Two changelings decide to try out the latest games made for Equestria.
Shifter and Alter are two changelings who share in a unique pastime. While most changelings work, work, and work in the hive, these two spend their breaks playing video games!
And as long as the Queen doesn't find out, what game will they do next?
The moonlight casted off a white glow over the rocky formations of the Badlands. Tall canyons, deep gorges, and endless deserts casted off ghostly shadows over the milky white sea of sand. In a small hole, enough to fit maybe three ponies side by side, was an entrance that led to a deep tunnel.
As the tunnel extended, various networks jutted out in random directions. The rock was smoothly carved in, but as one went further in, you could see black, organic resin cling to the walls, forming grotesque patterns and coils that moved around in complicated geometry. Hidden vents within bellowed out green smoke.
It was quiet, unanturally quiet save for the rumble of tectonic plates below. So quiet that-
A shadow flashed by, racing down the corridor. Zooming past stalactites and over shear drops, the object moved with speed and agility. As it came to a halt, one could see towering pillars of blackened stone, the crude designs emblazoned over them.
The creature itself was relatively short, with a serpent-like fin running the length of its equine-like body. Its snout was pointed and had two fangs protruding out of it like some sort of sabertooth cat. Its hooves were filled with circular holes that dotted it as if it was made of cheese. Moth-like wings adorned its insect-like carapace as it sniffed the area. Its eyes were a piercing, icy blue. Seeing that the coast was clear, the changeling gave a sigh.
She had just come back from another scouting mission. Usually, when in the field, changeling scouts would bring presents or souvenirs. So it was to no surprise that a brown paper bag was fitted snugly on a tan saddle bag. As she scanned the hallway, she counted the number of chambers.
"39,40,41,Ah 42."
As she crawled through the crevice, she was tackled by two black fuzz balls. With a giggle she rolled over the floor, feigning an over-exaggerated death as both baby changelings cackled madly. They were small, no taller then half of her leg, with large, baby blue eyes. Even the carapace was still soft. They grinned at her giggles, revealing the tiny scythes for teeth.
"Hey Clawity," two changelings chimed in a sing-song voice, "we gwat wu guuud!"
Clarity rolled up to face her two brothers, her eyes gleaming with compassion. "Yes you did, have you been treating each other nicely while I've been gone?"
The grins vanished on their faces as they stared at the floor, hesitant to face her as their little fan-like wings folded inwards against their carapace. "Swort wuf."
Clarity gave a small sigh. "Now Shifter and Alter, what have I told you about caring for one another?"
"We sowy Clawity," Shift mumbled.
"Wah, we vewy sowy," added Alt.
With a smirk their older sister began to transfer the love she collected to the two foals. As if an invisible force was tickling them, the two changelings rolled over the floor, their eyes filled with content. When all the energy she had stored was drained away, Clarity took in a deep breath. "Now I have something for you two. Can you guess what it is?"
"Wha is iwt, wha is iwt?" the changelings repeated, buzzing up and down on their ragged wings.
The changeling gave smirk as she reached in the bag. Then, she slowly pulled out a black box, followed by some wires, and several star-shaped devices with bright red buttons on it.
"Wha is thawt?" Alt asked confused.
"It's called a Coltstation," their sister explained," it's something that colts your age play on. They come with all these cool discs that you plug in and play games on. I figured I could get some energy from these vents here to power the equipment."
"Ooooooo." the changelings said in unison. They both jumped up and down, their bottoms doing a little wiggle to show their enthusiasm.
Clarity moved the wires to a vent, a green aura connecting the wires to another black box that she explained was a TV. After about an hour of wrestling, getting tangled in the mesh of wires, and coming back out again, she sighed in relief to see the screen glowing and the title of the game, titled Princess Flank-Kicker, standing valiantly in imposing, red letters.
"WWWOOOOOOOOOO." The brothers stood gaping at the screen, transfixed on how it could project such an illusion.
The masters of illusion meet the technology of illusion Clarity thought as she handed the things known as "controllers" to her two siblings.
Alter moved a little mushroom-like lever down with his hoof. In an instant, the yellow light adorning the text "start" dissolved with a click. The screen now shifted to a new menu, filled with a lot more menu options then previously expected. The changelings sighed as they read each word, trying to sound it out and test their pony vocabulary. When they had read though each one, Shifter clicked on play, his hoof smashing the red button.
Now they were staring at a selection of random ponies, most of them appearing to be of royalty. Clarity could see they were confused at this point so she said. "This is the part where you can choose to be any character you want. Just like how we can choose to be any creature we want."
"Ohhhhhh," Shifter said, "twanks sis."'
She smiled, watching the brothers scan over two certain characters. One was called Nightmare Moon and the other had chosen Princess Celestia. In a flash and trumpet horn, the menu was replaced with a beautiful rendition of a royal garden. The characters faced each other their hooves in a fighting stance. Then a coundown began, followed by the words "FIGHT!".
In an instant the brothers were smashing all and any buttons that they could see. They were unsure how to work the character, but as they looked up they were delighted to see the two princesses beating the snout out of each other. They landed head-dives, random blasts of pure energy, tackled each other, bit each other, punched, kicked, and even used a special combo that Shift figured out.
"Too the Moon!" The mysterious, upbeat voice in the box shouted the words as Shifter's character bent down, raised her hind hooves, and shot them directly in his opponent's chest, sending the creature far out into who knows where. A knew trumpet sounded and the words "K.O." and "game over" flashed over the screen.
"No fawr," Alter hissed, "Swift wa not plwaywing by the wules!"
So the two changelings went into a rematch. As it turns out, that rematch turned into another, and another, and another.
As Clarity watched Shift and Alt battle each other out in the late hours of the night, she gave out a yawn. Being a Big Sister was hard work, but it was a responsibility that each swarm member had to carry out. With Queen Metamorphosis on her last wings, the hive knew the rightful heir would be Chrysalis. With the threat of starvation constantly bugging them, changelings were reverting to more violent means of procuring love. But in the meantime, such depressing thoughts could be repressed by this so-called "video game".
It was still in development, and few pony societies accpeted them, but she found the "TV screen" to be enticing. And who knows, maybe one day it would help Shifter and Alter become the strong, brave warriors that the nest desperately needed. She closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep, dreaming of all the possibilities and futures of her two little brothers.
They'll probably be the best of friends too...
----------------------------
---------------------------
Quite a few years later...
"EAT THIS!" Shift screamed at the computer. His hole-filled hooves danced across the keyboard as his character ran towards the watchtower, its hooves letting out a blaze of icy spears at a behmeoth from Tartarus. "You Tartarus folk need to chill down."
"Range-Spitter on your left," Alter informed, his character already moving to assault the massive beast." Chyrsalis' beard! He's a nasty one."
" Alright, Blood-Hound-oh shoot-contact on the left, 6 o' clock."
"Already on him," and with that Alter fired two shots at the heaving mongrel, putting it down in a blaze of ashes. From the screen, the sound of another microphone could be heard. A colt's voice echoed in the speakers of the changeling's jet-black ear set.
"What the heck are you foals doing?" The colt was a level 12 Barbarian, whose frost-enchanted spear was doing little to no damage on the diamond dog bearing a red ruby club.
The changeling sighed. Clearly this colt had come to the wrong battle. He could only watch as the barbarian was torn to pieces again and again and again.
"Sweet Celestia!" The scream of the colt nearly made both changelings deaf. From Shifter's vantage point, the colt had gotten himself cornered in by two Beast Bashers, a sticky situation, but one that could be solved by a more experienced player. "I'm pinned down over here, can you colts like...help me?"
"No can do little one," Shifter said, "you came to the battle, you'll just have to duke it out a while longer."
"Hey Golden Hoof ," Alter blurted over the mic.
Shifter turned his character to face Alter's avatar, who was currently taking on three Ravaged Diamond Dogs. "What now River Dasher?"
"I need you to teleport me outta here! Stat!"
In an instant a hole was materialized out of blue vapor. He could already see Alt coming down the pass, followed by the colt's avatar. Stepping in he held the button down for Alt to make it within the sanctuary of the portal. He could hear his brother typing in the coordinates to the other portal's entrance when the colt yelled again.
"Wait for me!"
"There's only room for two, little guy," Shifter said, "You gotta stay here."
"But, I can't fight all these guys by myself!" The colt was either banging on the hoofboard, or if he was a unicorn, blowing up his house. Shifter didn't have time for this. His brother needed to get out of this battle, and they would return in a second anyway.
"You chose to play this game," Shifter explained, "so therefore you knew the risks. Just hold them back for a little while longer and we'll be back before you can scream Luna."
"Buck this," the colt said after a thunderous crash sent his avatar flying into a valley infested by Shadow Wolves, "I'm playing Team Friendship Two." And with that the barbarian disappeared in a beep. Exhaling to himself, Shift pressed the command to teleport, white light now consuming their avatar's bodies.
When the flash had finally subsided, both brothers turned to face no other then...
"THE MARKETPLACE!" Shifter almost drove his brother deaf with the volume of his shriek.
"Yeah," Alter explained, "I need to go and trade some stuff."
But this wasn't an explanation in Shift's mind. He was, for the first time in a long time, doing fairly good in the game, gaining enough in-game bits to level up and achieve the Axe of DawnHoof. It was one of the top 100 coveted weapons in the game. Not only would it help him beat the lord of this realm, but it would also make other players think twice before choosing to ambush him. But instead, he had to teleport his brother-in-hooves to the marketplace to sell his items.
"Why can't you trade after we finish pummeling those scoundrels into dust?" Shifter asked.
"Because my inventory was full," Alter argued, "I still want loot from this battle mate."
Shifter simply grunted and rammed his character into any stalls he could find, the invisible wall holding him back from reducing the table to splinters. After a second or two, he simply went AFK to check on the time crystal. It's light was nearly dimming out, meaning that they had little time left to play before sleep was initiated. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day after all.
"What in the name of the swarm are you selling anyway?" Shifter asked.
"A couple of blue shard clubs, a raving bow and arrow, along with a couple other stuff I found on the grunts."
"That's all level one stuff," Shifter moaned, "why are you collecting that? No wonder your inventory is bloated."
Alter's character was now pacing from merchant to merchant, his character's speech making a new level every time. "I can sell it and amass a much larger quantity of money with this stuff then if I just took every yellow-coated wepon like you do."
"It's called choosing wisely," Shifter replied grudgingly, "and I can sell them whenever I want to. I just don't pick up every little stick and rock I see on the path."
"Then how can you expect to buy anything you need?" Alter swiveled out of the rock he had been making his seat to face his brother. "You do know that your'e gonna need potions and armor for our next mission, right?"
"I can find that stuff," Shifter said, "but I'm just saying that when we finish draining all the love outta of these things, then we can collect the goods afterwards. Every time we stop to go to the market, I lose all the energy I've pumped up in the beginning of the battle. "
Alter sighed and turned back to his own screen. When he finally finished haggling a bargain with a ragged old stallion, his green unicorn avatar trotted over to where Shifter's red pegasus awaited. "Let's go."
With another shimmer of white, the two changelings were transported back into the battlefield. Shifter went right back into ripping the livers out of his foes while Alter decapitated the larger monsters with an obsidian bow.
"You ought to visit the auction house," Alter advised as he took out another three Clan Brothers with a single arrow. " It can really help you."
"The auction house is where they're going to ripoff shape-shifters like you and me," Shifter explained in a matter-of-fact tone." I'd rather earn it then have to pay somepony else for my gear."
And so for the next hour or so, the changelings sat hunched over their machines, laughing, crying, and occasionally yelling at one another. They fought fiercely on quests, high-hoofed each other when they defeated a boss, and even did a little wiggle with their bottoms, a trait they had carried on since hatching, whenever they found exquisite items and vast amounts of loot.
Ever since their Big Sister had shown them the magic of video games, the two changelings made it their duty to buy the latest technology whenever they got sent out to the field. Alter would look for the newest titles while Shifter would pick up the latest accessories. Recently, Shifter had to pose as a pony shopkeeper, and was able to sneak out two coltputers to use for their latest game, Tartarus Rises. So far it was the best one yet.
But as the months progressed, it was getting harder and harder to find time for games anymore. Shifter was responsible for guarding the cocoon chambers, while Alter had to manage a maintenance crew down in B Hive. Along with that, they also had to go out every now and then to find love to feast on. Then they would bring back the love they had stored for the rest of the swarm.
Soon, Shifter and Alter would have to be Big Brothers and take on a hatchling to teach on their own, which Shifter had repeatedly told the officer in charge that he was not ready. To make matters worse, the Queen was planning an invasion on Canterlot of all things. This would mean that the entire hive would be participating in a full-out assault on Equestria.
As Shifter pulled the plug from the steaming vents, he could see that his brother had already fallen asleep. Carrying him back to his cot, a resin-secreted slab of stone, Shifter began to think back to how his Big Sister would alway sing them a lullaby before letting them sleep. With that thought in mind, he smirked.
Maybe he could take on the responsibility, but he wouldn't be like his Big Sister. With that, he yawned and went to his own slab to rest on, sensing the entire hive whisper good night to Queen Chrysalis. It was a simple good night, no blessings or such. The hive was ready to nap and the night-shift would be taking over soon. From the little hole in his chamber, Shift looked up to examine the stars. His Big Sis had shown him all the constellations when he was little. Tonight, all of them were out, shining in the night sky like gems.
Games had provided him a view into a world that not even a changeling could go into. A changeling could be anypony they wanted of course, but they didn't go around slaying giant hydras with a lava-built axe. That, and gaming also took off the stress on his shell. The Queen could be very demanding sometimes, but hey, these were tough times. Right now, with all the conflict and hunger, he rarely got to see his brother. And when he did, they had to be uptight, speaking with little words. So then that left gaming as the only pastime that Shift could actually spend with Alter.
As his eyes drifted off to sleep, he dreamed of achieving the Axe of DawnHoof. But once he did that, he would eventually get bored with the game and then what would they do? Maybe he could go and buy a new game when the Queen sends them out to gather love. But just what game would suffice?
Work: The Most Boring and Dangerous Game You Could Ever Play
"Another day at the hive," Shifter moaned as he stood on watch over the chambers, a sick looking stalactite of a spear in his hooves. Standing across from him was Haze, his partner for the day.
And what a day it was. The preparation for the Canterlot invasion had the whole swarm buzzing in excitement. New armor for the generals was being forged. The tunneling crews were creating dispensar crystals to bring aboard the invasion. The cocoon team was working overtime with the hatchling team to prepare new soldiers for the expected casualties. And the best of the best were out on field missions, preparing to bring back love for the soldiers to feast on.
"Hey Haze," Shift called out, his body leaning against the cavernous wall, "can you believe it? One moment no one is paying any attention to us and the next they're all scrambling on their wings to prepare for an offensive that might not even work."
Haze merely shrugged his hooves. "I thought the Queen's plan was brilliant. She's heading out today to prepare the way for our troops. Oh, and guess what? She just nominated someling from our batch to be Commander in Chief."
"Oh boy," Shift sighed, "who's the lucky guy this time?"
"I forget his name, I think he's one of your friends Shift."
Shift knew a few changelings here and there, but none of them were qualified for that caliber of leadership. In fact, he was sure that a general ought to have been elected. But as the saying goes, "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
For the duration of an hour or so, the two changelings were silent, neither of them uttering a word to each other until Shimmer floated down with a curt, "hello" before entering the cocoon chamber. Then, for the next half-hour or so, she simply laughed and tried to cheer up the fellow detainees, telling them how wonderful a life they could expect in the next few days of their conversion into fully grown changelings.
"In my opinion," Shift called out to his mate, "I think the whole idea of conversion is terrible. I mean seriously, those new hybrids creep me out. Back when I was a little foal, we didn't have these buckin' cocoon chambers. Heck, we didn't have Chyrsalis."
Haze gave his comrade an odd stare before resuming his post by the door. Haze had been born into his job from the very start, his Big Brother being a guard before him. In fact, that Big Brother's Big Brother was a guard before him and his brother before him and his brother before him and his brother before him...leading all the way back to a long chain of brothers who have served in this very hive position since its foundation.
Shift merely moaned and went back to resuming his blank stare. He had nothing else to do, and day dreaming was becoming more and more like a necessity then an opportunity. In the chambers, he could hear the moans and hisses of the prisoner and converter. He didn't know why the Queen was preparing for such an invasion, but he didn't care. After all, he was going to be playing a new game very soon.
----------
Alter was busy looking over another matter entirely. Apparently, there had been a leak in the cave entrance that no changeling had seemed to notice. Well, regardless of whose fault it was, it was his job to fix it. And he would once again have to direct his crew on just what "fixing" meant.
"Alrighty folks," he said, "well it seems that today is another one of those days where we go and fix something. Now I know you all had breaks-"
A chorus of moans and groans came from the crowd.
"-but it is absolutely necessary we put into effect the one-for-all mentality that we established at last night's team get-together-"
"Which sucked!" A changeling called out, causing the others to snicker.
"Hey, what did we say about negative waves?"
The changeling sighed, "We are not supposed to have negative waves because it hurts others as well as yourself. It also effects the quality of work."
Alter smiled and began to detail the leak to his team of five changelings. After explaining in detail what the situation is, ((it was too long and boring to be placed in the actual story)) Alter began to delegate the jobs that each worker would have.
"And Compound here can take the job of gathering rocks for the adhesive Smoke will be using to help reinforce the previous adhesive."
The room was silent except for the groans of the cave and the buzz of activity from the hall ahead. Sighing to himself, Alter waved a hoof and allowed his crew to get to work.
He had tried so many times to make an efficient team out of his troops, but the problem was that none of them likes working with each other. Compound had been a Centurion Swarm Leader in the past while every other changelings had been kicked out of their respective positions due to accidents involving lots of explosions and one or two managers getting injured.
The fact was that no changeling volunteered for maintenance duty. Originally, Alter had tried to become a Centurion in the armada, but had failed due to reasons of him being overly prepared on field missions. He still didn't understand why the swarm didn't think it was necessary to have two full nesting campsites incase the enemy decided a counter attack on the last set of campsites. It was a legitimate tactic, but they still blamed him for attracting too much attention that day. Anyhow, the general in charge had liked Alter's previous tests so much that he gave the changeling a little break by promoting him to be Overseer of Maintenance Crew #345 of B-Hall in B-Chamber of B-Hive.
Well...it was a start after all. Not to mention it was better then being in A-Hall in A-Chamber of A-Hive.
Preparing himself to go and manage the other teams, Alter began to trot to the exit when he heard an annoying buzz come from his left ear. Turning around, he noticed a small changeling with green eyes and long, saber-like teeth. It didn't take a genius to know who this was and what was going to happen.
"Zzzzaalutations Alter," the changeling buzzed in that irritating, buzzing tone of his. It was common for a changeling to have a stuttering disorder during the earlier years of their life. But Alter and Shift had been spared of this, while most changelings who did have this got over it in the next month or so. However, this changeling still couldn't pronounce an "s" without making it sound like a "z".
Alter merely gave a groan before greeting the fellow changeling back. "Greetings Leech, I'm afraid all the positions have been already taken today."
"But Leech hazzzz exzzzzzelent plan Alter," Leech pleaded, his eyes locking with the Overseer's, "Leech now knowzzzz how to fix leak."
"Well that's very nice and all Leech, but I have to get to work and-"
"Leech can zzshow you if Alter want."
"NO DEAR CHRYSALIS!" Alter shrieked, causing a few nearby changelings to turn heads. Seeing as he was causing a scene, Alter took in a deep breath, his tone growing softer. "I'm sorry Leech, I just meant to say no. I mean...look at all the workers already. There isn't anything you can really do anyhow right?"
"But Leech can help!"
"Leech, I'm really sorry, but I have to manage B-Hive right now and I'm the only Overseer who can do it."
Leech drooped his head for a bit, as if wondering what else he could do to convince his Overseer to let him help. The truth was, however, that Alter had planned it so Leech could never help the maintenance crew.
Ever since the changelings had been transferred to his part of the nest, the accident rate sky-rocketed. In fact, many of his best workers, the one's willing to work with Leech, had been transferred to other jobs due to the state of their injuries.
But no matter how hard he tried, Alter could never get rid of Leech. The changeling wanted to help 24/7! He was a nice, kind-hearted worker, but he was too clumsy to be of any use. Rather, his clumsiness actually made him a hazard.
I wonder if he's responsible for this big crack in the ceiling too. It wouldn't be the first time Leech broke something on his own. Perhaps the changeling felt guilty about making the group work so hard on another area of the hive that he wanted to be of some assistance. Well Alter wasn't going to let it happen on his watch.
Eventually, Leech raised his head, his green eyes bright with excitement at his new idea. "Leech can help Overzzzeerrr with watching other workerzzz!"
"No Leech," Alter replied flatly, "you need to go through training to become an Overseer. It would go against the Queen's wishes if I let you manage the crew."
"Oh," Leech whispered, "then maybe Leech can help-"
"-Stay Right Here and Do Nothing!" Alter finished the sentence with enthusiasm, even though that was probably the last thing Leech had on his mind.
"No," Leech replied with an equal amount of enthusiasm, "Leech can go help Compound make the adhezzziiive!"
