six ponies attempted to seize the Elements of Harmony.”

“Oh crap.” I feared for the worst. I've heard stories about how the Elements of Harmony defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, and countless other evils. We would surely be defeated by them easily. 1543 reassured me that the situation has been taken care of and that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony were being held captive at the castle. A massive weight was taken off my chest and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"So why do you need me?"

"They defeated over eight hundred of us before we stopped them. We need all the help we could get to keep them under control."

I nodded and trotted over to the supposedly dying guard. "I'm sorry," I told him with false sincerity.

"I DON'T WANT TO DIE, NOOOOOO!" he screamed.

I trotted back to 1543. "What's with him?" he asked.

"He thinks he's gonna die because he ate goo." I chuckled.

1543 raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Never mind. I'll explain later."

1543 shrugged and took off. Just as I took off, I was hit by what felt like a train. My head throbbed and everything became a blur. I had absolutely no clue what was going on. After I regained some of my bearings, The first thing I noticed was that the sounds of explosions and screaming was replaced by wind rushing past me. The next thing I noticed, was the fact that the world was spinning around me. First I saw sky, then ground, then sky, then the ground again. I realized that it wasn’t the world that was spinning, but it was actually me that was spinning.

At first, I panicked, then stopped caring, then eventually got bored. I had actually lost my perception of time because I was soaring so long. The uncontrolled flight was uneventful, except for the occasional bird collision, until the gravity of the situation hit me. It wasn't the realization that I was going to land eventually, but the wave of nausea that came over me that made me realize how screwed I was. When Chrysalis told us to feed, I took it as more of a challenge and less of a privilege, and now, I was struggling to keep the processed love in my stomach, in my stomach.

As time passed, the nausea intensified. I told myself mentally, "Don't puke. Don't puke. Don't puke. DON'T PUKE! I took deep, long breaths. My eyes kept darting left and right to track a single point in the sky. My efforts only postponed the inevitable, at the peak of my next breath, I regurgitated everything. I managed to get in a few short breaths in before hurling again, and again, and again. The experience was uncomfortable and horrid, but still, I felt a lot better after that.

Vomiting is already a dirty process, but vomiting while spinning is a whole ‘nother experience. I could feel the putrid, sour fluid clinging to my body and especially my face. I exhaled sharply through my nose and a small glob of the fluid came out. It was hard to imagine that the substance was once sweet nectar. I couldn't imagine how I looked, but I could care less. It’s not like anyone can see me right now.

Without warning, my vision went dark, my hearing became muffled, and everything went cold. I had also instinctively stopped breathing. I was underwater. I shook my head to the left and right to shake off the familiar feeling of disorientation. I saw light bleeding through the surface of the water and regained my orientation.

I swam as fast as I could to the surface. However, a sheet of ice decided it’d be a great idea to cut off my path to air. I didn't have much time left before I would pass out or drown. I swam down a few feet and looked up, surveying the ice for my initial point of entry. There was a small, circular section in the ice where the sunlight was brighter. That must have been it.

I kicked hard and swam to the hole in the ice. When I reached it I was stopped by a layer of ice.The impact forced some air out of my lungs. I watched the precious bubbles of air ascend upwards in the water. The impact had also cracked the ice. "Deja vu, I thought. It was hard to believe that the hole had already frozen over. I punched it repeatedly with my hooves in hopes of breaking it. With each punch, the ice would crack more, but it also made me lose more air. My punches were becoming less energetic each time.

“Need... air...” my mind whispered to me.

I prepared my hoof for one final punch. If it didn't break through this time, I would die. I thought back to the changeling shouting "I got this!" before breaking the shield for some motivation. That might not have been the best idea because the first thing I remembered was him getting knocked out. The thoughts didn't matter, I punched as hard as I could and felt my hoof break through. I stuck my snout through the hole and took a breath. I went back down and started widening the hole then climbed out of the water.

“Air, how I missed you,” I said weakly.

I was shivering violently, I could see my breath in front of me, my legs were numb, my vision was out of focus, and the pain in my ears was unbearable. Instead of drowning, I was going to freeze to death. I looked towards the snowy shore and saw a white fluffball running towards me. I tried hard to focus on it, and when I did, I realized just how much the world wanted me dead. It was a frickin' polar bear.

Author's Note:

I need to stop starting stories without finishing my other ones... oh well. By the way, italics in quotations means thought. I'm incredibly rusty at writing, sorry. Still, I hope you enjoyed this!

Comments

[That One Guy]

Now to wonder if polar bears are sentient..

[BureYaAkili]

Luckily, my changling was not an idiot, and bailed before the attack

[Jphyper]

I couldn't imagine how I looked, but I could care less.

"I couldn't care less."

Saying "I could care less" indicates that you are capable of caring for something to a lesser extent than you do currently. That indicates that you do care. It's frustrating how many people get that saying wrong.

[Raven]

Yes please.

[ssokolow]

2629013

Just because it's common doesn't make it correct. If that were the case, many mutually-exclusive religions would all somehow simultaneously be right.

I just point Americans at this vid and move on. (For the record, I'm Canadian)