Equestria in Conflict - Discovering Home

Chapters

Lorem Adpulsu
New Guests
Rewriting Plans
Settling In
In Motion
New Discoveries
Special Circumstances
Short - Moving Forward
Special Revelations
Unknown Force - End of Act III
The Event
Location Down
Destroyed Again
City Outskirts
Mountain City
Time Repeats
Return Engagement
Far Away - Plans Unveiled - Second Contact
Epilogue - War Never Truly Ends - End of Act IV
Major Fighting

Lorem Adpulsu

John felt himself fall to the floor, the cold marble pressing against his face. He opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden brightness before looking around. He was laying in an extremely detailed hallway, gold trim decorating the ceilings. Exactly the way Canterlot Castle had been described to him.

He was home.

Around him lay the prone forms of the six ponies, plus Wesley and the Changeling. First up, Wesley let out a low groan, and sat up, holding his head.

“What even happened? Are we there yet?” He said in a slow voice, mocking the trip in his own way.

John grinned at his friend as the rest of the ponies stirred. One by one, they got onto their hooves, looking around. Twilight was the last one up.

“We’re home!” She suddenly shouted, causing Celestia to give off a low smile. Her student had gone through much to get to this point, and she hoped they could resume their lives with little fuss. Celestia was worried, though. What had happened in the six months they were gone would continue to effect them, even if they didn't realize it.

John looked around for the Russian – Anton, he remembered Rainbow calling him. Finally, he spotted the Russian sitting against a wall, grumbling to himself. Slowly, he got up and joined the crowd, standing next to Rainbow Dash.

Anton looked down at his pegasus friend, searching for the words to convey a question. At last, he found them. “Did we make it, Rainbow?” He asked, his calm momentarily lapsing and revealing his slight accent.

She nodded. “I think so.” Suddenly, a rumbling sound could be heard echoing around the hallway, coming from their left. As one, they turned towards the coming noise.

Up ahead of them, six guards sped around the corner, headed towards the noise they had heard. What they saw was unbelievable.

The four Elements of Harmony, along with the two Princesses, stood side-by-side with three large, unknown creatures. What’s more, was that there was a tied-up Changeling in the corner.

Suddenly, a white unicorn with a blue mane burst through the crowd.

“Twiley!” He shouted, gaining her attention.

Twilight turned around and ran up to her brother, embracing him. “Shining! I’ve missed you so much!”

Her brother backed away for a second, ending the embrace. “Twilight, you and the Princesses have been gone for four hours. Where have you been?” He asked.

Celestia stepped forward, looking right at Shining Armor. “For you it was four hours, but for us it was six months. We were went to an entirely different world, and had many experiences, some of them unspeakable. By the way, the three humans with us are our friends. Don’t overreact.”

Shining just now noticed the three tall creatures in back. He flinched for a moment, before turning to them.

“And just who are you? Did you hurt my sister?” Shining demanded.

“Whoa now, Shining.” Wesley said, using the name he remembered Twilight called him when she talked about him. “We’re friends of Twilights. You might want to wait for the full story later.” Shining nodded his consent, and turned to the Changeling.

“What’s its story?” He asked.

John stepped forward next. “It followed Celestia and the others into the portal they opened up, depositing them near us. They formed up with our enemies, the Soviets, and fought for them. There were three of them, but two died in the fighting. This is the one we captured.”

Shining did a double-take. “Did you say ‘fighting’? As in ‘war’?” Wesley nodded, and Shining continued. “I think I want to hear the full story now.”

Celestia nodded, pointing down the hall. “Guards, lead the Elements and our friends, John, Anton, and Wesley, to the relaxation room. I will summon and then teleport the other Elements here, and then we can begin. Also, take the Changeling to the dungeon.”

The guards nodded, and started walking down the hallway, with the ponies and the three humans following. A few grabbed the Changeling and started to float it down another hallway, where they soon lost sight of it.

Wesley shifted the weight of his pack and rifle to the left, settling it into a more comfortable position. One of th guards, however, took interest.

“What are you carrying, ‘human’?” He asked, trying out the name of the creature for himself and satisfying his curiosity.

Wesley looked at him. “First off, my name is Wesley Brown, not ‘Human’. Human is the name for our species, and just as I doubt you want to be called ‘pony’, I don’t want to be called ‘Human’. Second, it’s my duffle bag and my rifle. My duffle bag carries my stuff, and my rifle is… Well, ask Twilight about it.” Wesley finished, shifting the burden to Twilight to explain it when the time came.

They quickly reached what looked like a lounge, filled with several comfortable-looking couches and cushions. The ponies and humans sat down, sighing with relief, while the guards stood outside the door, waiting. Shining looked up at a large clock built into the side of the wall, which stated the time as being two o’ clock at night. He rubbed his eyes with his hoof. It was too early for him to be playing ambassador to a bunch of strange creatures and protect his sister at the same time.

Ten minutes later, as soon as everyone had finally relaxed, the door opened, and in stepped Celestia, followed by two other ponies John remembered from Twilight’s talks as the two remaining Elements, Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

Rarity was speaking to Celestia. “- What I can’t understand is why we are here. You were gone for four hours! What is so important that…” Her talking died down as soon as she saw the Humans.

Pinkie Pie literally bounced in, stopping midair in the center of the group. As Wesley felt his head hurt from the laws of physics being tossed aside, a hyperactive voice began to talk at sonic speeds.

“Who are you all? Are you Twilight’s friends? Why do you have those metal things? Oh, I can’t wait to make my ‘Welcome-an-alien-to-Ponyville’ party!

Twilight held out her hoof, signaling for the pink pony to stop.

“Calm down, Pinkie. We have quite a story to tell.” Twilight said.

“And just what story would that be!” Rarity demanded. “Did the spell even work, or did it summon these... BRUTES here?”

“Don’t insult my friends like that…” Rainbow said in a low voice, causing everyone in the room to pause.

Celestia held out her hoof, silently telling everyone to stop arguing. “We will let Twilight Sparkle tell the story. Twilight, you may start.”

Twilight cleared her throat, causing everyone in the room, including her brother, to lean in.

“When we activated the spell, we were all swallowed by some sort of teleportation sphere. It didn’t bring us to Fillydelphia, though. Instead, it teleported us to Earth.” She looked around to find everyone staring with rapt attention.

“Earth is the planet that John, Wesley, and Anton are from. They are the only intelligent species on the planet.” This brought a low gasp from a certain white unicorn. “They have almost two hundred nations on the planet, although only a dozen are big enough to count as major nations, and only two were big enough to be called superpowers, like Equestria or the Griffin Empire.

“These two nations were at war when we arrived. One of the nations was called the United States of America, and the other was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the Soviet Union for short. The Soviet Union is also called Russia sometimes, and the citizens are called Russians. The United States, or the US as it is often called, is what is called a Democracy. Citizens in it are called Americans. Every citizen there gets to vote for the leader, a President, who is voted on every four years.

“The Soviet Union is what was called a ‘Communist’ nation. The system is supposed to create what I have heard called a ‘worker’s paradise’, but in this situation, and all others as far as I have seen, has created a dictatorship ruled by a small group of people, who rule over their subjects by fear. John and Wesley are citizens of the United States, and Anton is a citizen of the Soviet Union.” Twilight said, pausing for a moment. “John, am I doing good on the summery so far?”

John nodded. “You have everything correct so far.”

Twilight turned to Anton. “What about you, Anton? Is my summery of your former country correct?”

Anton gave a cold nod. “In every respect.” To the ponies, he said, “I have no love for my former country anymore. The system itself is a failure, and has caused too much pain and suffering already, including the war.”

Twilight nodded at his contribution. “Any questions so far?”

Rarity raised her hoof. “Darling, I understand that you have new friends, but how could this happen in four hours?”

Twilight shook her head. “It was six months for us, Rarity. Six months we spent there, involved in the war. I don’t want to talk about it now.”

Seeing no more questions, she continued on with her lecture. “Earth is a planet with no magic whatsoever.” Another loud gasp, with Shining Armor interrupting this time.

“No magic? That’s impossible! Who regulates the weather? Who raises the sun and moon? A world without magic is out of the realm of possibility.”

Celestia gave him a stare, and motioned for Wesley to explain.

“Well, nobody regulates the weather. At all. It does its own thing with the seasons.” One could literally hear a pin drop in the room. Rarity was taken aback, trying to imagine how things would be with no weather control. “Second, the sun and moon are not raised. The Earth orbits around the sun, and the moon orbits around the Earth. They raise themselves, in other words. Also, there is no magic on our planet. None. The reason Twilight was able to cast so many combat spells, she told me, was because some ‘leylines’ or something had never been tapped.”

“Combat spells?” Shining asked.

Twilight stared at him. “I have done more fighting than you can imagine, brother. For six months, we were engaged in combat with the Soviets, with hardly a day in between with no fighting. I have killed more poni- err, people, than I care to count. At a certain point, it ceases to matter. Rainbow Dash over there took down nearly a hundred – or more – jets and helicopters. To clarify, jets and helicopters are human flying machines, designed for warfare. More on that later.”

Shining looked at his little sister, horrified. He looked over at John, shocked.

“Did YOU do this to her?” Shining demanded.

“It wasn’t about choice!” John said. “We were engaged in combat, without warning, eight hours after the ponies arrived. They would have been safe, away from it all, if the Russians had not attacked. We were forced into it, and so was your sister! Don’t blame us for it, because it isn’t anybody’s fault.”

Luna stepped in this time. “CEACE YOUR FIGHTING. Shining, treat our friends with respect. They saved our lives many times, and without them, we would have been killed. Everypony else, either calm down or we will remove thee from this room.”

After a few moments of silence, Twilight added, “Can I continue now?”

“Of course, Twilight.” Celestia said.

Twilight looked around for a moment before continuing. “In any case, the Soviet Union had invaded the Europe a few months before we arrived. Europe is a continent, which contains two sides: NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet Union was the leader of the Warsaw Pact, and the United States was the leader of NATO. The USSR, as the Soviet Union is sometimes referred to as, had attack the NATO countries without warning.

“When we arrived, the war had already been raging. We landed in Seattle, a city in America. America itself was not able to be attacked directly, as an ocean sat between it and the Soviet Union, so we believed it to be safe. On the morning after our arrival, however, several massive cargo ships had arrived outside Seattle. They were nearly unmarked, so we could not guess what would happen next. We were by the waterfront when we watched it happen before our eyes: The Soviet arrived.

“Within a day, we had fought to the edge of Seattle, rescuing several hundred civilians inside of a sports field as we went. The next day, we were ordered to hold a bridge. This was our first real taste of fighting. We held it down, but not after many losses on our side. We – well, I – sort of had an emotional breakdown after the battle, but I was helped through it by my friends, John, Wesley, and Andy. Before you ask, Andy was with us before he died, shortly before we went back.”

She paused for a moment to take a sip of water out of a glass next to her, and then looked around, the ponies and humans watching intently. Pinkie’s hair had deflated, and was now a dull pink color, while Rarity was in a permanent stage of shock. Her brother didn’t look any better. Shaking her head, she continued.

“Over three months, we fought several battles, until we could retreat no more. We drew the line at a town called Cascade Falls. Before I continue, I should describe a certain human weapon.

“Nuclear weapons are a human invention. They split the atom of an unstable particle, releasing several types of radiation as well as a massive amount of energy, which is converted into thermal energy. In short, they explode really, really violently.

“The smallest ones can still destroy everything within several miles, and the largest, apparently, can destroy entire regions hundreds of square miles in area.”

Shining’s eyes bugged out. “Tha- That’s impossible!” He sputtered.

“Oh, it is very possible.” Anton said with a small smirk.

Twilight spoke up next. “Moving on, we defended the town for several hours, Rainbow and I following John’s group around as we protected the perimeter. Through a series of brilliant strategic moves by Colonel Sawyer, the leader of the Human combat group, we destroyed nearly one Russian division with one damaged battalion. However, two more Russian divisions moved up, so we were forced to retreat back. Before we left, a human commander, named Bannon, gave his life so that we could escape. A nuclear weapon was launched into the center of town, killing Bannon and two whole Russian divisions. It also apparently gave me a small magical overload, but that’s beside the point.”

Pinkie Pie spoke up next, in a soft voice, far from her normal personality.

“Rainbow Dash?” She said softly, “Are you going to be OK?”

The blue pegasus in mention nodded slowly, before shifting closer to Anton.

Twilight continued after a moment. “We ran from the explosion, where we lost Applejack.” She gave a nod to the mare in question, who slowly gave a small nod as well. “She was captured by the Russians, which we discovered shortly after we fought our way out of the area. After a few months had passed, we were forced to make a final push on Seattle. A country called China, with a population of 1.2 billion, had allied with Russia, and had send a massive armada of reinforcements to the American coast. If we didn’t take back Seattle, a nuclear bomb would be dropped on the city, forcing the Chinese to call off their invasion either way. We pushed forward, taking town after town, in one of which we lost Andy. We eventually reached the outskirts of Seattle. Before I continue, though, I’ll put Applejack up to tell you how the Changelings came in.”

Applejack stepped forward, rising shakily to her feet. She walked to the center, and turned to face the groups.

“This will be how ah remember it, so don’t go saying that ah am wrong. This is what those Changelings told me while ah was being held by them. They got teleported with us while Twilight did her fancy spell. They wanted to kill Celestia and Luna, but we Elements were targets as well. They were allied with those Russians about from the time that they met, and all three of them had formed their little Hive Mind in the city, and survived off the love in the air or sumthin like that. Anyway, back to Twilight.”

Applejack sat down, content with her story, and Twilight stepped up to continue hers.

“We attacked Seattle at midday, two days after we started out counterattack. After pushing through the highways and outskirts of the city, we eventually reached the center, where the Soviet Headquarters was located. We took back the Space Needle, a large human structure stretching hundreds of feet into the air, and found a Changeling in it. We killed the Changeling, and I destroyed two Chinese warships before we moved on.

“We found the next Changeling when it attacked us, nearly killing our entire group in an ambush before John killed it. After plenty of fighting, we finally attack the Soviet Headquarters, quickly taking it in a lightning strike. While the US forces inside of it held off a Soviet assault, we burst into the prison, finding Applejack guarded by the remaining Changeling – the one we brought with us. He, for it is a he, is named Silent Thought. After a very tiny battle, we collapsed part of the building on him, thinking him dead.

“After the battle, the Soviet forces were done for. With no leadership, they simply collapsed, leading us to a victory. The Chinese force turned back, and the remaining Soviet forces were quickly rounded up. A week later, we gathered together for a final time, where we asked our friends if they wanted to come.” She gestured towards the three humans. “They agreed, and, two hours later, we used the spell, teleporting here. You know the rest.”

Twilight finally sat down, exhausted. It had been half an hour since she started her talk, and her throat felt like sandpaper. She took another large sip out of her glass of water, and sat down, sighing in relief.

Shining shakily got up. “I am going to leave you to digest this. Princesses Celestia and Luna, can you inform Cadence?” Luna nodded, so he continued, “In that case, I am going to sleep. It is nearly 4 o’ clock in the morning here, and I need time to sleep to digest this all. Good day.” He walked out, shivering slightly as he remembered key parts of the talk, but more specifically the parts about his sister. He worried for her, and her mental state, especially after what she had gone through.

After Shining left, the others began a slow procession out. Celestia and Luna excused themselves, and then Fluttershy went with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, followed by John, Wesley, and Twilight walking out as a group.

Rainbow stared at Anton for a moment, lost in thought.

“Hey Anton?”

“Yes Rainbow?”

She grinned, leaning forward to embrace him. “Welcome home.”

New Guests

Twilight woke up slowly, her dreamless sleep fading away quickly. She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her hooves, ready to begin another day in the war. But, too her surprise, she was sleeping on a massive couch. She looked around for a moment, at the gilded room surrounding her, before facehoofing. She wasn’t on Earth anymore. She was home.

Looking around the couch, she saw the forms of the humans and several ponies around it. After everyone – and everypony - had left the room, they had all migrated to an area set aside for their group, each cluster of people and ponies claiming up a space. John and Wesley were both sleeping on the floor, with Rainbow Dash curled up next to Anton halfway across the room. Fluttershy and Twilight’s other friends were all together, sleeping on a small spread-out blanket.

Slowly, everyone began to wake up, slowly picking themselves up and standing. Idle chatter flowed between the groups.

John was completely awake now. The white unicorn, Rarity, slowly walked up to him, staring at his clothes.

“Why are you even in these… rags?” She asked.

“They are a uniform.” John responded. “They aren’t meant to be fashionable, they are meant to blend in to a surrounding forest, and protect me. They fulfill that function perfectly well, thank you.”

Rarity persisted. “You must have a need for other clothes, after all.”

John gestured towards his duffle bag, which he had picked up and slung across his back. “I have all that I need in here. Why don’t you talk to your other friends? Surely Twilight could use your company.”

Rarity huffed and walked away, with John sporting a small grin after the encounter.

Twilight watched Rarity walk up, apparently pissed off at something – or someone, as she noticed John grinning in the background.

“Twilight, dear.” Rarity said. “I don’t know how you can find friendship among these… Creatures.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Listen, Rarity. You don’t know the half of what we have been through together. I have watched friends of theirs – and mine – die in front of us, and we have all gone through the fighting the only way we can: Together. If you don’t respect our bonds of friendship, that is fine with me, just don’t go around calling them ‘monsters’ or ‘creatures’. They have names, you know, and they happen to be MY friends. Got it?”

Twilight hated being so direct with her friends, but she needed to get the point across to Rarity, whom, she knew, was extremely stubborn, however generous she was. She saw Rarity’s eyes widen, and then narrow.

“I thought we had an understanding, Twilight? You should know that only monsters would ever wage war, and therefore they are monsters. They don’t even deserve names!”

“You must be deaf, Rarity. They were the ones who invaded, and they were fighting to protect their country, like we did against the Changeling invasion. Can’t you see it? You’re being a major bigot right now, and you should give it some thought. Now, please go way, I doubt you have anything more to say after all.”

Rarity stomped away, leaving Twilight behind. Twilight was sad to see her friends forming lines like this, but she knew that Rarity would eventually warm up to them. She had to, right?

Wesley watched the exchange from afar with a grim face. Sure enough, the first opponents of their presence here were forming ranks. It would be a long fight, but Wesley knew they would win over the ponies eventually. Not all of them would act like Rarity, at least he hoped.

Pinkie Pie walked up to Wesley with a serious express. Her mane was back to normal, but she didn’t seem to radiate the same aura of randomness right now.

“For what it’s worth,” She said, “You have my sympathy. I know what you have gone through. You should know about how, right?” He nodded, aware of her constant breaking of the 4th wall, as well as Twilight’s failures in fighting out how – Twilight had told him it all when they were retreating from Pinewood Valley. Suddenly, he was aware that Pinkie was back to normal, at least, as normal as she could be. “Then you should know that the best way to get more ponies to like you is to have a super-duper big party! I’ll set it up once we get to… Wherever we are going!”

Wesley watched as she bounced off, defying the laws of physics with each consecutive jump. He shook his head, slightly amused with the conversation.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a light blue pony with a suit on. Why he needed clothes, Wesley couldn’t figure out, since no other pony he had seen seemed to wear them. Probably a servant of some sort, then.

