Shutter Shot awoke much more peacefully than he had the day before; there were no unwanted or unexpected visitors looming over his bed or in his room. He yawned and got himself out of bed, checked all his belongings and headed downstairs, his eyes still half-shut.

As he went behind the bar and poured himself something to drink, he noticed that the hotel was completely devoid of activity. Gone was the buzzing and chattering, and only the quiet sound of the aged hard cider overflowing the shot glass permeated the room.

Now aware of his solitude, Shutter quickly gulped down the entire glass and rushed outside. He whipped his head all around town, hoping to spot his scoop before it got away. He couldn’t make anything out on ground level, and began to look for a vantage point. He chose the water tower, and scaled the tower’s ladder with surprising speed for a buzzed unicorn that had just woken up. Now with a much better lay of the land, he spotted a cloud of dust billowing up in the north. There was Brood’s army, slowly advancing.

The pony froze for a second. Shuttertopolis was literally marching away from him, slipping through his hooves. The guarantee of a lifetime supply of umbrella drinks slapped Shutter out of his shock and pushed him down the tower and after Brood and his army.

It took him almost an hour to catch up, and by the time he had made it to the front of the pack he was completely exhausted. Brood, at the very head, glanced down at the heaving pony who now was struggling to walk.

“I said we were moving the next day,” he said with a frown.

Shutter attempted to make a case for his tardiness, but found his words replaced by desperate gasps for air.

For a time, all that could be heard along the plains were the sounds of buzzing wings and hoofsteps, as the army marched toward Deep Tunnel. At around noon, Brood suddenly stopped and sat down, and the rest of the changeling swarm did the same.

Shutter wiped some sweat off his brow and did the same. “Whew. Thanks for the break, Brood.”

Brood didn't even turn his head when he spoke, “No break. We wait.”

The unicorn scratched his head. “Uh, okay.  What are we waiting for?”

“Reinforcements.”

“Oh.” Shutter Shot pawed at the ground, still unsure of how to deal with Brood’s stoicism. “How long until they get here?”

Brood shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Shutter Shot took the hint; he might be stuck here for a while

The pony baked in the hot sun for most of this time. His only distraction came when he tried to make conversation with a nearby drone.

“So. What’s being a changeling like?”

The changeling he had spoken to glared, and with a small flash transformed into an exact copy of Shutter Shot. He crossed his two hooves across his neck, closed his eyes, and gave Shutter Shot his best impersonation of a corpse. The changeling immediately returned to normal and ceased interaction with Shutter.

Expecting similar responses with the other soldiers, Shutter Shot chose silence for the remainder of the wait.

When the sun had reached its crescendo, a low hum became audible in the distance.Shutter turned to see a changeling horde advancing toward them. The unicorn tensed, but relaxed a bit when he saw several rebel flags flying amongst their ranks.

Brood walked off toward the approaching army, his own swarm staying put. Shutter followed right behind him.

“So, these are your reinforcements?” he asked.

“Yes,” Brood replied, “I sent word for them to meet us here last night.”

“Are they going to help us take Deep Tunnel?”

“Yes.”

Shutter timidly trotted along as they both approached the reinforcing army, and Brood greeted a large changeling that had positioned himself in front of the swarm. Though he was similar to Brood in size and stature, his shell seemed to be graying with age, and sported several nicks and cuts that likely had stories behind them. His piercing gaze was further intensified by one of his eyes, which had clouded over with a cataract. Shutter assumed this was their commander.

He watched as the two leaders walked up to each other, their faces mere inches apart. Suddenly they both reared down and hissed, circling each other and snapping their jaws. This continued for a few moments before the old changeling commander reared up on his hind legs and screamed. Brood stood still, and a second later the old changeling dropped to all fours and walked back to his swarm.

“Er, what just happened?” Shutter said as he cautiously tip-hoofed behind the changeling commander, who was still crouched down.

Brood stood and up dusted himself off, “Commander Acid will be leading the siege force,” he said before returning to his own swarm.

“That was a heck of a show,” Shutter said, “did you, uh, lose?”

Brood turned around and dismissively snorted at Shutter before returning to his swarm.

The two armies were soon on the move, with Acid's battalion ahead by a few hundred meters. As the sun began to retreat and the stars became visible, Acid looked up, tracing the constellations with one of his hooves. He nodded.

Both Brood and Acid let out fearsome growls and their swarms dispersed, their drones scattering all across the desert. They soon returned with large amounts of sticks and grass and piled them high. When the hill of kindling had grown large enough, both commanders hissed. In response, the changelings all huddled around their respectives piles until both were completely covered by drones. They then began to vibrate rapidly, and smoke appeared to escape from the pile.

