Hyaline Then and Again
Attack of The Dead Bugs
By Mlphero123
***
A desolate wasteland. That’s what the front was. An endless void of nothing. No guards, no explosions. Nothing. The war was taking a heavy toll for both the Changelings and the EUP Guard. For many, this war would be the last thing they see. From a stray piece of dynamite to an arrow to the neck or a knife slash, no one was safe during the First Changeling-Pony War. However at Fort Hyaline, it was different. Despite being near the border, Fort Hyaline was very peaceful. That was good for the many Changelings stationed there. Quiet. That’s all the fort was.
Fort Hyaline
Cpt. Foresight
2nd Devil Horn Company
0600
The sound of arrows hitting wood was a daily for Captain Foresight. His Changelings were trained all day to defend the border. He felt like they were special, like they were destined for great things. He quickly loaded another arrow into his crossbow. It was almost a part of him. Loading, then shooting the weapon back-to-back was easy. Despite all these factors, the crossbows they had weren’t all that good. Yeah they had great range and great power, but for the bugs in the trenches, their weapons would rust easily. Foresight felt a bit bad for them. Another flaw was the bolt. If the user is strong, then they’d be fine, especially if the user is a magic user. But for those who can’t use magic, then the weapons could be a pain to use. Especially if it’s rusted.
Foresight ignored the cons of his weapon and continued firing. The sound of the arrows impact reminded him of marching. It was almost a… rhythm. He sighed and slipped his crossbow over his shoulder. He decided to head to the trenches, where the messhall was, and also check on the troops.
Near Fort Hyaline
Gen. Silverfang
47th Royal Crown Division
12th Night Stalker Division
0600
The Fort was ahead. All the guards were itching to get their hooves dirty. It was the first time a Batpony and Royal Guard division worked together. The Bats usually covered the night battles and the guards handled the other battles. However Luna felt that the fort may have been too strong and more soldiers, especially well trained ones, would get them a victory.
Leading this attack was Silverfang, a Batpony Gerneral, and a personal friend of Luna. There were two things that made Silverfang special. One, Silverfang was a General who fought on the front, which isn’t what most of them would do. Second, Silverfang was a mare. There weren’t many mares on the battlefield, but Silverfang was one of the exceptions. She knew what to do, and how to do it, and this battle was no exception. “Is it ready?” she asked a nearby guard.
“Yes ma’am, it’s ready.”
“Alright,” she turned to a Pegasus, “wind?”
“Blowing south. It’s in our favor.”
“Okay.” She sighed with relief, “bring it out!”
This “it” she was referring to were tanks filled with pesticides, which are lethal to Changelings. Perfect. This wasn’t going to be pretty, but war never is. She took another breath. She wasn’t sure if the deaths were going to be quick, or not. She shook the thought from her head. These were the Changelings, their enemy. Who cares how they die? She grabbed a mask from her saddlebag. It was a special mask that protected its wearer from deadly toxins like smoke, chlorine, or in this case, pesticides. It had a very basic design. Two sets of eyeholes to see out of, and a breathing apparatus. There was also a hole in the top for unicorn soldiers. The Changelings didn't have such technology. All they’d be able to do is wait for death or retreat.
“Fire!”
The sound of arrows and yells caught Silverfangs attention.. She looked over her shoulder. Two guards laid dead, three Changelings also dead, and two Changelings were escaping. Silverfang ran over. She noticed one of the guards didn’t have his mask. “Where’s the mask?” She quickly looked over to the fleeing Changelings. She whipped her crossbow over her shoulder. She quickly, but smoothly shot at the Changelings. The arrow flew with speed and precision. It flew between the two Changelings. It didn’t kill them, but it did hit the mask. The breathing apparatus was cut from the mask. The Changeling ran back to the broken mask and picked it up. They continued running.
“Should we get’em?”
Silverfang shook her head. “Let’em be, mask don’t work either way.”
The guards watched as the Changelings ran away. It didn’t matter anyway. A few minutes later, they’d all be dead.
“Why the hay would anyone need a mask like that?”
That was the question first spoken by the Changelings. The two survivors are panting heavily, and their crossbows had been fired.
“Okay, tell me what happened first,” Foresight said.
One of the Changelings, Scattershot, told it. “We were on patrol like always. We followed our usual route when all of a sudden, we’re bumped into a whole division of RG’s. They were all wearing this weird mask thing. We quickly fired at them, but we were outnumbered. They got Scrap, Trax, and Hylix.”
