Talon, a Changeling from a hive in a drake empire, gets thrust from home when his hive collapses due to unknown forces and through some discordian intervention, gets thrust in a war of 'bolts.
It starts during the griffon drake war in his time line, 20 or so years before Piercing the Heavens, but the majority of it takes place during Piercing the Heavens.
The changeling panted as he ran through the darkening tunnel, it collapsing as he went. The hallway was silent except the sounds of crumbling stone, which kept pace with him as he ran and rounded a corner. He kept running, glancing around and mentally wondering where the other changelings were. The halls were silent, as was his mind; normally he could hear faint whispers of others but at this moment, not even his queen was speaking to him.
His horn was glowing to light the path that he ran, dodging the falling rocks around him as he bounced off the walls to do so. He kept glancing around, trying to find some other changeling or something else to at least supply some kind of comfort, but nothing was around.
He slid to a stop at a pair of large ornate doors that had the symbol of a dragon etched onto it and looked it up and down. The queen’s chamber; weird, he didn’t recall it being at the end of this hallway. He shrugged slightly before gasping as rocks landed next to him, “Right! Crumbling hallway!” he spoke to himself as he glanced behind himself, seeing the path now blocked.
He quickly pushed open the door and found more rubble within the large room, but his sight quickly settled on a form, halfway buried by the rocks. Before he could make it out, something hit his nose, causing him to look up and see a much larger rock falling straight at him!
Talon gasped as he sat up quickly, breathing hard and putting a hoof over his chest. He quickly glanced around, finding the hive to be intact and full of life. He breathed a sigh of relief as he calmed down, listening to the buzz and chatter of his fellow hive mates in the back of his mind. He grinned contently to himself as he laid back down.
“Talon, come to my chambers,” the changeling heard directly, making him blink and sit up again.
He let out a soft sigh and rolled out of his bed, flopping to his hooves and started to trot out of the bed chambers. “On my way, my Queen,” he thought back as he trotted along. He grinned as he nodded to fellow hive mates as he passed them, several nodding back as he went by.
He might of stood out among the more known Equestrian hives, but this hive wasn’t located anywhere near there. Instead, it was located within the Drake Empire, and as such each Changeling shared draconic traits. Each one had a thick tail, instead of the frayed horse like tail, and a pair of bat style wings, with an insect-like “skin” between each of the fingers.
Each of their carapaces was grey, and they still shared many similar traits, such as the solid eyes and holey limbs ending in hooves. Talon, however, had a red back plate that looked more like a ruby gemstone, and the skin in his wings is a deep blue with black edges unlike everyone else’s light blue. And he had green eyes similar to a changeling queen, rather than the solid color of a normal drone.
He trotted along and eventually made it to the queen’s chambers, stopping outside for a second and looking over the door. He reached up and knocked on it gently, despite the queen already knowing he was there. His hoof barely tapped the door before he heard someone beckon him in. He chuckled softly and moved his hoof to open the door.
He stepped inside and closed it, turning and gazing into the lavish room. A small pile of gems of different kinds sat in a corner, resting on a smaller pile of coins. Laying on a rather fancy looking bed of cushions resting on top of a gel like substance resides a much larger changeling who looks similar to Talon, only a solid blue back plate. She also has a long gold mane and hair going down her long serpentine tail.
“Come Talon, sit,” she said softly, as he trotted up to the bed and sat on the floor. She looked him over for a bit. “What troubles you?”
He raised an eyebrow, “You can read my mind, and you know what does,” he replied, looking away towards the floor and folding his ears back.
She chuckled softly. “And you know I prefer not to read all the minds of my little ‘lings. Besides, speaking your problems often helps solve them.”
Talon sighed softly. “I… I’ve had a few dreams lately.” He shrugged slightly. “A cave in, which I don’t think is possible.” He shook his head, glancing to his queen.
“It is possible, if something large hits the mountain side. But I don’t suspect anything like that would happen.”
“I know, my queen, but there is a war going on, between the griffons and the dragons,” he responded, standing up and looking directly at her. “What if the griffons decide to come in here?”
“Our entrance is hidden. You know that as well as I do.”
“Yes, sorry, Leviathan.” Talon sat on the floor and looked down. “It’s just, this dream has happened a few times now, I’m starting to think it’s a premonition, and it worries me greatly.”
“You shouldn’t worry about it, nothing bad can happen to the hive.” She leaned forward and rested a hoof on Talons shoulder. “Besides, you should prepare. Tomorrow, we meet with the dragons.”
Talon rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah, so we can explain why we are staying out of the conflict this time.”
“Now now, we should at least explain to them why we are stepping back this time.”
“You know they don’t care. They used us as front line fodder last time. We are still recovering our numbers from that.” Talon looked back to his queen, to see her chuckling softly.
“Certainly taking the rough approach, aren’t you?”
“Not my fault. I’d rather explain it to them as bluntly as possible. They might learn then!” he explained with a chuckle. “Certainly know that explaining nicely doesn’t work.”
“Well you should think about how to word it. But for now, relax.”
Talon nodded and stood up, turning towards the door. “I know exactly how. Library still open at this time my queen?” She gave a simple nod. “Good, I shall be there if you need me.”
“Oh, before you go,” she called, making him turn back to her. He tilted his head and perked his ears as he noticed her horn aglow.
“Yes my… queen?” He trailed off as an anklet hovered into his view. It was a small silver anklet, having a symbol of a pair of dragons circling each other in a yin/yang type position on it. “This is beautiful.”
“And for you.” She added as she hovered it towards one of his hind legs. He watched it as it moved and opened to clasp around his left leg. He grinned and looked back at her, bowing slightly once he heard it snap closed.
“Thank you my queen.” He kept his grin as he turned and trotted out, closing the door quietly as he left. After a few moments, Leviathan let out a soft sigh and let her eyes follow Talon to the door, gazing at it as it closed.
“If only you knew what the stars had in store for you,” she mumbled, mostly to herself.
Talon continued to read a book he had pulled down from a shelf, unaware that he was being watched by another changeling. He was just contently reading, laying on a cushion and completely relaxed. The book was on transmutation spells and he looked thoroughly engrossed in it.
The changeling that was watching him looked similar; only she took on a more feminine appearance, had smaller wings of the same shade, and a lighter back plate. She kept a silent smirk on her face as she just watched him read.
Talon kept looking over the pages, occasionally using his magic to turn a page, “Hmm,” he hummed to himself.
“Find something interesting?” The other changeling finally spoke, making Talon drop the book and jump towards the ceiling, gasping. “Hehe, you are so easily spooked when your reading.” She glanced up at the changeling that was currently attached to the ceiling.
Talon glanced down after his heart finally slowed its rapid pace. “Ember! You should know better than to sneak up on me!” He floated down, landing back on the cushion. The other changeling just chuckled.
“I was here for the last 30 or so minutes. It’s not my fault you get so lost in the books. For a soldier drone, you certainly enjoy them.” She trotted over and looked at the book closer. “Transmutation magic? Why in the hive would you want that?”
Talon just grinned at her. He lifted a hoof and, in a swirl of red flames, it changed to appear more like a blade, made out of some kind of metal that Ember couldn’t identify. “So I can do this. We can make fur when we take on a pony form, scales when we go dragon. Feathers for griffon or pegasus, why not metal?” The flame appeared again and his hoof returned to normal. “I just can’t do it for long, and I am learning all I can about it.”
“Okay, that was kind of cool.” She sat and watched him. “But again, why?”
“Why not?” Talon shrugged some. “It could be useful in combat. Give a left hook with a steel hoof, or block an attack with an iron hide. Both equally useful.” He opened his book again and flipped back to the page he was at. “But again, I can only do it for so long.”
Ember tilted her head slightly. “Just hard to maintain it or…?” Talon nodded at that. “Just keep practicing then, reading won’t help with that.” She chuckled, then turned towards the doorway. Talon looked up, watching her move.
“And where are you off too?”
“Dinner.” Talon blinked and looked back at his book for a moment. Ember stopped and glanced back at him. “Yes, that much time has passed since I saw you this morning on the way to the queen’s chambers,” she said before opening the door. “I swear, you’d forget your stomach without me around.”
Talon chuckled and closed his book as he stood up. “I’ll join you.” He rested the book on his back as he trotted to keep up with Ember, whom merely chuckled and held the door open for him.
“Glad you let your stomach think for you.” She grinned as she trotted next to him. He kept quiet for a bit as they trotted towards their dining area, and after a while the silence got to her. “What’s on your mind, Talon?”
“Huh?” He glanced at her, only to receive a glare back. “Err, nothing Ember.”
She snorted and nudged him in the side. “Lies, I can tell when something is bothering you.”
Talon let out a sigh. “A few things are, but mainly tomorrow.” Ember raised an eyebrow at him, he let out another sigh. “Meeting the dragons?” He paused as she nodded. “Leviathan and I are going to talk to them tomorrow. About our role in this conflict, and not taking part.” Talon shrugged as he glanced into the cafeteria-type space.
“I am sure that is going to go over well with those blowhards.” Ember rolled her eyes. “Personally I’m just as tired as she is about dealing with the dragons. They rely on us for so much that they can’t do, yet treat us like dirt. It is just unfair.” She said with a faint growl.
“Well, tomorrow I am going to speak my mind. Let them know exactly how wrong it is they treat us.”
Ember raised an eyebrow as she hovered a tray in front of her. “You realize that could piss them off. I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly resistant to a dragon’s claws.” Talon chuckled softly.
“Nor I, but your also not a fighter.” Talon also hovered a tray in front as he moved along the line for food.
“Nope,” Ember beamed. “Harvester and proud of it! So I deal with those nasty dragons on a near daily basis!” Talon started to chuckle as he sat at one of the tables with his food, a tasty looking steak sandwich. Ember raised an eyebrow and watched him. “What’s so funny?”
“And yet you haven’t picked up their arrogance! Truly, it shows us to be the betters.” He grinned widely at her. Ember just shook her head slightly.
“Yeah yeah, just be careful tomorrow. Wouldn’t want you coming back in too many bandages,” Ember smirked. “As compared to your hunting trips.”
“Hey, that tree totally had it coming for getting in my way!” he chuckled softly. “But just be prepared tomorrow, I am sure my mouth will get me in trouble.”
A deep red unicorn with an almost gem like sapphire mane was strolling along the cobblestone path. Trotting next to him, a large (compared to him) feral gold dragon, its claws clicking lightly on the stone path, but drowned by the clop of the unicorn’s hooves.
The unicorn glanced to his side, looking at the dragon for a moment before looking around and taking in the open scenery. The path the two were walking along was flanked by large open structures. Open walls that looked like small barriers, with large archways to signal doors. The roofs of the structures appeared just more like large open hatches, left open for years to let the warmth and sunlight in.
Off in the distance, and the destination of the pair, was what looked like a large castle, made out of gold colored stone, with small images on it that appeared to have been crafted by a delicate touch. As they neared, the unicorn took note of the pair of dragon statues in fierce poses on either side of the path.
“I don’t see why we have to be disguised if the dragons already know of us,” the unicorn said quietly to the dragon beside him. The dragon glanced to him with a smirk.
“In case they actually have visitors from Equestria or the griffon empire. Although why you picked a unicorn form, Talon, I still don’t understand,” the dragon spoke softly, gazing over the unicorn beside her.
“Feels natural, and I can still use my magic in this form.” Talon shrugged slightly as he trotted.
“And flight? Most unicorns don’t have wings you know.”
“And I have an excuse for that too. Using my magic to conjure my wings, simple and done.” Talon smirked at the dragon, whom responded by shaking her head.
They eventually stopped before a pair of dragon guards, both leaning on walls and looking down the path at them. Once the pair got closer, the dragons stood up and looked them over. “Humph,” one of them grunted, a red dragon. “Seems the guests have arrived,” he said, glaring at the unicorn for a moment before turning to the gold dragon. “Once you’re both inside, you can lose the fake forms,” the dragon almost growled out.
The pair just nodded as they continued in. Once inside, the gold dragon was suddenly engulfed in red fire and standing in its place was Leviathan. She shook herself out a little bit and let out a sigh, then glanced to the unicorn. “Going to..?”
The unicorn shook his head. “They already know, so no need.” He grinned up at her and kept pace as they trotted into the palace hall. Its grand opening also lacked a roof, exposing the warm sun from above onto the marble floor. A few large gemstones sat on various pedestals off to the sides, with a pair of large rubies closest to the throne.
Sitting on the throne is a large grey dragon, holding a sheet of parchment and looking it over. A smaller grey drake sat watching the bigger one next to the throne. Once the clop of hooves reached them, the smaller drake turned to glare at them as the bigger one just looked over the parchment.
“Oh good, queen Leviathan, you’re here,” the larger dragon says, his voice amazingly soft for his size, though his gaze turns to a soft glare as he looks at the unicorn. “And why is your escort still a Unicorn?”
“He chooses to remain so. It is his choice after all, my lord.” Leviathan glances at the unicorn for a second, before looking directly at the dragon. “We are here to discuss –“
“Why you’re staying out of this war,” the drake growled as he stepped towards the pair, glaring directly at the changeling queen. Talon let out a low growl as he sat.
“Yes, exactly why we are staying out of your stupid little blood feud,” Talon retorted quietly with a faint snarl, looking directly at the drake.
The drake stepped forward again and fixed his glare to Talon. “And who said you can speak, whelp?”
“Got a problem with another voicing his opinion, Princey?” Talon smirked as he turned slightly. Leviathan, meanwhile, took a few steps to the side and looked between the two. The drake growled and glared at the unicorn.
“I know that your kind can’t fight nearly as well as the dragons you emulate. That’s why you make for such good fodder on the front lines.” A faint smirk appears on the drakes muzzle as he continues. “It’s why you die so easily.”
Talon shook his head. “So naïve. Of course we can fight, some of us do so better then you. You rely on us for so much that you can’t do. Magic to construct these nice structures for you. Our small stature to craft your gems to their flawless beauty. I could continue on.” Talon smirked as he rotated a hoof, making the drake focus his glare more.
“We don’t need you! We can exist just fine without you! It is you that require us for our emotions!” he snarled, practically getting in the unicorn’s face. Leviathan had moved over to the dragon’s side and sat down, sighing softly.
“Maybe bringing him wasn’t such a good idea.” she sighed softly, glancing to the dragon.
“Now, I wouldn’t say that,” the dragon chuckled. “A wager, since I know a fight is about to break out. Your escort wins, you can stay out of this conflict; if he loses, however…” He trailed off, looking to the changeling queen. She just nodded and looked back to Talon.
“You’re just jealous you can’t use magic the same way we can,” Talon smirked back at the drake that was snarling in his face.
“Oh yes, wouldn’t want a weak horn like that to channel the magic we do have. Although,” he paused, “we can breathe fire, something your species can’t do.” The drake smirked as he leaned back, chuckling softly.
“While it is true that almost all changelings can’t breathe fire. One can.” Talon just grinned widely. Both the dragon and drake tilted their head slightly in confusion. Talon inhaled slightly before exhaling, a small puff of fire escaping his mouth towards the drake, harmlessly fading before reaching his face. “See?”
Talon blinked and suddenly bounced to the side as the drake lunged at him. “YOU DARE MOCK US WITH YOUR MAGIC?” he growled out as he lunged at the unicorn. Talon slid to a stop a yard from where he was, chuckling softly as the drake turned and lunged at him again, claws spread out and ready to slice.
The drake leapt at the unicorn again, swiping at him with his claws but missing as he bounced back again. The drake kept the up the wild swipes until one finally landed, catching Talon across a foreleg, the claws digging deep and drawing blood. Talon hissed as he slid back, keeping his injured leg from touching the ground as the drake scoffed at him.
“Should take on your natural form. Might be a challenge then, changeling,” the drake sneered at him, hovering into the air, ready to make another strike.
“Fine,” Talon said with a low growl, his form getting engulfed in red fire. Standing in the unicorn’s place was the changeling, but something seemed different, namely the slightly upright posture. His fore hooves were replaced by short sickle looking blades, and his wings appeared smaller. “You want me at my best, eh?” He dashed at the drake, leaping up with a downbeat of his wings to swipe at the drake with one of the blades.
Leviathan tilted her head slightly after seeing the form. “Huh, his hunting form,” she muttered, the dragon next to her raising an eyebrow at her as he watched the fight.
The drake floated to his right to dodge the swipe as the changeling kept on the offensive. After a few swipes, the changeling landed and looked up at the still floating drake.
“That all you got changeling? Barely breaking a sweat up here,” the drake taunted as the changeling looked him over.
“Don’t tell me you’re getting bored already?” Talon taunted back, lunging at the drake again as he brought his blade in a side swing. The drake easily caught the bladed arm by the wrist and used the momentum to throw the changeling back to the ground.
Leviathan cringed as the changeling hit the ground and bounced once. The drake quickly zoomed to smash into the grounded changeling but his feet only found ground, the changeling a few feet from where he was, standing and growling as his horn was aglow and his eyes focused on the drake before him.
The drake cringed when his feet didn’t find the soft target he wanted. He glanced down and then quickly looked around, spotting the changeling a few feet from him, already lunging at him with the blades again. The drake brought up his arms to grab at the wrists of the changeling again and hold him back.
“How did you do that? I’ve never seen a changeling teleport before!” The drake lightly snarled out as he continued to hold the changelings forelegs at bay.
“There are a few tricks I can do, that I haven’t seen others do. Like this!” A red flare of fire engulfed his left hoof blade and right hind leg as he brought it up to kick at the drake, throwing his balance off slightly as he brought up the bladed hoof. The drake pushed back on the changeling, making the blade nick his stomach, taking a few scales with it as it swept by.
The changeling spun as he rebalanced himself, standing back on two normal legs as his fore legs ended in blades again. He wore a smirk on his face as he watched the drake look him over. “Not used to fighting an opponent that can shift where his weapons are at a moment’s notice, huh?” He stated as he shook his left leg, getting the blood from the open wound onto the ground and around him.
The drake braced himself as he inhaled, a crimson glow visible in his muzzle before exhaling, a torrent of fire spraying forth towards the changeling. The changeling gasped and quickly brought up a shield, blocking the fire and making it spread to either side of him as he focused on the barrier. After a few moments the fire let up, and the changeling went wide-eyed as he watched the drake lunge through his own fire at him.
Talon quickly ducked, the barrier fading as the drake went through it and swiped at him. The drake managed to catch Talons’ neck along the back as he flew over, sliding behind him and quickly turning around, just in time to see a steel colored hoof fly towards his muzzle. A loud clang sounded as the drake was tossed back, Talon panting where he stood as his hooves returned to normal.
Both the dragon and changeling queen looked stunned from the blow, as the drake rubbed his cheek, looking back at the changeling who was already lunging at him again.
“Enough Talon!” The changeling skidded to a stop a yard or so away from the drake as he looked towards his queen, to see her standing and glaring. “He is beaten, I think you have proven your point.”
Talon looked back to the drake, who was glaring very sharp daggers at him. Talon shrugged slightly as he limped back to his queen’s side and sat. The dragon watched him as he approached.
“What are you?” the dragon asked, almost too quiet for the changeling to hear.
“Talented,” he replied. “Sorry for that outburst though, sir,” he said, watching the drake pick himself up and rub his cheek.
The dragon chuckled. “Don’t be. He needed a good wallop, plus that was entertaining to watch. You’d make a fine dragon.”
“If I wasn’t already part one.” Talon glanced towards the dragon, “Could do with your tougher hide at least,” he said as he raised his cut foreleg. His queen chuckled softly and lowered her horn to the wound, both it and the wound glowing softly and it mostly closing up.
“That should do while we finish talking. Think you can behave long enough Talon?” The drone gave a simple nod as she watched him. “Good.”
The drake continued to glare at Talon while the queen and dragon chatted, and Talon kept an eye on the drake, just in case he made another move.
Talon limped back along the path, his queen walking next to him. They had both resumed their disguises as he exited the grand city. They walked along the path for a bit in silence, before turning off part of it towards a clearing with a few small stones in a circle. They both sat in the circle and looked at each other, Talon leaning a little to the side before catching himself.
“You spent too much energy during that fight you know.” Leviathan shook her head. “That teleport you did wasn’t wise to do.”
Talon shook his head quickly. “What was I supposed to do? Take the claws to the face? I’ll be fine with some rest. I just spent more energy on that last punch then needed, but I did get to test something.”
“Which was?”
“That I can emulate metal. I just need to refine it, costs too much focus and energy to do.” He grinned up at her, leaning slightly to the side. “Just need rest and I’ll be right as rain again.”
“I hope so. Ember isn’t going to be happy to see you bleeding though.”
“Not the first, nor will it be the last,” Talon chuckled softly.
“I hope so,” Leviathan said almost quietly, making Talon tilt his head slightly in confusion. “Ready?” He nodded at her, she grinned slightly, her dragon form disappearing in its red fire and being replaced by a changeling queen once more, Talon doing the same. The moment both were done dropping their disguises, she kept her horn powered up as the stones around them glowed.
In the sound of a pop, they both vanished from the circle, and reappeared back in Leviathan’s throne room. She let out a soft sigh and looked towards Talon. “Well, Ember is already on her way here. You best come up with a reason for these cuts.”
Talon looked down at his leg, “Hey, that tree last time totally deserved it,” he chuckled and stood up, starting to limp towards the door. “Anyway, you get rest, as will I. While fending off Embers overprotectiveness.” He chuckled and opened the door, just in time to see Ember standing there about to open it herself. She looked him over and gasped.
“What happened to you?!” she nearly screamed as she took a closer look at the cuts along his leg.
“Uh. A drake?” He grinned weakly as he tried to limp past her. “I can explain it as you wrap me up… again.”
“Damn right I’m going to wrap you up! Seriously, what drake did you pick a fight with this time?” She said as she noticed the neck wounds.
“Uh. The prince, I think.”
Leviathan just shook her head as she watched the pair leave, closing the door behind him. She trotted up to her throne and sat, sighing softly to herself as she thought back to the fight from before.
“The prince? Seriously?” Ember sighed as she just stared at Talon. “You pick the worst fights, you know that?” She watched him for a moment. “And where are you going?”
“Uhh, towards food?” He grinned sheepishly, “I am hungry after all.”
“And you are not going to bleed all over the mess hall. To the infirmary first, Mister!” Ember turned and went down a hall, her horn glowing and tugging Talon along.
“But I’m hungry!” he whined as he let himself get dragged.
“None of that. Get bandaged first, then you can eat.”
Ember trotted alongside Talon as they made their way to the hive’s entrance. She chuckled softly as she looked over the soldier.
“At least your little bickering got us to the sidelines.” She grinned as Talon looked at her.
“Yea, we aren’t going to be on the front lines, but our medical magic will be helpful.” He chuckled softly. “But it should be ending soon this time, from what I hear Princess Celestia is trying to put a stop to it this time.”
Ember raised an eyebrow. “The mighty pony princess? Didn’t her own force, the Wondercolts or something, join in and make this a really bad three way?”
“Wonderbolts,” Talon corrected, “and yes, but something seemed to call them away only a month or so after trying to keep the drakes and griffins out of their land.” Talon shrugged as he stopped and looked down the tunnel. “Guess this is my stop, huh?”
Ember stopped as well, looking down the tunnel and nodding. “Yup, think you can behave yourself while I’m gone?”
Talon nodded, chuckled and started back down the tunnel towards the hive. “Yes, I shouldn’t have any problems while you and the others are off saving dragons and drakes and the occasional griffin.”
Ember nodded, and engulfed herself in fire to change to a more emerald coloration of dragon. She had a small pair of wings on her otherwise feminine frame, with a pair of horns angling back and a simple nose horn that glowed for a few seconds.
“That’s what I like to hear.” She grinned as she watched him nod and trot off. The other changelings in the area taking on similar dragon appearances as they left the cave and flew directly north.
Ember flew near the middle of the pack, letting her mind wander a little bit as she kind of directed the others on where to go. After a while of flight, she let her mind wander to Talon, wondering what he’d be doing at this moment. She shook her head slightly.
“Probably reading,” she muttered to herself, one of the other changelings glancing at her, then chuckled.
“Thinking about Talon?” the changeling asked, just loud enough to disrupt Embers flight a little as her wings locked up.
“Uh... Nnnope!” She grinned sheepishly, thankful that dragons didn’t blush, at least not as much as ponies or changelings could anyway.
“Uh huh, sure. The way you two hang around each other says otherwise.” The changeling grinned at Ember, swooping a little to the side to avoid a swipe. “You know we don’t mind.”
Ember sighed, letting her wings glide along the air. “Ok, I do like him, but not like that. We’re friends, nothing more. Even if something could spawn from that, what would it do for the hive?” She shook her head. “Besides, he’s been keeping something from me lately. I can tell.”
“Maybe he doesn’t want to worry you? I mean, you are in charge of us harvesters, and you have the best healing magic of us. He doesn’t want to add more to your plate, as the saying goes.”
Ember shrugged, flapping her wings to pick up a little speed. “Maybe your right, or maybe I’m just over-thinking things. I tend to do that way too much.”
The other changeling chuckled again. “That you do. For now you should just relax, focus on the task ahead of us. We will be reporting to you after all.”
“Yes. First time I am in charge of something like this.”
“Leviathan trusts you enough to do this.” The changeling beside her nodded knowingly. “You’ll do very well.”
Ember nodded slightly. “We’ll fly for a bit more before landing and resting. It is a long way to our destination, but we should arrive by nightfall.” She alerted the others as she flew above them a little. “We should only be there for a short time, maybe a day or two, but we could be there longer.”
The others turned their heads to nod back at her, as she grinned widely, letting herself glide along the air currents.
It was night when Ember landed with a soft sigh. She looked about the encampment, seeing a bunch of tents set up. She glanced around as one of the local dragons came up to her and the group of changeling dragons.
“It’s about time you showed up. Most of your crew is needed in the main tents. While we could use you and one or two others in this side tent.” The dragon gestured to a smaller tent. “We have some… pets there you should look over before we return them to their proper owners.”
Ember tilted her head. “Pets?” The dragon gave her a blank look, as Ember sighed. “Alright, you heard her. Most of you head into the main tent and see what you can do. I’ll go see these ‘pets’ and do be careful, Dragons are known to bite.” She chuckled as all but one nodded and headed off towards the main tent.
Ember looked the dragon over. “So, how bad is this batch?” She asked as she followed the dragon to the tent.
“All are pretty serious to be this far from the front lines, but they should live and be back on their feet with your magic within a few days. I mean, that is why we keep you changelings around, isn’t it?” The dragon growled softly. “Since you aren’t fighting this time.”
Ember just rolled her eyes as she entered the tent, then stopped in place once she saw the occupants. Lying on most of the beds were griffins. There were at least six, maybe seven, at a quick glance. She looked across at all the griffins. “Griffins? Here?”
“Yes. We found them and someone decided to bring them back, they are in pretty bad shape and may not survive. Which is good in my book, but apparently some Princess Celestia is trying to bring peace. So we have to try to save those we don’t kill outright.” The dragon said with a low growl. “So, your little clutch can do that.” She turned and left, leaving Ember and the other to just stare at the griffins for a few moments.
Ember sighed. “Shall we? We may need a few others. Go get them and I’ll look them over.” The changeling nodded and left, leaving Ember to look over the griffins again. She trotted over to the closest griffon and looked him over. It looked like the dragons had already tried to do some work on them, wrapping up the various claw wounds and applying disinfectant.
The griffon let out a soft groan as Ember looked it over. She sat and rested a paw on its shoulder, away from the worse wounds along its chest and arms. Her paw and nose horn glowed faintly, the griffon instantly relaxing and letting out a soft sigh.
She grinned slightly. “Easy there.” She continued to look him over. “Dragons could use a little work on their bandages.”
“Aren’t you a dragon?” the griffin groaned out softly, opening an eye to look at her. “Or is my vision that horrible?”
“Err, no. You're right, I am,” Ember chuckled weakly.
“Since when can a dragon do healing magic?” The griffin glanced towards the lightly glowing paw.
“Uh. Exotic breed, don’t get let out of the inner kingdom much except in times of war.” Ember shook her head and put a claw on the griffins’ beak. “No more questions, you should rest.”
The griffin nodded slightly and laid his head back on the bed. “One more, if you don’t mind. Why are you healing us?”
Ember shrugged, “Orders are orders. Simple as that. Though, to be honest, I’d rather not see any of you die here today. So I am going to do what I can to keep you and your friends alive.” Ember moved onto the other griffins, looking over the various injuries of each one as some of the other changelings finally came in.
The one that was first with Ember trotted up to her as two others went around to check on griffins. “Only two more were able to come over. The dragons are actually pretty bad this time around.”
Ember nodded. “Alright, then four of us should be good over here. The griffins don’t seem that bad.”
“Right…” He trailed off, looking towards the griffin that Ember was just at. “Still though, griffin prisoners?”
“Right now, they are patients. Not prisoners.” Ember growled lightly at the changeling, making him cower a little. “So, we will treat them as such.”
A day and a half had passed as the changelings worked on both dragon and griffon, getting them back into fighting order. There were a few arguments from the griffins about being healed and tended to by dragons, but their wounds being poked at with claws made them shut their beaks and deal with it.
Ember sighed as she sat outside the griffins’ tent, a cup of water in her paw as she slowly took a drink. She and the others had been working nonstop for the past day and were tired. The rest were still working, mostly still attending to the dragons.
Ember managed to deduce that the dragons who tended to the griffins, failed as a doctor. Their injuries weren’t actually as bad as they were made out to be. Missing feathers, deep cuts along arms and the chest, a few burns, one would be going home with half a tail, and a few chipped beaks certainly weren’t life threatening.
The dragons were just as well off. Sure, some wouldn’t be walking for a week or so and a good number were missing scales, but the wounds from spears wouldn’t be fatal, just annoying.
Ember took a long gulp of her drink as one of the changelings came up to her and gave a salute. Ember looked at him and raised an eye ridge.
“I think someone has been around the soldiers too long,” Ember chuckled softly as the changeling lowered his arm.
“Erm, sorry.” He laughed weakly. “Yes I have. Anyway, all checks out and we are free to leave till next week.” The changeling grinned. “We can head back any time.”
“Do we have the energy to?” Ember asked, taking another gulp of her water. “I know I’m kind of drained. I mean, I can do the flight, but we should rest at least.”
“Well, maybe a night of rest would be wise. Give us a chance to check on our patients before we leave.” The changeling turned towards the tent that held the injured dragons. “I’ll let the others know.” Ember gave a nod as the changeling vanished into the tent.
Ember grinned slightly and glanced up into the night sky, staring at the moon that had a silhouette of the alicorn that once moved it. She shook her head, knowing full well the story of how Celestia had to stop Nightmare Moon, and lost a sister in the process. If anyone could stop a war, it was her, and hopefully this would be the last.
She gave one last glance to the two tents, spotting her fellow changelings already heading towards where they were allowed to rest and clean up. She chuckled as she noticed more than half of them yawn widely and lean on each other.
She stood up and trotted over to them and joined them in the make shift tent. She watched them all flop tiredly on various cots as she basically did the same. “We’ll head back in the early morning, so we should get there by mid-afternoon, I hope.”
The changelings just nodded back to her as they curled up and laid down to sleep.
The next day the changeling pack left pretty much right after breakfast and kept in flight the whole way. They had arrived around mid-afternoon and landed near one of the few entrances to the hive. Ember landed first and looked at it curiously, the cave entrance was collapsed in. The other changelings soon landed and looked confused as well.
“What happened?” a changeling asked, stepping forward.
“I don’t know,” Ember began, looking around, “but something isn’t right, keep your guard up.” Ember took a step forward when a yelp behind her made her spin around. She saw a drake had pounced upon one of the changelings in the back of the group, and more drakes had leapt of the foliage and tackled them to the ground.
Ember gasped and took a few steps back, then glanced to her side right as a drake leaped at her. It missed as she ducked. She looked towards her fellow changelings as the drake quickly stood up to her side.
