Phoenix

Chapter 13

The once previously silent throne room erupted in sound, as an angered Queen Chrysalis crushed a rock underhoof.

“Damn that monkey!” She cursed, as the group of changelings who had arrived at the hive with the queen wisely dispersed to other areas of their homes. Areas which did not contain a very angry queen.

Said queen crushed another rock and swung her hoof in the stony wall, leaving a good sized dent.

“I had it! It was in my grasp! Control of Equestria! Millions of ponies for us to feed from!” She angrily trotted up to her throne, carved directly from the odd strange black rocks the rest of the hive was made of.

She allowed her haunches to land in the seat of the throne as she glared at the empty throne room, looking for someone, or something, to take her anger out on.

Seeing no living target to throw around, she tore a chunk of rock from one of the walls and threw it at the opposite end of the room.

Chrysalis took a deep breath… then bellowed.

“Commander!”

Almost immediately, the doors to the throne room, made from wood drones had scavenged from some old pony ruins, opened, a changeling in much more elaborate armor then the rest of the soldiers and drones had worn entered.

A large chunk of rock soared past his head, certainly going fast enough to kill him had it impacted, however he remained unphased as he saluted his queen.

“Your Majesty.” He stated, his salute being held.

“What took you so long?” Chrysalis spat, as the changeling stayed right in front of the now open throne room doors.

The changeling blinked, but otherwise his face remained the same. “Any apologies I could give to you would be meaningless and would not make up for my failure, Your Majesty.”

Chrysalis huffed as she settled down in her throne, the chair itself having been carved in such a way to allow the changeling queen to sit or lay down. The padding she had for it was old and worn, but compared to the bare rock many changelings slept on, it was absolutely luxurious.

“You are forgiven, Scuttle. Do not allow it to happen again.”

The changeling, Scuttle, didn’t react.

“Inform me of the losses we suffered.”

“Your Majesty, the first head count taken following our leaving of Canterlot had the hive standing at approximately one thousand one hundred and fourteen changelings missing, presumed killed in the fighting. We have not received any other reports as survivors are still filtering in, however once a reasonable amount of time has passed, we will initiate another head count.”

Chrysalis nodded. “Very good, inform me immediately as soon as you have the numbers.” She waved him off with a hoof.

“Of course, Your Majesty, if you would have me for just a few minutes, though.” Scuttle bowed his head.

“It depends, Scuttle. What is it?”

The changeling kept his head bowed as he magicked open the door, several set of lush pillows floating into the room. He closed the large doors and once more and laid the pillows on the floor.

“Before we left Canterlot, Your Majesty, I took these from the throne room.”

Chrysalis’ face lit up as she realized just what they were. “Ah!” She took the pillows from the floor in her magic and brought them over to her. She stood up grabbed the pillows she had under her, replacing them with the new, looted pillows.

She would never admit it, but the pillows she had been using before were getting to be very ratting, the fluffing in them wearing with age and use. But she didn’t complain, after all to do so would make her subjects thing something she used was subpar and unfit for royalty.

“Perfect timing, Scuttle. I was beginning to grow tired with… these.” Chrysalis threw the ratty pillows to Scuttle, who caught them in his magic.

“You may have them Scuttle, a gift for having such a good eye.” She once again waved Scuttle out of the room.

Scuttle bowed. “I shall cherish them to my grave, Your Majesty.” The armored changeling opened the door once more, but before he could leave Chrysalis called out.

“And begin making plans to get rid of that stupid monkey. He will be a problem in the future.”

He turned once more to his queen. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

The changeling was finally able to take his leave, as the door closed behind him, separating him from his angered queen.

He let go of a breath he had been holding, and allowed his body a few moments to shake in fear.

He absolutely despised dealing with Chrysalis. He knew the rock had been aimed away from his head, but that didn’t change the fact that the slightest misstep he took with her could very well end in his death.

He began trotting down the hall, removing his helmet as he did so and sighing. His goal, his chambers, which was not a very far trot from the throne room. After all, the commander of the Changeling Army couldn’t be very far from his Queen, could he?

He opened the door and entered his room, which was a moderately sized room. Large enough for a bed, a desk for plans and troop movements and reports and a wardrobe for his armor and weapons, with some room for the occupant to move around. By changeling standards, it was a room fit only for the highest echelons of society.

Scuttle tossed his helmet on his bed, not caring whether or not the helmet actually landed on it, just wanting to no longer hold it. He dropped the Queen’s used pillows on the floor, making note to ensure they’re put on the bed first chance he got, only to ensure he didn’t have his head ripped off by Chrysalis for insulting her.

Contrary to what their chitin may appear to do, it did indeed sweat, and was as sensitive as a pony’s hide. Scuttle cursed this fact as he magicked the leather straps that was holding his armor in place off, but also thanking whatever deity really existed for the cool air hitting his sweat soaked body.

He shrugged it off, quietly damning its creator. It was a pain to fly in, no less fly for two days straight. He allowed it to lay on the floor, not being bothered enough to properly put it away.

He walked to his wardrobe and laid on his stomach, scooting closer to it. He magicked a hidden lever inside of the room and pulled out a false bottom on the wardrobe as he smiled at what was hidden.

Books. Various books he had managed to acquire, though he supposed he rather stole them, from various libraries during his time as an infiltrator.

Although his position as commander of the Changeling forces granted him a significant amount of leeway, with the only changeling able to order a search of his room being the Queen herself, he’d rather not take the chance of her growing paranoid and finding the books.

Considering the fact that pony-written books were explicitly banned in the Hive, with severe punishments for any changeling found with them.

Infiltrators possessing books were generally over-looked on the basis that their job was to seamlessly integrate into pony-society, which in turn meant a lot of rules weren’t enforced for them. Such as using actual names, another thing usually reserved for the highest echelons of society.

