Lucifer is bored, so he makes a deal with God. If Lucifer wins he gets to enact World War 3. If God wins then Lucifer has to stop torturing the damned (his favorite thing to do in his free time) for a century. To make sure he wins God gives the protagonist two powers: The Gamer and Prototype.
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Everything was peaceful for everyone in heaven. All those billions of people and 'aliens' living in harmony. Most not even knowing the other existed until they died and came here. Except for the creator of all those species. Ever present light shown through his window, shining itself into a certain cosmic beings eyes. With a groan, the being pulled his bed sheets over his head and curled into a ball. Not wanting to wake up from the confines of his bed he simply snapped his fingers and steel walls were bolted to all the windows. With the threat gone, God snuggled back into his cloud bed. Which only lasted for about a minute before a maid threw the doors open interrupting her creator from his somewhat relaxed state.
"Good morning sir." Said the maid as she started to take the steel walls off of the windows. Her creator groaned in protest, having wanted to sleep in today. Taking that as a reply she continued "Don't worry sir. You don't have much, only the usual." God groaned again, he hated the usual. The maid finished pulling the steel walls off the windows and put them out of the way. She then walked over to her creators cloud bed and pulled the bed sheet off the disgruntled man, revealing an old man with a white, chest length beard, blue eyes and a fairly fit figure in a ball. The light hit him directly in the face making him wince in his half awake state.
"I should have never said 'Let there be light' it's too damn bright." God mumbled to himself as he sat on the edge of the bed. Getting up from the bed he snapped his fingers and his iconic white robes flew out of his wardrobe and wrapped itself snugly around him. God let out a satisfying sigh as he popped his back.
"Are you done?" Asked the maid impatiently.
"Yea, yea. I'm up. Now where's my-" He was cut off by the smell of fresh coffee hitting his nose.
"Morning coffee." the maid finished "Right here with your list of activities you have to do today." She passed the coffee and clipboard to her creator. Taking the items God looked down at the clipboard while sipping at his 'World's Best Dad' cup he got for Fathers Day. Like the maid said 'the usual', just common problems and questions that has grown repetitive over the centuries.
"Thank you Shannon." Shannon gave a smile at the praise. "Let's get this over with." God mumbled to himself. With a snap of his fingers his bedroom changed into an office. His bed and wardrobe sunk into the floor as a desk and computer, with the addition of a Yes, No and Send to Satan buttons, appeared in front of him. Drawers popped in existence filled with files on everything about whos dead, alive, and even files that could doom a species if not sorted correctly, not just humans, which he really should give that to father time sometime today. His favorite office chair appeared behind him, knowing this he flopped down and let out a tired sigh, he sipped on his coffee once more before setting the cup on his desk and sat up in his chair. He cracked his knuckles and began to answer some million prayers.
"I'll leave you to your work." Said Shannon as she picked up the steel plates and exited the room. God gave a lazy wave at the retreating maid. Snapping once again an iPod materialized in his hand, flipping through his music selection God picked Enter Sandman by Metallica to start off his morning work.
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God groaned as another angel exited the office. How did getting a soul reincarnated get so hard God asked himself as he sipped at his evening tea. I just wish something interesting will happen. Not a second after finishing his thought, Lucifer burst through the office doors. "Miss me father?" he asked. Me Damnit
"Sir, your three o'clock is here." Announced a voice from the busted entryway.
Forgot about that "Thank you, Janice." God called to his secretary. God snapped his fingers and the door popped back together as if nothing happened. He looked at his son from across the desk, who was smiling like an idiot."Yes? Why are you here, Lucifer. Aren't you supposed to be in Hell torturing someone for something or other." He asked offhandedly.
"As much as I love torturing, it does get boring from time to time." Lucifer said dejectedly. He was wearing a black three piece suit and red tie, his jet black hair was as wild as always, his signature grin was not there for some reason.
"I'm guessing this is one of those times?" God said with a raised eyebrow.
Lucifer sighed in conformation. "It seems so. That is why I am here." his grin appearing once again on his face.
"To annoy me instead of people that deserve it."
"No." Lucifer said annoyed "I want to make a deal." God rose the other eyebrow. Lucifer hasn't made a deal with him in over several melania, where Lucifer wanted Gods job as the creator of all life, which is a lot harder than it sounds. If, and a very big if, he won a fight between the both of them. Of course God said no because Lucifer would probably wreck the place in the first few hours of doing what he had to do on a daily schedule. Lucifer even had his own Species RandomizerTM, although a lesser version than Gods. Of course, Lucifer had pushed God to agree to the deal, so when God relented and accepted, Lucifer jumped in joy. Then was literally kicked out of heaven by a super charged, rocket powered, diamond toed boot.
Good times Thought God as he recalled at the memory. He looked at a clock on the wall three ten God pressed a button on the intercom. Beep "Janice, move my appointments later in the week, I'm going out." He got up from his chair and began to walk out. "Follow me." he told his son. As he walked he heard footsteps following him, not bothering to use a door God opened a hole in a wall and flew out into the sky. Lucifer right behind his, using his draconic like wings to follow his father.
A minute of silence passed by as God led his son to a lone cloud on the outskirts of his home. "How about you tell me what is this deal about? You know I'm not going to give you my job right?"
"I know, I know. I still have bruises from the last time I made that deal." Lucifer rubbed his butt absently, still feeling a pang of pain from the boot.
"Your just lucky I didnt use spikes." They both chuckled at this. "So, why do you want to make a deal with me? I can literally snap my fingers and anything I want will be in the palm of my hand." He proved this by snapping his fingers and a cheeseburger appearing in his hand. He took a bite out of his lunch.
"Truth be told, I'm bored." Said Lucifer. God stopped and put his partly eaten cheeseburger down, he looked at his son.
"What do you mean your bored? Your immortal for fucks sake, how can you be bored?"
"Yes, I'm bored I literally did everything from video games to crochet. Nothing seems to work, that is why I'm making this deal. You also get bored right? All that work has to stress you out." It was true, all that work over the centuries has taken a toll on the man. "This deal can benefit both of us and give us both a break from our repetitive, boring lives" God was quiet for a moment thinking to himself this better be worth it he thought as he finished the last of his burger.
"Alright, what's your deal?" God sighed. Lucifer looked at his father.
"You really mean it?" He asked with a joyful tone.
"Yes, I mean it. Now tell me the deal or I'm going to change my mind."
"Ok, ok. The deal is. I send a human to a random world and if he or she conquers the world, I get to start World War 3. If he or she doesn't take over the world then I'll stop torturing the damned for a century. No time limit on completion." God thought the deal over for a minute. It would be entertaining to see a human tough it out on an alien planet, and if he losses then there will be an encore of entertainment. God always wanted to know what a third World War would look like ever since he saw the first two.
"Ok. I accept the deal." Lucifer shot his fist in the air in victory. "On a few conditions." His son gave him a questioning look. "I want to choose the person and location he or she has to go to and they have to have two powers of my choosing."
"Good enough for me." Replied Lucifer as he spread his wings. "As long at it helps me, I'm good. Now let's go I'm dying to make this happen." They both found there way back to God's office with no incidents. God fell into his chair and pushed himself over to a drawer labeled 'Living'. Opening the drawer caused it to burst out, hitting Lucifer in the chest and sending him crashing into a wall. Picking a random folder, he closed the drawer causing his son to fall on his face. Doing the same thing to another drawer, without hitting Lucifer this time, picked a location and set them both on his desk.
One folder had a picture of a man in his 20's with dark blond hair, blue eyes, a goatee, and a fairly fit figure, the other folder had a picture of a very familiar castle on a mountain. "Equestria? Really? The land of peace and harmony, with six horses firing a magical rainbow beam at their enemies. This should be easy" Said Lucifer as he examined the folders.
