Days after the Canterlot invasion, three Changelings are captured and taken to a classified location for interogation. The only problem is that two of them are very skeptical of the third changeling. Nopony knows why. Not until it's too late.
Days after the Canterlot invasion, three Changelings are captured and taken to a classified location for interogation. The only problem is that two of them are very skeptical of the third changeling. Nopony knows why. Not until it's too late.
This tale follows one of the changelings who by luck is out of his cell by the time everything takes a horrifying turn. As time and information is gathered, it soon grows more and more apparent that he must escape whatever the cost.
Jax slowly looked across into the cell next to his and stared at the changeling just lying there on the ground, barely moving. Just as it had been doing the last few times he looked at it.
"I saw nothing Ant. He's still just lying there".
"How could you not see it? He just did it"!
Jax sighed. It had been just two days since he and Ant had been transferred to the prison known as ICEBERG. A pony run jail in the middle of a snow covered land, miles from the nearest known settlement. And for good reason too. This facility was meant to detain P.O.Ws for interrogation. If for whatever reason a prisoner did manage to escape, chances were that they would freeze out there before finding any sign of civilisation. Just two days and Jax was certain that Ant was losing it. The two had known each other for at least a couple of years while living at the changeling kingdom. Both considered the other as a good friend, through thick and thin. But now trapped here, isolated from the rest of their kind made Jax begin to worry for his cell mate.
He had been fine up until yesterday when a third changeling had been brought in and tossed into the cell right next to theirs. Neither of the two recognised him and he didn't respond to any of their questions. Ant didn't seem to take his eyes off of him not long after they had given up trying to talk to the stranger. Though time and time again he kept saying that there was something wrong with him.
While Jax seemed to agree to an extent, there wasn't really anything that he could class as 'creepy' as Ant put it. Then, hours later, the weirdness grew. Ant almost grew more and more obsessed. Unable to take his eyes off of their newest neighbour.
It was the same thing each of the three times Ant warned him.
"Jax... he's looking at me weird. And I really don't like the way his head's twitching"...
Though every time Jax looked at the strange ling, it just did what it always did. It sat there without a care in the world. Not even looking in their direction. Now matter how quickly he turned his head, it always stayed in its lifeless position. At this point it was getting more and more likely to assume that Ant just wasn't coping well with prison life, despite the short time they had spent here. He was known to panic quickly after all.
Only this time, Ant wasn't dropping the subject as easily.
"I'm telling you, there's something wrong with him"! He hissed, turning his head slightly as though afraid to look away. Jax sighed and stopped counting the bricks that made up the fourth wall of the cell for the fiftieth time. He looked up to Ant who was on his hooves. The look on his face was uncomforting, but Jax decided to speak up anyway.
"Look, Ant. If he's bothering you that much just stop staring at him. Maybe that's why he's doing whatever it is you say he's doing. This place is small and secure so it's not like we'll be leaving anytime soon so you might as well calm down". He was right. ICEBERG prison was a small but solid institution that consisted of several rooms. One made up of cells which Jax and Ant were located, the area outside that served as a quarantine/shower area before they were locked up, the guards quarters, an interrogation room and a kitchen. At least that was what Jax had seen or expected the ponies to have while stationed here.
The guards themselves were not exactly rough as expected. There were a total of six all together. Two of each pony trait. Pegasus, unicorn and earth pony. A small crew, but not many were needed here. Again, the prison was too small for any more than ten prisoners to fill up the cells. Not to mention that the magical enchantments did most of the work. Centred around the cell bars and doors so that other magical beings couldn't bust out. The spells seemed to work on a biological level so that only ponies could access them.
Jax yawned sleepily. Night approached faster than he expected. Two days and he was already losing track of time. He couldn't help but chuckle a little at that considering how that was usually Ants ability. If he had been born a pony, he probably would have ended up with a cutie mark of himself sleeping while the sun loomed over his lazy figure.
"Right, that's me off asleep Ant. You may want to do the same too".
