Cold day in Canterlot
Shadow Strike emerged from the Canterlot train station in silence, his ebony katana held closely at his side. The thoughts of his most recent hunt in Los Pegasus at the forefront of his mind. Such a hunt was the kind of thing Shadow strike lived for. Challenge, adventure, and the chance to sweep some thugs off the street. Al Capony and his little gang were no match to Shadow strike’s skill and expertise.
The frigid air bit at shadow strike, and he retreated into the red scarf around his neck. Used to the deserts to the south, the silver unicorn quickened his pace to get out of the cold. Nothing would be better right now than a nice steamy cup of hot chocolate, and Shadow strike knew just where to go to get one. Donut Joe's. The earth pony had always been a good friend and information broker since shadow strike began his bounty hunting career, even going so far as to offer shadow strike one of the extra rooms upstairs in his building when Shadow was on taking a rest between bounties.
As Shadow strike trotted through the street one thing caught him as unusual... the normally bustling street was all but deserted. The Unicorn looked around for a reason for this empty street and saw a street sign that answered his questions. It read “One night only- The founding of Equestria Hearth’s Warming stage play- featuring the wielders of the elements of harmony”.
Ahh, Thought the bounty hunter, its hearths warming eve. Everypony must be at home with family or at a cantina with friends.
The thought of hearth’s warming day never did have a huge appeal to shadow strike. The mercenary had few friends to spend the holiday with. As he walked along, Shadow strike began wondering how Donut Joe was preparing for the holiday. Shadow strike chuckled to himself at the thought of cute little evergreen tree shaped donuts lining the donut shops shelves.
Once again the cold blasted at poor Shadow Strike, who then proceeded to curse under his breath at the pegasi and them making this one of the oldest winters shadow’s ever experienced in Equestria.
Shadow strike saw the donut shop down the street and almost instantly began sprinting towards it. The sooner he was out of the cold the better. As he approached the donut shop the door swung open. Out of it stepped the donut maker himself, wearing a strangely worrisome look on his face.
“Oh thank Celestia. Joe! Joe over here!”, The silver unicorn shouted to get the earth pony’s attention.
The Donut maker quickly shifted his gaze to the bounty hunter, a look of slight relief appeared. “Shadow Strike! Oh thank Celestia! Come in quick. I need your help with something.”
Shadow Strike was off put by his friends bluntness. Donut Joe never said anything to shadow strike after he returned from a hunt before a nice hearty laugh and greeting. Something unusual must have got joe Worried, the hunter thought to himself.
Shadow entered the shop and followed Joe upstairs to the living spaces. Joe unlocked the living room door and held it open for the silver unicorn. Shadow Strike couldn’t believe his eyes. In the room was one of the most beautiful mares the bounty hunter had ever set his eyes on. She was an earth pony, with a yellowish coat and a dark crimson mane tied back in a large ponytail. Then shadow Strike took note of the Mares cutie mark, a sniper rifle’s crosshairs above what appeared to be sunglasses, this tied in with the fact that a relatively large earth pony bolt-action sniper was strapped to the mare's back.
Joe went up to the mare then turned back to Shadow Strike. “Shadow, this is Long Shot. She’s another bounty hunter I deal with.”
The mare spoke with a voice smoother than a river cascading over a stone, “Nice to meet ya. So you’re the one who took down Al Capony and his little syndicate huh?”
Shadow answered “Indeed that was me”. Shadow Strike turned to the donut maker to avoid awkwardly staring at this “Long Shot” and asked “Now Joe, what’s wrong? Why did you usher me up here so urgently?”
“Long Shot, bring it in”, Joe answered in a cryptic manner.
The mare nodded and went over to the couch that was facing the little fire place and picked something up. A small bundle of cloth. She slowly began unwrapping it and was underneath those sheets made Shadow’s Jaw come unhinged.
For it was a tiny changeling nymph. The poor pink thing was was shivering and emaciated.