"Don't judge a book by its cover." Said God as he began working on making the world.
"What are the powers you going to giving him, dad." He asked. God only smirked as he looked at his son.
"Not telling." Lucifer pouted "Now get out of here, making a new world is hard work." He lied. Making a new world was easy, he just didnt want lucifer here when he gives the human his powers. With that said Lucifer left the room and God popped his fingers "Time to create another world."
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In the magical land of Equestria. Princess Celestia, ruler of the sun, bolted up straight from her bed, breathing heavily, a cold sweat on her fur. Not long after, Princess Luna, ruler of the night, burst into her sisters room. "Tia!" She shouted in concern "Art thou alright, we saw thy have a nightmare then awoke." Celestia calmed her breath before answering.
"It is alright Luna. It was just a vision."
"It is not Tirek again is it?" She asked. Celestia shook her head "Then what is it sister?"
"I do not know." Celestia replied tersely "What I do know is that it is big, and will change everything in equestria and beyond. For good or bad it is its choice." Luna sighed
"Varily well sister. I will trust you, but if this goes out of hoof, I will take matters into my own." She stated as she teleported from her sisters bedroom. Celestia sat in her bed thinking over what Luna had said. She sighed as she rested her head back on her pillow. I can send a letter to Twilight in the morning to deal with the problem.
I awoke to my head throbbing like a bullet train passed through it. I sat up steadily, my headache not helping me in the slightest. As I opened up my eyes I saw something that was not supposed to be there. A loading screen. This is new I thought as I blinked and rubbed my eyes to try to get the screen. Unable to get rid of the screen, I saw that the loading bar was at ninety-nine percent, once it reached one hundred everything went black. "Ooook. That happened." I said into the darkness. The words 'choose your species' appeared a few feet away from me as an outline of a human was below the words with an arrow on each side as if to scroll through them.
I hesitantly poked an arrow and a new form appeared where the human was, but instead was a four foot tall unicorn in its place. I pressed the same arrow and another pony appeared, this time a pegasus. The next few species I flipped through where the same species, but one was a regular pony, a pony with both a horn and wings, a zebra, a bug...pony.....thing, a griffon, a minotaur, and what looked like a hippogriff before rolling back to human. Not wanting to learn to walk again, I picked human and the world around me went black.
"Hello Darkness my old friend~" I sung as a customizer appeared where the species selection was at. I'll save you the details, I chose a six foot tall male with blue eyes, black hair and I replaced my original beer belly with rock hard, six pack abs. With my character created a warning screen popped up in front of me saying, 'This will be your default form for a human, are you sure you want to continue?' yes and no buttons were on the bottom of the warning. Pressing the 'yes' button, the world became black once again. Now this is getting old I thought. Soon after I felt my body go limp and I went unconscious.
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Fluttershy was on her daily walk through the everfree forest. The Pegasus never did go far into the unnatural forest, she just went in far enough to admire the beauty of the light piercing through the canopy of the trees overhead. As the sun began to duck under the tree tops, Fluttershy began to head back to her cottage with all her animal friends. As she followed the path back, she heard growling and voices off the path I wonder what that noise is? Fluttershy asked herself. She began to follow the noise and as she got closer she began to see what looked like a manticore fighting a funny looking ape. It wore clothing and looked like it didnt have any hair on it except on its head.
Fluttershy ducked as the manticore threw the ape right at her, the ape flew into a tree a few feet away from her, hitting it, and making the tree snap in half. The cream colored pony rushed to the apes aid, when she got there, she stared in awe and worrieness as the animal picked itself up, looking as if nothing has happened.
"I'm gonna turn you into a rug you mangy cat!" yelled the ape, his arms were enveloped by red and black tendrils, turning his front appendages into long blades that looked like it could slice through steel. Fluttershy let out an 'eep' at the creature as it walked towards the manticore who responded with a loud roar. When the ape got close enough the manticore shot its scorpion tail at the ape, the ape rolled away, causing the tail to get stuck into the ground. With a swipe of the apes arm blade, the stinger of the tail was gone and a pained roar erupted from the manticore. The ape jumped onto the back of the manticore, wrapped its bladed arms around the manticores throat, and pulled.
Blood. Was. Everywhere.
Fluttershy couldn't speak. Couldn't move. And for a moment, couldn't breathe. She stared at the headless body of the manticore, soon she saw the head in the hands of the ape. Black and red tendrils covered both the ape and the rest of the manticore forming into a formless mass, a second later, only the ape remained. He looked at fluttershy, staring right in her eyes. The yellow pegasus promptly fainted. "Crap." said the ape, as it began to walk towards the unconscious mare. He looked into the sky and saw it was a light blue color. "Crap." he said again, he looked back at the pony and sighed. "Alright, let's get you to camp." he picked up the unconscious pony and headed toward his camp.
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Fluttershy was lulled awake by the sound of crackling fire, she rose from a pile of leaves that acted as a comforter. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves and the world started to come together. Looking around she saw she was in a strange looking area covered in a hard black substance. The area had a fire a few feet away and what looked like a black glistening hammock between two trees, even the ground under her had a black sheen to it, more chitinis than regular ground.
She tried to walk around but found that her leg was chained to a tree, the chain looked like the the ground, it was soft yet firm on her leg. Looking around, she found a pony near the fireplace. The pony was jet black with holes in its hooves, gossamer insect wings, curved horn, teal blue eyes, a fin on its back, fangs and was staring right in her eyes. She screamed and backpedaled into the tree she was chained to "Changeling!" She shouted, the Changeling jumped back and let out a screech of its own at the sudden noise. Fluttershy tried to escape by pulling on the chain to get away from the emotion stealing monster, the Changeling rushed towards the pony and put her muzzle through one of the holes in its leg.
"Be quiet. Do you want to alert the animals to our location?" The Changeling said, Fluttershy shook her head and it sighed "Look, I'm going to remove my hoof and you are not going to scream. Ok?" She nodded meekly. The changeling removed his hoof from the pony and backed away back towards the fire. Fluttershy was shaking in terror at the presence of the Changeling, knowing that this is not going anywhere the bug pony asked if the pony if she knew any calming techniques. Fluttershy using the breathing technique Twilight taught her, for stressful situations. Once Fluttershy was mostly calm, she decided that she needed to get out of here quick and back to her friends.
"W..who...who are you?" she asked the Changeling.
"My name is Chitin. What is yours?" Chitin asked.
"My name is F...Fluttershy." She said. "I was wondering, h...how did you get here? If you don't mind me asking."
"I was exiled from my hive and sent here to die. What about you? How did you get here?" Fluttershy shivered.
"I was walking my usual path through the Everfree, then I heard some noise and it led me to...to." she gulped at the memory "I saw an ape, if it even is an ape, fight a manticore and ...and kill it. There was so much blood." She mumbled the last part. The Changeling shook his head.
"I told that man to lead the animals farther into the forest." Chitin said. Fluttershy looked at the Changeling in shock.
"It kills innocent animals on purpose!?" Fluttershy yelled in disbelief.
"No, he's a bounty hunter. You said it was a manticore right. Well, that manticore killed like, ten ponies, and needed to be put down."
"How do you know that?"
"I asked" Was his reply.
Before any more questions could be asked a set of hoofsteps could be heard clicking against the black substance. Out of trees came a gray stallion wearing leather armor, two swords on his back, yellow cat-like eyes, shoulder length white mane and tail and a distinctive scar on his eye. The changeling waved at the pony. "Hey James, how was the hunt?" he asked. The pony grunted an answer then morphed into the ape she saw previously.
"Good. Almost got cut off from a deal, again. So that was fun." Said James as he walked towards the yellow pegasus who shied away from him with every step. James could hear her heartbeat as he got right in front of Fluttershy, he put out a hand "My name Is James. What is yours?" he asked politely.
"f..f...flu..Fluttershy." She stuttered, a grin was plastered on his face.
"Well Fluttershy, I'm guessing you have some questions about me?" Fluttershy shakaly nodded. "Well then. Ask." Fluttershy swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Who... Who are you?" She asked, fearful of the answer.
"Me? I'm going to be your new ruler in a few years that's who I am." Said James triumphantly, letting out a evil laugh as Fluttershy fainted.
I looked down at the unconscious pegasus in front of me and looked at my changeling companion. "I thought these ponies had more balls that this." I asked, poking the pony with a finger. Chitin smiled.
"Thats because that pony is a mare." He said smugly. I just started with an expressionless face.
"Really?" He just shrugged. "Sigh. Alright, what are we supposed to do now?" The changeling shrugged. "Aren't you supposed to be, you know, the best infiltrator and replacement of people species, or something like that." I said non-committedly .
"Even though that is true, I am a Digger. I carve the tunnels throughout the hive and dig the larvae holders in the nursery. What you described were the infiltrators." He stated matter of factly.
"That's a dumb name. Digger, infiltrator, there's no intelligence behind these names are there?" Chitin shrugged
"Don't look at me I didnt name them."
I sighed again and walked over to my hammock. "I'm going to sleep. See you in the morning" I laid on my biomass hammock, closed my eyes and let darkness take me.
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I opened my eyes and saw a familiar videogame style screen. Resume, Upgrades, Powers, the whole shabang. I pushed the Upgrades button and a new screen popped up over the Home screen. A list of my powers and what they could become were on the left side and a short description of the weapon, with a tutorial video, is on the right. I selected the Magic tab and low and behold, it was barely filled. Maybe I should put more points in healing I think to myself. Yea. Healing sounds the best option right now. I put the Skill Point that I got today into the healing branch of magic.
Healing lll
Allows you to heal yourself and others more in both combat and non-combat situations
I never really got magic all that much. Its kind of like the Blacklight Virus, super powerful and adaptable, but a little tooOP for my taste in combat. I still remember the first time I got unicorn DNA, wanting to waste time, I exited out of Upgrades and clicked the Memories tab on the home page. From there I picked the not-so-recent memory.
I was sitting in a griffin tavern with my pony disguise on, I had a few minutes before a contact that had information about a drug dealer would be here. I had ordered ale and a slab of steak, the griffon in front of me gave me a glance before writing down my order. You will never take a man away from his steak even in a world ruled by ponies. He came back with my order and that was when the first red flag came up, the steak didn't smell like steak at all, it wasn't the smell that would fill the air whenever my family would get together for a cookout. The second flag went up when I tasted it and two notifications popped up in my face.
New DNA Acquired: Unicorn New Ability Acquired: Magic
I asked the Bartender what this meat was from. He said Cow. His heartbeat on the other hand said another thing entirely. I nodded, finished my meal and ale then left. I expanded my senses to find any exposed blood of a unicorn, other than a knee scrape from a colt about three miles out, there was only one other place, and that was in the back o the tavern. Slipping behind the establishment I saw it was mainly empty except for a metal cellar door connected to the back of the tavern. Shedding my disguise and forming into a snake, I slithered to the edge of the door, where I hears the scraping of claws on a metal grate. Soon after, the cellar door opened and a large griffin wearing a blood stained apron walked out and pulled out a cigarette. Using this to my advantage I slipped in without incident.
Looking around I thought I was in a horror movie. Skinned pony bodies hung from hooks, what looked like a incinerator and freezer were on opposite sides of the room, the counters had enough organs and blood to put a pony back together and an array of tools were set on a gurney, recently used. Hearing the sound of a cigarette hitting the ground alerted me to the coming of the griffin chef, I quickly attached myself to the ceiling and changed my appearance to match the ceiling. As the Griffin passed me I did a quick analysis on him and found a wanted poster for 5,000 bits. Wow I thought as the griffin pulled out a somewhat living pony from the freezer.
Slithering over the griffin I saw him prepare his tools, I saw the pony look at me in fear as I turned into my pony form right above the distracted killer. Putting a hoof to my lips I silently told the pony to be quiet which he thankfully understood.
"You are going to be one delicious meal." he told the pony with a predatory smile, the nameless pony looked at me with hope in his eyes.
"What're you lookin at?" Asked the griffin, as he looked up I jumped onto his back and put a sword to his throat.
"You have two choices griffin." I said in my most predatory voice "Either you can surrender now or your head can join my collection." I felt the griffin gulp in fear.
"Y...your that p...pony bounty h...hunter, aren't you?"
"I am." At this the griffin put his tool down and surrendered.
"Good times." I say to myself as the memory ends. It wasn't the most fun or exciting one, but it was worth it. Looking at the time I exit out of the menu and wake up in my hammock, Chitin might be out hunting at this time so I didn't worry, I looked towards the still unconscious Pegasus and decided that returning her home or at least the nearest town would be the best decision in this situation. Pressing a finger to her nose I excreted muscle relaxing agents to help her sleep until the destination was reached. Absorbing the chain and picking up the sleeping Pegasus, I press another finger to her forehead and start to view her memories. Magic is a wonderful thing. Once I know where to go I change into my pony disguise and start walking.
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"Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash called out above the canopy of trees in the Everfree forest. She and her friends have been searching for Fluttershy all morning.
"Fluttershy darling, where are you!?" called Rarity as she looked into a bush. "I cant find her anywhere. How about you Pinkie, do you see anything?" she asked the hyperactive pink party pony that was currently looking in a tree. Pinkie popped out from underneath the brush and pointed further into the forest.
"Why don't we ask him?" she asked, the rest of the group stopped searching looked to where Pinkie was pointing. There in the distance was a gray stallion with a white mane, armor of some kind, orange cat like eyes, and the body of a familiar yellow Pegasus on his back.
"FLUTTERSHY!" they yelled in unison. The stallion raised a hoof to his mouth in a shushing manner.
"I know you are worried about your friend, but I need you all to be quiet so you don't attract anything that could eat us." The stranger said as he set Fluttershy on the forest floor.
"What did you do to my friend you creep!" Yelled Rainbow as she tried to rush the stallion, but was held back by Applejack pulling on her tail.
"I did nothing." The stranger said calmly "I was hunting a manticore and she saw me kill it which in turn caused her to faint. I'm just bringing her to the nearest village to see if anybody knows her and it seems like you know and care for her, so I'll be on my way."
"How do we know that isn't some story you made up!" She accused, Applejack tapped the rainbow mane Pegasus on the shoulder.
"Um, sugar. He's tellin the truth." Applejack confirmed, at this, Rainbow let out an 'oh' "Thank ya for takin care of Fluttershy, stranger, it was rather kind of you to do that." she said as she carefully picked up the sleeping Pegasus and put here on her back.
"It was no problem ma'am, just doing what is right and all that. Now if you will excuse me..." He turned to go back into the forest.
"Wait!" cried a voice from behind, when he turned he saw it was Rarity "We cant just let you leave without knowing your name after such a heroic deed." The stallion made a show of thinking about it before answering.
"My name is Witcher Thorn." He then turned to the forest and started walking.
Twilight knew that name from somewhere, but couldn't put her hoof on it. When she tried to ask the stallion, he was already too deep into the forest to reach. "You've been quiet Pinkie, you're normally excided about meeting new ponies, I thought you would ask him a thousand questions about... She's gone isn't she?" Twilight stated in realization, her friends nodded. "Sigh. Lets get back to Ponyville , I know I heard that name somewhere before."
“Spike, I'm home!” Twilight called into her tree home. She and her friends had recently came back to Ponyville and Twilight wanted to find out what was so familiar about the strangers name. As she looked in the 'W' section of her treehouse/library/ home, familiar scratches of clawed feet descending the wooden stairs echoed through her ears.
"Did you find Fluttershy? Is she ok?" Spike questioned worriedly. Twilight didn't stop searching.
"She's fine, Spike, just unconscious. Apparently, while she was coming home from her walk through the Everfree, she saw a manticore get killed by a hunter. He said his name was Witcher Th- Found it!" She cried as she pulled a few books from the shelf. Spike gave his surrogate sister a questioning glance.
"What was that about a hunter killing a manticore?" Spike was more confused at the situation than worried. Twilight coughed into her hoof and prepared her lecture mode.
"When we were looking for Fluttershy in the Everfree forest, a strange stallion in armor told us that Fluttershy fainted when he killed a manticore in front of her, he said his name is Witcher Thorn, and from the contents of these books." She tapped the stack of books with a hoof. "Tells me that he is a resound author of a few bestiaries detailing the most dangerous animals in the world. It seems like he's writing a book for the Everfree and Fluttershy got a front row seat to his.... works." Spike walked over and saw that the books were, in fact, bestiaries of the badlands, whitetail woods, Hayseed swamps, and other places he hasn't heard of. Probably from outside Equestria. He thought
"So... what does this have to do with Fluttershy?" Twilight perked up at this.
"It... doesn't. I should probably check on her though, it must have been traumatizing to her." she said as she walked out the door and towards the hospital where her friend was stationed.
"Ok, then." Spike said to nobody in particular as he put the books back on the shelf and went back upstairs to finish his comics.
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I walked into camp and saw Chitin eating a squirrel, it wasn't uncommon for changelings to eat meat if they couldn't find any love to fill them. "No luck today?" I asked and he shook his head. I opened my inventory and picked out one of my modified rose seeds. He looked at the seed and glared.
"No." I slumped my shoulders and wined.
"Come ooooon. Just this once. Please?" I turned into a puppy dog and pouted.
"I said no." He crossed his hooves and turned away. "The last time you did your Love Flower project it only expelled lust, LUST! Do you know what too much lust can do to changeling." Unfortunately I do. That was not a pleasant week "Unless you are One-hundred percent sure this will work, I'm not taking it." I was ninety-five percent but close enough.
"Yes, I'm sure. Now you can try this and not go hungry or you can starve. Your choice." I turned into my default form and held out the seed in my hand. Hearing a grumble from his stomach, confirming that he was hungry, Chitin lit his horn with a light blue aura that surrounded the seed. "All you need to do is to pour magic into it then watch the magic happen." What I found out earlier about changelings is that they don't feed on emotion, but the magic produced by that emotion. Odd, I know. What the flower is supposed to do is that when it is introduced to magic it will cause the flower to bloom and produce 'love' from its petals, which is actually magic with good feelings in it.
Once the flower had enough magic, it bloomed and a pink mist streamed out from the petals. So far so good I thought as a small stream of the flowers 'love energy' entered his mouth and down his esophagus. Immediately after, a much larger stream of love entered and disappeared in the changeling. "I'm guessing its working?" the changeling only nodded as he started to absorb more of the Love Energy. "When your done, stop using magic and it will stop producing Love." A few seconds later and Chitin stopped using magic, looked at me with a Cheshire grin on his face, then pounced.
"Thank you thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou." He cried as he tried to crush my ribcage in a hug, a grin threatening to split his face in two. "This will surely feed the hives for generations. With this flower, we won't need to feed on living beings anymore. Do you realize what you just did? You saved an entire species from starvation." I let him hug me for a minute longer than I was comfortable with before slowly pushing him off.
"We have to find the others first in order to save them." Immediately the excited changeling flew in a direction yelling 'The hive is this way come on!' Sighing I burst into a mass of tendrils and absorbed the biomass around me. Using my senses, I teleported to the still buzzing changeling. Smiling, Chitin pressed a few pieces of bark on a tree and it opened up to reveal a green stone in the center of the hollowed out tree. Before I could ask, Chitin pressed his horn to the stone and started to fill the gem with magic, once filled, the gem emitted a green light and blinded me for a second. What I saw next was that the tree had a sickly green portal where the entryway was a moment ago.
"Holy shit." I turned to my changeling companion. "The hell Is this?" I pointed to the tree portal.
"It's a secret entrance to the hive."
"I know that but why can't we go towards the main entrance?"
"This is much faster."
"Alright, but if were going in, were going in my way."
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Mantis, Queen of the Sapphire hive, looked out upon her kingdom in sadness as she watched her children be piled onto carts and literally dumped into holes because the graveyards were filled to the brim. Over the years she watched a once thriving hive become decimated by the actions of a selfish, power hungry queen of the Emerald hive. Changelings evolved to stay in the dark and operate in the shadows, not whatever Chrysalis had done. She didn't even finish off the Sun princess when she had the chance. Now the changeling race was out in the open and the ponies have created spells to remove their disguises! Because of that bluster most if not all of the thriving hives crumbled due to the lack of food.
Mantis sighed and looked to one of the palace guards. "I'm going to be in my chambers. Leave me be unless the hive is collapsing." She drawled in her two tone voice, the guard bowed and went back to patrolling the hive palace. Queen Mantis entered her chambers and flopped onto her silk threaded, bed. A gift from the Arachne on their fifth anniversary of peace. The food shortage had taken a lot out of everybody, especially the Queens, the remaining Queens of the circle had decided to hold a meeting in a few days to figure out what to do about the shortage. As she was getting comfortable, a large boom and rumble that shook the entire hive sounded through her bones. Mantis shot up from her bed in shock, one of her guards clad in purple chitin armor came bursting thru the double doors.
"My Queen!" he said as he bowed, shock evident in his voice. Queen Mantis looked over at her general with a shocked expression.
"What was that? Why does it feel like the hive is blowing up?"
"My Queen, I believe the disturbance is coming from the entrance portals." Mantis launched from her bed and put her face to the Generals.
BOOM!
"Where." She said as sinisterly as she could.
"Th...this way my queen." He stuttered as he ran down a few corridors getting closer and closer to the sound. They ran past guards and servants alike as another boom rang through the palace, causing them to fall on their hole ridden hooves. General Rino assisted his queen to get up then continued running, as they neared the palace entrance both horns lit up and blasted the doors outward, almost cracking the hardened palace walls. They looked in confusion at what they saw, or didn't see. Instead of slaughtered changelings, burning buildings and mass destruction, the only thing unnatural was the pink fog that covered the streets and the changelings running thru it. With a questioning look on her face Mantis took a wiff of the air and found a familiar smell. A smell that all changelings have to know to survive.
"Love."
-------------------
"Are you sure about this?" Chitin asked as I shot another love bomb into the streets. I shrugged as more changelings from the other side of the hive came to see what is happening then joining in.
"What about the guards? What if they come to stop you?" As if right on que what looked like to be several dozen solders came buzzing towards the duo. Taking aim I fired into the group of armed and armored changelings, when it detonated, everyone stopped and started to consume the airborne love, noticing there was more on the ground they swarmed to it like a moth to flames.
"I'll just do that." I smiled at all the happy faces. "You weren't kidding when you said you guys were starving." I fired a few more bombs into the streets. "When's your queen going to get here? I mean this area has more love than.... anywhere really." Chitin shrugged.
"Can I try that?" He asked pointing at my arm cannon. I could refine it to be detachable but that's going to take some time to work out the blueprints for a hoof instead of a hand I thought. While I was thinking up plans for a changeling arm cannon/hoof cannon?, a changeling, that was twice as tall as Chitin landed before me with a smaller changeling covered in armor at its side. Probably the queen I looked to my changeling companion who was, as I thought, bowing Yep, definitely the queen
"Are you the creature giving all this love to my children?" she asked softly.