The other changeling nodded but didn't give any verbal reply.
It took ten minutes before he finally dozed off.
././././././././..//../././././././././.
When morning finally arrived, Jax yawned and rose to his hooves and looked over to Ant. The more stoic changeling had expected his friends paranoid state would have kept him awake throughout the night. Instead, he was proven wrong as his cell mate was sleeping nearer the cell door. He silently gave a satisfied sigh.
Looking over to the cell next to them, the lonesome changeling was still there with his eyes shut. Only now his body was closer to their side. A few feet from the bars.
Jax didn't bother to try waking either of the two up. Chances they wouldn't listen. One out of laziness and the other from being antisocial.
Jax pondered for a moment on the third prisoner. Had this strange ling perhaps damaged his hearing during the invasion? If so then it wouldn't have explained why he had been ignoring them since he arrived. Maybe he had some sort of shell shock? Even with the easy attack on the city, there was probably a few ponies brave enough to fight back and do some damage. Especially unicorns.
Jax blinked.
Did the strange ling just move his head?
Probably just a reflex.
He did it again. More violently.
Jax watched suspiciously. The strange ling did it over and over again every ten seconds. Each more violently than before. Jax turned to his friend.
"Ant. Ant, wake up".
Ant didn't move. Of course he didn't. It's still morning. At least according to the position of the sun from outside the tiny window. He wouldn't be awake for hours.
Jax looked back to the other cell. The third of their kind had stopped shaking his head. 'Must have had a terrible nightmare for him to act the way he did just then' Jax reasoned to himself.
For a moment Jax wondered if he should do the same and just go back to sleep. It's not like the was anything that he could do in a 10x10 cell.
He was about to do so until he spotted something rather unusual. The changeling that had been shaking his head seemed to now have something flowing out of the side of his mouth. A strange yellow liquid dripped from it like drool. Whatever it was, it was certainly not natural for any changeling to produce from their bodies. Whatever the case, Jax was now getting more and more concerned that Ant might have been right about something creepy with this li-
*THUMP* *THUMP*
A loud bang to the rooms door made him jump. He looked over in time to see a unicorn and an earth pony guard enter and trot gently over to the strange lings cell. The two mumbled something to each other before opening it and scooping up the strange ling from the ground. They dragged him out like he was a sack of rice. Unmoving until he reached the door when his head shook wildly once more. From there, the unicorn shut the door while staying inside the cell room, leaving the earth pony to deal with the possibly unstable changeling. Any thoughts on the strange ling shortly left Jax's mind. It was no longer his problem.
However it didn't take long for his curiosity to get the best of him.
"Where are you taking him"? He asked in the most polite voice he could muster. The unicorn, a blue mare in a grey officers uniform seemed to take note of his tone and replied.
"Just a simple interrogation. Same will happen with you and your friend there".
Jax nodded. The mare continued, sharing her opinion of his kind. Surprisingly she was nicer than he expected her to be.
"Nothing personal. Just need to be sure that you lot aren't hiding in any other cities in Equestria. The way I see it, you two are just foot soldiers who don't get as much of a say when it comes to orders. Your queen however, well. She'll get what's coming to her".
Jax opened his mouth, ready to defend his queens honour. But before he could say anything he stopped and thought better of it. The last thing he wanted was to get himself in trouble that could likely lead to harsh treatment. Ant still slept in his half of the cell. He hadn't moved since Jax had woken up. Even with the guards entering and leaving. He always was a heavy sleeper.
For a minute, no-ling said a word. They were all just waiting until the previous interrogation was over so that the next one could begin.
"Darn it. Forgot about that". Jax heard the mare whisper to herself before making her way over to his cell and opened the door to it. "I'm going to need you to step out for a moment".