"Leech," Alter hissed, "Everyone is busy with their own jobs. They do not require any help at all. Now just stay right there like the good changeling you are and behave okay?"
"Okay Overzzeeerrr, Leech promizzed to be on hizz bezzz behavior. Leech will look out for more leakzzz!!"
"Good...good," Alter breathed in relief as he turned to trot off towards the other section.
-----
Meanwhile, Leech decided that a nearby crack was where two changelings were working. Looking around for another changeling to report to, Leech saw that everyone...as Alter had said...was busy.
"Leech will fix thizz problem himzzelf!"
------
Alter was overlooking another crack in the left wall of A-Hall. The workers around it were shuffling their hooves, their eyes avoiding his gaze as he talked to the leader of the gang.
"-and you're sure it just...popped out of nowhere?"
"Like magic!" changeling replied.
"Really now..." Alter's eyes turned to slits as he focused on the changeling in front of him.
"Yeah..." The changeling was sweating, his eyes dilating from left to right. "Or maybe it was an accident or something like that..."
Alter cocked an eyebrow, "What kind of accident?"
"The kind that breaks walls."
"Don't be lying to me now."
The changeling couldn't have perspired anymore. But against all odds, he managed to accomplish just that. "Well maybe we were being a bit reckless...but it wasn't like we were fighting or-"
"Was it a fight?"
"Yes-I mean NO! I mean...maybe?" The changeling was now in the shadow of a looming Alter.
"Were you two fighting again?"
The changeling finally looked down in defeat. "Yes, me and Rags over here threw a few hooves around and it got magical."
Alter gave each of the changelings a reprimanding look before speaking. "You know how much damage you two can cause when you're together. I mean, honestly, I can only warn you so many times. Don't do it again. What would have happened if someone got hurt?"
As if on cue, a high-pitched scream emanated from the south hallway, causing Alter to shift his attention. "Great, Now what?"
----
There were two changelings laying hunched over what had once been a new edifice used to cover the wall. Now, however, the edifice was merely a pile of rubble and the only changeling hovered over it was-
"Leech!" Alter howled.
Leech, already seeing the look on Alter's face, lowered his ears in embarrassment. As he did so, he could hear the other workers muttering things like "busted" and "He's going to get it". When Alter managed to reach Leech, the Overseer turned to the crowd gathered around him.
"What are you all looking at? Get back to work! Regal, what happened?"
The changeling laying over the ground managed to lift his head. "It...was...Leech," he moaned.
There were sighs and mutters of how obvious that was from the crowd that Alter had to turn to the group a second time to adress them. "Please, the best thing we can do for them is continue with our jobs. Now let's not cause a scene here."
He then turned to Leech, who had by now managed to stay eye-to-eye with him. "Leech izzzz very zzsoorrry. Leech thought he zzzaw crack in wall. Zzzzooo Leech wanted to fix-"
"Leech," Alter interrupted,"I told you to stay still and you disobeyed my direct order. Now look at what's happened. Two changelings are injured and we've been set back."
"But Leech wazzz helping-"
"Leech, you can't help! That's final!" Alter yelled, "How many times must I say this?"
In an instant, Leech's eyes began to expand into large spheres. As they grew, a stream of liquid could be seen excreting from his eyelids, causing them to shine in the dim light of the cavern.
"Now Leech," Alter said in a warning tone, "don't go puppy dog eyes on me."
Leech merely responded by expanding his eyes even more, his ears hung so low that it was touching his neck.
"Le-Leech sto-stop-" Alter warned, "don't do this now Leech. I'm warning you."
A series of soft whimpers began to emanate from the drone's body. Alter sighed, for there was no use in trying to withstand Leech's stare.
"Oh how can I resist that face!"
If there was ever a weakness for Alter, it was cuteness. Anytime there was a hatchling in his midst, he would break down and begin to make dawww' sounds until Shift slapped some sense into him. Now, Leech was using his best weapon on him. And it was quite effective.
Taking in a sigh, Alter looked around to see if there was something Leech could do that wouldn't cause any injuries to himself or to his crew. After scanning for a moment or two, he found Boxer loading some rocks onto a jet-back wagon.
"You can go and help Boxer unload the rocks," he mumbled with a defeated look in his eyes.
As quickly as it had appeared, Leech's sad expression morphed into one of utter bliss. His fanged grin spread over like some messed-up cave entrance, he locked the Overseer in a bear hug.
"Thank you Overzzeeerr, Leech promizezz to be the bezz rock loader there izzz!"
And with that, Leech scampered off in the direction of Boxer, who by now was giving Alter the kind of look that said, "You're going to regret this." But Alter couldn't help himself. After all, he was allergic to cuteness and Leech was the only changeling he knew that could pull it off.
Walking back towards the hall, Alter began to hum a tune to himself. Most changelings didn't listen to much music when they were in the hive, but Alter's Big Sister wouldn't allow either brother to grow up without listening to some tribal tunes from their very own hive. On top of these tunes, she would also bring a couple of records from Equestria to share with the brothers as well.
Currently, he was humming an Equestrian tune, his mind wandering off from his work. As he walked, he could see that production was at it's best. So far, no more mishaps had occurred and it looked like the day was going to end early.
Smiling to himself, Alter continued to trot down the hallway. Suddenly, there was a shout and a shriek. Pausing to listen in, Alter detected a low rumble coming from up above the slope he was now traversing on. The ground below his feet began to shake, causing him to nearly lose balance.
"What the-"
Turning around, his eyes widened in horror as an avalanche of rocks tumbled towards him. Other changelings managed to dodge the landslide. However, Alter knew he could not escape. It was a dead end and even if he tried to fly, there were stalactites that stood in his way.
All he could do was stand straight and close his eyes. But as the stones engulfed his form, he managed to utter one last word.
"LEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
-----
Shifter was running down the hall, finally being free at last to transfer his shift over to Fergon. As he zipped past the halls, he could see other changelings flying overhead to return to their resting chambers.
Perfect. If all the workers had finished their rounds, then that meant Alter would already be home ahead of him. He couldn't wait to go out on their late-night expedition. Alter had gotten some extra bits from Transparence the day before and the two were planning on buying a new game to try out for the month ahead.
As much as he liked Tartarus Rises, Shift was getting bored with the repetition. It was always the same monster and group of minions. Eventually, he had completed the campaign two times in the last month or so. He needed a new game or he'd go insane before the invasion even began.
All around him, the hustle and bustle of the hive continued as it always did. Changelings were sitting around several large pillars of crystal, taking in the love stored within them. Others were simply getting home, preparing for another rest and day of work.
At last, Shift reached his chamber and barreled right in.
"Alter I'm home!"
Silence. Looking around, Shift tried to spot his brother. Sometimes Alter would fall asleep early, or even try to scare him by hiding. However, from what he could see, the place was just as he left it. The coltputers were still lying on the boulders while a TV, Ponystation 3, and HoofBox 360 laid idly by on the floor, their cables plugged into the vents.
"Alter!" Shift cried out, "show yourself you crazy hooligan."
As the silence continued, Shift sighed and decided to lay on a slab of stone, his eyes dwindling in random day dreams as he counted the seconds away.
------
He looked at the time crystal, where the seconds now stretched into minutes. Eventually the minutes stretched to an hour. Shift was on the verge of boredom, his eyes drooping in and out as he waited for his brother to get home.
Another half-hour passed. Shifter decided to give his brother a few more minutes. Finally, there was the buzz of wings and Shift turned around, eyes flaring. "Where have you been-"
He paused in mid-sentence, his eyes regarding the bandaged mess that was his brother. Alter had a cast over on hind-leg and one front leg. His carapace was wrapped in gauze, and a patch was tied neatly over his left eye.
"Sick bay?"
"Yep."
"Work?"
"Leech..." Alter growled, his body limping towards the rock slab they called a sofa. Carefully positioning himself, the changeling managed to sit comfortably, his eyes still burning with unrelenting rage.
"Let me guess," Shift said in his sarcastic tone, "Leech managed to convince you to give him a job and you tried to give him the one that you figured would be the safest job in the whole crew. However, even though the task was relatively simple, Leech still managed to mess it up and injure you and a couple of changelings."
"Pretty much." Alter hissed, his eyes focused on the blank TV screen.
Shift adjusted his weight to watch the screen with him, his eyes slowly raising brows as the seconds continued. "What are you looking at?"
"This screen would be on and we would be playing games by now if it hadn't been for today," Alter finally replied, "I can't believe we missed our chance to-"
"Don't sweat it mate," Shift assured, "so you messed up a bit. Doesn't matter in my opinion. I like Leech anyhow. We'll go by the swarm and pick something up tomorrow okay?"
Alter turned to his brother and gave a smirk. "Deal." And with that, both changelings did a bro-hoof before settling in their resting berths.
"Hey Shift," Alter whispered in the stillness of the night, "I didn't tell you what the good thing about getting injured was."
"What?" Shift yawned.
"I get the day off tomorrow."
Field Duty Sucks/ Let's Play Dance Dance Revolution
A week had passed and the invasion was becoming more and more of a realization. The hatchlings had hatched, the swarm was beginning the training of the last batch, and everyone was quite sure that mutants, maintenance workers, and even Leech would be necessary in this upcoming battle.
However, for the time being, Shift and Alter were busy scheming their next plan for obtaining a game. For all intensive purposes, they were getting bored. They needed something new, other then Tartarus Rises. After Alter had injured himself, the two had spent the last week playing the game to level 150, where you got all the items and had the option to restart. Well it was safe to say they were at the point of ripping each other's throats off.
"Shift! Alter!" came the barking command of their Centurion through the Hive Chat. Instantly, the two brothers rushed to the call, their hooves raised in a salute. "Shift and Alter here."
The Centurion gave a sigh before he started eyeing each of them. For a good minute or so, it was silent except for the shuffle of the instructor and the creaks and groans of the cave. However, the Centurion merely continued to survey each detail about them before sighing once more and settling back in the stance he had maintained earlier.
"General Flint would like to see you two."
For a moment, Shift was going to ask why when Alter nudged him in the shell, his eyes darting towards the entrance ahead. Mumbling to himself, Shift unwillingly followed his brother to the entrance, where a changeling in blue, ebony-plated, armor stood over a mass of what looked to be two memory crystals.
"Your files say you two are in your prime," the general casually mentioned without looking up, "and I must say, it seems quite a surprise to all of us as to what you two do with your time."
"Well," Shift began, "we're hard workers. We do work. And well...work doesn't always let us-"
"I mean becoming Big Brothers, both of you."