“I found her beaten half to death running from some gangsters”, Long Shot explained, “She lost them in an alley but passed out from exhaustion. I picked her up and brought her back here to warm her up but she has a dangerously high fever. I have no idea what she is or what to do so I brought her here.”.
“It’s a changeling. They’re a race of pony-like insects”,The silver unicorn said as he practically pushed joe across the room to get a better look at the small sack of pinkish exoskeleton. “You did the right thing bringing her to me, Miss Long Shot. Let me see her.”
Long shot gently handed the changeling to Shadow strike. Upon closer inspection, Shadow saw the nymph’s horn, it was long and jagged, which meant this little changeling could be one of two things. She could be a stinger, the creme de la creme of the changeling military, females stingers were exceptionally rare but their power rivaled a changeling queen’s. The other thing this horn could mean was that the nymph herself was a queen, or at least will grow into one.
To find out just what this mystery nymph was, Shadow looked at the baby insect’s wings then legs. Only one set of wings. Holes in the legs. The bounty hunter couldn’t believe it. He was holding a future queen of changeling hive.
Then Shadow remembered the more pressing issue at hoof. This small creature was at death’s doorstep and he needed to save her.
Shadow strike began inspecting the poor thing for symptoms to find what was causing the fever. Gently, he lifted one of the changelings delicate, papery wings and found a tiny splotch of green contrasting against the nymph’s pinkish exoskeleton. Shadow pressed his hoof against the green splotch, It was rough, certainly not part of the carapace.
Shadow turned back to the two ponies in the room. “She has a fungal infection called ‘Drag-wing’. It’s easily treated but we still need to hurry. If the fungus spreads to her lungs, she’ll stop breathing. Miss Long Shot, fetch me any retail bottle of perfume, most perfumes have the chemicals necessary to treat Drag-wing. Joe, I need you to warm up a small basin of water. Warm water helps slow the infection”
The two ponies nodded and left the room, leaving shadow strike alone with the unconscious insect. He saw the look of confusion on Long Shot’s face and knew what it was asking. How does he know so much about these “changeling” things. Joe already knew the answer, but it was only a matter of time before the Yellow mare caught on. Shadow pushed those thoughts to the edge of his mind and concentrated his attention on the shivering insect. He gently caressed the side of the poor things head with his free hoof.
“Shadow, I got the water”, Joe said as he entered the room, bucket in hoof.
The silver Unicorn responded “Ah, excellent. Hand it here.”
Joe placed the basin at Shadow’s hooves. The bounty hunter levitated the changeling into the bucket, his horn glowing a shade of emerald to match his piercing green eyes.
As the nymph entered the warm water, Shadow Strike breathed a sigh of relief as the tiny thing’s body relaxed.
Shadow and Joe sat there in the dark room in silence until the donut maker spoke up and asked the question that had been bothering the mercenary for a while now “where do you think she came from Shadow Strike?”
“*sigh* must have been from one of the derelict hives. There’s no way in Equestria Chrysalis would allow a potential heir out of her sight-”
“Um... sorry buddy, but could could you me remind who this ‘Chrysalis’ exactly is again ?” the donut maker interrupted.
“heh. As I’ve said before, Chrysalis is the ruler of the United Hive, the largest changeling Hive known.”
“oh”, Donut Joe answered, “Sorry for interrupting. Please continue”.
“Thank you. But anyway, the real question is how she got all the way to Canterlot. It’s at least a 2 day long flight from the southern deserts, and thats for a FAST flyer. This little one seems barely old enough to hover, let alone fly cross country. And that raises other questions too, like ‘How did she get sustenance?’ or ‘Why did she come here in the first place?’ even.”
As Shadow Strike finished his thought, Long Shot announced her return “Mr. Strike? I got the perfume for the baby bug.” She fumbled around in her saddle bag for a few seconds, pulled out a pink bottle and handed it to Shadow.
Shadow scanned the bottle’s list of ingredients. Once he had confirmed the concoction contained the chemicals he needed, he took a tissue from a box on a nearby end table and dabbed it into the aromatic liquid. Carefully, he picked the nymph and pressed the tissue against the infection.
