Author's Notes:

WARNING! MATURE CONTENT AHEAD! All but this chapter of the story is rated teen, and you can skip this chapter without missing much of the story.

You have been warned. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

. . .

Just as a reminder for you all, here's what the six members of Fireteam Icebreaker look like in their ODST combat uniforms:

GySgt. David "Gunny" Alvarez:
Uniform – Black
Chest-plate – Black with a blue fire design
Helmet – Black
Helmet Stripe – Blue
Visor Color – Blue

Sgt. Alex "Sarge" Thompson:
Uniform - Black
Helmet – Black
Helmet Stripe – Green
Visor Color - Black

Cpl. Marcus Williams:
Uniform – Grey
Helmet – Grey
Helmet Stripe – Light Grey
Visor Color – Black

P.F.C. Ogden Jenkins:
Uniform – Brown, Green, Tan, and Black Woodland camo
Helmet – Brown, Green, Tan, and Black Woodland camo
Helmet Stripe – Brown, Green, Tan, and Black Woodland camo
Visor Color – Brownish Green

Pvt. Oscar “Sidney” Morgan:
Uniform - Grey
Helmet – Grey
Helmet Stripe – Grey
Visor Color - Black

Pvt. Eugene “Shifty” Phillips:
Uniform – Dark Grey, Light Grey, and Brown Woodland camo
Helmet – Dark Grey, Light Grey, and Brown Woodland camo
Helmet Stripe – Dark Grey, Light Grey, and Brown Woodland camo
Visor Color – Dark Grey

Chapter 23: Reunion

August 10, 2558
2015 hours
Apple Family Farm

Greyblade, finishing up work on the farm, was putting away some tools beside the barn when yet another stranger appeared at the entrance; he had a brown coat, with black and green colored mane. She noticed only when she heard Big Mac start talking to him.

“Well howdy there stranger!” Big Mac called as he approached the newcomer. “What brings ya to Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Just looking for work, brother,” said the anonymous, brown earthpony, who’s voice caused Greyblade’s ears to perk up. “I’ve probably spent half of my life on a farm, so I don’t know what else I’d be qualified for in this town."

That voice, it couldn’t be! She looked over again and had to rub her eyes at the sight of the new arrival.

“Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself,” he said as he extended a hoof to shake with Big Mac.

Greyblade now looked as though she’d seen a ghost. She couldn’t believe it. It was him. It was-

“Cinder Pine,” he said, still holding out his hoof. “I’m from Gildedale. I-I know our two countries have just had a bit of a quarrel, but I want you to know that I have no hostilities with any of you.”

“It’s all good, Cinder, we hold no grudges on this farm,” said Big Mac, now shaking hooves with the brown stallion. “Tha name’s Big Macintosh, but Big Mac, or Mac, is also fine.”

“Pleasure to meet you Mac,” said Cinder Pine. “This is such a relief to hear! You’ve no idea how long I’ve been walki-”

Big Mac held up a hoof, interrupting the newcomer.

“Na hold on,” he said. “I’ll have you know, we’re not doin’ too well on living space at tha moment. We only had one guest room, and it’s already taken!”

“I mean, I don’t need a bed or anything. In fact, that barn over there would be plenty! We’re not the wealthiest nation ever, so I’d be used to it.”

“Ah, no worries. If you’d like ta start settin’ up in there, ya can.”

“Sure, thank you much!”

Cinder began trotting up the hill towards the barn, when a realization struck him. He turned around to face the red stallion again.

“Um, just out of curiosity, you said somepony else took the guest room?” he asked.

“Oh yeah, we picked her up the other day,” said Big Mac. “That’s her, right there actually.”

“C-Ci-Cinder?” came a shaky, feminine voice from behind the brown earth pony.

Cinder Pine turned around to see a grey earth pony, with familiar blonde mane, on the verge of tears before him.

“Greyblade?!” he muttered under his breath.

“It’s funny that ya ask, ‘cause she’s also from Gildedale,” Big Mac continued. “Do y’all two know each other?”

“…Yeah…” was all Cinder Pine could say.

“C-can I borrow him for a moment?” asked Greyblade, wiping away her misty eyes with a sniff.

“Sure thang!” said Big Mac as he cheerfully trotted off. “You two go ‘head an’ git acquainted now!”

The two just continued to stare at each other for a moment, before coming together in the warmest, tightest embrace they’d ever experienced in their lives.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. “And how-?”

“I watched you die!” she interrupted through her sobs. “How are you alive?!”