“Restrain them all, by order of the prince!” the drake yelled as he tried to tackle Ember to the ground again and failed as she side stepped. She took to the air and flew upward, as the drake tried to do the same, but failed as a red coil of magic encircled his leg and kept him grounded.
“Run Ember!” is all she heard as she took to the air, though she didn’t get far as she felt an odd tingle in the air around her from the mountain. She looked towards it, as the drake did the same, an odd very thin rainbow colored shock wave exploded out from it, not sending any rocks in their direction, but passing by them.
Ember shivered slightly as she suddenly started to hear screams in the back of her mind. She hovered for a moment before she heard another voice in her mind. “Flee if you can!” She looked down to see the drakes start to tie up the changelings, the drake just glaring up at Ember as she started to fly away, in the direction she came from before.
It had been a few days since the negotiations took place, and Talon found himself in the hive’s library, though this time he was reading a history book. He flipped a page of the book with his magic, slowly reading the history of Equestria. He had passed most of the stuff and was into the more current times. Celestia being the only alicorn in Equestria at the moment, her sister being banished to the moon.
He paused in his reading, staring at a drawn picture of Celestia. The artist that drew her tried his hardest to capture everything he could about the alicorn. He gazed at the picture for a good while before finally moving on. He continued to read about much of the semi-current events going on in that land, like Canterlot becoming a bustling city like Manehatten.
He sighed after a bit and put down the book, looking towards the rows of books he had access to. He closed it with his magic and levitated it up its spot on a bookshelf, then looked over the shelf for another book to read. He glanced along the shelf, letting his eyes pass over each book before a small gurgle distracted him.
He glanced down, sighing some as his stomach let itself be known. He shook his head slightly and stood up. “Seems food is in order,” he spoke quietly to himself. Ember was right, he’d probably forget his stomach without her around.
As he made his way out of the library, he did wonder where Ember was. He shrugged slightly as he trotted along, nodding to each changeling he passed. He made it just to the entryway when he felt the earth shift underneath him and catch the tail end of a transparent rainbow shockwave pass through. He suddenly heard screams, both real and in his hive mind as he glanced in the direction the shift came from.
He saw the walls start to crack and crumble around him, parts of the ceiling falling, and more screams echo out. He gasped and quickly started towards the queen’s chambers, knowing full well what was going on. He could only watch in horror as he ran, his fellow changelings trying to dodge falling rocks and failing.
He kept running, the natural lighting of the cave gems fading as it fell around him. A few fellow changelings taking a turn towards the hive’s entrance and making it down the tunnel before its entrance collapsed. He slid to a stop and looked around, watching the hive crumble around him. He closed his eyes and angled his head down, a tear streaking down his cheek as his ears went flat against his head.
“Talon!” His head snapped up as he looked in the direction of the queen’s chamber. He instantly stood up and took flight towards it, pumping his wings as hard as he could down the corridor. He tilted and angled his body as he flew, dodging falling rocks and bouncing off walls.
After a bit of flying, the tunnel started to become too small for flight, so he had to land into a run. He kept going as he bounced off a wall, the screams in the back of his mind fading into nothingness as he neared his destination. There were a few joyful whoops to be heard, but they were faint in his mind.
He slid to a stop in front of a pair of doors that looked awfully familiar. He didn’t even wait as he used his magic to open them open and quickly step in, looking around. His eyes eventually stopped on the form of his queen, half buried under part of her large bed and stone slabs.
He gasped and ran up to her, his horn a glow and surrounding one of the slabs to try and lift it off, to no avail. He tried both using his own muscles and his magic to do so, still barely getting it anywhere.
“Talon.” He heard coughed out, he stopped lifting and looked down to his queen. He sighed and stopped trying to lift it, as he sat down next to his queen. “This was meant to be,” she said with a groan, looking up at her changeling.
Talon closed his eyes, trying to hold back the tears. “You can still survive! Just help me lift the stones!” He snapped them open, focusing on the stones again and trying to lift it again.
“No.” Talon kept focused on the stone, barely feeling the weight of something on his back. Only when he felt something tap his leg did he stop, looking back down at his queen. “I am sorry, my little changeling, but this has to be.”
“No! We can still escape! We can…” he trailed off, the area around him fading from the crumbling stone room to being outside of the mountain.
“Sorry,” Is the last thing he heard in his mind as he stared directly at a collapsed cave entrance, he yelled out as he almost pounced on the opening and started tearing into it. Using both hooves and magic to toss aside stone.
Talons’ mind was blank as he sat there on the grass, staring at a boulder that was seemingly wedged into place to bar his path. It had scorch marks on it from him blasting it, and chips in it from him trying to dig into it with hooves. He tried reaching out with his hive mind, but with no center hub, he couldn’t hear any other changeling.
It had been an hour or so since he got forcibly teleported out by his queen, and by now if any others had made it out, they would have found him. He continued to stare at the boulder for a few more minutes before flopping down, closing his eyes and letting out a long sigh.
He slowly stood up, glancing around at the pile of rocks, his eyes stopping on a satchel. He trotted to it, limping slightly as his sore hooves let themselves be known. He sat by it and looked it over, taking in its simple appearance and noticed its two pouches were full, like she was expecting this to happen.
He winced slightly as he used his magic to open one of the pouches, a note sliding out slightly. He sighed, letting his magic rest for now as he picked up the note.
“If you’re reading this, then the premonition that we both saw has come to pass. I am sorry. Sadly, the cause of the collapse escapes me, but it happened anyway. There is a town to the east that you should head to, it is a few days by walking but the rations in this satchel should suffice. Also keep that anklet close. – Leviathan”
Talon sighed as he put the note back in the pouch, then opened the other side to see a bunch of trail rations and some gel. He took out one of the rations and started to eat it when he noticed a book in the first pocket. He slid it out partially, noticing it was a book on spells, one he hadn’t read yet.
He took one final look back at the fallen entrance, sighed, stood up, slung the satchel onto his back, and started off in the direction he hoped was east as he went away from the setting sun. He trotted along, limping slightly from the pain in his hooves after trying to dig through stone.
He took a few steps forward, stopped and looked back towards the boulder. “I’m sorry,” he spoke softly, his form changing to the unicorn appearance as he walked into the forest.
Talon kept walking, forging his own path in the untamed forest. He eventually came to a small clearing with a gentle stream running through it. He went to the stream’s side and flopped down, letting his aching hooves fall into the water as he stared into it. He stared at his own rippling reflection for all of 2 second before he closed his eyes, holding back the tears as he lowered his head.
His nose dipped into the stream as he laid there, sniffling and trying to hold back the sorrow that crept at his mind. He opened his eyes, staring into his reflection as it stared back at him. He growled and swiped it away with a hoof. He turned and reached into the satchel and pulled out another ration and started to eat it, letting his tail swish into the water as he tried to relax, letting his mind empty itself of the events of the day.
He kept his ears folded back as he looked through the satchel, idly munching on the rations as he fished through it to see what else was in it. He pulled out the spell book he didn’t know, the note, and what looked like a map.
He glanced over the map, trying to find both where he was and his destination, but maps weren’t his thing, and he just sighed, folded it back up and stuffed it into the satchel with a growl.
“Stupid map, stupid fate,” he mumbled to himself, glancing upwards towards the starry sky and sighed. He curled up, pulling his tail out of the stream, shivering slightly.
Talon growled as he jumped to the side, dodging a swipe from the timber wolf that he just so happened to piss off by existing. He had been walking along for a few days now, low on energy and almost out of food. His sense of direction was horrible it seemed, and he could have sworn he was wandering in circles.
Talon ducked as the beast swiped at him again, snarling and baring its fangs at him as it tried to enjoy a meal that was proving highly evasive. Talon had barely been able to attack since he got ambushed, not wanting to use any magic and barely get close enough to smack it with a hoof. He slid a little bit from another dodge, and looked up just in time to see a paw crash down upon him and pin him to the ground.
He growled and tried to wiggle free as the beast lowered its snarling muzzle to him, a faint grin on it. He looked up when he suddenly felt something weird, determination? From another source? He looked towards the forest just as a blue streak erupted from the forest and slammed into the wolf, knocking it clean off of him and a few yards away.
What Talon saw shocked him; he saw a blue furred pegasus floating there, glaring at the timber wolf while hovering in a combat pose. The pegasus was wearing a blue outfit with a yellow lightning bolt down its center. The suit covered almost all of the pegasus, leaving just the mane, tail, part of his face, and wings free.
The timber wolf slowly stood up and growled at the pegasus for a few moments before shrinking away and fleeing into the jungle.
“Hmph.” The pegasus landed and looked towards Talon. “So, what are you doing out here, in a dangerous jungle, by yourself?”
Talon was about to answer when three more pegasi entered the clearing, but the only one he could make out was a grey pony with a silver and white mane. “Blizzard! Why did you fly off like that?” he asked, as the other two landed near Talon and looked the unicorn over.
Blizzard just pointed towards Talon. “I heard something, and then saw him dodging a timber wolf. So I helped.” He shrugged. “Anyway, you can answer my question now, colt.”
Talon looked between the four pegasi all staring at him and let out a soft sigh. “On my way from my hi... err, home. It was destroyed by, something. I don’t know what, and I’ve been wandering for days now looking for the nearest town. My sense of direction isn’t that good.”
Blizzard seemed to study Talon as he spoke, shaking his head slightly. “Wings would suit you better.” He turned towards the grey pony. “Silver, go fetch our medical staff. The unicorn here is hurt and could use some attention.” He then turned to the other two. “And might as well make camp here.”
The three nodded and disappeared back into the foliage, leaving Blizzard and Talon alone. Talon glanced back at the blue pegasus and saw him just a foot away. He yelped slightly and shrunk back from the imposing pony.
“I know what you are,” he whispered.
“H…how?”
“The way you carried yourself during that fight, I watched for a minute and ten seconds before jumping in to save you. Your quick and sure on your hooves; a normal unicorn is a bit slower in physical combat, and more prone to stumbling. Also, a normal unicorn would have used magic at every chance; you were saving energy.” Blizzard leaned back. “Don’t worry, I’ll only tell one of them, after you’ve gone on your way.”
Talon looked down, “Thank you,” he mumbled, leaving the pegasus to snort softly and making him look up again.
“Should be a bit more thankful than that, but I suspect you don’t normally deal with ponies.”
“What are pegasi doing here?” Talon asked, standing up slowly. “I thought you had something back in Equestria to take care of.”
“That is a work in progress,” Blizzard said as he turned from the changeling, “We are on our way to the border lands between the griffons and drakes. We just happened to be passing through here.” He took a few steps forward, “To be honest, I thought he sent you at first, but you have no clue who I’m talking about.”
Talon just tilted his head to the side, “He? Uh, no. Are you a part of the Wonderbolts?”
Blizzard let out a single chuckle. “Astute observation. Yes, the elite air force of Equestria, and part-time show pony.”
“Show pony?” Talon raised an eyebrow. “I only know of the military side, didn’t think you showed off combat techniques for the common pony.”
“More like fancy air shows.” Blizzard shrugged slightly. “Something I doubt you’d be interested in. Showing off aerial moves for pegasi and pony alike.” Blizzard turned his head to glance at Talon. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Talon, and, I think I would be interested in that.”
“What? Don’t feed on love?”
Talon winced a little at that, “Hard to get love from something that can be much bigger than you. So we…err…” he trailed off, looking down. “Have adapted to favor pleasing them. Gratitude tastes better than love does.” He finished at almost a mumble.
Blizzard barely raised an eyebrow. “I am assuming something happened to your hive?” Talon just nodded at that. “Well, I am sure if you can fly half as well as you dodge, the Wonderbolts would accept you. If you can make it to them.”
Talon nodded with a small grin, then yelped as Silver burst out of the foliage with a unicorn medic in tow. Blizzard stood and walked over to the medic who just stared at Talon with his jaw dropped.
“You weren’t kidding Silver Lining. A unicorn, here? How?” The medic asked as he trotted up to Talon, hovering a bag of medical supplies by him. “And what did he get into a fight with? A drake?”
Talon glanced to the bandages still on his arm, “That was a week ago. Today was just a timber wolf.”
The unicorn let his medical bag drop. “You’re kidding… about that drake, right?”
Blizzard sighed softly. “He probably is. Just tend to his wounds. We are making camp here.”
The medic nodded and looked over Talon, whom had a good number of scratches and claw marks marring his hide. He glanced along his form, stopping on the cutie mark, “Huh… Never seen a cutie mark like that before.” He shrugged slightly. “Hold out your leg please.”
Talon did as told, holding out the bandaged leg for the medic to remove the coverings. “So, what are you doing out here?” The medic tried to make small talk as he worked.
“Uh, being lost, really. I heard there was a town east of the mountain, so I was going there.”
“And your plans after that?” the medic cut the bandages off, noticing the wounds had mostly healed, but were indeed from a drake. “Also, you weren’t kidding about the drake.”
“Uh, no. I wasn’t.” Talon chuckled weakly as Silver Lining stared at him, jaw agape.
“Quite impressive for a unicorn to best a drake.”
“He isn’t a normal unicorn, are you, Talon?” Blizzard looked at the pair of unicorns for a moment, then to Silver Lining.
“I have my… own talents, yes. Unique spells for me to use in combat, if I had more energy anyway.” Talon shrugged slightly, as the medic re-bandaged his leg.
“I bet it has something to do with wings, huh?” He made a head motion towards Talons’ flank, where his cutie mark; a unicorn horn with a pair of wings at its base, sat.
Talon grinned sheepishly. “Yea, but the spell costs a fair bit of energy to do, and I can only do it for so long.” He lied, but the medic and Silver didn’t need to know that.
Blizzard shook his head as the other two pegasi entered the clearing, with ten more following. Talon squeaked softly as he saw all the pegasi glance at him, and see the somewhat hurt state he was in. One of them trotted up to Blizzard.
“Is he why we are staying here? One unicorn should not delay us you know. Celestia knows we get enough of a distraction from your –.“ He trailed off as Blizzard shot him a glare. “Right, fine.” He turned towards the others. “Make yourselves comfy. You two,” he pointed towards a pair of pegasi, “go get some firewood. We’ll set up some tents and relax a bit early today.”
Talon remained quiet as the medic tended to his wounds, silently soaking up the various emotions in the air from the ponies around him.
Night had fallen and the only pony awake was Blizzard, and Talon figured if any pony understood why he was leaving at this time, it’d be him. Talon decided to sleep on the outer edge of the camp, still where he’d be safe in case of attack, but so he wouldn’t have to step over any ponies to leave.
He tried to be as quiet as possible while standing and gathering his satchel, which had another two days’ worth of rations in it. He took a single step towards the forest before he heard a soft sigh.
“Not even going to thank us?” He heard as a whisper next to him. He suppressed a yelp as he glanced to his side, seeing Blizzard there, almost glaring at him.
After regaining his senses, “I figured I would just slow you down, which I didn’t want to do.” He whispered back.
Blizzard shook his head slightly, “We are carrying three unicorns with us. One more wouldn’t slow us down.”
Talon looked down, then shook his head. “You’re heading off to the border between griffons and drakes. You be careful, and I’ll do the same. That town is which way?”
Blizzard let out a soft sigh and pointed. “That way. We won’t always be around to save your tail.”
Talon smirked, “I won’t need it now that I’m recharged. Though, to be fair, you’re a very hard pony to read.”
“Good. Be well Talon and good luck.”
Talon gave a nodded and snuck off into the forest. Barely a minute after he disappeared, Silver opened an eye towards Blizzard. “Why’d you let him go?”
“Because, that changeling has to find his own path.”
“Ahh,” Silver yawned and snuggled back into the blanket, then a moment later opened his eyes wide and his mouth to speak, right as a hoof entered it.
“Shhh. You’ll wake the others.” Blizzard looked down at Silver, and slowly removed his hoof. “Before you ask, he wasn’t causing problems. So keep it quiet, would ya?” Silver just nodded slowly.
Talon had made record time through the forest once he was pointed in the right direction. He guessed he was still a day from his destination but something new barred his path. He was currently laying down, watching what could only be described as a jigsaw puzzle of animal parts. The strange creature, he assumed was male, was pacing back and forth, mismatched arms crossed and a look of determination on his face.
His snake tail twitching as he walked, still muttering a curse or two as he paced. Talon could detect a lot of both magical power, and emotional power from it. But something told him to stay away, might have been the flashing sign near the edge of the clearing that said it, who knows.
Talon was just about to start sneaking around when it stopped, straightened up, reached a paw up and snapped two fingers, disappearing from view and detection all together.
Talon blinked, remaining where he was for a moment before sneaking out into the clearing.
“You really make too much noise breathing that quietly.” A voice came from behind Talon, which made him yelp loudly and tumble out into the clearing. “And boy are you high strung!”
Talon rolled to his hooves and turned to face where the voice came from, but saw nothing.
“For a being that can detect emotions, you certainly are blind when something is above you, eh?” Talon quickly looked up, seeing the creature floating above him.
“I happen to be a draconequus, in case you’re wondering.” Talon quickly backpedaled away from the creature. “And I can plainly tell you’re a changeling. Although…” Talon went slightly pale as the creature hovered towards him. “Certainly one I haven’t seen before. A lot of adapting must have happened over the last millennium.”
The draconequus shook his head slightly, “Nice to know I still incite terror in… most, ponies.” He grumbled near the end. Talon quickly dashed to the left of him, trying to escape the clearing, only to almost run into him as he appeared in front of the changeling in a puff of smoke.
“Running away? After spying on me? For shame. I could easily tell you were in that bush for the better part of five minutes, watching me. At least you weren’t draining me, didn’t want to taste a god, huh?” He paused, “That sounded wrong…”
Talon blinked and leaned back as the draconequus leaned forward, “Why are you tormenting me? I don't want any trouble!” Talon barked at him.
“Moi? The mighty Discord, god of chaos? Tormenting you? Why my… boy, it’s what I do!” Discord grinned widely, far wider than his face would normally allow. He leaned forward as Talon leaned back. “Though, we should get rid of that pesky disguise.” He reached a paw up and snapped his fingers, the unicorns disguise instantly shattering and revealing the changeling below.
Talon gasped as he felt it fade, quickly looking himself over, “How did you -?!” He looked back up, directly into the sneer of Discord and jumped back, flaring his wings out to side. “Gah! Stop doing that!”
“No. You can’t make me,” Discord sneered as he kept hovering. “Would like to see you try though.”
Talon shook his head. “I prefer life.” He turned and started running in the direction he was originally going.
“It was your fault you know.” Discord said calmly, making Talon stop in his tracks and glance over his shoulder. “You really think that besting a prince in combat wasn't going to upset him?”
Talon slowly turned to face the god. “H-how do you know about that?”
“How could i not? I mean it was only the talk of the dragon court for days afterwards! A prince, bested by a lowly changeling in combat!” He disappeared from view, only to appear next to the changeling. “And you are so willing to face down dragons, but run at the mere sight of me.”
Talon jumped to the side to get away from him. “I know where i stand when fighting a dragon!” Discord chuckled and floated up a little.
“Face it, you're a coward.”
Talon growled, “I am not!” and leapt into the air after the god, his form encircling in fire as his fore hooves changed into blades. Discord merely raised an eyebrow as he watched and effortlessly dodged the frenzy of attacks the changeling threw at him.
“And you're still going to run from a past that will forever haunt you!” Discord taunted as he kept blocking the wild swings.
“Shut up! You don’t know what you’re saying!” Talon spat at Discord as he floated back, his horn powering up to throw a beam of energy at the god. Discord merely caught it with a baseball glove and made the energy dissipate harmlessly.
Talon flew at Discord again and swiped with a blade, sadly getting it caught in a paw. “Shouldn’t let your emotions guide you in battle.” He grinned as he spun around before tossing the changeling back into the clearing they started in.
Talon landed with a soft crunch as he bounced from his back to his front. He stood up shakily as Discord landed in front of him, still holding that grin. “Come on, surprise me. It’s what your species is good at, isn’t it?”
Talon didn’t bother to say anything as he reclined, inhaling and making a crimson glow appear in his mouth. Discord merely raised an eyebrow before gasping, throwing his paws forward to conjure a shield as a large gout of fire erupted from the changeling.
“Huh, was not expecting that. And it’s natural too,” Discord said rather calmly as he redirected the fire upwards, to not catch the local wildlife on fire. After a few moments, the fire stopped and revealed Talon, gasping for breath. Discord looked him over, “I should have guessed you could breathe fire, but I suspect you can’t do it often, huh?”
Talon just growled and lunged at him again, bringing a hoof to Discord’s face rather hard, though his second swing only connected with air as Discord teleported away. Talon looked around for him, finally hearing Discords voice from above.
“You know, for the author of this little story liking me so much, I seem to be getting hit far more often than I should be.” He glanced skyward for a second, before looking down at the changeling who was already lunging at him again.
“You know what, Talon. I’m done with this. I already forgot what I was gonna do to Blizzard Strike today. So be gone, gnat.” He reached up and snapped his claws, making the changeling just disappear from sight with a pop. Discord paused and looked around. “Oops… that won’t come back to bite me, will it?”
Luna looked down at the three pegasi, two mares and a stallion, that stood in her throne room. They had gathered together after dark and were the only ones in the room, aside from a few bat pony guards lining the halls.
“Another successful night of repelling them?” Luna asked calmly, looking each of them over.
The dark colored stallion nodded, “Yes. It wasn’t a problem.”
“I think they may get antsy soon, who knows how long it will be before they start sending more than just a few low ranking ponies,” one of the mares spoke next, a turquoise color with a two-toned yellow mane.
“We should…” The purple mare trailed off as a loud pop sounded, followed by a thunk. All four of them turned towards the throne to see a strange creature sitting on it. Its back was to them, and at first glance it looked like a changeling, but the flared-out wings and long thick tail said otherwise.
It shook its head and grumbled slightly, before stopping and slowly gazing over its shoulder. Its eyes going wide as it saw the alicorn and three pegasi staring confusedly at it. The throne room remained in eerie silence before Luna finally shouted. “Restrain it!”
Before she even finished, the two closest bat ponies charged at it. The creature quickly glanced between the two, barely a yard from it before it vanished. It reappeared five feet above the throne, facing the alicorn and pegasi as the bat ponies collided with the throne.
The pegasi quickly jumped into the air after it, though the stallion veered off towards the only open window, which the creature spotted and started towards. The stallion arrived first and turned to face the changeling.
“Gonna have to get past me,” he shouted as the changeling smirked and just before colliding, vanished from view. The stallion was prepared, however, already having spun around slightly, he felt his hoof hook with the changeling’s leg and toss him back into the throne room.
The changeling blinked as it regained its flight, gliding along to dodge the other pegasi coming at it. The turquoise pegasus moving fast and quickly catching up to it from above.
“Huh, that’s a nice shell color you have,” she commented, before thrusting her hooves down towards its back, it angled down to dodge the attack, then glanced to its side as it saw Luna powering up her horn.
The changeling quickly stopped in the air, making the other pegasi fly past it and angle back around. It watched as Luna fired a bolt of magic and simply raised a hoof to swat it out of the air, harmlessly hitting the ground.
The pegasi mares and Luna just stared at it. Though as it turned back to the window, it ran directly into the stallion’s chest.
“Nice trick,” is all the changeling heard before getting hit with a pair of hooves on its back; sending it to the ground roughly.
The changeling bounced once when it hit the marble floor and laid there for a moment. It slowly raised his head off the ground with a groan and saw Luna glaring at him, horn powered up and a blast already flying at him.
“Oh scorch me,” it said, just before getting blasted by the magic in the face, making it spin on the ground from the force and lay there, unconscious.
The three pegasi landed around it and looked it over. The turquoise mare spoke up first. “What is it?”
“It appears mostly changeling,” Luna explained calmly as she cantered up to them, “but shows dragon traits. We have never seen one like this before.”
“It appears this is its natural form too,” the stallion said as he poked at a wing. “Still, we should tie it up and toss it in your dungeon. I’ll get some of my Renegades to watch over it.”
“Are you sure that is wise, Descent?” the turquoise mare asked, still looking at the changeling before her.
“Unless Luna here really wants a guard to watch over it. Maybe get it a doctor too, it does look hurt.”
“Yea, I doubt you smashing it to the ground really helped its condition,” the purple mare finally spoke, staring directly at Descent.
“Thanks for your input, Starry.”
“Just saying, normally capture implies not really harming it. Changelings are weak creatures after all.”
Luna just shook her head and looked to one of the guards that was helping untangle the mess of guards on the throne. “Thou, fetch us some rope and a magic null ring.” She looked towards Descent, “Thy have just the doctor in mind to check it out. Though we hope she doesn’t mind the three am wake up call.”
A grey unicorn mare with a two-toned blue mane yawned widely as she trotted along down the stairs, being led by a guard who held a pot of black tea with his magic. The guard filled up the cup as the mare just looked at it. She shook her head, and promptly took the pot of tea and downed a third of it before walking along ahead of the guard.
“It’s too early for cups. And couldn’t this have waited till morning?” she asked, suppressing a yawn as the caffeine slowly started to kick in.
“Afraid not, ma’am,” the guard replied. “It did kind of drop in unannounced.”
“It..?” She paused, looking at the guard as he passed by. “Did Diet Chaos get himself hurt again? If so, I’m not helping him.”
The pair rounded a corner and passed into the jail cells, where a large white pegasus mare sat with her back to a barred prison room. She nodded slightly to the guard, then looked to the mare.
“It has been unconscious for the past hour or so,” the pegasus spoke, pointing inside. The mare peered in and her eyes went wide as she saw the changeling lying on a pile of hay. It looked content, even if it was asleep. She took a step back and looked at the guard.
“You didn’t tell me it was a changeling! How am I supposed to treat that when they could drain my very emotions before I get close?!” She gasped, pointing a hoof at it.
“That requires contact,” the three heard groaned out from inside the cell. All three of them turned to face the changeling, who had an eye open and was trying to sit up, only to fail as its legs were tied up. “And I would never do that anyway.” It wiggled in place as it tried fruitlessly to stand, or at least sit.
“You… Talk?” the unicorn mare asked, surprised, looking over the changeling.
“I just did, didn’t I? Ugh, what hit me…?” it groaned again as it looked himself over.
“That would have been Descent, or maybe Luna.”
The changeling’s eyes went wide at the mention of Luna. “You mean… the mare on the moon? Nightmare moon?! When did she return?!” It tried to scoot back, staring at the pegasus that spoke.
“About three years ago,” the pegasus answered calmly, watching the changeling with a slightly confused expression. “Why do you ask?”
“Because last night, she was still an image on the moon!” It let out a groan and laid its head on the hay. “Ugh, can’t think straight.”
“I think Descent may have hit you too hard.” The unicorn mare looked over the changeling, “Where did you get those injuries? And those bandages for that matter, those look like Wonderbolt bandages!”
The changeling glanced to them, “Uh, the injuries are from a drake, a timber wolf, and possibly the hard floor. The bandages are indeed from Wonderbolts, I met some two days ago, on the way to patrol the border between the drake and griffon lands.”
The pegasus raised an eyebrow, “We haven’t done that for almost two decades.” She tilted her head, then looked to the guard. “Go get Luna, and Descent. Let them know the prisoner is awake.”
The unicorn looked at the guard. “Before you do, open the door.”
“Why?”
“So I can do my job.” She turned to the changeling. “You’re not going to bite me, are you? Especially if I untie you? You won’t run or fly away?”
The changeling just let out a soft groan, “I have no clue where I am, no reason to harm you, and no urge to get smacked.” It looked to the pegasus. “One way in, one way out. And a guard is currently blocking it.”
“Witching Hour, are you sure that’s wise?” the pegasus asked, as she held the door open.
“I’ll be fine, Valkyrie. It seems trustworthy.” She trotted in and up to it, looking it over again. “So, what’s your name?”
“Talon,” he sighed, “and I do have a preferred gender; male.”
“Okay. I’m going to untie you now. Just to be sure; you’re not going to hurt me, are you?” Talon just shook his head. “I’ve never seen a changeling quite like you before. Where are you from?” she asked as she magically undid the rope around his legs. Once they were free, he let out a sigh of relief and slowly sat up.
“From the drake empire. There is… was a hive there.” He looked down, and she certainly detected the change in his voice, from confidence to sorrow.
Witching looked over the bandages, and using her magic slowly untied them. “Care to tell me more? Like why the wings and tail? The changelings that we have seen here are more insect like.”
He winced slightly as he went to move a wing, noticing it was also tied down. “Different traits of different changelings. We were around dragons, so after a while we took on their traits. Gaining their wings, tails, and an excellent taste in gemstones.”
“Oh? A taste in gemstones, as in eating them?” Witching looked over the leg, which had mostly healed by now.
“Eh, no. Crafting them to shine.”
“Huh,” Valkyrie spoke up. “Wouldn’t have figured that part out.”
Talon looked up to her. “We had to please them, make them happy. We couldn’t get love out of them so we adapted and found happiness to be better.”
“So,” Witching began, “you don’t feed on love? At all?” Talon shook his head, “Huh, weird. Thought after Chrysalis invaded, that’s all you changelings fed on.”
“Who?”
“Queen Chrysalis? Invaded during a major wedding almost a year ago?” Witching looked up at the confused expression of the changeling. “Uh.”
“We get the feeling he needs a history lesson.” The new voice made each of them jump, as they all turned to see Luna standing there. Talon started to cower a little and lower himself down, out of Witching Hour’s grasp. Luna sighed softly, “Fear not, we won’t hurt thou.”
“I remember reading the stories about you, and it took Celestia to stop you. How can you be here and not on the moon… Unless I am somehow on the moon now.” Talon continued to shrink at the alicorn’s presence.
“Thou art not on the moon, little changeling. We are in Equestria, and we were saved by the Elements of Harmony.” She paused, as Talon continued to look both confused and scared. “Perhaps that history lesson would be more relevant, if we knew when thou came from.”
“The griffon-drake war.” Talon started, looking down. “Met with some pony, I think his name was Blizzard, another was Silver Lining.” He looked up, seeing a shocked face on the pegasus, he tilted his head slightly. “Problem?”
“You were that red unicorn?!” She asked, looking the changeling over. “I never would have guessed. How did he figure it out? No wait, don’t tell me. Some kind of minor details right?”
“I was too solid on my hooves, didn’t use magic in combat despite being a unicorn.” Talon shrugged slightly, as Witching Hour moved onto some of the other wounds.
“Well, that was almost two decades ago. How didst thou miss that much time?” Luna asked, sitting and watching the changeling, her horn glowing slightly as the rope around the changelings’ waist and wings loosened and floated away.
“Some… thing named Discord.” Talon immediately winced as a roll of bandages hit his side, “Urf…” He looked to see Witching looking somewhat pale, then looked to see Luna growling slightly. “Uh… did I say something wrong?”
“That insufferable, intolerable…” Luna trailed off, then shook her head and tried to grin. “We did not know he was free during our banishment, as we and our sister sealed him away with the Elements.”
“Well, he was free for a short time, yes, but Blizzard saw that put to an end rather quickly,” Valkyrie spoke up, after the shock passed. “Might have happened the one day he didn’t bother us.” She shrugged.
“Right, anyway. Got into a fight with him, and suddenly I found myself on a throne. And then I was being chased by pegasi and… weird bat pony things.”
“Thestrals, though we do have a question for thee. How didst thou deflect our magic?”
“With a hoof? Rather simple when you’ve practiced it during times of war.”
“Well, his injuries have recently been treated, and look to be healing rather well. Course, I am no expert on changelings so I assume they are,” Witching sighed as she stepped back, “Closest I’ve been to a changeling that didn’t want to eat me.” She grinned slightly towards the changeling, who nodded back to her.
“Thanks.” He looked to Luna. “So, am I a prisoner?”
Luna’s eyes went wide for a moment, then back to normal. “For now, yes. Until we can decide what to do about thou.”
“Well, we could put him with the Renegades, for now at least?” Valkyrie looked over Talon, “Once he fully heals anyway.”