Within a minute both piles of drones dispersed, their combined body heat having caught the kindling on fire. With their task done they huddled around their fires, treasuring the warmth.

Shutter took a picture of both fires now billowing against the evening sky and sat down amongst the changelings.

Brood was the only changeling Shutter had actually talked to, so he attempted to make some more friends, “Hi, I'm Shutter!” he said to the closest changeling to him. The drone turned and hissed at him before resuming conversation with his comrades.

Shutter sighed. With his conversation options limited at his own camp, he decided to journey over to Acid's. No changeling paid mind when left, and as he approached the other swarm he spotted the changeling commander in the middle of a complex array of exaggerated motions, hissing all the while. His strange dancing would at least make for decent photos, so he stuck around. When he had a good view of the camera, he readied a shot.

“He's telling a story,” said a stern voice behind him.

Shutter nearly dropped his camera and whipped around to see Brood standing there, stone-faced as ever.

“What?”

Brood pointed toward Acid, “Our story. Where we came from.”

The shadows from the fire cast themselves on a rock behind Acid, adding an extra set of dark actors to his lone performance. They moved in unison with their leader, displaying warped parodies of his own motions, mocking his story as much as augmenting it.

Brood took a deep breath and began to translate Acid's words:

At first, there was nothing. The white chaos was everything, and there ruled the Great Silence. A red egg emerged from the white chaos. It cracked three times before breaking, and from it emerged the Vowst, and she looked upon the white chaos.

“This will not do,” she said, and gathered the pieces of her egg. She scattered them around the white chaos. Where they landed, continents formed. She looked upon the world she had crafted, now empty and harsh.

“This will not do,” she said, and beat her wings against the dead land. Wind filled the world, the howling gusts whipping across the vast emptiness.

The Vowst looked upon her creation, disappointed in its desolation and ugliness.

“What will I do?” she asked, and began to cry. The great oceans and lakes formed where her tears landed. Clouds filled the empty skies, and the first drops of rain began to fall. The blue expanse enveloped creation, and for the first time the world knew beauty.

The Vowst looked upon her creation, disappointed in its emptiness.

“I know what I must do,” she said. She took a spark from inside herself and breathed it onto the world. The winds and waters carried it far, scattering it across the oceans and continents. Where the sparks landed, grew life. What remained of the original spark split in two, becoming the sun and the moon.

Tired, the Vowst went into a deep sleep.

Acid had stopped his story at this point, to the celebratory hisses and cheers from the swarm.

Shutter frowned, “That's not all there is, is there?”

“It is bad luck to tell the whole story in one night.”

Having finished for the night, Commander Acid picked a nearby boulder and spit on it, which caused it to corrode and dissolve. Once a sizable crater had been formed, he curled up inside, using the massive stone as a makeshift shelter. All the drones followed his lead and also curled up along the ground to rest for the night.

Shutter captured a picture of the resting army's serenity before heading back to Brood’s camp. He had trouble finding his own place to rest; straying too close caused the nearby changelings to hiss and snap at his hooves.

He eventually came to rest between the two camps, and found himself missing the filthy bed back at Rolling Hooves.

~

“Here, here!” Fancy Pants ordered, banging his gavel until the crowd before him came to attention.

The great echos that bounced around the ornate party hall quickly ceased, and all eyes rested on Fancy Pants, who sat upon an elevated stage with several other Canterlot residents of importance. He telekinetically removed his monocle and cleaned it with a cloth, dramatically clearing his throat while doing so.

“Now then,” he said, “The Canterlot Progressive Society is now in session. I must first beg your forgiveness for scheduling this meeting in place of our normal croquet match, but as most of you know, recent events have warranted our attention.”

Jet Set stood up, “Yes! I have been saying for the longest time that we need more fountains and statues around the city!”

The posh pony was met with an eerie quiet and a few awkward coughs. He sat back down, blushing.

“Yes, quite,” Fancy Pants muttered, setting his monocle back into place, “As you all are no doubt aware, a war is raging on our border. I've called this meeting to help us arrive at a consensus; a goal that we can work towards to help end the conflict.”

A rather mean-looking grey pony stood up, “Fancy, why should we even bother helping those...bugs? They looted our capital city for Celestia’s sake!”

Fancy Pants adjusted his monocle, “My boy, if you bothered to read the paper you would discover that those changelings that attack were loyal to Chrysalis. She’s been doing a rather poor job as queen, and now she’s paying the piper, as it were. If we help alleviate suffering, it would go a long way toward building up relations to whoever replaces her.”

Murmurs passed through the crowd. One of the well-to-do mares with an enormous hat raised a hoof. “We could start a charity auction!”

Another pony next to her rolled his eyes, “What is it with you and charity auctions?”

“Do you have a better idea?” she shot back.

Fancy Pants smashed his gavel again in an effort to contain the argument, but their quarrel had already infected the room.

“We could start the Changeling Ponytarian Fund!”

“I say we organize a raffle!”

“Let's supply the rebels with arms!,”

Soon, ideas were erupting all over the room, and each of their respective owners thought that theirs was the best one. The civility and pomp of the upper class collapsed, and heated arguments erupted amongst the attendees. Fancy Pants simply watched, considering this his entertainment for the evening.

Fleur, who had been leaning on Fancy Pants the whole time, took out a small cider flask from one of his coat pockets and began to drink.

~

Beaming with pride, Saber rattler plopped her latest article onto her editor’s desk. It had been a labor of love; she had spent hours mulling over the right words, sewing seeds of alarm and danger into the fabric that was her most captivating article yet.

“My article.” said Saber, expectantly.

The editor didn't even look up as she sorted out letters, “I'll get to it in a second.”

“Why not now?” growled Saber Rattler, accusingly.

The editor groaned. “I'll get to it in a second.These letters just keep piling in, and somepony’s gotta take care of them.”

“You should really read it now.”

The editor threw up her hooves,  “Fine!” she yelled, before leaning in closer to Saber's opinion piece. “-and a show of military force is the only option. We must punish both sides of this little brawl that plagues our borders. I recommend we-” she recited, before shuffling the article into a drawer into her desk.

“Yeah, okay, that'll do,” the editor said, returning to her sorting. She hoped that her dismissal would end the conversation; she didn’t particularly feel like dealing with another of Saber’s hissy-fits.

Saber gave a loud hmph before returning to her desk. Who did the editor think she was? Inquiring ponies needed to have their biases confirmed and their  fears justified! Why weren't the folk eating up her articles like they used to?

As she sat back down to her station, she opened the drawer where she kept copies of all her old articles. She took one out at random and scanned it.

“-don't know how to do anything of value! It's all these modern conveniences that are making our foals stupid and quarrelsome! My parents were good, honest, Celestia-fearing folk, and they-”

“I was so passionate back then,” she sighed, “what did I lose?”

Another cartload of letters arrived via elevator. If looks could kill, each and every one of those letters would have burst into flame.

~

The two changeling armies awoke as the sun had just begun to peek over the hills. Shutter did not hear the marching until Brood walked over and lightly kicked him in his sides.

Shutter looked at the two advancing swarms and yawned, rising and taking his place among them.

Their march did not last long, as they quickly came upon a sheer cliff. The cliff face of the other side was an almost alabaster white, and dotted with holes.

Shutter took out his camera and pushed the zoom function as far as it could go. He captured the loyalist flag hanging right outside the largest cave entrance, flying defiantly before the two assembled armies.

A low buzzing emerged from the two swarms. Shutter looked around him to see that all the rebel changelings had reared down and were shuddering. The speed of their shaking increased proportionally to the buzzing noise, and when it had become almost deafening, Commander Acid belted out an ear-splitting roar. Every changeling took to the skies, charging the holes that dotted the cliff.

Every changeling except Brood. Being short one wing, he simply ran back as far as he could, jumped, and landed directly into one of the tunnels.

Dust soon erupted from the tunnels as the battle began. Dark gray clouds of grit spilled forth from the tunnels, and every so often a changeling would be thrown out. When the cries and banging in one tunnel ceased, the rebels would fly out and head into another, starting from the top of the cliff and working their way downward. As they did, they ignored the largest tunnel in the middle of the colony.

Soon, all that remained was the middle tunnel and both armies grouped together into one giant black cloud. Brood was standing on the heads of two of the drones, and when Commander Acid gave the screech they all darted inside at full speed. Shutter stumbled a bit as the ground shook with a slight tremor, and small cracks appeared around the main tunnel entrance.

Shutter gasped as he saw Brood violently tossed out of the tunnel, but managed to grasp the edge in time. He struggled to pull himself back up, and he appeared to be losing his traction. Right before he fell, a few of his minions came to his aid and pulled him back up, a moment Shutter was certain to catch on film. When they pulled their leader to safety, they all returned to the fray.

When the fighting seemed to cease, the sun was already past its high point. Rebel changelings began to flow out of the main cavern at an even pace, all of them settling into the various minor tunnels and openings. As they did, Commander Acid flew out, carrying the rebel banner. In one quick motion he tore away the loyalist flag hanging next to the main entrance and replaced it with his own.

Shutter took a few more pictures of the rebels slowly consolidating their hold before he realized that there was no way over to the army he was supposed to be following. He spotted Brood at the large cave entrance, standing at the edge and observing the activity.

“Oi!” Shutter called, waving one of his hooves, “mind helping me out here?”