His expression changed from one of relief to one of concern, as he realized how many questions the both of them must have had.

“Cinder,” she continued. “I am so, so sorry! I should’ve…I couldn’t–”

This time, she was the one interrupted, via a long, passionate kiss from him. Her heart now racing, Greyblade only listened when they both had finished having their moment.

“Hey, I’m here now,” said Cinder Pine soothingly. “Come on, why don’t we answer each other’s questions somewhere private?”

August 10, 2558
2013 hours
Somewhere 200 miles southeast of Ottapaw
Five Minutes After Drop

…Hey. Rookie. You out there?... came Buck’s voice in distant memory. …Respond! That’s an order!…

David slowly regained consciousness within his pod. Acting on a mix of training and experienced instinct, he didn’t move a muscle aside from his eyes, checking the outside of his pod to be sure no hostiles were looking in.

Seeing none, he readied his 8-guage shotgun before manually releasing the pod door, now only having to flip a small switch to do so.

As soon as the cover was flung from his vehicle, he shouldered his weapon and swept out the area in front of him with his eyes; stepping out of the pod, he turned around and aimed his gun up and over the top of his pod, making sure no changelings were waiting to pounce from above.

He had landed in the middle of a small clearing, meaning behind the pod was the only place for an enemy to hide and still be near the trooper; Alvarez, realizing this, quietly moved around his one-time-use vehicle, aiming down the sight of his weapon while carefully shifting his weight to avoid making noise as he moved.

Nothing. The coast was clear.

Can never be too careful in this line of work, thought Gunny as he came back over to the front of his pod.

He reached in to grab his M6C/SOCOM when, suddenly, he heard all sorts of hoots, hollers, and barked orders from the trees around him, and they were closing in fast!

“Shit!” he muttered under his breath, yanking loose his silenced sidearm. It was all he needed to say, realizing just how much attention he must have attracted by crashing out of the sky; he wasn’t going to take any chances, as any voice that didn’t sound like one of his squad-mates’ was not to be trusted.

Before leaving his pod behind however, he flipped a small switch on the side console and pulled out a small detonator.

He ran towards the widest and nearest tree that he could find and put his back to it; luckily, that spot was dark enough to conceal his still form as a company-sized force of changelings burst into the clearing.

None of them looked his way, as they were too focused on the flashing red lights coming from inside the pod; as they approached to inspect it, Alvarez shuffled his way around the tree until he was fully out of their sight.

He took one more, cursory glance around the tree trunk to see that the changelings were now fully surrounding and on top of the pod, before promptly whipping his head back behind the trunk and pushing the button on his detonator.

The ensuing explosion was blocked by the tree trunk, but what it couldn’t block were the dying screams of his foes as heat, shrapnel, and body parts went flying past him on either side.

As soon as it began, it was over; deafening silence now surrounded the stone-faced squad-leader as he walked out from behind the tree. The half of it that had faced the blast was now fully blackened, flames licking at its surface, just like the charred remains of the former changeling company; Alvarez took his first and final look at the scorched clearing, before tossing the used detonator aside, turning, and running into the darkness of the trees.

August 10, 2558
2028 hours
Somewhere 200 miles southeast of Ottapaw
Emergency Rendezvous Location
Twenty Minutes After Drop

“Well, at least half the squad is together,” said Corporal Marcus Williams. “In theory, we could complete the mission ourselves if the others are dead.”

“Shouldn’t we radio them?” asked Private Oscar Morgan. “You know? Just to check in?”

“We’ll keep radio silence for just a few more minutes, Sidney,” said Sergeant Alex. “They know where this rendezvous location is, just giv’em a little more time to get here. If they seem like their taking too long, then we’ll radio in.”

“Understood sir,” said Sidney.

Just then, Gunnery Sergeant Alvarez crept into the clearing; he was greeted by an enthusiastic arm-shake from Sergeant Alex.

“Good to see ya made it, sir!” said the second-in-command. “Was your drop not too rough?”

“Let’s just say, I’ve had better welcoming committees,” said Gunny.

“Ha!” said Corporal Marcus. “So, a typical day at the office, eh?”

“Sure, you could say that.”

Everyone silenced themselves when they heard rustling in the bushes. Gunny immediately turned and pointed his shotgun at the sound behind him, right before Jenkins parted the greenery with Shifty right behind him; the PFC took one step forward before halting at the sight of weapons being pointed his way.

Thankfully, no one shot.

“Fuck’s sake, Ogden,” said Gunny, lowering his weapon. “What would I have told Rainbow?”