“We suppose, but what is to stop him from teleporting away?” Luna pointed to the changeling as she asked. Talon merely chuckled.
“Sure, if I could go farther than a yard or so.” Talon shook his head. “I have nowhere to go, no home or hive to go to. Why would I leave what is potentially free food? If I have to work for it, sure. Assign me a guard or something, if it’ll make you feel better.”
Talon sighed as he glanced up to the ring that was currently stuck on his horn. While he was left untied in the cell, the ring was kept in place and he was still under constant watch in case he’d make an escape or something while they decided what to do about him. On the plus side, he was given history books and a new bed. It was a board with a cushion on it, but it was better than a pile of hay.
He grumbled slightly as he used a hoof to turn the page in the book he was reading. “You know, this reading would be easier if I could use my magic to turn the page.”
The pegasus huffed in annoyance. “And until we can prove you're trustworthy, the answer is no. Now stop asking.”
Talon shrugged, it was worth a shot at least. He looked towards the pegasus again. “So.” The pegasus sighed, another question coming his way as the changeling continued, “Equestria now has four alicorns in it? I know of Celestia and Luna, but this Cadance and Twilight are new to me.”
The pegasus turned slightly to gaze at the changeling, “Yes, Cadance, Princess of Love. She currently resides in the Crystal Empire. A place you’re most certainly forbidden to go. And Twilight Sparkle, who recently ascended to godhood. She resides in Ponyville. Any more silly questions?”
Talon sighed. “Ok, I know you hate what I am, but I wasn’t even here during that event. I can tell you hate me, I sense and taste that anger.” He scrunched his face. “And it tastes horrible, just so you know. But honestly, Amber Dawn, I am not your enemy!”
Amber Dawn turned fully to face the changeling. “I am aware of your innocence, doesn’t mean I have to like you. You caused a scene when you first arrived, and until we decide what to do with you, you're stuck here under our watch.”
Talon shook his head and sighed, “Right, and even then. I get the feeling the glares are going to continue on. Oh well.” He returned to reading the book for a few moments, before glancing up at the guard. “Ya know, if you have other important stuff to do. You can go do it.”
“And leave you alone to remove that ring and teleport out of here? No.”
“The notches in my horn would make that difficult to do. And besides, I wouldn’t need the ring to get out of here.” Talon stood and stretched out a little, flaring his wings to the sides as he did so. Amber Dawn just watched him.
“What do you mean?” he asked as he watched Talon trot up to the bars and poke at them.
“Standard steel, right? Melt under intense heat, not enchanted to withstand fire.” Talon kept poking at them.
“Right, Unicorns don’t generate fire except through magic.” Amber kept his eyes on the changeling, wondering what he was doing. Talon shrugged slightly.
“I know my metals pretty well, have to if I wish to emulate them. However, there is a trait I inherited from dragons and drakes.” He walked back to the bed, turning and sitting on it with a smirk. “But, I wouldn’t get very far, and it would break any trust I had built up to this point,” he sighed, and promptly fell back onto the uncomfortable bed.
“Yes it would,” a new voice made itself known as a turquoise mare with a two-toned yellow mane entered the jail room. Talon and Amber Dawn both looked towards her as she trotted up to the bars. “Descent wants to see him, so he can stop pestering you with questions now.”
“Good,” Amber said as he moved to unlock the door, Talon sitting up and looking towards the pair.
“So what is going to happen to me now?” Talon rolled out of the bed and looked towards them. The mare looked at him with a faint smirk.
“That depends on you, if you can show him what you're capable of that is.” The mare watched as Talon moved out of the cell and looked between them.
“And… not getting my magic back ‘til we get there, right?” The mare just nodded and started back out of the jail room. Talon fell in line and Amber Dawn brought up the rear, keeping the changeling in between them. “Well, I suppose I can ask you about Twilight Sparkle then?”
“Not much to say about her. Recently became an alicorn, the princess of friendship, really needs to work on her flying, but that's to be expected as a unicorn who is suddenly granted wings,” Lightning Dust casually remarked over her shoulder. “Though as a changeling, you can fly in almost any form, huh?”
Talon nodded, “Just can't as an earth pony. I fake it as a unicorn, using my magic to make my wings glow and say they are just summoned at will.”
“Clever,” Amber remarked behind him.
“What can I say? I am a pony of many talents, though mind reading isn't one of them. What's your name, ma’am?”
“Oh, so polite too. I am Lightning Dust, and you can just call me Dust.” She turned a corner and lead them down a semi-lit hallway. Talon was certainly getting a tour of the palace as they made their way towards wherever they were going. Guards stood at attention as they passed by, each one glaring at the changeling, making his ears go flat, as it went past.
Talon let out a soft sigh after the third set of guards they passed glared at him, drawing the attention of Dust. “Ok, I didn't cause that big of a scene when I, er, dropped in. Did I? Or is all this anger I'm tasting from the wedding invasion that I, clearly, wasn't a part of?”
Dust chuckled softly. “You did cause a scene when you dropped in, but yes. The guards aren't overly fond of changelings at the moment, and I doubt that is going to change any time soon.”
“Even if this changeling wants to join the Wonderbolts?” Talon asked, looking at Dust who stopped in her tracks and turned to face him.
“Why would you want to join them?” She asked, as he stopped to get stared at in the eye by her.
“Well, er, why not? I doubt I could join the guard here, not without constant glares even if i was disguised.”
“And you think the Wonderbolts would just let you in?”
“Well, no. I’d have to work for it, but I’d rather show off what i can do naturally, then let my magic speak for me. Sure, I can change what I look like, get bat wings or even dragon wings, grow claws, but most of that is for show.” Talon lifted a hoof up. “But I can't alter my speed or my strength. If doing whatever the Wonderbolts do to increase that helps my combat abilities, then it's worth it.”
“Huh, weird talk for a changeling harvester. Why would...you…” Dust trailed off as Talon began laughing. “Ok, what's so funny?”
Talon calmed down enough to speak. “That you consider me a harvester, which I'm not. I am a soldier, bred and trained to protect.” He grinned widely, making Dust step back from the toothy visage. “Harvesters would avoid combat at all costs. We soldiers protect the hive, protect those who can't defend themselves.” He trailed off, looking down. “Even if I failed in that role.”
“Is that why you were exiled, only way for a changeling to leave their hive, that we know of.” Dust turned back forward and resumed trotting towards the throne room, Talon following behind as he kept her hooves in his view.
“Hard to be exiled when your hive is crushed before your eyes,” Talon mumbled barely loud enough for the pair to hear. Amber noticed how Talon started to carry himself, at first with with pride, now it looked like shame. His tail was sagging and wings were barely holding at his sides.
“Must of been a harsh blow,” he commented, “I don't know how something could have crushed a whole hive.”
“I’d rather not talk about it.” Talon said glumly, as the grand doors opened to reveal the long throne room. Princess Luna, Descent, and Starry sitting at the far side of it. Talon glanced up and noticed the lunar alicorn and shrank slightly, folding his ears back. Amber noticed and started to push the changeling forward.
“Willing to face dragons, but not her?” He smirked as he kept nudging Talon up. Dust trotted up to Descent and gestured back to the changeling.
“Here he is, as you requested.” Dust moved to stand beside Descent as he stood up and looked over the changeling.
“Hmph, where is the warrior we saw the other day? All I see before me is a cowering foal.” Descent stood in front of the changeling and looked down at him as Talon slowly straightened out.
“J-just took a moment to catch up, sir,” Talon tried to say calmly as he tried to ignore the alicorns’ presence in the room. He glanced at each of the pegasi before him and took note of their emotions, pretty much all glaring at him.
“Does she intimidate you?” Descent motioned his head towards Luna.
“Well, partially. With dragons, you know of how you may, er, die. With alicorns, it's a whole different story.” Talon shrugged slightly as he stood at attention. “You never know what could happen if you say or do the wrong thing. I learned that the hard way.”
“Thou wound up in our throne room after dealing with Discord.” Luna chimed in, looking the changeling over. “We would not erase thou from existence, as we have naught a reason too.”
“Well, that is refreshing.” Talon said with a faint chuckle, then looked at Descent was slowly trotting around him, looking him over. “So, what's going to happen to me?”
“Well, that depends. Are you a fighter or not? I would assume so as you deflected magic.” Descent stopped behind the changeling and glanced up at Luna.
“I am a soldier, yes. Bred to fight and protect, so regardless of what happens, I would prefer to be somewhere my skills can be put to use.” Talon glanced over his shoulder at Descent.
“And that technique used to deflect magic?”
“Passed down from generation to the next from the last Changeling war. It barely comes up but it is a good skill to have when conserving energy for barriers and shapeshifting.”
“And your combat skill?” Starry spoke up from next to the throne in her usual flat tone, making Talon look at her.
“While not trained in a military function, I do know how throw a punch.”
“Anypony can throw a punch.” Descent started, “but only those that are trained know how to put their weight and muscle into it.” He was to Talon’s left now, looking the changeling over again, he stopped directly in front of him and smirked. Talon tilted his head slightly, looking over Descent.
The changeling was having trouble trying to figure out the emotions he was getting. Dust was easy to read, but Descent and Starry weren't, heck Starry was harder to read then Descent was! Talon shook his head slightly, as he gazed up to Luna. At least she proved easy to read, curiousity was at the top of her list, although she still had a fair bit of magical power.
He sighed and looked back to Descent, “Guess military training makes your emotions hard to read.” Descent let out a scoff as he gave one final glance over the changeling.
“Well, time to see what you're made of.” Descent lunged at the changeling, making him duck down to dodge the attack as Descent flew into the air above and behind him. Talon quickly stood back up and turned to face Descent.
The stallion landed and stood on his hind legs, throwing a punch at the changeling. Talon stood up to quickly block the attack, wincing at the amount of power Descent put behind it. “And I thought dragons hit hard! OW!” Talon thought as he blocked another attack from the stallion before him, making him take a few steps back.
“Well, at least you know the basics of defending yourself,” Dust commented off to the side as she watched Descent throw hard blow after hard blow into the changeling, each impact making him step back.
“Ever so helpful Dust!” Talon said as he sidestepped to dodge a swing. He took the moment to swing back, only for his arm to get caught and thrown over the pegasus. Talon grunted as he landed and bounced to his hooves and looked to where the pegasus stood. Descent stood there, still reared back, looking over the changeling.
Talon growled as he stepped forward and threw a punch, it getting easily deflected as he started to throw more. All of them were easily deflected and brushed aside with a single arm. “Enjoying yourself?” he asked as he threw another punch, getting himself caught as Descent flipped around and held the arm up behind the changeling.
“You really need to work on your offense. But I could see some promise in you with the right training,” he said, before throwing Talon forward to the ground. Talon tried to stand up but was kept down as Descent placed a hoof on his back. “I’m sure the previous Wonderbolt captains would be willing to train you.”
Descent kept him in place as he glanced to Luna. “Care to remove that ring? I doubt he is going to teleport away.” He let up on the changeling who looked up to his horn, then over to Luna who was already powering up hers. He saw the deep blue glow appear above his vision for a moment than a soft pop as the ring was teleported away.
Descent watched Talon for a bit as the changeling glanced to his horn again, smirked, and vanished from view. Descent leaned a little to the left as a holed limb suddenly went past his head, and Descent suddenly extended his wings, granted him an ‘oof’ from behind. He turned around and saw the changeling holding his stomach and looking up at him.
“How…” he said slowly as Descent took a step back.
“Awareness, and that move being predictable. I suggest you aim more for the side, not the back.” Descent looked towards Luna, who shook off a shocked expression. Talon shook his head quickly and took a few steps back.
“Aw shards,” he said softly as he straightened out.
Luna looked over the changeling. “Thou art the first changeling we have seen to teleport.”
Talon sat and kept a hoof over his stomach, “It's more short range, kind of like blinking really. A teleport is more long range, I can only go about a yard, maybe two if i try. I haven't really tried to go farther.” He relaxed slightly and grinned. “It consumes far less power to do that too, since I don't have the same reserves as you or a unicorn.”
Luna nodded slightly, keeping an eye on the Talon as Descent spoke up.
“Well, we should get going. We can drop him off at the base and resume our patrol.” Dust and Starry nodded as they stood and trotted towards the balcony. Talon looked between each of them, getting the hint quickly he stood and followed as well. Descent watched him as he moved. “Though you should take a pegasus disguise.”
Talon glanced back at Descent and nodded slightly, engulfing himself in fire for a moment. In his place was a deep red pegasus, with a dark blue mane that had black spots in it. He looked slightly bigger as a pony, than a changeling, and his Cutie mark was a hoof engulfed in green fire.
Descent nodded and took flight, leading them as Starry flew by his side. Talon was stuck in the middle with Dust behind him.
Talon flew behind Descent and Starry as the glided along in the night sky towards one of their mountain outposts. Lightning Dust was behind him and almost seemed to be admiring the view.
“You know, if I didn't know you were a bug… dragon… pony thing, I’d really be admiring the view,” she said casually as she angled upwards some to glide above him. Talon glanced over his shoulder at her.
“I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not. Though I do have a question for you, what are the Renegades?”
Descent let out a soft growl. “The Renegades are what the Shadowbolts used to be.” He glanced over his shoulder at Talon. “And before you ask, Shadowbolts were a mercenary group, working in the shadows.”
“Right, that did answer my next question.” Talon chuckled softly.
“Well,” Lightning Dust began, “what's the real reason you want to join the Wonderbolts?”
Talon slowed himself to glide beside her, grinning. “Multiple reasons! I heard they are show ponies, performing stunts and such for crowds. That’d be a feast of energy for me, along with any camaraderie I may get in them. I know they are a military organization, but I'm sure there are some friendly bonds in it.”
“Well, a lot has changed since the time you met them, I think. You did meet them like, two decades ago, right?” Lightning Dust chuckled softly as she turned over to fly on her back. “They are a lot more like a huge family now than before. Under new management too.”
“Captain Spitfire leads them now,” Starry said with her usual flat voice. “Though we do have their former captains in our employ. You’ll get to meet them.” Talon looked over at Starry, raising an eyebrow for a moment then back to Dust.
“Is she normally a ball of sunshine?” He asked, pointing to Starry with a hoof. Lightning Dust just giggled.
“That's how she normally is, yes. Just don't touch her, you may get a broken nose or worse.” She rolled over to fly normally. “But don't worry, not everyone there is like her. Most of the retired Wonderbolts we have are actually full of energy!”
“Oh well, that's good to know. I keep forgetting she’s there,” Talon chuckled softly.
“You know, that does raise a question. How do you changelings see the world?” Dust glided a little closer to Talon, looking him in the eye. “Like, do you see normally like a regular pony, or like a bat with sonar but for emotions?” Talon leaned away some, grinning slightly.
“I’d say normal, but then I don't know what normal is compared to you. If it's a standard array of colors, then yea. I don't see with my ears though, like bats.” Talon shrugged slightly. “And as for emotions, it's more a taste in the air for them like a lizard does for smells.”
Lightning dust raised an eyebrow. “Huh, so what do you get from me, then?”
“Excitement and curiosity mostly.” Talon grinned. “A hint of curiosity from Descent there, but from Starry, mild,” he paused, “Nope, major annoyance.” He glanced to Descent, “So, boss, where exactly are we going?”
Descent just pointed towards what looked like a summer camp with various cottages set up. It looked abandoned from this distance though. The four tilted and angled towards it, Talon moving back towards the middle of the pack as they did. For a moment, it looked like no pony was home, until Talon saw some movement.
A red stallion pegasus with a slicked white mane was standing near one of the buildings, he looked to be talking to a white pegasus mare with a blond wavy mane. She glanced up and pointed towards the four as they landed. The stallion glanced at them, tilting his head, he trotted up to them.
“Who's the stray?” he asked, as the other mare face-hoofed lightly.
“Really? Is that who I think it is?” she asked as she trotted up. Starry simply nodded and trotted past them into the cabin. Lightning Dust chuckled softly as she looked at the two.
“Well, I know one of you already met him. We should introduce him to the others first.”
“Are they even here yet?” Descent asked, looking towards the pair that greeted them. The stallion shook his head.
“Not yet, still on patrol. Is this the changeling you said, eh, dropped in?” the stallion asked, looking over Talon. Lightning Dust nodded as she stood next to Talon.
“Yup, turns out he has no home to go to. So, here he is. Though we have to train him a bit.” She turned to him. “Hopefully he can survive it. I know I did, but I'm a pegasus, not a changeling.”
Talon raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you saying that what I am is a handicap?”
“Oh no, just not entirely sure what you’re capable of.” Lightning Dust grinned disarmingly at him. The stallion just looked confused at Talon.
“Why would a changeling want to join us? I mean, aren't they normally weak and wanting to avoid combat at all costs?”
Talon sighed and took a step back, “That would be correct if I was a harvester. I get the feeling you're going to learn a lot about changelings,” he said as his magic lit up the area, revealing his natural form. The stallion just stared wide eyed at him.
“Wow… Your uh, exotic. Aren't ya?” The stallion looked him over appraisingly. Lightning Dust chuckled softly.
“So, who all is here at the moment, Comet?”
“Ah, the twins and Steady Wing are inside. Blazetail and Flash Wind should be…” He trailed off as Talons ears perked up and he suddenly bounced to the left, in his place stood a proud red stallion that quickly lept at the changeling. “Right there…” Comet finished.
The changeling was quickly on the defensive again as the stallion growled and kept attacking. “Aww come on! At least let me explain before…” He didn't get to finish as he got smacked across the jaw by a hoof and sent to the ground. The stallion placed a hoof roughly on Talon’s side and kept him pinned down.
“And why should we, whose love are you here to steal? How did you find this place?” He snarled as he leaned in. Talon just pointed towards Dust as she trotted up.
“This is the one that dropped in on us,” she said calmly as Blazetail looked at her, then back to the changeling.
“Really? And how did it do that?”
“He mentioned Discord.”
Blazetail sighed and stepped back, as Flash Wind landed next to him. He looked the changeling over. “So, What is it doing here then?” Talon slowly stood up as he watched Blazetail, ears folded back as he tried to inch away.
“He is here to join us,” Dust replied, glancing at Talon.
“Join us? Why would a changeling want to do that?!” Blazetail pointed at Talon, “They are all weaklings, hardly capable of combat and would rather run away! That changeling war that happened so long ago at least knocked some sense into them!”
“I’m right here you know!” Talon sighed as he watched the Stallion that was still visibly angry with him. “Seriously, how many times do I have to say I wasn't even here for that wedding! I skipped the last two decades thanks to that walking pile of animal parts!”
Flash Wind walked up behind him and lifted a wing, making him yelp and look at her. “He has a point, I’d recognize him if he was. These wings are a bit unique.” Blazetail snorted and glared at the changeling.
“He could be faking those wings just to say he’s different.”
Descent shook his head, and finally spoke up. “Nope, those are real. I know, I saw him get knocked out.”
“Still doesn't prove anything. He could of held his form.”
Talon sighed, “Fine, nothing I say would prove I wasn't a part of that. How many changeling do you know that can breathe fire?” They all looked towards him, Dust and Flash Wind looking more shocked. Blazetail scoffed and pointed a hoof at him.
“You could fake that with your magic.” Talon shook his head.
“Watch the horn, ol’ boy.” He turned and lifted into the air, aiming the mouth skyward and inhaled. After a moment he exhaled and released a small but very real short burst of flame, lightning up the area. Blazetail kept his eye trained on the horn while the changeling did that, it didn't glow once. After the short demonstration, he landed and looked at Blazetail. “Well?”
“You could have faked that, somehow.” He snorted and leaned towards the changeling, getting right into his face. “You still didn't answer my question why a harvester would want to join us.” Talon held his ground and glared right back.
“For starters, I'm a soldier, not a harvester. Secondly, I have no home to go to. No one to call friend, and I would like to become a Wonderbolt!”
“HA! You as a Wonderbolt! They aren't that desperate. You wouldn't last five minutes with their training!”
“Then train me so I could!”
Blazetail looked at the changeling incredulously. “You’re serious, aren't you?”
Talon took a step back and stood as proud as he could. “Yes sir.” The changeling stood about a head and a half shorter than the former captain of the Wonderbolts. Lightning Dust started to chuckle at the sight of the changeling trying to impress the old pony. The stallion looked him over.
“Well, first thing would be needing to know what all you can do. How often can you do that fire trick?”
“Er, well. Not as often as a normal dragon. My mouth isn't built for constant use, so it tends to get burnt after near constant usage. A spurt here or there isn't bad.” Talon shrugged ever so slightly.
“Hm, and your magic?”
“He can teleport,” Dust chimed in, making the former Wonderbolts look at her, then back to him.
“Seriously?”
Talon simply demonstrated by disappearing and reappearing on the other side of Flash Wind. He smirked as he glanced up to her. “About as far as I'm willing to go. If I pushed myself, I can go farther, but that consumes more power.”
Blazetail looked over the changeling a bit more appraisingly this time. “I can see how you can be useful to us. I assume you can alter your appearance like any other changeling? And deflecting magic, I heard you did that too.”
Talon quickly took on the guise of his pegasus as he nodded. “Wasn't able to deflect her second blast, but yes. It could probably use work.” He tilted his head, “Why ask about that?”
Blazetail smirked and lead the way into the cottage. “Well, youngster, let's just say that our current enemy uses magic.”
Talon quickly followed after him, looking confused. The others soon followed suit as Talon caught up to the stallion. “Unicorn against pegasi seems a bit much for something like this.”
“Oh, if only it were that simple,” Dust spoke as she moved up to Talons other side. “Where to begin…”
“Ok, let me get this right. You are currently fending off pegasi, who are dressed similar to you. Who use magic like a unicorn does, through the use of crystals?” Talon stared wide eyed at the ponies around him.
“Yea, that about sums it up,” Dust chuckled, “Still willing to join us?”
“Of course, I don't think he’d get much choice in the matter now,” Starry commented. “Since he knows too much. It's either join us, or sit in a cell until it blows over.”
Talon looked towards Blazetail, who was looking back at him, expecting him to say no and run. Talon grinned and extended a hoof, “Where do I sign?”
“Huh, he’s kind of cute when he’s asleep like that,” Flash Wind chuckled as she and Cannon Pall looked over the red pegasus who was splayed out over a bed. Talon’s last few days had been hectic, but worth it. Between strength training and combat drills, he was ready to just collapse when they let him.
“Your definition of cute is messed up Flash Wind,” Cannon said, pointing to Talon, “considering we know what he really is.”
Talon barely twitched in his sleep as the two conversed at a normal volume. Cannon grinned as he moved an air horn close to Talons ear, “This will be worth it though, heh.” He grinned evilly as Flash Wind took a step back.
“You are aware he can breath fire, right?”
“A few scorch marks are worth this.” Cannon Ball hit the air horn. Talon’s eyes snapped open as he shot out of bed and clung to the ceiling like a cat, fire swirling around his hooves to make paws to add to the effect. His wings stood straight up, or rather down and pointed towards the floor, and his eyes were wide.
Cannon Ball rolled onto his back as he laughed at the sight of the changeling clinging to the roof. After a minute of Talon coming to his senses, he glanced down at Cannon, who was now on his stomach, laughing and pounding a hoof on the ground.
“Way to give me a heart attack!” Talon grumped as he floated down and landed on the bed, glaring at Cannon who was still laughing his feathers off. Flash Wind kept a hoof on her mouth as she let a few chuckles slip.
“You’re going to get used to that in the Wonderbolts, especially since that old codger Silver Lining is still there.” Flash Wind calmed herself down and kicked Cannon Ball, making him stand up but still releasing chuckles.
“Old...” Talon blinked, then sighed. “Oh yeah, I keep forgetting I skipped nearly two decades.” Then, glaring at Cannon, he added, “Also, that was NOT funny!”
“Sure it was! Seriously! You clung to the ceiling like a cat! Didn't think you could go part way with your changes.” He grinned as he wiped away a tear. “I needed that laugh. Totally worth it.” He turned and trotted out of the bunk house.
Talon stretched out and yawned, looking at Flash Wind. “So, what you doing to me today? Kicking my tail again or…?” Flash Wind shook her head.
“Practice your own stuff today, I suggest you go into the mountains to do so. Where no prying eyes can see you.”
Talon nodded. “Right.” He stopped at the door frame and glanced out into the early morning sky. “Breakfast first, then I’ll head… wait,” he paused, looking at Flash Wind, “You mean you actually trust me on my own?”
She nodded back to him and stepped out, grinning. “We trust you to return. I mean, you’ve stated multiple times that you have nowhere to go and nopony to turn to. So, yeah, we’re letting you return to us.”
Talon nodded and let the larger mare pass. “About time. But yes, nowhere to go. Plus I don't even know how to get to the Drake Empire from here!”
“It's a really long flight.” Blazetail was casually leaning on the outside of the bunk house, waiting for Talon to come out. “And I don't think you can make it.”
“Hm, knew I detected a bit of anger outside.” Talon smirked at him.
“Flash Wind is partially right, we are giving you a break today. However, I am joining you while you're out in the mountains.”
“Oh?” Talon raised an eyebrow at him. “And here I thought I could be trusted to not flee.”
“I doubt you would.” Blazetail walked over and poked Talon in the side. “I want to see how your fighting has progressed, for your better half.”
“My better…? Oh right!” Talon chuckled weakly. “You’d still kick my tail, but sure.” He grinned widely and started towards the mess hall. “But breakfast first!”
Talon grunted as he laid pinned in the dirt under Blazetail who was casually keeping him there. The changeling wiggled a little tried to get himself free, but his blade hooves were helplessly caught under a wing.
“And here I thought you were a soldier.” Blazetail casually remarked as he glanced towards Flash Wind who was sitting under a tree, watching the pair. “So, can you tell me what you did wrong there?” Talon grunted and kept wiggling.
“Picked a fight with you?”
“Beside that.” Blazetail hopped off the changeling and took a few steps back as Talon quickly stood up. Flashwind chuckled softly as Talon looked over the older stallion. “You attack too recklessly. You should analyze your foe first, watch them as they will certainly be watching you. You can surprise your foe with your hooves, use that to your advantage.”
“Okay. Another round then and I’ll try to watch how you continue to kick my tail.” Talon took a combat stance, reforming his blades again as he glared at Blazetail. Blazetail shook his head and walked over to Talon, gazing along a blade.
“I am also not as young as I used to be. We’ve been going at it for the past hour or two. I do wish to look over this form though.” He grabbed a blade and held it out, making Talon yelp slightly.
“Er, ok.” Talon just stood there as Blazetail looked over the blade carefully.
“They could be a little thinner, for less air resistance.” He tapped one, “Maybe a bit smaller too, less chance of them breaking.” He glanced up at the changelings horn. “How talented are you with magic?”
“Er, good. I guess. I did a lot of studying on various kinds before winding up here. Transmutation is my strong point.”
“Well, one of our foes top commanders conjures a blade from his hooves. It's a good length too, I'm just wondering if you can do the same.” Blazetail stepped back and watched as Talon pondered.
“I’m still getting used to the idea of pegasi doing magic in the first place.” Talon quickly shook his head. “But making a blade? That seems…” He trailed off as he looked over his own bladed arm.
Blazetail chuckled, “Give it some thought and see what you can do. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for combat training, Talon.” Blazetail turned and trotted over to Flash Wind as she stood up. “We have tryouts to hear about.” Talon merely gave a slight nod as he got lost in thought.
A blade? Out of magic? It is possible, but took training to get it solid and strong. His hoof blade, as Blazetail called them, engulfed in fire, shortening some and becoming thinner. In the short time since he first showed them off to a dragon, he had been getting better about making them.
Using more chitin and less bone in case they broke meant he wouldn't be missing a limb. As he practiced it, he found he was certainly different. Having both a skeleton inside and out, must of come from being around dragons so much, he figured. He had plates like a bug, yet scales or leathery skin underneath it and a scaly tail.
He gave a slight shrug as he focused on his hoof blade, his horn glowing faintly as magic trailed along his blade. A shape started to form, certainly looking more like a club then a sword, but it was a start. Unknowingly, he had a witness from above, Blazetail was watching him from the sky, with a faint smirk before flying off after Flash Wind.
Talon landed outside the bunkhouse with a soft grunt, wincing as his aching hooves let themselves be known. He had been practicing getting his blades sharp against rocks near where he was and learning just how hard they were. He sat and looked at one of his currently deep red hooves, matching the fur color of his pegasus form and sighed.
“I have a long way to go,” he mumbled to himself before standing and trotting inside. He made it a few steps towards a table before he suddenly detected curiosity. He glanced over his shoulder a pair of pegasi mares, one pink with a yellow mane, and the other inverted.
“Ahh, so you must be…” the pink one started.
“...Talon,” the yellow finished. Talon looked between the two and gave them an insanely confused look.
“You’re doing it again, ladies,” another voice from behind them sounded, a white stallion with a grey mane as he poked at the pink mare. “Seriously, you both are one pony.”
“We are not!” They both said at the same time as they turned around and glared at him. He shrugged back and looked at Talon.
“We were wondering when you were going to come back.” He trotted around the mares and towards Talon. “Figured you’d run off, but it seems you're true to word.”
Talon glanced at the mares, then to the stallion. “Right… My word right now is, I'm hungry… and confused.” He shook his head and looked around. “And… in the wrong building, aw shards.” He turned and started towards the door but was stopped. He glanced down to the white hoof on his shoulder, then to its owner.
“Let me, while the ladies introduce themselves.” The stallion then left the building as Talon turned and faced the mares.
“Well, seems I'm meeting a lot of weird ponies lately,” Talon chuckled as he walked back to the table.
“I'm Pixie and this is my twin sister, Fairy.” The yellow mare bowed a little.
Talon raised an eyebrow for a moment, then chuckled. “Meeting so many ponies, you all should wear nametags or something.”
“We don't need nametags…” Pixie started.
“...You just need to remember who we all are,” Fairy finished. Talon looked between them again.
“Yup, I agree with that stallion. You both are one pony in two bodies,” he stated with a nod, earning a glare from them both as they puffed out their cheeks. “What?” He shrugged. “It feels true!” They continued to glare at him as he sat at the table and awaited whatever leftovers were brought to him.
Talon sidestepped as he dodged a swing from the similar colored pegasus before him. The pegasus’s bright red coat glistened with sweat as he spared with Talon. He stepped back and raised his hooves as he blocked an attack, and quickly moved his arms to block another side swipe from the pony before him.
Talon continued to block swing after swing from the pegasus before him. In the past week or so his defenses had certainly increased. He was still getting hit, but it wasn't as often now. Talon smirked slightly as he saw a punch coming and sidestepped it, but failed to notice a kick that thrown a few seconds after.
Talon suddenly found himself face first in the dirt as the red pegasus stood on top of him. “And that's another win for me, eh, Talon?” Talon just let out a soft groan as he glanced up at him.
“Only five to zero in your favor, Crimson.” Talon let out a soft sigh as the pegasus took a step back and helped him up.
“Aww, come on. You’re bound to win one of these. Aren't you a soldier where you're from?”
Talon rolled his eyes slightly and nodded. The Retired Wonderbolts were the only ones who knew he was a changeling, the rest were just told he was a recent defector. After getting told of fake power, he didn't want a part of it, which is true, partly.
“It was a peaceful time, so my combat skills are a bit lacking.” Talon shrugged some. “But I'm learning more out here than I have known.” He took a few steps back and spread his wings, taking a defensive stance again as Crimson retook a more aggressive one.
Talon gave a quick nod as Crimson lunged at him, Talon ducked down as he dodged a swing. He bounced to the side and reared up, bringing his hooves up to block another punch. After blocking it, Talon tried to go on the offensive. He quickly thrust a hoof forward just for it to get swatted away as he felt a thump against his chest.
He slid back and retook his defensive posture as Crimson watched him. Crimson sighed and relaxed. “You said you fought a drake, right? Your attacks a bit sloppy.”
Talon shrugged slightly, “I guess I was lucky. He was royalty.” Which seemed true, now that he thought about it. The dragon was easy to fight, since he wasn't that adept at it. Now that he was actually thinking, he was a really poor fighter. He grunted and glared lightly at Crimson. “Care to show me how poor I am then?”