The two changelings froze, unsure of what to say. They were hoping to avoid something like this. Taking care of a hatchling wasn't only dangerous, it was outright messed up! They wouldn't survive ten seconds foal-sitting a changeling hatchling. Why, the mere thought as to what it would do if it ever got in their dwelling was-
"Shift! Alter!" Flint barked, clearly annoyed.
The two changelings got out of their trance-like state to pay heed to the General before them. "Yes sir," Alter said, "I've been thinking and me and my brother agree that taking care of a changeling is way out of our range and-"
"It isn't about what's within or out of your range Alter," Flint said with a irritated tone, "now I know we're all family here at the swarm, and that you and Shift are basically twins born of the same egg, but you two need to realize that eventually, responsibility comes first. With the invasion at hand, we haven't had as many volunteers as necessary. Now every other changeling is doing their part, so why won't you?"
"Because we can't!" Shift cried.
"Because you won't." Flint corrected him. "Listen, I understand following in your Big Sister's hoof steps is difficult to say the least, but we need every changeling to at least try. Most of the soldiers in the military are already too busy to care for their own little sisters and brothers. We need you now rather then later to-"
"Listen," Alter sighed, "me and Shift aren't equipped to handle that kind of responsibility. I don't think we'll be able to handle that responsibility for a long time, and we just want to do anything else but try to raise a hatchling on our own."
Flint merely stared at them. It wasn't a hateful stare. Moreover it was one of sadness. "Fine, but you two still have field duty. If you'll follow Transparence, you two will get suited with your identities."
The brothers made a salute and departed towards the entrance. Not two seconds in, Transparence materialized in front of them, her stare causing both changelings to jump. Grumbling to themselves, the brothers exchanged heated glances toward the elite drone.
"Don't pop up on us like that," Shift growled, "you nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Well I'm sorry," replied Transparence sarcastically, "but I've been waiting for an hour so we need to get you guys set up pronto."
"What's going on?" Alter asked.
"Well if you must know," Transparence hissed, "you two forgot you were on field duty again! And now the High-General will have my bottom unless-"
Shift nearly choked on his saliva at the words "High-General". Double had a reputation for being concise about every single movement in the swarm. Despite the apparent election of a new position, not much else had changed the new system being imposed upon them.
Without even bothering to salute, the two brothers rushed to the barracks, a single, chamber with few stalactites but plenty of boulders to make it the ideal hiding place. As they entered, several heads darted their way, giving off despicable glances. They were all part of the Big Brother and Big Sister program in the hive. In fact, everyone except Shift and Alter were in the Big Brother and Big Sister program!
"Sorry we're late," Alter managed to blurt, stopping to catch his breath. Shift, on the other hoof, was only gasping and sending back equally hated glances towards the crowd. They didn't seem to care however, content with aiming their attention to Transparence as she stood to inform the troops.
"Field duty again brothers and sisters."
There was the common sigh that was given off by the changelings gathered around the chamber, a tradition rooted into the past. After all, "field duty" was another way of saying "community service". It benefited the swarm as a whole, but no one ever really wanted to do it. Scratch that, there are those few psychopaths and maniacs who devote themselves to long periods of field duty. The usual result is meeting a pony, finding peace, trying to leave the swarm, and then supposedly "living happily ever after".
Shift thought of the idea of traitors like any other swarm member: victims to their own decisions. Alas, if these maniacs didn't spend all their time stealing love on extra extra field duty service, they would have seen what a wonderful world the hive was.
Budget cuts had reduced the armor production and ebony ore veins were becoming harder and harder to find. There may have been tension within the ranks. But they did have social events. Dances, market places, schools, and the Big Brother/ Big Sister program which was mandatory to any changeling not ordained as a Centurion or higher.
Anyway...getting back to the point....Transparence continued to adress the swarm.
"We're going to Bucksberry for this operation. We'll stay for the weekend, gather as much love as we can, and get out without leaving a trace. You will find your field assignments right over there." She gestured her hoof to a stack of leaves neatly piled on a boulder.
As Shift and Alter skimmed through the pages, they fell upon two interesting characters. One was a pegasus guard called Whirl Wing and another was a unicorn shopkeeper called Erasmus. Perfect.
Perhaps the most remarkable feature of a changeling is the ability to instantly and easily transform themselves, bending bones and features, and sometimes even genders, to make a perfect copy of their form. However, memories and other such personality traits were harnessed and built upon. A skilled operator could glance at a pony's photo and instantly know everything about how they acted around others. Usually the rest came from the files.
As Shift and Alter scanned their forms, other changelings were vanishing in green flames, replaced by a motley array of townsponies, guards, mayors, bakers, wizards, and even farmers. Each one would then be teleported via teleportation crystals five miles out of the residence, into the nearest cave, where they would then proceed to their residence and act out the part.
The changelings were now reassembled into their "town groups", each being sent to a different section of town. As Alter and Shift made their way to the town of Bucksberry, they couldn't help but imagine what games laid ahead of them.
%%%%
"We need to get the pre-orderd copy of Haylo 4," Shift began as they passed the old, discarded sign of Bucksberry county. "I mean think of it, we'd be pwning noobs like there was no tomorrow..."
"Unless you count work." Alter corrected him.
"Well after work, I mean come on, you remember how great the Haylo series was..."
"Was." Alter knew his brother to be an avid lover of FPS, First Pony Shooters, but it was still rather monotonous not to mention incredibly stupid regarding the group of gamers who played such various games. It wasn't that he necessarily hated them, it was just that they got on his nerves. And in his mind, anypony who got on his nerves wasn't worth playing with.
"What's wrong with Haylo?" Shift tilted his head in confusion.
"It's starting to lose it," Alter explained, "I mean I loved the story and all, but it was just slowly deteriorating over time. Some of the stuff I heard about the new game sounds more like Colt of Duty then anything else. I just don't think we should-"
"Blasphemy!" Shift cried out, "how dare you insult Haylo! That game was legendary and you know it! When we start playing Haylo 4, we'll be up all night, non-stop! I assure you on my right-wing that this is going to be..."
All teams split up! came the command from the Hive Chat. Reluctantly, both changelings split in different directions, each dreading the next few days apart from each other.
%%%%%
Erasmus was indeed an odd shopkeeper. His shop, unlike what either brother had expected, was filled with various antiques and old artifacts, buried under a clutter of dusty tomes and peculiar gems. Clearly this guy is not the modern clerk I was hoping for.
Here and there, pots and pans held priceless jewels, odd statues, and tokens from foreign lands. Some were made of simple, but sweet-smelling wood. Zebras. Others, were reinforced with stainless steel, but surprisingly light when lifted. Griffins.Then scattered around were various preserved herbs and incense that he figured was used for some sort of ritual. However, his quest for items also brought him to collect some changeling resin. Perhaps it explains his proximity to the changeling outpost here.
As Alter rummaged through one of the drawers he suddenly noticed a gleam coming from the bedroom. Upon entering it, he managed to fetch the item out of the tangled mess of beads and various braids. It was an amulet, crafted with a blood-red ruby in the center. What appeared to be an alicorn peered over the top, its gleaming eyes gazing hungrily up at him. The mere aura emanating from the amulet was contagious. If he could just. No.Alter shoved the amulet back in the drawer. Clearly it was hidden for a purpose, perhaps to prevent anypony else from suffering its effects.
Other then that, none of the other objects attracted much interest from the changeling. Most of the stuff around him was just useless junk and odd little trinkets. Although the shopkeeper probably made some bits off this junk considering he was still in business.
%%%%
Shift looked at his armor and sighed. Although Equestria was known for its blacksmithing, and the armor was indeed worthy of enterprise, he knew it still belonged to somepony else. Changeling smithing had fallen from grace during the recession and budget cuts. In the good old days, almost every changeling had some helmet to protect them when going to war. Now, you'd only see such honor bestowed upon a general or High-General.
Yet, he was being a guard for the day and he might as well live up to it. As he headed for the bright red jail for Bucksberry, a white stallion suddenly barged out, his legs wobbly and a bottle of cider gripped firmly in one hoof.
"Oy," he slurred, "where 'ave you been? I'veeeee ben waiting for th'ee hou's"
The stallion was significantly drunk, probably even more then that. Also, his inability to pronounce r's would make it hard to understand half the stuff he spat at him.
"Well?" The stallion managed to pronounce clearly.
How to act? How to act? Shift was scared out of his mind. He didn't know what to do at all. Perhaps it was best to play the part of the guard for this introduction. Gruff and easily tempered, which admittedly, is something Shift is very good at.
"Shut your trap and don't forget to recycle that bottle," Shift barked, "I was checking a disturbance in the woods and thought better that you guard while I investigate."
"We 'ad a distu'bance?" the stallion asked, one eye half closed," 'eckon I better check myself next time."
"Well regardless I'm tired and don't need you to be buckin around okay?"
The stallion raised his hooves in mock surrender. "I didn' 'ean 'o ha'm, calm down." And with that he turned and promptly fell on his bottom, snoring as loud as an ursa major. Shift heaved a sigh and proceeded to move the stallion's body to a nearby brown, and rather dirty, sofa.
Then Shift proceeded to take the time to relax on his own, feeling a soreness in his joints. He wasn't much for being an advocate for Alter's opinion, but he had to give the changeling some credit. As much as he hated to say it, he wished that Haylo 4 had improved, especially since it was formed from ponies working in the original company that originally published it. But now, he wasn't so sure if this new release was leading Haylo to a brighter or darker future. After all, this was the first independent game, not a recreation of a classic, but a real, new, continuation to what Shift considered to be one of the best games in the history of FPS. Who was he kidding, Haylo was what got him into FPS. It was because of Haylo that he got into Counter-Strike, Colt of Duty, and much much more.
As he sat by the couch, re-thinking his choices, a pearly white earth pony mare with green eyes, and in full armor, came from the corridor adjacent to him. "I see you're back, and that old Rusty took one too many."
"Perhaps three too many," Shift commented, "so what's the news?"
"Not much," the mare said, "although word is that there was a threat made on Canterlot recently."
Shift already knew very well who and how the threat was made. Chrysalis wasn't one for theatrics, but apparently she had a grudge against Celestia for who knows how long. It was only when the hive was finally running on broken cogs that the decision was made to even plan for this invasion, although a large sum of love would have to be gathered for the troops in case of a backfire.
"Hey, are you joining us?"
Shift nearly gulped in anxiety. He had been trained to act like he was suffering from amnesia, but under these circumstances it seemed rather odd."Uhhhh sure?"
"Well then come on, the foals already got it set up in the back."
Slowly, Shift followed the mare down the corridor to a tiny, dark-lit room where two other guards were standing over a small TV, two pads being folded out over the disheveled floor. As Shift's eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw that the pads were grey in color, with 4 arrows pointing in various directions. Glowing from the TV screen, he saw the title emblazoned like a neon rainbow.
