Long after the Canterlot Wedding Invasion, the changelings have been hunted relentlessly by Equestria's forces. The number of changelings has been decreased exponentially, leaving maybe a thousand, if not a few hundred uncaptured and alive. Far from home, Queen Chrysalis has gathered what numbers she could and fled deep within the Everfree Forest, hoping to recover as many of her subjects as she can.
However, when an ancient hunter awakens again from its cage, capture by the Equestrians will be the least of her worries.
******* A/N: I am hesitant to put a Human tag because I don't believe the Hidden is human in this fic. Also, should I ever write gore for this fic, then I will add the tag for that. Also, prior knowledge about the Hidden game is not necessary, but this vid will help Please comment and tell me what you think Character tags subject to change
“Well...there's water at least.” Chrysalis said optimistically as she watched the liquid drip from the ceiling. For months, her Hive had scouted traveled to find the perfect place to regroup and recover their forces after the wedding invasion. Her scouts had found many places to hole up but there was often the danger of dragons, pony patrols and even cave ins, which narrowed down their choices immensly. At this point, Chrysalis wasn't even picky so long as she got a roof over her head and her Hive.
“I'm sorry, my Queen, if it doesn't meet your standards. I shall have the workers fix it up to better suit you.” General Arachne apologized. He was like the standard changeling in body, but his dark green armor and scars set him out as a battle hardened veteran of the Changling Legion. Unlike his body, his armor was polished and shone like new, since nothing less could be presented before his queen.
Chrysalis waved a holed hoof frantically to calm down the zealous soldier, “No, no, that won't be necessary. I want them working to make sure this place is safe for my people. The public's needs come before my needs.”
“As you wish, my Queen.” the general said with a bow. Before the changeling could make another comment about the room, Chrysalis steered the conversation to another topic. “How goes the search for our lost brothers and sisters?”
Contrary to popular belief, changelings were not mass produced like some child's toy each one to look alike. Nor did the Queen give birth to them all on her own like an ant. In fact, they were a lot like any other society with certain families and lineages. The only difference was that they were born into their jobs and rarely changed their work. However, due to the closeness of relations in the hive, it was almost like one big family with the Queen as the mother.
The general's face turned sour as if he ate something bile, “Not good. While we have been able to recover many, it's still a race against the infernal ponies to even find them. I've already lost several good changelings to them.”
“Calm down, Arachne.” Chrysalis said sternly, “Yes we have lost many but not all of them. There is still hope for us.”
Arachne shook his head, “You're right. Apologies milady. These are stressful times. I'll go and finish some more reports.” The armor clad changeling saluted and left without another word. As soon as the makeshift door slammed shut, Chrysalis let out a sigh, “Stressful times indeed, general.”
Chrysalis stepped across the room, taking care not to slip on the damp patches scattered about haphazardly. If this was the best this refuge place had to offer, she feared what conditions her subjects had to endure. They've already had enough casualties from the invasion and post events. She didn't want to lose any more to disease, cave-ins or what other hidden dangers that lurk within these walls. Initially, the plan was to retreat back to the hive out in the desert, but the ponies got there first. Not wanting to risk capture, she took as many changelings as she could and ran. She tried not to remember the screams of the captured and killed kin nor the sounds and smells of their homes burning behind them.
Once Chrysalis reached the hole that acted as the window to the out side world, she laid down and rested, feeling the weight of her job trying to crush her into a million pieces. Staring out into the forest canopy below, she idly watched the occaisonal bird fly by. She sighed, “Why?” she asked. It was a question she always asked ever since she hatched. Why? Why did changelings feed off love? Why wasn't there ever enough food for everyone? Why wouldn't the other nations let them have love? Why did she have to go off and pull an invasion stunt when it was extremely risky? Why didn't it work? Why must they always live so miserably? The questions never stopped.
Chrysalis shook her head, “No. I musn't dwell on that.” she stated firmly, “What's done is done.” However, she couldn't help but wish she could go back to find a better way of doing things. “I just hope the others can make it in time.” Lighting up her horn once more, like she had done for several nights past, she sent out a beacon call. It was only traceable by changelings and even on the off chance that a unicorn or alicorn picked it up, all they would hear is chittering of bugs, nor could they try to trace it back to the source, as was the purpose of the beacon. “There,” she huffed slightly from the effort, “They should be able to get that one this time.”
Turning away from the window, she strode out into the hallway, eager to distract herself from depression. “Mmm, perhaps I should make sure the drones are securing this place from outsiders?”
*****
“June! Where are you?” the lowly drone called out, “Stop playing games June. I need to get back to work and I can't do that when you're hiding like this.” The drone poked his head into a hole big enough for a small changeling. Unfortunately, this blocked his view from the dark shape dropping right above him.
“Love from Above!” the shape said as it landed and latched onto the drone with a giggle. The drone yelped in surprise, banging his head on the roof of the hole, to which the filly on his back giggled even more.
“Come on, Monty~,” June sang teasingly, “You couldn't find a glowing rock if someling pointed it out. Let's play again!” She bounced on the drone's back as she said the last part.
Monty gave her a frustrated glare, “No, Junebug. I have to get you back to the pods. I need to get to work and I can't do that if you're running off and getting lost. Also, quit calling me Monty. My name is Mantis, you know.” Truthfully, he didn't much care what his little sister called him, but he had to assert his authority before she got out of control. It was hard enough when their parents went missing after the invasion, so Mantis had to work double time just to support the two of them.
Junebug tought about it for a second before saying, “Nah, I like Monty better.” she said, cutely sticking her tounge out.
Mantis rolled his eyes and trotted down the tunnel, “Come on, We need to get back, or I'll be late for work.”
“Fine,” June said with a pout, until her face turned into a mischievous smile, “But first, Tag! You're it!” In a flash, she darted off down one of the side tunnels.
“Wha- Oh Come on!” Mantis grumbled to himself as he prepared to follow her down the tunnels. He tread carefully around the tunnel walls. He had heard about the cave ins in other sections of the new hideout and since this area was still in the list of places to fix up, he was wary of any cracks he saw. 'Of course, June had to pick a place that could potentially kill us or trap us down here. If it did, I don't think anyling would be close enough to hear it.' he thought, skittering around a small pebble that fell down, 'Calm down, just get your sister and bug out of here.' Mantis chuckled nervously at his own joke. Anything that could belay his fear was welcome at this point.
“Nyah! Can't catch me!” he heard June's voice echo across the tunnel. He picked up the pace and followed the noise around a corner. The path seemed to slowly curve downward here. Tried as he might, Mantis couldn't shake the feeling that he was walking down to the catacombs of the caves. Anything that might have lived here before probably piled it's bones at the very bottom. 'Come to think of it,' he thought, 'This is probably the deepest I've seen the tunnels go, and I've been all over the place with work.'
“June?” he called out gently, in case his voice disturbed the rocks enough that they wanted to silence him. “June! Get out of there! We're not supposed to be here! This place could come down any second now!”
“Only if you find me~” she called back, somehow sounding even farther down the tunnel. Mantis facehooved and kept trotting, grumbling all the way. After a while, the tunnel finally opened up into a large cavern. The algae that covered the walls glowed dimly, enough to give off an ambient light and create colorful patterns and streaks. Mantis could faintly hear the sound of water running down into the pool in the back of the cavern. This same pool had the same algae at the bottom, refracting the light across the room. It would have been breath taking if Mantis wasn't so focused on finding Junebug.
Mantis trotted down the path that led to the cave floor, gravel crunching underneath his hooves. “June! Get out here now!” Mantis screeched.
June huffed from somewhere, “Fine. You're such a stinkbug.” She grunted as she attempted to show herself, then suddenly stopped, “Uh oh.”
“Uh oh?” Mantis said worriedly, “You shouldn't be saying 'uh oh'! What did you do?!”
“I...I think I'm stuck.” she said.
Mantis facehooved with a sigh, “Where are you? I'll get you out.”