Almost immediately, the green patch began shrinking until it faded completely from sight altogether. The small larva’s breath became less ragged and for the first time, She opened her eyes.
The tiny thing readjusted its eyes, trying to get her bearings on the strange new environment. Then, those beady, compound eyes focused on Shadow Strike. The nymph let out a soft, fearful chirp and lept out of his grasp, screeching in the changeling language, “Chearak noh frelieek tas pony!”.
The Little insect was downright terrified of the three ponies. Shadow turned to the two other occupants in the room and sighed. He trotted over to the scared nymph and sat down on his haunches in front of her.
Long Shot Look at the silver unicorn in confusion when a large wall of green flame erupted around him. Long scope began panicking but Donut Joe motioned for her to calm down, as if he knew what was happening.
The flames began to subside, but Shadow Strike was no longer in the room. In the unicorns place was a large horse-like insect with a purple, chitinous carapace and piercing green eyes.
Shadow Strike was ,himself, a changeling.
The pink changeling saw this new form and quieted down. Shadow lifted a claw and gently touched the base of the nymphs horn. “Now, now. shush. It’s okay little one. We aren’t going to hurt you”, The large adult changeling assured the small larva. “Now, why don’t you tell me your name?”
The nymph opened her mouth to speak, but instead of clicks and whistles, she spoke in fluent equish. “M-my name is... P-Pupa...”
“Pupa, huh? That’s a pretty name you have there. My name is Thanatyak, but everypony calls me Shadow Strike. Mind telling how you got here, Pupa?” The bounty hunter said gently, using his original name instead of his adopted pony name.
“I, um, was sent here. A gold pony slaughtered my hive, leaving only me alive along with one of our hive’s spell casters. She teleported me here before the gold pony could get me.” Tears began welling in Pupa’s eyes, eventually the dam burst and the pink nymph broke into a heart wrenching sob
From behind, a confused Long Shot asked “How is she speaking equish now? Just a minute ago she was just chirping like a cicada.”
Shadow turned his head slightly and explained, “Changelings are capable of instantaneously learning any language just by touching their horn to anything that speaks the desired language. We evolved this trait to blend in more seamlessly during infiltrations.”
The large changeling turned back to the sobbing larva and picked her up in his forelegs. “Shhh, little one, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”
As Shadow Strike finished calming the sobbing changeling down, a loud crash was heard down below.Shadow Strike put Pupa down quickly, put his disguise back on and ran to the window on the other side of the room, where Long Shot Joined him. Out of the window, the two saw a pack of ponies, each armed with some improvised weapon. A large rust colored unicorn wielding a small hoof gun stepped to the front of the pack and shouted “Alright Joe, we know you’re in there. Give us the bug or that broken window is just the beginning.”
A look of rage flashed across Long Shot’s face. “Those are the mother buckers who were chasing the little thing. Damn gangsters!”
Shadow Strike unsheathed his sword.
The look of rage was replaced by a look of fear on the yellow mare. “Wait... you’re not going to kill them are you?”
The bounty hunter shook his head and pointed to the sword he held in his hooves, drawing attention to the faint green glow around the ebon blade. “The sword has a lethality enchantment. It’ll cut and bruise, but it won’t scar or kill unless I lower the spell.”
Shadow turned back to the window and opened it. He stood up on his hind legs and leaped out to face the gangsters. His red scarf blowing in the breeze.
The head gangster snickered and said "We got ourselves a hero boys. Get em."
The gang turned to Shadow and began to come at him all at once, but Shadow had a plan. Shadow Strike had perfected a spell, one that had saved his life multiple times.
One of the gangsters lunged at the bounty hunter, but instead of contacting Shadow, the thug felt a serious blunt instrument slam into the back of his neck. Shadow knocked the stallion unconscious with the hilt of his blade. As the limp body of the gangster hit the ground, Shadow Strike’s fabricated cutie mark, a red, polygonal zero with a slash through it, began glowing.