But Scuttle himself had no reason for possessing books, and he had been forced to burn most of the ones he had kept in his old quarters when he had been promoted to commander.

Scuttle pushed that bad memory out of his mind. He hated remembering it. He had never wanted to be commander. Many changelings thought of him as the most privileged changeling short of the queen. In some ways, it was true, since he was second in command and the only changeling capable of over-riding his orders was the Queen herself.

But unlike the rank and file changelings, a commander couldn’t disappear into the crowd when the Queen threw another one of her infamously lethal and destructive temper-tantrums. Meaning he was always just one misspoken word or miscommunicated action from having the Queen rip his chitin from his body and his flailed body being thrown into a pit of fire ants.

Oh, how Scuttle wished to be just a normal infiltrator once more.

He gazed at the books he had managed to save from the purge following his “promotion”, though Scuttle considered a demotion more then anything else.

‘What kind of promotion makes you more likely to die?’

He selected one he hadn’t read yet, ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone’.

If Scuttle has his Daring Do chronology right, this was the first book in the Daring Do series. He picked it up and quickly replaced the false bottom.

Bringing the book over to his bed, he also took a towel he had looted a few years back and gave his body a quick rub down, to wipe the sweat off his body.

He clambered into his bed and began to read the book, a small excitement growing in his chest. He always enjoyed reading, it was one of the few entertainments he had.

‘Commander? More like prisoner’ Scuttle shook the thought from his mind. He was the longest lived commander in Changeling history, from his understanding. A solid six years. He had only survived this long by not becoming complacent and believing the Queen wouldn’t kill him due to his position. He refused to fall into the folly that led to the horrible demise of his predecessors. Believing Chrysalis actually cared enough about him to not brutally torture and kill him for slighting her, however small and inconsequential the slight may be.

And now the changeling commander ran into a problem. He had opposed the Canterlot operation on the basis that it was far too risky, at the time no one knew whether or not Chrysalis was indeed powerful enough to stop the Two Sisters. The fact that she did manage to do it had shocked most every changeling in the hive, though no one would ever admit to it, lest they admit to doubting their Queen.

And therein lied the problem. He couldn’t outright come and tell the Queen he opposed one of her plans. Any opposition he had, if he had no desire to have his limbs torn off and his eyes ripped out before being thrown into a cage for insubordination to his Queen, he had to word it in such a way that it sounded like he was suggesting an addition to her plan and was seeking approval from his Queen.

It is not easy to word an opposition as an addition to a plan.

So here the commander lay, trying to figure out how to tell the Queen that maybe going after the creature who effortlessly batted her super-powered magic away as though it were nothing more then an errant fly probably wasn’t the best idea without being brutally slaughtered in the process.

Scuttle groaned at his misfortune, allowing his book to fall on his face.

“This friggin’ sucks!”

“You know...” Dante grunted, as he tore the silver ore from the wall. “This is gonna smell like absolute shit when I separate the sulfur from the silver. But at the very least, I’ll have my damn satellites, come on Fortnite. Let’s get back to Ponytown and get to my truck. I want to get back to Canterlot and get my larcom back as soon as possible.”

Dante stood up from the vein, looking to the changeling who had accompanied him down here.

“Well, we’re done here. Let’s ge-” Dante was cut off as the entire world seemed to shake, knocking both of them off their feet, a roar cut through the cave system.

“What the shit was that!” Dante shouted as he jumped back to his feet. Without waiting for an answer, he snatched Fortnite up in his arms and took off for the exist of the mine.

Rainbow Dash looked over the cloud she had been resting on, the roar shaking the very sky, somehow.

Her muzzle scrunched up as she stared into the distance, trees shaking in the Whitetail Woods. Something big was moving about in it.

The blue pegasus stretched her wings as she pondered what to do. She smirked to herself. What harm could doing a quick fly-over of the Everfree do? After all, as an Element, it was her duty to make sure no harm would come to Equestria. She kicked off the cloud, soaring into the sky off to the Whitetail.

“I hate you Scootaloo!” Applebloom cried, as her small legs carried her as fast as they could, the very earth shaking behind her as she and her two friends ran away.

“How was I supposed to know that thing exists! Whatever it is!” Scootaloo cried back, as a massive claw fell upon the earth a mere few feet behind her.

“There’s not supposed to be anything dangerous in the Whitetail Woods!” Sweetie Belle added, as tears flowed from her eyes.

Another roar sounded from behind the trio, shaking them to their cores.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Biologists was the worst idea, ever!” Scootaloo cried.

“That came from the direction of Ponytown!” Dante shouted, as Fortnite was beginning to feel slightly sick from the surprisingly quick biped’s running, which was jostling her up and down.

Of course, the fact that he was currently carrying her with his arm wrapped around her stomach like she was a small dog wasn’t helping anything.

“Dante, generally ponies run the opposite direction of something that’s capable of causing earthquakes!” Fortnite protested.

“I’m not a pony, Fortnite. I’m a Legionnaire! It’s kind of my job to run towards danger!”

Fortnite rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes. You’re a hero and all that, but perhaps it would be better for you to get help rather then confront whatever it is alone.”

The changeling soldier focused on the thuds of the Human’s feet slamming into the ground, taking note of the fact that he was surprisingly quick for a biped. Her best guess had them somewhere around forty miles an hour. Most bipeds such as Minotaurs or Diamond Dogs were extremely slow while standing, those bipedal species far preferring to move on fours when speed was needed, so it was very odd for Fortnite to be watching a biped running faster then an earth pony.

Dante vaulted over a fallen log, using his right hand to propel himself over it, as the sickness in Fortnite’s stomach threatened to come up through her mouth.

“There’s no time. Whatever it is, it’s way too fucking close to the town. I need to deal with it before it does anything.”

“Why are you doing this? It’s not like Equestria is your responsibility! You told me, you’re an alien. So, why would you put your life at risk to help a country you have no ties to?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do, Fortnite. Just like not killing you was the right thing to do.”

Fortnite could find no words to argue with that line of logic.

“What in Tartarus is that?” Rainbow shouted to no one in particular as she watched some sort of giant monster rampage through the Whitetail Woods. The rainbow maned pegasi stood on a cloud.

The only way she could describe it was a giant ram. The most telling feature of it was its singular giant eye on its face. And at the moment, it seemed to be angry at something in the forest. It was slamming its front claws into the ground and swiping at trees.

Rainbow Dash weighed her options. As much as she hated to admit, she would probably lose if she tried fighting it by herself, she could almost see the vibrations its rampage was causing from the skies. The most logical conclusion would be to get news to the princesses.

On the second hand, it could find its way to Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash was still considering her options when she saw movement from the corner of her eye, as she turned her head for a better look. Her heart stopped as she realized what it was.

Three fillies, three fillies she knew all too well.

She looked back to the cyclopian creature, hoping to the gods it hadn’t seen what she had seen.

Her eyes widened.

It had, and it was moving for the three.

With no more thinking, Rainbow launched herself off the cloud, propelling herself through the air as quickly as she could.

The creature was closing on the three, but it was not to be, at least for this swipe. As Rainbow’s frame slammed into the creature.

Rainbow Dash had always been a small mare, even her shy friend Fluttershy outweighed her by a good amount. Pegasi in general were smaller then other two races. But the average pegasus mare was around two hundred and forty pounds. The pegasus known as Rainbow Dash came in around a hundred and ninety pounds.

Still, a nearly two hundred pound projectile crashing into you at a couple of hundred miles an hour is enough to draw the attention of most creatures.

And draw the attention of this creature it did indeed.

Rainbow Dash quickly recovered from the crash, taking once more to the air, as she swore she heard a distant squee.

“Oi! You big, ugly stupid one eyed donkey!” She called, to the roaring cyclops, whose attention was now on her, instead of the three foals, who seemed to have disappeared.

“Why don’t you chase someone your own size?” Rainbow Dash dodged a large claw that was swept at her, trying to slash her out of the air.

“Ha! If you want to hit me, you’re going to have try harder then that!” She once more dodged a claw sent her way, as she began to fly in circles around the cyclops, the creature roaring with more intensity every time it missed a swipe.

While at the moment Rainbow Dash was not suffering from any fatigue, and she could indeed keep this up for a good few hours, there was a very large difference between flying at altitude and in a straight line when compared to flying low to the ground and dodging strikes.

If this became a battle of attrition, there was a very good chance that the cyclops would be the victor.

She needed to find a way to end this fast. Rainbow Dash ascended father into the sky, hoping to avoid its swipes entirely. It worked, unfortunately too well.

The cyclops began uprooting trees, and then throwing them, with surprising accuracy, towards the pegasus mare.

A volley of trees were sent into the area, as Rainbow Dash was forced to drop lower in order to avoid the volley. She skimmed the ground, attempting to arc back up into the sky, but was forced to change direction at the last second as a tree thrown underhand by the cyclops nearly clipped her.

But as she turned to avoid the tree, the cyclops had brought his paw down once more, this swipe making its connection with the cerulean mare, throwing her away and into a tree.

She tumbled down, sliding along side the bark of the tree, as an errant limb caught a wing, she yelped in pain.

She hit the ground, with most of her weight landing on her right foreleg, she screamed in pain as bone snapped.

Rainbow Dash crumpled as she gasped in pain. Despite her pain, she looked in the direction of the cyclops, if the fillies had managed to get away, this would have been in vain.

Her heart stopped once more at what she saw. The cyclops had turned away from her and was uprooting a tree. She could hear familiar screaming over the chaos.

Rainbow Dash futilely attempted to raised to her hooves, however, as soon as weight was put on her broken leg, it immediately gave out, crumpling the mare once more.

Thoughts of having to drag her broken body back to Ponyville and inform Rarity and Applejack of her failure to save their sisters, how different her life would be without Scootaloo.

How she failed to save three fillies. Tears were beginning to form at the edges of Rainbow Dash’s eyes, as she could feel the hatred of how useless she felt growing in her. She attempted to rise to her hooves once more. She immediately fell.

If she could just distract it long enough for the three fillies to escape. Rainbow once more pushed herself to her hooves. She put weight on her front leg, the pain almost unbearable. She picked it up and took a step, she attempted to take another, but once more she crumbled.

“You motherbucker, I’m over here! This fight isn’t over!” Rainbow Dash picked up a rock with her good hoof, giving it a weak chuck to the cyclops, who paid no mind to the rock impacting somewhere on its body, instead focusing on the three fillies who had apparently done something to wrong it.

Rainbow elected to instead drag her body to the cyclops.

“I am Rainbow Dash. I am an Element and if you think I’m going to just give up because of a broken hoof then you’re dead wrong, you bucking piece of shit!” She continued to drag herself, a streak of blood forming in the dirt from her compound fracture, the dirt staining her bloodied coat.

“I’m going to kill you, you shit-eating bitch!” Rainbow cried, though her normal bravado was being choked out from the pain of her broken leg and wing.

She could see it, the thing grabbing Scootaloo in its claws, lifting the little pegasus up to its waiting maw, preparing to drop her in.

The world exploded.

“Get your fuckin’ claws off the kid, you stupid motherfucker!” Rainbow Dash heard a roar from her back as she craned her neck to see just who it was who intervened.

The blue pegasus saw a familiar face. The alien who had intervened at the wedding, Dante.

He lowered a device Rainbow had learned was a weapon as the cyclops fixed its glare on him, seemingly no longer interested in Scootaloo. It threw the pegasus mare away, who desperately flared her wings out in an attempt to slow down her descent.

It was enough to slow her down, when she also slammed into a tree, tumbling to the ground. As her two friends rushed to help her.