“Over here, near the pool.” Even if she didn't exactly say where, Mantis was close enough that he could've pinpointed her location. During one of his steps, he heard a snap and looked down to see that his hoof crushed a pale white bone. Mantis reeled back in shock when he suddenly realized that random bones were scattered everywhere around him. The only reason he never saw them, nor the one under his hoof was due to the algae covering them.
'How long have these bones been down here?' he wondered, which led to a more morbid thought, 'What lived down here?' Not wanting to stay in the stunning cavern anymore, he rushed over to his sister while avoiding any more bones in his path. He rounded a rock pile near the water and saw Junebug's front end stick out of the rock limply with a small pout on her face. If his mind wasn't currently occupied by the danger the cave represented, he would have laughed a bit at the site.
“I think my chitin got caught on the rock.” June said as she held out a hoof while propping herself up with the other, “Can you pull me out?”
Mantis inspected the rock around her, “How do you even manage this?” he asked idly. June swatted him on the nose.
“Just pull me out, Monty. It's not funny.” she said in an unamused tone.
“Alright, alright. I will.” Mantis grasped her fore legs in his and pulled back. He didn't want to waste energy with magic or risk hurting her with a magic bolt, that is, if he could make one. It was not like he actually had much magical talent beyond shapeshifting and mediocre levitation to begin with, since he was only a lowly drone.
After a minute of pulling, they were still stuck in the same spot. “Jeeze, did you find something to eat when you got in there?” Mantis asked as he pulled. Junebug was about to protest when she suddenly came loose, sending the two of them into the water. Almost instantly, the both of them jumped out of the water yelling, “Cold!” over and over. In a flash, they stood on the shore, bodies dripping and gossamer wings damp.
“C-come on, we need to go.” Mantis said with a slight shiver.
“Y-y-yeah, sure.” June replied, her teeth chattering, she took a step and cried out in sudden pain.
“What?” Mantis looked over to June and saw that her back end was covered in scrapes and gashes from the pulling. A few of them were bleeding quite profusely as the ichor dribbled into the water. “Hold on, June.” Mantis said consolingly as he hawked up some goo and spread them across the wounds. The goo that changelings produce have a number of special properties from holding things in place to medicinal purposes. In fact, a standard changeling birth room was in fact cleaner than the ones ponies use at their sanitized hospitals.
Junebug hissed as the goo cleaned the wounds and sealed them temporarily. “T-thanks.” she murmured.
“Don't mention it. Let's just get out of here and hope you've learned your lesson about running off.” Mantis said as he placed her on his back and immediately trotted off to the exit, “It's already hard enough for me to pull double shifts without having to try to keep you in line.”
“O-okay. Sorry.” June mumbled. They made the rest of the trip back in silence. All the way, Mantis wondered about the strange cave and resolved to get the inspection teams down there once he got back.
*****
Cold. Wet. Dark.
That is my prison.
Time here has flown like the bars of my cage, seemingly stagnant but ripples from the outside forces coming through, only to remind me of how long I've been trapped.
I've lost count of the time. How long has is been since I was trapped? Months? Years? Decades? Millenea? So long since I've last hunted, the time and my cage serving double to weaken my powers and sap my strength.
Cold. Wet. Dark. Sweet.
That is my-wait.
Sweet?
I groggily feel around and barely catch a small tendril of blood that has entered my cage. I taste it but it is unlike any I've known. Not the saltiness of the gryphons, nor the saccharine of a pony, nor even the juicy greasy taste of a minotaur. It's sweet, but diluted and not just by my cage. The owner of this blood tasted as if they could be sweeter, almost immeasurably so. The question of it's owner's species irritated me to no end as I could not ever answer it. Time may pass and memories fade, but never will I forget a taste.
I need more. I must have more
I consumed as much of the tendril as I could find, letting it give me energy. Curious, I tried my newfound strength against the bars of my cage. I latched upon rock after rock, lifting myself towards the surface. However, with each step forward, the cage did it's purpose by trying to sap my strength. I went full blast, trying to get every step out of my energy. In the end, I landed at the edge of my cage, freedom just out of reach, teasing me about my predicament.
No matter.
I was close enough that should my new prey come back, I could snatch them from here. Now I just had to wait. A feat that will never be beyond me even if this new prey didn't ever return.
'Almost there. They may not even notice I wasn't there if I'm lucky.' Mantis thought hopefully, for a second that is, 'Oh who am I kidding? They'll find out and then they'll make me work quadruple shifts or work the worst job all alone! I'll never be able to play with June again and she's gonna go out and get herself hurt and I won't be there...' Mantis' mental rant was starting to interfere with his sneaking performance. Before he knew it, he rammed face first into someling, causing him to stumble for a bit.
“Hey, watch it, yo-” His words died in his mouth when he saw that he had ran face first into Queen Chrysalis' flanks. The Queen! The insult on his tongue came out as a strangled, “Erpk!” As she turned to face him, Mantis unsucessfully tried to bury himself and die from sheer embarrasment. It's called solid rock for a reason.
The Queen said something, but Mantis was too embarrassed to comprehend it. “Um, what?” 'Way to make a first impression, idiot!' Mantis thought to himself. It was at that moment that he noticed the two guards behind her and the drone that supervised his work, the latter scowling at him the most. As if his day couldn't get any worse!
“I said, 'Why are you in such a hurry, my little drone?'” the Queen asked in a firm tone.
“Oh, well, I-uh, was late to work.” A deeper scowl from his supervisor forced him to add, “Very late, your majesty.”
“I see.” Chrysalis said, “And why is that?” Her tone was like a mother knowing that her children did wrong and that they had better give her a good reason not to ground them.
Mantis gulped, “I was trying to get my sister back to the pods and she kept wanting to play in the unregistered tunnels.” He tried to shink even more when the Queen bent her head closer to his.
“I hope you know that those tunnels can be quite dangerous.” she said scoldingly, “We are already few enough in numbers. I'd rather not lose any more. Speaking of which, why were your parents not watching her?”
Mantis looked away, “They're....missing. I don't even know if thy're still alive or not.”
Chrysalis' eyes softened, along with her voice, “I'm sorry. I pray that you find them one day.”
“So do I.” Mantis murmured under his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, the Queen raised her head and cleared her throat.
“While we sorrow for your loss, there is work to be done and we need every changeling available. Move along to your post.” she said regally. Mantis scurried along with a quick “Yes, your majesty.” and was almost home free when he stopped and turned back towards the queen.
“Um, excuse me, your majesty?” he said. 'Mantis, what are you doing?' he scolded himself, 'You were almost in the clear and now you just had to go back to the sap trap! What could possibly be so important that you have to bug the Queen again in the span of five minutes?'
Chrysalis regarded him with a curious look tinged with anger, “Yes? You have something to say?” she asked curtly.
Mantis fumbled for a second before speaking, still nervous about talking to the Queen herself, “Um, i-it's just that the place that my sister ran into...I believe that it needs to be looked into soon. I found animal bones down there.” he finished with a shudder, “They looked old, but I don't know if there's anything still living down there.”
The Queen hmmed then looked to her two guards, “Go inspect this place and report on any findings.” she turned to Mantis, “Give them directions and then be on your way. I don't want to have to increase your workload on account of your tardiness.”
Mantis nodded furiously. He quickly gave the guards the directions before running full tilt towards the tunnels he was assigned to.
*****
“Jeez, how far down does this thing go?” one of the guards asked, “I think we're below sea level at this point.”
“Who cares, Aphid?” the other guard said gruffly, “We just need to investigate this place and make sure there's no surprises for the Hive.”
“I was only thinking out loud, Moth Wing. No need to jam that stick further up your ass.” Aphid grumbled.
“Just shut up and keep moving.” Moth Wing finished. The two of them had been traveling the tunnels for the past hour trying to find the cavern the drone spoke of earlier. Much longer than it should have taken.
“...You're still mad that I got us lost aren't you?” Aphid guessed, “Not my fault the drone can't give good directions.”
Moth Wing's face was the epitemy of rage, “How hard is it to follow four turns?! FOUR!” he bellowed.
Aphid had the decency to look shameful, “I barely passed my orienteering lessons in training.”
Moth Wing rubbed his head, feeling a migraine coming on. “Just...follow me and don't do anything stupid.” On that note, he steadily trotted down the path leading to their objective. After a few more minutes the tunnel opened up into a massive cavern. Moth Wing knew it was the right one from the changeling tracks nearby. “Alright, let's go find this 'animal'.” he said, flittering his wings and flying across the room to some random point. Aphid followed his lead and went to another side of the room.
Due to the cavern's size the search took quite a while, especially when looking for traces of any recent life among the ancient walls. Moth Wing picked up a sizeable stone, “Hey, Aphid, you find anything yet?” he called out, slightly eager to break the opressing silence.
“Other than several species of moss and algae, no. I did find a few good stones for my rock collection.” Aphid said casually.
“You don't have a rock collection.” Moth deadpanned as he set the stone in his hooves down to give Aphid a flat look.
“No...but if I did, I would totally collect them.” Aphid said, poking his little stone pile. Noticing that several of them were rather flat, he looked towards the pool in the back of the cave and a grin sprouted on his face. The stones were surrounded in the changelings magic and floated alongside Aphid as he trotted to the pool. Aphid grabbed one out of his magic and with a mark of a self proclaimed master stone skipper (sticking one's tounge out while squinting and holding the stone oddly in hoof) he chucked the stone and counted the skips, or more accurately, the plop of contact.
Hearing the sudden noise, Moth Wing swung his head around, “What was that?”
Aphid grinned sheepishly, “Nothing. Just skipping stones.”
Moth blinked, “...Why?”
“Why not?” Aphid countered, “It's just a habit I picked up from one of the times I went out among the ponies.” He swung again, this time making two skips.
Moth shook his head and turned away, “Just don't fall in. I'm not in the mood to go fly fishing.”
“Give me some credit, Moth. I'm not that-AHH!” SPLASH!
“Dumbass.” Moth muttered as he heard his fellow soldier splash a few more times before stopping. 'That ought to shut him up for a while.' Moth thought. He quickly finished up his corner of the cave in silence. “Well, looks like there's nothing here.” he said, “What about you, Aphid?”
Silence.
“Aphid?” Moth asked now turning around. 'He's never this quiet.' Moth thought suspiciously.
Silence.
Moth was starting to get irritated, “Come on Aphid, I'm in no mood for you trying to surprise me or anything, not like you could. We need to get back to the Queen with our report.”
Silence still reigned.
Moth arched an eyebrow. “Aphid?” he asked cautiously. Still suspicious, he trotted over to the pool where his buddy last was. Nothing was strange here. Just a pile of smooth rocks, lapped upon by the green tainted water. A few foot prints of the changeling all mashed around and covered in water from the splashes. Warning bells went off in Moth Wing's head but he couldn't figure out why. Looking back over the clues more carefully, he found out with wide eyed realization.
The green in the water wasn't algae.
It was changeling blood.
Moth Wing reeled back in horror, cowering as the tentacled eldritch abomination he expected rose from the depths to come and claim the souls off all mortal ponies and some such cliché idea. Moth Wing peeked an eye towards the deceptively calm cistern to see that no such thing had actually happened. He scowled, “Damn ponies, making those stupid movies about that crap. Stupid fake marefriend for liking them.” he grumbled under his breath.
Once he had calmed down and assured himself that there were no horrors of the deep out to get him, he edged toward the water to try to get a better look at what might have killed Aphid. After all, from the drownings he'd done in his time, he knew that there's no blood unless you cut the victim first and unless those water smoothed rocks are a lot sharper than they look, then something in the water must have done it. The question was what?
Using his magic, Moth cleared the blood out of the way, allowing him a crystal clear view to the very bottom of the pool. A view that revealed nothing. Now, the first thing that most ponies disregard is the chance that predators are camouflaged. However, Moth Wing has been trained and camouflaged creatures were the first thing he looked for once he saw nothing immediately.
“What in Tartarus?” he muttered. He was about to investigate further when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. “Who's there?” Moth said, lighting his horn up with a stun spell at the ready. He could have use a lethal spell, but those took more energy and despite being a soldier, he had as much energy as the average drone due to the recent rationing.
Moth slowly circled around, scanning the area but no further movement was spotted. 'Maybe I'm just jumpy...' he tought to reassure himself. It didn't work.
A shimmer to the side.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Moth huffed as he fired off spell one after another. 'Okay, I know I saw something that time! Whipping his head about as he searched for the hidden adversary, Moth started to panic. 'I...I have to get out of here. I need to warn the Queen and the others!' In his search, the entrance came into view, which also meant the exit to this horror show. Moth Wing zipped over as fast as he could and almost crash landed. Terrified as he was, he wasn't so stupid as to leave his back open for the monster to catch him. That's always what happened in the movies and he was not going to fall for it, so help him Chrysalis.
His eyes scanned the cave warily, searching for the same shimmering movement as before. His breathing sounded like thunder in his ears and his heart a frantic drum beat.
Rock clatter. BLAM!
“Alright, ya freak! Show yourself!” He shouted, all the while backing up the slope slowly. His heart raced with each step and he had to force himself not to run away.
Rock clatter. BLAM!
That one was much closer than before. It was getting confident. At that point, Moth Wing went all out, firing stun spells every which way and hoping one of them would hit. “DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!” he screeched. After what seemed like an hour, the spells faded and Moth Wing only had enough energy to crawl up the slope. His ears perked, he heard nothing shifting around, no sound of movement. He sighed in relief and began his journey back up.
Moth Wing took a step and suddenly found himself pinned to the ground. “Shit!” he wheezed out. 'Why did I let my guard down?' He turned his head to try to get a look at his soon-to-be killer, but saw nothing. He felt the weight pressing him into the floor, but he couldn't see it.
'Oh Makers, it's invisible!' he thought before his world went black.
*****
“More tea?” Fluttershy asked politely.
“But of course,” the god of chaos responded, holding out a ten gallon hat (not-so-courtesy of a certain farm pony), “I hope you have some wasabi, or some good strawberry sauce.”
Fluttershy, having put up with the draconequus for months now, expected something random and had begun buying foods that she normally wouldn't for their weekly get-togethers. She nodded, “Oh, yes. I just bought some strawberry sauce the other day. Let me go get it.” She got up and trotted to the pantry to retrieve the condiment.
Discord smirked as he poured the tea into his ear. 'Ah, this is quite nice actually.' he thought, 'Maybe I should hold off on the chaos more often.....Nah. He chuckled inwardly. One of the reasons he put up with these little socials is because of its proximity to the Everfree Forest. Discord thrived on the natural, chaotic energies of the forest, using the tea parties as a recharging time for his powers. Of course, it didn't always recharge him or it may be completely unnecessary. Otherwise it would be, ugh, orderly.
Discord was about to drink his new gummi-bear mug while contemplating the effects that affect the effects of an affectionate pony named Special Effects, when he suddenly felt something itch behind his ear. He frowned, “That's odd.” A normal pony would scratch it out of instinct, but Discord isn't a pony, or normal by any standard.
“Now why would I be itching?” he mused. Itching meant two things: he needed a bath or some chaos was about to happen. He ruled the first one out from the recent water pranks from Pinkie and Rainbow Dash. Now the question was what kind of chaos was going down and where. He wanted to be there when it happened if he could. Drawing on his powers, he tried to trace it back to its source using his antlers and horn as dowsing rods and antennas respectively.
“Now to see what this chaos is about.” he muttered. Using his antlers, he moved around until he picked up on the general direction of the source. “The Everfree, eh? Now what could possibly be happening there?” As chaotic as the forest's magic could be, there were never any fluctuations unless there was an event or a creature causing it. Discord snapped his fingers, causing the antlers to return to his head, along with a little extra to allow him more time to work.
“Huh? Where'd the sauce go? I'm sure I had it here.” he heard Fluttershy say in the next room.
“Try checking the basement pantry.” Discord called out, “You might have put it there.”
“Oh. Maybe. I'll go check.” As soon as he heard the door close, Discord returned to his work, now scanning the direction with his horn.
“Where are you, you little bugger?” he muttered. Whatever was out there, it was faint. Most likely it was either something small or it was distant, but his curiosity wouldn't be sated until he found out what it was. His magic moved deeper into the forest, steadily making it's way towards the source. Before he knew it, he found where the trickle of energy appeared and conjured up a telescope with a full space pirate costume.
“Yarr, what be this?” he said as peered through the spyglass. “Seems t' be a migh'y mountain thar. Methinks th' swag be below decks.” Discord snapped his fingers, now holding up a periscope and wearing a submarine officer's uniform.
“Chaos detected captain.” he said, adjusting the sights to look below the mountian, “It's on the edge of our range. Can't get a fix on it.” The last was actually true. He couldn't see what was causing the chaos for some reason. Frowning, he pressed more of his magic into that area but he still couldn't see what it was. “What are you?” he mused.
Taking a look at the chaos that it was emitting, he gathered some and examined it. However, as soon as he touched it, he felt something heavy press down on him. He recoiled, “What?” he said flabbergasted. He tried to touch it again, but the chaos vanished, as if it moved on. Not surprising since it is chaos after all, but now Discord had to search for it again.
He shifted himself to several poses, costumes and accessories to get a better signal, but before he could finish, Fluttershy came back in with the strawberry sauce under her wing.
“Here you go, Discord. Fresh strawberry sauce for your-” She paused as she took in the site of Discord doing what looked like a walrus performing ballet. “W-what are you doing?” she asked. Honestly, she shouldn't be so surprised, but Discord was always managed to confound her when she left him to his own devices for a few minutes.
“Hm? Oh, I was-uh just practicing for the biannual Chaos Olympics.” he said smoothly as he settled down into his chair again. Fluttershy seemed to accept the lie and began to serve the tea. He inwardly cursed her timing as it interrupted his search. These things take concentration, and Discord isn't the most focused being around, unless you count focus into chaos. He'll have to look later, but now he had to find out what that thing was after the feeling he got from touching it.
It felt...wrong.
On the Bright Side, Changelings Don't Deal with OSHA (3)
“Have Moth Wing and Aphid reported in yet?” Chrysalis asked. It had been several hours and her guards hadn't returned, forcing her to take two guards off their patrols to protect her.
“No, your majesty.” General Arachne said, “In fact I was about to send down a squad to bring them back in case they were dozing off or actually need help. Have you tried the Hive mind?” Every changeling was connected to the biological network that allowed for instant relay of messages and identifying the changelings from the ponies they imitate.
Chrysalis nodded, “I have. Several times. They don't respond at all, even when I'm practically shouting at them.” This was made worse by the fact that changelings are usually light sleepers and they always respond to the Hive mind when the Queen speaks. The only way they wouldn't respond is if they were out of range, unconscious, or dead. Chrysalis hoped it wasn't the last option.
Arachne tapped a hoof to his chin, “Hmm, that is troubling.” he said ominously, “The drone who told you of this place, where is he? I'd like to get some answers from him while my guards go investigate.”
“Of course.” the Queen agreed, “His name is Mantis. I believe he was working on the south tunnels when we met.”
“Good. Perhaps he can shed some light on this.” Arachne said before bowing and trotting into the tunnels. Using the Hive mind, he quickly contacted some of his soldiers to meet up at the area where the two changelings went missing. Then he got hold of one of the drone supervisors and requested him to bring Mantis aside for questioning.
As he made his way through the tunnels, he couldn't help but feel that something bad was about to happen. It was a gut feeling and experience told him to trust his gut. It saved his sorry hide more times than he could count.
*****
Mantis shifted uncomfortably in his spot, sitting on his haunches instead of trotting in place like a nervous wreck would. 'Oh no. What happened? Did I do something wrong? Did June bite another larva? Was my work not good enough? June is okay right?' his thoughts ran at a frantic pace, almost making his body follow suit. Only his loyalty to the Hive kept him in place.
As he pondered what reason his supervisor had for pulling him aside, he heard hoof steps down the hall and a changeling came into view. But not just any changeling, it was General Arachne!
'Yup, I'm done for. They're gonna zap me into sludge. Maybe even feed me to the manticores. It's game over! Game over!' Mantis thought defeatedly, on the verge of shock.
“You are Mantis, correct.” It wasn't a question. If the general asked for someling in particular, he got that someling in particular.
Mantis nodded furiously, “Yes, Sir!” he shouted, half in fear and half in duty.
General Arachne gave him a withering glare, “You're not in trouble, but if you don't calm down, you will be.” While contradictory, Mantis heeded his words and calmed down to manageable levels. That is, going from panic attack to mild anxiety.
“W-what's going on?” Mantis asked, truly curious as to why the General himself would pick him out of all the drones.
Arachne paced around the room and started to spew facts, “Earlier you told the Queen about a strange cave deep in the ground. This caught her attention and she sent two of her guard to go investigate it for possible threats.” He stopped dead in front of Mantis, “Now those two guards are unreachable by the Hive mind and are presumed missing, if not dead.”
Mantis gulped, “W-what does that have to do with me? I'm just a drone.”
“Aye, but you were the first drone down there.” Arachne poked Mantis in the chest, pushing the point across. “So tell me, what happened down there? In detail, leave nothing out.” he ordered as he laid on his belly with his forehooves crossed.
And that's exactly what Mantis did. Aside from a few questions, the General stayed quiet. When Mantis finished, slightly thirsty and out of breath, he stared at Arachne and awaited his judgement. However, his 'Judge' remained pensive and silent. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke. “Did you happen to notice the markings of the bones?”
“Huh?”
“The bones.” Arachne explained, “Were they charred from dragon fire? Broken by manticore teeth and paws? Gnawed to the marrow by slobbering Diamond Dogs or Timberwolves? Perhaps petrified by a cockatrice's stare? The more we know, we can figure out what was down there and counter it accordingly.”
“Um...actually, none of that.” Mantis said as the gears in his head turned with logic and memory, “They looked clean and intact. Scattered, though. Kinda like they were ripped apart or something. I don't think I saw a complete skeleton, I mean a correctly arranged one, down there. But they weren't touched like how you described it. In fact, I think it just decomposed on the spot, but I'm not a forensic scientist so I can't be sure.”
Arachne raised an eyebrow, “You mean to say that there were no bone markings?” Mantis nodded. “Interesting. Then maybe the poor souls had probably gotten stuck down there and starved to death.”
“That...doesn't make much sense.” Mantis said, then quickly added, “I mean, yeah they could have starved, but that many? You'd think after the first three skeletons that somepony would stick a sign outside saying 'Do not enter'. Not to mention it's the Everfree Forest we're talking about. Plenty of fearsome creatures, but I don't think they're that stupid to walk into a cave and not expect something already inside.”
General Arachne stared at Mantis with a new found respect, “You're quite intelligent for a drone.”
Mantis smiled sheepishly, “I read a lot of mystery novels during my scouting missions. Helps to find my sister and get her to sleep.”
“Nonetheless, quite a deduction. You are correct though. I was just being optimistic.” he said gravely, “I hope that is what happened, because if it is some creature, then I've no idea what it could be without looking for myself or until my soldiers get back.” The General got up on his hooves, stretching his joints and getting his blood flowing. “It's getting late. You should go catch up with your sister before you have to start your next shift.” he said as he left, barely hearing the “Yes sir” behind him.
*****
“I got a baaad feeling about this.” one of the soldiers murmured. He was part of the group the General sent to investigate one of the tunnels for missing changelings.
They found them all right.
It took a few minutes to scrape Moth Wings body parts together, plus or minus some chitin. Aphid was another story altogether. Some of the soldiers had to turn into unicorns or earth ponies to dive into the water and retrieve the body parts. No one wanted wet wings. They simply couldn't fly wet.
After about an hour, they pulled out everything they could find of Aphid and set him into a pile of his own, anatomically arranged though. Even changelings knew to respect the dead.