“Okay, now for the mask.” Foresight walked over to the broken mask, which lay on a table. Only thing that was certain was that the mask looked creepy looking. Why were all the guards wearing this mask? Psychological warfare?
“They trying to scare us?” a nearby Changeling asked.
“‘Course they are Venomous,” Scattershot said, but they can’t. We’re Devil Horns! Ain’t that right!”
“Ooh Rah!
Ooh Rah!
Ooh Rah!”
Foresight looked at his soldiers. They were so confident in their abilities. We looked at the mask. There had to be a purpose, right?
“Sir!” Foresight looked over. A Changeling holding binoculars was calling him. “Come see this!”
Foresight went over to the soldier, who handed him binoculars. He looked through them.
“What do you see Cap?”
Through the binoculars, he saw the RG’s as well as a couple of Batponies, all wearing those masks. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar shape. “It’s Hylix! He’s alive!” He continued to watch as the RG’s held him down. Then they brought out a large barrel. “What the buck is that?” The barrel had a symbol on the side of it. What did it contain?
Silverfang watched as the guards held the Changeling down. A nearby engineer walked over, holding a modified mask in his hoof. “You can stop with the masks! They’re not scaring me!” the Changeling said.
Silverfang chuckled, “they’re not supposed to. This is.” The engineer took the mask and put it on the Changelings face and took the breather and connected it to the barrel. “I’ll give you five seconds to start running to the base and tell them to surrender.”
“Buck no!”
“Five.”
“Come on!”
“Four.”
“I can take it!”
“Two.
One.
Zero.”
She turned to the barrel. She opened a hatch, which was used to let the contents within the barrel out. The pesticides flew up to the Changeling. Silverfang noticed the Changeling starting to shake. The smoke got to his face.
“What is tha- augh!” The Changeling started violently shaking around, “take it awwf. AHH! It hur- ack!,” the Changeling started throwing up blood, much to the disgust of the guards holding him down. “Stop it! Plea-…” the Changeling stopped moving. The guards let him go. He didn’t move. They took the mask off. The sight was horrifying. The Changeling lay dead. He had chemical burns on his face. His face was covered in blood. And a piece of his lung fell out. They all moved away from the dead Changeling.
“Sweet Luna…” one of the Batponies said.
I know…” Sliverfang looked towards the fort. Was this really necessary?
Foresight stared in horror as Hylix collapsed dead. “Sweet Chrysalis.”
“Sir, you have a visitor!”
“Coming!” He looked back at Hylix. “Sorry buddy…”
“Catalyst?” That’s the last Changeling Foresight thought he’d see.
“Foresight. How’s it going?” Catalysts asked.
Foresight didn’t expect Catalysts to show up. Catalysts was a elder Changeling. He couldn’t fight, however he was always nice and helpful. He had a military background, fighting in the Changeling-Griffon War. Now, he was just a helpful elder who enjoyed helping nymphs. Just seeing the old bug made anyone smile. He walked over to Foresight, “how’s the base holding?”
“So far so good.”
“You remind me of an old friend.”
“Who?”
“That’s a story for another time.”
A Changeling looked over, “sir, we’re ready to go get Hylix.”
Foresight looked over to the soldier. “That won’t be necessary…”
“Why?” Foresight looked over to the mask. The Changelings eyes filled with clouds of grey. He grabbed the mask and threw it against the wall. “BUCK!” The mask shattered into pieces.
Another Changeling looked over, “how’d they..?
“They- they gassed him with something.”
“Gassed him?”
Foresight nodded. They looked towards the opposing side. The Changelings nodded at each other and grabbed their weapons.
The guards moved towards the barrels. They opened up the barrels and the pesticides started to float out. The wind was in their favor, blowing right to the base. Silverfang slipped her mask on. This hopefully will be over soon.
“Foresight?”
Foresight looked over to the Changeling. “Yes, Catalysts?” he said.
The old Changeling walked over to the Captain. “Can I look through your binoculars? I might die and never get to look.”
“Of course,” Foresight passed his binoculars to Catalysts.
The elderly Changeling put the scopes to his face. “Wow!” he said, “miracles!”
Foresight smiled. Then a question hit him, “Catalyst? Do you think death is scary?”
The Changeling smiled. “Take your binoculars, and look it like this,” he flipped them to the right side, “if you look at it like this, it’s close, however,” he flipped it to the opposite side, “if you look at it like this, it’s really far away.”
“I guess you're right.”
“Sir! The rags are ready!”