Rainbow watched as the biped’s expression somehow went from extremely angry to even angrier. He pulled the trigger on his rifle several more time, all his shots landing on the cyclops, who seemed to be unaffected by the metal slugs hitting him.

“So you’re fucking bullet proof!” Dante dropped his rifle, reaching up to his left breast with his right arm and jerking down on a handle, removing a cylinder from a holster on the armor. “You think I give a shit!” He began approaching the stalking cyclop, his steps resolute and with absolutely no fear in them.

He passed Rainbow Dash, paying no attention to the injured mare. “I swear to god! If there’s a single fucking goddamn scratch on that kid, I will fucking resuscitate you and rip you limb from fucking limb!” He changed from a walking pace into a charge, as the cyclops followed his lead, bounding across the forest floor.

Dante vaulted over a paw that attempted to swipe him, latching onto the fur of the cyclops’s left arm.

He leapt up, covering a considerable distance and gripping onto the cyclop’s shoulder, just in time to avoid a swipe from its right arm, an attempt to dislodge him from the left arm.

Dante clambered the remaining way onto the cyclop’s back, as it suddenly reared onto its hind legs. Dante realized what it was attempting to do when its arc back finally overcame its stability and it began to come crashing down on its back.

The biped grasped a hold of fur as he was crushed underneath the giant, the force of his body being smothered into the ground displacing earth.

Dante’s armor prevented him from feeling most of the pressure, but he was still able to tell there was a large amount involved, as the cyclops writhed on its back in an attempt to knock the biped off.

The attempts were futile, as it seemed like no matter what, the Human held on.

What followed was one of the greatest battles of wills any of the intelligent creatures present had ever seen. As the cyclops shot to its back, and jumped up, making Rainbow Dash think of a pony trying to throw a predator off its back.

And indeed, the Human was holding onto its fur as it continued to buck.

“You think you can throw me off, you fuck? I spent nearly seventy years in Texas, you shit-fucker! I did this for fun!” Dante shouted at the increasingly frustrated cyclops. The cylinder he had removed from its holster before mounting the giant still clutched firmly in his right hand, along with a clump of fur.

Realizing the cyclops wasn’t going to stop trying to buck him off anytime soon, Dante decided it was time to act.

With his right hand acting as an anchor, he reached forward with his left grabbing another clump of fur.

His left hand now acting as the anchor, he repeated the process. He continued to repeat the process as he made his way up the back of the cyclops. Who was now even more desperate to get the Human off its back, slamming its back into trees in a pitiful attempt to knock the biped off.

As Dante made the transition from back to top of head, holding onto its horns for stability, the cyclops began to grab at its head. An attempt to grab the biped and rip it off. The cyclops never heard the calm voice the biped spoke in.

The words were spoken with conviction, though no one present with the exception of the speaker could understand them, the pronunciation of the language lost to the annals of history,the speaker being the last of his kind.

The cyclops screeched as its hand was engulfed in flames. Buying Dante time to grab onto fur that was overhanging the forehead of the cyclops with his left hand.

Now in striking distance of the eye, the cyclops still screeching pain from its flaming hand, Dante raised his right hand, the cylinder he had removed from a holster held in it. The cylinder extended, revealing a spike in the end closest to to Dante’s pinkie finger.

The Human spoke with conviction, the words rolling of his tongue as naturally as Equestrian rolled off Rainbow’s tongue. Behind the words, Rainbow Dash could hear anger and death.

With the declaration committed in an alien language, Dante drove the spike in the cyclop’s eye, the beast bellowing in pain as four more spikes ejected from the main spike, grounding the cylinder in place.

The beast was finally able to grab the biped with its claws, grabbing him and violently throwing him a good distance away.

His body soared through the air, uninterrupted by anything until it impacted earth, digging a small crater.

Almost immediately, the supersoldier recovered from the toss, getting to his knees with his arms supporting him.

He bellowed at the one-eyed beast, his dead tongue lost on all but himself and his A.I. companion, though anyone listening could hear death seemingly coming from the words themselves.

With the final word spoken, the cylinder stuck in the cyclop’s eye disappeared in a flash of light, forcing every being present to avert their eyes from the sudden flash, with the exception of Dante. The augmentations of his eyes automatically compensating for the sudden increase of light.

A shockwave buffeted the forest, as the three fillies the cyclops had been chasing were forced to dig in further into the indentation under the once tall tree they had attempted to hide under, their ears pinned down in a vain attempt to drown out the noise. Rainbow moved her good leg to cover her face, as her tail and mane were nearly blown away by the force of the explosion, her ears also pinned down.

Fortnite, who had been hiding during the entire confrontation, dove to the ground, covering her head with her forelegs and tucking her ratty tail between her legs.

The biped dragged himself out of the crater shouting. A taunt, one that had been used on fallen enemies when the biped was young, still hunting and traveling with his tribe.

The biped threw up his middle finger at the now torsoless corpse of the giant, collapsed on its side from the explosion. The remains themselves smoking.

Dante let out a deep breath as he stood to his full height. His extinct tongue hung on the air with the casualness one would reserve for a game. He glanced around the forest clearing, partially his fault and partially the cyclop’s fault. There was an issue that needed to be addressed on the tip of his tongue, but for some odd reason he couldn’t quite remember what it was.

His memory was jogged when his eyes landed on the wheezing and injured Rainbow Dash.

A curse he shouted. He took off at a running pace as he closed the distance, sliding to a stop on his knees as he quickly began assessing the mare’s injuries.

Words once more rolled off his tongue, but they were meaningless to the mare.

The biped reaching behind his waist, removing a bag from his armor, as he opened it up and began to dig through it. The HUD in his eyes bringing up a list of injuries the scan revealed.

Once more he spoke to another being, though his tongue no longer carried with it death, but rather a concerned tone, laced with explanations.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Dante,” She wheezed out. “You’re speaking alien, I have no idea what a single word you just said means.”