“Well,” Crimson shrugged slightly. “If you insist.” Crimson grinned, waited till Talon got into a position. The second Talon got ready, Crimson quickly lunged at Talon, faster than he had before. The changeling quickly sidestepped and raised his arms to block. “Watch the chest,” Crimson said as he thrust a hoof forward, it getting blocked.
Talon nodded, focusing on Crimsons chest. The pegasus was moving slower on purpose now, letting Talon block all of his moves. Talon kept blocking and dodging more swings until he finally saw another opening. He barely dodged a punch and spun around, catching Crimson across the back of his head with an arm.
Crimson rolled with the blow, spinning around afterwards and landing a solid blow to Talon’s back. Talon landed face first on the ground again and gasped for breath as Crimson stood above him.
“Man, I barely saw that one coming,” he chuckled as he waited for Talons’ lungs to refill. “You're certainly getting the hang of catching me off guard.”
Talon wheezed a little bit, “Yea, it's what I do.” He slowly stood up and turned to face Crimson with a grin.
“Well I’d keep practicing that. For now, we should break for lunch.” Crimson grinned back and turned towards the summer camp. “Race ya!” Crimson waited till Talon was standing before shooting off into the sky like a rocket. Talon grunted and jumped up, pumping his wings he tried to keep up.
Talon managed to keep a good pace, of a few yards behind him. Talon sighed as he glided along, knowing full well he couldn't keep up with a true pegasus. He shook his head and quickly resumed pumping his wings, he wasn't about to let being an imitation stop him.
His wings ached, heck his whole body ached after the sparring match, but he pushed himself further. A week into being here and he finally got kicked into gear, literally. He managed to catch up to Crimson, only to slow down as the site drew closer.
Talon landed, gasping for breath as he glanced back at Crimson who had already landed. Talons wings were aching after that as he shook them out.
“You don't go flying much, do you?” Talon glanced up as Crimson looked him over.
“I go flying often, I just never push myself like that.” He grunted as he sat down. “Any tips for increasing wing strength?”
Crimson rolled his eyes before narrowing them at Talon. “Do wing ups. I’d suggest you do at least ten a day. Seriously, it's like I'm teaching a foal.” He stuck out his tongue at him with a grin. Talon chuckled softly as he stood up and they both went inside the mess hall.
“How long as he been like that?” Cannon Ball asked he gazed at the sight before him. A waterfall flowed into a lake that flowed downstream towards Canterlot. Sitting at the base of it was Talon, eyes closed and horn a glow. His hind legs crossed and he looked to be in a meditative position, arms out to the side and hooves pointed up as he breathed low.
A thin barrier floated above him, directing most of the water away from him, only a part of it going over the edges of his outstretched wings. His tail twitched slightly as did an ear at hearing Cannon’s voice, but he remained silent.
The other pony who was watching him just shrugged and looked back at Cannon. “I don't know. I was just told to go out and find Talon.” Lightning Dust looked back at the changeling. “I’ve been here for maybe half an hour.”
“I’ll sate both of your tasty curiosity,” the changeling said calmly, yet loud enough for the pair to hear. “I am meditating.” He opened his eyes and looked towards Cannon. “Something I read back in my hive, each of the pony tribes who weren't strong, fast, or as magically gifted as the others would try to focus themselves. Try to better themselves, and this was one way. Tapping into Nature itself.”
Cannon started to laugh as Talon glared at him.
“I'm not as fast as a normal pegasus, not as strong as an earth pony. So I'm trying to use my magic to boost it.”
Dust tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “But isn't your magic not limitless like a unicorn?”
“True, it has a limit, but every source of magic has a limit. Even a mighty alicorn can be put to a limit. It just takes another god or black dragons or something equally devastating to do it.” He grinned, then winced as his horn flickered and faded. The barrier fading as well and letting the waterfall hit him directly. “Ack!” he squeaked out before vanishing under the water.
Cannon Ball started to laugh again as Dust stood up quickly and started towards the lake. After a moment, Talon’s head poked out of the water as he grumbled, “And there is mine.” He grunted and climbed out of the water, shaking his wings as he moved towards dry land.
Dust let out a sigh and sat back down. “Shouldn't scare me like that.”
Talon raised an eyebrow. “Concern? For me?” He grinned widely at Dust. “I didn't know you cared!”
“I... Er...” She puffed her cheeks and turned away. Talon laughed a little and shook himself out next to Cannon Ball.
“It's okay, Dust. I'm kidding. I am just thankful you're not like the rest of the hardasses glaring at me constantly.”
“But the only ones who know what you truly are, are the retired Wonderbolts.” Dust looked back at him with a tilted head. Talon sat and shook off the glare Cannon Ball was giving for getting him wet.
“Yes, but Descent told me how the old code was for the Shadowbolts that he and the majority of the Renegades are from. Everypony for themselves basically. I feel they wouldn't hesitate to leave me behind were something to happen.” He turned towards Cannon Ball. “Heck, even with the retirees, I feel that way.”
Cannon shook his head, “Would go against the Wonderbolt Code to leave a teammate behind. You may not be a Wonderbolt yet, but you're certainly pushing yourself to be one.” He spoke seriously, as he looked over the changeling. “Also, can you even fly with wet wings?”
Talon smirked and took a few steps from them, spreading his wings out as his horn glowed softly. He inhaled and exhaled lightly, his fire coming out with a red glow around it's orange form. The fire curled around himself and seemed to just hover about him for a bit before putting itself out and left him grinning with wings that looked dry.
“One trick I learned, when I first got my fire, was a way to keep myself dry.” He extended a wing towards them, showing it was indeed dry. “Granted, can't do it as a pegasus, but feathered wings are a bit waterproof anyway.”
Dust looked over the wings, then glared at him. “That is so cheating! Though I bet you could do it as an alicorn.” Talon shook his head.
“Have you seen those manes? Only a queen can copy that kind of appearance. The best I can do is blend in with the area.” And he demonstrated this by taking on an earth pony whose coloration matched the local area. His hooves were brown and fading into the grey that mimicked the mountainside behind him.
“Even holding this set up takes a bit of effort. Most ponies come in one or two colors, easy to copy, while others are three or more. Most changelings can really only do two, that's why we prefer simple schemes.”
The two stared at him slack jawed as he blended in, at least until they moved to the side and noticed it didn't go all the way around. His front and back, and what wasn't facing them, were the grey of his chitin. “And now you see the other problem too.” He grunted as he took on his normal pegasus guise. “To do that from all sides, constantly changing the colors. Only one or two could do it in my hive, and my hive was small.”
“That explains why Chrysalis took on Cadance’s appearance. She doesn't have a flowing mane like Luna or Celestia.” Dust sat and put a hoof to her chin, “Nor does Twilight, though she is the youngest of the four. I am sure with time they will get similar manes.” She looked at Cannon ball, “But could you take on their form. Forget the manes being colorful, just the horn and wings as a pony?”
“For a short time, possibly.” Talon mused, “Given I am a soldier, I do have more magic capability then a harvester. If it's just the appearance of one, then yeah not a problem at all. Performing anything close to what they can do? Heck no. My blasts fall short of a trained unicorn in general, though I surpass an untrained one.” He grinned.
“Speaking of magic,” Cannon started as he looked over Talon, “can you stand on a cloud like a pegasus?”
“Yes,” Talon stated flatly. “Make one and I’ll show you.”
Cannon raised an eyebrow. “You don't know how to make a cloud?”
Talon shook his head. “I know what goes into it, but I’ve...never actually tried to make one. I am sure it's something we are going to see if I can do.” Talon watched Cannon as he moved towards the lake.
“Making a cloud is easy, come on. Let's see if you can do it.” Cannon stuck a hoof in the lake and glanced back at Talon. “Come here. I’ll show you.” Talon grinned slightly and walked over. Cannon waited until Talon was at the lakes edge. “Stick your hoof in, and feel the cold water around it.”
Talon did as he was told, sticking in it and looking at the water. “I assume you kind of have like, three ways your magic can go, right?” Cannon asked, getting a nod in return. “Focus on what makes up a pegasus. Sitting on clouds or flying through them. This is probably easier as your currently a pegasus.”
“Yea, my unicorn magic is turned off, at the moment anyway.”
“Well good, keep it that way. Now using that pegasus feeling, tug on the water. Gently lift your hoof out of the water and try to take as much water as you can with it.” Cannon demonstrated as he pulled his own hoof out, a globe of water around it and staying in a near perfect shape. Talon watched, then looked towards the water.
“I'm not expecting you to get it on the first try, but grabbing something should be easy when you do it with your unicorn magic.”
Talon gave a quick nod and focused on the water, “You make it look so easy.” He withdrew the hoof, some water clinging to it for a second before falling back into the lake. Talon let out a sigh, and stuck the hoof back into the water. He glanced to Cannon to see he was already forming a small cloud.
“Show off,” Talon grumped and sat, keeping his hoof in the water. Cannon Ball chuckled as he was already forming a cloud.
“I am a pegasus after all. It comes naturally to me. Keep practicing just holding water around your hoof.” Cannon chuckled as he lightly bopped the cloud towards Talon, making it float over. Talon glanced at it, then took his hoof out of the water to stand on the cloud.
“See, just kind of natural.” He sat on the cloud and looked at the two.
“Huh.” Dust chuckled, “What about as an earth pony?” Talon blinked, then looked down at the cloud. Talon shrugged slightly and took on a dusty red colored earth pony guise. He continued to sit on the cloud and watch the others reactions. Cannon just shook his head.
“That looks so weird.” Dust just tilted her head, then grinned and poked the cloud, making it pop and him fall to the ground with a soft yelp.
“That wasn't fair!” He grumped as he stood up, taking on his pegasus guise again and looking back at the lake for a moment, then to the others. “You mentioned you were told to find me?”
Dust nodded with a grin. “Yup, just wondering where you have been. That's all.”
“Okay, you’re just showing off now, Talon,” the mare said with a huff as the pegasus-disguised changeling before her was bathed in a fireball, making her ice blue fur almost seem orange by the light. She crossed her arms and glared at the stallion before her.
“Hey, how did I know that I’d take to fire so well?” Talon grinned at her, holding his arms out and collecting the fire before him as he hovered a foot or so off the ground. Crimson shook his head as he glanced at the mare.
“Have to admit, Rime, He takes to fire better than any other element. At least he can somewhat use lightning.” Crimson chuckled and poked the mare. “Far better than water.”
“His wings are like swiss cheese. He can't manipulate wind at all.” Rime snorted and glared at Crimson.
Talon landed and held a hoof out, letting the fire collect in it before he shook it about to put out the flames. “Heh, about that…” He shook out his wings a little, “Where I am from, we didn't really manipulate the elements much, or at least I didn't.”
“And yet you’re a natural with fire.”
“Go figure, huh?” Talon shrugged with a huge grin. “You could say I breathe the stuff.” They both rolled their eyes.
“Well, at least the rest of your training has been progressing smoothly.” Crimson chuckled, “Finally knocking me on my plot now when we spar.” Rime stared at Crimson.
“We’ve been training this whelp for the past few weeks? Why? I thought he was part of some secret section of the Shadowbolts!” She turned to face Crimson directly, throwing a hoof out at Talon.
“Well, perhaps he is, perhaps he isn't. Who cares at this point? He is another set of hooves to fight those loonies!” Crimson growled back at her. “And when they are wielding magic from crystals, we could use all the help we can get!”
“So he can fight, big deal. Can he deflect magic like we can?” Rime glared at Talon, who stepped back with a weak grin. “Well? Can you?”
“Yes, actually. That skill was passed down in my family for generations since the Changeling War.” Talon sat and raised his hooves defensively, “I’d show you that I can, but no unicorns around. And you can't shoot magic.” He pointed at Rime whom grumped back at him.
“Fair point, we won't know until you actually join us on a patrol, when will that be anyway?”
“Descent said he’d test me soon. See if I could actually land a blow on him.” Talon shrugged. “I think he said he’d do it when I least expect it, so with him it could very well be tomorrow that he’d kick my tail.”
“That I’d like to see,” Rime chuckled softly. “Celestia knows we see Crimson here beat it enough.”
“Hey! As I just said, he’s getting better!” Crimson walked up and poked at Talon. “It's almost an even ratio of tail-kicking now.”
Rime snorted and glared at Talon, “I’ll be the judge of that. If he can fight half as well as you say, Crimson. Then he may stand a chance against the commanders.”
“You mean those ten pegasi who use that fake magic the best?” Talon tipped his head back. “Not all at once, but maybe one on one. But I still find it hard to believe that pegasi are using magic externally, it's just...weird.” This coming from a changeling, thought Talon.
“Well, enough talk about crazy ponies. I'm hungry! Let’s go eat, shall we?” Crimson said with a grin as he draped an arm over Rime. Crimson didn't notice the faint blush appear on Rime’s cheeks, but Talon noticed a little more and just faintly smirked.
“Yes, food does sound good. Lead the way you two.”
Talon blinked as he side stepped away from a dark grey hoof, and quickly brought his own arms up to block another swing. He grinned as he shook off this blow and stepped back, throwing a punch forward, which his attacker effortlessly dodged.
Two days had passed since he learned that manipulating fire like that barely cost any energy, as compared to using his magic. He took the next day to practice it as best he could at his spot by the lake, and the twins had watched him as he used what had learned of martial arts and mixed it with fire. They reported it to Descent, and today, the stallion felt Talon was ready to earn his wings.
And boy was Descent testing him, barely a minute after arriving back at the lake this morning, he started throwing punches at him. Talon kept dodging and blocking what he could, but it was starting to wear thin being on the defensive.
“Going to bring out those blades changeling?” Descent snarled at him. The only other ones around was Blazetail and Bomber. They were both sitting by the lake as Descent and Talon threw blows at each other.
Talon smirked, letting his pegasus disguise fall as he ducked and bounced to the right. He brought a bladeless hoof up, expecting it to get deflected, and as it happened he swung his left around with a small blade for a hoof.
Descent dodged the swing and thrust a hoof forward, landing it squarely in Talon’s side. He grunted and slid back, but barely stayed there as he took another swing at Descent. This time he brought his right hoof down, a short blade in it's place which Descent blocked and held.
“You’re getting better at your changes, I didn't even notice you make that one.” Descent wore a faint grin as he watched the changeling before him thrust his left arm forward, a blade pointing forward on it instead of downward. Descent deflected this one and turned, twisting the arm he held as he threw the changeling over head and towards the lake.
Talon used the momentum of the throw to get into the air, pumping his wings to get some sky as he turned around, already seeing Descent rushing at him.
“But you're still not using all of your magic!” Descent growled as he thrust forward, blinking as Talon faded from view. He quickly rolled over part way, putting his arms in an X as he blocked a punch from the changeling.
“Damn!” Talon winced as he felt his non bladed hoof blow connect with the arms. Descent took that moment to kick him in the face with a leg, sending the changeling plummeting towards the water.
Talon glanced towards the water, opening his mouth slightly as a little fire rolled out. He closed his wings as he splashed into the water, sending a huge wave up as he went under. Descent floated above it and watched the water. The disruption from the dive made it hard to tell where the changeling had gone.
He kept scanning the water, and soon noticed a pair of tiny beams erupt from it. He quickly brought his hooves up, but the beams went past him and dissipated behind him. He watched them for a moment, then looked back at the water, noticing it was calm.
“Okay. I know your water manipulation is poor. What's your, ERK!” He quickly spun in the air, dodging a blow from his side as the changeling threw a surprise punch. Descent quickly grabbed his arm and looked at the changeling who was wearing a shocked expression.
“Close, I’ll give you that.” Descent said, as he threw the changeling towards the ground this time. Talon grunted as he landed and bounced a few times from the throw. He groaned as he slowly stood up, wincing as he heard Descent land next to him. He looked up just in time to see Descent throw another punch and closed his eyes, expecting the blow to connect.
After a moment of silence, he opened them and saw a hoof a few inches from his face. He squeaked and flopped back as Descent withdrew the hoof.
“And you’d be dead now,” he paused, “If your little stunt there hadn’t worked. That was clever.” Descent held his hoof out, letting Talon cautiously take it and stand back up. “How’d you do it?”
Talon smirked faintly, “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
“He used your distraction from his magic to fly up. I barely saw him as he erupted from the water with the magic from near the waterfall.” Blazetail smirked from off to the side. “Have to admit, that was clever.”
“Heh heh heh, changeling full of surprises.” Bomber grinned widely.
“Well, I’d say he’s ready to wear our colors then.” Descent looked over Talon for a moment, then back to Blazetail. “Where is your wife with his vest?”
“Vest?” Talon tilted his head, retaking his pegasus form as he did so.
“You shape change. I figured a vest works better for you then our full uniform. You still get the goggles and tassel, of course.” Descent nodded as he trotted over to them with Talon following up.
“Afraid I’d tear the outfit?”
“Yes.” Descent said flatly.
“Don't know about his crest though with the goggles.” A new voice made them all look skyward as Flash Wind landed beside them with a small satchel on her back. She trotted up to them and handed off the satchel to Talon, “I am assuming he passed your inspection.”
“Almost landed a few blows.” Blazetail smirked as he watched Talon open the satchel and hold out the vest.
“Huh, I don't know if a red can pull off this look.” He smirked as he slipped on the vest, “Maybe a black could though.” He chuckled softly as he slipped on the goggles and tied the tassel. The other pegasi just shook their heads.
Talon burst through the throne room doors and quickly closed them, gasping for breath as he leaned on the doors and stared at all the guards and Luna who looked confused at what had the changeling so panicked.
“What is the problem, Talon?” Luna asked calmly.
“There is this purple alicorn chasing me! I was walking calmly when I saw her. I said hi, then suddenly heard the sound of something snapping. She suddenly glared at me and charged her -” He was cut off by a loud pop a few feet from where he stood as a purple alicorn stood there, growling at him with her horn already glowing.
“Can't run from me changeling!” she growled and fired her magic, making Talon dodge to the left and quickly take to the air. Twilight followed him as she fired off a few more bolts at him, all failing to connect as he picked up speed.
“Twilight…” Luna started.
“Help me get it, Luna!” she said as she vanished from her spot, reappearing in front of Talon and firing her horn again. He quickly dive bombed the ground to dodge the attack. Upon landing he dashed towards one of the windows, only to stop as she appeared in front of him again.
This time when she fired, he vanished from his spot. Twilight quickly looked around with a growl, her eyes stopping on Princess Luna, who had a hoof to her mouth and was chuckling.
“Why are you laughing? Help me find it!”
“You must be used to having something on your back, eh?” The voice made Twilight's head snap to the left, looking at the changeling currently reclined on her back with a smirk. She growled and teleported again, making him yelp and fall to the ground.
He looked up just in time to see her powering another blast right at him. He rolled to the side and stood up, ready to dash but found he couldn't move his limbs. He looked himself over and noticed a purple haze.
“Aww shards,” he grumbled as he looked forward, staring into the glare of Twilight Sparkle. “Uh… hi?” He grinned sheepishly as Twilight kept him locked in place, she turned to Luna and looked confused.
None of the guards had bothered to move to help her capture this changeling, and Luna was currently laughing. Twilight looked confused.
“Uh, Princess Luna?” She took a few steps towards her, dragging the changeling along.
“This is the pony we told thou about, Twilight.” She said between chuckles. “We are unsure why thou lost thy disguise.”
“Oh, that would be me.” A new voice made Luna and Twilight furrow their brow. As Talon blinked and looked around as best he could. “I was wondering when he’d show up again, and seeing him in that hallway just before Twilight. I couldn't resist!” Discord floated into view above the throne, pointing to the changeling and laughing.
Twilight tilted her head, and moved Talon in front of her. “So he’s not evil?” Talon held the best grin he could have and nodded as best he could. “Then… I am so confused.” She let him go.
“He, er, dropped in on us one night.” Luna looked to Talon, who was slowly inching away from the young alicorn. “She does not mean thou harm, Talon.”
“Just uh, getting some distance from her. She is still pretty angry, and confused. But mostly angry.” He kept inching away.
Twilight glanced at him, then back to Discord. “What did you mean when you were wondering when he’d show up?”
“Ah, that would be a history lesson for you. Let’s just say I had a momentary prison break a while back. But I choose to return to it because some pony beat me,” he trailed off as Luna glanced up at his grumble, “But anyway!” He vanished, appearing next to Talon, making him squeak and tumble back towards Twilight. “Here he is now! Not lost to the aether like I thought he would be!”
“What did you do?” Twilight glared at the god of chaos, ignoring the changeling between them.
“Oh, we had a civil chat, a short spar, and I teleported him to Canterlot! It was fun!”
“Yeah, Canterlot. About 20 years later!” Talon growled and looked up at Discord.
“Bah, details. You're here and that's what matters, right? Least nothing bad happened to you! Seriously, it was either teleport you here, or let you live out the last of your pitiful years trying to get here. At least Ember didn't fail that.”
Talons ears shot up and his glare lightened as he looked at Discord. “E… Ember? Where is she?”
Discord shrugged, then appeared on the other side of Twilight, leaning on her and looking towards Talon. “She’ll turn up soon. A few chapters I think, depending on the author that is.” He grinned, earning a confused expression from those in the room. Discord sighed, “Only Pinkie Pie understands me. Ah well, tah tah!” He snapped his fingers and vanished from view.
“Well, that was random.” Twilight said, before looking at Talon. She hummed and looked him over. “You know… you are pretty unique.” Her horn started to glow as Talon suddenly yelped and was forced to turn to face her. He blinked and looked panicked again as he was lifted off the ground and held out in front of Twilight.
She grinned as she studied him, making him spread his wings.
“Uh, Twilight?”
She seemed lost in her own world as she looked him over. “Huh, chitin like a normal changeling, but scales at the joints. Those wings appear draconic too.”
“Twilight?”
Twilight turned him again and looked over his tail, “Long tail too, not horse-like either.”
“Twilight!” he yelped as she lifted it some to get a better look at it.
“Even has holes too.” She blinked as he was suddenly gone from her view, her horn stopped glowing as she looked around. “Where did he go?” Her eyes stopped by the throne, where Talon sat, gasping for breath.
“Oh, uh, sorry.” She grinned sheepishly as she trotted up. “How did you escape my grasp though?”
“I teleported,” he wheezed. “Didn't think I could *gasp* get this far though.”
Twilight tilted her head, looking confused. “Teleported? But I thought changelings didn't have enough magic to do that.”
“Not normally.” He finally regained his breath and sat up straighter. “I’d love to tell you about it, but I'm sure I’d bore you.”
“Nonsense! I'm always willing to learn!” She grinned widely. “I even like to read when I can!” She put a hoof to her chest proudly. Talon raised an eyebrow.
“Huh, didn't figure you for a bookworm.”
“Why not?” She slumped.
“Because you're an alicorn?”
“Oh pish-posh.” Twilight waved a hoof. “You can give me wings, but you can't take away my love for reading!”
“Hmm, so you’d be the one to ask on a book of spells for me?”
It was Twilight’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Why would you want that?”
“If you want to buy me lunch, I’d be happy to tell you everything.”
“Sure, we can get the cooks here to make you something, and you tell me everything.” She leaned close to the changeling, “And I mean, everything about you.” Talon just gulped as the young alicorn stared him down like a beast hungry for it's meal.
“So, let me get this right.” Twilight looked into her note book. “You're from an extinct hive in the drake empire, a soldier, skilled with fighting and magic. You’re able to teleport short distances, and to top it off, you can breathe fire?”
They were both outside, sitting at a table on a balcony attached to Twilight's personal room at the castle. Talon, currently a unicorn, looked at Twilight and nodded. “Yup, you take extensive notes.”
She grinned and blushed slightly. “It helps to have all the facts. I do wonder what you would have done during the wedding.”
“Probably challenge that queen to a fight. Ruining our image hurts more than just her.” Talon shrugged and took another sip of his tea.
“Yes it does. But you know, I still don't believe you can breath fire. It doesn't make any sense why you could!”
Talon smirked and inhaled slightly, just to exhale and let out a small puff of fire. Twilight just stared wide eyed at him.
“Okay, that was cool. But again, that doesn't make any sense.”
“I try not to question the little things.” He grinned, then blinked and turned towards the door, as about three seconds later there was a knock. He winced slightly and looked back at her.
“Oh, right, my friends. I completely forgot about them.” She grinned. “Would you like to meet them?”
“Uh, I’ll pass actually. I should get going, anyway.” He stood, gave a short bow and moved to the edge of the balcony. “Some other time perhaps.”
“Wait! What about your wings? As a unicorn you…” Twilight trailed off as Talons horn glowed, his wings unfurling from his back in a matching glow as he lept off the edge. “...Can so totally cheat.” She finished. He quickly flew off, as Twilight glanced back to her friends.
“Who were you talkin to, Twi’?” An orange earth pony mare asked as four more followed her to the balcony. Twilight grinned sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head.
“Just a new friend, that's all. He’s a talented...unicorn, yeah.”
“I’ll say,” The blue mare with a rainbow mane and tail spoke as she squinted and looked off to where he flew. “Looks like an alicorn. Though those wings seem a bit off.”
“He just uses magic to conjure wings. Like I did for Rarity so long ago!”
“Was he nice at least?” the buttercream colored mare with a light pink mane quietly asked.
“Yes, actually.” Twilight looked back out to see Talon was just a tiny speck by now.
“I bet he’s from some extinct tribe and was poofed forward like a decade or two by someone we know, and that he isn't what he appears and is actually really nice and cool and awesome!” The pink mare just grinned widely. Twilight just blinked and everyone just stared at her. “What? I read the scri… Wait, this author doesn't have one of those.”
“No one else is freaked out by that?” asked a black stallion with a silver mohawk mane as he trotted up beside the orange mare.
“Nope, it's Pinkie Pie. I think we’re all used to that by now,” Twilight chuckled.
Talon blinked as he swiped his hoof to the side, blocking and deflecting a pink beam of energy. The changeling floated there for barely a moment before thrusting forward, grunting as he drove a hoof forward, smacking the pegasus in the face. He floated back, glaring at the crystal that floated next to the pegasus wearing a similar outfit to him.
It had been a week since he started this, a week and a half since meeting Twilight Sparkle, and he still couldn't believe what he was seeing. He did a quick glance around, spotting Crimson dealing a solid blow to another pegasus far below him. Rime was above, dealing with her own pegasus.
The pegasi they were fighting were wearing purple spandex that had black cuffs that were lined with little lightning bolts. They were also wearing yellow goggles and had pink crystals floating by them. They also seemed to move faster and were stronger than normal pegasi, it was throwing Talon for a loop. They were Shadowbolts.
Talon floated back, raising his arms up to block another beam, grunting and glaring at the pegasus before him. He spun around in the air, swinging a hoof around as he deflected another bolt. Charging forward, he landed another smack across the his face.
Talon took the moment the stallion looked away to breathe out a little flame, letting it curl to his hooves and form blades made of fire. He grinned as the stallion looked back at him, shocked for only a moment as he raised his hoof, firing off another beam.
Talon deflected the blow as he thrust his other hoof forward, shooting the fire forward as he deflected the beam. The stallion growled as his crystal glowed, a shield coming up and deflecting the fire.
Talon took that moment to fly up and over, bring both his flame covered hooves down upon the shadowbolt. The shadowbolt saw it coming and moved the shield upwards a little, making the changeling bounce off of it.
The shadowbolt growled and threw his hooves forward, striking the changeling to push him back before firing off another beam which got deflected. As Talon stabilized himself, he engulfed his hooves in fire and was about to charge forward before he heard some pony shout.
“Shadowbolts, retreat!”
Crimson flew up next to him as the pegasi before them grinned at them before vanishing in a pop of pink light.
Talon sighed as he floated there, looking at Crimson who looked back at him, looking confused. Crimson pointed towards Talon’s flaming hoof.
“How’d you get fire?” Talon looked to his hoof, then back to Crimson, grinning sheepishly.
“Uuuhhhhhhh.” he quickly shook his hoof, getting rid of the fire. “I know a special trick?”
“Talon…” He heard from above and behind him, making him spin part way and glance upwards, looking at Starry Skies. “Maybe it's time.”
“Right, this is so a good time to do that.” He snarked as he glanced over his shoulder at Crimson, who was just staring confused at him. He looked back at Starry, “When we get back to base.” He started towards the base, with Starry, Crimson, and Rime following behind.
Talon sighed as he stared at Crimson and Rime from his bunk. Starry stood off to the side, leaning on the door frame as she stared at Talon. He glanced to her, then to them. “Do I seriously have to tell them?”
“Yes,” Starry said flatly.
“Tell us what?” Crimson looked at Starry, then back to Talon.
“Fine, fine,” Talon sighed, his form getting engulfed in fire, revealing the changeling beneath. Both Crimson and Rime stood there, shocked. He sighed again and looked at Starry. “There, happy?”
“You're a changeling?” Crimson was the first to speak.
“Well, that makes sense,” Rime said, looking Talon over. “The lack of element control with swiss cheese wings; the lack of fighting skill, holey hooves.”
“Hey now! I can fight!” Talon glared.
“Yeah, now!” Rime shot back, smirking slightly.
“I was bred as a soldier, thank you.” Talon huffed, crossing his arms and glaring at her.
“Well, that somewhat explains your likeness of fire.” Crimson pointed at Talons wings. “You look like a drake had fun with a changeling and made a foal.”
Talon tipped his head to the side, “Well, that is kind of accurate, but I can literally breathe fire.” He let out a small puff of fire, “So there, discussion over.” He assumed his pegasus form again with a huff.
“Okay, fine. So you're a changeling, why are you here?” Crimson looked at Talon, sitting and crossing his arms. “Aren't your kind normally ones to avoid conflict?”
Talon let out a long sigh, “And here I explain again, no hive, no home. I dropped in on a meeting thanks to Discord, and… here I am.” He waved a hoof.
Rime walked over to the bunk and leaned on it, looking at him. “So, why not just fight in that form?”
“And your reaction when I revealed myself?” He paused for a moment as they looked at him, answering his question with their silence. “Exactly. And now that you know.”
“I don't think that changes a thing,” Crimson chuckled. “You’re fighting to protect ponies who could care less about you.” He shrugged. “I’d say that makes you more honourable than anything else.”
“Right, we’ll see if I reveal myself to more ponies. Anyway, I want to know about that magic, it just rubs me the wrong way.” Talon shuddered visably.
Crimson raised an eyebrow as Starry just turned and left. “What do you mean, rubs you the wrong way?”
“I can tell it's fake. Yet I can deflect it just as if it's real. It's confusing really.” Talon just sighed. “It makes my head hurt each time I see it. How is it pink?”
“Can you even feel magic the same way as a normal pony?”
“I can, mostly. Not as effective really, think of me as a jack of all trades; able to touch on all types, but not really able to master anything.”
Crimson raised an eyebrow, “Yet you're skilled with fire, and I am sure you can even shoot out beams.”
“Yeah, not as a pegasus. I’m limited to what you can do.”
“Are you saying your better then us?” Rime glared at him, making him chuckle and raise his arms defensively.
“As if. You’re faster than me, can fly better than me, and have better control over the elements. Me? I just have external magic.”
“Like a unicorn, better than one of them?” Crimson floated up and sat on the bunk next to Talon. Talon shook his head in response.
“They could lift more things, shoot farther, etc.” He glanced to Rime. “And before you ask. Earth ponies are stronger and tougher… Although…” he trailed off, making them both give him questioning looks. “Given my heritage… naw, still tougher.” He grinned.
“Heritage?”
“Drakes did infact mingle with changelings like, four or five generations ago. It wasn't pretty at first, but now it's…” he paused, looking towards the ground. “It had balanced out.”
“That's twice you’ve paused like that, why?” Crimson asked as he poked at Talon, whom let out a sigh.
“My hive was destroyed, I literally have no home to go to. As far as I'm aware, I'm the last of my kind.” He glanced at Crimson, “And before you mention the Equestrian changelings, I'm still different from them. Drake traits and all.”