“Why not get behind me so you don’t have to find out?” was Jenkins’ response.

“Noted.”

“Ya know if you two weren’t such good friends,” said Sergeant Alex. “He’da court-martialed ya for saying that, Ogden.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Jenkins. “That’s why I said it.”

“Okay, focus up gang! We need to get moving,” Gunny ordered calmly. “We got a lot of ground to cover and god-knows how little time we have to cover it.”

With silent acknowledgement, Fireteam Icebreaker then moved as a unit into the foliage.

August 11, 2558
0056 hours
Somewhere 200 miles southeast of Ottapaw

Rainbow Dash struggled and fought in her chair as a damp cloth was held over her face while water was being poured onto it. Her desperate protests came out only as muffled squeaks.

Finally, the flow of water ceased and the veil was lifted, but not before she was punched right in the gut, causing her to violently spit out some of the water that had been choking her.

She then spent the next few seconds loudly coughing out the rest. Her head spinning, she couldn’t remember a time when she was more dizzy!

Her dampened mane continued to drip water as her forehooves were lifted up behind her, allowing a changeling to pull the chair out from under her. He released her and she fell onto her back with another yelp of pain.

As General Hives approached her writhing form, another changeling guard pointed his spear at her.

“Get up!” he ordered. “Sit with your hind-legs crossed!”

The pegasus did as she was told, still shivering from the pain and from being soaking wet. Her breathing was also uncontrollably shallow.

She naturally hung her head as Hives knelt down to her.

“Uck!” she gasped as he firmly grabbed her throat and lifted her chin.

He looked into her terrified magenta eyes for a few moments before smirking.

“I think that’s enough for tonight,” he said, looking away and slapping the same hoof on top of her head. “Everyone out.”

Rainbow briefly squealed as he shoved her entire upper-body down over herself until she was practically kissing the floor!

“Let’s leave our Equestrian scum to writhe in pain until next session,” Hives finished before he and his subordinates left the room, chair and all.

Slowly, she turned and lay on her side, trying in vain to fall asleep as her breath kept escaping her, and as her burns kept burning!

She began to cry again.

Is this how I die? she thought. At this point, she knew the humans weren’t going to stop for her, nor did she want them to; she’d rather have the changelings be defeated that live, if that’s what it took.

But that didn’t make things any less scary.

What was death even like? A few days ago, she would have never guessed she’d be answering that question so soon, and it was terrifying! But in her helplessness about it all, the only thing she could do was cry, accepting that it was going to happen anyway.

There was fear, yes, but mostly sadness. She knew, as a lone changeling opened and entered her cell, that the next blow to her face could be it (if the hypothermia didn’t get to her first).

But instead of the harsh clout she was expecting, the pegasus felt him gently pull her to her knees before hugging her tightly. She was confused until she realized he was trying to warm her back up with his own body heat. After some time, he released her and began untying her wings.

She only knew of one changeling that would help her.

“Thorax?” a confused Rainbow Dash asked. “Why?”

Not answering, he seemed more hurried all of a sudden, finishing the untying and pulling out a set of keys. The chained pegasus looked at them in shock.

“Where did-?” she began to ask as he unlocked her restraints.

“There’s no time to explain!” he said, a look of pure terror in his eyes, as if unable to comprehend what he was currently doing.

Without warning, he pushed her onto her stomach, the pegasus grunting weakly on impact.

“Brace yourself and try not to make noise, this might hurt,” he said, putting his horn on her broken wing and healing it with his magic.

Rainbow Dash winced and slapped both hooves over her mouth to keep from screaming as her bones were put back into place.

“I can’t heal your burns,” said Thorax upon finishing. “But that should be enough to get yourself out. Listen carefully, okay? The hive is located between the two largest volcanoes in the Scorchedlands. Can you remember that?”

The sky-blue pegasus froze; shocked at what she was hearing, she began shaking her head. This was all happening so fast!

“Okay, the changeling hive is located-”

“No, no! I got all that, but why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are you helping me?”

Thorax paused for a moment, quickly glancing at Rainbow’s cell entrance before looking back at her.

“I hate what I am,” he said uneasily. “Nothing we changelings have done was justified, you know that; I wouldn’t want us all to die, but we sure don’t deserve a happy ending. You need to tell the humans this information, but you have to leave now!”

As he said those final words, he began levitating with his wings before pushing her towards the cell entrance.

“W-wait! But, I-I don’t know where to go!” she stuttered. “How do I get out?!”

“Turn right down this hall and run!” said the changeling, pointing with a hoof. “You’ll reach a wide opening. Fly out of it and don’t look back! Go!”

Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate after that, she turned her back to Thorax and ran out into the hall to the right, not even stopping when she realized that she hadn’t said, “Thank you” and how that might be the last she’d ever see him.

No time for that now, got to run, must escape; these were the thoughts that flowed through her head now. The hallway seemed to stretch on for forever, but she could see the end, a curve off to the left, and that was enough to keep her going against the exhaustion.

This could be her one and only chance, and she was going to take it.

After what seemed like an eternity, she reached the left turn. It was a gradual, yet sudden transition from the flat and angled prison hallway to a more rounded and rockier tunnel, which immediately opened into a spacious cave with a wide opening to the right.

Thinking she was home-free she began galloping into flight, but as she extended her wings, General Hives appeared in a blind-spot on the ceiling to her right; he was holding another green-tipped spear, and before she could react, he had already flown over her and stabbed her left wing with it.

Rainbow screamed in agony, clutching her re-injured wing as blood discharged out of it, tumbling back to the floor before coming to rest near the cave’s mouth. She got to her knees and looked at her wound as some reddened feathers had already come off; the rate of blood coming out was decreasing by the second, but the white-hot pain was also returning once again. She collapsed onto her side.

It was then that she saw multiple squads of changelings converging on her. Struggling against the onset of slight dizziness, Rainbow mustered all the strength she could and began dragging herself with one of her bloodied hooves, while the other continued to clutch her left wing. Pure and blind desperation now filled her every waking moment, and against all odds, she reached the mouth of the cave, but the moment she looked up, her heart sank.

A cliff. A sheer drop-off!

Rainbow’s eyes widened and her pupils shrank in response to her instinctual panic before she started crying again, shaking her head in denial.

“No!” she squeaked weakly, pounding her hoof on the floor beside her.

“Oh please, you can be louder than that!” said General Hives behind her.

Slowly realizing that no changelings had yet grabbed her, Rainbow looked behind her to see the contingent of shapeshifters all waiting in a radius around her, boxing her in. She shakily got back on all fours and faced the General, who stood in front of his subordinates.

He took a few steps toward her, to which she instinctively backed up; the wounded pegasus gasped when one of her back hooves didn’t step on anything, immediately righting herself to keep from falling to her death.

“Go on,” he said menacingly. “Scream. Call out for help. None will hear your plea.”

Wanting nothing more than to believe she wasn’t left for dead, Rainbow took a deep breath and turned around.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAALP!!!”

Like meerkats, the marines of Fireteam Icebreaker all turned their heads towards a distant, feminine-sounding cry for help.

“Did y’all hear that?” asked Sergeant Alex Thompson.

“That sounded like her!” exclaimed PFC Ogden Jenkins.

“Shh! Everyone keep it down!” hissed Gunnery Sergeant David Alvarez. “Keep listening…”

“Please,” Rainbow softly whimpered to herself, as though praying now. “Somepony please help meeheheheee…”

She shut her eyes and let the tears roll off her cheeks as General Hives leaned in and spoke into her ear.

“No one, human, or pony, or any creature,” he said. “Is coming to rescue you.”

The bleeding pegasus began sobbing softly.

“Yet, even after all this,” Hives continued. “I doubt you’ll be willing to off yourself.”

Rainbow’s eyes shot open before looking down into the abyss. She could end this right now, and the changelings wouldn’t have leverage anymore!

She could escape this torture, and the humans could win.

As if time had slowed down, Rainbow found herself taking a tentative step forward onto nothing, eyes closed and taking the subtlest, shallowest breaths she’d ever taken.

Her friends would never see her again.

In the moment that thought crossed her mind, her eyes shot open and she inhaled massively as she backed out.

Before she could contemplate her own shock at the fact that she’d nearly gone that far, Rainbow found Hives standing right beside her speaking into her ear once again.

“You know we could’ve flown down and caught you right? I always knew you were dumb and weak!” he said, before giving Rainbow a swift kick to her groin.

She yelped in pain and dropped onto her knees and face. Straightening herself up, grabbing her crotch with mouth agape in pain and fear, she looked up at the changelings in sheer terror as they now surrounded her, hovering with evil grins on their faces; for a moment, Rainbow shook her head at them, as if to say “don’t do it,” before finally taking a breath, to which the changeling’s response was to pounce.