Dante met her eyes for a few seconds, holding the stare.

“Fuck.” He spoke, thankfully for Rainbow Dash continuing in Equestrian. “As I was saying.” Dante held up another black cylinder. “Combat drugs. They stop the bleeding and pain, but they’re going to knock you out for a while. I can’t have you going into shock on me when the adrenaline finally wears out. Alright?”

A dull pain was throbbing through Rainbow Dash’s leg and wing. Remembering the past few times she had broken a bone, she knew this was the onset of extreme pain.

She nodded her head, giving the biped the go ahead to do what he needed to do.

“Alright, it’ll take a minute or two for the drugs to hit you.” A hypodermic needle ejected from the end of the cylinder, as Dante positioned himself to block Rainbow Dash’s view of the needle.

He had met plenty of men who had no fear of being blown up or shot or tortured for information, but damned if they saw a needle!

He chose the injured leg as the injection site, as it would mean the nanites would get to work faster. He gently gripped the leg, using his leg and the crook of his arm to support it, the injured pegasus groaning in pain from having the leg moved.

The blood smearing on his armor, he brought the needle to the skin and gently pushed it in. The blue pegasus feeling a pinch at the site of injection and slight discomfort from the pressure of fluids being pushed into her leg.

“Shouldn’t you have cleaned that first?” Fortnite asked, though Rainbow Dash normally would have protested a changeling being this close to her, the drugs had already taken a hold of her, as she found extreme difficulty in focusing on anything else, and words she attempted to form slurring to the point of being nothing more then sounds.

“What? The injection site?” Dante asked as he watched the colorful pegasus slowly loll her tongue out of her mouth. “Shit it worked faster then I thought it would. But no, one of the requirements the IoP had for this technology was the ability to apply it in combat conditions without requiring preparations to avoid infections. The nanites themselves will flush the system of any foreign bacteria or viruses not essential to keeping organisms alive. RD will probably wake up with stomach issues due to the nanites flushing out her gut flora, but this will prevent her going into shock.”

Dante retracted the needle back into the cylinder. “Another requirement was it being reusable. The blood will act as food for the residual nanites to reproduce until the injector is back up to full use. It will take a few minutes.” Dante slid the black cylinder back into the pouch he had removed from his armor, and then replaced the pouch on his armor.

He once more checked the leg, nodding as he observed a silvery crust beginning to form and mix with the blood on the leg, and on the opening caused by the compound fracture. He pointed to it, looking at Fortnite.

“The nanites stop hemorrhaging, both external and internal, preventing blood loss.” Dante gently slid his arms under the pegasus, gently lifting her up and bringing her firmly against his chest.

“Come on, we need to get her to a doc, yesterday. Grab my rifle over there and get those kids. We’ll figure out where they need to go when we get back to town.”

Nodding, the changeling set about gathering everything. The rifle was first, as she gripped it with her teeth and then balanced it precariously on her back.

Once she was confident it wouldn’t fall off, she made her way to three fillies. All of whom were shaking. Whether it was from the explosion or nearly being eaten by a cyclops, she couldn’t be sure.

It took some gentle coaxing, but she managed to get the three out of the hole in the ground.

It also then took further reassurances to the orange coated pegasus filly by both Fortnite and Dante that Rainbow Dash was perfectly fine and was just resting, Dante being sure to angle his body in such a way that the injured leg was concealed by his body and not visible to the little filly.

After she had stopped crying and with help from her two friends, the odd group began making their way back to civilization. Dante on point with the injured mare, Fortnite bringing up the rear and the three fillies safely nestled between the adults.

Nurse Redheart hummed to herself as she filed away several papers. She looked at the clock sitting on the wall, it was nearing the end of her shift and she had a dinner to go to. Absolutely nothing could ruin this.
“S’cuse me, Nurse.”

“Yes, si-” As Redheart began turning around, she was cut off by a very odd sight.

A large biped was cradling Rainbow Dash, whose leg appeared to bloody, with her tongue lolled out. Behind him stood a… black insect looking pony with the… a local group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing behind her.

The biped made a gesture with his hand, still supporting Rainbow Dash, that reminded Nurse Redheard of a “V”.

“Yo, what’s up?” Dante casually stated as he looked around the lobby of the hospital, seeing absolutely not a single soul.

“So, since there’s literally nobody in this hospital, could you direct me to y’all’s ER and go get the doc and let him know to get off his lazy ass and come help me. I’ll debrief him when he gets there but long story short,” Dante slightly lifted up his arms with the pegasus resting in them. “Cyclops tried eating those kids back there, broke RD’s leg and wing and then I killed it, drugged RD and carried her...”

Dante raised his eyebrow as he gave a quick thought to how he had worded that. “I admit the last bit sounds wrong, a better way to say it would be that I knocked her out to avoid having her go into shock.” Dante shook his head.

Nurse Redheard had no idea how to respond to just how insane all this was. So she merely lifted her hoof, pointing to a door. “Uh… down the hall and hang a left, then a right.”

Dante nodded his thanks to the nurse. “Righty-o, pip pip cheerio, Fort stay here with the kids. If anyone starts trying to kill you… well, I’d say shoot them with the rifle but I haven’t show you how to operate it yet, so just hit them them over the head with it. Use it as a club. Also, Nurse!” Dante called from behind his back, not waiting for an answer.

“Please inform the doc that this is urgent. The nanites I put in RD facilitate healing but they heal far better when surgery is done post-haste!” With that he disappeared past the door, as Redheart shook her head and confusedly wondered off to find the doctor before her shift ended.

Leaving Fortnite alone with the three fillies, who had been surprisingly quiet during the trip here.

She looked to them, nervously raising a single hoof. “Uh… hi… my name’s Four-Two-Nine-Two.”