“Right, so. Back onto the subject of how you fight, why not an Alicorn?”
“One, explain where a male alicorn came from. Two, those manes require focus for us drones. Three, they show off way too much magical power at almost all times anyway, no way I can mimic that.” Talon went on almost monotone.
“Well, you could appear like Celestia or Luna.” Crimson chuckled, “I’m sure some of the boys wouldn't mind that.”
Talon just rolled his eyes, “You’d like that too, wouldn't you?” Crimson just grinned widely. Rime snorted and looked away, as Talon glanced to her. “Problem, Rime?”
“Stallions.” She huffed as she walked away. Crimson raised an eyebrow at Talon, who looked back him.
“What's her problem?” Crimson asked, looking confused.
Talon just smirked at him and jumped off the bunk, heading out.
“I'm going to get food, care to join?” He dodged the question. Crimson growled and followed after.
“Well?”
“Not going to say since the subject of her ire is blind.” Talon sung as he pranced to the mess hall.
Talon sat at the table, a cup of water before him and his hoof was circling around its edges, making the water inside spin as he moved it. He was starting to get tired of answering all these questions of changelings that Crimson and Rime were tossing him.
“So you don't feed on love?” Crimson asked, munching on some steak.
“Well, yes and no. I can, but… eh, how to describe it. A die hard fan is more tasty then a marefriend.” Talon shrugged faintly. “Admiration and gratitude are tastier than love. At least to me. Don't know about any Equestrian changeling.”
“So, what would happen if you go the Crystal Empire?” Rime asked, raising an eyebrow as she watched Talon who shrugged.
“I don't know. Same thing as Canterlot?”
“Don't know about the Crystal Heart? Spreading love to everywhere?”
“Wasn't covered in history, and I skipped out on the last two decades thanks to Fugly. So I missed Luna’s return, the Crystal Empire’s return, Discords reform, and anything else major.” Talon grumped. “Only reason I know of them, is history books.”
“Huh, so a soldier who likes to read?” Crimson raised an eyebrow.
“Knowledge is power, is it not?” Talon smirked. “Twilight Sparkle would agree.”
“That she would.” They both agreed.
“Though she was fun to meet at least.” Talon rested his head on a hoof. “After I convinced her not to shoot me...or dissect me.” He shuddered slightly.
“When did you meet her?” Rime tilted her head, raising an eyebrow.
“During my little trip to the castle to try and get a new spell book.” He shrugged. “Saw her in the hallway, then Discord felt like playing a joke. Broke my disguise right in front of her. Needless to say, chaos ensued after that.”
“I'm surprised you got away from her. She can teleport you know.”
“Oh I know. And I didn't really get away from her. I ran into the throne room and managed to convince her there. That's where I saw Discord again, it was… actually kind of terrifying being in the same room as two alicorns and a god of chaos.” Talon sighed and resumed spinning the water in his cup.
Crimson watched him, chuckling. “Getting better at water, aren't you?” Talon just nodded slightly.
“Doing this helps. It also helps with thinking too.” He mumbled.
Rime raised an eyebrow, leaning close to the changeling. “What are you thinking about?”
“Revealing myself so I can fight at my full potential.”
Crimson leaned back and put his hooves together, looking deep in thought as he looked Talon up and down. He hummed for a bit, glancing to Rime, then shaking his head towards Talon. “I wouldn't. Not yet anyway.”
“And why not?”
“Not everypony is a friend of changelings for starters. Combine that with the fact that some here are very good fighters. It wouldn't be a good idea right now.” Crimson shrugged. “We can reveal later.”
Talon nodded as Crimson asked another question. “Anything else on your mind?”
“That magic, but no answers here.” He groaned and rubbed his temples. “It's just, erg!” He growled for a moment, then sighed. “And I'm thinking too hard. I should go meditate or something.” He stood and started out the door. Crimson quickly got up and followed him.
“Mind if I tag along?”
“Why would you want to?” Talon looked at him as he walked. Crimson shrugged.
“Not like anything else is going on at this moment. I'm more curious how you're getting energy.”
Talon chuckled softly as Crimson followed.
“Seriously, I doubt there is any love in the area.”
“No, but there is plenty of excitement and gratitude in the air.”
Crimson stopped and stared at Talon, “Huh?” Talon just shook his head and took to the air.
“So, you come out here to this waterfall to, what, think?” Crimson sat on the edge of the lake, close to the waterfall that Talon liked to sit under. Talon gave a small nod from his spot under the waterfall. He was in his natural form, holding a shield above himself again and eyes closed.
“And you’re not afraid of somepony seeing you like this?”
“Nope, I could sense them coming and just change before they showed up.” Talon chuckled, opening an eye to look at Crimson.
“Hmm. Still seems unsafe to do that. There could be hikers or something else out here.”
“Out this far from Canterlot? Doubt that. Only thing I’d have to worry about is a fellow Renegade spying on me.” He eyed one of the nearby bushes subtly. “But that would only happen if they felt the urge to follow me. And from what Descent has told me, you guys are pretty much loners.”
“Right. So, what are you thinking about?”
“Aside from that magic? Just how much better I’d be if I was able to fight in my natural form.” Talon sighed.
“Wouldn't you just try to zap them like they do to us?”
Talon looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “They’d conjure shields. No point. So I’d go in with blades.”
“Blades?” Crimson tilted his head as Talon nodded, and moved out from under the waterfall. He swam over to Crimson and hopped out of the water. Holding up a hoof, he engulfed it in fire, changing it to a thin blade angled off the wrist, instead of a hoof.
“See?”
Crimson stared wide eyed at it, then looked at Talon. “Why don't other changelings do that?!”
“Because they aren't raised in a dragon empire, where war is constant. Changelings are peaceful by nature, and would rather not fight.” He shrugged, returning his hoof to normal. “Even the soldiers of the hive are like that, acting as defenders against intruders.”
“So you’re saying that it's just all of us ponies that are war crazy lunatics?”
“Hmmm, no.” Talon tipped his head to the side. “Ponies are more peaceful than drakes, or griffins. We changelings just try to be as peaceful as who we blend in with.” He turned and went back to the waterfall. “So we are just as violent as those we pretend to be.”
“Uh huh. And how do you explain what Crysalis did?” Crimson crossed his arms, watching Talon stop and look at him over his shoulder. “Because that seemed more like a lust for power than anything else.”
“To be honest? I don't know. If I was actually here for it, then I’d try to fight her, tell her she was wrong and stupid.” He sighed, dropping his shoulders a little. “Because now it is hard for anypony to trust my kind.”
“I trust you.”
Talon tilted his head at Crimson, then glanced to the bush again. “Ok, if that's true. Do you believe me when I say we are being spied on?”
Crimson raised an eyebrow, “How so?”
“Hmm, if my hunch is correct…” He smirked, looking directly at the bush. “I could zap you out of there, Rime Shadow.”
After a minute of silence, Rime did indeed step out, blushing some and looking down at the ground. “Can't sneak up on a changeling, can you?”
Talon chuckled and resumed going to the waterfall. “Actually, you can. It's just somewhat difficult to do.” He shrugged and remade his barrier, sitting under the water again. “Catch them in the big city, or somewhere where there is a lot of emotion going on. Too much of a thing blocks it.”
“So in a giant air fight…?”
“A harvester would be useless. They can lower their senses, but not focus it around them. A bit complicated to explain how to do it in an open area like this though.” Talon smirked as he closed his eyes. “You two have some talking to do.”
“Huh?” Crimson tilted his head, looking towards a blushing Rime.
“You also can't hide feelings from a changeling. Although they aren't directed at him.” Rime glared at Talon for a moment, then turned to Crimson.
“Nope, if they were, I’d say no.”
“Isn't love a powerful emotion that would provide you with a lot of energy?” Crimson asked before Rime could say anything.
“Yes, but I wouldn't want the risks involved. Like losing a good source of power, could be really bad in a fight.” Talon nodded sagely. “That and she’s not looking at me anyway.” He angled the shield above him to let the water flow in front, covering himself with the water. “Pretend I'm not here.”
Crimson just stared at where Talon was, then looked at Rime who was looking back at him.
“Walk with me.” She turned and started away from the lake. Crimson looked confused, following after her. They walked along in silence for a good half hour before Crimson finally sighed.
“What is it?”
“How long have we known each other?” Rime asked out of the blue, making Crimson look at her.
“A few years I’d say. We both joined the Shadowbolts at about the same time and worked with each other a lot. Why?”
“And we both defected when Descent did. Did you ever think there was a good reason I enjoyed working beside you?” Rime kept looking at the ground as she spoke, letting her mane cover part of her face.
“We make a good team. I'm quicker with light attacks that can disorient ponies and you come in and finish them off with powerful blows.” He grinned, standing proudly.
“Man, are all stallions just dense?” Rime sighed, turning to face him with a blush. “I like you! I really like you!” Crimson just blinked as Rime pushed herself towards him, “I have liked you for the last year. You’re great to work with, you know how make me laugh, you… erg!” She turned and sat, facing away from him as her blush only grew.
“But...I…” Crimson stammered, looking down, then grinned as he looked up at her. “Huh. I guess stallions are dense,” he stepped forward and hugged her from behind, making her squeak in surprise. “But you are good company. Maybe after all this Shadowbolt crap is over we can settle down somewhere.”
She leaned back into him with a nod, “Just don't die on me, or I'm kicking your wing feathers to Celestia’s shiny plot, got it?”
Rime let out a small content sigh as she flew behind Talon and Crimson. Lightning Dust gave her a quick glance, chuckling softly as she looked forward again. They were on another patrol and Talon was leading this one.
“Have a nice night Rime?” Dust asked causally, making Rime falter in her flight a little as she looked over at Dust.
Rime puffed out her cheeks. “Perhaps! It doesn't concern you.”
“Whoa now, who am I talking to? Rime or Starry Skies? Sheesh,” Dust angled herself some to put up her hooves defensively as she grinned to a blushing Rime. “It was just a question.”
“Fine, yes. I had a good night,” Rime huffed, looking away. Dust chuckled, looking towards the stallions that were with them and noticed that Talon was glancing about. “Spot anything yet Talon?”
“Not ye…” He trailed off, glancing upward. “Above!” He yelled, just as a stallion crashed into his back, throwing him into a downward spiral as the other three quickly put on the brakes. Dust focused on the stallion, dashing towards him and bringing a hoof up, only to bounce off a shield and get thrown back.
Two more Shadowbolts floated down, flanking the three in the air. They floated there for a bit, glaring at each other as they waited for the others to make the first move.
Lightning Dust looked between two of them, just as the three raised their hooves, crystals glowing when a red beam shot up and struck the one that knocked Talon down. In the sudden confusion, Dust charged forward and drove her hooves into one the shadowbolts as Rime and Crimson teamed up on another one.
Talon floated up behind the one that knocked him down, grinning as the Shadowbolt quickly turned around. None of the Shadowbolts had time to question where that magic came from as the Renegades took to the offensive.
Rime took advantage of the stallion she and Crimson were attacking after being disoriented by Crimson quick attacks. She brought her hooves together to bring them down on the stallion, missing but quickly fixed that by swinging them to the left to hit the stallion in the side.
The stallion growled and floated back. “Anytime now!” he yelled, glancing up for a moment before looking back at the pair before him.
Crimson started forward, just as a deep purple and blue blur shot from the clouds above and crashed into him, taking him down quickly into the forested area below.
“Crimson!” Rime shouted, the other stallion slamming into her to get her attention.
“Eyes up here honey! You got other things to worry about, your stallion can handle himself I bet!”
Rime leveled out and growled, throwing a furious punch at the stallion before her, just for it to get caught. She was spun around and suddenly held in a tight embrace by the stallion as he leaned closer to her.
“You could return to us, and I can show you a world of fun that he can't.” The stallion cooed at her, just before yelping and tossing her away. He floated back, holding his stomach as she turned and glared daggers at him.
“I’d rather have tea with Discord than return to the Shadowbolts!” She growled as she pumped her wings, launching into another swing. Her fore hoof intentionally missing as she spun around, catching the stallion off guard as she round housed him.
The stallion grunted as he floated back, holding his side for a moment as he glared at her. The crystal floating up as he raised a hoof.
Rime just glared and flew forward, ready to deflect the beams, but they never came as a red blur came up behind the stallion. It was Crimson, right as he brought both his hooves down on the Shadowbolt to send him crashing into the forest below. Crimson winked at Rime, making her cheeks turn a light shade of pink as he flew off towards the other Shadowbolts.
Once they saw they were outnumbered, they quickly turned tail and fled. Once they teleported away, Dust floated over to Talon, noticing he was wincing slightly with each flap of his wings.
“You okay? That was a pretty solid hit.” Dust asked as she floated up to him.
“I’ll be fine,” He looked at Dust with a grin, then turned to face Rime and Crimson. “Everypony alright?” He glanced to each as they nodded back at him, his eyes stopping on Crimson for a bit longer. Something felt off about him, but he couldn't place it. He shrugged to himself. “What about that stallion that hit you, Crimson?”
Crimson waved a hoof dismissively, “Piece of cake. The Shadowbolts have rookies in their ranks.” He rotated an arm, wincing some. “Caught me off guard, but he was easy to take care of in the forest down there. Shouldn’t have followed me in, got a branch stuck in a wing.” He smirked.
Talon kept giving him a questioning look the whole time he spoke. He seemed to be thinking something as he looked Crimson over. He shook his head quickly to dismiss any thoughts and grunted. “Let's get back to base, so I can get some ice on my back.”
“Shouldn’t I be giving the orders?” Dust chuckled as they started flying back.
“I thought you Renegades didn't care about rank? Aside from Descent being the top anyway.” Talon shot back with a grin.
“Bah, spoilsport,” Dust scoffed fakely as she grinned at him.
Rime flew a little closer to Crimson as they flew back, grinning contently.
Talon grunted as he stepped out of the bunk house with a sigh, glancing back at the warm ice pack on his back. “Ugh, stupid things don't stay cold long enough.” He mumbled to himself as he picked it up. He trotted over to the mess hall and put it back in the freezer they had before starting to make his way out of the camp site.
He had spent most of the day resting his back, after Witching Hour told him to rest it and probably shouldn’t do a patrol tonight. He dismissed her advice, saying he had to as it would help with his endurance. She argued with him, telling him it was dumb to go back with a cracked back plate, but he assured her he was fine.
Lightning Dust was standing by the entry way, chatting with a light grey pegasus who has a black colored mane. They both glanced over at Talon as he trotted past.
“Where are you going?” Dust asked as she watched Talon walk on past.
“Waterfall, ice packs are doing crap for me.”
“Shouldn’t lay next to the fire place then.” Quipped the gray stallion.
“Thanks for your input Cloak. Don't worry, I’ll be back later.” Talon huffed as he walked past. “And I'm walking, as per the Doctor’s orders.”
Talon kept walking towards the waterfall, taking his time as he trotted along. After going a bit deeper into the forest, he paused and glanced over his shoulder. “I can tell you’re there, come out.”
“So the rumour is true, you are hard to sneak up on.” Cloak stepped out of the forest and trotted up to Talon, looking him over. “No bat ears, so you couldn't hear me coming.” He stopped and looked him over closer, making Talon recline back a little.
“Just, uh, sensitive hearing and smell.” Talon grinned weakly.
“So you’re saying I stink?” Cloak poked at Talon’s chest. “If so, the same could be said of you, as you stink of brimstone!”
“Ah, well… That is...uh.” Talon glanced skyward, “Oh look at the time, gotta fly!” He quickly launched into the air and took off towards the waterfall. Cloak just watched him for a bit, then shook his head and trotted back to the camp.
Talon glided along the forest canopy, letting his hooves brush along the leaves till he got to the lake. Landing by its edge, he sat and sighed. Staring into the lake as his reflection stared back at him. He grunted and stuck a hoof into the water, making ripples and disrupting the reflection.
He held the hoof in the water for a bit, glaring at the water around it as he withdrew the hoof slowly. The water clung to the hoof, only small drops escaping the large glob of water had. He had been getting much better with the water as he learned the Wonderbolt shows used all the elements.
If he was in his natural form, he’d probably just cheat and levitate the water with his magic. It wouldn't be as cool as what a true pegasus could do though. He’d seen what they could do, form clouds, streaks of water just floating there in the sky, and curl them like snakes. Even with magic he doubted he could do that.
He sat back, still focusing on the water on his hoof as he moved his other over. Clapping the two together and slowly withdrawing them, forming a water bridge between his hooves. This was a trick that Cannon Ball had told him that pegasi foals did to learn water manipulation, so they could be experts by adulthood.
He chuckled faintly to himself, by now he was probably the most talented changeling he knew of. Of course, he didn't know of any other changelings at all, but being able to manipulate fire, water, his own form, and teleport, he would be totally awesome in a show.
He slowly stood up, standing on his hind legs as he kept the water flowing between his fore legs. He kept his eyes focused on the water, rotating his hooves a little to make the water snake around his limbs. He grinned, then blinked and turned part way, the water falling from his limbs to the ground as he picked up excitement and… something else.
He fell back to all fours as he tilted his head, looking into the forest. He narrowed his eyes, trying to peer into the darkness of the forest as he focused his sense, still detecting excitement. He even took a few steps towards the forest to try and figure it out. After a few moments, Rime swaggered out with a grin that could be described as ‘yup, I did it, and it was awesome.’
“Rime? Are you okay?” Talon sat as Rime kept swaggering towards him, almost looking drunk, and that pink blush on her cheeks was only adding to that effect.
“Oh yes.” She slurred out as she flopped onto the dirt, grinning up at Talon. “I just spent the last hour… or three, who knows,” She paused to shrug, “Cuddling up to Crimson. It was awesomely delightful.”
“Uh huh,” Talon said slowly, looking Rime over. “And where did you two cuddle, exactly?”
Rime perked up, looking at Talon with a little more focus, “Oh, is somepony getting jealous? Heh heh, don't worry, I'm sure we can share.” Talon puffed out his cheeks, turning to the side with flat ears.
“Why would I be jealous? I'm just… concerned.”
“Concerned? About what?” Rime sat up, tilting her head as she studied Talon.
“Not! End of discussion!” Talon huffed and turned, facing the water, crossing his arms, and grumbling to himself as Rime just snickered and sat beside him.
“So, Mr Jealous, what are you doing out here?”
“Not jealous.” He huffed, then pointed to the lake, “Practicing my water manipulation. I’m getting much better at it now.”
“Care to show me then? Since your wind is still a sneeze.” She chuckled as Talon just glared at her.
“Fine.” He stood and trotted back to the water. He sat and put his hoof back into the water, waited a bit before withdrawing it again, another glob of water on it. He clapped his hooves together, performing the same trick he just did, a little faster this time. He stood up and turned, letting the water snake over his body this time, the coolness of it running over his back, making him grin faintly.
“Definitely getting better with water,” Rime clapped, watching Talon move the snake around. He glanced at her, then glanced up a little, blinking as the water snake lost cohesion and fell to the ground. “Something wrong?”
“That!” He pointed, Rime stood up and turned around, seeing smoke rising in the distance. It looked like it was from where their base was! They were both flying off towards it in seconds.
The dark sky was lit up by a crimson haze, as Talon and Rime landed. One of the buildings to this little camp had done more than catch fire, it exploded. They both looked around at the pieces of lumber and shrapnel that was scattered about. Talon and Rime looked at each other, then to the fire.
“Talon, get that fire under control! I’ll see about getting water here to douse what you can't!” Rime shouted as she headed towards the mess hall. Talon nodded and took a few steps towards the building, focusing on the flames. He took another step and thrust his hoof out, letting the flames collect around it before turning it away, sending a wave skyward and away from the building.
He kept removing fire from the burning building, aiming it elsewhere as Rime managed to make a quick raincloud to hover above the building, dousing it's flames. It didn't take them long to get the small fire under control.
Afterwards, Rime landed by Talon and looked around, “Not a pony in sight, what's going on?”
Talon scanned the area, looking towards one of the other bunk houses. “Eh, why am I detecting a lot of panic in that building?” They both looked towards it, dashing towards it. Talon blinked, glancing up as he saw a white stallion wearing the shadowbolt colors coming down, fast.
Talon pushed ahead, just enough to push Rime forward, making her fall past where the stallion lands forelegs first and bucks. Catching Talon in the side, hard, and making him bounce a few times. On the second bounce, his disguise shatters, revealing the changeling beneath.
The stallion quickly spins as Rime bounces to her hooves, turning to face the Shadowbolt with a growl. She gets ready to charge him when a chuckle and whimper sound from behind her.
“Check out this runt.” She hears in a familiar voice, making her spin towards the mess hall. Seeing Crimson holding out Cloak by the neck. “And look, Sin.” He points towards Talon as he slowly picked himself up. “They even have a changeling in their ranks. These traitors are more desperate than we thought!”
Talon growled as he glared towards Crimson, “Who or what are you?”
“Wouldn't you like to know?” Crimson laughed as Cloak wiggled in his grasp, “Stop wiggling you, ERG!” Cloak managed to bring up a leg to his face, getting Crimson to let him go. Cloak quickly scampered back, looking between everyone quickly.
“Cloak! Go get the others!” Talon shouted at him, making Cloak focus on him for a bit longer.
“I don't…”
“Go! I can explain later!” Talon glared and shot towards Crimson, raising a hoof up as Rime turned towards Sin, swinging her own attack at him. Cloak, meanwhile, ducked and dashed towards the camp site edges, quickly taking to the air to escape the scene.
Sin easily deflected the blow from Rime, sneering as he threw another hard punch at her, narrowly missing her as she dodges out of the way. He then turned towards where Cloak was fleeing, one of the crystals glowing and making two copies of himself appear and charge after the pegasus. Sin then turned back just in time to catch a kick from Rime and toss her away.
“I hate to say it, Rime, but you’re missing out on this power!” He grinned as he threw a kick of his own, landing it squarely in her chest and knocking her back into a building. He grinned as he almost pranced up to her, while she laid there, gasping for breath. “We can certainly welcome you back with open arms!”
“And why would I want to go back to being a puppet?” she growled as she shakily stood up.
“You just don't get it, do you?” He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her, slamming her against the building again. “This power, this strength, this speed!” He grinned as he leaned in close. “It could be yours!”
He suddenly grunted, dropping her as he slid to the side a little. A changeling having crashed into him by being tossed. He turned and growled at Crimson. “Watch it!”
“I thought all you commanders could pay attention!” Crimson shot back.
Rime growled and launched herself at Crimson. “YOU! What have you done with Crimson!” She reared back, ready to throw a punch as Crimson brought up an arm to block, sneering.
“But I am him!” Crimson smirked as he deflected blow after blow from Rime.
“No your not!” Rime shouted as she spun around for a kick, catching him off guard and landing a hoof across his face.
Meanwhile, Talon bounced back, sliding along the ground after blocking a solid blow from Sin. “Three crystals… Your one of those commanders, aren't you?”
“And you're a mutant changeling!” Sin sneered, suddenly appearing in front of Talon and punching him, sending him flying back from the blow to the chest.
Talon landed after flying back, looking up just in time to see Sin in front of him again. Sin threw another punch, but only hit air as the changeling vanished. Sin only smirked as he barely glanced to his left, a shield flaring up just as the changeling bounced off of it from attempting to throw a punch.
Talon just growled as he slid back, his form flaring in fire as he lunged forward, a blade suddenly in place of his hoof, making Sin quickly bring up his arms to block it. Talon swung around, bringing another bladed hoof into Sins side, this one getting caught in a small pink field.
“Resourceful, I’ll give you that, freak, but not clever enough!” Sin spun around, driving wing, then a hoof, into Talon. A crack sounded as Talon flew back against his will, sliding and rolling on the ground from the force of the kick.
Talon wheezed as he stood up slowly, Sin laughing from where he was. Talon glanced to his side as he saw Rime land another blow on Crimson, causing something weird to happen to the stallion. The stallion’s colors flickered like static on a Television. The red fur fading away to a bright orange, as the darker red mane became brighter.
Talon just stared slack jawed at the orange stallion as he shook his head, a single crystal floating up by him, zapping Rime away.
“Damn, so about five solid hits. Not too shabby.” He smirked, glancing to Sin as Sin looked back.
“Stop showing off Rapidfire, you said Descent or Starry would be here. Where are they? HM?!” Sin growled as Rapidfire shrank back a little.
“They were here! I don't know where they are now! I was stuck foalsitting this!” He gestured to Rime. “So close to a fine piece of tail and I couldn't do anything! UGH!” Rapidfire groaned, “Had to keep an eye out for Descent, Starry, or the ex-Wonderbolts instead of getting some.”
Rime just stared in shock at Rapidfire, before shouting out in rage and lunging forward again. Rapidfire watched her, smirking as he too vanished from his spot, appearing to her side and kicking her in the side, sending her crashing into a building.
Rime quickly recovered, flying out of the wrecked building and towards Rapidfire ready to deal another solid blow to him.
Talon wheezed as he fully stood up, just barely glancing at Rapidfire as the stallion closed in on Rime. He turned to face Sin, charging him again. Sin merely smirked as he waited, Talon jumping and bringing a pair of blades down on him. Sin, in the blink of an eye, moved up and caught Talon by the neck, holding up as he floated up.
“Just think, whatever you are, you could have this power. These crystals can boost your strength, speed, and power! You’re already skilled with magic. Just imagine what you could do!” Sin boasted as he held Talon up.
Talon coughed out a chuckle, “Why would I want your weak power, huh?” He smirked as Sin gave him a confused look, “Let’s see how you fight with two crystals, eh?” He held up his left hoof blade, a cracked and sparking crystal on its tip. In a flare of red magic, he made the blade shoot spikes through the crystal.
Sin barely had time to look at it before the crystal exploded, sending Talon and Sin in opposite directions. Talon flew in the air, landing on his back he slid along the dirt, leaving behind bits of his carapace as he went. His world went silent, except for the ringing from the explosion of the crystal, but he plainly saw Sin above him, having already recovered, his face full of anger as he kicked the changeling.
Sin picked up the changeling by his crest, punching and kicking him as he floated in the air. After a few more solid hits, Sin threw him to the ground, slamming into him one final time to make Talon’s world go black. He felt himself get lifted and thrown, impacting and breaking through something solid before he finally passed out.
Rime growled as she kept throwing punches and kicks, only hitting air as Rapidfire either dodged, or teleported out of the way. “Stop playing pattycake and fight me like a stallion, you damned filly!” She growled out with fury as she threw another useless punch.
Just as she threw another swing, she felt a shockwave from her side, knocking both her and Rapidfire over. They both glanced over to see Talon and Sin flying from each other, though Sin used the momentum to get airborne, spin around, and fly directly back at the changeling while letting out a furious growl.
Rime growled, using the moment to get the upper hoof on Rapidfire as she lunged at him, getting in a few solid blows before he teleported away. She kept growling as she looked around, spotting Talon getting the stuffing beat out of him before getting slammed down, stomped on, and then tossed into a building.
After that, a red blur swooped in, knocking Sin over and sending him sliding a little. The blur became a familiar red pony, though he was panting and his wings really shouldn’t bend that way.
“Crimson!” Rime shouted as she saw the pony, he flicked a wing in her direction, as he lept back, dodging a wild swing from Sin.
She nodded slightly, returning her glare to Rapidfire who had picked himself up and glared back at her.
“Can't even kill one pony. No wonder you're a failure!”
“SHUT UP!” he shouted, vanishing from his spot and appearing at Rime’s side, she brought up an arm to block the swing, quickly regretting it as she felt the power behind the blow crack the bone. She barely had time to yell in pain before getting slammed to the ground, her arm breaking in more places as he kicked it.
She looked up in time to see him bring a pair of hooves down on her barrel in a fit of rage, making her howl in pain.
Crimson was tossed aside by Sin, flying into the building that was the mess hall and landing on the dirt ground, wheezing for breath as Sin now ignored him, stomping over to Rapidfire.
“Can't even kill who you're supposed to! WORTHLESS!” He grabbed Rapidfire’s suit, conjured up a pair of clones to light the buildings on fire, and then teleported out. Leaving the ponies behind.
Silence only responded to Blazetail as he, Cloak, Cannon Ball, Valkyrie, and Lightning Dust examined the smoldering ruins of the camp site. The once fine structures of this retreat, all burnt to cinders and ash. The five slowly examined everything, looking around at the damage that had been done.
“Hey! Anypony alive?”
He shouted again, and still nothing as they neared where the mess hall was. Cloak was the first to spot an ice blue and dark red pony, lying beaten by the smoldering building.
“Rime!” He shouted as he and the others took off towards her. Cloak slowed to a stop, staring at the broken pony before them. Her right arm lay in a crumpled heap, as did her wings, having received a horrible beating.
“I see Crimson!” Valkyrie shouted, pointing towards near the edge of the building on its far end. She and Lightning Dust ran over, looking over his broken form as Lightning Dust gasped. Valkyrie noticed, faintly, that he was still breathing.
Blazetail noticed the same of Rime as he knelt down, he let out a sigh as he looked her over.
“We can't bring them medical help. And moving them may break them more.” Cloak said sorrowfully.
“It's a risk we should…”
“Talon…” Rime wheezed out, opening a bloodshot eye in Blazetails direction.
“Shh, save your strength.” Blazetail said softly as he leaned down. “You're going to need it if you want to live.”
“Last I,” she coughed, “saw... he was... over there.” She pointed with a wing towards one of the ruined buildings, wheezing for breath. Blazetail merely glanced at Cannon Ball, whom nodded in response and took off towards the building.
“It was… an honour to… fight beside you,” Rime wheezed, her eyes closing as she laid her head down. Blazetail let out a sigh, reaching under her gently and lifting her up.
“What are we going to do, sir?” Valkyrie slowly trotted up, Crimson draped over her as she looked at Blazetail. “We can't go to the hospital, too many questions would arise.”
“The castle, Luna can send word for help. Just a select few doctors to hopefully stabilize them.”
“I found him!” Cannon shouted as he came out of the building, carrying Talon over his shoulders. “He’s just as messed up as these two.”
“To the castle, as gently as we can go.” Blazetail ordered, glancing at Rime on his back.
The world of pain and discomfort slowly seeped back into Talon. All he saw was blackness, and he vaguely heard voices. His body felt numb and heavy. He wheezed out a groan, which went ignored by the voices. He struggled to open an eye, eventually getting to see white, instead of black.
After closing his eye, he opened it slower this time. Getting rewarded with a clearer picture of what looked like a bedroom. He let out a louder groan, the voices all stopping, and getting replaced with the sound of hooves on marble flooring. He looked around, and his eye stopped on a very familiar sight. One that he hadn’t seen in months.
A deep green unicorn mare sat on a chair, her blue and green mane somewhat hiding her closed eyes as she slept on a part of his bed. He could vaguely see the changeling beneath the unicorn, her batlike wings closed and somewhat hiding a ruby carapace. Her hoof clenched tightly around his as his body slowly regained feeling.
“Ember?” He wheezed out. He slowly lifted his head, as another familiar face came into his view.
“You’re awake!” Witch shouted, making Talon wince and lay his head back down. “We thought you wouldn't wake up!”
“Indeed, thou had us worried.” Talon heard behind him. The royal tone familiar as more senses came back to him. Lots of worry in the room, except from what was holding his hoof, but the expression alone confirmed it anyway.
Witch’s shouting made Ember yawn, slowly batting her eyes as she lifted her head up. She glanced at Witch, who gestured to Talon. Ember slowly looked towards Talon, seeing him awake and let out a gasp.
She tried to restrain herself from hugging him, failing and earning a loud yelp of pain in return. She quickly let go and sat back down, having a huge teary grin at him.
“Well, I’d ask what hurts, but I think it's safe to say everything does,” Witch asked, as she glanced to Ember. “Now. Think we can be proper doctors and tend to our patient?”
Ember nodded a squeak, looking back at Talon. Her horn glowing and making a little screen appear above him. “Aside from a few cracked ribs, a torn crest, a heavily burnt hoof, and burns around various places. Your lucky compared to the others.”