"Dance Dance Revolution!" one of the guards cheered.
Oh shoot. Shift wasn't one to back away from challenged, but Dance Dance Revolution was his bane of existence.Taking in a deep breath, the changeling simply grinned, trying to act as much the part as he could think of.
"So Whirl Wing, you wanna give it a go?" the mare challenged, "Let's see the star in motion eh?"
So his pegasus was a pro at this game, considering that Dance Dance Revolution was the only form of entertainment for three hundred miles in this town. Shift was sweating profusely, his eyes darting from side to side. However, his "comrades" merely excused it to the fact he may have lost some practice.
"Oh come on Whirl Wing," another guard chided, "you were the one who asked us to set this thing up! I'd rather be playing Colt of Duty: Foal Ops right now."
Shift would have asked for a change in game, but that would break character. Well I suppose I might get some luck. "Alright," Shift said in as intimidating a voice he could manage, "I hope you're ready. Cause I'm gonna bring the THUNDER!"
With that he trotted up to the pad and began to pound his hoof on the down pad. As he scrolled down the list, he could see both familiar and unfamiliar tunes that may or may not ensure success. It was now just a matter of which one he would choose.
By now, Alter had scoured the shop, searching for anything that might give indication to a device made in the last century. Sadly, his search was in vain. Erasmus was an antique, just like his products. With a sigh, Alter leaned in an old rocking chair, letting it rock him to sleep.
CRASH!
By the time he got to the third rock, the chair collapsed in a heap of splinters and dust. Brushing the debris off himself, Alter swore under his breath and continued to observe his surroundings. An old grandfather clock was on the far side of the wall, half buried under a humble of junk and trinkets.
Odd how it's placed in a corner of the shop. Alter would have expected it to have been placed in a more, well, significant space. The clock was clearly the jewel in the buyer's eye. However, it seemed to deter anypony from buying by the simple fact of how much stuff was trapping it in the corner.
Suddenly, Alter froze, his eyes directed at the clock. It was too noticeable. Erasmus' bio said he was an avid collector, but also a braggart of his shop. It helped him raise the value on knick-knacks to the occasional customer who had little knowledge on Equestrian culture. On top of that, he was paranoid. Alter moved towards the clock, knocking off some of the items blocking his hooves to get a better view of the clock.
Sure enough, a golden latch immediately appeared. Alter grinned as he applied pressure to the latch and a tiny squeak indicated the secret compartment had opened. Going towards it, he saw to his amazement that...
"It's a box!"
But not just any box. Scrawled onto the cardboard surface, the letters barely made out "GAME BOX". Carefully pulling the box out, Alter opened it to find nothing other then.
"A variety of the latest games?"
Among the games were also receipts for pre-ordered copies and other such items. The fact however, was why did an old nag have all this video game contraband locked away in a grandfather clock. As Alter dug through the receipts and sealed covers, he saw a tiny journal with the words "Notes" stenciled in.
Taking it out, he leafed through the pages to find out that Erasmus had been so curious as to buy a ton of games for no good reason.
Entry 1
It may seem odd to the common eye to see such a collection bestowed before you. However, I guarantee this will be of no big surprise. I am conducting research on the odd fascination of video games. Alas, I had planned on getting some of these so called "consoles" but I ran out of bits. While having the promise of a hefty sum from a peculiar unicorn with a queue-styled mane, I still advise against selling him the Alicorn Amulet. It is too valuable and far too dangerous to a merchant who has only interest in profit. However, getting back on track, most of the gamers in this town are in-doors and unavailable for interview. However, with these games, and hopefully some profit on the changeling resin I will be collecting tomorrow, I shall have enough to conduct personal experimentation with video games and see their effects on me. Course it wasn't what was intended, but nopony in the town wants to be a guinea pig and so I must work with what I have. I've collected a large collection of games, keeping them in their prime in case the experiment fails and I must sale all these in the far, far future. Anyhow, I did manage to "pre-order" as they say. Anyhow, it was quite simple according to the cashier. I can go to any game store, turn in this paper and have my game brought to me. Simple as pie if I must add. Alas, I will save the rest of this journal for gaming reviews and what not. Tally ho!
Alter slammed the book shut, shaking his head in disbelief. Gaming Culture was not old enough for archaeological minds to delve into, and yet here was Erasmus, an old freak who bought more games then a colt with a rich mother. And indeed Erasmus must have saved dearly for this collection. Every game that he could have imagined was in here. Oh the choices were immeasurable at the moment. If only he could borrow it and just use it for the-
"No," Alter shouted to himself, "I would risk discovery if I took this back to the hive."
But then again, his mind whispered What's Chrysalis gonna know? She's too busy with that invasion of hers to care about what's happening in the swarm. Perhaps you could...well...borrow this. Old Erasmus had memory loss and could easily fall into self-doubt. Perhaps he had already forgotten about this anyway. All you have to do is take the games, cover up for a while and no one would know any better.
Alter couldn't do it. It was one thing to steal love, but it was-. Hold on a second, we're already parasites as it is. Stealing love and ruining lives is a part of our nature. So what if I take a little extra on the side?
Alter grinned at this thought, and began to heave the box back to the bedroom of Erasmus. When the time came, he would bring the box along with him, vanishing into the night. And then, he and Shift would have an unimaginable supply of games to last them a life time. Or a good year at least.
Shift dreaded that song in particular. In fact, he utterly hated anything that had to do with that song. But Shift wasn't known for being a coward. So, stepping up to the mat, he slammed his hoof and the song began to play.
"Get ready!" the screen proclaimed exuberantly.
On the other side, the mare had locked eyes with Shift as he did with her. He wasn't going to let a mare beat him. No, he was the master. The overlord. The one who conquered forty dungeons with nothing more then a bottle of love and his brother's snores to accompany him. On top of that, he had done it silently, swearing under his breath every time the Utheden Troll used it's Twelve Tongues of Fury Hammer on his character at 2 HP.
"Hope your ready Whirl Wing."
"I was born ready," Shift wanted to add something else, but thought better of it. Getting into the zone too slowly always had drawbacks. He needed his full concentration on the game, not on his competition.
"START!"
There was an outcry of yelling, laughter, and teasing as the two remaining guards cheered Shift on. Apparently, they had their bits on him. Shuffling his hooves, Shift twisted and turned to catch each arrow at the exact time. For now, however, his side of the screen was showing "ok's" and "miss". On the other side, the mare was getting "perfect" and her bar was showing it.
"Shoot!" Shift swore under his breath, pounding his hooves to get all the buttons. Alas, it wasn't working and he could see his performance slowly lower with it.
His hooves were coordinated for frontal assault, and so he was continuously having the problem of stomping on the frontal pad with two hooves instead of one, while his hind legs shuffled to and fro around the other three. Sweat began to pour down his face. The beat was getting faster and faster.
He was going to fail. He was going to lose and suffer the feeling of defeat. Charging himself, he cried out loud and suddenly, before even he could stop himself, shape-shifted. In another moment, the guard was replaced with an eight-legged spider who was hastily trying to simultaneously hit all arrows at once.
"AHHHHHHH!!!" A guard screamed in terror. The mare had by now stopped and brought her hind hooves up in defense. "Sweet Celestia! We got a changeling in here!"
Shift froze when he noticed how he may have emotionally transformed in front of a ton of guards. In another green flash he was back to Whirl Wing. "What are you talking about, it's me Whirl Wing!?"
The mare merely responded with a buck into Shift's chest.
Alter had tried to sleep earlier, but alas it was proving to be harder then expected. Getting up with a yawn, he decided to take a stroll into the night, and probably visit some store that sold pretzels. Oh how he loved pretzels. The cinnamon ones were the best. The sugar-coated goodness, the warm interior that made your heart soar. He was one who ate food for the enjoyment, as love sometimes wasn't enough and besides, the taste became bland after a while.
The streets seemed to be filled with ponies rushing to and fro, lanterns in-between their teeth like reins. Here and there, a guard would rush by and eventually, Alter heard a shriek from an adjacent red building near his shop.
"What nonsense could be going on at this hour?" he pondered.
Shift managed to get himself off the violet red mare was she backed into an array of trash cans. Before he could stop her, the mare was suddenly covered in the cities' local grime and gup. The stench that emanated off her was unbearable and Shift gagged.
"Get back changeling!" the mare screamed before running off into the streets, screaming hysterically for the guards to rescue her.
"Oh to Tartarus with you, nag!" Shift howled, "for the love of Chrysalis these ponies are a bunch of sissies. No wonder the only game they're good at is Dance Dance Revo-"
"SHIFT!"
The changeling turned around to see a rather elderly brown pony wearing owl-rimmed spectacles and donning a white beard. "What the heck are you doing here?"
Shift crossed his hooves, eyes suddenly becoming interested in how many holes he could count. Alter grabbed his brother's head and pulled it up to meet eye to eye. "WHAT. THE. BUCK. HAPPENED?"
"I may have... accidentally transformed in front of a couple of guards..."
Alter facehoofed himself so hard he groaned in pain. "You idiot! How the buck did you manage that? What the buck happened!"
"I was playing Dance Dance Revolution and-"
"You were playing Dance Dance Revolution? Shift! You know what that does to you!"
"But I had to act the part-"
"Toughlove! You could easily have avoided it!"
"But I'm a true gamer Alter! You know how I never resist a challenge!"
Alter slapped his brother in the face, his form reverberating in a green flash. Soon, two changelings were staring at each other, both with heated stares. "Because of you! This whole operation may have just been jeopardized!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The high-pitched squeal of a mare alerted both Alter and Shift to turn around and face a pair of guards, their horns glowing with magical energy. Judging from the fact that they were positioned in a dead end, and that at any moment the guards could fire whatever spell they were casting, Shift decided now was the best time to practice Plan B in changeling field work.
Shift, what are you talking about? Alter hissed on the hive chat.
Relax, I got this, Plan B never fails.
Alter's face was now contorting with rage. SHIFT! THERE IS NO BUCKING PLAN B!
Shift merely shrugged, his personal way of saying that he wasn't paying anymore heed to his brother's overreactive dramatization. Meanwhile, one of the guard's stepped up, his horn glowing a bright green as he spoke in his gruff, stern tone."You better have a good reason why I shouldn't just blow your head off right now changeling."
"Ummmmm," Shift gulped, "because, we are, ummmmm, salesponies!"
Sales-what!? Alter glared at his brother. Everyone was listening now, hearing the argument between the two brothers as if they were broadcasting it to the entire world in some very cheesy sitcom.
"Salesponies?" the guard mumbled, "and just why in the name of Celestia would you expect me to believe that?"
"Because it's true!" Shift cried aloud, although his mind was already doing somersaults in the vain effort to find explanations. He hadn't anticipated this kind of mess to happen. Alas, he usually didn't have this problem. Most of the time, he was able to disguise himself as a pony in a fairly normal, or non-competitive setting. Morpheus was the one who always got chased out, his flank being torched before he flew off faster then a pegasus late for a Wonderbolts game.
"Well, you see," Shift began to look up at the sky, as if the stars had an answer. "Well we-we left the hive."
"Left the hive eh?" the guard said sarcastically, causing some of his partners to chuckle. "You just-" he lifted his hooves to demonstrate-"got up one day and said 'Hey! Let's leave and be salesponies and deceive a ton of guards while playing DDR!'"
Shift blushed in embarrassment while his brother grew a deep crimson red. If Shift did get out of this, and managed to explain to Transparence and his Queen why he failed, he would still have to deal with his brother. Alter, I'm gonna need some help? Did that shopkeeper by any chance have any odd looking artifacts?
Alter nodded, replying to his brother in their Hivechat. Yes, in fact you could say he has enough to open a museum on Useless Knick Knacks.
Shift gave a sly grin. In that case when I say the codeword "cure" you just teleport one of those thingys to me ok?
Alter gave his brother a dumbstruck look. I can't just teleport!
Perhaps I can help Another voice chimed in. It didn't take a genius to recognize Transparence when she was addressing her soldiers. You continue with your little charade. I want to see where this goes.
Shift took in a deep breath, for he had two things to worry about now. "Well, don't you want to know what we're selling?"
"Entertain us..." one of the guards growled.
Shift took a step forward, before flashing into a gargantuan hydra. Half the guards squealed in horror while the other half pulled up their spears, eyes glinting with rage. "Get back changeling!"
Before a single tip penetrated Shift's skin, the changeling flashed back to his normal form. "As you can see, you guys were pretty scared by that right?"
"Buck you!" a voice screamed from the back. Some of the guards murmured in agreement. Despite the large, golden helmets, most of the guards didn't look all too intimidating. Most of them had skinny hooves or chunky bodies, something that a changeling would know about.
"Well then my question is 'How does Equestria's Finest prepare themselves for an encounter with such a rare and gruesome creature?'" Most of the guards shrugged, some said a spear or a spell, while another said he'd just buck it in the face.
"Well gentlecolts and mares," Shift proclaimed slyly, "I have the cure!" With another flash a brown necklace suddenly formulated out of thin air, causing a few stallions to give "oos" and "ahhs." It was carved out of oak wood, and fashioned in the odd shape of a banana.
"This," Shift proudly announced, "is the Intimidator 3000!"
However, most of the guards gave Shift doubtful glances at the wooden trinket. "That thing looks about as intimidating as my granny's mystery casserole!" Some of the guards chuckled at the comment, causing Shift to narrow his eyes once more.
"Don't allow your eyes to be deceived!" Shift once again shouted in his orator's voice, "this priceless antique will make any monster of Equestria cringe in fear. Why in fact, I too am cringing in fear!"
Cringe in fear Alter.
After darting one more hateful glance at his brother, Alter began to back off, moaning like some zombie who lost himself in the woods for the 100th time.
The guards were all now nodding in agreement, perhaps at the antique's power. "You see gentlecolts! This amulet is by far invincible-"
"If it wasn't pilfered from Erasmus' shop!" a stallion shouted back.
Shift stared blankly at the source of the voice. "Why, you dare call me a liar? And a thief? I've never heard such scandalous insults in my life!"
"Save it for the dungeon," the guard in front growled, "you two are both coming with me."
Well it looks like Plan B failed.
Shift was now backing away, his eyes widening in fear. "Oh shoot. Oh shoot. Oh shoot."
"Time for Plan C?" Alter suggested, his horn already glowing.
"Yeah," Shift growled, "Let's-"
"RUN AWAAAAAYYYYYY!!!"
And with that Alter took off like a rocket, dodging the flashes of bright blue energy as they chased him across the night sky. Shift merely watched for a good ten seconds before screaming. "ALTER! You insolent peace of resin you! This is why we can't have nice things! You always leave me to do the fighting and then loot them like some bucking mage in a magic shop."
There was a momentary silence before the guards resumed their steady trot forward. "Don't move a sec-" But before they could finish their sentence, there was a green flash followed by a loud boom. Guards were thrown in all directions, flying over houses and startled ponies. Even Shift was pushed into the wall, his head whizzing as he attempted to regain consciousness. The sound of hay sizzling on a frying pan was followed by the insane cackle of a very familiar Trottingham accent.
"Guess whose BUCKING BACK!?" Shift could only shake his head, already regretting this entire night, "For the love of Chrysalis please don't tell me it's him!" As if on cue, a jet-black changeling emerged from the smoke, his eyes bright and his fin still giving off green puffs of smoke. "How's it going Shift? Alter said you needed an ally and well..." The changeling raised his hooves in mock praise, "...HERE I AM! Morpheus Bloom, you're future hero extraordinair! Anyhow, I was wondering if you had that copy of Daring Do-"
A purple blast of energy whizzed past Morpheus' head, causing the changeling to duck as the brick wall behind them collapsed in a torrent of bricks, clay, and tomes. "Well call me a lovestuck toad, that was close-"
Shift grabbed the annoying changeling by his ear and dashed through the new exit as magical blasts grazed their carapaces, causing the roof to fall over and form a blockade. The inside of the building appeared to be the remnants of a former library, the books scattered all over the floor. Inside, Alter was already waiting. Shift merely shoved past his brother.
Alter grinned and gave a laugh, "What? Can't accept that fact that you may have a good friend watching out for you?" Shift had to admit the idea was grand, as Morpheus was the master of escaping with style, if you considered style a heart-wrenching experience of magical blasts, 5000 bits in property damage, as well as a couple of agonizing wounds in the morning.
"Well Morpheus," Shift hissed, "what's the plan?" At this, Morpheus flopped his ears down, playing with his hooves as he stared at the floor. "Well I-"
"Don't tell me that you just broke your cover without-"
"IT WAS A SPUR OF THE MOMENT SHIFT!" Morpheus cried out, "I don't do escort missions!"
Shifter had to admit Morpheus Bloom had just come out of the bloom, no pun intended, and that if he had anytime at all for devising an escape plan, it was going to involve some sort of shootout. The three changelings stood huddled in the library, their ears straining to hear the sounds of hooves clashing on cobbled pavement. They were surrounded on all sides.
"Well this is brilliant," Shift cried sarcastically, "what's the next part of your master plan Morpheus?" The changeling gave Shift a menacing glare before trotting towards a wooden desk near the library's grand window. Rummaging through the bottom drawer, he produced several bottles of ink, paper, and duct tape. Then with a quick kick from his hind legs, he reduced the desk to kindle, taking the two legs with him.
"Alright," Morpheus explained, laying all the supplies on the wooden floor before the brothers, "here's Plan Ink-rony as I like to call it. This library has a bell tower we can use to sneak away without much trouble-"
"Wait," Shift interrupted, "how do you even expect that to work? I mean we can't just expect them to leave us alone after we make a hasty escape."
Morpheus moved his hoof to silence the changeling, "In a minute! I'm getting to that. So, to make sure we aren't followed, I've devised some distraction we can use to keep them occupied.
Although the light was barely adequate enough to illuminate the room, Morpheus' grin was visible enough to cause Alter and Shift to cock their heads in confusion.
Glisten Mane was watching the red-brick building like a hawk. The brown stallion had assembled a sizable force of thirty mares and colts to make a 30-yard radius around the building. There was now way the changelings could escape. In the morning, he would file the incident to Princess Celestia. The recent strings of changeling activity could indicate possible movements from the south, and if they didn't react, Equestria could be harmed.
As he trotted down the road, he made a turn for Erasmus' shop. It was apparent the changelings had been there, presumably to retrieve an artifact that the old collector must have stumbled upon. There was no doubt in his mind that Erasmus made enemies on a daily basis. Not only was he responsible for theft in three cities, but he also had a knack for selling it all at absurd prices that no pony in their right mind would pay. The only reason the shopkeeper thrived on anything was because of the herbs he collected and the retirement plan he received when he taught in Manehattan University.
The shop was locked, but a slight click broke the flimsy device and the door swung open. Everything appeared to be in order. The knick-knacks were still in their spots, no real disturbance other then on the bed and a few of Erasmus' personal belongings. Sighing, the guard closed the door and went to meet up with the patrol.
"Are you ready?" Morpheus seemed to be counting his hooves, making sure that his recent skirmish hadn't added any new ones.
"How do we know they're coming, Morpheus?" Alter checked the back, as if fearing for the life of him it wouldn't collapse in a torrent of angry unicorns.
"Trust me," Morpheus answered solemnly, his eyes glazed over as if he was in some kind of demented trance,"they're coming."
And with that, the changeling expertly-or rather cinematically (you know what, this is Morpheus we're talking about so just forget about how he kicks a door open because it isn't anything grand)- kicked the door(oh shoot spoiler alert...) open. Rushing past the winding pillar of stairs, the three eventually came to a halt, pushing past the wooden door that led to the bell tower. A gust of cold air blew past them as they all let out an involuntary shiver.
The top of the bell tower did leave an amazing view of the town. Alter gaped at the view, where tiny little huts and two story houses were still dark, the last gleams of light fading into the black. Ahead, Luna's magnificent night sky shined with the brightness of millions of stars.
"Talk about a view," Morpheus commented, his eyes absorbing each constellation.
Shift and Alter rolled their eyes, "Stop day dreaming about Princess Luna and help us out of here." They had spoken this statement simultaneously. Changeling twins, or those born from the same egg, usually had a knack for sensing if one was in trouble, but they also had a knack for saying the same thought simultaneously as well, a rare occurrence.
Morpheus stuck his tongue out. "Let's just get this over with. I don't need Chrysalis to start pulling my fin out again for this one!"
He motioned to the edge, where already several guards were forming a perimeter. It was evident that they were still distracted, but it would only take a few minutes before they realized they had been deceived. Taking in a deep breath, the twins turned to their current savior. "Morpheus if you buck this-"
"You can sit here and complain or you can haul flank and follow me." Morpheus laid out their options bluntly, no longer amused with the idea of an escape mission. Sighing to themselves, the brothers agreed and with that, they began to mentally count down.
1...
Morpheus was kicking the dust off his hooves. Meanwhile, one of the guards was backing against the front entrance ready to kick the door down.
2...
The sound of wood being reduced to splinters as the thunder of hooves rushed into the library caused Shifter to tense up.
3...
All three changelings leapt off the building, and before they plopped onto the ground to make flap-jacks, there was an audible, irritating buzzing that began to propel them higher and higher. The beat of their wings were now going a hundred beats per second, rising to a thousand in another minute as they took off.
"Sayonara suckers!" Morpheus waved back at the shrinking town in the distance, "I'll see you next time!" Alter and Shift wished dearly to smack their fellow changeling in the snout, but decided that such an action would only lead to all three plummeting to their death below.
"Halt! Criminal Scum!" Glisten Hoof fired barrage after barrage of magical energy into the changelings inside. Soon, every guard was following suit. When they were sure they had subdued the trio, the captain ordered his troops to cease fire.
The library was in total disarray, the books lying idly around as pages floated lifelessly in the air, their edges singed off. The stallion grinned. No one could have survived that.
Carefully taking steps in case a changeling was still moving, the stallion raised his hoof-cuffs in the air. "You three are in a whole load of-WHAT!"
Where the three changelings should have been were three torn pieces of parchment, holes littered in their body as he made out the distinctive shapes he had seen earlier.
They crudely-drawn changelings, the ink still fresh, as the stallion held one up for all to see. Upon closer inspection, the drawing was terrible, looking like it had been drawn by a filly. But underneath it, he noticed that someone had bothered to scrawl a message on the other side.
Sorry you can't follow us, but this place is too dimensional!
The next thing anypony heard were the heart-wrenching roars of a manticore trapped in a cage.
"I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE BUCK HAPPENED BACK THERE!" he yelled, his blue eyes scanning all three changelings like they had just revealed the hive's location to Canterlot. Supervisor Captain Shape Lock was furious. He had been awoken to the news that a library in their current assignment had been demolished by three supposed changelings and that the whole town was on high alert. Now, he had to pull the entire squad out, replace them with their real counterparts, and find another town to siphon love from.
"Well sir-" Morpheus began optimistically, before being shouted into submission.
"NO! MORPHEUS! YOU I'D FIGURED WOULD GET INTO THIS!" The supervisor turned to face the twins,"BUT YOU TWO? ALTER AND SHIFTER? YOU TWO KNOW BETTER!"
Alter and Shift were seemingly more distracted with their hooves then the officer in front of them. This was perhaps the first time they'd ever failed field duty, and there would be a whole lot of explaining to do.
"I GIVE YOU THREE ONE JOB!" the supervisor held out his hoof, although one was about as far as he could go anyway, "ONE JOB! AND YOU THREE IMBECILES MANAGE TO BUCK IT UP SO HARD I HAVE TO CALL BACK THE ENTIRE FORCE FOR THE WEEK!"
Morpheus raised his hoof to speak out, but decided to lower it after getting another menacing glare from the supervisor. Alter and Shifter didn't know what to think. They were, in all regards, a little perturbed at each other to even attempt to defend their reasoning.
"AND YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT THE NEXT FIELD DUTY ASSIGNMENT!" the supervisor berated, "CAUSE YOU THREE HAVE BUCKED EVERYTHING UP FOR OUR INVASION! UNTIL FURTER NOTICE, ALL THREE OF YOU ARE ON SUSPENSION! YOU'LL REMAIN AT YOUR TYPICAL HIVE DUTIES FOR THE REST-AND I MEAN IT- REST OF THIS INVASION!"
The supervisor stormed off, his hooves clicking and clacking as he went. All three changelings were speechless, unable to fathom the fact that they were being put on suspension. After a while, Morpheus decided to lay a reassuring hoof on the two.
"Hey," Morpheus said in a gentle tone, "Cap's Lock is just grumpy, that's all. He just woke up, so it isn't your fault he's going all verbal on you."
Shift eyed Morpheus with an unconvinced look, "Morpheus, Captain Lock was furious, and in a moment, Transparence is probably going to come here and give us a verbal-"
"Well well," the familar voice of Transparence echoed, "if it isn't the three stooges."
They began to look around them, scanning for the source of the noise. Behind them, emerging from the shadows, Transparence quietly buzzed forth, her icy blue eyes unimpressed as her three subordinates arched their heads around. "I see Shape Lock has belittled you to hatchlings again."
Alter once again resumed his staring contest with the floor as Shift spoke, "Listen Trancy, if you're here to lecture us on changeling etiquette I'd suggest-"
"That you don't jump conclusionssss," Transparence finished with an irritated hiss, "No, rather then howl at you three, I'm actually going to state something positive."
Alter looked up, a perplex look on his face, "What do you mean-"
"It was a well-executed escape option," Transparence explained nonchalantly, "and rather entertaining too. From the explanation of the salesponies to the ridiculous drawing Morpheus attempted to master on paper. I will say that you were definitely resourceful."
The changelings seemed to smile before Transparence continued, "But now I'm going to say something harsh." And with that, all three dropped their grins.
"You three cost us another resource we cannot afford to lose. Time. We're going to need more time now before we can get this invasion running. But make no mistake, you three are still going with us, whether you like it or not. Have a good day." With that Transparence took off into the shadows, leaving them once more by themselves.
"Well that sucked," Morpheus finally muttered, already trotting off towards his hive chamber in C, "I'm going to hit the hay. Got a busy day if old Caps Lock is really going to carry this threat out. See ya!"
And with that the changeling waved back at the two brothers, who only continued to glare with complete malice. As soon as Morpheus left, however, the brother's dropped their scowls and began to gloomily walk back to their chamber.
"You know what really sucks?" Alter croaked, speaking for the first time since they got here.
"What?" Shift questioned.
Alter sighed, "As Erasmus, I found out that he had a stash of video games, all new too! But then I got a sense you were in danger and so I left the games at the bedside table, where it sticks out like a diamond in a crate of oranges."
Shifter wanted to scream, but it was late and no changeling wanted a disturbance at 4 am in the morning anyhow. "You gotta be kidding me, we would have been set for life!"
As the two reached their chamber, Alter carefully checked the glowing crystal and vents to make sure they still had power. Thankfully, the vents were just as powerful as they were before, and the lights were left on.
"Well," Shift stretched his hooves," I don't know about you but this changeling could sure use some beauty SLEEEEEPPPPP!" At that moment, Shift tripped over a large, cardboard box, landing snout first on the floor.
"What-" Alter rushed forward, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. Upon carefully lifting the top, there was a sense of elation so sweet that the changeling was already feeding his own love reserves.
"Shift," Alter spoke, "look!"
Shift scrambled to his hooves to see what had caught his brother's attention. Upon gazing into the box, however, he too began to drool. "Alter...we've found the motherload!"
Sure enough, the box was filled with a colorful array of countless games. They ranged from every platform, to small receipts, to even gift cards to use on Steam. It was clear that this was Erasmus' collection, but how it got here and why would remain a mystery for now. Not that the two brothers cared anyway! No longer having to worry about field duty, they would have all the time in the world to play! Goodbye Tartarus Rises! Hello STEAM SALE!
"I'm in heaven..." and with that Alter fainted.
Let's Play The Alicorn Scrolls V: Equestria (Part 1: Hoofing It Like No Tomorrow)
After a long and harrowing day of monotonus work, our two changelings return to their chamber to play their first game
"So what's first on our list?" Shift asked hopefully, rummaging through the receipts, "I say we do Haylo 4, definetly Haylo 4!"
Alter rolled his eyes, "Shift, that games sucks like resin on the wall. No way are we doing that! Haylo 4 is a big no no! How about this?"
He pulled out a shiny black box that had some sort of metal diamond in the center. As Shift narrowed his eyes to study it, he realized that the symbol appeared to be that of a dragon, its wings slanted to form the diamond like shape. It's neck coiled like a snake and its zig-zagged tail looked like a lightning bolt.
"Alicorn Scrolls V: Equestria?" Shift read the title, "isn't it that game that got into the scuffle with Minecraft?"
"And the same guys who made Fallout Equestria!" Alter squeed like a filly.
Shift sighed, but none the less took the game and began to read the back. "So it says here you're some sort of pony called the Dragonborn? And that the dark dragon Alduin has returned, and what's this about Alicorn Scrolls? I don't get that!"
"Well," Alter pondered, "I believe they are some kind of ancient text written by an ancient race for an ancient purpose! Fascinating!"
"Count me out." Shift grumbled.
"You have no taste for the adventure Marethesda tries to bring us," Alter spat, "absolutely no taste Shift! Besides, this game is an FPS with swords, come on, tell me that isn't amazing?"
Shift tossed the game-which Alter skillfully lunged for and caught-before slumping on their stone boulder. "I'd rather we play a real FPS with some guns and explosions! Not more of this hogwash sword fightin'! Besides, that games looks like it's going to demonize dragons!"
"Bah," Alter hissed, turning on his coltputer, "You can stay and play Rainbow Six Pegasus, or you can come and enjoy some real entertainment."
Shift was silent, weighing out his options. One option was that he did play Rainbow Six Pegasus, get killed by a terrorist, rant a little, and return to Alter. Or, he skipped the whole ordeal and just commented on his brother. Taking the latter, he grabbed a rock, and settled it next to his brother's hunchback form, already downloading the game into his Steam account.
As the two waited for their download to finish, they began to make small talk about their day. Alter had apparently been in charge of handling a very serious leak, and had-as he put it-made sure the maintenance team could handle the work ahead. Apparently, Adhesive Prime-Beta-Alpha-017 was a failure and so Adhesive-Beta-Beta-0156 would be used instead.
"I have high hopes for this new resin we're bringing."Alter happily chirped.
Shift didn't know how to state to his brother about how overly nit-picky he was, so he contended with muttering some obscenities to himself.
"What about you Shift?"
Shift shrugged, "The usual grime as always. But check this out. I'm standing outside, you know, with Haze when we see two guards escorting Morpheus Bloom of all changelings to the Queen's chambers! I guess she wanted to have a chat with him or something.."
"Jeepers," Alter shuddered, "I know Morpheus was a jerk but he was our hatchling friend remember?"
Shifter sighed, remembering quite well Morpheus' relationship with them. When they hatched out of the same egg, Alter and Shifter were placed with their Big Sister, Clarity. As it turned out, she was also on good terms with Retain, another changeling whose little brother just happened to be Morpheus Bloom. To say the least, the three grew up together, and even did a few pranks too.
"Remember that time you and Morpheus tried to prank what's her name?"
"I'd like to say it was Scanner," Shift smiled, "Yeah, Scanner. She was walking down the hall, right, and Morpheus had collected all this resin from the maintenance hives. Then, just as she was passing through, we dumped it. The thing was a waterfall I tell you! To see the look on her face made us laugh for days on end."
Sure enough, Shift began to picture Scanner, all covered in grime, her eyes as big as saucers as him and Morpheus rolled on the floor, howling like two diamond dogs. It didn't matter that they got clean-up duty after that. The best part about it was that he never regretted his decision.
