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Lilith awoke to a scream from outside of the building, a changeling conscience brushing through the air as if searching for something. Lilith allowed the alarmed thoughts she had felt upon hearing the screams to the forefront of her mind, masking her presence with the illusion that she was just another pony wondering what was going on.It wasn't hard, as she really was concerned with what had happened. The other changeling mentally passed her over, looking no deeper than surface thoughts. Lilith could sense the doorway to the changeling's mind close like a loud slam as he seemingly gave up.

When she was in the hive communication traveled mentally and Lilith had always picked up background noise and conversations due to her being partly of royal blood. But Lilith now realized outside of the hive her world was strangely quiet and empty.

A knock came at her door, she nearly leapt in surprise. Lilith considered ignoring it, but the knock repeated itself with a voice. "Lilith, its Elric. Open up."

Why was he here? And how did he know where she was staying?

Lilith grabbed her small knife from her bags as she quietly pulled the latch on the door, opening it barely a crack.

She opened the door fully upon seeng that it really was him, lowering the knife. He looked to be in the full guard armor.

"Heard the scream?" Elric questioned, pointing to her dagger. "The worst your gonna do with that is give someone a pinprick."

Lilith knew it was a joke but she had already managed to end more than one life with it. The cheap blade was even dented where it had impacted in the one's spine.

Lilith pushed the morbid thoughts from her head, tossing the dagger aside as if it had bitten her.

"Woah, just a joke there. Don't take it out on the floorboards." He slid past her and picked the blade off the ground, a piece of the handle shattering to the floor. He frowned at the poorly constructed blade and discarded it in a similar fashion, slipping a large yet concealed dagger out from under his armor. "Here, take one of mine, were going changeling hunting."

"What?!"

"The scream was a civilian who happened to see the corpse, we were in the middle of barricading it off... There's a rouge changeling in town that doesn't seem to be content with just stealing energy."

Lilith followed him out, grabbing her bags on the way.

"We'll start door to door in here, I got a list of occupied rooms." Elric spoke.

"But aren't changelings masters at disguise?" Lilith phrased it as a question to cover herself.

"Yes, but they still bleed green. This is my first time on the hunt but some of the older guards have done it before. It's quarantine... Nopony leaves town, and everyone gets a simple nick until they find one." He mimicked giving a small skin deep cut.

"But what if they didn't do it?"

Elric winced, stopping in the middle of the hall. "Equestria hasn't been a kind place these last four years. Hopefully Celestia decides to start running the nation instead of hiding away soon."

"What happens?" Lilith asked, realizing her question hadn't been properly answered.

"I'm told that the last time this happened a changeling was found who was living happily with his pony wife. She even knew the truth about him. He was put to death, only afterwards was the real culprit found."

Elric knocked on a door. "Royal guard, open up!"

"Celestia will set things right soon."

"I heard one of the other guards telling me you managed to get an audience with her?"

The door opened up and a quick explanation was given by Elric as Lilith looked anywhere in the room somepony could hide. The patron and his... Bedfellow both gave their blood samples.

Lilith proceeded to the next door with Elric. "It was more of me sneaking in the palace to meet her. She nearly killed me." Lilith have Elric the minimal amount of information needed, hoping he wouldn't try and pry and further.

Lilith repeated Elric's line, receiving no answer at the next door. Elric went down the stairs to fetch the spare keys from the desk worker as she waited. In his absence the door opened and a pegasus stepped into view.

"There's a rouge changeling loose, I'm going to need a blood sample from any of the room's occupants."

"I'm the only one, you can search if you'd like?" He gestured for her to enter.

Lilith stepped through the doorway, hearing the click of the door locking behind her.

"So, has the situation stretched the guards a bit thin? It's not hard to notice you have no backup."

Lilith could nearly feel the danger that thickened the atmosphere.

"I can handle on my own." She bluffed, keeping track of his position at all times as she searched.

"Pity, a shared meal is better than no meal though." As Lilith brandished her knife at the now obvious changeling she was tackled by another that had been in hiding. She was unable to respond in time to the sneak attack, a cloth over her mouth before she could cry out.