“What should we do?” another soldier asked.
“Let's get them preserved and show it to the general.” the first soldier said, “Then we give them a burial.”
“They were good changelings.” one soldier said. Everyling agreed in silence.
“Come on.” the first soldier said, “This place gives me the creeps. I don't want to be here any longer.”
Everyling knew the unspoken words as they picked up the bodies and left. ...in case whatever killed them comes back for us.
*****
It was quiet. Too quiet.
Fluttershy realized this as she woke up to cook breakfast. In the mornings, she would hear the chirping of the birds, the crow of the rooster, and Angel's impatient foot thumping for breakfast. With Discord around, sometimes there would be another noise as he ate whatever mealtime that suited him (You didn't expect him to eat breakfast in the morning, did you?). However, there was none of that. Only the ambient chirping of bugs in the flowerbeds broke the silence.
With her orange juice in one hoof, she slowly hoofed her way through the cottage. “Angel?” she called out, “Angel, I made breakfast for you. It's carrot juice and salad. Your favorite.” Not even the delectable treat lured the rabbit out of hiding. “Angel?”
Fluttershy trotted over to the living room, where Angel and all her other animals slept. She went over to the little bunny mansion that he (totally extorted out of Fluttershy's kindness and) lived in. “Angel?” Fluttershy nudged the doors to the bunny's bed to see a motionless lump. “Come on out, Angel. It's time for breakfast.” she said sweetly. However, the bunny stayed still.
For a moment, Fluttershy thought that Discord turned Angel into a slipper again and went to pull the covers off her pet. “Angel, it's time for- Eep!” she exclaimed when a white paw snaked out and smacked her hoof away. Angel's face appeared for a second, only to glare at her before shutting the doors and flipping the bed over to hide himself.
Fluttershy blinked at this odd behavior. Once in a while Angel would like to sleep in, but he was never this objective to waking up. Peering around the room, she saw that all her other animals were huddled in their beds and under their blankets. 'W-what's going on?' she thought, 'Is everyone sick?'
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a familiar figure resting outside on her lawn. “Discord?” she said in surprise and confusion. While the draconequus was odd and eccentric, she wondered, not for the first time, what he was doing. But in this case, it was the lack of chaos that had her perplexed. He just sat curled on a knoll, staring pensively out into space with a frown on his face. Discord was many things, but quiet and still were not him.
The canary mare trotted cautiously out and up to the chaotic being. Each step so gentle as if a mine would go off if she took a wrong one. “I-is everything okay, Discord?” she asked tentatively.
“Mmhmm.” Discord grumbled noncommittally, not tearing his gaze from the horizon.
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “W-well, my animals aren't coming out to eat breakfast. Did you do anything?”
“That's nice.” he grumbled again, still not moving.
“Oh. Okay then.” she said. Thinking for a few moments, she tried to put together the most chaotic request to try to elicit a reaction from the dour draconequus. When she finished, she spoke, “Well I was wondering if you would help me take the Princesses hostage using some traffic cones and rubber chickens and take over Equestria?” If that didn't shake him, Fluttershy didn't know what would.
“Maybe later.” Fluttershy's jaw dropped at record speed. Okay, something was definitely wrong.
“O-oh, okay.” the shocked mare stuttered out as she slowly backed away, “I'll just be...friending my meets. Byeseeyoulater.” Before she left, she noticed that Discord's gaze was locked onto the Everfree.
'Maybe Twilight can help me?' she thought as she flew quickly into town. Discord trying to take over Equestria was bad, but Discord just sitting and staring at the Everfree? She shuddered at the thought of what could keep the rambunctious spirit still for more than a minute.
Mantis' legs gave out from exhaustion when he reached his cocoon bed. His work was done, the stressful meeting with the General is over and now he can just relax.
Three.....Two......One.....
“Oof!” Mantis sqeaked out as Junebug tackled him.
“Monty~” she said, “Wanna play some more?”
Mantis groaned, “Sorry, June, but I'm just too tired. Maybe tomorrow, okay?” It pained him, but he really didn't have the energy to move. “Besides, aren't you still hurt from earlier?” he pointed to the green cast on June.
June pouted cutely, “I'm fine. I'm a big changeling. I can take what you dish out. Rawr!” She squealed out the last word as she climbed all over Mantis' body, kicking and nipping everywhere she could reach. Mantis let the continue for a minute but when she poked her horn into the back of his head, he had enough. With all the energy he could muster, he turned over, surprising Junebug, and effectively trapping her below him. She struggled to escape but it was futile.
“Monty, you're too heavy. Gerroffame!” she shouted at she flailed her hooves against his body. Complying with her adorable orders, Mantis just shifted himself over enough to let her escape, and so she did, though she fell on her face when her tail came loose.
“Time for sleep June.” Mantis said, “It's been a rough day for both of us. We need to have our energy for tomorrow. Here's your dinner.” Mantis finished as he sent a trickle of love to his sister. It wasn't much, but when rationing depleted stores amongst a whole Hive, sacrifices had to be made.
June accepted the food happily and proceeded to cuddle up to him. Their parents would have adored the sight if they were still alive. Mantis was about to fall asleep when June's voice broke the silence.
“Monty? Are you asleep?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Liar.”
Mantis chuckled, “What do you want?”
“..Sorry for making you worry this morning.” she said, almost in a whisper.
“It's my job to worry about you June.”
“I know, but if I hadn't played hide and seek in that cave, then I wouldn't be hurt and you wouldn't have worried.”
Mantis smiled. “What's done is done. Good night, June.”
“Good night, Monty.”
If only I didn't want to be found, I would have laughed like a dolphin at these new creatures. First I get enough food to nearly escape, then they practically offer themselves to me. Being able to eat a whole one gave me more than enough energy to escape the last of my watery prison and consume the creature's associate.
My invisibilty may be my greatest assest, but damn me if I didn't almost get hit a few times by those erratic bolts. I felt the stunning shock as one had grazed my body. If it weren't for my agility, I wouldn't have been able to get the drop, literally, on the creature.
Ironic. To have escaped my prison, only to almost be blasted back into it.
But that is in the past, no longer part of my hunt. Now, is much different.
More of these tasty creature's brethren have come to collect my victim's corpses, even diving into my former cage to retrieve the parts. I had to keep myself from attacking the bodysnatchers but they had the greater firepower and I was no where near strong enough to take them on...yet.
So I contented myself with watching and waiting. Once they encased the body in some strange slime, they moved back up the tunnel they came in from. I followed back at a distance, keeping away from rocks slick with moisture. I had no desire to lose any precious energy. At one point, I almost wasn't able to go further due to said rocks. Almost.
I don't know how long it took to leave, but soon I came to a tunnel that lead to the rest of the warren.
Excuse me. Hunting grounds
First thing first. Map the grounds. Then prevent all escape.
“He was just sitting there?” Twilight asked incredulously. She and the other Elements gathered at Fluttershy's insistence and listened to her worries like the good friends they were. Needless to say, they all bore the same confusion at her account.
Fluttershy nodded, “Yes. He just sat there frowning.”
“Huh, I guess that explains why I didn't wake up with some prank over my head this morning.” Rainbow Dash said as she floated above everypony's heads.
Pinkie gasped, “What!? Frowning!?” she cried as if it was a severe crime, which to Pinkie it probably was. She disappeared under the table then reappeared from the bathroom in an outrageous clown suit. “Looks like a job for The Clown Crusader!” In a polka-dotted blur, she streaked out the door and towards Fluttershy's cottage. Everypony stared at the scene for a moment before dismissing it as another Pinkie moment.
“All in all, dear.” Rarity stated as she sipped her tea, “This sounds quite distressing. What could possibly keep that ruffian peaceful? Could it be that he walked through Poison Joke and became calmer?” she offered.
“Ah doubt that, sugarcube.” Applejack said, “Why would a chaotic varmint like 'im be affected by them annoyin' plants?”
“I'm just saying it might be possible.” Rarity sipped her tea calmly.
“Applejack has a point. Plus I don't think Discord would touch Poison Joke unless he was going to dump a box of it on somepony's head.” Twilight was speaking from experience. She turned to the timid yellow mare, “Did you notice anything else?”
Fluttershy hid a bit behind her mane, “Well, he kept staring at the Everfree. Does that help?”
“Hmm. Maybe. I'll write a letter to Celestia about this. Maybe she can shed some insight to Discord's behavior. Spike! Take a letter!” The dragon assistant waddled in with a tray of tea and quickly set it down before picking up a quill and paper. Just as they sent the letter, Pinkie plodded into the room distraught. Her mane was about to straighten out and she was on the verge of tears.
“Nothing worked!” she cried out, “I tried EVERYTHING! Even his favorite jokes didn't get a giggle.” She collapsed in a sobbing heap as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash went to console her.
As the others watched, a puff of smoke came back and materialized into a scroll. Twilight caught it in her magic and unfurled it as she read it aloud.
“Dear Twilight Sparkle,
Your message was quite disconcerting. Had I not double checked with my magic, I wouldn't have believed it to be true (Not that you aren't always truthful, I just wanted to see for myself). In all my time of knowing him, I've never seen him like this. I want you to research the Everfree Forest and try to possibly find what is causing his current behavior. I believe that the library in Ponyville has the books necessary, but I will send any relevant documents should you need them.”
Twilight rolled the scroll back up, “Alright, I'm going to do some research. Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash, I want you three to monitor Discord for any developments in this behavior.”
Rainbow saluted, “On it.” she said before flying out the window towards her target. Fluttershy was still holding a sad Pinkie. “I'll take Pinkie home first.” she said before helping the pink mare out the door. Applejack followed behind with an excuse about finishing up her chores.
“Need any help, darling?” Rarity asked as she finished her tea.
Twilight was already yanking books out to make her study pile. “No, it's fine. I can do this. Not the first time I pulled a huge study session.” Only Rarity saw Spike sneaking up the stairs, probably in hope of sleep.
“Do try to not overwork yourself, dear.” she said as she left.
Twilight nodded and stared at her pile of books she collected. “Alrighty then. Let's get started.”
Patrolling the outside of the cave was about as entertaining as it sounds. Nothing moved except the wind and only distant roars of the beasts of the Everfree broke the monotony of the job.
A shrill cry pierced the night.
“Cockatrice. I think it's found some food.” one of the unfortunate soldiers tasked with the important, yet dull, job of guarding the entrance from prying pony eyes.
“Nah, I think it's a baby manticore. Probably hurt its paw.” another said, a female.
“How would you know, Milli? You kept one as a pet?”
'Milli' socked the changeling in the shoulder, “Don't call me that, Hops. For your information, I had to research it to get into those pony pet clinics.”
“Sure, but you know you like it when I call you that, Millipede. Besides, you're the one who won't call me Hopper like everyling else.” the changeling said.
Milli blushed slightly, “Shut up.” she turned away and paced about the area as per her orders.
Unfazed, Hopper fell in beside her, “Quite a night, isn't it?” he said smoothly
“Hopper-” Milli began to say threateningly.
As if waiting for it, Hopper held up a hoof, “Oh come on, Milli. We've been hiding in the scariest forest known to ponykind for weeks now. There is no way that those ponies could possibly find us without screaming for their lives out here.”
“I know Hops,” Milli sighed, “But we can't slack off now. What would happen if a dragon decided to attack us?”
“Psh, Dragons don't live in the Everfree.” he said nonchalantly, then sidled up closer to his partner, matching her step for step, “Look, we're all alone and have the entire shift in front of us. I know we agreed to keep it in check while on the job, but this may be our only chance for a while.”
“No.” Milli said sternly.
“Come on~” Hopper pleaded, now inside Milli's personal space.
“No.”
Hopper rubbed cheeks with her, “You know you want to.”
“No.” she said once more, but with less conviction this time.
“I'll give you a massage afterwards.” Now he nibbled on one of her ears.
“....No.” Hopper smirked at his progress. This time he went for the kill.
“I'll let you bite.” He knew that was her favorite one.
“....I hate you.”
“No you don't.” was all he could say before Milli tackled him to the ground. He countered by rolling over and pinning her arms to her sides.
“You are so obsessed with wrestling after that one mission we had years ago.” Milli said as she used her hind legs to kick at Hopper and knock him off.
“What? It's cool! Buck Bogan was awesome. That piledriver move was amazing!” His fangasm was cut short as Milli headbutted him.
“I sometimes wonder why you're my coltfriend.” she said before bucking him across the clearing.
“Because of my good looks and witty charm. Not to mention you like it when I do that thing with my tongue-” His face was promptly smashed in by a tomato-red Milli.
“S-Shut up!” Every second, her face grew a shade of red brighter. Meanwhile, Hopper rolled on the ground, clutching his nose in pain.
“Oowww, I fink you bwoke my nose!”
“Walk it off, wimp.” Milli said before trotting back to her patrols. They had already wasted too much time playing. Who knows what could have sneaked into the Hive? Millipede scanned the area and sighed with relief to know that nothing dared approach the entrance.
However, she couldn't fully relax for some reason. A tiny thought lurked in the back of her head. 'Why didn't any animal try to get in?' She knew that in the Everfree Forest, there was always a creature sizing you up for its next meal. A few minutes of distraction meant that some of the more stealthy ones could have entered the cave, or even gone after her and Hopper.
Recalling back to earlier, the guard before her said that animals started acting up. Screeching and hollering as if there was a fire. So far, the only animal noise was very distant. It was as if the forest itself was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen.
“Hey, Hops, what do you think?” she called back to her partner. Of course, he didn't answer. Probably still in pain. “Hops?” She turned to see Hopper on the ground, motionless.
Milli sighed, “Hops, I didn't hit you that hard.” No response. “Oh, the silent treatment. That's what this is, isn't it? Ugh, fine. I'm sorry for beating your face in. You know I hate it when you talk about that.” Her face blushed slightly as she mentioned it.
Nothing. She left herself open to a dozen of Hopper's witty one liners that she would probably punch him in the face again for, but he said nothing.
“Hops?” she asked, beginning to get worried, “You okay?” Briefly, she wondered if she knocked him out. However, that notion was dashed once she turned him over. Hopper's eyes were glassed over and he had a large gash through his neck. Despite the mortal wound, there was not a drop of blood to be found. By the time, Milli processed this, she was about to run and scream and grieve, but she was stopped by a pressure on her throat. The next second, everything went black.
*****
Such weaklings. If their blood wasn't so delicious, I wouldn't even bother hunting them. Well, I still would, but only if it was convenient. So far, these 'changelings' as I have learned, have varied in taste. By that I mean some were less delicious than others. I've still yet to figure out why they are as diluted as they were.
No matter. I have enough energy to cast my only spell. I'm lucky that this is the only entrance into the grounds. That is, the only entrance big enough for my prey to get through. Plenty of air tubes and the lot, bringing fresh air to the stale undergrounds. Even I must breathe like my prey.
I gather the energy in my palm, setting the magics for my spell. Once I was safely inside, I threw my destructive spell at the entrance's top arch. My only regret is that I'm going to have to clean this rubble up or possibly choose a new place to hunt. I wonder if the world has forgotten me?
If they have, they'll soon remember.
BOOOM!
*****
Discord was disturbed. No, not in the crazy sense as he constantly is in. Technically, he was always disturbed, so the more accurate word would be ‘perturbed’. Either way, he was worried. The dark chaos he found kept eluding his grasp like greased lightning. Nothing escaped his grasp except harmony and this was not harmony.
“What are you?” he muttered as the strand of chaos slipped away for the umpteenth time. With every escape, Discord learned something about this new chaos, aside from how slippery it was. It was severely hostile, no it was hungry, but no, it was sadistic. It wanted to hurt, to feed, and to kill everything. Nothing would be spared and nothing would stop it from killing its target. Even the god of chaos, the one who put Equestria through an era of turmoil and strife and was only defeated by a set of magic rocks, felt a small stab of fear in him. Not because he could be harmed by it, but because he couldn’t touch it, know it, or even see it.
