"Secundus!" Queen Chrysalis said to the Changeling named Secundus in a powerful and commanding tone. "You must lead the attack!"

In the throne room to address the said Changeling, many other Changelings had come to see the fate of their survival.
Secundus shook his head in disagreement to the Changeling queen.

"I can't do it." Secundus said, looking up to the Queen.

"What are you talking about?" Queen Chrysalis asked. "Are you going to disobey my orders?"

"If it means that way... Then, yes." Secundus said, looking into the eyes of the Changeling queen.

"Are you going to let your people starve?" Queen Chrysalis asked. "Look at them!" she said, pointing her hoof towards the Changelings.

Secundus looked towards to the Changelings the Queen had pointed at. Little young Changelings looked at Secundus with pleading eyes. Their eyes yearned for food. Suffering from malnutrition, the little Changelings could barely even move.

Gritting his teeth, Secundus looked to his suffering people and then to Queen Chrysalis and back.

"Well?" Queen Chrysalis asked. "What will it be? Your morals or your people?"

"Th-there's got to be another solution!" Secundus said. "There just has to!"

"Our people have suffered long enough and cannot stand up to it any longer, Secundus!" Queen Chrysalis said, losing patience. "It'll be a feast for all!"

Looking back the suffering Changelings, Secundus finally made his decision.

"No..." he said. "I will not help you in the attack!"

Gasps from the other Changelings were heard. Their savior for their survival had turned his back against them.

"You are no longer any use to us!" Queen Chrysalis said in a sudden uproar.

The words that Secundus never expected to hear was said.

"You are hereby exiled from the Swarm, Secundus the Changeling!"

Secundus widened his eyes from Queen Chrysalis's immediate dire decision.

"Wh-what?!" Secundus exclaimed. "But... you're-"

"Enough!" Queen Chrysalis said. "Leave and never come back!"

Walking away with his head down away from the Queen, murmurs came from the crowd of Changelings. The majority of them had horrified looks on their faces. Secundus had served the Swarm and was an excellent soldier that held an amazing ability - immunity to magic.

However, some of the Changelings were glad. If there was a worthless Changeling, why not throw them away? They were of no more use. They would just bring you down.

Queen Chrysalis's voice echoed throughout the castle.

"Leave, and NEVER come back again, Secundus!"

That was just a few hours ago.

Secundus sighed as he walked along a dirt path with things packed in a single bag. All the things he had were a few books, a quill and little ink, some bits, and 'love' bread.

Secundus had experimented with pony food and their food, love, and tried to put them together. It was portable and lasted for a very long time. However, Queen Chrysalis disapproved the idea as half of the love used in making the bread simply disappeared. Why waste half of something when you could have it all?

It also tasted horrid. Who would've wanted it?

The bits he had found was left over from when he and a bunch of other Changelings raided a small village. Secundus had regretted going, but the opportunity had gave him the chance of learning more about ponies. It was also because the queen ordered it.

The books were also found in the raided village.

Changelings never really did have the time to educate themselves. Their main objective in life was simple: survive.
Life in the Swarm was brutal as new Changelings were almost constantly spawning in. Whether it was a forced transformation or a natural birth, the Changelings needed care.

And that nipped away at valuable time.

The three books, the only books Secundus had were relatively simple.

Teaching himself to read to the level of a young pony filly, Secundus would try his best to understand pony culture. It had fascinated him. One book was about the history of Equestria, a book Secundus had 'read' countless times.
He didn't know many of the words, so he would put 'two' and 'two' together.

For lines such as:

"The king of the pegasi felt [?] when he remembered the times when the pegasi were independent.”

"N-O-S-T-A-L-G-I-C." Secundus would spell out.

Scratching his head, he had no idea what the word meant.

Another book was information on something on something called the 'Crystal Empire'. Secundus never knew it had even existed until he saw the pictures. But being barely to read, Secundus thought it was just information in some kind of fantasy novel. The drawings were amazing in the tattered book.

Pictures of ponies that sparkled brightly glittered page after page. Secundus was filled with wonder if a place like the Crystal Empire ever existed.

The third book was a romance novel and Secundus was completely puzzled by it. It was a story of a beautiful young princess that fell in love with an outsider. The outsider also loved her back. But their love was forbidden, banning them from seeing each other ever again.

"Princess Amor was [?] whether or not to go with her lover or stay at the castle to know her love was gone forever."

The mysterious word spelled out to 'ambivalent'.

Secundus had no idea what it meant. He didn't even know how to say it.

With the books came with a quill and ink. By learning to read, Secundus tried to write, but it always left a black mess. It wasn't pretty even if he wanted to practice writing.

And that was all his supplies.

Secundus sighed as he walked on. Hoof after hoof with no destination, what was the purpose of his life?

Being part of the Swarm meant survival and ONLY survival.

"I must warn the ponies of Canterlot..." Secundus said to himself as he walked on.
But would ponies trust words coming out of a changeling’s mouth? And even if he had morphed into a pony, they would take him and bring him up to the guards for further questioning.

It was a hard decision for Secundus.

But with first things first, it was shelter. He would need a place to sleep and a place to call home. Looking into the trees of the forest, Secundus walked deeper into the forest off the dirt path.

With the vegetation brushing against his legs, Secundus was on alert as anything could attack him at anytime. A few minutes passed as Secundus was deep in the woods. Looking around for a good natural shelter, all there was tall slender trees with no branches near the bottom. All of them were at the top.

They were no good.

But at last, in the corner of his eye, Secundus spotted something that looked like a giant rock.