"Shift," Alter began to shake his brother, "Shift, you were laughing like a mad mare earlier, what's wrong?" Shift woke with a daze, and waved his brother off.
"Just remembering the good times I guess." Shift mused silently. As much as he may have hated the changeling, and as much as he would probably still hate him in the future, he had to hoof it that Morpheus was one crazy son of a diamond dog for pranks.
"Well," Alter turned towards the computer, "I believe it's finished finally! Let's get to it!"
Shift's momentary smile faded in a scowl, "I hope you know what you're getting into Alter, I still think we should play Haylo 4."
But Alter was no longer paying attention, his eyes transfixed on the screen as the grey logo of Marethesda popped up, along with the pounding of what Shift thought were drums. "What the-"
Suddenly, music filled the chamber with the ominous, deafening chorus of a thousand voices. Shift was no expert on musical composition, but that didn't mean he had any less appreciation for what he was hearing. The tune continued to grow and grow, getting louder and louder. It felt as if danger was lurking behind his back, and Shift half-hazardly checked his flank. The menu itself was relativley simple, with the dragon symbol on the front cover accompanied by a dark background and fog.
But it was the mere power of the song, the feeling of epic adventure awaiting the next corner, that got Shift's attention. Suddenly the chorus got so loud, that he was now sure the studio room must have been filled with a million of Celestia's guards. Even the stalagmites began to quiver from the vibrations. For a long moment, Alter and Shift just stood there, eyes gaping at the screen as the music continued.
They saw large mountains, frightening monsters, and courageous warriors charging into battle, axes raised as they bellowed out furious war cries. Alter's mouse, slowly, but surely, reached the option that stated, 'New', but he was unable to click, his mouth drooling.
If any changeling had bothered to pass the chamber, they would have been drawn to the music as well, not quite understanding nor comprehending where it came from.
Finally Alter clicked on the option and the music abruptly stopped, replaced with a more melancholy tune. A 3-D image appeared, displaying a fierce dark black dragon with piercing red eyes, its clawed talons gripping a rather imposing chair that seemed to be carved into the stone.
Below was a bit of flavor text that read
"And the Scrolls have foretold, of black wings in the cold! That when brothers wage war come unfurled! Alduin, Bane of Kinds, ancient shadow unbound, With a hunger to swallow the world!"-Song of Dragonborn.
The changelings waited, and soon the darkness was lifted as the two bent over, examining their surroundings. The first thing they saw was a cart, filled with several ponies who had their heads drooping gloomily, probably from the harsh cold. The graphics were far better then their previous game, the snowflakes falling down in realistic patterns as the view from the wooden cart showed they were on a cobbled road. Ahead, white peak mountains rose from the frozen meadow, and as Alter moved his mouse, he saw that he was able to look around. Ahead of them, was a stallion dressed in brown armor, helmet and vest. Below him, two other guards were lugging the cart, their expressions stern.
Sitting next to them, Alter noticed his character was accompanied by three others. One was a beige colored stallion with a wavy yellow mane. Another was a dark brown, lanky colt with a jet-black mate. And the final occupant was a similar beige colored stallion, albeit with a light brown mane and a gag in his mouth.
"Wait," Shift began, noticing for the first time that Alter's character was unable to move, "Are you...going to jail already?"
"No way," Alter scoffed, "this is just the beginning or something, relax! I bet you we were just rescued-"
"I see yer' awake," the stallion in-game said gloomily, his eyes sorrowful even, "Ran into that imperial ambush, same as the rest of us..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"SWEET ROYAL JELLY!" the changelings cursed, just as the arrow pierced the dark brown stallion, who was known as Buckir of Roriksteed. Turning back, a mare in Neighperial steel armor sneered, "Anypony else feel like running?"
Both changelings shook their heads, still trying to comprehend the fact that this Neighperial captain had ordered such an execution. As it turned out, Alter's character was indeed going to jail, or rather, it seemed, execution. Being caught in a Neighperial ambush intended for the Stormhooves-who were all earth ponies-, Alter and the deceased thief Buckir were now sentenced to the same fate awaiting them. As for Alter's other cart-mates, the blond-maned stallion had been called Braelof of Riverwood and his gagged companion was Ulfric Stormhoof, the leader of the opposing faction. The Neighperials-who for some reason were all pegasi- were particularly proud of this achievement, and had even appointed some poor, lanky-looking beige colt to read off the list.
"You there," his eyes were suddenly riveted at Alter, who involuntarily stepped down, "who are you?"
In an instant, the screen did a 360 degree turn as it showed Alter's third-person character, a yellow maned earth pony similar in stature with Braehoof. Next to him, was a list of various races, and as Alter scrolled down, he noted his character morphed into whatever race was designated.
"Wow..." Shift mused, "despite the fact that we may die soon, at least you can look nice before you go."
"Shut up," Alter hissed, "and go secrete on some maintenance drone, I wanna see who I can be." Alter began to scroll through, reading the various attributes associated with each.
"Well," he read, "there is earth pony, with natural resistance to the elements. We got unicorns, who have higher magical capabilities. It looks like we also have a pegasus, who can fly for a short duration. Then we got zebras, who have survivalist perks-"
"What about changelings," Shifter asked irritably, "do they have an option for changelings?"
Alter continued to scroll down, passing diamond dogs, goats, mules, and finally, going back up to earth ponies. Both changelings sighed, their own race not included in the game.
"I guess we're too overpowered," Alter gave his brother a pat on the carapace, "but I mean, I think I wanna be this one-"
Shift shrank back, "WHAT? That race? Why the buck would you choose that?"
"What's wrong with it?" Alter selected the race, which expanded a whole list of various tabs and options to customize his character's sex, weight, skin tone, facial structure, and even hairstyle.
"Really," Shift rolled his eyes, while Alter eagerly began to get to work, "Alter please tell me you aren't going to actually make your character-"
After what seemed like an hour, Alter carefully typed in his changeling name, ending it with an affirmative click. Shift, who had been dozing off, woke with a start, finally eager to see his brother done. "Great now we can get on with this and kick those Neighperials flanks!"
"A goat eh," the lanky colt read, "how did the gods even allow you to...well...nevermind I guess."
Shift facehoofed himself while Alter eagerly awaited his eventual escape. "I mean, it has to allow me to escape right? It wouldn't be fair if we were just executed on the spot?"
"Ulfric," a stallion clad in golden armor announced the name with such contempt it made Alter shiver, "some here in Helgen call you a hero, but a hero doesn't use the power of the voice to murder the Elements of Harmony and usurp the throne."
Ulfric apparently tried to counter this, his muffled mouth uttering various gurgles that sounded like swears.
"You started this war, plunged Equestria into chaos, and now the Neighpire is going to put you down, and restore harmony once and for all!"
A deafening roar pierced the grey sky, causing everypony in the vicinity to look up in bewilderment. The captain seemed undeterred, which couldn't be said the same for the lanky colt, who was now quivering, the list suffocating in his grasp.
"It was nothing," the gold-armored stallion concluded, "carry on."
The captain saluted, "Yes General Gluteus!"
Alter could feel his heart begin to beat as they led a disheveled stallion to a wooden block. Constantly uttering obscenities, he set his head on the block. A rather grim-looking executioner bearing a dark hood seemed to grin as he raised his axe. "My ancestors smile on me Neighperial, can you say the same?"
SPLAT! Blood splattered the crowd as the head landed in a plain wicker basket.
"Ugh," Alter covered his eyes, wishing he hadn't just witnessed the bloody ordeal. Shift, on the other hoof, inched closer, satisfied that at least the game would have some action.
"Next," the captain read, "the errr...goat?"
Another roar could be heard, although despite the worried cries of a few villagers, nopony reacted.
Carefully, walking forward, Alter could see the lanky colt turn away, as if he regretted this decision. Carefully laying his head on the wooden block, the changeling gazed up at the towering executioner.
"I guess this is the end," Alter mused, picking up the box and reading exactly what was supposed to happen in the game.
Just then, a sleek, black, reptillian snaked past the mountain, causing audible gasps as it gave another menacing howl. Shift and Alter gaped, when suddenly the ground shook and the sky became a whirlwind of dust and debris, raining down countless fireballs as, standing right in front of them was...
"DRAGON!" an earth pony cried, just as the beast swiveled its head to meet executioner, who didn't seem to notice the over-sized lizard behind him. With a sudden, tumultous shout, the stallion was thrown off his hooves, embedding his noggin in the axe.
As the shrieks and shouts of various ponies filled the air, Alter could make out General Gluteus shouting commands to get to safety.
"WHAT THE..." Shift was gaping, wide-eyed at the creature before him. "Alter we need to go."
Alter was dancing his hooves over the keyboard, slamming any buttons he could find."I'm working on it!"
"ALTER," Shift shook his brother, "RUN FOR YOUR BUCKING LIFE BEFORE YOU-
"-choose that one," Shift pointed to the leftmost stone, where the inscription showed a stallion wielding an axe and sword,"I think that one gives you berserk mode."
"Berserk mode," Alter rolled his eyes, "Shift I highly doubt a goat can go in berserk mode."
"Are you done?" Braelof called out, still rubbing his hooves. After their near-encounter with the dragon Alduin, Alter had stuck close to his companion, taking any and everything he could find despite Shift's constant jeers that the castle was collapsing.
"How about this one," Alter bent over a cloaked pony on her tiptoes, surrounded by stars. With a click, the stone suddenly sent a bright green beam in the sky, as a tiny text message above read he had gained the abilities of the thief stone.
"Thief?" Braehoof sounded worried, "It's never too late to change your fate."
"You should have chosen warrior, "Shift grumbled, "I swear Alter you always choose the most inane qualities-"
"Hey," his brother interjected, "I'm a changeling. I know how to be sneaky. What I don't know how to do is run out there like a maniac wielding the Axe of Dawnhoof!"
Shift scowled, "I totally got more kills then you! You're jealous is all!"
"No," Alter pointed, "You're jealous!"
"No you are!"
"No you are!"
"YOU ARE!"
And so the brothers continued to argue as Alter's character blindly strider off into the forest. In fact, Alter's character made remarkable time, until he bumped into a cloaked mare, who elicited a cough.
"Excuse me..." the hooded mare began.
Both changelings turned to face the screen, "Where did we go?"
Suddenly, the mare dug into her satchel, revealing a wicked stiletto, her eye suddenly criss crossing, "but would you please give me all your bits?"
"Uhhhh," Alter turned towards Shift," should we hoof it?"
"Why don't you attack?" Shift pointed at the screen, before he smiled, "oh yeah, you chose the thief stone dumbgrub!"