Talon wheezed out a sigh, closing his eyes. “I don't feel lucky… I feel… violated,” he said at almost a whisper. Witch and Ember looked at each other, then back to him.
“Care to explain that?” Witch asked softly.
“That… orange stallion… he…”
“Enough, maybe we should wait on that explanation for now.” Ember looked at Witch. “While we make sure his bones set right while he is awake. He has enough painkiller in him to drop a dragon.”
“You mentioned… others?”
“They are being held in Canterlot General. After Princess Luna gave very specific directions to not question them on why they were brought in near death,” Ember sighed. “You, however, are being held here in the castle. One of the guest rooms usually reserved for visiting diplomats.” Ember grinned. “And where you have been for the past four days.”
“But...who…”
“Crimson and Rime.” A new voice sounded, out of Talons view. He recognized it as Blazetail. “We found them when we found you, they are still unconscious at this moment, but we are keeping an eye on them. We are hoping you can tell us what happened.”
Talon shook his head as Witch looked towards Blazetail. “When he can talk without wheezing, perhaps, but right now he needs rest and to recover.” She stated, then looked at Ember. “What's the best way for him to recover? Since you two are related,” she asked with a faint growl.
Ember sighed. “Look, I said I was sorry!” She looked down. “Getting a huge dose of energy would help. He can't exactly get a good source from here.”
“No weddings going on, so no love for him to…” Blazetail trailed off as Ember started to snicker.
“While love is a good source, it's not what he needs. Admiration, excitement, general overall happiness.” Ember looked at Talon. “A huge source of that would be perfect.”
“What about a Wonderbolt show? There is one in Cloudsdale a week or so from now.” Blazetail spoke up.
“He is in no condition to go,” Witch stated, looking at Talon.
“No, but I can.” Ember looked towards Blazetail. “And I can give him what all he needs. I can go as a pegasus, get the energy, and then come back. Simple as that.”
“And you can just… give it to him?” Witch asked, tilting her head.
“I am a harvester…” She trailed off, sighing again, feeling the glare from Witch. “I can just give him the energy. I might be a little drunk, but it's worth it. However, the tickets to it are sold out.”
“Leave that to us.” Luna’s voice sounded.
“Can… can you get two tickets?” Ember asked, blushing slightly.
“We know a better way to get thou into that show.”
Talon’s recovery had been slow going. He still had trouble breathing but it was getting better. He was able to sit up, which had helped greatly, and allowed him to see what was damaged. He sighed as he glanced over at Ember.
She had come and gone over the last few days, working at the clinic more and dealing with foals. Trying to get as much energy as she could for him. She also kept him up to date on Crimson and Rime, telling him that they’d both recover. Crimson is going to need help with flight, as both of his wings were pretty mangled, and Rime’s going to have a limp because of her leg.
Talon told her his story, how he arrived and how everything came to pass, and Ember exchanged hers and told him that she found a few others. Or rather, they found her.
At this moment, they were waiting for some of the Renegades to show up. And it didn't take long before Luna and Blazetail showed up. Flashwind followed them in as well, as they all looked over the injured changeling.
“You wanted to see us, Talon?” Blazetail asked as he and Flashwind trotted up to the bed.
“Yes. You’ve probably been on edge about what happened,” he groaned, looking down. “If I was at the base, I could’ve seen what caused the first explosion.”
“Just start at the beginning, ok?” Flash Wind sat next to Blazetail.
“The patrol that morning. After we managed to dispatch them, something felt off about Crimson. I didn't see what had happened, as I was dealing with a Shadowbolt.” He let out a sigh, wheezing as he did. “Apparently he got replaced, at some point.”
“Replaced? But if it was a changeling, you’d know, right?” Talon shook his head.
“I feel so… violated…” Talon murmured, looking off to the side. “That orange stallion, some… Rapidfire… He copied what we changelings can do, and possibly made it better too.” He looked up as both Blazetail and Flashwind gasped.
“It can't be him!” Flash Wind shouted. Talon shrugged in response and closed his eyes. His horn starting to glow.
“Talon! You shouldn’t try to change!”
“Only going part way. A changeling never forgets a face,” he explained, as his head and neck engulfed in fire, going from the grey changeling to match the orange pony from that night, with the red mane. He winced as he opened an eye, looking at the pair.
Flash Wind wore a face of shock, while Blazetail growled, stamping a hoof down hard on the marble floor. Talon cringed and the visage shattered, leaving him to fall back, panting.
“Ugh…” he groaned, as Blazetail stood and started walking out, Flash Wind hot on his hooves as he went.
“We will get the rest of the story later,” Luna spoke up, looking to the former Wonderbolts. “Thou should rest for now.”
Talon looked towards the door as Blazetail stomped out. “I'm detecting anger… why?”
“Rapidfire is the former captain’s child.” Luna looked back at Talon. “This news does not bode well if one of them can infiltrate our ranks.”
“He only had one crystal, from what I saw.” He groaned out, relaxing and laying back down. Ember quickly looking him over and scanning him.
“You really shouldn't have done that, Talon. Your energy reserves are already low enough. You need to relax and recover, especially if you want to be back up quickly,” Ember barked at him, making him wince.
“Yeah yeah.”
“Don't you ‘yeah yeah’ me buster! Unless you want to lose your magic completely, or your ability to change. You will rest and relax!” she growled, getting nose to nose with Talon. Luna leaned back, looking between the two.
“Miss Haze?”
“What?” she growled, turning to Luna. She blinked, then looked down, folding her ears back, calming down quickly. “Er, sorry Princess.”
Luna let out a few chuckles, “Tis fine. Thou art worried for him.” Luna floated over a single ticket, making Ember look up at it.
“You let the Embassy know of Quicktail’s sudden vacation request?”
“They did not deny a royal order.” Luna smirked. “Since thou may be drunk when thou returns.”
“And he’ll probably have to carry me in.” She glanced at Talon, who looked confused. “I am getting you energy from the best source. And you’ll get to meet Quicktail in the process.”
“You’d best get ready for whatever you're planning.” Talon sighed, “I’ll be here, recovering.”
“So, Rapidfire is basically a changeling with his magic?” Descent looked the injured changeling over, who only nodded in response.
“With one crystal. I’d be afraid if he had three.” Talon sighed, wheezing again, “And the way he fought. He was skilled in combat, relatively anyway. Rime certainly kept him on edge.”
“He was a part of the Lead Squad.” Lightning Dust commented.
She, Descent, Starry Skies, Cloak, and Princess Luna were around Talon’s bed. He was laying on his side, still wheezing occasionally as he spoke.
“That explains...most of his skill.” He paused a moment to take a deep breath. “Still, him and Sin pretty...much gave us a run for our bits.”
Cloak looked away, “I still can't believe you’re a changeling.”
Talon glanced at him, “Does it really...bother you?”
“No… I figured you’d turn tail and run the moment things got bad. Ordering me to get the others, and staying to help Rime,” Cloak glanced back at him. “If I was a changeling, I’d have ran.”
“Yeah well… blame the drakes for my stubbornness.” Talon chuckled, wincing as he did. “You mentioned you found Crimson with us… how?”
“Well,” Dust began. “Turns out he came to join the fight, just after you got tossed into a building. He put up a little bit of a fight against Sin, according to him and Rime, but in the end… Yeah.”
“How are they... doing?” Talon wheezed out.
“Rime’s arm is broken in three places, and will take a long time to heal. Crimson is going to need wing braces if he wants to fly again. Both are suffering from the same problem you are, only not as bad.” Dust explained, looking down. “They will recover, but I think their fighting days are over.”
“They have each other… at least.”
“We should go, you need rest.” Starry said calmly, turning and starting towards the window.
“Descent…” Talon started, making the silent stallion look at him, “I don't care what... you tell the others. If I was a changeling...or not, it doesn't matter anymore.”
“It's about time the truth gets out about you?” Descent asked, as Talon nodded.
Descent, Starry, and Dust made their way to the balcony, glancing back at the changeling once, before taking off. Cloak had followed, but stopped at the doorway to it.
“So,” Cloak started, turning back to the changelings bed and trotting back to him. Talon perked an ear up and rotated it towards him. “You did what most of us lowbies could not.”
“Which was…?” Talon asked as he watched Cloak move back into viewing range.
“Destroy one of the commanders crystals.” Cloak sat, crossing his arms and looking at the changeling. “Seriously, how did you do it again?”
“I stabbed it… with a blade,” Talon sounded confused.
“I get that, but you don't seem to be the type to carry a weapon.”
“Why carry when… I can make one.” Talon snickered, wincing slightly as he lifted his good hoof up. “I am a changeling after all.”
“OOH!” perked up Cloak, giggling like a young colt. “Do a dagger! Do a dagger!”
“I would, but at the moment I lack the energy to do it.”
“Damn, that sucks,” cursed Cloak. “Well at least you don’t need to carry around a bunch of equipment everywhere. Hell, what with your abilities, you could be the greatest thief the world has ever known.”
“Why would I want to steal?” Talon raised an eyebrow, looking confused.
“Never said you would,” quipped Cloak. “Only said you could. Heck, I think I could be a great storyteller someday, but why the hell would I want to do that?”
“Yeah, I don't see… you as a storyteller either.”
“See?” agreed Cloak. “The day I tell stories is the day I have grandfoals.”
“I'm sure you’ll find… somepony who makes your heart flutter.” Talon smirked at him.
“Enh, there was… someone,” muttered Cloak, turning red. “It was a bit of a long shot, to be honest. She had her… roots in the family business, and I, well, I was a Shadowbolt.”
“Maybe after all this.” He raised a hoof, gesturing wildly with it before letting it fall. “Is over, you should settle down?”
“No offense, but there’s no way in Tartarus I’d do that,” chuckled Cloak. “Not while my wings still work and my comrades are out there fighting.”
“The same could be... said of me. I won't settle down for a long time, longer than you perhaps.”
“Why’s that?” inquired Cloak. “Have a bit of trouble coming out of your shell, pardon the pun?”
“Missing twenty years of this world... kind of throws you for a loop,” Talon sighed. “Thanks to Fugly for that. Besides, I don't actively seek... out love anyway. I prefer the admiration of... fans above that.”
“So is love a bit too fattening or something?” quipped Cloak.
Talon shook his head, “Hard to get love from a species known for being cold blooded, and yet breath fire. So we adapted to something else.”
“‘Adapted’?” grimaced Cloak. “Sheesh, you sound like Clover or the Lunatic, talking about their widgets and gizmos. You don’t seem much like a widget to me, so don’t say things like that about yourself.”
“I...er… guess you could say we found a better meal in one form, than another?”
“That’s better,” grinned Cloak. “After what you’ve done, you deserve as much respect as any pony here, even if you can carry a full armory beneath your skin.”
“I can only do that in my natural form. Any other form and it looks weird, also I don't make bows.” Talon smirked, “But I suppose my magic is for that, huh?”
“Oh now that’s fricking cool,” laughed Cloak. “Now you go all horn-head on us, too. If you ever need work after this whole mess is over, you can fly with the Shadowbolts any time.”
“Actually, the Wonderbolts would be better. From what I heard, they are show ponies and those fans.” He grinned, hugging himself slightly, “A feast.”
“Thinking with your stomach, eh?” jibed Cloak good-naturedly. “I can see that. Working for the Shadowbolts, you’d only ever get the admiration of your colleagues.”
Talon yawned widely, wincing a little. “I should get rest, and I believe you're due for a patrol?”
“Yeah, I better go before my sister tears me a new one,” admitted Cloak. “Catch ya later, comrade.”
“You tell me gently one more time Ember…” Talon growled lightly as he slowly put his burned hoof down on the marble floor. He was currently standing by the bed, easily standing on three out of four legs.
“You can't really threaten me at this moment, Talon.” Ember shot back, watching him as he finally put the hoof on the ground. “You really burned that hoof and fetlock with whatever you did.”
Talon sighed as he looked down at the still wrapped hoof. He put a little weight on it and didn't really feel anything through it. He blinked and leaned back on his other limbs as he looked up at Ember.
“Uhh…”
“It is currently soaked in painkiller. Want me to remove some of it to see if you still have feeling?” Ember poked at his hoof with her own. “I’m more worried if you damaged more than just the nerves.”
“Like what?” Talon looked down at his own hoof.
“Like it's ability to change when you do so.” Ember sighed, “If it can't change when you take on, say, a pegasus disguise. Then you’re going to be spotted right away. You may be able to do your blade thing through it, but taking on colors? I want you to try it out to see if you can.”
Talon just stared blankly at Ember.
“You didn't understand any of that, did you?”
Talon shook his head. “Nerd.” which caused Ember to growl a little. A chuckle off to the side made her stop and both of them look to see Witching Hour, sitting and watching them.
“Go on,” she waved a hoof at them, snickering.
“What's so funny Witchy?” Ember turned to face her directly.
“The fact that, despite the twenty year gap, you two are still arguing like siblings.” Witch mused, looking between the changeling and the unicorn.
“Like you and Leaf don't do this.” Ember turned back to Talon. “Okay. Lets try a simple change first, unicorn appearance.”
Talon nodded, and a familiar red fire engulfed his form. In his place stood a dusty red unicorn, everything on him red, a lack of cutie mark, and the various bandages he still had.
Ember looked him over and nodded, “Good.” She looked down to the scorched hoof, “This may hurt a little.” She started to remove the bandage around it, revealing the gray chitin of a changeling leg underneath it. She let out a sigh as she revealed more, stopping when she saw a hole.
“Just as I thought.” Ember grumbled.
“Care to explain that, Emerald?” Witch stood and walked over, gazing at the leg as Talon lifted it up.
Ember nodded, her horn glowing and a similar glow taking over his hoof outlining various veins. “The nerves along the hoof have been burned thanks to his stunt with the crystal. I suspect he lost feeling in it. He certainly lost most of his magic veins through it.” She glanced at Witch, “Since we are kind of like an alicorn, we have magic in every part of us.”
“I figured that much, continue.” Witch rotated her hoof as she nodded.
“Basically, it helps us mimic an earth pony. We don't get as strong or durable as one, but if we train and work it, we can come close.” She turned back to Talon. “Make one of your blades on that hoof.”
Talon nodded, letting his guise fall as he made his fore legs into small blades. He sat back, to hold his blades up. Ember looked over each one, her eyes stopping on his left, near its joint where the blade meets the wrist and seeing it blackened.
“It looks like you just lost most of the control over it. You can still make a blade it seems,” She tapped one, making him wince and quickly retract the blades. His hooves returning to normal. “Still sensitive it seems.”
“So anypony could see that I'm a changeling, since I can't change this.” He waved his hoof at them. “No point in hiding myself now.”
“Well, it's just the wrist and hoof. You could just cover it up with a bracer or something.”
“You know, that Crystal Empire armor looks cool and…”
“No.” Both Ember and Witch said at the same time, making Talon sigh.
“Awwww.”
“Sorry Talon. You’d really stand out,” Ember snickered softly as Talon glared at her.
“As if I don't already,” he sighed, “Still. Going to have to think of something.” He stood and turned back towards the bed, wobbling a bit before trying to stabilize himself. “Erf…”
Ember was quickly at his side, holding him up in her magic. “Let’s get you back into bed, ok?”
Talon just nodded as he let himself get carried and put into bed. He sighed and looked at Ember. “I’m sorry our reunion was like this.”
“You’re alive, that's all that matters.” Ember sat by his bed, grinning up at him.
“I vaguely recall you mentioning Quicktail… Is he?”
Ember squeaked, “Oh gosh! Quicktail is probably worried sick about me!” she stood and darted towards the door. “I’m sorry! You’re going to meet him in a few days anyway!” She passed by Witch. “Can you watch him for a bit longer?”
“Yeah, sure. It's not like I don't have my own life to worry about.” She grumbled, gesturing for Ember to go. Ember just rushed out, making her sigh. Talon waited a minute before looking at Witch.
“Go, I’ll be fine for a night.”
“But I…”
“I can't order you to, but I can ask. Go?”
Witch nodded, and left Talon alone. He sighed, grinning slightly as he reached over and grabbed a book, a Daring Do novel.
“That Yearling writes really good books.”
A few days had passed, and he was informed that Ember was attending some show in Cloudsdale. At first he dismissed it, but then realized why she’d do that. She was getting energy for him.
He was given a few other books to read, while he recovered. And was currently engrossed in one when he heard a thump against the door to his borrowed room. He glanced up, looking confused.
“Dammit Ember, let me open the door!” He heard from what sounded like a griffin. “Seriously, you are a pain when you're drunk.”
“But it's a pain you like.” Talon heard a lyrical tone in Ember’s voice. A moment later, the door opened and in stepped a grey tabby colored griffin, carrying an almost beet red unicorn on his back. She lay spread out, preening a wing with one hoof and the other wrapped around his neck. “Hello Bro! I have acquired a griffin for you!” She shouted as she spotted Talon chuckling.
The griffin closed the door, then walked up to the bed. “You must be Talon, I’ve heard a lot about you.” He extended a paw, the unicorn on his back losing balance and falling to the ground with a chortle. “And you changelings are really weird when your drunk on energy.” He glanced to Ember who was slowly picking herself up.
“Uh, I wouldn't know, honestly.” Talon took the paw with his hoof, shaking it as he watched Ember crawl up onto the bed, giggling. “Never been high on energy before. And I assume you are Quicktail?” The griffin nodded.
“From what she says,” Quicktail moved to help Ember get fully onto the bed. “This is the second time. Seems Wonderbolt shows are full of energy.”
“And Cloudsdale ish the best! WOO! I was feeling buzzed after that flyby, and that was just the start! When the lead squad did their thing, ooh man…” She slurred most of her words as she smiled widely, looking up at Talon. “You Wonderbolts know how to fill a lady up!” She glanced to Quicktail, “And so do griffins! Eeeee.” She giggled, as Quicktail blushed.
“I get the feeling this is more than just excitement.” Talon looked at Quicktail, who looked away, hiding the red glow of his cheeks.
“Perhaps,” he mumbled, still looking away.
Ember scooted up, looking at Talon and gesturing to his horn slightly. “Come ‘ere. I gots something for yas.” She leaned forward, almost smacking his nose with her horn. Talon blinked, then lowered his horn to hers, both starting to glow.
Quicktail glanced over just in time to see a wisp of energy start to leave Ember. The green glow brightening up the room as Ember gave up some of the stored up energy she had, giving it to Talon. After a minute, the glow faded, leaving Talon looking a little better and certainly more perky. As Ember scooted back, she grinned and sighed contentedly, laying her head on his chest and quickly started to snore.
Quicktail sighed as he watched Talon look down at her, and rest his good arm on her, looking happy. He started towards the door, stopping when he heard Talon speak up.
“Stay.”
Quicktail glanced over his shoulder, looking at the pair as Talon kept his eyes on the griffin.
“Your her mate, I'm her brother. You're allowed to stay in here and keep her company, ok?”
Quicktail looked back at the door, and took a step towards it. He stopped when a red bubble appeared over the handle.
“I can order you to stay.”
“You have no rank over a former Sky Wing,” Quicktail shot back, still looking away.
“Fine, I can pull on your tail until it gets back over here.” He emphasized this by tugging on Quicktail’s tail. “It makes you happy to see her happy.”
Quicktail let out a sigh, standing there for the better part of a minute with Talon occasionally tugging on his tail. He took a step forward, getting another tug, looked down, then started back to the bed. He sat on the floor, next to where Ember was currently laying.
“You’re younger than I pictured…” Quicktail started, looking up at Talon, who let his magic fade.
“Don't get in a fight with the chump of Chaos,” Talon giggled, looking down at Ember. “Every day, I missed her, and didn't even know she was a stone's throw away.”
“She missed you too.” Quicktail put his paw on her hoof, “And seeing her just before the show, she was happy.”
Talon moved his hoof to rest it on Quicktail’s paw. “You treat her good. When you mate a changeling, it's for life.”
“And if I don't?” Quicktail smirked, looking at Talon.
Talon blinked as he looked over the mesh of plates and leather straps that made up a pair of bracers. He held it up in his magic and continued to look it over, ignoring the glare he was getting from Amber Dawn.
“It's armor.” Amber Dawn growled, as he watched the changeling look it over some more, rotating it in the air. The changeling had certainly been doing better after that boost of energy from the show. His hoof and leg were still burned, and his crest had been fixed enough to where it wouldn't catch on anything, but he now had a gap in it.
“I'm aware, sir.” Talon glanced at Amber Dawn, then looked back at it.
“Then what's the problem?”
“Why would I need armor? It would hinder my shapechanging.”
“Well,” Dawn started, walking up and poking the changeling in the side, than shook his hoof slightly. “If you recall, you were near death. Armor would certainly help protect against that in the future.”
“That is true,” Another pony off to the side stated. The deep blue unicorn glanced at both of them, brushing his wavy black mane out of his face as he walked up, sitting next to the changeling. “But he has a point. These bracers will hide that burn mark of yours. They also have an identity spell embedded in them.”
Talon looked at the newcomer, tilting his head. “Why have one of those in it, that spell is kind of powerful, and any unicorn...scanning… oh.” He shook his head, “But this leg of mine shows that I am me, anyway.”
“Well, somepony knows their magic.” The stallion chuckled, “And yes, it is a powerful spell. So we can't do it often, helps to identify you changelings though, since you can appear as anypony else.”
“Right, good thing there are so few changelings in the world willing to throw themselves into battle.” Talon griped as he sat back, lifting his hooves up and strapping the bracers on with his magic.
“At least you’re willing to do that, Talon,” the unicorn chuckled.
“Thank you Steel Smith.” Talon looked at the bracers, and noticed that they hung loosely over his hoof, but allowed flexibility while wearing them. “Hmm.”
“I want to see if I got it right, can you make a blade?”
Talon nodded, holding the scorched hoof out, it engulfing in fire. A blade extended out with the bracer looking to be at the wrist of it. Talon angled the blade some, looking at the armor and how it rested on the area almost perfectly. “Yup, I’d say you did a good job.”
“That looks so cool!” sounded from the window, as each of the ponies looked over, they saw Cloak glide in, with a similar colored mare landing behind him. “Not exactly what I was expecting, but hey, close enough!”
Talon waved at the pair as they trotted up, the blade going side to side, making Steel Smith and Amber back up some. Talon grinned as he looked at the pair of royal guards, lowering the blade. “Well, the bracer certainly fits well. And it hides enough of my arm that it won't get noticed at least. It covers the holes at least, the rest can be explained with burns.”
Steel Smith nodded, “Good good. I’d suggest a pair for your hind legs as well, just for a matching set anyway. But for now, it's good.”
“It's just going to take some getting used to, that's all.” He set his hoof blade down, returning it to a normal hoof again. “But yes, not now though.” He turned to the new pair. “What's up?”
“Huh, so you really are a changeling. I didn't believe my idiot brother here about that.” The mare gestured to Cloak, who let out an over dramatic sigh.
“Really, Dagger? You're gonna be like that right off the bat?” He looked at her, “Can't you at least say hi?”
“Why should I?” she asked as she looked at Cloak, he just shook his head as she looked back at Talon, “When are you able to return to combat?”
“A day or two, why?”
“The Shadowbolts are getting more desperate, we are unsure how much longer we can hold them at bay.” Dagger stated in a monotone voice, looking the changeling over. “You seem capable now, so what is the hold up?”
“Just working out the kinks in hiding myself,” He held up an armored hoof. “I should be good to go by tomorrow at the earliest.”
“Good, then we can let Descent know.” Dagger turned and started back towards the window, “Come along brother, don't want to keep him waiting.”
“Yeah yeah, sheesh. Sisters can be such a pain, eh, Talon?” Cloak nudged and winked at Talon, who just nodded in response. Cloak grinned, “You will have to show me what all you can make later though!” He dashed after Dagger and took flight, going out the window with her.
Talon chuckled as he watched the pair leave, then looked to the bracers again. “So, why did you go with a dark blue?”
“Would you rather the bright shiny gold make you stand out?” Amber faintly growled, as Talon took a step back.
“No, just curious why.”
“Match the armor of Luna’s Night guard.” Steel nodded. “And more match your color tone. Admittedly, your favored red fur probably clashes with the blue, but oh well.” he paused, eyeing the changeling, “speaking of, take that form.”
Talon chuckled softly, concentrating a little to take on his pegasus form. Since the fight he found he actually had to concentrate to take on different forms, but holding them required the same focus as before.
After the fire faded, the familiar red pegasus stood there, his mane missing in its middle, and small scorch marks along his legs and wings, along with his back showing several. He glanced over the form and sighed. “Gah, I really took some damage.”
“You think?” Amber snapped. “You came in here barely breathing, and bleeding almost everywhere. You, Crimson, and Rime were all pretty bad. And yet, here you stand while Crimson and Rime are still stuck in bed!”
Talon sighed, glaring at Amber. “Yeah, and yet I didn't run. I stayed and fought with my friends. Despite my disguise shattering and others seeing who I truly was. What should I have done? Run with my tail between my legs?”
“Yes!” Amber barked back. “That was a commander you fought, did you honestly think you stood a chance against him?”
“I wasn't going to run! It's not in me to do that! May be fitting of you and your royal guard, but not me. Not a soldier of a hive that no longer exists!” Talon growled, stamping a hoof down, “So I don't care what you think! I will go back out there to protect ponies from harm, even if they hate me because of it!”
Amber looked the changeling up and down, smirking. “Good, I’ll hold you to that then, Talon.”
The changeling blinked, tilting his head. “D… Did you actually call me by name?” Amber simply turned and walked towards the door.
“Get some rest, changeling, your due back in the field tomorrow,” Amber called out as he left the changeling looking terribly confused. Meanwhile, Steel had been looking him over, mostly gazing at the burned hoof and fetlock.
“Hmm..” He had ignored the argument the pair got into, as he watched the hoof and fur. “Well, that seems to cover the holes in your limbs.” He glanced up. “How does it feel, by the way?”
“Huh...oh,” Talon looked down at the hoof, “a bit tight, but again, something I’ll have to get used to.” He wiggled the hoof around. “The bands looked to go a bit beyond the holes, least the ones that are burned.”
“So I noticed, it looks like the bands do cover them, but not all of the burn marks. Tis a shame really, but oh well. I could get some cloth you can put there to add to it. But that might irritate the burns or something else.”
“It's fine,” Talon sighed, sitting down and looking at his hoof closely. “I kind of wish I thought that through. I didn't think it would burn my own leg,” he grumbled and set it back down. “Scars tell stories, griffins say, and this one tells me I was stupid.”
“Hey now,” Steel poked at Talon, “you didn't know it would react that badly with your own magic.”
“That is true,” he shuddered slightly. “That magic still feels wrong to me. I don't know why.”
“Because it is wrong,” Steel sighs, “in every sense of the word. You should’ve seen Witching Hour freaking out when they first showed up with those things… She gave poor Golden Compass a massive headache banging on the shield she made him put up so she could study a crystal without smashing it.”
Talon chuckles, “At least I'm not the only one who feels that way.”
Steel straightens, takes a few steps back and sits, bringing up his hooves to try and frame Talon in them. “Nope, pretty much everypony here is in agreement. Also, yeah, you need a matching pair. I’ll see what I can make.” He grins and turns, trotting out the door before the changeling can protest.
Talon grumbled and walked back to the bed, sighing and removing the armor to set it aside and hopping onto the bed. He laid on his back, holding the scorched hoof up and gazing at it. “Ugh…” He let it flop to his side and sighed.
Talon glanced between the griffin and the unicorn that were escorting him from the castle. Ember had managed to drag him away for a few hours before he had to rest and return to being a Renegade, and decided to invite him a picnic with Quicktail.
“So, not that I'm going to complain about being outside the Castle.” Talon glanced down at the sock covered hooves of his unicorn guise. “But… these are annoying,” He shook a hoof as he walked, “How can a pony stand wearing these things?”
Ember glanced over her shoulder at him as she led them towards a park. “Well, it's either that or cause mass panic as a changeling. Take your pick.”
“But I could just wear those...what did Steel call them again? Leg Guards?” Talon whined as Quicktail shook his head.
“And get questioned by civilians because you look the part of a Royal Guard?”
“I just can't win.” He hung his head as he walked along. Quicktail chuckled as he walked next to Ember.
“For a soldier, he certainly whines a lot. Did he always whine like this?”
Ember nodded quickly, grinning, “He hasn’t changed!”
“Ironic, given what he is,” Quicktail quips, making a tiny glance back to Talon.
“I can still hear you two,” Talon grumbled as the pair snickered. They eventually entered the park and made their way towards one of the trees, where a red and green spotted earth pony sat, already having a sheet spread out and a basket next to him. The pony glanced towards the three and waved like a spazz.
Talon tilted his head as he looked over the pony as he approached. The earth pony looked back at him, and they both blinked, seeing the changeling beneath.
“Tor..” Talon started to say, before he got tackled by the earth pony almost faster than he could blink.
“TALON! Oh sweet Celestia! You’re alive after all!” Lode Stone yelled as he hugged Talon tightly.
“Ack… Can't.. breathe…” Talon wheezed as Lode let him go, chuckling softly.
“Sorry, guess I have gotten stronger over the last two decades. And it's Lode Stone now.” He grinned widely, hugging Talon again softer this time.
Ember grinned as she watched the reunion, sitting on the sheet and gesturing Quicktail to sit next to her. “Sorry I couldn't get the others here, but since Lode Stone is working locally, for now at least, he was easy to get.” She glanced at Lode, who was dragging Talon to the sheet. “So, that makes five of the Ruby Hive still alive, right?”
Lode stone shook his head, “Eight.” He grinned widely, “Feather Dust ran… or rather, flew into one a week ago when he was flying towards Appleloosa. Turns out two more are working at the apple farm there under some member of the Apple family. But,” he tipped his head to each side once, “they are thinking of moving to Ponyville.”
“Really? We are going to have to invite them for Hearth Warming.” Ember paused. “Wait, that accounts for two more. Where is the third?”
Lode Stone glanced at Quicktail, “Turns out she is a farmer, within the griffin kingdoms. Near Griffinstone to be exact. I’m sure our griffin friend here can find her with little to no problems. At least that's what one of the ones Feather bumped into said.” Lode grinned widely.
“If I knew her name, yes.” Quicktail nodded.
Talon shuffled a little to one of the corners of the sheet, looking at the basket and sighing a little. As the others kept talking, he glanced to his scorched hoof, then blinked when he heard his name, looking up.
“Well, Talon? What have you been doing lately?” Lode Stone looked him over, “I heard you skipped the last two decades thanks to a deity, but that was, what, months ago?”
“Uh… just things, sort of training to be a Wonderbolt,” he grinned lopsidedly.
“So, why are you quiet over here?” Quicktail moved to sit next to him.
“Just feeling out of place, that's all.” He sighed. “Missing two decades and thinking my entire hive was destroyed. I didn't bother to go looking for anypony else, yet here you all are.”
“Well, we are just going to have to catch you up on events!” Lode grinned as he slid the basket towards Talon. “First on the menu, cookies! Courtesy of Fine Brew’s Tea house.”
“Hmm, I’ve heard these are quite the treat,” Talon grinned as he floated one up and opened his mouth to take a bite, stopping and glancing to his side. He raised an eyebrow as he saw an auburn blur of a colt dash towards them, aiming for Ember. He smirked as he bit down on the cookie, right as Ember suddenly turned part way and got tackled by the colt.
“Tricks!” Talon heard yelled from a familiar voice as Ember chuckled and grinned at the colt. Witching Hour trotted up, panting softly as she looked over the group. Leaf Wind was behind her, carrying a basket on his back and somewhat leaning on a light gold mare with a black and grey mane.
“Hi Tricks!” Ember exclaimed as she hugged the colt for a moment before setting him down on their mat.
“Hi Emerald! I didn't think we’d see you at the park today!” Tricks beamed as he scooted back, looking at the group that was already there. “Who are these ponies, and…” he trailed off, looking at the griffin, grinning and waving. “Hi Quicktail!”
“Hello Trick Step.” Quicktail states formally, as Ember chuckles softly.
“These two ponies are just friends,” she points to Lode Stone, “Lode Stone, a miner currently working in the Canterlot Mines. And…” she paused, tilting her head at Talon.
“Talon,” He bows slightly, grinning and glancing to Ember for a moment.
“Why are you wearing socks? Aren't those for mares?” Tricks asks, as he points to Talons front hooves.
“Yeah, kind of have to agree there, nephew.” Leaf comments, chuckling.
Talon snorts, glaring at Ember. “See! I was better off with the leg guards!”
“Tricks, sweetie, you don't think that the Royal Guards wear those metal bracers without something to protect their skin from chaffing, do you?” Witch chuckles softly, as she floats the basket off Leaf and sets it on the edge of the sheet already laid out.
“But you don't wear them with your bracelets!” Tricks points to the bracelets that Witch is currently wearing.
“Because they’re bracelets, sweetie.”
Talon just grumbles, looking at the mare that's been silently chuckling. “So, since we got introduced, uhh, who are these two?” Talon points towards Leaf Wind and his mare.
“I'm Leaf Wind, and this is Daring.” Leaf Wind gestures to the mare, as Talon looks her over.
“Can't be the same Daring from the books. She seems shorter than I pictured.” Talon shrugged as Leaf starts to chuckle.
“I get that all the time, that Yearling really needs to get my size right,” Daring sighed a little, with Leaf still snickering beside her.
“Still, good books.” Talon grinned, then looked down to the foal that was looking over his socks. “Can I help you?”
“Just wondering why you are wearing them, that's all.” Tricks went to poke at one, as Talon quickly retracted his hoof.
“Tricks!” Witch yelled, grabbing the foal with her magic and tugging him back. “Don't bother him about it. He has a bad skin condition that he is embarrassed about.”
Talon just stared at Witch like ‘Really?’ and sighed, “Yeah, kind of embarrassing, so I cover it up.”
“Can I see it? I won't bother you if I can see just a little bit of it!”
“What about a cookie?”
“No! I wanna see it!”
Talon sighed, glancing at Witch and Ember who simply shrugged. He raised his hoof and looked at Tricks, “Okay, but you have to promise me that you won't scream or anything of that sort.” He looked at Leaf and Daring, pointing to them, “That goes for you two as well.”
“Huh? Why us?” Leaf asked, blinking and looking confused as Witch sighed.
“Because it's kind of a big deal, actually.” She turned to look at Talon, “Are you sure this is wise?”
Talon shrugged, “Might as well. I mean as long as no one panics, it's okay. Heck, the only ones who don't know are Leaf, Daring, Tricks and… Lode.” He glances to Lode Stone.
“What don't I know?” Lode raised an eyebrow.
“I Pinkie Promise!” Tricks grinned and almost shouted.
“You...what?” It was Talons turn to be confused.
“A Pinkie Promise is a promise between friends that can't be broken, and lasts forever.” Tricks grinned, as ‘forever’ seemed to carry on the wind in a high-pitched whisper.
“Uhh...ok.”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Tricks grinned as he went through the motions, remembering to close his eye as he finished. Talon just watched, chuckling softly, and glancing at the couple.
“I'm not going to make you two do that, but promise me anyway.” Leaf and Daring nodded in response. Talon took a deep breath and looked down at his left hoof, his horn glowing and pulling down the sock just enough to reveal enough of the changeling leg beneath it. All of their eyes were wide as he did it.
“That… wow, did you get cursed or something?” Daring asks, making Talon look directly at her for a moment, then shake his head, “So you’re a…?” Talon nodded slowly, “Why can't you…?”
“I...did something stupid. I burned it, badly.” He glanced down at it, “I can still alter it, but I can't… how was it described? Cloak it?” He shrugged some. “So, I wear this over it.” He glanced at Lode for a moment, then looked at Tricks, who hadn't taken his eyes off the leg at all. “Tricks?”
“That seems so...cool… actually.” Tricks slowly looked up at Talon, “I mean, not the part where it's burned… But… you’re a changeling.”
Talon raised an eyebrow, “You're not freaking out about that? I mean, there was that attack a while back.”
“But you’re not attacking anypony. You’re enjoying a picnic with friends, and good company. You are just being a normal pony like me, or Mom, or Uncle Leaf!”
Talon grinned, letting out a content sigh as he slid the sock back over his leg, “Speaking of picnic, I'm hungry, and could go for a sandwich. What did you bring Lode?”
“Well, lets see…” he slid the basket over and peered into it, starting to pull out various things. “I wasn't expecting the extras, but it seems they brought their own.”
Witch nods as she slides her basket over, floating everything out. “I brought food for the four of us. So we should be fine.”
Tricks grinned as he sat next to Talon, looking up at him, “So, can I see your natural form?”
Talon looked at him and grinned, “When you’re older.”
Tricks let out a long whine as Leaf looked at Talon. “What about us? Can we see?”
Talon just grinned to him as well, “When you’re older.” He repeated, making Leaf whine as well.
A familiar red pegasus strode through the ranks of the Renegades that were waiting to be called on. His leg guards lightly clicking on the ground as he stopped next to Cloak, his wings fluttering slightly as let out a soft sigh.
“So we are just watching?” Talon glanced at Cloak.
“Seems so, at least for now. If we need to step in, we will.”
Talon squinted to see the giant mesh of Shadowbolts approaching the Wonderbolt compound.
“Can't alter your vision to see better, can you?” Cloak asked, looking towards Talon.
“Wish I could, but no, sadly.” Talon shook his head, sighing a little. He glanced around at the nearby Renegades, a few looking at him questioningly, but others nodded back to him. “I assume Descent told everypony here?” Getting a mix of admiration and confusion in the air from them all.
“Oh yes, a few were livid that a changeling was with them the whole time. A few were jealous that you destroyed a crystal that belonged to one of the commanders. Which brings me to the question, why aren't you Au naturalle now?” Cloak turned slightly to get a better look at him.
“If we are going to save the Wonderbolts, do you think them seeing a changeling would be wise when they are already going to be confused?” Talon shrugged. “I can tell them when the time is right, for now they need to focus on what's ahead of them.”
“So, hiding it for now. And after we save their tails?” Cloak rotated a hoof.
“I said when the time is right, who knows when that will be, but it isn't right now.” Talon stated flatly, watching the sky above the Wonderbolt compound light up with pink bursts.
“So, I couldn't help but notice your fancy armor there, why is that?”
Talon let out a soft sigh, sitting back and lifting up his hooves and lowering the bands on his scorched hoof enough to show his blackened changeling leg beneath.
“Oh… Oh damn, you can't hide it, can you?” Cloak asked gently, staring at the hoof as Talon hid it.
“According to Ember, I burned the chitin and mana veins around it. I can still make my blade, as you saw. But hiding this? I can't anymore.” Talon stood, watching the battle above the compound. “And before you ask, it's something about me burning the fur off the area so I can't alter it.”
Cloak raised an eyebrow, “So what, you have a small layer of fur or something?”
“Something like that, it gets made thicker when we take on a pony-guise. But it can be made into feathers, scales, or the like depending on what we take.” Talon shrugged, “As long as I wear these or...socks,” he paused to shudder, “I’ll be fine.”
“Not a fan of those?” Cloak chuckled as Talon quickly shook his head.
“After all this is over, hopefully I won't have to hide.”
“Oh yes! I can see the headlines now!” Cloak sat and held his hooves out, “Changeling joins the Wonderbolts! Thoroughly enjoys the love of the fans! Literally eats it right up!” Cloak chuckled as Talon lightly punched him. “Hey now, I’m just saying it as I see it.” He grinned widely.
Talon sighed, looking back out above the compound, seeing the number of pink flashes slowly diminish. “They aren't faring too well.” Cloak looks out as well, sighing.
“No, the magic is what's giving the Shadowbolts an edge.” His voice taking on that rare serious tone. “Looks like we will have to step in. This won't be pretty.”
“Nope,” Talon stood at the ready, as did Cloak beside him.
“So, when we do join, where are you going?”
“To that mesh, I’ll leave the Commanders to the ones who can actually do something against them,” Talon made a head gesture towards the Ex-Wonderbolts, who had been standing at attention the whole time, ready to go lend a hoof towards their comrades. “I’m not recovered enough to fight them again.”
“Ha, agreed. I still see a few bandages on you.” Cloak snickered as Talon shot him a quick glare.
“And I am not going to sit on the sidelines when I am capable of fighting!”
“I get it, you can be a real dragon you know.” Cloak paused, “Literally I bet, huh?”
Talon just shook his head, chuckling. “I can…” He trailed off, just as he heard Descent whistle loudly. “That's our cue!”
Talon and Cloak took off into the air, followed by the other Renegades, towards the large aerial dog fight.
“Seriously! These things are no fun to fight!” Azure Star growled as she floated next to her captain. “Can't taunt what doesn't listen!”
“I hope you have an idea for getting us out of this mess, Lieutenant.” Moonbow shot at her, as she dodged a pink beam of energy, “Because I could use some R and R after this fight!”
“Well, unless we get some backup from an army, I got nothing!” Azure raised her arms, ready to block another beam of energy, but it never came. She glanced over them to see the clones before her explode in a pink light. A red stallion with most of a blue mane floating in their place as he grinned, wearing the shadowbolt uniform, slightly modified by a pair of deep blue leg guards, and wearing a set of red goggles with a tassel tied above them. He waved a moment, then dive bombed out of her view.
“Uh… I want a million bits?” Azure glanced skyward, watching other Shadowbolts explode around her as these mysterious Shadowbolts lookalikes swooped in.
“What was that Azzy?” Moonbow asked as she glanced to her squadmate.
“Just wondering if we got trolled, ma’am.”
Talon grinned as he almost bounced from Shadowbolt clone to Shadowbolt clone. Nearly three weeks of being stuck in a castle, and eleven days of that time was stuck in bed. He was certainly enjoying this, even if it was clones he was fighting against. He floated up after striking down a clone, looking around as Cloak floated to his side.
“You’re enjoying this far too much, aren't you?” Cloak asked in the momentary pause before the pair flew forward, striking down more clones as they went.
“Can you blame me? Stuck in a bed for the past few weeks; yeah, I'm indulging a little!” Talon grinned as he spun around, deflecting a bolt of magic with a sharpened hoof. He lowered a little, sliding up under a clone and driving a solid kick under its head, making it explode above him as he used the momentum to zoom down. He landed on another that was just about to zap a yellow stallion with a violet grey mane.
Talon waved to the stallion for only a moment, before rocketing off to another clone. Leaving the stallion floating there confused. A mottled brown pegasus floated up beside the yellow one.
“Are we being saved from Shadowbolts… by Shadowbolts?”
“I am so confused.”
Talon heard as he jetted off to help take care of more clones. He slammed into another clone, making it explode and floated there for a few seconds before he heard a snarl from his side. He quickly closed his wings, falling some and glancing up as a yellow and blue blur zoomed where he was.
“You missed it, Monkey!” He heard shouted, making him spin and see a pale pink mare flying towards him, the blue part mane tied up in a short tail leaving the close-cropped yellow part clearly visible and a face of rage as she snarled at him.
“Not my fault these Shadowbolts might actually be getting smarter, Aurora!” He heard from behind him, making him glance over his shoulder as another mare, this one bright yellow with vivid red mane and tail and strangely glittering wing-guards, flew at him.
“Right…” He smirked as he spun to dodge the two coming at him, making them zoom past each other. “No way to convince you two I'm here to help?” He shrugged as Monkey turned quickly, flying straight back at him.
“This one actually talks!” Monkey yelled as she reared back, ready to throw a heavy punch. Talon raised his arms up to block, floating back as he got hit and grunted. He felt her throw more, as he turned to deflect them.
“Seriously! I'm a friendly!” Talon shouted as he closed his wings, dropping some again to dodge a kick from the yellow mare. He turned quickly, blocking a fierce swing from Aurora and catching her arm. He continued to spin, making her rear hooves collide with a clone that was about to attack. The clone sputtered and flew back as Talon tossed Aurora aside, the clone exploding a few moments later.
Aurora leveled out and started to fly back at him, but Monkey was already back in front of Talon, throwing another heavy punch, making him grunt loudly as he blocked and was knocked back by the swing.
“Your both confused and tired, trust me!” he growled as he kept on the defensive against the mares.
“And why should we do that?” Aurora snarled as she flew in, joining in the assault on Talon.
“Because your real enemy wears yellow goggles!” Talon growled as he was forced to remain completely on the defensive as the two mares ganged up on him. As he blocked one, the other would narrowly miss him as he’d turn to dodge.
As Monkey landed another solid blow that was blocked, Aurora managed a solid hit on his side, just under his ribcage, which made him hiss and fall back.
As he let himself fall back, grimacing and holding his side, he glared up at Aurora who wore a smug smile, flying forward again. Talon wheezed as he floated, holding his arms close, ready to block, just as four bright flashes erupted over the area, which made Aurora stop.
“Huh?” She looked around, seeing the remaining clones explode after the bright flashes. Monkey floated up beside her, panting softly as they both glared at Talon.
“Now,” he wheezed, “Can we talk?” He remained holding his side as he floated there.
“I still want to beat your face in.” Aurora growled at him.
“I wouldn’t recommend that, actually.” Talon grinned, “We are on your side.”
“Right, and we should believe that?” Monkey stated with a faint growl as they floated closer to Talon, still ready to attack.
“Well, for starters, I never once threw a punch at you.” Talon chuckled, turned and gestured to follow back to the compound. “We should get out of the air, let you rest your wings.”
The pair growled, but followed after him. “So, what, you and your buddies have just been toying with us?” Aurora growled out as she flew up to Talons side, he gave her a once over, sighing slightly.
“I suppose you could say that, but… it's mostly them that did.” He points towards the ex-Wonderbolts that were starting to gather. “Everything will be explained later. Hopefully it will make sense then.”
He grinned to the mares and left them, flying closer to the little reunion going on as he felt a wave of happiness from them when they revealed themselves. He landed and kept somewhat close, but out of their sight, to regain a little bit of lost energy.
He sat by them and silently soaked it up, just grinning and watching the teary reunion, and catching a faint glimpse of Silver Lining. “Huh, so he is still a Wonderbolt...this will be awkward.” he mumbled to himself, as he sat there, enjoying the energy from the reunion. After a while, he glanced up as Luna floated down behind Descent. And upon hearing a request to gather up the wounded Wonderbolts, he took to the air to help find them.
“You’re seriously going out into that?” Cloak gestured to the raging storm, “In those?” he then pointed to the guards that Talon was still wearing. Talon looked down at them, then back outside.
“I’m well aware of the risks. And I do have some control over lightning.” Talon shrugged, glancing at Cloak, “And if it comes to it, I can just remove them. Losing a piece of armor would be better than losing my life.”
“And lose those lovely things that were crafted just for you.” Cloak sighed wistfully. “Tis the price we pay, eh?”
“Right.” Talon glanced around the Wonderbolt lobby as he heard Spitfire shout something about a tornado while talking to Silver.
“So, you’ve been avoiding certain Wonderbolts since we saved them.” Cloak poked at Talon.
“Some are still upset that they were saved, that's all.” Talon huffed as he turned away with puffed cheeks, inadvertently looking towards Silver.
“That's not who I was talking about.” Cloak watched Talon as he watched Silver.
“It's just… awkward, ok?” Talon looked back at Cloak, he then blinked and glanced past him as he saw Princess Luna walk up to Captain Spitfire, dressed in her armor that she wore as Nightmare Moon. “Huh… snazzy looking armor.”
“How is it awkward?” Cloak continued, ignoring the Princess in the lobby. “They are Wonderbolts, it's not like you had a chance to idolize them or anything lately.”
“I met some of them nearly two decades ago…” Talon trailed off. “Namely, one that is still a Wonderbolt.”
“Ah… and does he know what you are?”
“Not that I'm aware of.” Talon shook his head, glancing out the window as he saw Astral zooming towards the compound. “But not important right now.”
Talon glanced towards the compound entrance, seeing Descent and Astral exchange a few words, then dash back out. Talon sighed, glancing back at his hooves again. He blinked and looked up, glancing towards a section of the lobby where Soarin had been and tilted his head.
He watched the pony, as his yellow colored magic flared up. He had been told that Soarin had magic within him, from an event that was a year nearly ago. He didn't understand it, but he didn't question it either. Talon shook his head as he watched the pegasus get questioned by Spitfire, Dash, and Luna.
He blinked again, detecting a huge spike of energy from outside, which made him look outside and up. Just as he heard back from the doorway a pony call out to Descent. Talon saw a collection of pink energy start to gather. He glanced to his left hoof as he felt it tingle slightly, then back up.
“RENEGADES! LET’S GIVE ‘EM HELL!” Descent yelled out.
Talon was out the door with the others, Cloak hot on his hooves.
“HOLD!” Talon heard Descent yell, as he looked over the opposing force. He let out a tiny sigh as he felt both emotional energy and magical energy over in that mesh of ponies and clones. He spotted the ten enemy commanders lower themselves down.
Talon spotted Blazetail float up past him, glancing at him for a second. Talon shook his head quickly as Blazetail snorted out a chuckle, moving on past him. Talon was not ready to take on a commander, let alone partake in a fight with all of them.
“RENEGADES, STEADY!” Descent yelled out, as Talon floated up a little, getting above some of his fellow Renegades. Talon looked down as he watched the ten commanders float towards the ground, his eyes falling on Sin and watching him a bit longer, growling a little.
He knew he was outclassed, and fighting Sin now was only asking to be killed, but he severely wanted to give that pony a matching scar that he had earned from that fight.
“You know that's death waiting to happen if you charge into that.” Dagger floated up beside Talon, pointing at the commanders. “All ten of them will flat out kill you.”
“I’m well aware, Dagger. I will get my chance, but I know it isn't now.” He looked up towards the ball of Shadowbolts before them, ignoring the rain that was falling and soaking his mane.
“Everypony here knows you're a changeling, I suggest you change now and just enjoy going all out.”
“Not yet, but I will.” Talon glanced down at the commanders again, seeing each one power up their crystals.
“RENEGADES! CHARGE!” He heard get yelled, as he and his allies charged into the aerial dogfight.
Talon followed behind Dagger as they flew into the swarm, Dagger quickly veering off to her left as Talon went up and to his right. With a small flare of magic, he altered his hooves to be smaller blades, as he quickly drove them into a clone. Rearing back and flapping his wings hard to clear the explosion as the air fight became a mess of explosions and beams.
Talon grunted, twisting a hoof to deflect a beam of magic from a clone as he flew past a Renegade. Making the beam collide with another clone as he closed his wings for a second, to spin in the air before swinging his hoof to collide with a clone.
He growled as he brought his arms together to block a beam from a normal Shadowbolt, the beam-catching and tearing a part of the strap that held his armor on. He glanced at it, growled, and in a flare of fire took on his changeling form, complete with blades and little spikes along his wrists to shred the straps. The armor falling to the ground as the changeling glared forward at the Shadowbolt who only growled back.
Talon charged forward as the Shadowbolt dropped below, a clone flying over him and slamming itself into the changeling. He grunted as he pushed the clone back, spinning around and driving a blade into its side. As he pulled the blade out, revealing it's pink innards, he placed both his hind hooves on its side. He bucked, to get speed as he rushed towards another clone.
He glanced to his side as he flew, a flare going over a hoof as a shadowbolt flew past him. He reached up with a griffin paw, grabbing a hold of the Shadowbolts hind leg and getting jerked in that direction as the Shadowbolt zoomed on. This new direction made him narrowly get missed by a shadowbolt flying down to attack him.
He hung on for only a few seconds before letting go and spinning to block a punch from an ally, who blinked for a moment after she attacked the changeling.
“Sorry!” The mare shouted, turning and angling away. “Keep forgetting we have a changeling on our side.”
Talon chuckled as he floated, his back to hers, “It's okay. Hard to tell who is who, we really should tell Descent to alter our suits a bit more. Seriously, goggles and a tassel?” He turned slightly, deflecting a beam of energy as he glanced at the mare behind him.
“Hey! We also lack the mask!” the mare growled as she punched forward, breaking a clone with a solid hit to the head.
“At least I can tell the difference, fighting to protect is a different emotion than fighting to kill. Less anger.” Talon shrugged slightly, glancing up and focusing his energy. A thin red wall appeared above the mare, a clone bouncing off the shield. Talon grinned, as the shield suddenly gained spikes, most of which impaled the clone, making it explode quickly.
“I was curious how you were getting energy fighting with us.” The mare glanced up for a second, then looked to her side, quickly spinning around and pushing Talon away, a Shadowbolt zooming up where he was a few seconds before. “Just repaying the favor!” She grinned, “Back into the fray we go!”
Talon nodded as he dropped down, dodging a Clone that was lunging at him and switched to attacking the mare. As the mare responded by punching it in the face, hard.
Talon grinned, turning around and started to fly after a Shadowbolt, stopping after he noticed several others were all fleeing the combat as well. Talon raised an eyebrow, glancing up as a few renegades floated down by him.
“Uh…” A loud crack of lightning lit up the sky, making him shield his eyes. Once he was able to see again, he looked at the floating pink sphere, seeing a silhouette outlined by the pinkness.
As more of the outline revealed itself, showing the great outline of something that looked similar to the compound. Talon, and every Renegade around him, just stared slack-jawed. For most, they know what it is.
The Shadowbolt Air Fortress.
“By the egg, what in Tartarus is THAT?!” Talon pointed as he looked at one of the Renegades next to him.
“It...It can't be!” One says.
“It was destroyed months ago!” Another says.
“Okay, that explains so much for me!” Talon growled.
“It's the Cirrus, our old home!” Cloak, from above him, shouted. “BUT HOW?!”
Talon noticed Descent and the others float up, looking only slightly hurt from their conflict.
“NO FEAR AND NO HESITATION! TAKE IT DOWN!” Descent yelled out as he charged forward, Talon and the others following suit.
After a few moments of flying towards it, Talon noticed that various windows seemed to open up, showing strange tubes that were almost all pointed at them. A moment later he heard Descent yell something as he instinctively angled himself downwards, closing his wings in and barely dodging a blast that was many times larger than himself.
He stopped and looked around, spotting another large blast coming towards him. With no other option, he closed his arms and focused in front of him, a thick red wall appearing, but doing little to block the blast. It was enough to lessen it, but only by some as it struck him and blew him out of the sky and knocking him out.
Talon regained consciousness with just enough time to pull up, managing to save himself a mostly hard crash as his hooves touched the mud and got caught, making him tumble and roll. He finally stopped yards from where he touched down and gasped for breath.
It took a few minutes to catch his breath, and when he finally caught it, he looked up just as a large bluish-purple dome formed overhead. He looked up just as the shadowbolt fortress fired its big cannon.
He just stared as the two divine powers hit each other, Luna’s Shield vs the shadowbolt mega cannon. After a minute, he noticed her shield start to buckle, at least until a brighter blue joined the beam from Luna and made the shield stronger.
“Holy Tartarus.” He mumbled, his ears going flat against his head as he gazed up at the fortress wide-eyed, even turning slightly pale as the cannon flared. After a minute of the two powers conflicting, the cannon finally started to die off, losing its steam.
A few moments after the cannon stopped, did the shield shatter. Talon just stared at where the beam originated, spacing out that the base was being carried off. Talon slowly stood up, retaking his pegasus form and starting to trot towards where Luna’s beam came from.
Talon walked away from the infirmary, having been informed that he was thankfully only minorly injured, just some burns from the opposing magic. He was able to fight and told Ember to wrap up his leg, which she happily did. He let out a sigh as he glanced down at his hoof, stopping for a moment to do so. He lost those guards pretty early on, and with the damage done out in the courtyard, there was no way he could find them again.
He took a step forward, ready to search again when he heard a pair of clanks behind him. His ears perked up as he glanced over his shoulder, seeing Silver Lining standing there. His ears quickly went flat as he looked down, seeing his leg guards there on the floor, slightly covered with mud.
“I believe these are yours, Talon.” Silver said calmly, barely looking over the pegasus-disguised changeling.
He grinned weakly, turning to face Silver, “Uh, thanks, sir. I was about to go out and look for them.”
“You finally find your path?”
Talon chuckled softly, shaking his head, “Not yet, sir. I’m not wearing that.” He gestured to Silver’s Wonderbolt uniform, “But I'm aware I have to earn it.” Talon sat, and slid the guards over to himself, looking at the bands and sighing. “And the straps are shot, my own mistake.”
“I’d say you’ve earned it, at least a reserve outfit.” Silver smirked, “I watched you out there, and I asked Blazetail about you.”
“And?” Talon raised an eyebrow, looking up at him.
“Maybe a recruit squad spot,” Silver kept his smirk as he slowly turned around.
“Thank you, sir. I shall try to do better in the future.” Talon grinned, chuckling softly.
“You better; would hate to see you go down like the bug you are,” Silver said he started to walk away, leaving the changeling behind to laugh.
“Okay, so the plan is to hold off the crazies until either that compound lifts out of the ground, or they are seconds from firing and we need to flee?” Talon stared at Dust as she looked around at the 100 or so Renegades still standing.
“That's the sum of it, yes,” Lightning Dust nodded. “We will fly out once it’s close enough and help hold them off. I just hope this Rivet pony gets the thing going.”
“Right, so are you going to go ‘ling on us?” A mare asked as she stepped up to Talon’s side. He looked at her, and took a quick glance over his pegasus self, shaking his head.
“Nope, our goal to distract the Shadowbolts for as long as possible, right?” The mare nodded as Talon grinned, “Then that shall be our goal. If I were to change, it would cause confusion.”
“I suppose that is true, but what if you're forced to shift mid battle?”
“Then I’ll deal with it then and afterward,” Talon shrugged as he glanced skyward, seeing the familiar sight looming in the horizon. “For now, let us not worry about that and concentrate on the task ahead.”
Lightning Dust and the mare nodded, narrowing their eyes as they glare towards the fortress. Talon kept his eyes focused on it, letting out a low growl as he glared. He slowly extended his wings, flapping them once to shake them out.
“Easy Talon,” Dust said as she took a step back. “I know you’re eager, but I bet Sin is out there. And honestly, I don't want to face him again. But we’ll have to.”
Talon looked at Dust, nodding slightly. “Yeah, seems he wrecked us both good.” Talon looked back towards the floating fortress as Dust looked towards the Wonderbolts compound, seeing the wonderbolts float up after giving their shout. Dust looked back towards the fortress, taking note of how close it was.
“Let’s give them hell, Renegades!” She shouted as she took to the air. The other renegades gave a shout and followed suit after her. Talon flew up, his eyes never leaving the fortress as he gained air. Once up in the air, while keeping the fortress in his view, he quickly looked about at the ponies that he could see from the fortress. He spotted the commanders easily enough, as his eyes focused on Sin again.
Talon shook his head, focusing on the ones that decided to fight them, spinning around and angling himself away from the others as little bolts of magic flew past him. He growled, glancing behind him as a few Shadowbolt Commanders focused on the rest of the Renegades. He looked forward and squeaked, ducking down to dodge a wide beam of energy.
“Huh, I missed.” He heard from above him as he flew under a pony. He glanced upwards and saw the tail of Angel. He kept on his flight path, trying to distance himself from Angel when he heard a snicker below him. He quickly looked down to spot a blue pegasus looking him over.
“I wonder, are you that changeling that our low ranking members saw?” Trance kept chuckling as little spheres of magic flew up beside him, then towards Talon. Talon quickly put on the brakes, stopping in midair as the bolts flew past. He watched a few of them circle back towards him.
He grunted, closing his wings around himself to drop quickly, some of the bolts colliding with each other and exploding as a few made it through, continuing to chase him. He zoomed a little bit further, stopping and turning around to deflect a bolt with a hoof. He grunted, flying upwards to dodge another one.
“You’re pretty agile.” Trance said as he kept on Talons tail, smirking faintly as he readied more bolts to throw at him. Talon turned around, ready to throw a punch at him only to find him already having backed off and an orb in his place. Talon barely brought up his arms in time as it exploded, sending him back a little.
“Not too smart though.” Trance flat out grinned at the changeling as he floated back, having a few scorch marks from that attack. Talon glared at Trance, and flew at him, making Trance shake his head, more spheres appearing in front of him. Talon smirked faintly, his form flaring in fire just as the orbs exploded. Talon floated there, a faint red glow around his still pegasus self.
“How the…?” Trance looked confused for a moment, “I know you're a changeling, how did you do that!”
“We never reveal our secrets!” Talon charged forward and drove a hoof into Trances face. Trance spun to deflect most of the blow, floating back and firing another sphere at the changelings back, exploding it as he passed by.
Talon cringed as he felt pain erupt over his back, turning around just in time to see Trance get knocked aside by Dust, who smirked at him and continued on. Talon let out a sigh, turning towards the fortress and flying at it.
He didn't get to make it very far as a few shadowbolts floated down in his way, all grinning as their crystals flared up. Talon growled and kept flying at them, a thin red barrier appearing in front of him as they fired off magic beams. The beams deflected off the shield and angled down, Talon only wincing slightly as he felt each one impact.
He barreled past them and was getting close to the fortress before he suddenly felt himself stop in midair. He growled and looked himself over, noticing a pink haze around him, he looked up into the strong glare of Moon. Talon growled as he struggled against the vice grip as Moon just glared at him.
“Begone, gnat.” Moon spoke in an almost monotone voice as he raised a hoof before throwing it towards the compound. Talon suddenly found the world cruising by as he flew straight for the compound faster than he’s ever flown before.
Talon grunted as he tried to open his wings, attempting to angle himself towards one of the windows and slow himself as best he could. He was able to slow himself down some, and angle towards a window, but he couldn't stop in time. He shifted to his natural form, curled into a ball, and brought up a shield just in time.
After crashing through the window, he felt himself impact something relatively soft with enough force to hit something hard.
“Well, thanks for the save, Talon.” Talon heard once his ears stopped ringing. He opened his eyes into the grin of Blazetail staring down at him, upside down.
“Ugh, blame Moon,” Talon grunted as he rolled to his hooves, standing up and shaking his head. Once he finally focused, he looked down at what he landed on, seeing an unconscious Shadowbolt. “You’re welcome though, sir.”
“Right, what's the status outside?” Blazetail took the moment of calm to look out the window.
“Chaos, far as I can tell, sir.” Talon put a hoof to his head, as he sensed anger in his direction. He glanced up and, while growling, put up a thin shield behind Blazetail. The older stallion spun around and charged at the Shadowbolt after the shield absorbed a beam. Talon smirked as he watched Blazetail pile drive the Shadowbolt into the ground, then look over his shoulder.
“Is that twice now, colt?”
“I'm not keeping score!” Talon shouted as he charged down the hall with a smirk. He noticed a pair of Shadowbolts standing outside the door, leaning around and firing magic into whatever room they were hiding outside of, as dark colored bolts shot back and kept missing them.
He growled and charged at them, coating his arms in his magical fire as he took to the air. Before he got close though, he fired off a red beam of his own at them. One missed as the Shadowbolt crouched down to try and get a better angle to shoot into the room, which allowed Talon’s beam to hit the other Shadowbolt, stunning it for a moment.
In that moment, the first Shadowbolt turned around to see the changeling, and took a step back at the sight before it. Talon snarling and showing his fangs as he had blades for fore-hooves, flying directly at him. The Shadowbolt snarled back and raised up a shield, letting Talon crash into it, and force him back a foot or two.
A pair of gasps was heard from inside the room as Talon came into view, pressing against the shield with his blades. Talon smirked for a moment, before he vanished from view, appearing behind and above the Shadowbolt, and kicked out a hind leg towards the Shadowbolt’s head, connecting and sending him face first into his own shield.
The Shadowbolt groaned softly as he slowly slid down the shield, before it faded and he fell face first to the ground. Talon was already facing the other Shadowbolt as it stood up, glaring towards the changeling. Talon just charged forth, swinging a blade low, making the Shadowbolt bounce back and be on the defensive as Talon kept swinging his blades.