The yellow coated filly with hair that reminded Fortnite of some of those Raggedy Mare dolls she had seen replied.

“What kahn of name’s that!”

“Ah don’ know how somepony that big’n obvious is so hard’uh fahn!” Applejack shouted to no one in particular, as both she and Rarity stood in the town square of Ponyville, not far from the alien carriage Dante had used to bring them here.

“Well, dear, if I had to presume it’s because of his training!” Rarity replied as she scanned the crowds looking for the tall biped.

“Trainin’?” Applejack snorted. “What kahn’f trainin’ allows sompeony ‘bout as big as a Minotaur and walkin’ aroun’ n’uh full suit’a armor the ability to jus’ randomly disappear!”

Rarity flicked her hair to the side, huffing. “Dear Applejack, the kind of training somepony like Con Mane receives! Double-oh-Four! Sure, the General might not be as suave as Con Mane is, but I can’t imagine someone his rank is anything less then qualified and elite!”

Applejack groaned, huffing. “Firs’ off, Rares, Con Mane’s a fictional character. Secon’ off, have you met som’uh the generals we got down here? General Fleet Tail ain’ exactly got the bes’ reputation, on account’uh nearly reignitin’ the Gryphonic Succession Wars ‘cause he couldn’ keep his damned hoof outta his mouth. Bein’ a general don’t exactly require intelligence. If anythin’ you gotta be’n idiot.”

“General Fleet Tail’s statement about Princess Petra being illegitimate was said in full confidence and was not supposed to be on the record!”

Applejack rolled her eyes at Rarity’s protest. “Rares… he was talkin’uh journalis’. An’ even then, he should’a known his word carries a lotta weight. The opposition to the Vasy line nearly launched a coup, thinkin’ ‘Questria woul’ ‘sport’em. It took the Princess issuin’ a Royal Decree explicitly recognizin’ King Karolus as the legitimate government of the Gryphon Empire to get’em to back off. Generals ain’ smart or well trained. They’re as much a politician as them nobles up in Can’uhlot!”

Rarity was prepared to deliver a scathing reply, taking a deep breath, however, she hitched as a thought occurred to her. Leaving her mouth hanging open.

“Wait… Applejack, dear, since when did you become interested in politics?”

Applejack blushed as she realized what Rarity was getting at, pulling her hat down to cover her eyes, quickly replying.

“It ain’ politics, I… may’uh been interested in the Royal Guard when I was a lil’ filly. Happenin’ to know about innernational politics just happens t’uh’ve been a coincidence. An’ nothin’ more!” Applejack paused, as she considered just who she was speaking to.

“An’ now that ah think ‘bout it, I coul’ ask’ya the same question! Since when did’ya become interested in mil’tree matters!”

Rarity raised a hoof to her chest, raising her nose. “My dear Applejack, have you not seen the uniforms? The Gryphons have absolutely fabulous and sharp uniforms! And the Royal Guard is a very close contender!”

Applejack fixed the white unicorn mare with a stare. “You’re interested in the military… ‘cause’uh their uniforms?” The farm pony shook her head, turning around. She trotted off.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Ah’m goin’ to pick up Bloom from school, it’s nearly three.” The orange mare called over her shoulder, as Rarity trotted to catch up.

“So… uh...” Doctor Horse observed in his scrubs and mask, tan unicorn absolutely perplexed by the biped bending over the table with local weather team manager and Element of Harmony laying on the operating table, hooked up to the machine designed to cause unconsciousness.

“Yo.” The biped stated as he sliced more of that silver crust off the pegasus, his hands uncovered and blood smeared over the chest piece of his armor, itself covered in mud.

The doctor found his voice, although still confused by the absurdity of the entire situation. “I absolutely must protest you operating on Miss Dash, sir! First of all you’re filthy!”

Dante waved his free hand at the doctor. “It’s fine. The nanites I injected her with will neutralize any bacteria or viruses I introduce into her body and utilize them as fuel, allowing them to continue operating for longer. The nanites boost a person’s immune system to basically untouchable. I could pour horse AIDs down her throat and the only threat to her would be choking.”

“Second, you’re operating an anesthesia machine without a proper license or training, and you’re operating on a patient without proper license, certification or training!” Doctor Horse reared, waving his forehooves about.

Once more, the biped waved. “I was actually a doctor back home.”

“Really. you’re a doctor?”

The biped shrugged. “Eh… I was a doctor in the 1700s when the best way to do surgery was to cut a limb off as fast as possible. My best record was five seconds to take an arm off at the elbow and ten seconds to take a leg off at the hip, entire operation from the point I started sawing was only fifteen seconds!” Dante looked up from the injured pegasus. “So… yeah… technically I’m a doctor. I also studied veterinarian medicine, which is a little bit more relevant. Though, I’ll be honest with ya Doc, if RD was a horse back home I’d’ve probably just put a bullet in her brain and called it a day.”

Doctor Horse’s mouth hung open at the casualness the biped displayed when speaking about murdering a pony… for a mere broken bone.

“That’s… horrible! How were you a doctor!” He shouted, flabbergasted.

“Equines back home don’t take to broken bones very well. Usually it’s more merciful to put them down then have them live the rest of their lives crippled.”

Before the doctor could protest anymore, Dante held up a hand to stop him. “Ya gotta understand, Doc. Back home, ponies, equines in general rather, are nothing more then dumb animals. They’re dumber then dogs. Panicky, fleety animals. Also big motherfuckers. Shetland ponies are bigger then most of you guys. Some of the bigger breeds can reach and ton and some change. And, obviously, a literal ton ain’t very conducive to an animal that’s almost always standing up. Is it Doc?”

“Well… no...” The doctor didn’t understand what you were getting at.

“I know what you were thinking. You were thinking that I want to kill RD. What I said was a joke. And if I wanted to kill RD, I’d have already done it. So chill the fuck out and come over here. I may know how to operate on horses back home, but I’ve got no guarantee y’all are exactly the same as the horses back home.” Dante waved the doctor, who groaned, but complied and trotted over.

“So you’re a changeling?” The orange filly asked from atop the changelings head, as she entertained the three.

Sending more magic to her voicebox, Fortnite imitated the filly’s voice down to exact tone and pitch. “Yes, Scootaloo, I am a changeling.”

The three were absolutely amazed at the mimicking, as the white unicorn filly hopped up and down several times. “Me next, me next!”

“Are you sure about that, Sweetie?” Fornite asked, Sweetie’s voice coming from her mouth.

“So what other powers do you have?” The yellow filly asked from her spot in between the Changeling’s legs.

Fortnite removed Scootaloo from her head and stepped to the side so she wasn’t standing over the yellow filly.

In a flash of green fire, the yellow filly was greeted by a carbon copy of herself.

The copy smiled and waved at her. “Hi! Mah name’s Apple Bloom! Nice’tuh meet’cha!”

The eyes of all three fillies lit up. “Wow!” The word came out in unison, as Fortnite returned to her original form in a flash of green fire.

The changeling looked around the room and then back to the trio. “You three behave, okay? I need to the use the restroom.” The three nodded, all of them smiling at their new friend.

“Will you show us more when you get back? Scootaloo asked, smiling.

The changeling returned the smile, nodding. “Of course. But!” She raised a hoof for emphasis. “Only if you behave.” All three fillies nodded their head in agreement.

With that matter settled, Fortnite proceeded to get directions to the nearest restroom from the nurse at the front desk, confident that the three fillies would behave.

“You know, I never got to tell you my last reason for wanting you to stop.” Doctor Horse stated, as both he and the biped stood over the rainbow maned pegasus.

The biped chuckled. “If it’s about me not being insured against medical malpractice, Doc,” Dante lifted his head to meet the doctor’s eyes. “That’s why I called you here. So she can sue you instead of me.”

Doctor Horse never responded to the statement, as Dante continued to clear the silver crust.

Horse gasped, as the looked at the injury. “Absolutely amazing… it’s already showing noticeable signs of healing. This was done by your technology?”

Dante tsked at what he saw. “Fuck, I was worried about this happening. The nanites rebuilt the skin and muscles already. But they did it around the fracture. Fuck, they elongated the tendon to compensate for the bulge.”

Dante looked up at the doctor, who almost shrunk at how serious he looked.

“Look, Doc. The nanites were designed to keep someone alive in the heat of combat and give us time to get them out of fire and to safety. Normally overhealing isn’t a concern because Imperial hospitals have the tech to deal with it. But we’re going to have to do it manually. We’re going to have to cut and remove the nanite-healed skin, tendons and muscles, reset the bone and then cast it. And we’re also going to have to do it for the wing as well, otherwise RD ain’t ever flying again and she’ll be walking around on a fucked up leg.”

The Doctor nodded. “We certainly can’t have that.”

Dante smirked. “Great, glad to see we’re on the same page. I know the leg better then I know the wing. You grab the wing and I’ll get the leg. With both of us doing it at the same, it’ll turn a day long operation into, probably about twelve hours.”

The doctor had already picked up a scalpel, beginning to examine the damaged wing. “You ever done a day long operation.”

“Me? No. But there was a team that did a three week surgery to keep an IFAF trooper alive. By the end of it, the surgery team was running on combat drugs alone and the medical AI was making sure none of them nodded off.” Dante chuckled.

The doctor looked up, an utterly shocked look on his face. “T-th… Three weeks! With the same ponies? Why?”
Dante shrugged. “Everytime they left for something, the guy would start dying. Literally, no one could leave the room and they couldn’t switch places with anyone. So they had people start tossing combat drugs into the room so they wouldn’t fall asleep trying to keep the guy alive.”

“I can understand doing everything you can to keep a patient alive, but three weeks!”

Dante shrugged once more. “He was the coolest guy, everyone loved him. He ended up living, had to have four replacement limbs, though, after an explosion completely tore three off and mangled the fourth. Miraculously his head and brain came out relatively unscathed. Went back into the field, crazy dude that one was.”

All the doctor could do was merely shake his head. “You are insane.”

Dante shrugged.

Fortnite sighed as she walked out of the bathroom, thankful to have finally relieved her bladder. She had been needing to pee since just shortly after Dante had killed the cyclops.

She rounded the corner that led to the lobby, and immediately shot back around the corner, her heart having stopped.

In the lobby were two Elements… with the three fillies… and two of those fillies looked like spitting images of the Elements…

‘Mothers? Intel said nothing about two of the Elements being moms!’ Fortnite’s mind raced. She couldn’t very well go out there. While she had approached the rainbow maned pegasus, that was when she was drugged and Fortnite had Dante there to back her up.

But there was no way these two would listen to her. She hadn’t even decried the Queen yet, just tagged along with Dante. And if they found her here, there was no way she would survive the encounter. Especially not with the one named Applejack present. They had been briefed to explicitly avoid confronting her unless they had numbers on their side.

She made up her mind, her best chance of surviving was to find Dante and stick by his side. But before she could move to head further into the hospital, the orange mare came around the corner.

The two met eyes, as both froze. Neither of them dared to make the first move.

After what seemed to be an eternity of staring, Fortnite broke the silence.

“Uh… hi!” She weakly waved a hoof.

“Changelin’!” Applejack yelled, as Fortnite yelped and took off at an almost unnatural speed down the hallway in search of her savior.

“Dante!” The changeling cried, begging to any deity who would listen that the biped would hear her, as the farm pony followed her closely. “Help me!”

“There ain’t nopony that kahn help ya!” Applejack roared as she tried to close the gap, though the changeling’s fear of death at the hoof at her seemed to be enough to keep her going faster then the pony.

“I didn’t do anything, I swear! I’m with Dante!” She cried back, hoping the Element would see logic.

“Like hogpies ya are! I fell for ya once, I ain’t fallin’ for ya again!”

She didn’t. “I swear I’m telling you the truth!”

“I don’t know what’cha did to Bloom, but Imma make sure you pay for it!”

The changeling slammed into a door leading to a stair well and then ran up the stairs, taking three at a time.

“I didn’t do anything to her, Dante saved her from a cyclops!”

“A cyclops you summoned!”

Fortnite exited the stairwell and onto another floor, tears forming at the edges of her eyes, absolutely terrified at the thought of dying from being kicked to death.

“Dante!” She yelled once more.

“Alright, I got the leg done. Flesh, tendons and muscles are cut back. It just needs stitching and a cast.” Dante stated, as he collected the various bloody tools he had been using and deposited them into a stainless steel kidney dish. “I’ll leave that to you.”

“I am nearly done with the wing.” The doctor replied back, still focusing on the injured limb. Dante took the time to give his ungloved hands a wash in the sink. Bloodborne diseases were of no concern to him, though the native population probably had a less hardy immune system then he.

As the Doctor was finishing up with the wing, Dante took his leave from the room.

“I’d love to stay and chat, Doc, but there’s something I gotta deal with, I’ll be back in a little while to check in on her.”

Doctor Horse merely waved the biped away, who took his leave through the doors of the operating room.

‘Where did she come from!’ Fortnite thought, as she vaulted over the enraged white unicorn, who had seemingly appeared from nowhere, using her wings to give her a small boost as the Element attempted to latch onto her with her magic.

This was not to be, as Fornite gave a small burst of her own magic, disrupting the magic field that would have stopped her in mid-air.

She landed on the ground running, still trying to get away not just one Element, but two now!

“I didn’t do anything!” She cried, as she turned a corner, the two Elements right on her raggedy tail.

She turned another corner, as she screeched to a halt, cursing her luck.

With how big this hospital was, she was of course unlucky enough to run into one of the few dead ends, a wall now blocking her path, and allowing the two very angry Elements to corner her.

She could feel the sweat dripping down her chitin, as she put her hooves up in an attempt to appear non-threatening.

“Now… listen, I realize we got off on the wrong hoof, b-”

“Gettin’ off on the wrong hoof’s’n unnerstatement! Y’all attacked Can’uh’lot!” The Element Fortnite knew as Applejack protested, causing the changeling to wince.

“Well, yes, we did but in my defense, I didn-”

“Your Queen kidnapped Princess Cadance, imprisoned her, mimicked her and then tried to overthrow the Princesses!” The Element known as Rarity shot back at her, as the two slowly enclosed on the trapped changeling, as she uselessly pushed her back against the wall in an attempt to make herself smaller.

Fortnite cringed. “Well… yes, she did do that. But if you’ll just let me explain! I’m with D-”

“There’ll be time enough in Canterlot for you to explain, changeling!” Rarity shouted, charging and immediately joined by Applejack, as they closed the distance and spun around to kick the changeling, whose forelegs were raised to cover her face in a pathetic attempt to protect herself from her impending doom, her eyes screwed shut.

However, the changeling found herself lifted from the ground, a metallic clang ringing out a second later, as both ponies who had been trying to kill her shouted in pain.

She slowly opened her eyes, fearing whatever it was that had grabbed her. However, she was greeted by the sight of the two Elements hopping around in pain, and two armored arms connected to pale hands wrapped around her barrel. Lifting the changeling up into the air and into safety.

She craned her to neck to see the smiling face of the biped who had saved her twice already.

“Yo.” He stated, glancing at the two prancing ponies.

“So… what’s going on here and why are you two,” Dante gestured with Fortnite, using her to point in their general direction. “Trying to kill Fortnite here?”

“Ah don’ know if you’ve noticed this, Dante,” Applejack began, shaking her rear hoof in pain. “But that’s a changelin’!” Applejack pointed at Fortnite, causing Dante to lift her up in his arms, turning her around and examining her, causing a green blush to find its way onto her face.

After a few seconds of examining Fortnite, Dante nodded. “Yeah... she is indeed a changeling.” The biped allowed his right hand to remove itself from her barrel, holding onto her with his left arm. He brought her to his left and bent his elbow, nestling into a crook created by his arm and his left hip similar to how one would carry a small dog. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

The hallway erupted into various shouts, most of them accusations about the changeling, ranging from her mind-controlling the biped to attempting to consume the three fillies who had been rescued in the forest.

However, Fortnite was not going to allow the accusations to go unchallenged, as she began shouting back at the two ponies who had attempted to kill her, though her positions and arguments were hard to take seriously when she being held like a puppy.

The only being not yelling was Dante, who merely rolled his eyes at the ruckus, sighing. He calmly unholsted the pistol that had been resting on the thigh of his armor, did a quick scan to ensure this was the top floor of the hospital and no one was above him, aimed at the roof and fired a single round.

The bang was enough to make the two ponies jump attempting to cover their ears, the changeling also covering her ears, though held tight by the biped to prevent any jumping.

“Shut up!” Dante shouted, his pistol still held in his hand and aimed at the roof. He reholstered it. “When the ringing wears off in your ears, meet Fortnite and me down in the lobby and I’ll explain everything.” Without another word, Dante disappeared into thin air, leaving the two Elements in the hallway, cradling their ears.

Author's Notes:

Yo.

I stole Scuttle's name from Drop.

https://www.fimfiction.net/user/156239/Dropbear

Check his stories out if you haven't already, seriously, if you like this story, I promise you'll love his.

Again, as always, if you liked and favorited this story, please tell me why. If you disliked this story, please tell me why you disliked it. Thank you very much. I also enjoy criticism as it helps me to improve. So if you do downvote, please leave a comment letting me know why. Be it grammar, spelling, pacing, or you just fucking hate the character!