This was the spell that Shadow Strike invented himself, Deception. The Spell worked by deploying a life-like decoy of Shadow, while also turning the real one invisible and granting him a significant increase to his speed. The glowing cutie mark was a way of confirming a successful takedown.
Shadow Strike activated Deception again and spoke.
“Leaves falling from trees/ Snow drifting unto the ground/ Consciousness fading.”
The lead gangster, in a fit of rage shouted “You idiots! I don’t care if this freak speaks in haiku or whatever! Just bucking kill him!”
Shadow chuckled to himself at the foolish gangsters mindlessly attacking the decoy and at the gang leaders rage at his taunting poem. To tell the truth, the bounty hunter enjoyed forming haiku and would often taunt his prey with them.
Once again, the pony-disguised changeling moved in, taking down three gangsters with slice that, if not for the enchantment on his blade, would have severed their legs.
“I disappear/ A ghost amidst the combat/ Preparing to strike.”
Shadow knocked a the last of the thugs out and sheathed his sword. Analyzing the former battle field, he took note of something. That there were not nearly as many gangster as he thou-
“HYARGH” Shadow heard a voice cry out from behind. Shadow Strike reached for his blade but it would not budge from its sheath.
Celestia damn it, the mercenary thought to himself. Why do you have to get stuck now you stupid piece of junk!
Shadow Strike’s thought was interrupted by a loud bang. A gunshot. The bounty hunter looked up to see smoke pouring from a sniper rifles barrel pointed out the window. He turned around and saw the gang leader struggling to keep his equilibrium, with a tranquilizer dart embedded in his neck.
“Damn it. I ain’t.. given’ up... mother bucker. Black sun... will rise”, with that word, the thug fell to the ground.
Shadow Strike reentered the shop and went back up to the room where Miss Long Shot, Donut Joe, and Pupa were waiting. Joe was on the Phone, presumably calling the authorities, and Long Shot was cradling Pupa.
Approaching Long Shot, Shadow asked inquisitively “Who were those gangsters exactly?”
Responding with more than a hint of disdain, the sniper explained “The creeps call themselves the ‘Black suns’. Their small time nobodies trying to make name for themselves through whatever means possible. Extortion, blackmail, You name it. Rumor has it that they even once tried to set up a brothel here in Canterlot before some other gang came and whooped their flanks.”
Shadow Strike shuddered. He hated prostitution and whorses with a burning passion. He pushed the thought out of his mind and said to the sniper “Thanks, by the way.”
The mare seemed surprised for some reason. “Wait...Did you just...thank me?”
Shadow Strike, equally confused at Long Shot’s reaction responded “Yes... Is there a problem?”
The yellow earth pony laughed a hearty guffaw and said “Heh. Naw, it just seemed like you were the kinda mysterious warrior kinda stallion. Y’know? The kind thats all like ‘I didn’t need your help. Stay outta my way, I work alone.’ But if theres one thing you taught me tonight, it’s that looks can be deceiving. Heh.”
The changeling shared in her laughter for a little bit but then bent down to look at Pupa. “Hey, little one. You okay?
The pink nymph nodded, still obviously scared and nervous. Then shadow strike had an idea.
Once again, the bounty hunter lowered his disguise and reached into the pack on the strap of his sword’s scabbard. He pulled out two pieces of carved wood and plugged them into the holes on his leg. This was a changeling instrument called a “leg whistle”. Shadow strike only knew one song, but luckily, it was a lullaby called “Queen Papillion’s Aria”.
The bounty hunter began playing the soothing ballad, after a few moments the tiny changelings eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep.
Shadow took the pieces of wood out of his leg and put them back into his pack. He began to gently stroke the sail atop the sleeping nymph’s head.
A few minutes past in silence, until Long Shot broke it. “So.... How did you fall into the bounty hunting business?”
Shadow looked away. His purple carapace gleaming in the light of the fireplace. “Heh, that takes me back.... I was a war hero in the changeling army after the battle of Horn Valley during the war between my people, and the dragons. we made our last stand there at horn valley, a place the ancient changelings regarded as a sacred site. My brood brother, Cocoonis and I led the soldiers into battle and barely squeaked out in victory. We were seen as heroes to our people, our queen even asked us to become brood fathers, to pass our genes down to another generation, one of the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a changeling, but for some reason, Cocoonis became distant.Then, about ten years before the return of Princess Luna, Cocoonis went rogue and I was tasked with bringing him back. I found him... but... he wouldn’t return with me. Not peacefully anyway... Said something along the lines of ‘I’m sick of being a slave to the queen. I want my own life, one where I can decide what i want for myself’. I was forced to fight him... My brother and best friend... I couldn’t defeat him, but despite my expectations... he let me live. I couldn’t return without him, or I would have been executed for treason. I made a coward's decision and fled for Equestria. Eventually I met Joe being harassed by some goons and helped him out... After that we just kinda fell in with each other. Joe suggested that I put my combat talents to use and become a bounty hunter. Ten years later and here I am. So what about you? How did you fall into the bounty hunting career? "
Long Shot shook her head "I guess its only fair to tell you, huh?" The yellow mare said. "I never really thought I would become a bounty hunter... But when I was just a filly...my parents were...attacked." Tears began to well in Long Shot's amber eyes. "Some psychopathic earth pony just came in and sliced them open... Kept shouting his name as he cut into them... 'Blitzkrieg'... I became a bounty hunter just so I could feel and him and put him in his place... Six feet under..."
"I'm ...I'm so sorry..." Shadow Strike said. "Wait... I've heard that name before... Blitzkrieg, wanted for suspected murder of 12 different victims. I've been trying to find that guy too!" Shadow exclaimed.
What seemed like an eternity of awkward silence passed before Donut Joe walked in. “Well the police have come and arrested those thugs. But it seems I won’t be able to visit my cousin Bon Bon in Ponyville tomorrow for Hearth’s-Warming day. Gotta take care of this little thing” the donut maker said pointing to Pupa.
Shadow stood up and said “No, Joe its okay. I can take care of her. You go visit your cousin, I’ll go find a hotel or something when she wakes up.”
“Well...Okay I guess. I appreciate it Shadow.”
“Don’t sweat it. It’s my pleasure.”
About an hour passed before Pupa woke up. Shadow Strike looked at the tiny creature and asked "Little one, do you have anywhere to stay?"
Pupa looked at the purple changeling and answered, "nu huh"
"Well, then... Do you wanna stay with me for a while? Us changelings have to stick together." The bounty hunter said in a gentle tone.
The tiny pink nymph's eyes grew wide. "Um... O-okay."
Shadow Strike smiled. Pupa trusted him. A queen, or rather, queen to be, trusted him. It wouldn't be the first time, but Shadow wasn't going to let Pupa down like he did Chrysalis.
"Oh. I forgot to ask. Pupa, you know how to disguise, right?" Shadow said.
The nymph nodded yes and took the form of a pink unicorn filly.
Shadow removed the red scarf he was wearing and placed it around Pupa's neck. "There", he said. " Now you won't freeze to death."
Pupa giggled in a soft chirping voice as Shadow wrapped her up in his scarf.
"That should do it. Now let's go find some place to rest. I bet you're exhausted." Shadow said, beckoning Pupa to his side.
As bounty hunter walked out the door of the shop he heard Long Shot call to him. “Hey Shadow Strike! Wait up!”
Shadow turned to face the yellow mare. “Yes, Miss Long Shot?
The earth pony’s face blushed slightly, “Well, you seem pretty nice and i was wondering.... Would you like....to hang out sometime?”
The mercenary giggled as he spat out a response “I thought you'd never stutteringly half ask.”
Long Shot face regained some of it’s color. “ummmm.... So that’s a yes?”
“Yes. I’d love to.” Shadow Strike confirmed.
“Oh... good.... well then... see ya around?”
“yeah, see ya.” And with that, Shadow Strike walked out of the donut shop with Pupa at his side into the cold winter air.