It was a cave.

Secundus smiled to himself as he had found an easy shelter. But the smile dropped as if something could be in there. Slowly walking into the dark cave, Secundus lit up his horn to make light as he ventured deeper into the cave.

It was an unintelligent move, but it was efficient. Flapping his wings, Secundus hovered forward, deeper into the cave

It was perfect.

There weren't any predators and most of all, it was dark. Flying up high in the giant cave, there was a small ledge that was right above the entrance. Landing on the firm ledge, Secundus jumped on it to make sure it was stable. And it was. Taking his pack off, Secundus softly placed it to the side so he could get it later.

With a firm look on his face, Secundus decided to risk it.

Fluttering his wings yet again, he had to warn about the attack on Canterlot. He would had to do IT.

---

Canterlot

The wonderful city of Canterlot was certainly a marvelous place. A high society, wealthy city with many posh ponies, Canterlot was an advanced city. Buildings of many sizes; ranging from cafes to the Canterlot Castle, Canterlot was a bustling place with many fancy things.

Ponies on the streets headed into shops to buy the latest thing and whatnot in the rich city. Sitting at cafes or going to a special event, the city was in harmony and very calm.

Who would disturb such peace?

"Have you seen what they had at the shops today?" a fancy mare asked in a posh voice.

She wore a beautiful dress despite it being an ordinary day.

"Why yes, I have!" another mare said, placing her tea cup down on a platter. "The hats they have are certainl-"

"Run!" a voice said out of nowhere in sheer panic.

The single voice caught the attentions of many ponies.

"Hmm?" a pony murmured.

"What happened?" another voice asked.

A stallion ran in wearing tattered clothes and looked very weary.

"Changelings!" he said. "They're here-OOF!"

A Changeling with pure blue eyes looked evilly down at the tackled stallion.

"Well, well, well..." the Changeling said coldly. "Looks like you're my first victim..."

"Help!" the stallion said, trying to run away.

The Changeling then grinned.

"You fool."

The emotion of distress from the stallion's face disappeared in a moment. A white stream from the stallion slowly crept out like mist into the Changeling's mouth. Within moments, the lone Changeling raised his head and grinned evilly.

"Run, ponies."

The moment he had said those words, all the ponies started to scream and yell in panic, trying to run to safety. As the ponies were running away, the Changeling didn't notice guards coming behind him.

"Halt!" a guard said.

In usual gold armor and blue eyes, more than 6 guards looked angrily at the Changeling.

"So the guards finally come..." the Changeling said, dropping his voice very low.

He smiled evilly at the guards, which caused them to flinch. If an 'ordinary' Changeling saw them, they would start to panic and try to run away.

"You have to come with us!" a guard said, not wanting to kill anypony in the middle of a street.

"Try me." the Changeling answered, stretching his wings.

"Get him!" a guard yelled, pointing towards the Changeling.

A guard lunged toward the changeling, but the Changeling already had his wings out ready to go. Missing the tackle, the guard almost lost balance.

"My turn." the Changeling said, smiling yet again.

With amazing speed, he headbutted the guard that tried to tackle him. In an instant, before the guard hit the ground, the Changeling was flying above the other guards. Some of the unicorns among them had their horns ready to cast a spell.
A beam of magic from multiple guards bored right into the flying Changeling, making a loud explosion as the beams hit him.

A cloud of smoke filled the sky from the attack.

"We got him!" a guard said cheerfully as other guards begin to whoop.

But the flapping of wings were still heard from the Changeling. He was barely scratched. He had wounds, but it didn't look that bad.

"Be warned!" the Changeling said, continuing to fly higher. "We'll be back!"

In a flash, the Changeling flew off instantly away from Canterlot. As he did, an officer of the higher rank came in. The Captain of the Royal Guard. And he went by the name of Shining Armor.

"What happened here?" Shining Armor asked as he knew there was disturbance.

His blue eyes looked into each guard which made them salute in respect to their leader.

"A Changeling had managed to sneak into the city, sir!" a guard said, his back up and head held up.

"A Changeling?" Shining Armor asked, raising an eyebrow from under his helmet. "How did a Changeling slip under your hooves?"

"We-we have no idea!" another guard said. "But the Changeling said, ' We'll be back. ', sir!"

"I must alert the princess immediately..." Shining Armor said, walking away from the guards. "Dismissed."

The Changeling that flew out of Canterlot was smiling to himself. He had to do it to warn the ponies of Canterlot.

"I hope they take my assault into account..." Secundus the Changeling said as he flew on. "It would be a shame if Chrysalis's attack succeeded..."

---

A few hours later...

Secundus got a small base camp going with a fire out by the cave. By learning how to survive, Secundus got a hold of a few pony techniques. He found pony culture absolutely fascinating.

Rubbing the marks the magic had done to him, the scratches he received from the attacks annoyed him.

"Magic..." Secundus grumbled to himself. "It's a bitch..."

Getting any leaves he found, Secundus rubbed the sores he received. Soon, he looked like a creature made of leaves.

"Day 1..." Secundus said to himself. "Camp is pretty shitty and the sores on me are pretty annoying."

As he said that, Secundus fetched a large leaf and the worn out quill from his bag.

The fire continued to crackle as Secundus tried to write down the words he said. The leaves fell from his sores and began to slowly fall down as they slowly began to lose their 'grip' on Secundus's body.

"Day..." Secundus said, scratching his head. "How do you spell it?..."

Little did he know that in a few days time...
Everything was about to change...