By his logic, it shouldn’t even exist.
And yet, it did.
As the thing slipped away once more, Discord turned a part of his mind towards where it originated from. Perhaps that held some clues. He stared back into the hole in the ground to the cave lit by slime and furnished with water and bones. Nothing particularly chaos inducing. ’Interesting.’ Discord thought, then idly wondered, ’I wonder if that new flavor of rocky moose road a la mode arrived at the store yet?’
Drawing upon his experience, he knew that to summon a chaotic creature, you would need three things. A rune, a representation of said creature, and peanut butter. Why the last one? Because that stuff sticks the creature down long enough to talk or whatnot until it gets cleaned off. Presently, there was none of those items, unless you count the bones as the representation or the rune. ’If it wasn’t summoned, then how…?’ Discord wondered as his gaze moved around the room. When he spotted the pool, he felt the need to face palm with a palm tree.
’Of course! It was already here!’ Just like how Discord was trapped in stone, other chaotic creatures could be ensnared. Albeit different ways, but that was the nature of chaos. ’Now what was the seal for this one?’ Discord mused. He tried to find some talisman, rune, or magic that could have trapped the sadistic creature in, but all he found was just plain and simple water.
’Water? Why water?’ Peering more closely, he could see blood stains throughout it along with plenty of salt. Probably an extra measure or just coincidence, but Discord wasn’t taking chances. ’Well now I know what opened the cage for this thing. Now, I just need to-‘
“Spike!” Twilight shouted from the library floor, “Do we have any more books on the Everfree Forest?” The mentioned dragon grumbled as he was once again interrupted from his dream of emeralds and cupcakes. Oh and Rarity, of course. He had been picnicking with her in his dream and now Twilight's studies wouldn't let him.
Spike groggily got up and waddled over to the World section of the library and began to scan through the titles. With the skills of the number one assistant, Spike deftly pulled out several books that had the word 'Everfree' in the name. He knew Twilight had read them, but this was for waking him up. “Just want to eat with Rarity in my sleep. Is that so much to ask?” he grumbled as he pulled out another book to add to the massive stack. Once he got all he could find, he set them down next to Twilight and then returned to his, hopefully uninterrupted, dream picnic.
Twilight picked up several books in her magic, flipping through the pages and she gathered information. Her quill wrote furiously to copy down all of her notes. After three hours she was through half of the stack. She drew up the next book, prepping it for study, but her face scrunched up when she saw the title.
“Ancient Legends of the Everfree Forest?” She said, then sighed, “Spike, you're supposed to give me books with facts, not mumbo jumbo legends!” Unfortunately, Spike was now fast asleep. Seeing that she got no response, Twilight reflected on her words as they sounded very similar to a time when she was trying to find a cure for Poison Joke. She looked back at the cover again.
“Fine, I'll give it a shot. I could use a small reading break.” Twilight set down everything except the book and started to read.
The contents of the book were nothing new to her. Various Nightmare Moon related stories, Parasprites, Timberwolves, and even a small history on the old Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. “No, that's not true.” she said as she read a chapter about Slendermane, “He wouldn't ask for twenty bits in exchange for your soul.” Twilight sighed, ready to put the book down, but only if the next chapter proved to be just as childish as this one.
She flipped the page and frowned as she read the title out loud. “'The Hidden'?” It sounded as if the author forgot to add a word to describe the legend. 'The Hidden what? Treasure? Monster? Pony?' she wondered. That missing word only sparked her insatiable curiosity, completely overturning her promise to put the book away, and she began to read.
Do you ever wonder what goes bump in the night? Those creaking sounds as you try to sleep but you casually dismiss on the wind or your brother trying to sneak a midnight snack. But what if you’re alone? There’s no wind to move the door and certainly no one to step on a floor board. But you still hear the strange sounds in the night.
When you try to investigate, you see nothing. Not even the mice were being disturbing. Mostly because they were eaten first. But you don’t know that. As you try to lay down and sleep, your door opens and you feel a weight on your bed. You can’t move and for the briefest of moments you feel a slight pressure on your neck before it all goes dark. You’re dead.
Twilight jumped and screamed as the last line was punctuated by a flapping window. Upon inspection, the latch had broken off. Probably from Rainbow’s repeated break-ins. Once Twilight was able to control her breathing and lower her heart rate, she continued.
What could possibly crawl out of the darkest parts of the cursed forest to come and torment you so? Only the Hidden. A creature so foul and evil that when it walks, every animal runs and hides, even the fearsome dragons, because they know that there’s something out there, and it might decide to have them for dinner.
It is invisible as its name implies and hunts with a ruthlessness matched only by a dragon chasing hoard thieves. Before the Princesses could properly maintain control of the horrors of the past and protect the ponies, there was a stallion. An earth pony by the name of Sea Nanners.
He was a simple stallion with the ideal wife, children and home on the coral farm near the beach. Life was good, until the Hidden came and took away his family as he went to the market. Only he and his son survived. They returned to find their dear family’s bodies mangled and torn. After giving a proper burial, he set out to hunt the hunter.
It took months of searching but after luring it into a cave, he drowned the monster in a flood.
Twilight huffed, “Well obviously this can’t be the one for the problem.” But she kept reading.
He told only his child and his grandchild for them to pass along down the family line. However, despite the spread of the story, the only one who still remembered anything about it was from a pony by the name of Banana Split, a distant descendant of Sea Nanners.
“Huh.” Twilight mused aloud, “Not a name I’d associate with legends.” Looking back at her stack of books she decided it was time to get back to work. “Maybe I can read this later.” She said as she set the book on the table with a bookmark in it. A proper bookmark. Twilight would be dead before she dared consider dog earing a page.
*****
“What happened?!” Chrysalis hacked out as she reached the site of the cave in almost as soon as the terrifying thunder of earth rumbled throughout the warren. Dust hung in the air since there was no passage to circulate airflow anymore aside from meager holes dug out for secondary circulation.
“We don’t…chhaak… know!” one of the guards posted nearby reported, “It was just fine around here but then the wall suddenly exploded and half the tunnel caved in!”
Chrysalis grimaced. If they had no way out, their air supply might run out soon and food supplies will be even scarcer. “Well then get some of the worker drones off the less valuable tunnels to clear this. We need a way out of here if necessary.”
“Yes, your majesty.” The guard said before galloping off.
Chrysalis turned to the other guards. “While he’s getting the workers, try to shift some of these stones enough so we can get some air through here.” The rest of the guards saluted and began to scramble over the rubble, pulling out stones with hoof or magic. Chrysalis trotted off back to her chambers, feeling a small headache arise.
’It’s just one thing after the other, isn’t it? Can I please just have some luck come my way? Is that too much to ask?’ she thought, ’I’ll need Arachne to investigate this. I’m sure those workers made sure that entrance was safe.’
*****
“Alright, you workers are coming with me.” The guard said as he led the drones up towards the entrance that I blocked. That left several behind, toiling away at the walls. Fools. I can never understand why creatures must dig into the rocks. The only thing they need to dig is a grave for them to die in. No matter. This entire cave will do that for me.
I waited, as is my life as a hunter. I counted the changelings in the room. Ten, and every one of them separated into their own alcoves. I swear, it’s like they want me to eat them.
I waited until the only sound was that of metal on rocks.
They never heard me coming. I’m glad the last two tried to run. I needed the exercise.
“Stupid cave-in,” Mantis grumbled, “Taking all the workers on it. Me? No, I just get an order to work down here. I hate working down here. Too spooky. Not to mention I can’t get to Junebug quickly if something happens.” Mantis plodded along down towards his next assignment. As he traveled down the cave, he didn’t notice how deafening the quiet was. The sound of work was absent and only Mantis’ knowledge of the area kept him on track towards his destination with his frustration distracting him from the obvious. He continued to mutter as he rounded the corner, “Wonder what I’m going to do…” he trailed off when he saw several changeling corpses scattered across the room.
Mantis’ eyes went wide as he took in the scene. ’This is bad. This is very, very bad.’ he thought. His eyes flicked from one side of the room to the next. Tools were scattered and equipment was damaged. It looked like there was a massive fight in here and judging from the smell, it was recent. The question is, how did no changeling hear about it?
A rock clattered, causing Mantis to almost jump out of his skin (and he might have too, if it wasn’t for the fact that he molted two weeks ago). Mantis panicked, ’Okay, bigger question: Is the monster who did this still here?!’ He started to hyperventilate. More rocks clattered. Something was moving. “I-I gotta get outta here!” Powered by adrenaline, Mantis threw himself back out into the tunnel and fired a mining spell several times at the ceiling of the tunnel, causing it to weaken. Cracks appeared and in a few seconds the doorway was sealed with rubble.
Mantis panted from the effort. He was not a strong changeling. As he tried to stand up, a voice yelled at him, “Hey, kid! What’s the big idea?!” Mantis jumped and turned to see that the voice had come from above. The rubble had previously separated an adjacent tunnel and, if Mantis’ mental map was correct, it was one of the tunnels leading to another work site.
“I’m talking to you, dumbass!” the changeling spoke again, snapping Mantis out of his thoughts.
“Get the guards!” he shouted, “Quick! There’s a monster down here and several workers dead! I was trying to trap the monster in with the ceiling!” The other changeling was skeptical.
“How do I know you’re not making this up?”
Mantis facehooved, “Look, either get the guard or explain to them why you aren’t helping with this emergency. There’s something down here!” The other changeling peered at Mantis for a moment before running off. Mantis sighed and collapsed again as the adrenaline wore off.
“Why can’t some other changeling deal with this?” he muttered.
*****
Arachne had a few strong beliefs. Chrysalis is supreme, The Hive is family and family comes first, and if you want something done right, you do it yourself. It was the last belief that led him to the site where a drone had reported a cave in caused willfully by another drone on some nonsense claim. The Hive doesn’t have the time for these setbacks and so he was going to set things straight and make an example out of this dumb drone if he had to. At least that was the plan until he met the drone.
Arachne stared blankly at the changeling before him. Mantis as he recalled. Good drone, but that wasn’t the issue here. “So you’re telling me, that you found a pile of dead drones and you panicked and possibly brought half the cave down on any evidence on finding the one who did this?”
Mantis nodded, “Yes, sir. I also thought I had heard movement and only meant to seal the monster inside the room.”
Arachne sighed. As much as he wanted to facehoof, send the drone to do the worst kind of work as punishment, and tell him there was no such thing as monsters, he couldn’t. Someone had collapsed the front entrance and killed four of his soldiers so far. Including the reports from the drone supervisors, they found out the ones inside were also dead via the Hive mind. The drone in front of him might have very well saved him the effort of trying to catch the killer.
Taking this in, he formulated a quick plan. “Alright then,” he said, turning to the squad of soldiers nearby, “I want every changeling ready to clear the rubble and move into the room. The ‘Hive Dweller’ as I’ve heard you call it, might be in here. This might be our chance to stop it.” The soldiers nodded and quickly went to work.
“N-not to question your orders, sir.” He heard Mantis begin to say, “But are you sure that’s a good idea?” The changeling flinched when Arachne brought his gaze upon him.
“Are you saying you know this creature better than I do?” It wasn’t an intimidating question, but Mantis looked like he was about to piss himself.
“N-No!” he said, “I simply meant that if this monster could kill soldiers, then why are we sending them in? Why can’t we just see into the room with a spell?”
Arachne pursed his lips. He hadn’t really thought of that, but according to his knowledge, there were a few reasons why it never came to mind. “Because scrying spells are rather complex and we don’t even have half of the objects needed for it, not to mention the energy that it consumes. I’d rather not waste more energy than what the Hive has. We’re low enough as it is.” He had to admit, that was quite ingenious for a drone.
“Oh.” Mantis looked a bit crestfallen.
“Don’t fret on it. It takes experience to know what to do.” Arachne spared him a glance, then looked to see that the soldiers were ready with half the rubble cleared and horns glowing for the final strike. Arachne raised a hoof, then brought it down. On cue, the soldiers fired a blast simultaneously at the remaining rubble, causing it to explode inwards. Not wasting a second, they all rushed in and fired off stunning spells where they could, leaving anyone inside to face an inescapable volley.
When the dust settled, not a few of them gasped at the sight of the corpses. Being soldiers, they had seen death before, but this was almost too much. Each one looked as if they were peeled apart like bananas and eaten everything inside except the bones. A couple soldiers looked like they were about to throw up. The worst part of it was that the one who did this was gone.
Arachne inspected the room with a critical gaze. “Alright, someone get the bodies out of here and run an autopsy. The rest of you are going to sweep the room for any sign of the one who did this.” He went back over to Mantis who was still waiting out in the tunnel. “Looks like you were right. Something did kill them, and from the smell, it was a while before you arrived so it’s possible that this monster of yours is long gone by now.”
Mantis seemed to pale, if changelings could do that. “Oh no. No no no no nonono. I gotta find my sister!” he said before taking off down the tunnel. Arachne just let him go since there was no point in keeping him there any longer. Right now, he had bigger fish to fry.
*****
In the Everfree forest, a zebra woke up to another day. Zecora smacked her lips, trying to rid the taste of morning mouth and grabbed a jug of water nearby to wet her throat. She went through her morning routine of cleaning and eating like she always did. She was about to start a pot for her next brew when she felt that something was a bit off. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it. Everything was still in its place like she left it and her magic wards were still active.
“Was it something I forgot?” she mused, “Perhaps it was a special day, or maybe not?” She just shrugged, figuring it would come to her eventually. Slipping on her saddlebags, she ventured out to gather more ingredients for her potions and brews.
Zecora took a path that led to a patch of plants she used in almost every brew, as well as her meals. They were quite delicious when cooked properly. She started gathering them by the hoof full, when the brush rustled nearby. With instincts and movements honed by years in the dangerous forest, she whipped around and set herself in a defensive stance for whatever came her way. As a personal game to her, she bet it was a manticore.
To her disappointment, it wasn’t a manticore, but instead a small pack of timberwolves. They burst out of the foliage and charged straight at her. Strange, since they would usually try to surround her. No matter, she was in for her life once again. All in a day’s work.
Zecora tensed up, ready to fight, when the most bizarre thing happened. The timberwolves completely ignored her and ran past with their tails between their legs. Zecora watched them pass her by, bewildered at their fear. When they disappeared, she stared dumbly in their direction. “If timberwolves run in fear, then there must be a fearsome monster near.” Zecora thought aloud. As if it just occurred to her, she turned around to see what could have been chasing them, but there was nothing.
In fact, it was quiet. Too quiet. Even with her instincts, she could not feel the presence of a monster with its gaze upon her, eyeing her up for a meal. Somehow, that was worse than if she was being watched. “If there is no monster out there, then what would give the wolves such a scare?” Zecora racked her brain for an answer, but nothing came to mind. Not that she could blame herself. She had no idea what could cause the timberwolves to act in such a fashion, and that’s what worried her. Lack of knowledge in the Everfree was just as deadly, if not more than, anything the forest could throw at her. “I must seek Twilight. Perhaps she will shed some light.” She said. Not wasting a moment, Zecora took off towards Ponyville.
As she ran, the trees seemed to watch her pass, as if to pray for the poor soul who dared disturb the quiet. It seemed as though everything just disappeared. Zecora kept running and she didn’t stop until she was pounding on the door to the library.
To her joy, the door opened to reveal a bleary eyed, lavender unicorn who looked like she just woke up from her slumber recently. “Zecora?” she said with a yawn, “What’re you doing here?”
“Twilight, there is something you must know. I sense a disturbance in the Forest that has quickly grown.”
The unicorn blinked a few times, “Wait, disturbance?” she tapped her chin a few times. If Zecora sensed a disturbance and Discord was acting odd, then the two are probably connected, though it was just as likely not. There was only one way to find out. “I think you better tell me what’s going on.”