He cleared his throat, gaining their attention. “The Princesses cordially invite you to an early morning breakfast, along with your… Friends.” He quickly walked out, apparently doing his best to stay calm when confronted by three unknown creatures and the Elements of Harmony.

John smirked a bit, before motioning for Wesley and the others. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash quickly responded, moving quickly to join them, with Anton following a split-second behind. Together, they walked out the door, with Twilight leading the way. The other ponies trailed behind, apparently unsure of what to make of the display. Applejack quickly left them and trotted up, forming their own group.

“Howdy, John.” She said, apparently in a good mood this morning. “How are ya’ll doing?”

“Good enough, at least.” John responded, earning chuckles from Wesley and Rainbow.

Wesley looked to his left, looking at the Russian, Anton.

“Hey, Anton.” He said, causing the Russian pilot to glance over. “Mind telling me how you and Rainbow met?”

“She blew up my airplane.” Anton responded with a smirk, “And then, when I ejected, she dragged me over the American lines. That’s the story of how we met.”

“How’d you get to know English?”

“Four years at Kiev University and five months of talking to Rainbow Dash tend to sharpen you language skills.” He replied, his accept showing through at only one or two words.

“Then,” Rainbow said, picking up the story, “After I dragged him over American lines, and after the battle, we got to talking. We had flying in common, anyway, even if he used a machine to do it for him.” He gave her a look. “Don’t give me that! At least I can fly!” She said, sticking her tongue out at him, causing both Wesley and Anton to laugh.

“Anyway, we talked and talked, and over five months it developed into friendship.” She said.

The rest of the walk went in silence, the other ponies eventually catching up to the group. It seemed, Twilight thought, that there was a line between them now – the people (and ponies} who were in the fight, and the ponies who were not. She didn’t want it this way, but she was sure that, in the end, they would be brought back together. They always were.

They reached the dining hall within five minutes, entering to see Celestia and Luna assembled with the Canterlot nobles.

“Ah, here they are.” Celestia said. “Nobles, please welcome the Elements of Harmony, and my personal friends John, Wesley, and Anton.”

“What are they?” One of them, a white unicorn with a blond mane, asked Celestia, fear obvious in his eyes.

“Blueblood, they are Humans, and you WILL treat them with respect. A full story will be given at some point, but until them, treat them as you would the Elements.” Celestia said coldly.

The humans and ponies sat down in spots next to the Princesses. Anton managed to find a seat next to Princess Luna, practically the only one left at the table. As the meal progressed, completely silent, Anton was slightly unnerved by the stares he was getting, especially from a certain white and blond unicorn.

“Excuse me,” He said, directly his attention to Blueblood, “But why do you keep continually staring at me? It is slightly unnerving, and we would be grateful if you would stop.”

“And why should I stop, beast?” Blueblood replied.

“For one, I am not a beast, and I do have a name. It is Anton, and you will use it if you expect to this conversation to be civil, as you should. For my second point, it is impolite to stare. Nobility should know that.” There were snickers around the table at this. Apparently, Blueblood must not have many friends. “And for my third and final point, I am a close friend of several ponies at this table who would love nothing more than to see me use my military training on you.”

The tables were mostly silent after that last remark, save for some laughing from several ponies at Bluebloods expense. Flustered, he jumped up and ran out of the hall, quickly making his exit.

“Thank god,” John said, “I thought that guy would never stop staring. Thanks, Anton. You’re OK, for a Russian.”

“My pleasure, American.” The Russian in question replied, causing another round of giggles at the table.

After a short break, where John ate pancakes until he was sure he was going to burst, they finally finished. Sitting up, John looked over at Celestia.

“What’s next on the schedule, Celestia?”

Several nobles glared at him for referring to her so casually, but he simply stared back at them, causing them to flinch. Smiling at his victory, he turned his attention back to Celestia.

Luna spoke up. “John, we both have decided the daily plan. John, Wesley, and Anton will brief the guards on the training grounds over military subjects. Twilight, you and the other Elements will return to Ponyville. John and the others will join you as soon as they are through.”

Celestia was next. “Wesley, John, Anton, each of you will be made a member of the Equestria military, with your permission.” They nodded. “Good. Your base salary will be 46,000 bits per year. I have studied the currencies in your world, and that would be equivalent to around 80,000 of your American money.

“A house will be provided in Ponyville for each of you. They are situated right next to one another, so you do not have to worry about being kept far from one another. That said, because of your association with the Equestrian military, we expect you to be able to help defend out kingdom in times of trouble.

“Is everything satisfactory?” She finished.

“Perfectly, ma’am.” John said.

Wesley did a small salute. “Just fine for me.”

“And I am content.” Anton finished.

Celestia smiled. “Perfect. Twilight, you know the way to the train station. John, Wesley, and Anton, you follow Shining Armor. He will lead you to the main guard training area. Good day.”

They each split up into their groups, with the ponies going towards the train station and the humans heading towards the door. Outside of it, Shining Armor waited.

“You’re here? Good, now follow me and try to keep up.” With that, Shining started to run down the hallways. What was a run for him, however, was only a jog for the humans.

When they arrived at the training area, five minutes later, Shining armor was panting. He looked over, expecting to find the humans dying of exhaustion, only to see them hardly fazed. They were only breathing slightly faster, but other than that, nothing betrayed any signs of exhaustion.

“How… Are you not… Tired?” Shining slowly put out.

John replied first. “Eight months of intense training and six months of combat build you up. I expect that you don’t have to walk dozens of miles at a stretch, or run six?” He shook his head. “There you go.”

Shining took a longer look at the humans. They were obviously tougher than he expected. “Very well, follow me to the training area.” They emerged quickly into a large courtyard, where various ponies were engaging in different drills. To their left, various unicorns were shooting small combat spells at metal targets. Pegasi and Earth ponies were conducting various types of fighting in front of them. All of this stopped the moment they entered.

“Attention!” Shining yelled. “These are the ‘Humans’ that arrived early last night. For those of you who have their heads stuck up their flanks, they arrived here last night in the company of Celestia and Luna. While the specifics will be released soon, we know they are a part of their country’s military. We will be questioning them today on what they know, and they will give us a demonstration of a new weapon. Clear?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” They all replied in unison.

John stepped forward. “Alright, any questions?”

One of the pegasi raised their hoof, and John pointed to him. “Have you ever fought in a battle?

John nodded. “We’ve been fighting a war for the past six months. So, yes, we have fought. Except for Anton there, he flew a jet.”

“What’s a jet?”

“An artificial flying machine made out of metal. Since we cannot fly, we build machines to do so, armed with projectile weapons and explosives. Some can break the speed of sound, and we battle using them.”

Anton stepped forward. “I flew a Su-25, a ground-attack aircraft. It was armed with explosives rockets and bombs, as well as an advanced version of what we are about to show you.”

The ponies leaned forward in interest, waiting to see what they would show.

“Shining,” Wesley said, “Can you move a large wooden target in front of one of the metal ones?”

Shining nodded, and concentrated his magic. A wooden target three inches thick was moved in front of one of them. Wesley walked twenty feet away from it, his Sa-58 cradled in his arms.

“What you are about to see,” Wesley said, “Is a gun. It’s the primary weapon of choice on our planet. This particular gun is called a rifle, or more specifically the Sa-58. This is what it does.” And with that, Wesley raised it up, flicked off the safety, and fired one round at the target. The bullet hit dead-on, quickly blowing through the wood to leave a large dent in the metal on the other side.

Shining and the other ponies gaped at it. There was a one-inch wide hole in the wood, as well as splintering around it, plus a dent in the thick metal behind it.

“H- How?” Shining finally managed to blurt out.

Wesley jumped into science mode. “A firing pin inside of the gun strikes a bullet. This,” He said, pulling the clip of his rifle out, slinging the rifle, and pulling a bullet out of the magazine, “Is a bullet. The firing pin strikes a primer, which detonated gunpowder inside of it. This sends the bullet flying out of the muzzle of the gun at speeds that can go past the speed of sound. The casing of the bullet is ejected. The bullet strikes a target with large kinetic force. That explain it to you?”

Dead silence filled the area. Finally, John spoke.

“Any other questions?”

A mare guard in back raised her hand. John pointed towards her.

“You.” He said.

“When will we get our own guns?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will we ever get our own guns?”

“I don’t know.”

“Will you give us your gun?”

“No. And no for every other question you will ask next. Any others?”

Nobody spoke, so John assumed this was over. “Shining, are we done?”

Shining took a moment to collect himself before replying. “Yes. We’re going to get you down to the train station pretty quickly here, so we don’t miss it. Just ignore any stares and you should be fine.”

The group quickly walked through the halls, their duffle bags continually shifting on their backs. They formed up right before exiting through the gate to gather guards together.

“Ok, listen up.” Shining said to the guards. “Priority is to get the humans on the train with minimal fuss. The conductor has been notified, so we won’t have difficulties. Now get moving.”

The large gates slowly opened, letting them out into the city. The three humans stood in a circle of guards, every single pony’s eyes turning towards them. As they walked towards the train station, they drew plenty of stares. John was uncomfortable with them, but he assumed he didn’t have to like it.

They quickly reached the train station and entered their assigned car. Unsurprisingly, it was empty. Shining bid them farewell at this point, and led the guards back to the castle. Inside of the car, Wesley, John, and Anton settled down for the ride.

Half an hour later, the wheels screeched as they slowed down. John looked out the window to see a sign flash past that said ‘Welcome to Ponyville’.

“We’re here.” He said to the others.

It was about noon here, and they quickly exited the train. Rainbow and Twilight were there waiting for them.

“There you are!” Twilight said. “We’ve already announced your coming to Ponyville, so you shouldn’t get that many looks. We’re going to show you your house, and then you are free to do whatever you want with the day.”

“Sounds good to me.” Wesley said.

“Then let’s go!” Rainbow Dash impatiently added, grabbing onto Anton. “Hold on!”