Jax did what he was asked and cautiously stepped out before the guard locked the cell door once again. If he had the energy to transform and overpower this guard, he'd have done so by now. A shame that the invasion was a disaster. Almost up to the point of embarrassing. The pony phrase 'So close, yet so far' rattled through his mind upon thinking back to that historical moment. The guard, not noticing his annoyed expression then opened the other door that led to the quarantine shower and stepped to the side so the Jax could enter.
"I'll need to run you through the quarantine shower quickly. Don't think you or your friend went though it when you arrived did you"?
She was right. The system had apparently busted when they first arrived and a maintenance team were already trying to fix it. Guess better late than never.
"No, that's right. We didn't". He agreed.
"Just a standard procedure. Just stay here and we'll do the rest". The guard's horn lit up a purple aura. A second later, so did the door behind him. Another magical safeguard. Jax huffed. It wasn't like he wasn't going to complain over a free shower.
He opened his mouth to say just that until a loud bang sounded outside the room, scaring the pair for a second. The sound had been so sudden. Almost like something heavy and metal had been thrown across the room on the opposite side of the door. The guard, curious, peeked back into the hallway seeing nothing. A couple of seconds passed before she made a decision to check it out.
"Stay here. I'll be back in a moment".
She left the room and in a second, the door she had exited lit up purple. Now Jax was trapped in a tiny cubicle. At least it was for a few moments until the guard returned.
'Probably the third ling if anything' he assumed. Perhaps he had only now just realised his situation and was panicking. Either that or the interrogation was more extreme than he expected it to be.
Jax wondered if the spell cast on the doors blocked out the sound to the rooms altogether. If not then hopefully Ant would have woken up from it. Would serve him right.
Seconds later, his question was answered as a loud feminine scream echoed through the door, followed by a horrifying echo-like screech. Jax spun back around in an instant, caught off guard from the sudden noises. The door to the hallway flickered purple in time for the mare to open it a quarter of the way before it violently shut just as quickly once again. Like something had pulled her back before she could get in.
Jax stood there frozen from the sudden commotion but gained enough sense to consider perhaps helping. That was until the next few sounds consisted of a louder screech, a terrified scream, a few ripping and slashing sounds as the screams began to turn into a choking gurgle as through trying to breath, then the sound of something big walking away.
It also offered no comfort that the small window on the door, nowhere near wide enough to see what had just happened, had gone from clear to red.
Jax stood there, back pressed against the wall. Fear was easy to see on his face as he tried to process what had just happened. Had a dragon attacked her? No. No dragon he knew of could make those screeching sounds that he heard.
The door behind Jax continued to glow purple as the minutes slowly went by. It may as well have been hours since the concept of time had halted for the changeling until he regained his senses.The door in front of him was no longer surrounded in the magical aura due to the guard trying desperatley to get back in and failing.It also meant that it was unlocked and easy for anyone to access, or anything.
One way blocked. The other, should he go would most likely result in his immediate, and very painful death. Whatever was out there was slowly lumbering back and forth the hallway searching. Hunting for its next victim. All the while snarls and all sorts of menacing hisses could be heard, chewing away at Jax's sanity.
This went on for minutes. Any time the sound of hoofsteps started to fade, Jax considered opening it only for the thing outside to return back to its original position. Jax tried his hardest to remain calm, but it was a battle that he was slowly beginning to lose. His nerves were getting to him as well as the thought of eventually being found. He couldn't stay in this room forever. Just one little sound, even the sound of breathing could be enough to give him away.
It brought no comfort that Ant was also still trapped in the cells. At least with the magical aura he had some form of protection. A luxury that Jax quickly became envious of. Even so, neither of them were in a suitable position right now. What was worse that they couldn't even communicate. Ant most likely could have woken up at this point, having no idea where his friend was and may try calling out for him. As discovered not so long ago, neither of these doors were sound proof. Jax knew that the pair of them were living on borrowed time.
For a moment, he remembered the window in the door. It was small and still covered in blood, but it was better than going out and risking his life. And he certainly couldn't stay pressed against the wall for much longer. He slowly made his way over, taking caution with every step taken. For all he knew the beast outside could hear a pin drop from miles away. He needed to be as careful as possible.