The Changelings looked at the urine-covered rags.
“Ugh! They smell bad!”
“Do we have to wear these?!”
Foresight shook his head, “it’s the only way we can survive!” Catalyst wrapped the rag around his mouth. “I’ll go check on the base,” Foresight said.
“Okay.”
Foresight grabbed a few rags and moved towards the base. Please, let this work.
Silverfang watched as the pesticides moved closer to the base. She still couldn’t believe they were doing this. The other guards looked ready. Their crossbows were all loaded. The minutes turned to hours. Then a whistle blew and a red flag flew. Silverfang looked at the Fort. “Let’s move!” The guards started moving. From above it looked like a giant tidal wave. The sound of marching was the only thing that could be heard. Morale was high and they were getting closer to the fort…
…until they saw the bodies. Thousands upon thousands of Changelings lay dead. The guards stared at the dead bugs. Silverfang took her mask off and looked around the desolate wasteland.
“Ma’am?”
Silverfang looked over to the guard, who was pointing somewhere. She looked at where the guard was pointing. She stared in disbelief. The “dead” Changelings were getting up.
Foresight and the other Changelings stared at the stunned guards. He looked around at the ground to see all of his brothers and sisters laying down. Then one body caught his attention.
“CATALYSTS!”
“CATALYSTS!”
With that, an arrow flew past Silverfangs head and hit a guard in the eye. Another arrow hit a guard in the neck. Silverfang didn’t know what to do. The “Changelings” didn’t even look like Changelings. They were wearing bloodied rags around their mouths. They had chemical burns on their bodies. And they were spitting up pieces of their lungs and other respiratory organs. The guards were horrified. Then a clicking sound was heard. Oh no.
Two Changelings fired their crossbows at the opposing guards. Two guards fell down dead. Two Changelings ran towards an automatic-crossbow. With one pull of the action, the beast of a weapon was unleashed. The other Changelings grabbed knives and swords and charged the terrified guards.
Silverfang watched as the automatic-crossbow tore through the guards. “Run!” Everypony dropped their things and ran. The Changelings followed them, stabbing anyone and everyone in their way.
Foresight and the others charged the terrified guards. The Changelings charged them swinging knives, swords, and firing their crossbows. Foresight looked back to his brothers and sisters, “onward my comrades! Honor our fallen brothers and sisters! Make sure their deaths weren’t in vain!” They pushed the RG’s back. The charge continued until the guards were too far for crossbows to hit them. They walked back to the fort.
“What do we do sir?”
Foresight took his rag off. “Go call for reinforcements and evacuation.”
“Yes sir.” The Changeling moved towards the radio room.
Foresight looked over towards Catalysts body. He walked over to him. He looked at Catalysts. He picked up his body and carried it back. He went to the medical station. He laid Catalysts body on a bed. Then he noticed a shine from his saddlebag. He reached for the object. A Queen’s Mane Cross. He held it to his heart. “Your death won’t be in vain.”
“Your majesty.”
Queen Chrysalis looked at the Changeling. “Yes?”
“The Hyaline defenders are back.”
Chrysalis had full attention. “Send them in.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Chrysalis sighed with relief. Her throne room door opened up, and in stepped Foresight and Scattershot, still wearing their rags.
Chrysalis looked at them with disbelief. The stories were real. “Are you all okay?”
“Yes ma’am,” Scattershot said.
“I’m glad to hear that. What about Catalysts?” Foresight looked down and shook his head. “Oh… I’m... sorry.”
“It’s okay your majesty.”
Chrysalis looked at the injured soldiers. “It’ll take a while for you all to heal. Please stay here.”
“Yes ma’am,” Scattershot said.
“Okay. Dismissed.” Scattershot left the room, but Foresight stayed in. “Do you need something?”
He walked over to the Queen. “Here,” he said giving her Catalysts’ Queen’s Mane Cross.
She tried not to cry. “Thank you.”
“Yes ma’am.”
The Attack of the Dead Bugs. That was the name of the famous Battle of Fort Hyaline. Chrysalis stared at the two Queen’s Mane Crosses on the wall. The two Crosses belonged to two brave soldiers she knew personally.
“Your majesty?”
Chrysalis looked over her shoulder. There stood two young Changelings. The older one was named Brokenwing, and the younger one was named Blue Fang.
“What are you doing in the Veterans Hall?” Blue Fang asked.
She looked down to the ground, then to the brothers. “Have you two ever heard about The Attack of the Dead Bugs?”