The Shadowbolt bounced back only a few times, before lunging forward. Talon disappeared from view again, this time appearing on his back right under the Shadowbolt, and thrust his hind legs straight out to catch the Shadowbolt in his stomach. The blow knocked the wind out of it as Talon threw him onto the other.
He rolled to his hooves and glanced inside the room, smirking as he saw Luna standing next to a brown unicorn mare looking, well, it was hard to tell if she was terrified or not. Talon blinked as he looked the mare over. “Are you two okay?”
“We are fine, Talon. Shouldn't thou be out with the Renegades?” Luna asked, taking the short pause to catch her breath. Luna still looked drained, but at least she looked better than before.
“Er, yeah. About that, Moon kind of threw me at the compound. Guess I'm fighting in here for now,” Talon looked past the mares, at the sleeping stallion still on the bed faintly glowing yellow. “Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't he be evacuated with the others?”
“We can't move him, changeling.” The mare spoke up, finding her courage once more. “And what is a changeling doing here anyway?”
Talon sighed, and glanced to his left down the hallway, “Long story, can tell you all about it when we aren't in peril. For now, trust me. If you don't want to, trust Princess Luna’s judgement in letting me be a Renegade.” He turned and charged down the hallway again before the mares could respond.
He barreled into the lobby, leaping to the air to try and get a better view of the chaos that was going on. Wonderbolt recruits and Renegades were battling against Shadowbolts and protecting innocents. At least most of the innocent ponies, some were fighting back as well.
He started to fly towards the melee, but stopped a few feet after as the sounds of creaking metal and tearing concrete filled the air. He blinked and looked directly down just as the ground started to crack. He blinked and suddenly saw a pole coming straight at him, his natural reaction was to teleport to the side, where the pole narrowly missed him.
“What in Tartarus?!” He exclaimed as most of the melee had stopped. Some of the Shadowbolts teleporting out once the poles started to show up. He landed, looking around confused before gazing at a pole. This was nothing like he had seen before, though thinking back. That fortress was also something he had never seen before.
The ground was shaking and slowly felt like it was rising. He grunted as he slid a little, altering his hooves a tiny bit to make small spikes to stick in the floor. He looked around and saw that ponies were looking confused, a few glanced outside.
“The ground is tearing!”
“This is unreal!”
Other various voices choired off as he looked towards the doors, seeing fellow Renegades and Wonderbolts pile in. He watched Captain Spitfire lead in Silver Lining, then his world went silent as a bright pink flash filled his vision. He fell to his stomach as he felt the ground underneath him suddenly lift up, like being on an elevator, only with far more force applied.
Talon gasped as he felt the force make his lungs empty, and quickly refill as he he looked towards one of the windows, seeing a wall of smoke for only a few seconds before it became clear dark skies. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to take in the sight, he was on solid ground and yet in the air! This wasn't….forget it, anything’s possible right now.
He found his hooves sliding along the ground; with a gasp and quick thought, he shifted his hooves to blades and dug them into the tiles. He winced but held his position as he felt a few other ponies fall into him and immediately latch onto him. He was going to be drained after this, but hopefully it would end soon.
He found those ponies that were attaching to him slowly letting go as everything seemed to level out and stop spinning. When he finally felt the floor level out, he shifted his hooves to normal, wincing a little as he did as he slid just a tad. He managed to brace himself, to stop from sliding as he looked out the front windows, seeing a mountain side coming closer.
His ears went flat, just as he felt the whole floor tip again to the side. “Shards!” he found himself slipping along the floor again before he could remake the stakes to keep himself in place. Those ponies around him stayed clinging to him. The tipping wasn't too bad this time, but he didn't want to take any chances.
And it was a good thing he did, as after a turn or two, the compound started to shake again and throw everyone for a loop. At least he didn't move from his spot, though his hooves and limbs were starting to ache from the constant strain. When he heard a loud yelp of pain, he glanced to it's source, seeing Silver Lining talking to Spitfire and Descent, with a few others ponies around them.
He watched them for a moment, as they all took off outside the compound. He looked towards the window again, seeing why they did. Strange large triangular aircraft powered by the same crystal magic. Seriously, how much did these Shadowbolts have that defied all logic? Comparing all this to what he knew, Discord seemed sane.
Talon shook his head, dismissing that thought as he had to focus on holding his ground. He grunted as the compound shook again, feeling one his limbs start to loosen its hold on the ground it was currently impaled in. He shifted his hooves again, finding new ways to hold himself in place as he shot out smaller spikes from his currently spiked hooves all of which was hidden under the tiles.
He winced, feeling his hooves return to normal against his will just as the ground started to tip downwards. The feeling of going down as he slid forward a little while the ponies continue to hold onto him for dear life. They were going to crash into the mountain side!
Talon grunted as he tried to force his hooves into the holes he had made, failing as he slid and getting thrown forward when they finally touched down. The last thing he remembered is hitting a wall, and a bench hitting him.
Talon slowly woke up, a familiar feeling of pain throughout his body as his senses returned. He opened his eyes, spotting only a little bit of light, he was able to tell he was under a bench and a pile of ceiling tiles. He groaned loudly, then winced as he heard voices.
“Sounds like another is over here!” He heard shouted, and a moment later, more light shone on him. He detected relief for a few moments before he suddenly detected anger. He glanced up into the disapproving glare of Captain Spitfire, with Blazetail standing right beside her.
“Aw, shards.” Talon squeaked out.
“Seriously?! WITH ALL THE OTHER PROBLEMS WE HAVE ANOTHER CHANGELING TO DEAL WITH?!” Spitfire yelled as Blazetail winced, folding his ears back as he let Spitfire rant. Wave Chill stood off to the side, keeping an eye on Talon who was currently scooting to hide under the rubble that remained
“And why is he wearing the Renegade outfit anyway?!” Spitfire turned to glare at Talon, who shrank a little.
“Well… Spitfire, he is a Renegade.” Flash Wind said calmly, barely glancing to Talon.
“I’d love to hear the reasoning behind this,” Spitfire rolled her eyes, keeping her glare fixed on the changeling who was failing to hide.
Talon sighed loudly as he gave up hiding, “Must I explain it, again? Long story short, I’m a soldier from a hive in the drake empire. I dropped in on Descent, Starry, Dust, and Princess Luna about two months ago and have been with them since. Don't ask about that, because it's an annoying story.”
“Hmph, and I should just believe this?”
“We can go ask Princess Luna,” Talon grinned weakly.
“Right now I’m having a hard time believing much of anything. So why is a changeling fighting?” Spitfire walked heavily up to Talon, growling lightly. “And you better convince me it's not to steal love!”
Talon blinked, “Love? Really?” he shook his head, “As if. I would take the admiration of your fans more. The cheering of a roaring crowd is my feast, not the heart of a married couple.”
Spitfire raised an eyebrow, “Huh?”
Talon sighed, standing to his full height, which was a little taller than the Captain herself, “As I'm sure you’ve noticed, I am different than any changeling you might have encountered,” Spitfire nodded slowly, “As such, while I can feed on the energy love provides, it isn't as… nourishing as say, the cheers of a fan.”
“So… attending one of our shows would...” Spitfire sat, looking Talon over.
“Give me the energy I require with minimal effort.” Talon shrugged slightly.
“Just like that? No biting, no forcing your way, no hostile intent?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow, looking back at Talon’s face as he just grinned.
“Nope. From what I hear, your Cloudsdale shows are the best.” Talon grinned widely, showing off his fangs for a moment.
“Maybe you should get to know him better, Captain.” Blazetail chuckled as he stood next to Spitfire, “Take him to your office, see if it survived the trip. He doesn't bite, honest.” Spitfire turned to glare at him, then sighed.
“Yeah sure. If he does get out of line, I can just punch him.” Spitfire took a few steps, stopping and looking over her shoulder for a moment. “You can handle this a bit, right?” The former captain nodded and made a shooing motion. Spitfire sighed and looked back at Talon. “Fine, come on, changeling.”
“My name is Talon…” Talon grumped as he followed behind her. She merely snorted as she led him to her office.
“Okay, Talon. How long have you been here, with us, that is.” Spitfire asked, glancing over her shoulder.
“Let’s see, two months with the Renegades. Here in the compound? Since saving your tails from that initial attack.” Talon started up the stairs, glancing at the pole for a moment before flying around it. He could have teleported past it, but he was drained at the moment.
“Uh huh… and before that two month period?”
Talon sighed, “Wondering aimlessly around the drake wilds. I got here through, er, divine intervention, and literally fell into a meeting with Luna and Co. And after that.. yeah.”
“Divine intervention?” Spitfire stopped to look at him questioningly.
“I’d rather not bring it up. Not my best moment, nor was getting hammered by Descent, and blasted by Luna afterward.” Talon sighed as Spitfire opened the door to her office, and quickly winced at its sight.
Everything in it was a mess, the bookshelves were all toppled over. At least what all she could see from the hallway and the crack in the wall. She sighed and turned to Talon, “Don't suppose you can conjure up a ball of light, huh?”
Talon shook his head, “Too drained for that.” Spitfire sighed again, stepping past him.
“Stay here.” She took a step towards the stairs before she suddenly felt something warm. She looked over her shoulder to see Talon sitting back, holding a ball of fire with his good hoof and appearing to use his wings to keep the fire going, as he glared at his scorched hoof. “Uhhh…..”
Talon glanced up, “Oh, uh. Yeah. I said I was too drained for the ball of magic, however, I bet a fireball is better.” He grinned slightly, then went back to looking at his bad hoof, “Though doing this I did learn something.”
“Which was?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow.
Talon let out a sigh, letting the fire flow to his wings and rotating them to keep the flame going. “I can't manipulate fire through this hoof all too well.” He raised his scorched hoof up, scrunching his face as he glared at it.
“I was curious about that.” Spitfire stepped into the room, guided by the crimson glow of the fire. The rest of the room coming into view, her desk being upside down and near the wall behind it. The chair stuck under it and more files and paperwork all strewn about. Spitfire just grumbled and started to pick up stuff. “Well, we have time.”
“I fought Sin.” Spitfire stopped and turned to stare at him, as he continued “And lost. He cracked two ribs, tore my crest, beat me to a pulp, threw me through a wall, and nearly killed two of my friends.” Talon looked down at his hoof, “This scar is from me shattering a crystal, right next to him. He appears to have gotten out of it scar-free. Me, however…” He kept his wings rotating as he used his other hoof to unroll the athletic tape that was hiding it.
Spitfire watched in silence as he fully unveiled it, and raised it up. “I suppose I don't need to hide it anymore since you know what I am.”
“Why were you hiding it? Aside from looking dark red, instead of gray, it looks…” She trailed off as he shifted forms, the hoof, and fetlock and part of his limb remaining the changeling limb only with fewer holes, as the rest of him looked like the pegasus she had seen on occasion. She blinked a few times. “...oh.”
“Yeah…” Talon sighed, wincing and letting his disguise drop, “Erf, I am really drained. Can’t even hold my form if I wanted to.”
Spitfire sighed and resumed picking up as much as she could, “So, what made you want to fight?”
“I want to be a Wonderbolt.” Talon looked at her a moment, as he shifted over and started picking up papers. “I ran into a few a couple mo… er… a long while back, and was intrigued. Though fate had other plans for me it seems.” He chuckled to himself, “As for fighting. It's what I do best, I am a soldier drone after all. Not a harvester or anything like that.”
“Huh, so fighting is basically all you're good at?” Spitfire raised an eyebrow at Talon, as he continued the somewhat mindless job of cleaning.
“I wouldn't say that; I know a little bit about jewel crafting, and I have a fair bit of knowledge about magic.” Talon shrugged, “Not as much as Princess Twilight, but hey, with a fair bit of study perhaps.”
“You ran into Princess Twilight? Was that before or after your fight with Sin?”
“Before, a day after some banquet… the fight with Sin happened the night Rapidfire infiltrated our ranks.” Talon sighed, looking down, “Stupid stallion.”
“So when Dust said he was nearly undetectable, she meant it.”
“We detect emotions and taste them. We can spot another changeling up close, and each hive functions differently in how we see them. At least according to my queen,” Talon shrugged, “Haven't really met any other hives yet. To us, another changeling is, well. Like mostly opaque, with the changeling body just barely visible below the disguise.”
Talon took a moment to collect his thoughts, looking at the stack of papers he had before him, “What Rapidfire did, I couldn't tell he was any different from another stallion or mare visibly. Emotion wise? I felt something off, but I couldn't place my hoof on it. It was just...something was wrong, but I had no clue what.” He sighed and sat, his wings stopping, letting the flames die out.
Spitfire moved over and rested a hoof on his shoulder, “And that was when he struck?” Talon shook his head.
“He led Sin back to one of our bases, a summer campsite retreat thing. A few hours later, he and Sin struck. Only me, Rime, and Crimson survived, and barely at that. I mean, he did cripple all three of us. I was just crippled in this way,” He held up his hoof, “Thanks to Ember, I was able to get a boost of energy and be back to fighting just in time for that major attack.”
“Ember… Emerald Haze?” Spitfire questioned gently, Talon nodded slightly, then winced hard, quickly looking up at her. Spitfire grinned warmly, “I won't tell anypony about that.”
“Thank you,” he let out a huge sigh of relief, “Er, I let the flame go out.”
“That you did, how did you make it anyway?”
Talon just grinned slightly, “I have my ways, though I can't do it again right now.”
“Right, I’m going to go grab a few candles. You go check in with Descent, see what he wants you to do.” Spitfire made her way out of the office and back to the lobby, with Talon following.
“Will do, ma’am.”
Talon sighed as he stared into a barrel of fire. He was in the Battledome with the rest of the Wonderbolts, off to one side and everyone seemed to be keeping their distance from him. He didn't blame them honestly. At least they were avoiding him, instead of wanting to attack him.
After another conversation with Spitfire, he agreed to remain undisguised while within the compound, and since Descent told him he wasn't needed with maintaining the blizzard. To just remain on the grounds, get some rest, and then see what Spitfire could use him for. That was a few days ago, and getting his energy back had been slow going.
He shivered faintly under the blanket. At least being able to breathe fire was proving useful in one aspect, he didn't feel as cold as everypony else in the Battledome who were almost all hugging their barrels of fire or each other. He took a quick glance around, certainly spotting the couples of each squad and tasting the love from them, there were a few loners too, but they still clung to a squad.
He sighed and resumed staring at the fire. He wondered how Ember was doing, heck, he wondered how Canterlot was faring after that. At least they didn't have a doomsday cannon hovering overhead currently. According to Descent, it was just outside the blizzard, waiting for it to die down so they could come in and finish the job.
He heard a pony clear their throat next to him, followed by a soft growl from another pony. He turned his head slightly towards it and looked up to see Soarin standing there, under his own blanket and could see Rainbow Dash standing next to him, growling a little.
“Is this mattress taken?” Soarin asked, gesturing slightly to one of the three mattresses that surrounded the fire.
“Nope but your partner might object.” Talon resumed staring at the fire, barely watching Soarin and Dash move to lay on the other mattress.
“I think she can handle a simple conversation for a bit.” Soarin chuckled softly, glancing to Dash who puffed her cheeks out and looked away. Talon looked at Soarin, glancing to his horn for a moment then back to the pony.
“So, what brings a lead commander to my little corner of solitude?”
Soarin chuckled softly, shaking his head, “Drop the title, for starters. I just want to talk.”
“What about?” Talon raised an eyebrow.
“A potential wingmate, for starters.”
“WHAT?!” Dash turned to glare at the changeling, “You can't be serious Soarin! He’s a changeling! How do we know he isn't here to feed on our love?”
Talon sighed, dipping his head forward to rest on the mattress, “I need a sign that says ‘I don't feed on love’ made. Seriously, how many times will I have to say that?” He looked at Dash, “I wasn't even here for that wedding! You’d think I’d stand out if I was.” He twitched his wings under the blanket.
Dash just stared at him for a moment. “Okay, fine. Suppose I believe you. Why do you want to be a Wonderbolt?”
Talon chuckled softly, “For the fans. And so my skills as a soldier are put to good use.”
“Fans?” Soarin asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Better taste.” Talon sighed as he heard Dash growl. “I'm from the drake empire, we don't feed on love. Not saying we don't entirely ignore it, it's just not as nourishing.”
“Uh huh… So why aren't you hiding yourself then?” Dash looked the changeling over, still slightly glaring while snuggling up to Soarin.
“Yeah, I was curious why you’re not disguised.” Soarin chimed in.
Talon raised his scorched hoof, “Because Captain Spitfire asked me not to. And I can't fully disguise myself anyway. I fought Sin and paid a price.” They both looked confused, and Talon demonstrated by taking on his pegasus disguise, and holding the bad hoof out, “See?” They both nodded slowly, as he went back to being a changeling. “I stabbed one of his crystals, it exploded, and after that, it was a blur.”
“Stabbed?” Dash asked, tilting her head slightly.
Talon chuckling, and kept his hoof out, making it into a small blade. Both Soarin and Dash just stared at it, until he returned it to normal. “It's a quirk I have, I guess you can say my ‘special talent’ is making blades, alter parts of myself, etc.”
“And yet you can't hide that hoof now?”
“Something about damaging the mana veins or some scientific mumbo jumbo.” Talon waved a hoof.
“Huh, I bet Twilight could help you.” Dash thought out loud, as Soarin chuckled.
“And here you didn't want to chat with him.” Soarin poked at Dash, making her jab him back. “Ow.”
Talon chuckled, “Maybe, she is an alicorn after all. Witchy and Emerald couldn't do anything.” Dash quickly looked back at Talon.
“You met her?” Talon nodded, “When?”
“Day after some fancy banquet she attended.”
“Wait…. were you that red unicorn stallion she was talking to before we showed up?”
Talon chuckled, “Guess you noticed me, huh?”
“She wouldn't stop talking about you! Meeting somepony from the drake empire meant she could learn more about the drakes in general!” Dash sighed loudly, then blinked, “So, wait. How’d you do that wing thing?”
“A quirk of the Ruby hive, all forms are malleable. Just took somepony to show it.” He grinned widely.
“Huh, that's kind of cool.” Dash chuckled softly.
“Not as cool as what you are, though, an Element of Harmony. I’ve heard of that being a really powerful magic,” Talon grinned lopsidedly at Dash. “Course, having friends around helps with it too, right?”
“Yeah. I suppose you don't have many friends here at the moment?”
“Only a few in the Renegades, and none among the Wonderbolts.” Talon looked around, “Still detecting a bunch of anger directed at me, and I honestly can't blame them. Changelings made a horrible impression with that wedding invasion. Chrysalis is dumb.”
“What would you have done during that?” Soarin leaned forward, somewhat eager for an answer.
“Kicked her plot.” Talon stated with a soft chuckle, “Or at least try to, anyway.”
“Assuming you weren't that skilled of a fighter before?”
“Learned from the retired Wonderbolts in the span of a month. Combining that and the fact I fight better as what you see before you. It certainly helps to be undisguised.”
“Huh, well. You can count me as a friend then!” Dash thumped her chest once, “And I’m sure I can convince my squad to do the same.”
“I don't know, that griffin may see me as a foe.” Talon glanced around, quickly spotting the griffin. “Seeing as how drakes and griffins didn't get along a few mo… er… years… ago.”
“Oh, don't worry. His anger is focused elsewhere, namely on Descent.” Dash sighed, “Just wish he’d get his head together and stop glaring at Storm because of it.”
“And the rest?”
“Squall is anti-social, but he’s warming up to us. Little Star… ya know, I don't know how she’d react to you. Twister is… well… Twister.” Dash shook her head, chuckling. “And while Storm Front isn't a part of our squad, we all tried out together. He may like you since you're trying to be all noble.”
“That’d be good, the more friends I can make, the better,” Talon grinned, as Dash leaned back a little.
“Just… avoid showing those fangs.”
The little dusty brown pegasus stallion just stared wide eyed at the changeling that was standing before him. A few of the unicorn assistants that Rivet had helping him were also staring at the changeling, but they were more confused why he was down here. The changeling cleared his throat gently.
“I am not going to bite,” he said quietly, trying to sound as calm and peaceful as possible. Rivet squeaked and quickly moved behind one of the other Wonderbolts that was helping him. Talon sighed softly as he watched.
The Wonderbolt looked the changeling over, “Why are you down here?”
“Well, er, Learun, was it?” The Wonderbolt nodded, “I was asked by Captain Spitfire to help out down here. Since my weather manipulation is rather poor for various reasons. She figured my magic and flight would be helpful down here. You just point me at what is needed and I’ll see what I can do.”
“And what exactly can you do?” Learun tilted his head slightly, continuing to look the changeling over.
“Float stuff around, light up areas your lights can't reach. See in the darker places without light,” Talon shrugged slightly, “Follow directions, and get confused by all of this.” He made a sweeping motion with a hoof towards, well, everything. “The drakes had nothing like this.”
“We didn't know we had something like this.” Learun sighs as he looked back at Rivet, “He isn't going to bite. We could use his help anyway.”
“R-right.” Rivet slowly peeked around Learun, staring up at the changeling who lowered himself into a bow towards him. “J-just see if the unicorns over there need help or something.” Rivet pointed down towards one of the boilers.
“Yes, sir.” Talon saluted, then turned and cantered towards the unicorns that were currently looking at the boiler and debating how best to put it back together.
“Hey, changeling!” Talon heard as he walked down the hallway towards the Battledome. He stopped, sighed, and glanced over his shoulder to see a reddish-orange mare trotting up to him.
“I have a name, you know.” He turned partially to face her.
“I'm aware. It's Talon, isn't it?” the mare stopped a yard from him, looking him over, “Soldier drone from a hive in the drake empire, currently a Renegade, and wanting to be a Wonderbolt.”
Talon blinked, turning a little more, “Well, you seem to know me so well. Yet I don't know you at all.”
“Captain Riptide of Squad Six, Upper Tier,” She grinned slightly, “Witchy says you can be trusted.”
Talon grinned for a moment, “I was curious how she was doing. I’ve barely seen her since we took off, and even then she had two squads of Wonderbolts around her.”
“She is doing fine; just… adjusting to the new surroundings.” Riptide shrugged slightly, “Where are you off to?”
“The Battledome spent the day with Rivet helping out with repairs. Fun little fellow but he is incredibly shy,” Talon shrugged and turned back towards the battledome doors. “Just regaining a little bit of energy before I go help explore caves.”
“Caves?” Riptide cantered a little to catch up to Talon.
“Yeah, seems some Renegades discovered a cave network, and who better to explore them then a changeling?” He chuckled softly. “Come with my own light source after all.” He gestured to his horn for a second.
“So, you wouldn't mind some company then? Get to know you better.”
“Not at all, the more friends I make, the better I’ll feel,” Talon grinned as he glanced to Riptide. “Soarin’s already warmed up to me, Spitfire seems to tolerate me at least.”
“Hmm, the one you should really be pleasing is Silver Lining,” Riptide shook her head, “May be the oldest Wonderbolt here, but he still holds a lot of sway, and is hard to please.”
“Wasn't that way when I first met him.” Talon shrugged slightly, opening the doors and gesturing the mare inside. Riptide trotted in and quickly went towards one of the barrels of fire, where two stallions were already under blankets.
“Huh, and when did you first meet him?” Riptide asks as she trots over to the stallions, gesturing Talon to follow.
“During the last griffin drake war,” Talon casually spoke as he floated up a blanket over himself. Tide stops and stares at the changeling for a moment.
“That was two decades ago! How are you still so young?”
“Guess Witchy didn't say everything, huh?” Talon just grinned back at her, “It's okay. It's a long and somewhat annoying story. I should just get note cards or something to hand out to ponies who are interested,” He paused for a moment. “Also, when did you become an expert on a changelings age?”
“Well, Witchy mentioned that you were in your twenties, so. Are you actually older than that?” Tide laid down next to the stallions, snuggling up under her own blanket.
“No, that's pretty accurate. I can just thank Diet Chaos for that little time skip.” He claimed his own mattress, as the two stallions looked towards him.
“This the changeling we heard about Tide?” The gray stallion asked, looking Talon over.
“That he is; Storm. And I want to get to know his soldier side.”
“Oh good, a soldier conversation, just what I was wanting to participate in.” Sky, the yellow stallion chuckled softly.
Talon raised his eyebrow as he watched the three converse, “Right, why?”
“How you fight, why you fight. That kind of thing, let’s start with why first.” Tide gestured towards Talon.
“Hah, that's an easy one. I fight to protect those who can't defend themselves. As a soldier of a hive, it was a part of my duty to protect the hive from intruders,” He sighed, looking towards the barrel of fire near them, “Of course, the one thing I'm truly good at, and I fail it.”
Tide tilted her head slightly, “Witchy mentioned your hive was extinct, what happened?”
“Not entirely sure. Some kind of rainbow shockwave passed through the hive, next thing I know it was crumbling around me. It's all… a blur after that.” Talon looked down, “Kind of blanked it out, actually.”
“Not your best moment?” Sky asked softly, getting a nod from Talon.
“After that, I wandered around aimlessly for a bit, ran into a timberwolf. Defended myself decently well as a unicorn, till it grabbed me. A moment later a blue pegasus burst out of the forest, it was Blizzard Strike.” Talon shrugged slightly, returning his stare to the fire, “After that, got my small wounds tended to. And I left them that night.”
“Huh, I read the report that they bumped into a random red unicorn. Turns out it was you, huh?” Tide grinned slightly, “Then after that, I assume you bumped into something that basically shot you ahead nearly two decades?”
“Yup.”
“Well, that was enlightening. So back onto the topic of being a soldier. You know most ponies hate what you are, so why defend them?”
“Well, Captain Riptide. They may hate what I am, but I’ll still protect them. Just wanting to prove that not every apple is bad.” Talon sighed, “Just harder to paint a better image of oneself when it's already gone sour.”
“And how do you plan to fix that image?” Storm asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, being legitimately accepted into the Wonderbolts would be a start. After that, I'm not sure.” Talon shrugged.
Talon was leading a small pack of Renegades with Rivet and a Wonderbolt stallion named Point Dex through the cave network the Renegades had found. Various flashlights were being pointed about they all walked along. Talon grumbled softly to himself as he walked along, just using their lights to guide his way.
“Problem, changeling?” Dex asked, glancing to the changeling, making the light shine on him.
“Yeah, kinda wish Torch was here. He’d have no problems finding any underground water source.” Talon sighed, hanging his head as he did.
“And here I thought all changelings were knowledgeable underground. Guess we should find a Diamond dog then.” Dex chuckled as Talon glared at him lightly.
“And I guess all pegasi are masters of the elements relating to the sky, huh?” Talon stopped walking, making the others do the same after a few steps. He went to one of the walls and put a hoof on it, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
“What are you doing?” Rivet asked quietly.
“Something Torch showed me, trying to get a sense of where we are underground.” He remained there for a few moments, then smirked. “Okay, this way.” And resumed leading them on, barely stopping at a fork in the tunnel system and going down the right one.
“Huh, finally find your bearings?” One of the Renegades asked with a chuckle.
“Yes, I finally did. I may not have the same attunement he does, but if I focus, it works all the same.” Talon spoke, barely glancing over his shoulder.
“Huh, so maybe you are useful.”
“Just trying to prove I'm not evil. That dumb queen gave us changelings a bad image and I just want to be accepted.” Talon shrugged as he walked along, “Besides, I happen to know my metals better than most changelings, or even drakes for that matter.”
The group took another sharp turn and kept going on, so far it seemed like they weren't in too deep, but the only who really knew was Talon, and even then he couldn't tell that well.
“Oh?” Dex spoke up, “As in knowing how to work them or…?”
“Emulating them. A part of what I can do when I shift is take on part of the metal.” He grinned glancing over his shoulder at Dex, “and when we get to repairing the propellers, I can help.. ACK!” He suddenly disappeared from view, as the ground beneath him suddenly gave way. The others stopped and looked in his direction, peering down into the hole as they heard a splash.
They all started to chuckle, and a few seconds later a pop sounded. They all looked up to see a dripping wet changeling, shivering and hugging himself.
“F-f-found the w-water.” He chittered out.
“Are you okay?” One of the Renegades asked, floating over the hole and hovering by him, angling his wings away as to not add to the changelings cold.
“J-just g-give me a m-minute.”
The Renegade nodded and turned back to Rivet, landing by him. “Okay, so now that we found the water. How are we going to do this again?”
Rivet sighed, “Ok. We need the pipe that hopefully somepony has been dragging along. We just run it down into the water, and get a pump going. Only get one of the shower rooms running, but it beats having none.” Rivet turned and took a step from the hole before a soft crimson glow filled the corridor.
They all turned to see Talon sitting in what would appear to be a fireball. His wings slowly rotating to keep the fire going as he warmed himself up. Rivet and Dex noticed that his mouth was hanging open slightly, fire slowly flowing out of it to add more to what was already around him.
They all stared in wide-eyed wonder as he continued to bathe himself in fire for a bit longer before letting it fade. He blinked and turned to the pegasi around him. “What?”
“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” Rivet was suddenly in Talon’s face, pressing his face to the changelings. Making Talon’s eyes go wide and flatten his ears as he stared back into the wide and shocked eyes of Rivet.
“Um, I… just can? Part drake and all that?” Talon blinked, leaning back and somewhat away as Rivet unglued himself and floated a little away, looking over his soon to be pilot light with appraisal.
“Well, I think I found a use for you after all.” Rivet grinned widely and rubbed his hooves together.
“Uhh… Should I be worried?” Talon glanced at Dex, who was just chuckling.
“And to think, he was scared of you earlier this week.”
“So true. Anyway, what use do you think he has for me?” Talon asked, moving closer to Dex as Rivet guided the Renegades around.
“I would suspect being a light for the boiler.” Dex turned to Talon, “How often can you do that fire trick?”
“Not in rapid succession, so I use it sparingly.” Talon shrugged, shivering faintly.
“So, I noticed that fire was not in your usual red glow.” Dex commented, gazing at the changelings horn for a second.
“Nope turns out it takes far less energy to manipulate it like you pegasi do. I can do water decently well, along with lightning. But fire is my strongest, obviously.” Talon smirked, glancing at Dex.
“And wind?”
“Eh… nope.” Talon shook his head.
Rivet glanced over to him, “Can you tell how far down it goes?” Talon closed his eyes, looking downward and taking a deep breath.
“A fair bit, it isn't all too deep, but it should suffice for the duration of our stay here. About the only reading I can make out, it's partially blurry.” Talon sighed as he opened his eyes, glaring faintly at his bad hoof.
Rivet raised an eyebrow for a moment, then hovered above the hole and flicked something on his goggles.
Dex, meanwhile, watched him the whole time. “Bet you can make earth ponies jealous with that trick.”
Talon shook his head in response, “I am sure there are plenty out there who are on Torch’s level. Just like I never claim to be an expert on things, I'm just really good at some.”
“Well, hopefully when this is all over, you try out for the Wonderbolts.”
“I plan to. It's just up to Captain Spitfire and the rest of the command squads if you Wonderbolts let a changeling into your ranks.” Talon shrugged, “You have a griffin at least, so there is some hope.”
“As long as you don't go impersonating other ponies, I'm sure we’d let you in.” Dex chuckled.
“Even if I did, I’d be spotted right away,” He raised his bad hoof, “Can't fully hide myself. So I probably won't be disguising myself much anyway.”
Dex looked at the hoof and winced, “Ouch, how’d that happen?”
“Fought Sin and lost. Simple as that really,” Talon chuckled, “Stabbed one of his crystals,” He turned the hoof into a blade as he mentioned it and continued, “And it exploded. Burnt the mana veins around the hoof so disguising it is effectively a no go. Can still alter it though, obviously.” He held the blade up for a moment before returning it to normal and setting it back down.
“Fascinating trick. Can all changelings do that?”
Talon shook his head, “Probably not, otherwise they might have won that invasion. Seems to be my quirk, or.. special talent like you ponies and your cutie marks.” Talon shrugged.