"Just making a good first impression..."
"Mantis." she answered "Queen Mantis of the sapphire hive."
"Nice place." I say as we followed Mantis through the palace hallways. We were on our way to the conference room to discuss what my place will be in the hive.
"It was a gift from Mother." Mantis said "She gave me and my sisters a hive when we rose to maturity." Nice lady I thought as we continued on our way to the conference room, it wasn't long before we arrived at our destination. The changeling in armor opened the door as we made our way inside the room. Inside there wasn't much, only a round table and a few chairs in the entire room. They apparently use the 'function over fancy' saying a lot over here I thought as I sat and only heard a groan from the straining chair for my troubles. When we all got settled Mantis looked into my eyes, I would bet that those piercing blue eyes could see through anything.
"First off I believe a thank you is in order, nobody had given this much love out of their own volition for many generations." I gave a polite nod. "Now I believe you have heard this question many times in the past so one more time shouldn't hurt. What manner of creature are you? I don't believe there are any other creatures that can transform like...that on this world."
"Sigh. Here we go again. My name is James Wilson, I am a bounty hunter and author on my free time. I was a human but now I am a sentient virus that can basically do anything." The changelings in front of me each gave a confused look. "It's a long story."
"Ok...Now then, why did you help us? Not that I'm not grateful, it's just. Why?"
"I saw a problem that needed to be fixed and fixed it." I said simply, there's no need to lie to a future assistant. She then turned to my chitinous companion (Pun intended) with an analysing stare.
"So. Are you the one who brought James here?" She asked, Chitin looked like he was going to shit himself at the attention she was giving him.
"I...I ... yes your majesty." He said shakely.
"And what is your name, grub?" My face morphed into a scowl at the name, when I questioned it, Mantis told me that baby changelings are called grubs.
"Chitin, your majesty." He said calmly. Mantis hummed at the mention of his name.
"I remember you." she said. "You were the digger that mined into that Mole Rat nest three months back aren't you." He nodded." We thought you died when we didn't see a body. How did you escape?" Chitin shivered at the memory. He never told me how he escaped. I'm going to have to ask him about that later.
"I...I'd rather not talk about it." He said hesitantly, Mantis nodded her head then turned the attention back to me.
"I believe you would like a room to produce a more effective means of producing love other than your... Love Bombs I think you called them." I dismissed her with a wave.
"Don't worry I already have the original right here." Selecting a seed from my inventory, it appeared in my hand and I could see Mantis and her guard tense. "You Just add magic and," My hand glowed a crimson red as the seed absorbed the magic from my body and started to bloom. "It produces more love than any other creature in the world." A pink mist started to leak out of the flower and onto the table, towards Mantis and her guard. I could see that they were weary at the prospect of a solution from a stranger, yet they were willing to give it a shot.
"This is amazing." She stated simply, taking the flower from my hand. I guess she didnt partake in the love feast outside because when she tasted the flowers love she didn't stop. Until it ran out of magic, she had the face of a kicked puppy. "I will give you anything you want." She stated simply, the changeling in armor was shocked and looked at his queen.
"Are you sure about this my queen? You do not know what he will ask of you."
"I'm willing to do and give whatever to ensure the safety of this and every other hive."
"Yes, my queen." I chuckled
"Don't worry, I'm not going to ask for anything too drastic. I just need a few things from you." She nodded. "I need a large, open room to plant the seeds and a large gem."
"How large of a gem?"
"About the size of a basketball." She looked at me quizzically. I sighed, opened my inventory and pulled out a 'basketball' from the inventory. In actuality it was a bunch of elastic biomass in the shape of a ball. "This." I handed the 'Basketball' to the changeling queen who magicked it to the guard. "The last thing I need is a favor. I don't know when I'll use it, just be ready for a call in the future."
"You will have will have your space and gem in a few weeks time and we will be ready when ever you need us. While that is happening you and your friend can stay in the palace and roam about the hive as you please, just don't destroy anything." When we left the room, a familiar stench of chicken and wet dog filled my senses.
"Do you have any diamond dogs or griffins in your hive?" I asked.
"Other than the ones in pods where we extract love, no. Why?"
"Because we're about to have company."
-------------------
"Finally! The badass action scene is in motion!" Cried God as he stood up from his futon in glee. Every Friday through Sunday he and lucifer would sit on a futon, eat the newest kind of junk food from around the universe and watch James on his path to world domination. Even though it took 3 years to get this far.
"Yea, yea." Said lucifer "Sit your eternal ass back down so we can continue." Grumbling, God plopped back onto his spot and started to eat his literal rock candy.
"You think we should invite Luck for this?" He asked as he threw candy pebbles in his mouth.
"Why should we do that?" He asked, his father shrugged.
"Might be fun. We could even invite Fate too so it would be more epic."
"Maybe." Lucifer shrugged "You're not wrong about them making fights more interesting."
"So, is that a yes?" After a minute of silence, Lucifer sighed and gave God the OK. "Yes!" He jumped from his seat and ran out of his office turned man cave room. A few minutes passed as Lucifer watched James and the changeling queen asses the danger that has befallen the hive.
"Hey Lucie!" Cried a voice behind Lucifer, causing him to jump and spill his jelly beans onto the floor. "Whacha dooin?" Lucifer looked towards the voice to see a familiar face.
"Fate." Lucifer answered. "What are you doing here?" Fate giggled at Lucifer.
"I was invited here, duh." Lucifer sighed.
"Of course you were." Fate jumped the futon and landed with a plop. She had her hair in her usual messy bun, her green dress covered her toned, slim body that fit her like a glove, her usual blindfold hung from her neck in a loose fashion. She reached over the futon and placed her favorite short-sword on the side of it. "Why did I ever agree to this?" He muttered to himself. Fate shrugged.
"Something about making a battle more interesting of that kind." Lucifer groaned and sagged onto the futon.
"Oh, that." Fate placed an arm around the distraught demon lord.
"Don't worry Lucie, you have me to give you company till the others get here. Anyway, which battle are Luck and I supposed to make better."
"Dad and I will tell you when Luck gets here." Moments passed in silence as Lucifer and Fate watched the preparation of the battle.
"Are you saying that this is the first real battle in over three years on this world."
"Yep, It's not all bad though, it's enough to keep you going." Then the door opened revealing a very attractive woman with a blue dress that carries boobs as big as cantalope, thin waistline, shoulder length hair and a green shamrock pin on her chest. Lucifer and Fate looked in awe. "That's a good look for you, Luck. You should keep it this time instead of changing it every century."
"Maybe." Replied Luck as she walked over to the two, from behind her God stepped in and closed the door. He clapped his hands and the futon gained two extra seats.
"Come, sit." He said waving to the futon. "We have a lot to talk about."
Later
"So, you and Lucie made a deal and you want us to help decide this battle that could drastically change the future of the universe." Said Luck as she popped a Popper in her mouth.
"Basically." Said God.
"I'm in." Said Fate. "I call the enemy side!"
"I guess I'm with mister hero man." said Luck.
"Wait, how are they gonna control their people?" asked Lucifer.
"They are not, only passive control is allowed. We don't need any cheating." said God as he sat on the futon and watched as the battle began to take form.