Suddenly, one changeling grabbed her by the neck; she struggled and grunted in vain as another pounced, and another; grabbing her mane, grabbing her hoof and pinning that behind her back, flattening her onto her stomach, and proceeding to chain her up again.

As they held her down, she let out one more, guttural cry of pure anguish before they flew her back to her cell.

“aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” came another, distant scream.

“That’s gotta be her!” said Jenkins.

“Infinity?” said Gunny into his mic. “Can you triangulate?”

“With what?” asked Corporal Marcus Williams.

“Our helmets picked up that sound,” said Gunny, now off-mic. “All they need are three to pinpoint the source.”

“Is that how geometry works?” said Shifty, prompting the rest of the squad to give him looks of mild disappointment.

After a moment, Gunny touched his hand to his helmet as received his new intel from the Infinity.

“Okay, they used all of our helmets to get the best precision,” he said.

A common waypoint then appeared on the heads-up-displays of the six ODSTs’ visors.

“We have our heading!” said Alvarez, before pointing forward with his open hand. “Move out!”

General Hives walked into Rainbow Dash’s cell along with one other armed guard, who was levitating a small, waist-high table with his magic, along with another filled bucket.

“I hope you realize,” Hives started as his subordinate placed the table down in the middle of the room. “That attempting escape comes with consequences.”

The sky-blue pegasus, hooves chained behind her back once again, only continued to silently look at the floor. The changeling guard then trotted over to her and, with his magic, placed the bucket just under her nose.

“Smell it,” he said calmly. “It’s not blood this time, just water.”

Taking a small whiff, Rainbow smelled nothing peculiar, as one would when smelling water; he was telling her the truth.

Without warning, he turned the bucket upside-down over her head, instantly soaking her entire body; she immediately stiffened up as well, as he had purposely failed to mention how ice-cold it was. As he continued to pour, Rainbow realized just how parched she was, as she couldn’t recall the last time she’d drank something, before proceeding to tilt her head up and open her mouth.

She didn’t care how dirty it might have been, all she cared about in that moment was the sweet relief of hydration through her mouth! To her surprise, they let her do it, no punches or slaps of discipline, as if they wanted her to.

Once her thirst was quenched, she bowed her head back down and let him pour the rest over her.

After, she sat there on her knees, shivering and blinded by her own damp mane, matted over her eyes. The changeling water bearer then trotted out of the cell with the empty bucket as General Hives parted Rainbow’s mane from her eyes with his magic.

“Hold on now, we wouldn’t want you to miss the big reveal,” said Hives. “Bring him in!”

Rainbow gasped upon seeing Thorax dragged into the cell by the subordinate changeling guard.

“Traitor! You think I wouldn’t notice?!” said General Hives to Thorax. “The keys being levitated out of my robe-pocket, after that obviously forced, and awkward, conversation?!”

Thorax, in a mix of shame and fear, simply looked down and to the left, avoiding eye-contact where he could. Hives looked at Rainbow.

“It was him, wasn’t it?! Yes, your eyes give away everything!” he said before turning back to Thorax and lowering his voice. “I always knew you couldn’t be trusted, but I’ll be gracious to you, just this once.”

In curiosity, Thorax looked up at his superior.

“I’ll give you the chance to redeem yourself,” he said as he then turned to Rainbow.

He stopped halfway over to her and looked her up and down.

“Such a vibrant, blue coat,” he stated calmly.

He then went up to her and forced open one of her eyes.

“Magenta eyes,” he noted as he took a close look around her pupil.

Upon releasing her face and eye, he then began pacing around her until he was behind her, at which point he began running a hoof through her mane.

“And every color legitimately represented in this mane,” he finished as he came back around, lifting a bundle of her damp mane up to the light. “According to Equestrian research, these are perhaps the rarest physical traits a pony could have, kept around only by means of a pure, near-perfect bloodline.”

Releasing her mane, he went back over to Thorax and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“What’dya say we, impurify that bloodline?” he said, shoving his subordinate towards Rainbow.

“What?!” asked Rainbow in sudden shock and fear.

“Sir?” asked Thorax, now visibly uncomfortable with the current situation.

“Rape her,” he said unequivocally. “That’s an order.”

Thorax simply stared at his superior with a look of fear and uncertainty, before looking at Rainbow, then back at Hives, then at Rainbow again, and finally back at Hives.

“Sir, I-”

“Do it!” shouted the General, cutting him off. “Prove your loyalty to the Queen, or die!”

At this, the changeling slowly and forlornly looked back at the cerulean pegasus to see her on the verge of tears; her mouth had been agape, gawking at the ultimatum she had just heard. He then knelt in front of her so that they could be at eye-level with each other.

“Thorax, don’t do this,” begged Rainbow in a whisper while subtly, yet desperately, shaking her head. “Please! You don’t have to let him keep controlling you! You don’t have to serve him or Chrysalis!”

Thorax only stared sorrowfully and self-loathingly at her before saying, “I-I’m so sorry…”

Rainbow’s ears drooped as her heart sank, breaths shortening at the egregious comprehension that her pleading had been in vain.

Without another word, Thorax lifted Rainbow by her mane and one of her arms, before pushing her crotch against the table.

“Thorax PLEASE!” squealed the pegasus desperately as she was shoved onto her stomach. “They’re gunna kill you anyway!”

Ignoring her, the changeling parted her legs in rough fashion, before pressing onto her shivering body.

“No! NO! STOP! Get off!” she yelled, now in full-panic mode as Thorax held a hoof between her shoulder blades, tears beginning to flow from her eyes. “GET OHOFF! Pleeheease!”

She began howling incoherently as the changeling began inserting his penis into her marehood; Hives grabbed his subordinate’s spear and placed its point in front of Rainbow’s face, prompting both her and Thorax to freeze.

“One more peep,” he said sternly. “And I blast you right here and now.”

Still in the midst of crying, Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut and slammed her forehead down onto the table with clenched teeth. Hives only raised a grin upon his face as his prisoner was wordlessly fucked from then on.

It took all her willpower to stop herself from even squeaking softly, not to say a delicate squeal wouldn’t slip out every so often.

After some time, Thorax finally climaxed and thumped semen into the sky-blue pegasus. She grimaced and gasped in pain as the changeling pulled out. He then dragged her off the table and shoved her back against the wall behind him, before guiding her back down onto her knees.

The bawling, traumatized mare watched helplessly as Thorax leaned over her, keeping hold of the wall behind her with one hoof and grabbing his penis with the other.

Holding it in front of her face, he squirted cum into her eye, causing her head to momentarily recoil backwards late before ending up sticking further forward out to him than before. Her shivering had ceased in utter shock.

Thorax then stuck his erect and slimy cock into her mouth, pinning the back of her head to the wall.

“Suck,” Thorax ordered, placing a hoof on top of her head.

Eyes closed shut from the cum on her face, she subtly shook her head, silently continuing to protest.

“Please?!” he hissed desperately.

No longer seeing any way to convince him that it was probably pointless, she slowly and reluctantly began sucking the remaining cum off of his dick, very audibly whimpering the whole time.

At the very least, she could be glad that he hadn’t yet asked her to swallow.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of suffering, Thorax pulled his dick out of her mouth; Rainbow, attempting to breathe deeply the moment she was released, ultimately began coughing and choking on the sticky substance now coating the inside of her orifice.

Thorax knelt back down to eye-level with the sky-blue pegasus and used his magic to pull his cum off her face and out of her mouth, along with some of her saliva. As he tossed the ball of cum off to the side, she could only look on at him with pain, disgust, and disappointment in her eyes; as if in response, he leaned in and gave what felt like an apologetic kiss to Rainbow.

Not seeing anything else she could do, she slowly closed her eyes and prepared to kiss him back.

*CHUNK!*

Rainbow’s eyes snapped back open almost immediately. She froze as she felt Thorax’s final breath go inside of her, his suddenly limp body being pulled off of her shortly after.

*SCHUNK!*

She yelped as green blood was spurted all over her from Thorax’s mouth, a sharp object now clearly having been violently pulled from his back, before the wielder behind him whipped his spear around and smacked Thorax’s paralyzed body to the ground with the butt-end of the weapon.

Thorax now out of the way, Rainbow could see that it was General Hives who had stabbed him, still holding his subordinate’s spear. He grinned maliciously at the shocked pegasus as both his horn and the spear’s tip began to glow green, and before she knew it, he had vaporized the only good changeling she’d ever known.

“NOOO!” shouted the even further traumatized mare, as the ashes of her former friend fell to the cold, metal floor.

“Clever girl,” said Hives. “You guessed right! He was dead anyway.”

She just looked at him with the same pained look she had been giving Thorax just moments earlier.

“I would leave you alone to let all that sink in,” he continued as he trotted out the door. “But I think it’s best if we just resume your normal activities.”

As he left, two more changelings entered the room, one carrying a fresh bucket of blood, both looking ready to beat the living daylights out of Rainbow.

She screamed in fear and agony as the blood was poured over her once again.