Brood looked and seemed to roll his eyes before he called two of his subordinates. He pointed a Shutter and the two changelings nodded, lifting off and heading toward Shutter. Shutter protested a bit when they picked up him and hoisted him into the air, but stopped when he observed the long way down.

They plopped him rather roughly in front of Commander Brood. Shutter dusted himself off before looking up to the changeling leader.

“Thank you!” he said.

“Why do you keep following me?” Brood replied, frowning.

Shutter smiled and shrugged, but said nothing.

Brood walked off into a sub-tunnel, leaving Shutter to explore the changeling colony for himself. He walked into the winding narrows of the main tunnel, keeping his camera at the ready. The loyalist changelings had already been detained, most of them trapped within the same sticky substance that Shutter had been. The rebels ran around the tunnels, chirping and hissing at each other to coordinate their efforts.

The narrow pathway suddenly opened up, and Shutter looked in awe at what lay before him. In a massive cave inside the cliff was a beehive-like structure, yet much slimier colored a sickly green. The rebels were busy probing it, digging out larvae from the combs of the hive. When they found one, they put it on their back and headed into one of the deeper parts of the tunnel.

Shutter watched this unfold for a bit before interrupting a passing changeling, who also had a squirming grub on his back, “Wait! What are you doing?”

The changeling stopped for a moment and concentrated. It spoke hesitantly, and with awkward pauses, “We take...children! To Vertex! Make them loyal!” it hissed, and resumed its task.

Shutter expended the rest of his film on the hive. When he was finished, his put his camera away and sought a secluded corner in the large cave. He produced some paper he had stocked up on from the hotel, and began to wrote a chronicle of his adventures up to that point. The changelings were not even close to extracting all the grubs as he penned the last word, and it became more and more apparent that neither he nor rebels were leaving these tunnels anytime soon.

He got up and sought out Brood, hoping he would be near the main tunnel entrance. The big grump was nowhere to be found at the opening, but following a deep hiss from one of the smaller tunnels branching off led him to a small room where Brood and Acid were staring at a map that had been carved into the stone wall. The two leaders were talking amongst themselves and pointing out other dots on the legend.

Shutter took another step forward catching Brood’s attention. The irate changeling turned to face shutter shot, making no efforts to mask his displeasure.

“What?” he demanded.

Shutter telekinetically took out his finished story and roll of film, “I, uh, have my story ready!”

Brood snorted before letting out a familiar screech. Almost instantly, the changeling courier appeared, already disguised as the orange pegasus. Shutter gave his items to the imposter pony, who gave Brood a rigid salute before speeding off.

Their business concluded, Brood turned back toward the map and pointed toward a larger dot in the bottom left portion of the map. Acid nodded, and the tone between the two became excited. Shutter headed back to the main tunnel, his mental faculties focused entirely on finding someplace comfortable to rest.

~

Saber Rattler was slowly thinking of the best possible way to blame everything on the intellectual elites in Canterlot in her latest article until her thoughts were interrupted by a crash. She turned around to see an orange pegasus pressed against a window to her right. He quickly unstuck himself and flew around to the editor's office and handed her a few papers and roll of film before leaving. The editor stopped everything she was doing and reviewed the delivery, before walking over to the entrance of her office and peeking her head out.

“Saber Rattler? Could you come over here for a sec?” she asked, and went back inside.

Saber adjusted her glasses and complied. She walked in to see the editor practically buried in the papers she had received.

Saber stomped a hoof down, “What do you want, Inkwell?”

Inkwell looked up, “Oh, yes,” she said, putting the papers down for a moment, “I don't know how to tell you this, but-” she trailed off, averting her eyes, “what Shutter Shot sent in looks pretty long, and our readers are going to want the whole thing. I think we'll have to cut your article this time around. Sorry.”

Saber Rattler simply walked over to the coffee table and stood absolutely still. A second later she flipped it over with the force of a hurricane, which hit the wall and broke in half.

“THAT'S IT!” she screamed, her glasses now unsettled and hair frizzled, “I'M TIRED OF THAT HACK RUINING THIS COMPANY!”

She turned toward Inkwell with a manic look in her eye, “He thinks he's so special. He is not. I'll prove it! I'LL PROVE IT TO ALL OF YOU!” she yelled, stomping out of the office. The editor followed, trying to calm her down.

“It's only for this edition, I promise!” Inkwell explained, trailing Saber back to her desk.

As the unicorn pony arrived at her desk, she took out a load of paper and pens, and stuffed them into the purse she kept under her seat. She turned around, gazing at Inkwell mere inches from her face.

“Shutter Shot is about to get a little competition.” she whispered before storming out of the building.

One intern leaned toward the other, “she snapped on a Tuesday,” he said, “you owe me twenty bits.”