The door was kicked open and a knife flew with pinpoint accuracy, impaling the changeling who had tackled her between the eyes.

Elric strode into the room and the changeling in disguise shifted back to its normal form, hissing at him in an attempted scare tactic. Elric stared him down, showing no fear.

The changeling circled around, Elric pulling another concealed dagger. How many of the things did he carry in that armor?

Instead of attacking the changeling made a break for it, leaping towards the door Elric had left open in his haste.

Elric's other dagger let fly, leading the moving target perfectly. It stabbed straight into the changeling's insectile wing and pinned him to the door.

Elric marched up and pushed his foreleg against the changelings throat, pulling out his knife.

"I know there are more of you! Send them a message." The changeling nodded as best as he could with the pressing force on his throat. "Tell them, the hunt is over. And tell your master that if he infringes on Canterlot again there will be far more changeling blood spilled."

The changeling's eyes closed and he broadcast the message to any other changelings in the area, Lilith could her the words in her head.

A question bounced back from several others. "Who?"

The changeling wheezed out a cough before speaking, "Our master will want to know the name of the one who sends such displeasing news."

"Elric." He nearly growled out, the changeling sending out his name to the others. The eyes of Elric's pinned victim grew wide as the dagger was plunged into his chest, finding his heart.

Elric pulled out his blade, allowing the changeling's fresh corpse to fall.

"You said master?" Lilith questioned Elric.

"Yeah, they have to have one, there has been organized changeling movement all throughout Equestria for the past month. They're hunting for someone, or something. Changelings are most effective as a hive." Elric was obviously hiding some piece of information from her, she could tell.

She looked deep into his eyes for any sign of deceit, a vision interrupting her gaze.

~~

Her night in the dessert, a run in with a young assassin...

This knife," he slipped one from a band on his hoof, "is not for you. Stay still."

Why would she be seeing a vision of her own past? Parts of it sipped by, as if in fast forward.

"You're fast, for a changeling. But not for someone trained from birth to hunt them."

Lilith's strangely jumpy vision cut away to some of yesterday's events.

"You're fast, even by pegasus standards."

Wait did this mean...

"...haven't been here quite a month yet."

How had she missed it?

The vision cut back to her defiantly staring the assassin down over the campfire. She stared into his mysterious silvery eyes, the same eyes...

Lilith's visions cut out and she found herself in Elric's arms.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, it's just all the blood." Lilith bluffed, passing his knife improperly back to him.

"Your supposed to pass knives handle first." He took hold anyways, expecting her to release it.

"I know." Lilith spoke, pulling lightly on the handle, cutting into his unprotected flesh.

He dropped the knife and pulled away from Lilith, trying to hide the wound.

"Ah, crap." He looked around for something to wrap it with, running over to the bed sheet and tearing off a strip.

"What's wrong? Afraid of the color of your own blood?" Lilith walked over and grabbed his limb, he made no further attempts to hide the light gash leaking green blood.

Lilith took the cloth strip and tied up his injury as he questioningly looked at her.

"Why? How?"

"I was suspicious," Lilith bluffed once again, not ready to unveil her identity to him quite yet. "You knew too much about changelings to not be one. But don't worry, your secret is safe."

"If I'm a changeling what's to keep me from saying these two didn't take you down before I could save you?"

"Because you wouldn't care if I revealed your secret to everypony. You just sent a challenge to a changeling king by giving your name. You don't really care if you die do you?"

"I never said that."

"Hmm?"

"I never said Changeling King, so how is it that you know?"

"A story for a story." Lilith quoted their first encounter to help him realize the truth, it seemed the time for hiding had passed. "You had your suspicions from the start. That cut on the training field wasn't accidental was it? It was a test. But it didn't work because you missed part of the equation...

My mother was Ardith, yes. But my father is something else."

"Your... That's..." He paused to collect himself. "An impossible hybrid child. It all makes sense now." Elric chuckled to himself. "You were wrong about one thing too though."

"What?"

"I have one thing left to live for, I'm not ready to die just yet."

"What is it?"

Elric bowed in front of Lilith. "Hybrid or not, you are still my queen. I would gladly offer my life to save yours."

"Good, because I need your help."

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading!