A black 4 door sedan with 2 accompanying equally black SUVs roared through the industrial park in my Royal Equestria Security Forces dreamscape. Their tires threw great curtains of spray up as they tore down the rain soaked, potholed streets of the Ft. Trotterdale dock district. Their destination was an abandoned warehouse. It was after midnight and the district was deserted.
The tires on the sedan squealed as the tires and the anti-lock brakes coped with the vehicles abrupt deceleration; the SUVs also came to a halt on either side of the sedan. There was another black SUV already there parked with its lights on. As soon as the sedan came to a halt, the enger rear door flew open Chrysalis got out, not waiting for the rest of her security detail to disembark from the other vehicles. Her eyes glowed an ominous green in the dark as she marched toward 2 other changelings who were walking toward her, while her security detail began setting up a perimeter defense.
“Where are they!” she said to the waiting drones. One of them nodded her head.
“This way your Majesty! Their bodies are over here!” He spun around and started walking toward a darkened corner of the warehouse. As he did, he pulled a flashlight out and activated it.
Chrysalis looked over at the other drone walking alongside her. “When were they discovered?” the queen asked.
The drone sighed. “They failed to report in at 22:30 and 23:00. We found them here about 40 minutes ago. I would bet whoever did this was not aware that they had tracking wards on them.” He pointed at one of 2 sedan parked about 40ft away. “I don’t know exactly when they were killed, but I’d say in the last couple of hours as well. I will point out they only took our van and left the other vehicles behind.”
The party’s journey ended in a wet corner of the warehouse. There the bodies of 2 ponies lay. Whether they’d been unicorns or earth ponies was impossible to tell, because their heads had literally been obliterated. What had been their brains and skulls were now splattered across the damp concrete walls in front of them. Their hands had been quickly zip-tied behind their backs. From the pattern of cratered concrete they’d been forced to kneel and then shot in the back of the head with a shotgun at point blank range.
Chrysalis stared silently at the bodies.
Number 12, her most senior warrior in her entourage, walked up. He slung his carbine across his back and then squatted next to the bodies. After a moment he looked up at his queen. “Your Majesty. Even facing death, they ed to lock their forms. To the very end they didn’t betray the hive.”
The queen nodded her head. A changeling could, with great effort, lock the form they were currently in at the time of death to avoid reverting back to their natural state. But it required great concentration and will to do.
After a moment Her Majesty spoke. “This was supposed to be their first assignment. Their first mission without supervision. This was supposed to be a straightforward, simple delivery and receiving of payment. That’s why they were tasked with it. What went wrong?” Chrysalis started walking toward the sedan that didn’t belong to her.
“Well we’re pretty sure this wasn’t Flowing Tide double crossing us because the party they sent out is dead in that sedan over there!” A drone pointed at the vehicle. “Looks like they were waiting for the truck as agreed to when they got ambushed in the vehicle. They were caught completely off guard. Multiple shotgun blasts and at least dozen pistol rounds finished them off!”
Chrysalis looked at the drone. “Did you find the attache case with the payment in it?” The drone shook his head. “No, Your Majesty. We searched the vehicle and it’s not there. However, one of the bodies in the back of the sedan has half of a pair of handcuffs still attached to their wrist with couple of links of chain still connected. It appears somebody used a pair of bolt cutters to cut the case free if I was to guess.”
“Has our vehicle been searched?” The queen looked in the vehicle. It was a blood soaked mess of ponies who’d been torn to shreds by buckshot and jacketed hollow points at very close range.
One her security detail spoke. “No your highness the vehicle that number K4309 drove was left as is. The keys are still in the ignition. They appear to have seen this vehicle parked where it was suppose to be. K4309 left the sedan, and V435 got out of the van and then they probably walked over here. They wouldn’t have been able to see the bullet holes or blown out glass until the came alongside this car.” He shrugged his shoulders. “After that, who knows?”
Chrysalis was still peering inside the vehicle when one of her security detail whistled. Looking back up she saw one of her security detail jogging over to her. In his right hand was a sawed off double barrel shotgun. Somepony had brutalized the weapon with a hacksaw. The barrels had been lopped off to around 10 inches and the stock had been cut off at the semi pistol grip. Black nonslip tape had been wrapped around the grip.
The changeling ed it to his queen. “We found this over by where the truck would’ve been parked. It’s not any of our equipment, so I’d hazard they just threw it away when they’d finished their job here.”
Chrysalis pushed the lever on the top of the action and broke it open. 2 spent shell popped out of the barrels. She picked up one of the ejected spent shells off the ground and held to her nose and sniffed. “This has been fired recently.” She snapped the action closed. She was about to speak when one of her team called out.
“We’ve got company on the way, and it doesn’t look like the cops!” A moment later, the sound of rapidly approaching vehicles could heard. In a matter of seconds, every changeling had assumed their pony aliases.
Two sedans screeched to a halt near the entrance of the building. Quickly, six ponies climbed out of the vehicles; even in the dark, Chrysalis recognized one of them as the earth pony mare Flowing Tide. Having already assumed her form as the unicorn mare Glimmering Gems, she walked toward the new arrivals with 4 of her team right behind her. The 2 parties came to a halt about 20ft from each other.
Flowing Tide spoke first. “Glimmering! What in Tartarus is going on here? My guys haven’t come back with the load and they’re not answering their phones. We know that they made it here because the tracking wards says the vehicle they came in is nearby!”
Chrysalis/Glimmering Gems nodded her head. “They’re here… but they’re dead in your car over there. 2 of mine who came to deliver the shipment were also killed. Execution style.” The queen held up the sawed off shotgun. “A 3rd party apparently got wind of this deal and decided to take my load, and your payment for it!” Her hand clenched the wood of the forend tightly.
The queen led Flowing Tide over to the sedan she owned. Over the centuries her majesty had become very, very good at determining if someone was lying or acting on her behalf. The earth pony’s reaction to seeing the dead ponies in her car was believable, including her having to steady herself again a back fender of the sedan as she vomited up the contents of her dinner. After about a minute but still leaning against the car, she looked back at the disguised changelings.
“Where… where’s your team?”
Chrysalis nodded her head and lead the mare over to the bound dead bodies. This time Flowing Tide kept the remaining contents of her stomach down. However she was shaking now, but it wasn’t fear. It was rage and anger boiling up in her. She spun around and stared off at one of the far walls of the darkened warehouse. After minute she finally spoke.
“Who the fuck did this to us!” She turned her head and looked over her shoulder at the queen. “I want these pieces of shit dead! And I want to find out how they learned of our deal!”
Chrysalis held up the sawed off shotgun up again. “Oh we’re going to find who did this. We’ll get my load back, your payment, and we’ll make them regret the day they were born!”
Flowing Tide nodded her head. “You’ve always been good to your word. Okay. I’ll get word out through my connections on the street. If either of us get a lead the other.” She looked over at her bullet riddled sedan then back at the disguised queen.
“I’ve got a fixer who’ll take care of….” She waved a hand at the bullet riddled car and the bodies in it. “This. Glimmering, are going to need someone to take care of your dead?”
Chrysalis shook her head. “That won’t be necessary, but thank you for the thought.”
Flowing Tide nodded her head. Then the 2 leaders wandered away and started making calls.