She quickly lifted off into the air, dragging a slightly stunned Anton with her. John watched in amusement as she settled down several blocks away.

“What are we waiting for?” Wesley said, starting them off. They quickly walked through town, drawing a few stares, but even more looks of either curiosity or hostility, with curiosity being dominant.

Several minutes later, they finally reached the housed. They were near the edge of Ponyville, side-by-side. Each seemed to have been built VERY recently, so John just assumed that Celestia had ordered the houses specially constructed for them. The houses were on the left side of the street, the side, oriented towards Canterlot at north, with the doors facing south. Wesley had the house in the middle, with john having the one of the right, and Anton the one on the left.

“Well, here are your homes. Have a nice day, guys!” Twilight said, turning around and heading towards the library. Needless to say, her homecoming would be eventful. She hadn’t even had time to greet Spike yet, or visit the library. She quickly ran to it and threw open the door. Spike was there, standing in the center of the room.

“Spike! Did you get the letter from Princess Celestia?” She asked.

“Yeah, I did. Did you really right in a war?” He asked.

“I did!” She said, embracing him in a hug. “And it’s good to see you again! Apparently, four hours here was six months there, so I feel like I’ve been gone forever!”

Back at the houses, John was exploring his. He had already tested it, and apparently, the lights, the sinks, and everything else worked. Why they had both electricity and running water here, when the entire place looked like it was out of the Middle Ages, he didn’t know, but he didn’t presume to question it. Lying down on a nice, comfy bed, he quickly took off his clothes and went into a long, deep sleep, finally glad to be on a real bed for the first time in half a year.

Wesley had quickly went through his house and found everything in order. He, too, made a beeline for the bed, but for a different reason. Taking a book out of his duffle bag, he quickly absorbed himself, feeling safe for the first time in months.

Anton was racing his friend Rainbow Dash down an empty road, kicking up dust with every step. HE had said ground only, and she had grudgingly agreed. Suddenly, she shot past him, taking the finish line by two feet. Coming to a stop, he and she both panted from the effort.

“Ok… That’s the last time we race each other across the width of Ponyville, forward and back.” She said.

Anton smiled. Here he was, far away from any war, and in a new land with the only friend he had left.

He was finally happy.

And he was home.

Rewriting Plans

Note to everyone: This chapter will be primarily from the Changeling’s point of view.

-=-=-

Chrysalis was not happy.

The team she had sent to assassinate the Elements and the two Princesses, consisting of some of her best infiltrates, had simply disappeared. No messages through the Hive Mind, no signals through other sources.

Nothing.

It was as if they had disappeared off the face of Equis sixteen hours ago, with nearly no warning. They had sent a final message right before then that said they were about to begin their attack, and then nothing.

It was maddening to her. Chrysalis’s best infiltrator, Silent Though, had been in the group. If anyling knew how to survive in the hostile environment of Equestria, it was him.

Chrysalis gave an unhappy frown, and turned back to pacing around her underground chamber.

She had a second invasion to plan, after all.

-=-=-

Silent Thought was inside of a stone cell, the walls specifically coated to cancel out any magic.

In short, he was trapped.

They had chained his two holed forelegs to the wall, as if expecting him to be able to escape in any case. It would be possible if the walls didn’t cancel out any type of spell that he tried: He had enough energy from Seattle gathered to last him at least a year, more if he was careful. In short, he could last quite a while like this.

He just hoped that his Queen would find him before that point.

Above all else, he cursed himself for being defeated by those Humans. Why hadn’t he simply blasted them? He had enough energy to easily power a blast that would have taken the building down, but he had let overconfidence get to him, and assumed his powerful shield would protect him.

It had, just not from behind.

As the building had collapsed around him, and his prey escaped, his reflexes had erected a tiny shield dome just in time. Now he was starting to wonder if it would have been better to just let the ceiling concrete crush him.

At least, in death, he didn’t run the risk of a slow torture.

Nothing had happened in the time he had been in here. From his point of view, he had simply been left to rot, which was perfectly fine with him, compared to some… Alternatives.

The sound of the cell door opening went through his ears, causing him to open his bright blue eyes. In front of him was a sight no Changeling wanted to see.

Celestia herself.

Silent gave no outward reaction other than opening his eyes, but internally he was panicking. Why was she here? Had she come to finish him off? Why? Why? WHY?

He suddenly heard a voice in his head.

Cease your panicking, Changeling. The voice boomed. We are only here to ascertain your true intentions. We are going to cast a spell on you, and we will know if you are lying

With another bout of panicking, he realized the loud voice in his head was Celestia!

How can she speak into my mind? Silent asked himself. Only someling with the Hive Mind could do that! Unless...

Celestia gave a low smile. "Yes, Changeling, we know how to do that. It is a simple spell, really, one that you Changelings possess a passive and natural version of."

Silent simply stared at her in growing horror.

“Changeling, we have questions for you now, and you will answer them. Are we clear?”

Silent found himself nodding slowly.

“First off, do you have a name?”

The question took him aback. “Didn’t your Element of Magic tell you?” He asked.

Celestia shook her head.

“It is Silent Thought.”

Celestia gave another low smile. “We are off to a good start, I suppose. Silent Thought, what were you sent here with the two other Changelings to do?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Silent said. “Changing Whisper, Drone 3782, and I were all going to attack you and your Elements. We knew you would be doing a spell, so our Queen sent our best.” He said with a smug grin.

“Obviously not enough to do the job.” Celestia said, causing his mood to instantly plummet.

He looked at Celestia, as if expecting something. “Aren’t you going to kill me now? You know I was sent to kill you, yet you show no reaction.” Indeed, it surprised him. He expected a more… Brute-force approach.

Celestia looked at him. “We didn’t believe you deserve death, unless you have killed somepony, in which case you die. Have you killed somepony?”

Silent shook his head, knowing it would be futile to lie. “Not somepony, though I was sent once to kill a Human, when we were on that world. I succeeded.”

“Not worth my attention.” Celestia said. She was obviously interested, but wanted to get back on topic.

“How did you find out about our spell?” She demanded, her tone stating that she would get her answers, one way or another.

“I won’t tell you.” Silent said, although he knew he was probably sealing his fate.

Suddenly, a powerful force broke into his mind. He could almost feel it going through his head. In a flash, the memories from months ago played through his head: ‘Source in town’, ‘Close to Elements’, ‘Name is-’ The memories suddenly cut off as a sharp pain went through his skull, feeling as if an Earth Pony had bucked his skull.

Celestia’s eyes flared as she stared at the Changeling. Silent Thought tried half a dozen times to cast a spell to take off the lingering pain, to no avail. He started to pass out, his last sight before losing consciousness being Celestia, horn glowing, continually trying to get the name out of his mind.

-=-=-

Amethyst Star walked through the quiet little town of Ponyville. Not a care in the world. Her eyes scanned the crowds passively, not caring much to see whether anypony was looking for her. The arrival of the Humans in the city the day before had been quite a shock, but they seemed to be close friends of the Elements, so the citizens of Ponyville simply took the new visitors in stride.

After all, crazy things happened in Ponyville all the time, and all of them were centered around the Elements. It didn’t surprise her, though. She walked into her house, making sure to close the door.

And green flames surrounded her, leaving behind a familiar black creature.

“Hide where you will, Elements.” She said, not a trace of the normal Changeling accent on her voice. “We shall find you, even after all these years. And when we do, when I do, you shall meet your fate.”

Amethyst smiled. She had been inserted into Ponyville several years before the Nightmare Moon incident, and had happened to have the fortune of being in the town the Elements were located in. Over the past ten years, she had sunk deeply into her fake cover, her background absolutely perfect. If there was anything her kind was good at, it was infiltration, so they were easily able to create a forged birth record.

Such was the life of a long-term infiltrator.

And now the Queen’s planning – HER planning – was coming to pass.

Amethyst gave another, larger smile.

She couldn’t be happier.

-=-=-

Chrysalis was going over her plans for the invasion. She was going down a checklist, stating the most recent figures for her ambitious second invasion, and the preparations for it.

Infiltrators in place? 68.2%
Ponies in high offices impersonated or occupied? 5.2%
Large swarm massed for assault? Current at 36,728 individual Changelings
Elements of Harmony and Princesses taken down? Not yet

Chrysalis frowned. There was something new, something missing from the list. With a quick scratch of her quill, it was jotted down.

Kill or capture ‘Humans’, and associated weapons? In progress

The Queen of the Changelings smiled. Her plan was in motion.

And nothing could stop her.

Settling In

Wesley woke up to the sight of sun streaming out of his window. He grunted and rolled over, his face instantly meeting his book, with the book winning the encounter.

“Gah!”

After getting sorted out and putting the book he had read away, he practically crawled out of bed, opening his duffle bag and taking out some of his civvies. He quickly changed clothes and walked out of his home. On the train ride over, he and the rest of the group had agreed to meet in front of their houses the next morning so they could decide that to do as a group.

Wesley was unsurprised to see John already out there, along with Twilight. He walked up to their small group, the sun just beginning to rise in the background.

“Hey Twilight, hi John.” Wesley said.

John turned around and smiled. “Hey Wesley!”

“Where’s Anton?” Wesley inquired.

John slowly shook his head. “He and Rainbow Dash are already out running somewhere.”

Right on cue, the sound of running could be heard down the street. Wesley turned to see Rainbow Dash racing Anton down the street on foot - or hoof, depending on species. What was more surprising s that Anton was winning. They both slowed to a stop in front of the group, breathing heavily.

“How… Do you do that… Anton?” Rainbow Dash said between breaths.

Anton smiled. “Did you think… Us pilots… Get no physical activity?” He said.

“Uh… Hello?” John said. “We need to get the briefing from Twilight now, and decide on our plans. We’re going to a hill outside of town for that.”

Twilight set out immediately, the rest of the group following her. While they were walking, Rainbow Dash trotted up beside Twilight.

“Hey, Twi.” She said.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight replied.

“I was wondering… What are we going to be talking about?”

“The short version is: Basic events, population, and our plans to introduce them formally to the town. Celestia’s letter calmed them to the idea - and their arrival two hours later - but they needed to nip any future fears at the bud, and give them a chance to interact with the town.”

Rainbow blinked. “That’s quite a mouthful.”

“That’s that she said!” They heard Wesley say, followed by quiet laughing from the group.

Twilight turned her head towards them and gave a mock scowl. “Grow up, guys!” She said.

John gave a shocked look. “Oh, the horror! I don’t want to grow up!” He complained.

“Well, too bad.” Rainbow said, joining in. “You’re going to grow a pair and get outside more, or am I going to have to blow your house up?”

John blinked. “Did you actually bring any of the C4, Dash?”

“Mayyyyybeeeee.”

“Would you really use it?” Anton asked.

“Mayyyyybeeeee.”

“You know, Rainbow.” Wesley said. “If you did, I would tell on you.”

Rainbow gave a fake gasp. “You wouldn’t!”

“Mayyyyybeeeee.”

“Hey, that’s my line!” Rainbow protested.

“No, now it’s mineeeee!” Wesley said, giving his best evil laugh.

“Did I ever mention that the entire town is watching us?” Twilight interrupted.

“No, you didn’t sa- Wait what?”

Wesley and the others looked around, seeing Twilight was right. Virtually everyone they had seen in town yesterday was looking at them from doorsteps and across the street.

John blinked. “Since when did all of Ponyville get up? Before we started talking, nobody was out here. And how come nobody noticed it until Twilight pointed it out?”

Twilight sighed. “For the same reason you haven’t noticed that you have Lyra stalking you.”

“Lyra who?” John asked, and turned around to see a mint green unicorn staring at him from ten feet away.

“Yet again,” Wesley said, “Nobody noticed it until Twilight pointed it out.”

Anton turned towards Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle, I would like to file a formal complaint against the physics of this world. Half of the events I have seen just don’t seem physically possible.”

“Your world is the one that is weird here, Anton.” Twilight countered.

“That depends on your definition of weird. You’re the strange one to us.”

As Twilight and Anton entered a mock argument over their worlds, John turned to Rainbow Dash.

“They do realize the entire town is watching, right?” He said.

She gave a short nod. “Yep.”

John sighed. “We might as well talk to the town now. Hey, Twilight!”

She turned to him. “Yes, John?”

“Mind us starting n our introductions now? The entire town is out here watching you and Anton emberess yourselves.”

Twilight finally turned her attention to the crowd and noticed that, yes, the entire town was indeed out here.

“Uh… Hi?” She finally said.

Twilight cleared her throat and spoke up. “Ponyville, as you know from yesterday’s announcement, we have several visitors from a different world here. We are officially taking questions now, so feel free to ask them.”

Several dozen hooves shot up, and Twilight pointed to one of them. “Roseluck.”

A white pony with a dark purple mane walked forward. “Do you really come from a different world? And what is your species called?”

Wesley stepped forward to answer the questions. After being picked by John on the train, he was considered the most knowledgeable about almost any subject that would come up.

“Yes, we came from another world entirely. I’ll give you the backstory: Seven months ago, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, Luna, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy appeared in our world. When they returned, along with us, we found that only four hours had passed here.” There were a few small gasps. “Our species is called Humans, and the more scientific name is Homo Sapiens. Next question?”

The light green unicorn previously identified at Lyra shot out of the crowd. “Pick me! Pick me! Pick meeeee!”

John facepalmed and Wesley reluctantly nodded in agreement. “Ok, you.”

The unicorn instantly screamed with glee. “Tell me all about yourselves and your species!”

Wesley blinked. “You’re going to have to be more specific. I’d be here for several months if I just started talking about us.”

Several of the townsfolk chuckled lightly.

“Ok, tell me, what’s your cutie mark?”

Wesley sighed. “Humans don’t have cutie marks. Twilight explained the concept to me, so I know how to answer this. The reason we don’t have cutie marks is because Humans don’t have magic. Of any kind.” A small gasp went up at this.

“But how do you do anything?!” Someone - or, more accurately, somepony - shouted from the crowd.

“We have technology several hundred years in advance of yours, which allows us to do quite a bit. Moving on to my next point, us Humans don’t have anything to tell us what our special talent may be. Mostly, Humans can do pretty much anything, if we set our minds to it. Next question.”

A raised her hand next. Wesley pointed to her. “Yes, miss…?”

“Amethyst Star.” The said. “What did your group do in your world?”

“We were soldiers.” Wesley said.

“What kind?”

“The kind that fought in a war.”

A few small gasps came from the crowd.

“W- Wa- War?” Amethyst stuttered.

Wesley nodded. “Yes, a war. Before you ask, we were in a war to defend our country and our homes. Anton was on the other side of the war.”

Several ponies turned towards him.

“My leaders attacked their alliance without warning or cause,” Anton explained. “Which is why I am with them now. I was captured, and became friends with miss Rainbow Dash over there.”

“Why would you even fight a war? That’s barbaric!” One of the townsfolk shouted.

Twilight interrupted next. “They were in a war with a country led by evil humans. It was not their fault that they had to defend themselves, just like we defended ourselves against the Changelings. Over the months I have known them, their country has seemed to me to be full of kind, wonderful people, many of whom I fought alongside and saw die in their struggles to defend their homes.”

A dark grey Pegasus turned towards Twilight. “You fought in their war? That’s even worse!”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Twilight snapped. “The day after I met John, Wesley, and a friend of theirs who was killed, we were attacked! We had to defend ourselves, and our friends, and innocent beings around us! If you can fault me for that, then I have nothing to say to you.”

A light blue Pegasus spoke to the grey one. “Thunderlane, stop it. Twilight is making sense. They did fight to defend their homes, just like we did with the Change-”

“Shut up, Cloudchaser.” The grey one, obviously Thunderlane, said. Fortunately, the rest of the town seemed to side with Twilight and their group, at least in Wesley’s view.

“Are here any more questions?” Wesley asked.

A light grey Pegasus with blond hair was the only one who raised their hoof, so Wesley pointed to her.

“Excuse me, but what will you do now that you’re here?”

Wesley smiled. “We plan to be away from war for the rest of our lives. We are content to relax here, maybe occasionally going to talk to Celestia or someone, but mostly settle down.”

That seemed to relax the rest of the crowd. Ten minutes later, Wesley found himself talking to two Pegasus mares.

“-And that was when Andy, our friend, decided it would be an awesome idea to play a prank on our C.O.: Our Commanding Officer.” He had the small group’s complete attention “So, he grabbed a bit of C4 - that’s a powerful explosive we use - and laid it outside of the showers. So, when the C.O. decided to get a shower, Andy triggered the detonator and the C4 exploded, causing the Captain to rush out of his shower half-naked, as if his ass was on fire. The C.O. never did find out who pulled that.” He finished.

“And all this happened when?” One of them asked.

“Don’t be rude, Sky!” The other one said.

The first one, a blue Pegasus, sighed. “I told you a dozen times, Cloud Runner, to call me Sky Spectrum!” She complained.

“I can still answer the question.” Wesley said.

“Please do.” Sky Spectrum replied.

“This all happened in the spring of 1989, right before the war broke out. Relations were fine then, so the C.O. was a bit more laid-back than he was several months later.”

“Sounds like this ‘National Guard’ was fun.” Cloud runner said.

Wesley shook his head. “When you weren’t fighting a war, then yeah, it was fun.”

Suddenly, John walked over.

“Wesley.” He said, “Twilight still needs to brief us on the situation.”

“What situation?” Wesley retorted. “I have everything under control!”

John grinned. “What’s the male-to-female ratio is Equestria?”

Wesley blinked. “Why would I need to know that?”

“And that’s why we’re having the meeting!”

Sky Spectrum interrupted. “What’s the ratio on your world?”

“About one-to-one. Why, is it different here?” Wesley asked. Two speechless mares stood in front of him. John thought they might be going into shock for a moment, so he decided now was the time to take off.

“Wesley, haul ass to the meeting location NOW!” John said.

Wesley sighed and got up, jogging through the crowd towards the distant hilltop Twilight had mentioned. John ran past him, silently taunting him to run faster. He shook his head and picked up the pace.

Anton looked at the retreating forms of John and Wesley, leaving him to the mercy of the crowd.

“Ponies!” He shouted, gaining their attention. “It has come to my attention that I need to rejoin my friends. I must leave now.” With that, Anton quickly ran off towards the hilltop.

-=-=-

Amethyst Star walked over to her house, closing the door and locking it. Seconds later, green fire flowed over her as she transformed back into her Changeling form. She could have relayed information through the Hive Mind while she was still in the town square, but she - and other Changelings - felt much more comfortable doing it in their natural forms away from prying eyes. It didn’t matter anyway for her. She had been in cover for many, many years, and had become her personality. No imitation would ever come close to hers, because she wasn’t an imitation. She WAS Amethyst Star, and she could provide any - or all - of her ‘background’ details to prove it.

Because of this, she had made many lasting friendships with ponies, and it was their love that easily sustained her, and the limited amount of Changelings she could provide shelter for.

She requested a personal connection with Chrysalis through the Hive Mind, and got it moments later.

“[Yes, my child?]”

‘[The ‘Humans’ are in town, and have been introduced to it.]’

“[What have you found out about them?]”

‘[They are rather tall bipedal being, similar to apes. They don’t seem to have much stregnth, and have no magic.]’

“[Are you sure, my child?]”

‘[Absolutly. They should be a pushover if you decide to preemptively strike them.]’

“[I shall keep that in mind. Farewell, Amethyst Star]”

With that, her Queen broke the connection. Amethyst hummed to herself in delight. No matter what happened, she would be at the center of it. And that, after all these years, was just what she wanted.

-=-=-

Anton finally crested the summit of the hill overlooking Ponyville. Ahead of him, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Wesley, ad John were waiting for him on a checkered blanket. Anton walked up to it and sat down.

“I am here.” He simply stated.

John nodded. “OK, everyone. Twilight’s going to give us a small speech about some things we should know. Specifically about holidays, beliefs, and some biology, to give us a perspective. Any questions?”

There were none, so Twilight went on with her speech. She quickly presented all the major holidays, as well as their earth counterparts, and what they were about.

“-And that is he basic overview of Hearts and Hooves day.” She finished.

“Okay, who is not asleep after that?” John asked.

Two hands shot up, leaving one hoof absent. John looked town to see a snoring Rainbow Dash lying against Anton. At this point, the sight didn’t even faze him.

“Any questions?” John inquired.

Wesley’s hand shot up, and John pointed to him.

“John, what about what you said earlier, about male-to-female ratios. Is there something I should know?” He asked.

John sighed. “Wesley, on Earth we may have a nearly one-to-one ratio, but here it is much higher. In Equestria, there are approximately eight mares to every stallion. That may seem like every man’s dream, but believe me, I asked Twilight. Apparently, competition is pretty damn stiff, and so you’ll probably have girls chasing after ou day and night, even if you’re a different species.”

An awkward ten seconds passed before Wesley gave a low whistle. “Daaaamn. And I thought half of them were just desperate.”

“Well, Anton is already taken.” Twilight quipped, causing the Russian’s face to turn a light shade of red.

“It is not like that!” He half-protested.

“Really.” John deadpanned, earning a glare from the Russian.

“Also,” Twilight said. “You might want to go missing a month from now, for about a week.”

The Humans looked around confusion.

“Why?” John asked.

Twilight shook her head. “Just trust me.”

Wesley raised his eyebrows, finally understanding. “John, I agree with Twilight. At that time, it would be very convenient to disappear. For safety, you know.”

Anton nodded his head slowly. Although he did not know what his was about, he knew that both Twilight and Wesley were even bigger intellectuals than he had been (and still was), and that he should take it under advisement.

“So,” John started, turning to another topic. “What will we do now that we are here?”

Wesley shrugged his shoulders. “Celestia has pressed us into the Equestrian military, so we should generally not have much to do unless something attacks - which, thinking of the Changelings, they might. Or griffons. From what I’ve heard, neither of them like Equestria much at the moment, albeit for different reasons. We have housing, and enough of a steady income to give us a comfortable lifestyle, and nearly no responsibilities. To my knowledge, we should just go along with our lives, except without the killing. Unless, you know, some Changeling decides to become the dumbass of the day and attacks us.”

“In which case,” John continued. “We have our rifles. Anton, did anyone back home give you anything?”

“Possibly.” The Russian said cryptically before gesturing towards the town. “One of your officers gave me something before I left. Seeing as I was ‘trusted’, at least as much as a former POW and close friend of Rainbow’s could be, they gave me what you call a vs. 61, or nickname the ‘Scorpion’.”

John stared at him for a moment, and then quietly spoke. “Anton, I do not know how you did it, but you’re goddamn lucky as hell. Fuck, I wish they had given ME a good submachine pistol. How do you manage to do that?”

Anton smiled at him. “My friend, all you need to do is know how to talk to the right people. Your ‘Colonel Sawyer’ was very helpful, seeing as he seemed to know everything about me: Probably started learning the moment he found out about Rainbow’s visit.”

“That’s creepy.” Wesley simply stated. “Then again, he did tell me, before we left, that we all were one hell of a security risk.”

John shrugged. “I don’t see why they would bother keeping the ponies a secret. About a million people, give or take, saw them. What the hell would give them any ideas that they could suppress that? Maybe, instead of suppressing the event, they will simply try to downplay any knowledge on them. Makes sense. What do you think, Twi?”

“Hmmm” She said, momentarily pausing. “I don’t know. Needless to say, I don’t think it matters much now.”

“Twilight is correct.” Anton said. “It does not matter, so long as we are here.”

John looked at the sun, noting how it wasn’t even noon yet.

“Well everyone, we’ve got time to kill.” Wesley said. “How about we do something fun, walk around, and stuff?”

John gave a small yawn. “Sounds fine to me.”

With that, the group of friends got up, Anton gently waking Rainbow Dash up. Together, they headed back to Ponyville.

In Motion

The walk back to the town was short. The group of ponies and humans quickly joined up again with the crowd. Thankfully, much of the awkwardness from earlier in the morning was gone, not that it had fully disappeared. John still noticed many of the ponies avoiding him and the other, mainly ‘Thunderlane’ and Rarity, each having a small group of ponies surrounding them.

Thankfully, though, most of the ponies seemed to accept them, and some even went so far as to converse with them. Hopefully, after this, they could all settle down. God knows Twilight alone had seen enough of the war, not to mention Anton or Wesley.

Twilight walked through the crowd, happy to see that her human friends were easily getting along with the rest of the town, with only a few exceptions. Spotting her friend Fluttershy through the crowd, she steered towards her.

“Hey, Flutteryshy!” Twilight happily said.

“Oh… Uh, hi, Twilight.” Her friend said.

“How are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Still having some nightmares, I never saw what you did. It still bothers me about what you saw. That is, uh, if it’s ok with you, I’d like to get back to my life.”

Twilight smiled. “Of course it’s ok, Fluttershy. We’re all trying to settle back in now, and I am helping John, Wesley, and Anton through this.”

“Why hello, Fluttershy!” A familiar voice to her left said.

Twilight turned and spotted her friend. “Hey Rarity!”

“Hello, Rarity.” Fluttershy said.

The Element of Generosity wasted no time. “Twilight, if you could, I would like to talk to Fluttershy. Alone.”

Twilight blinked. “About what?”

“Our… Guests.” Rarity said with a small amount of venom.

Twilight glared at her with the fury of the sun. “Rarity, if you’re proposing that Fluttershy join your little hate group, then I am afraid the answer is no.”

Rarity scoffed. “Why don’t you let her decide.”

“Ac- Actually,” Fluttershy said in a low voice. “I- I don’t want to join it.”

“Oh, and why not?” Rarity asked.

“Because it’s not the right thing.” Fluttershy said. “Twilight should know more than anypony what went on. Please, Rarity, listen to her.” Her voice was almost pleading. “I don’t like what I saw, but I know that it needed to be done. Don’t break our friendship over this.”

“I can’t stand the thought of you with those brutes!” Rarity said. “They’re hideous! They could have hurt Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, and you wouldn’t be able to do anything. They could have hurt YOU, for Celestia’s sake!”

“They could have,” Twilight interjected. “But they didn’t.”

“I can’t even understand why the Princesses let you bring them here! They’re not good enough for our society, don’t you think?”

“You shouldn’t be so quick to judge.” A voice to Twilight’s left said.

All three mares turned quickly, and were met by the sight of Princess Celestia. Even worse, the entire town was listening to their exchange.

Celestia sighed. “Rarity, I had expected better from you. These humans risked their lives to save ours, and without their help, we would not be here.” Several ponies gasped in the crowd. “You are running your friendship with Twilight Sparkle and the other Elements into the ground, and for what?”

“But Princess Celestia!” Rarity said. “Nopony who starts a war is civilized! Look at the Griffons or the Changelings!”

“We didn’t start it.” John said, walking up the group. “We simply fought to protect ourselves and our family.”

“But all the creatures that got hurt…” Rarity started.

“Included my entire family!” Wesley said. “How would you take it if the Changelings had killed your family, while you couldn’t do a thing about it?”

“They wouldn’t!” Rarity said.

“They would.” John replied. “They tried to kill Celestia and Luna, as well as some of the Elements, when they were transported to our world.”

“But beings that could do those things cannot possibly fit in our society!” Rarity said.

“What do you think we did before the war?” John asked. “We were normal people, living ordinary lives. Wesley and I joined up shortly before the war because we wanted to serve our country, much like one of you ponies would join the Royal Guard.”

“Regardless,” Celestia said, picking up the conversation. “I want you all to think about that.” She looked over her subjects. “Don’t fall into a cycle of hatred because they are different, much like the Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns went through before they were united. Instead, embrace the humans into your community. I must go, my faithful subjects.”

And with that, Celestia’s horn glowed orange, before a loud pop went off as she teleported away.

“Well that was… sudden.” Wesley said after a few moments.

Anton rolled his eyes. “Sudden is not enough to describe it. I think we have broken much hatred today.”

Several more moments passed before the townsfolk began to return to normal. Rarity’s shoulders were slumped, before she suddenly sprinted off in the direction of her shop. Twilight shook her head, before turning to Flutteryshy.

“Thank you for backing me up, Fluttershy.” She said warmly.

“I didn’t want her to bring more hate.” Fluttershy explained softly. “There is enough as it is.”

Rainbow Dash walked up beside Anton.

“So,” She said. “Did what I think just happen, happen? Did Rarity go nuts, and did Celestia have to come in and talk to her?”

“Yes.” Anton simply replied.

And awkward silence passed before Anton spoke up.

“So,” He said. “Do you want to take a walk up by the forest?”

“Nah, I’d rather go relax on a cloud. Meet me at the park in a half-hour.” She said, before unfurling her wings and shooting off of the ground.

-=-=-

Several days had passed since the eventful day at the town center where the ‘humans’ had been introduced. That time had been annoying to Amethyst Star, as she had to wait the entire time for her orders. The first Changeling operatives were arriving on the train that night, and she needed to be ready.

A series of two knocks, then a third, and then two more resounded on her door. She opened up her mind to the Hive Mind, searching for Changelings in the local area. She confirmed that there were six Changelings outside the door, before walking to it and opening it.

Six unknown ponies filed in quickly. It was practically ten o’ clock outside, though, so nopony would be around to see them. Once she shut the door, they switched off their disguises.

“Ok,” She said. “Everyling state their name. Now.”

“Drone 870.”

“I am Unseen Shadow.”

“Drone 31452.”

“Drone 5476.”

“Drone 364.”

“Drone 8923.”

Amethyst smiled. Apparently, she had been sent a bunch of cannon fodder, led by an actual named Changeling. Among the Hive, a name meant something. It meant that you had excelled to the point that you could be trusted with a name. Those without skill or ability were simply assigned a number. They didn’t need names anyway.

“I assume you know what the plans are?” She asked. A chorus of ‘Yes, Commander.’ rang out.

“Alright then.” She said. “Those who are replacing, seek your targets. All others stay here.”

Drone 364 and 5476 stayed at the house, with the others seeking out their assigned targets.

Unseen Shadow ran along the thatched room of a house, the thin covering of grasses and hay laying on top of a layer of wood, muffling his hoofsteps. He jumped to the next house, headed for his target. Finding the decorated house, he jumped into the back yard, peeking in a window to find his target.

Mayor Mare lay in her bed, on the verge of falling asleep. Suddenly, a green glow lit up the room, instantly waking her. At the foot of her bed she spotted a Changeling, readying a spell. She hadn’t even got the chance to scream before the bolt hit her, knocking her out.

Unseen Shadow moved the unconscious form of the Mayor into a closet, sealing her in with a green gel, the substance also muffling her mouth and keeping her sedated. His form rippled as he shifted into the form of Mayor Mare. After testing his voice, he found everything satisfactory, before moving into the former bed of the Mayor. After all, even Changelings needed sleep.

-=-=-

Drone 8923 moved was on the outside of town, inside of the pumping station that supplied Ponyville with water, generated electricity, and kept the river running through town at a perfect level. He snuck up slowly on his target, a pony named Welded Seam.

Speaking of which, the pony in question, a unicorn, came into view. He was sleeping, quietly snoring, next to a partially disassembled motor. Drone 8923 quickly shot a knockout spell on him, putting him under deeper than he had been. The pony was quickly moved into a closet and bound in the green gel that all Changelings used for such purposes. With that done, the drone requested and got basic information from the Hive Mind about his job. Wouldn’t do for a pony to find out ahead of time, would it?

-=-=-

Drone 31452 flew through the air, headed for the Ponyville Weather Station. In particular, for the one mare on night duty there. She landed outside the small cloud structure, waiting a moment before moving inside. Lights illuminated the hallways as she crept through them, listening to the faint sounds of ruffling paperwork.

Raindrops had endured most of the night in relative peace. Although being on the night shift seemed ironic, since she didn’t move any weather at all, she was the one responsible for revising all the weather schedules for the inevitable mistakes that would occur. She gave a small sigh and closed her eyes. She couldn’t see she the day shift ponies didn’t pick all of the work up so she didn’t-

Drone 31452 gave a small smile as her target hit the desk, knocked out by the spell. She grabbed the pegasus mare in her hooves, quickly flying out of the building and towards Commander Amethyst’s house. After depositing the pegasus there, she adopted her disguise and flew up to the building, planning on doing some ‘revisions’ of her own.

-=-=-

Drone 870 stood outside of a small house on the outskirts of Ponyville. He knew he was an essential element in the plan, which failed to calm him down. If his role wasn’t perfect, it could throw the entire invasion of Ponyville off. Silently, he crept up on the house.

Perfect Time was just turning in for the night. As well as being the pony responsible for organizing the trains in the town, he was also in charge of pyrotechnics for celebrations. Needless to say, mixing powders in the middle of the night while half-asleep was nerve-wracking. He was about to lay down on his cot when he spotted a familiar black shape in the corner of the shop.

“Changeling!” He said. “What do you want?”

“Oh, come now.” The bug said. “You know what we want. You have known since we started employing you.”

“You mean blackmailed.” The pony said.

“Is there a difference?” The Changeling replied with disinterest.

Perfect Time gave out a sigh. “Just please tell me that you won’t hurt them.”

“Of course.” It replied. “Your family will not be harmed during the transition, including your two foals that we possess.”

The earth pony studied the Changeling for a moment before sighing. “All right, you can have what you came for. The experimental powder is hidden in the floorboards, south-east corner of the building.”

He could have sworn the bug actually smiled.

“Good job, Perfect Time. Your family will survive the coming changes, you can be sure of that.” With that, the Changeling moved to the floorboards, taking out a large sack. It then flew away into the night, as they had always done.

Perfect Time simply cried into his cot.

-=-=-

One by one, the Changelings signaled the accomplishment of their tasks. Drone 870 was taking the ‘powder’ to the Drone impersonating Welded Seam. All in all, the plan was coming together.

Amethyst Star smiled. Only several more days, and the Changelings would return. Equestria would fall beneath their forces like ants before a tide.

The Changelings would take their place at the top of the world.

New Discoveries

Wesley opened his eyes. The morning sun shone through his window, obviously the cause of his wakeup. With a loud groan, he lifted himself up off the bed and stumbled along the carpet towards the blinds. With a quick motion, he closed them, blocking off the light and casting the room into semi-darkness.

“Fuck you too, Celestia.” He mumbled out before collapsing into his bed again, content to sleep the day way. Suddenly, a knock at his door interrupted that. With an even louder groan, he lifted himself off of the bed and threw random cloths on before stumbling to the door. He opened it quickly and squinted at the bright light outside to find John standing at his door.

“What the hell do you want, John? It’s only eight in the morning, for fucks sake.” Wesley said slowly.

John grinned. “Wesley, can the BS and get out here. You can’t sleep inside forever.”

Wesley waited four seconds before answering, “Yes, I can.” And slamming the door shut, locking the deadbolt to be doubly sure he would get his rest. With that, he stumbled back into his bed and shut his eyes.

John stood outside the door to Wesley’s house for a moment longer before turning away. Sure enough, as soon as the chance came, Wesley slipped back into his sleeping antics. It had driven the drill sergeants nuts, but now, in Equestria, it didn’t really matter. Even though they could be called on at any time to solve a crisis or fight, there was little chance of either happening in the mostly peaceful kingdom.

John walked through the streets, noticing how hardly any of the residents gave him a glance now. He and the others had apparently found their way into the community easily, especially thanks to the efforts of certain ponies. Speaking of which, John spotted Twilight walking around the town and turned slightly to meet up with her.

“Hey Twilight.” He said.

She turned her head and noticed him. “Hi John!” She replied. “How are you this morning?”

He gave a small smile. “Well, great. I tried to get Wesley out of bed, but he continues to harbor down and sleep. I sometimes wonder if he’s a polar bear, since he sleeps like this whenever he gets the chance.”

“You know, I could turn him into one.” Twilight offered jokingly.

“Really?” John asked in mock interest.

“No.”

John rolled his eyes. “Twilight. Is there any way you can think of to drag him out of his bed?”

“We could ask Rainbow Dash.” She said. “She’s the best at this kind of stuff.”

“And where would we find her?”

“Either napping on a cloud or with Anton. Sometimes, I swear she’s just like Wesley when it comes to sleep.”

John grinned. “When do you think Anton and Rainbow will finally admit what we all know to one another?”

“Sometimes, I wonder that myself.” Twilight said.

At that point they had reached the edge of town. Sure enough, upon looking up they spotted a single cloud in the sky, with a rainbow tail hanging off of it.

John cupped his hands around his mouth. “RAINBOW DASH!” He yelled. “GET DOWN HERE!”

Twenty seconds later, an annoyed pegasus landed in front of him.

“What was that for? Why did you interrupt my awesome nap?” She demanded.

“Because we need your help to do the same to Wesley’s.” Twilight responded.

The blue pegasus paused in thought for a moment, before nodding eagerly.

“Count me in! How are we gonna go this?” She asked eagerly.

John gave a small smile. “I might have an idea.”

Twenty minutes later, all three stood in John’s house as he dug around his bag. Giving a small cheer in triumph, he pulled out a magazine for his AEK-971. He quickly removed a cartridge from it and set the clip back in the bag.

“Sooo… What are we doing again?” Rainbow Dash asked as John began to work.

“Simple.” He responded. “I am going to remove the bullet from the cartridge and replace it with some light paper, making a blank round that won’t shoot anything except tiny bits of paper remains, or maybe not even that. It’ll mostly just make a loud noise and scare the hell out of Wesley. By the way, Rainbow, could you get Anton for me? He needs to see this.”

She saluted. “Can do!”

With that, she quickly sprinted out of the house.

With his work done removing the bullet, he fitted the paper in the place where the bullet had been, the cartridge still facing up. With that, he grabbed his rifle and checked to see if a round was loaded. Satisfied that none was, he manually inserted the new cartridge into it through the feed and pulled the bolt back, loading it and double-checking to make sure it was on ‘safe’. Giddy with excitement, he slung it over his shoulder and motioned towards the door.

“We’re ready.” He said, and walked out, Twilight closely following him.

Outside, he met up with Anton and Rainbow Dash, who were both standing outside Wesley’s house. Anton raised his hand in greeting when he saw John.

“Rainbow told me that you were going to play a joke on Wesley, and that I must see it.” He said.

John nodded. “Yep! That’s the story. We’re going to fire a blank round five feet away from him.”

“How are we going to get in?” Twilight asked. “Wesley always locks his door.”

“He keeps a spare key under his fucking doormat. Can’t be creative all the time, I guess.” John said.