“Everybody ready?” James asked the gathered monarch and generals, they all nodded. Usually, it takes a few hours or even a full day to come up with a full proof plan to protect a large area, like the hive, from an invading force. For the changeling though, it only took twenty minutes. Being what they are, they had to have a lot of contingency plans for all sorts of attacks from other sapient creatures, for one reason or another. All James had to do was provide some more love seeds to spread around and give the tactics for guerrilla warfare to them, where they implemented the strategy into a few of their own plans. They all left the room and immediately got to their positions for the battle, James teleported onto the streets, melted onto the floor and stretched himself around the entire hive, making himself cover as much ground as he can incase diamond dogs chose to attack from below, while a few squads of changelings dismantled some of the roofs and put up an illusion where it had been before.
At the edge of the hive's city, Mantis and a squad of changeling guards stood a ways away from the griffin and diamond dog army, about five hundred in total, in front of them. A griffin that wore a Lorica squamata (Scale armor) around his barrel and a short sword on his side walked towards the queen with a diamond dog wearing heavy set steel armor that covered most of his body and face with a halberd on his back. Mantis trotted to meet the would be invaders in the middle. "My name is Queen Mantis of the sapphire hive, and I ask this only once, griffin. Why are you here?" She said with venom in her voice.
"My name is General Stormwing of the griffin empire and you have a bounty on your head by the equestrian government. We were asked to assist with the clean up of any and all changelings that were scattered at the wedding, for the crime of almost concurring Equestria." Mantis reeled back in shock.
"That wasn't even my hive!" she yelled. This was another factor of Chrysalises defeat, entire armies were actively hunting them to extinction.
"You changelings are all the same to us. It doesn't matter where you are from, you are all love eating monsters that should have never came out of your hole in the ground."
"We have to eat, you ignorant fool!"
"Well so do we. Now are you going to surrender peacefully or is this going to get bloody?"
"I would rather die than surrender to a lowlife bounty hunter like you." Stormwing sneered at the queen.
"Bloody it is then." He said as he walked back to the army.
"Do not worry, bug, hive will be useful creating new diamond dog empire when you dead." said the diamond dog alpha before he to walked back to the army. Stormwing raised his claw and the army behind him got into a fighting stance...then brought it down. At the signal, griffins flew over head and diamond dogs rushed into the city yelling their war cries and screeches. Just as planned. Mantis and her squad sped into the city, splitting up throughout the alleyways and streets causing some of their assailants to follow them.
As the last diamond dog stepped foot in city boundaries, Mantis yelled "NOW!!" using magic to amplify her voice. At that, some of the rooftops of the buildings opened up and flying piranhas flew out and started to eat the griffins piece by piece, sending bits of flesh and gore to the ground below, covering some of the diamond dogs and encouraging the piranhas to go in for a bite. In the confusion, several squads of changelings popped from the rooftops and started to take potshots at the disoriented enemies with their magic, while feeding on the flowers love simultaneously.
"Where are the ground forces!" yelled Stormwing as he sliced a flying piranha in half with his short sword.
Underground
Once the battle had started, the underground forces began to tunnel under the hive and pop in a random spot around the city for a surprise attack. Due to James spread across the entire hive, he was able to find the holes and absorb any creature within that hole. "What Is happening!!!" cried a diamond dog soldier as tentacles from the entrance wrapped around him and added him to the mass. Those who got out and tried to fly away got pulled in by their feet, kicking and screaming all the way. Once the tunnels were clear, James gathered himself and snatched most of the soldiers with him. Severely cutting down their numbers.
Those who survived tried to flee the battlefield but got taken down by magic. The mass of black slowly shrink until it was seven feet in height and wore black, chitin plate armor with yellow and red bioluminescence trailing along his arms and legs, with claws that could slice flesh like butter with a hot knife.
"I am going to give you a choice." said James, just loud enough for the rest of the crushed army could hear. "You can try to fight me to the death and earn your freedom, or you can surrender and become a servant of the hive. You chose your fate."
Everyone stood in silence. Nobody dared to move unless for breathing. A few of the dogs looked like bowing due to their nature while a few griffins looked like they didn't get paid enough for this. After a minute of silence, a few dogs went up to James and surrendered. With a wave of the clawed hand, a few changelings from the rooftops buzzed down and led the prisoners to their cages. One by one, the soldiers slowly gave in and surrendered themselves in hopes of getting a lesser punishment. Even yelling from their commanding officers and the threat of death didn't lead them astray.
All that was left of the army were Stormwing, a few of the older griffins, the diamond dog alpha and the most loyal of his pack. "So you all chose to fight? Good. This will be a lot more interesting."
Stormwing flared his wings and got into a battle stance while two of the remaining griffins flew off to the sides of the armored figure and started to fire arrows at it. The arrows bounced off James, not even leaving a scratch on the armor, creating wipfists, James wrapped the two griffins around the waist and absorbed them. Taking advantage of the distraction, Stormwing launched himself at James preparing to cut his head off. The ground underneath James cracked and he fell through the hole simultaneously crushing the diamond dog underneath and dodging the blow.
A few diamond dogs stabbed at James and got broken weapons for their troubles. "My turn." He said as he made an armblade and charged into the mass of bodies, killing and absorbing everyone in his path.
-------------------
"Looks like we didnt need a complex plan after all." Rino said to his queen. "All we needed to do was throw James at them and it would have been done in seconds with his power." His horn lit up and a bolt of green energy hit a griffin in between the wings, causing it to fall and get feasted on by piranhas. Mantis hummed.
"I believe you are right, general. I am going have to ask him about that after this battle is over." A few minutes later, the ground underneath James collapsed and Stormwing missed completely and landed on his side, his weapon imbedded into one of the houses. The changelings took down the surviving soldiers until only Sormwing was left. "Leave this place, bird! If you ever return, I will tear off your wing and feed them to you!" She shouted, Stormwing launched into the air and flew out of the hive.
An arm burst out of the ground and James climbed out of the hole, Mantis flew down to meet him on the ground. "Did we win?" he asked as he looked at the dead soldiers around him. Mantis nodded.
"It seems so. Let us go to the castle so we may feast on this victory!" Everyone cheered and flew to the palace.
“That was interesting.” Said Fate as she watched Mantis and James walk to the palace that was quickly filling up with celebrating changelings.
"Yea." said God as he took a bite of his ice cream cone. "This is mild to what we’ve seen before." Lucifer and God chuckled as they recalled the fond memory of James messing with elemental magic the first time. Luck looked at the old man.
"What was with those piranhas?” She asked “Got a story behind those?”
"Yes actually." Said Lucifer. “A few months into Equestria, he had to find a way to kill flying enemies 'cause he's a horrible shot. I don't know what he was thinking but apparently he thought it was a good idea to put hawk wings on a piranha. A few unneeded corpses later and he had the world's deadliest creature at his disposal."
"Neat." She said as she watched James chug down a two-hundred year old bottle of wine, much to the chagrin of the changeling queen. A loud beeping sounded throughout the room causing everyone to jump, Fate looked at her watch and groaned. "Looks like my break is over, It was nice hanging out with you guys but I have to go. Maybe we can do this again?"
"I know I am." said Luck as she got up from her seat. They both left, leaving the men on the couch watching three changelings, morphed into Minotaur, arm wrestle James.
"Well... I'm bored. Wanna Mess with the humans some more?" Asked Lucifer.
"Sure."
And that's how the great Emu War came to be.
------------------------
The moon hung overhead as a squad of Changelings buzzed across the sea of green that was known as the Everfree. The Empress of the Changelings and some of her guards were flying to the Sapphire hive to discuss the love shortage due to Chrysalises humiliating defeat. The Empress and her changelings had white manes and tails with their chitin sagging like it was a size or two big on them, due to ruling one of the bigger hives in the land the Empress had to strictly ration love consumption. Even then, many changelings had died by giving their love to those who had need it most such as the injured and young.
The Changelings landed at the portal tree to the Sapphire hive, a Scout trotted in front of the Empress and bowed. "Empress, there weren't any signs of anybody following us." He said. She nodded and pressed the code on the tree, stepping through the portal The Empress looked upon her daughters hive. The portal was placed so that visitors could see the entire kingdom and assess any notable problems, such as starvation or any noticeable destruction, which the Empress noted there was none of those that befell her eyes.
This is quite odd. The Empress thought as she looked at the surprisingly healthy changelings below her. Many of these changelings should be half starved by now. Yet here they are, acting like nothing has happened to them. Looking more intensely at the surroundings she saw flowers of varying colors along the roads. There must be something important about those flowers, but what? She pondered. She was shaken by her thoughts by one of her guards calling her name.
"Are you alright my Empress?" The Empress shook her head.
"I am alright Captain. Let us go see my daughter." With a buzz of their wings they headed to the palace entrance, once there the guards bowed and and let the Empress and her entourage in. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And that is how you make a crane." I say as I hold up the origami bird, showing it to the others around the table. Around me are my sisters who were once walking skeletons and have now been returned to their former glory. Mirror, queen of the Ruby hive, lifts hers and stared at it, the crane was perfect, mirror copy like her namesake. Her hive was the main infiltrators and made up most of the changelings that were around the world. Earwig, Queen of the Amethyst hive, crumpled her crane in anger as she missed a fold somewhere throughout the instructions. Her hive handled communications to the other hives and to changelings that impersonated famous figures that have little time to themselves. Jewel, Queen of the Gold hive, made the last crease of the crane.
“I believe I got it.” She said as she observed the paper bird in her magic. Her hive was the main digger hive that has carved out most of the recent hives. “What is the purpose of this again?”
“It can be many things.” I said simply. “A time waster, a little trick to show people, you can sell them, and if legends are true, make one thousand of these and you get a wish." Everyone in the room perked up at the sound of a free wish.
"How do we know the legend is true? Has anyone even acquired the wish?" Earwig said disbelievingly as she crossed her forelegs together.
"James did it, and with his wish, he saved every changeling in existence." Earwig said nothing as she picked up a piece of paper and tried again.
"When are we going to meet this James, sis?" Jewel questioned, Mirror perked at the question.
"Yes, why isn't our savior here?" She questioned.
"He needed to cash in a Manticore bounty and check up on some people. Apparently he is also a writer." And with that said, a whole slew of new questions were made in seconds. Before any could be asked the door to the conference room opened and a guard that looked like a skeleton with a white main and tail stepped in.
"Now presenting the Empress of the Changelings." Sounded the guard as a tall changeling with a long white mane and tail, that also looked like a skeleton, walked in with several guards at her side.
"MOTHER!" My sisters and I shouted as we glomped our mother.
The Hydra roared as it threw me into a row of trees causing me to go through at least five of them before hearing my spine snap on the sixth. "I hate Hydras." I groan as I lift myself up and stretch my body straight, feeling my spine go back to its original position. Brushing the debris off of me I looked at my health bar and I saw that I still had three fourths of my health left. Man they can really hit hard. I stared at the Hydra whose eyes went wide at seeing me still standing. "My turn." I said as I unsheathed a sword from my back and sprinted towards the multi headed beast.
Ever since that yellow Pegasus saw me I had to stay in my pony form more often. Which limited me to only my pony abilities and swords, and in turn gives me a nice challenge with the bigger contracts.
The Hydra shook off its shock and got into a defense stance, its body crouched low and heads leaned back ready to strike. I leapt onto the side of a tree and launched myself over the Hydra, dodging its heads one after another, slicing their throats and disabling them as they passed by. Landing on its back, I sliced it open and went inside. Right now I am so glad I learned how to turn off my sense of smell early on. I felt the Hydra shift hard and new it was done regenerating, I unsheathed my other sword and spun, turning its insides into a slushie.
I cut my way out of the Hydra and walked out, gore spilling out behind me. I closed my eyes and shook myself like a wet dog, managing to get all of the gore off of me. Bringing up my objectives I saw that I had an appointment with a Scootaloo at Zecora's place today. leaving the corpse behind me for the other predators and scavengers, I headed towards the Zebras home while whistling a tune. While walking I heard buzzing above me, I looked up and saw a changeling, not bothering to cloak itself, with a white mane and tail zoom past carrying what looked like filled saddlebags and two of my Love Launchers. Good thing those launchers are getting some use. I thought as I approached the... treehouse? Housetree? After all these years, I still don't know what the proper word for her home is.
I knocked on the wooden door and not long later the door opened, but instead of Zecora, at the door it was an orange Pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail. "Is Zecora home?" I asked the filly, she nodded and shouted into the home.
"Zecora! There's a weird stallion with cat eyes at your door!" I heard the clopping of hooves head towards us as a Zebra with gold rings around her fetlock and neck arrived and smiled.
"Ah there you are, when I heard the roar I knew you weren't far."
"I'm pretty sure the entire forest heard it Z." I said as we bumped hooves. "So whos the patient, I need to turn in the bounty before someone else takes it for their own." The Zebra opened her mouth but was interrupted by the filly.
"Wait wait wait wait…" Scootaloo turned to the Zebra. "You mean to tell me that this guy with, two swords on his back, is going to help me fly?" Zecora nodded. "Well I'm dead." Me and The Zebra chuckled.
"Haven't lost a patient yet." I said jokingly, she just scowled at me. "So let's get to it." I walked into the hut and tapped a hoof on Zecoras’ bed, which was a literal hole in the wall, while Zecora went to get Knockout Powder. “Now get on the bed and tell me what seems to be the problem.” I said in a relaxing tone.
“I can’t fly, that’s the problem.” She said as she buzzed her wings like a hummingbird, only getting a few inches off the ground before touching back to the floor. I picked her up and placed her on the bed with me, I pressed my hooves along her wings, trying to feel for anything out of place.
“Is it biological or was it an injury that caused your disability.” I asked, Scootaloo looked at me like I asked her to divide by zero. “Were you born with it or not.” A look of recognition appeared on her face.
“I’ve been this way my entire life.” She said, then turned to look at me. “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Fixing me. What do you have to gain from this?”
“Nothing. I'm just repaying Zecora a favor.” Scootaloo opened her mouth to reply when Zecora arrived with the powder. “This is what’s going to happen.” I say as I turn the orange Pegasus to face me. “I will splash this powder on your face and you will pass out, when you wake up you will be able to fly around the world twice over.”
Scootaloo looked towards the zebra with hopeful eyes. “Can he actually do it. Make me fly.” Zecora smiled.
“I have seen him do many great things, this task of his will be a fling.” With a nod of determination Scootaloo was ready to feel the sky under her wings.
———————————————-
After Scootaloo went under I watched my companion shift into his natural form and place his hands on her wings. I am still amazed at his powers as I saw Scootaloo's wings melt with James's hands, she didn't even stir from her slumber. I watched as the fillies flesh move with his arms like it was as natural as breathing. "Like what you see." Said a familiar voice. I shook my head and saw that James was staring at me, apparently not needing to look at his work to accomplish it.
"A bit, truth be told I haven't thought of it. " I admitted, he gave a smile.
"You wanna try?" I stared at him shocked, my mouth agape. Was it even possible? Thoughts ran through my head about what could happen, especially with someone as unknown as him. Slowly I trotted up to him, unsure of what to do, I stood by his side and watched as he built the wings piece by piece. "Now put your hooves where my wrists are." I did as he said and saw my hooves disappear into the mix of flesh, my eyes widened as I felt the pieces of Scootaloo's wings move down his arm and being put together like a puzzle onto the little Pegasus. So this is how he heals them. A minute passed in silence and awe as the wings were complete. "Now that that's done I need to go, I wasn't lying about someone taking my kill." Said James, we said our farewells as he regained his pony form and walked out of my home.
The first time I met him he was only able to use the basics of his power, barely at that, now he is able to heal heavily damaged limbs in under a minute, cure sicknesses, and stop beasts from hurting more innocents. To think he was so arrogant and foolhardy in the beginning.
----------------------------------------------- “I have never felt so full since… ever.” Said the Changeling Empress as she patted her stomach with a satisfied look on her face. Leaning back on her chair, she turned to Mantis. “Where ever did you find such a flower. In my long life I have searched this world twice over for other sources of love, yet never found one as powerful as this.” That got the other Queens interest piqued.
“Yeah. Where is this James you've been telling us about?” Said Earwig. “He sounds like a very valuable ally that we should use to our advantage.” She turned to Ruby with a smirk on her face. “And with tales of his shapeshifting abilities rivaling mothers, he would be great at infiltration.”
“And that is why we should stay on his good side and not use him like a puppet to accomplish our goals. One wrong move and were goop.”
“Yeah, that's true.” She said bummed.
“Yes he's powerful, but how did he find these plants.” Said the Empress exasperatedly. “They just can't exist, it's impossible.”
“That's because they don't, he made them.” Said Mantis, this got the attention of everyone in the room. “And don't say impossible around him, he likes to prove people that anything is possible, or as he says ‘For shits and giggles.’”
“And when will we meet him? I'm feeling so anxious to meet such a powerful being.” Giggled Jewel. Mantis had a thoughtful look on her face and tapped a hoof to her chin.
“I'm not sure. Truthfully he could be anywhere in the world right now.”
“Or you could ask me.” A voice said from the entrance, everyone looked towards said voice and saw a six foot tall biped wearing a three piece suit with a blood red tie with green eyes and pitch black hair. “What did I miss?” The Empress looked at her daughter
"Is that him?" She asked, Mantis nodded. The Empress left her seat and walked up to the man.
“So, your the person that saved my daughter and in turn the entire changeling race.” She said, her eyes boring into the creatures, searching for any disseat.
“That sounds like something I would do." He says nonchalantly. Then the Empress bowed low to the ground, nose almost touching the floor.
"You have my thanks, and in turn, my hive is open for whatever you wish. Just ask and it will be brought to you post haste." That made all the changeling jaws drop, an Empress submitting to another creature. It was unheard of. James put on a small smile of gratitude.
"Thank you for your generosity, but I-" He was interrupted by the double doors swinging open as one of the guards announced.
"Presenting Queen of the Emerald hive, Queen Chrysalis."
“Presenting Queen of the Emerald hive, Queen Chrysalis.” As the guard finished, Chrysalis walked through the double doors, her head held high. Scratches of various sizes littered her body, the Everfrees beasts and plants were harsh on her for sure, leaves were wrapped around her hind leg like a bandage which was soaked with her glowing green blood. If she was in pain she didn't show it except for a slight limp when she put pressure on said leg. What was odd about her though was that she looked well fed, due to the circumstances.
“Mother. Sisters. It's good to see you all again.” She said calmly, then limped towards the table and sat down in an empty chair. Nobody took their eyes off of her, their sister, the cause of so much destruction, the creature that almost wiped out the entire changeling species. So much hate was directed at Chrysalis that she started to feel sick. Earwig's eyes turned to slits as she let out a feral hiss at the horrific monster that she once called family. Anticipating Earwigs actions, Mirror placed a hoof in front of her sisters chest as a way of saying 'Not yet' while sporting a scowl herself, never looking away from the fiend in front of her. Jewel, like her mother and Mantis, put on a practiced mask of calm as she watched every movement her sister made.
"Leave us." The Empress stated simply. Without a word the guards saluted and trotted out of the room, James went to follow the retreating guards but was held back with a glow of magic coming from the Empress. "You stay James, we may need your assistance if things get...messy." She said calmly, never looking away from her daughter.Play peacekeeper, shouldn't be too hard. James thinks to himself as he nods and slinks into the shadows. As a second thought he pulled up his skill sheet and did a doubletake. Ok. Maybe not. He thought as he saw that Diplomacy was one of his lowest stats.
"Lovely decorations you have here, sister. I didn't think you liked flowers so much." Says Chrysalis as she plucks one of the flowers from off of the table and observes it in her magical field. Mantis nods as silence overcame the room once more. Chrysalis let out an exasperated growl then crushed the flower in her magic. "What do you want from me? An apology? Me groveling at your hooves for forgiveness? Recompense for what my actions caused? Well! What do you want!?" She yelled. "I know what I did and I do not feel an ounce of regret doing it. If I still had my army I would do it again and again until Canterlot is under changeling rule." A look of disgust came over Mirrors face.
"Do you have any shame. Millions died because of your actions, innocent lives are dying as we speak. You, in a single day, made changelings enemy number one on ALL hitlists."
"Pfft, please. By the way Mantises hive looks I see that we are doing fine towards rebuilding." She says dismissively. Mirrors eyes turned to slits.
"That does not excuse you from your actions." She hissed. "With that one reckless move you became the bane of all changelings in existence, and you play it off like some kind of game?" Chrysalis shrugged non-committedly.
"I would have won too if it hadn't been for Shining Armor and that pink bitch." She spat the last words as if they tasted fowl in her mouth. Mirror sighed, it just wasn't getting through that thick skull of hers.
"Alright Chrysalis." Jewel spoke. "If you think that we got off easy from your actions then tell me how many of our sisters do you see before you?"
"How is this relevant?"
"Just answer the question" She said with a little more bite.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes "Four."
"And how many sisters do we have in total?"
"Ten." As she said this, her face turned from calm to horrified as she put a hoof to her mouth. "You don't mean..."
"Yes, Onyx, Glimmer, and Nymph are confirmed dead, the other three are scattered to the wind for all we know after they broke off of the Hive Mind." Chrysalis's face fell as she heard the news. She always respected and looked up to Onyx, even though she was two years older, Chrysalis considered her like a second mother. Wherever you would see one the other was close behind, when Onyx left to make her own hive Chrysalis vowed to be the best queen just like her at any cost.
Tears fell freely from Chrysalis's eyes as she understood the weight of her actions.
"Now that we got her, what do we do now?" Asked Mantis as she looked around the table.
"I say we kill her and bring her head to the equestrian princesses, hopefully they would take it as an apology for attacking their capital and take the bounty away from all changelings." Earwig stated.
Mirror placed a hoof on her chin in thought then nodded. "I have to agree with Earwig, I cant think of anyway we can deal with Chrysalis and the Equestrian bounty."
"Jewel what do you think we should do?" Asked Mantis.
"To maximize her effectiveness we should use her as a broodmare to repopulate our species." Jewel stated simply, her sisters nodded in agreement.
"It is settled then." Said The Empress as she stood from her seat. "As punishment for almost causing the extinction of the Changeling species you will personally birth six hives worth of Changeling drones and a royal nymph for each hive. Guards!" The door guards entered the room and bowed. "Take the traitor to the breeding chambers and start the breeding immediately." The guards rose from their bow and took a sniffling Chrysalis to her new home for the rest of her life.
The changeling royalty sighed in relief as one of there problems were gone. "Now what about Celestia?" Asked Mantis. "Earwig may be right, if we prove that the cause of their destruction was dead then they would have less of a cause to hunt us down."
"You just leave that to me." James said.
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Princess Celestia started her afternoon with court like she did everyday. She saw many ponies with many different requests, business offers, loans from the crown, the occasional gift, or some rich snob who wants to tear down several apartment buildings to build a sauna. When she starts court she prepares herself for at least a few odd or even outrageous requests from the populous. But being presented Chrysalises severed head as a peace offering with a note stuck to it that said 'Sorry. Please stop killing us.' from the changelings was a new one.