When he was finally close enough he peeked through the window. Through the slowly drying liquid he could see the hallway on the other side, stretching a good distance before ending with the prisons front door, his salvation. On the sides of the hallway were two doors each. The furthest one on the left was opened, and unlike the rest of the doors was made of metal. Jax assumed that it was the interogation room and made a mental note that he should try and get in there should the front door be locked. Hopefully the thick door was strong enough to keep the beast out.
Jax looked away and pressed his body to the side as soon as he heard the thing make its way back over. It kept coming and going whenever it felt like it.
The door handle jiggled. Only for a second. Had the creature bumped into it accidentally or was it becoming aware that there was more of the building to explore? Jax guessed that the only reason it hadn't noticed before was because it was too focused on the guard trying to escape it.
Seconds passed irritably. There was no more noise. Just silence.
Jax knew that it hadn't moved on just yet. It was still right outside. Two feet away, chittering to itself.
The handle jiggled again.
'It knows!' Jax screamed inside of his head as the handle began to jiggle more frequently until the door opened slightly.
A curious grunt was heard and the door opened outwards more and more. It didn't take much longer before Jax could see his first glimpse of the creature. A long green limb started to reach into the room and began feeling inside.
Most of it was covered in broken chitin. Changeling chitin. From the breaking points seeped the same yellow liquid that Jax had seen earlier on the strange ling. Something that he noted immediatley. Was that what this thing was? Changelings can't shape shift behind these walls so it was definetley NOT a trick! It was real as he was.
The appendage was longer than himself and had at least three joints. The parts that weren't covered in chitin were as thin as a rake. It easily touched the other side of the room without extending its full reach. Worse, a strange dark green two foot long blade stuck out from the bottom of the hoof, looking like it had forced its way through the chitin. A feat that would take a tremendous amount of force to accomplish.
The blade kept tapping the back wall before reaching round to the wall opposite of Jax. About eight seconds later, it began to manuever its way across to Jax who held his breath, feeling helpless.
It began tapping the empty spot right next to him and slowly began making its way closer to Jax who at this point was forced to stay still. Any attempt to move or get out of the limbs way would surely be heard or felt.
It was mere inches away before salvation could be heard. Another door opened and the sound of two ponies could be heard talking. Considering that it had taken them this long not to notice the death of one of their own, chances were that their door was soundproof, unlike Jax's.
'Lucky!' He bitterly thought.
KRKRKRKRKKRKRKRRR...
Or perhaps not...
The beast seemed to hear them too as the limb retreated quickly and made its presence known with the same aggresive screech from earlier. Screaming quickly followed.
Realising that this was his chance, Jax threw the door open without hesitation, ignoring the sudden wetness on his hooves as he took his first steps out the room and ran, doing his best not to look in the direction or even listen to the dying screams. He doubted that his brain could take in the terrifying scene.
In seconds he had already made it down the hallway and to the door. He pulled the handle and realised to his shock it was locked.
The screams were fading quickly. It would be coming for him next.
Thinking quickly, he darted through the metal door on the left he noticed earlier in the nick of time. Hoofsteps were fast approaching.
Jax slammed the door shut, not caring about the loud bang it made and twisted the lock barely before the beast slammed into the door, knocking him onto his back.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Again and again the creautre rammed itself against the metal. Small dents began to form but the door was holding. It was at least a minute before it finally gave up and Jax's heart rate slowed.
Being so focused on the entrance, Jax realised that he hadn't checked the rest of the room. He turned to inspect it and immediatley regretted doing so.
There were multiple bodies spread across the room. Blood covering most of the floor. What was worse was that none of the bodies were in one piece. Jax resited the urge to vomit. He felt like he was better off in the quarintine area compared to where he was now. Gaining his composure, he convinced himself to step forwards and inspect the bodies. It was possible that one of them had a key to the entrance.
Five minutes of reluctant searching ended up fruitless. None of the guards had a key on them. Three bodies searched. That left one more, though this one there was no point searching.
Unlike the others sprawled across the floor, this one had managed to remain in his seat. His injuries were grevious. More so than the others. Multiple slashes, two missing appendages and several organs flowing from his stomach. Though despite these foul details, the most important one that Jax focused on was his race.
He was another changeling.
Was it the strange ling from before? Surprisingly not! Even through the injuries Jax could tell that this one was older. There had been a fourth changeling here and they didn't even know. Maybe he had been recently captured? Not that it mattered now.
Jax spotted something else. A large tape recorder that seemed to remain intact, other than a small splatter of blood painting the front of it. His mind battled back and forth before considering playing it. Get some sort of insight or information on anything that could help him get out of this place. He pressed the play button. The voice of one of the guards started it off.
"Right. You know why you're here. Have you anything to say before we begin?" ... "I'll take that as a no." ... "You probably think you're very high and mighty sitting there don't you? Looking like you don't give a care in the world." ... "Do you understand that we can keep you locked up in here for a long time?" ... "It's your choice. If you want to reduce your sentence, I'd recommend that you answer our following questions while you still can."
Ten minutes of going back and forth went by. If it wasn't for the corpse sitting on the chair, Jax would have sworn that this guard was talking to himself. Eventually, things took a turn as the guard spoke up once more.
"Okay then. It's clear that we're getting nothing out of this one. Go fetch the next prisoner and throw this tight lipped creature in his new home."
The sound of somepony leaving the room could be heard.
"Storm Glider, escort this one through the quarintin-" "You're all going to die here."
SILENCE
"Care to repeat that?" "You heard me the first time. I know which changeling rests in your cells. The one that doesn't move. He's going to kill you all." "Is that right? And how do you figure that?" "Tell me. Did you happen to find him a day after you most recent prisoner? In an open area?" "Maybe we did. Maybe not. What's your point?" "Fools. He was planted there by me. A little something from the queen to you." "What do you mean?" "Wasn't supposed to get caught though... now my fate's sealed too..." "Hey! What do you mean you planted him?" "Well, we're all going to be dead by the end of the day so I may as well tell you. The changeling kingdom has liked using experimental solutions with its soldiers. Very few pay off too. That lone changeling in the cell is one of them." "What kind of experiments are we talking about here?" "Experiments that will guarantee results when no-ling else can. In this case, information denial." "Information denial?" "That's right. In the event that a drone is captured, the hive must deploy one of these experiments to a location of interest where it will be soon be discovered quickly after being planted. It seems unconcious but really, that's the solution overtaking its system. It takes anywhere between nine to twenty hours after injection before the experiment reaches what's known as the metamorphis stage where it rapidly changes into a killing machine. Very dangerous, very hard to stop, and goes for any-ling it can find. Specifically another changeling." ... "What's the matter pony? Cat got your tounge?" "Why would you create such a thing?" "Weren't you listening? Information denial! To avoid your kind from learning any critical information. Now that it's here, we're all already dead. It could be minutes before we're all torn to pieces." ... ... "You're lying changeling. We aren't interested in your tall tales-" The sound of a door is heard opening and closing. "Sir. We have the next changeling ready for interrogation." "Why's his head shaking like that?" "I warned you pony." "Golden Fleece, help Storm Wind bring him under control now!" "Yes sir!" "Why's he staring at the other changeling like that?" "WHOA! Help me out here"! "Hey! Calm down!" "What the hay is that growing out of his hoof?!" "Dear Celestia!"
The rest of the tape is quickly drowned out by screaming and the same screeching noise from earlier. It doesn't take long before the room goes silent.
Jax quickly switched it off, unable to take the whirring sound of the tape continuing to play. He allowed the information that he had heard to process in his mind. It sickened him both in body and mind. It was now official. The hive had left him for dead! Sure he hadn't expected a rescue but this was worse! Much worse! So much for loyalty! He and Ant were going to-
His thoughts stopped once more. He had almost forgotten about Ant! He was still trapped in his cell! He couldn't just leave him to die here. He had to get him out of here!
*TAP* *TAP*
Jax blinked. He heard a strange tapping sound that had brought him out from his thoughts.
*TAP* *TAP*
There it was again.
*TAP* *TAP*
Jax slowly turned to the source of the noise and found himself looking at his own reflection. He quickly realised that he was looking at a one way mirror. And he had a good guess what was making that tapping noise.
It continued to make that noise for another minute before it could be heard walking away. How it had even reached the other side without being heard to begin with he had no idea. But it seemed like it had gone now.
Cautiously, he made his way over to the window just six feet away and pressed his ear against it, just to make sure it had really gone.
*SMASH*
A green blade broke through the screen, barely missing him! The sounds of angry growls could be heard outside. The thing was coming for him once more!
The scythe-like appendage flailed wildly as it tried to break the glass more and more. But even though the limb had successfully broken through, the rest of the beast could not much to Jax's relief. The glass seemed to be stronger than expected. Much stronger. This was an interrogation room after all. Any chance of some-ling breaking out would be very hard.
Even so, the fact that the thing had broken through it was just another testament to its incredible strength. Though from the looks of it, that one attack was all it could muster at the moment. Especially when it could be seen trying to barge through, widening the hole ever so slightly, but that seemed to be it.
The creature itself managed to realise this and pulled its claw back, leaving a large hole from where it had tried to bust its way in. The creature gave an irritated growl and then took a few steps back. But it was still there. There were no hoofsteps leaving.
The hole it had created was too small for it to get through, that much was obvious. But perhaps big enough for Jax. The thing had unintentionally created another exit for him. Even so, the changeling felt very little relief.
*TAP* *TAP*
More tapping noises coming from the door. Again, Jax had not heard it make its way over from the glass window. For such a large monster it was certainly light on its hooves.
Maybe it was playing it smart and was seeking out any weaknesses the room had so that it could get in, or perhaps it was just going to keep attacking each entrance until one of them eventually collapsed? This thing had already proven itself unpredictable with its savagery thus far. The only thing that Jax could be certain of was that it wouldn't stop until he was dead, according to what he had heard on the tape at least.
Minutes passed. For Jax it was more like hours. Every few moments the tapping from the door stopped only for it to be back at the window, sometimes with Jax being unlucky enough to catch a glimpse of a huge veiny eye staring at him before dissappearing. This happened a good dozen times before the sanity began to slowly drain out of Jax's mind once more. He couldn't stay in here much longer and he knew it.
If he did, he'd either lose his mind from fear or the beast would eventually break through and kill him. The facts were clear. He had no choice but to risk one of the exits.
Which one through? Right now he had no idea where the thing was. It could have been at any of the two entrances waiting for him. a fifty fifty chance at life.
'Whichever one it goes for next, immediatley head to the other exit as fast as you can.' He told himself, getting ready to run for his life.
Moments later, tapping from the door was heard.
Jax wasted no time and ran for it! As fast as his hooves could carry him! With the use of his wings, he managed to get his body through halfway effortlessly before needing to tuck them in to fit the rest of his body through. His front hooves touched the floor and he was forced to pull himself through. The chitin was enough to protect him from the edges of the glass, much to his relief. If he had just fur like a pony did, the damage done would have easily cut him to pieces.
The room on the other side consited of a hallway with no lighting, similar to the one outside the interrogation room but without any doors. Down the right was nothing but a corner leading to the to the left, another exit outside maybe? And to the left was a ramp leading up ever so slightly before reaching a corner that stretched to the left, into the cells if Jax was thinking right.
He barely made it through in one piece before thundering hoofsteps could be heard to his right. It had snuck over to his location again! Without missing a beat, Jax ran in the opposite direction up the ramp and turned the corner almost failing to realise that he had just run through an open door. With nothing but instinct ordering him to survive, he shut the door in the hopes that it would buy him a few seconds.
However, for whatever reason the beast did not follow him in. Jax housed no complaints, feeling lucky for the small miracle and continued forth, making his way towards the cell. Though he did keep looking back every few seconds expecting the door to fly off of its hinges. Hopefully Ant was still okay.
'Probably slept through this whole nightmare' He thought in annoyance.
He arrived at the cell in less than ten seconds. The door had been opened. Broken open in fact. Jax paused for a moment. Had Ant somehow freed himself? How had he gotten past the magical enchantments?
The changeling slowly peeked into the cell for a better look.
It was covered in yellow liquid. The floor, the walls and even the ceiling itself had been splattered in it. Jax almost lost control of his front legs seeing this all too familiar substance. It didn't take much longer before he soon discovered that the liquid dripped out from the cell and headed back to the door that he had entered. The door that after taking a closer look, had been dented from the inside of this room.
Several wild and bizarre thoughts ran through his mind. Suddenly, a horrifying realisation clicked.
It all suddenly made sense. Why Ant hadn't said anything when the beast first attacked. Why it was able to move around so quickly and silently in the interrogation room. Why he had been supposedly asleep all this time. The trail to the door and the busted cell door had spelled it all out.
Somehow, Ant was now, somehow another one of... them.
'Is that something it can do?' Jax reasoned to himself as his mind battled itself. The rational side screaming at him the facts of what he witnessed and the other side denying it out of fear and disbelief. But it was getting harder and harder to ignore that his friend was gone forever.
This also came with the knowledge of knowing that had the guard not moved him to the Quarintine, he would have also been killed, or worse.
Jax had never felt so destroyed. His friend gone, the hive had decided to send a monster to kill him rather than rescue him, and even if he was to escape this place of death he would succumb to the harsh elements outside. He was trapped in his own personal hell.
For the briefest of moments he actually considered going out there and let himself be torn to pieces until something new caught his eye. Something far more reassuring.
There was a hook, next to the door that led to the quarintine area. On it, almost mocking him was a set of keys. For a moment he wondered if he was now just seeing things. He even went up to it and touched it. No, it was the real thing. Just sitting here this entire time mere feet away from his cell likely this entire time. It was like fate was cruely teasing him for it. Jax wanted nothing more than to release his frustration on the simple object but kept himself from doing so just yet. He could get out of this place. If he was going to die, he could at least make sure that it wasn't going to be in this place. He took the keys in his hoof and began to walk back to the dented door. He opened it up right away.
Only to find that one of the things was right there waiting for him.It stood there basked in shadow while two yellow bloodshot eye stared into Jax's and screamed. The changeling's frustration was replaced with panic as he slammed the door and ran back. The door could be heard bursting open not even a second later.
His first thought was to get into one of the cells and pray. PRAY that it would somehow be enough to save him!
He felt something blunt smash into his back and he fell forwards. An attack that had sent him almost flying to the other side of the room. There wasn't enough time to get back to his hooves as something smacked against the cement floor on both sides of him. Daring to look, he found that the sound had come from the long scythe-like arms that belonged to what was hovering over him.
Unable to get himself to move, Jax listened to the hisses, chirrups and raspy breathing of his captor. The sounds were so close, almost in his ear. He was almost certain that it was going to rip his head off with its bare teeth.
It didn't.
Instead Jax found himself slowly hoisted into the air as something wrapped around his waist. Then came the most excruciating pain he had ever felt.
It was too much to register. He couldn't even scream as something long and thin like a needle had been pushed into his back, strong enough to break through his chitin, his flesh and drill into his spine, tearing away at the resistance of bone and muscle.
Through the pain, Jax knew this was the end and managed to shut his eyes and hoped that it would all be over soon.
Seconds before opening his eyes, Jax was so certain that he was going to see the afterlife before him. The gates of heaven opening up to him. Or perhaps he'd find himself imprisoned in Tartarus for what his kind did at Canterlot. Maybe he would even be nothing more than a spirit condemmed to walk Equestria for eternity. Had that been the case then maybe he could find Ant's spirit and be thankful that they had each other still.
Unfortunatley this was not the case. Luck offered him no such respite. Not yet.
Instead, wave after wave of painful bursts spread up and down his back confirmed his survival. Almost everything felt numb from his hooves to his tail. Even his mind had trouble thinking rationally. It took minutes before he finally managed to merely twitch his back leg, indicating that he was still capable of movement. The other limbs slowly followed and allowed him to rise from the cold hard floor. He almost fell back down but managed to keep himself from doing so. His mind eventually realised something that he did not expect.
He was alive.
Somehow, for some reason he was still breathing. He couldn't understand why. He was the last proper living being in the whole prison. He should have been killed. Dead or at least dying. But no. That was not the case.
Trying his hardest to remember what had happened before the intense pain in his back, he couldn't. Nothing came to him other than the pain in his back. He looked around and spotted the keys lying there on the ground just feet away. It took a moment before he realised that he needed them to get out. The reason why too. He walked over to them carefully. His joints painfully resisted the movements he made. Jax didn't care anymore. He just wanted to get out. A little pain would not stop him from doing so.
He bent down and scooped the keys up in his hoof and went for the door to the quarintine. The magical aura had long faded away it seemed. Probably due to no unicorns being around to power them anymore. Jax carefully shoved the first key he could grab into the keyhole and tried turning it. It took three more keys before it became unlocked.
The changeling stumbled through the door, through the shower and out the other side, using the wall to support him. He felt something squish under his hooves. He had once more stepped in the remains of the unicorn. Only this time, he dared to look down and examine his left hoof. Indeed, the bottom was covered in blood, as were all the other ones.
It didn't faze him as much as it should have. Not anymore at least. He merely shrugged at the grotesque remains and continued forwards down the hallway. It took a few seconds before noticing that everything was eerily silent. No hoofsteps other than his own, no terrifying roars, no anything. Just the ringing in his ears that grew more and more.
Jax made it halfway down the hallway before his body began to feel heavy once more. A small hinderance but it was quickly getting worse with every step taken. He managed to quickly make it to the end of the hallway and to the front door and tried the first key. No success.
His limbs were beginning to feel strained, finding it harder to keep his body from hitting the floor. He tried the next key. Still nothing.
He managed to push the next key in before he almost collapsed. His back legs had given out and his front legs were about to follow suite. Twisting the key in time, he heard it finally unlock. A small smile managed to find its way onto his face.
He pushed the door open in time. His front legs had had enough as they too failed him and he fell with a thud. He could feel the cold wind blowing on his face and over his body. With whatever remaining strength and determination he had left he lifted his hoof one last time and stretched it outside before letting it fall onto the soft yet cold snow. He had done it. He had made it out. The feeling of pride swelled up inside him just before he was consumed by the need to shut his eyes and sleep.
././././././././././././././././.
SOME TIME LATER
Not much time had passed since Jax had freed himself. The inside of the prison was silent as expected and nothing else had left the facility. Outside however was a different case. The supply team, a squad of four pegasi guards had arrived from above the cloud line. The harsh winds having no effect on their flight down. Two of them hauled down a supply cart filled mostly with food and other essentials needed for the guards stationed at ICEBERG prison.
They spotted the unconcious changeling right away. Curious, they checked the inside of the prison. They did not like what they saw.
Unsure what the correct procedure was in this case, they decided that it would be best to take the changeling with them. Invasion or not, they couldn't leave him out here. At the cost of half their supplies they loaded him up. After checking that there was nopony else trapped within, of which they found nothing but the bodies of their comrades, they flew off back to civilisation where the changeling would be thrown into another cell. ICEBERG wasn't the only secure facility after all.
It was a shame that none of them noticed the trail of yellow liquid dripping from Jax's back, right where his chitin had been punctured.