They walked up to the door, where John lifted up the doormat and held up a small metal key. He quickly pushed it into the keyhole and unlocked the door, the deadbolt automatically retracting. Some type of magic, John guess, but other than that he did not know. They slowly walked in, John pulling his rifle off of his shoulder. The balance felt different without the weight of the magazine, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t as if he would be holding it for very long.

Wesley lay openly on the bed in the bedroom, at the back of the house. He was obviously snoring, deep in sleep. John and the others moved around the bed on both sides (the bed was up against a corner of the room). John flicked the safety off, aimed it at the wall above Wesley, and fired the blank.

*BANG*

Wesley instantly shot up, covering his ears, to face the small crowd of ponies and humans who were cracking up.

A minute later, they finally calmed down and left, followed all the way by Wesley’s threats to gut them. Surprisingly, none of the ponies on the street seemed to notice, or so they thought.

-=-=-

Half a block away, Amethyst Star turned away from the scene. She had gathered a little intelligence for their mission from this trip, and picked up some food. While Changelings needed love to survive, they also could eat food if there was not love available. It could also sustain them longer in the absence of love, or when they couldn’t feed on it, like right now. Any draining of the ambient love would be easily noticed in such a small town, especially one that housed all six of the Elements of Harmony, and active feeding was out of the question.

Around her, conversation swirled. One interesting tidbit caught her attention.

“Did you hear that Mayor Mare’s sick?” Berry Punch was telling Cherilee.

“Yeah, I heard! She sent a letter to the office about it, and so far, only Raindrops has dropped by to see her, apparently about the weather schedule. Other than that, she hasn’t let anypony in.”

“Anything else?” Berry Punch asked the teacher, who nodded.

“Yeah. Apparently, Welded Seam got a new assistant from out of town, some pegasus or something.”

“Weird, you wouldn’t think the only electrician and maintenance pony in the town would need help, but there you go.”

Amethyst Star quickly moved out of hearing range. So, it appeared that all the drones had everypony confused. That was perfect. It meant that their plan would go off without any problems half a week from now.

-=-=-

Silent Thought stared at the walls of his cell. To think that he would be reduced from the top infiltrator in the Changeling Empire to this was astounding, but to think that it had almost gone perfectly was maddening.

It had been several days since he had seen Celestia. Ever since he woke up, he had presumed that she had failed to gain the name off of him, and her forceful attempt only caused him to black out, denying her the information.

He still held onto the hope that someling would find him here. When the blast of pure love had rocketed through Canterlot at the end of the wedding fiasco, Chrysalis and most of the Changelings had been caught unaware, but some had managed to raise barriers in time to protect themselves, preserving their deep-cover identities. With luck, one of them might find him and free him. It was nearly impossible, but he still had the hope to hold on to.

The door was unexpectedly unlocked and opened, followed moments later by Princess Luna striding in and the door closing. He had caught a tiny glimpse of the presence of the Hive Mind when it had opened, but there was still way too much magic-blocking material around him for him to ever do anything about it, not to mention the ring around his horn preventing him from doing any magic whatsoever, including natural Changeling abilities like transforming, and connection to a Hive Mind.

“Hello, Changeling. Or is it Silent Though?” Luna said, gaining his attention. “Which does thou deserve? A name or just a species? I do not care. What I do care about is what you know. Now tell me, before thou followed us, how did thee get into the castle?”

“Not telling.” Silent Thought instantly replied. “I will never divulge information like that.”

Luna frowned. “So be it.” She said, her horn lighting up.

An intense pain shot through his body, like nothing he had ever experienced. While he had obtained plenty of injuries over the course of being an Infiltrator, this was like none of them. He was not being harmed physically, but it felt like every nerve in his body was on fire. He could just barely keep himself from screaming out his pain to the world before it suddenly stopped. It had felt like hours, but had merely been five seconds.

“Anything to say now?” Luna asked.

“No.” He spat out.

The intense pain started moments later.

He struggled to remain conscious, although he was debating slipping off simply so that it could end. This was Luna, though, and there was no telling what she could do to him if he slept. She had power over dreams, so she could theoretically question him both in his dreams and in his reality until both blurred.

After what seemed to be minutes but was only ten seconds, it stopped.

“What about now?” A smug Luna asked.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Silent shouted, not wanting it to continue. “It was a pony close to a prince! She let us in!”

“And who was this pony?” Luna asked.

“Named Spring Blossom! Just don’t do it again!” He said. He knew he had spoken, but he wouldn’t have been able to endure another bout of pain like that. He wasn’t a soldier, trained to endure most pain. He was an infiltrator, and he didn’t have much of the training they did.

He slowly started to drift off as Luna simply stared at him. The memories of the pain were still fresh on his mind, and his body begged him for a rest. Slowly, but surly, he drifted off into a fitful sleep.

-=-=-

Luna walked out of the room, the door closing behind her. She quickly moved through the halls towards the throne room. She had to tell Celestia this, and hurry. Spring Blossom, as she and the rest of Canterlot knew, was a mare that Blueblood was ‘secretly’ meeting with. She had simply appeared on the scene when Blueblood had taken a liking to her and, as far as Luna knew, was a very private pony.

Luna magically opened the doors to the throne room and rushed in, stopping in front of her sister.

“Tia, we have a situation that warrants our attention.” She quickly said.

“What is it, Luna?” Celestia asked with some concern.

“Meet in my tower. We must discuss this in private.”

They both moved outside and lifted into the air, at a slower pace now so as not to make the guards nervous. They flew into the balcony and turned to face one another.

“The Changeling has given up the name of the pony that let them in the castle.” Luna said.

“Who was it?” Celestia asked.

Luna gave a small frown. “Spring Blossom.”

Celestia shook her head. “How am I not surprised?”

“Tis natural for our least favorite nephew to get himself into trouble, like at the gala several years ago.”

“I shall alert the guard.” Celestia said. “They shall observe her until they see positive proof, and then move in.”

Luna nodded. “Do so.”

The Princess of the Night frowned as Celestia went off to order the guards. A new element had been discovered in this.

And she was worried.

Special Circumstances

Sturdy Barrier stood at the ready, in a house on the mountain side of Canterlot. He was looking out the window at the small house across the street, where a certain suspected Changeling lived.

Right on time, the mare Canterlot knew as Spring Blossom walked down the street and into the house. The door closed immediately afterward, denying Sturdy Barrier and the two other guards in the room any sort of view.

“She’s good, very good.” Sturdy Barrier said. “Let’s review her again. Information gathered by several sources indicates that she simply showed up in the area one day, four years ago. She has a birth certificate and other assorted records, but in-depth analysis has shown them to be false, besides for everything ten years back and forward. Those all check out, but it’s what happened before then that counts.

“She was a temporary suspect in the assassination of the Mayor of Pullmare, although she was later released for lack of evidence in respect to any suspect. Changeling involvement was suspected, but she was able to answer every question about her ‘background’, so no suspicions were raised.

“Then she comes to Canterlot and nearly instantly catches Prince Blueblood’s eyes. She was present in the background of almost every official reception. She was also present during the Changeling invasion, although local residents indicated that she did not venture out.

“Her physical description is as follows: Purple pegasus, blue mane. Often keeps hers fairly trimmed, so don’t expect her to look like many other ponies around here.” A few chuckles went around the room: They all knew what many of the locals were like. “Make no mistake, though: She’s most likely a Changeling, either that or actively aiding them. Primary goal of the mission, once executed, is to capture her, although if she resists overtly, you may kill her.

“One more thing: The house itself has access to the mines and scattered tunnels below Canterlot. In actuality, fifty feet below the house is a small chamber, with an entrance that leads to the mines and an entrance that leads to the basement of the house.”

The other two guards nodded in confirmation. Suddenly, the sensitive detectors in the room pinged for an intense magical buildup. It would normally be invisible to unicorns, but the more advanced sensors coming into the guard were capable of detecting magic at far greater ranges, and in far worse conditions, than any unicorn. In this case, it was needed; The target was literally under two hundred feet of rock, inside of the supposed chamber. They couldn’t detect what type of magic it was, but they could detect it, and that had its own advantages.

Sturdy Barrier touched the communications crystal around his neck. It lit up, a signal that it was active.

“Yes?” The voice of Shining Armor said.

“We have confirmation of Thaumic activity, and we are ready to lead the assault.”

A small sigh came from the other end. “Confirmed, we will be out there within five minutes. Within three, the street will be blocked off.” The crystal stopped glowing as the connection ended.

Sure enough, what little traffic there was on the street slowed down and finally stopped as several guards erected small, wooden walls with the word ‘Guard Activity’ burned onto the outer surface.

Sturdy Barrier went out on the street to meet Shining Armor, who was standing in the center, designating who would go inside.

“I will lead the first team of three, Sturdy Barrier will lead the second, and Steady Flight will lead the third. All others will stand outside as backup.” He finished. The designated three-pony teams waited outside the door for a chance to burst in. All of them were unicorns, having training in fighting at close quarters. This would be the first real test of the guard since the invasion, and all of them were ready to prove themselves.

Shining Armor went up to the door, sensing for magical traps. Finding none, he moved out of the way so Sturdy Barrier could break down the door.

Sturdy Barrier charged up his magic, releasing a large explosive spell that blew the door down, as well as some of the doorframe. He immediately charged in, followed by the rest of the team. They quickly searched the one story aboveground, finding nothing in it. They also found the entrance to the basement. They shattered the door down with a kick and charged in, well-aware of the risks of staying still.

Green bolts launched from the end of the room, soaring across the basement to strike objects and, occasionally, ponies. Sturdy Barrier scream in pain as a bolt hit him dead-on, melting most of his left side off and giving him massive third-degree burns. He was quickly silenced by another bolt that hit him, killing the guard instantly.

Shining Armor formed a powerful shield with a small hole in it, quickly launching five magical bolts out of it. One of them apparently hit, because the bolts of green magic stopped suddenly. Shining Armor rushed forward, quickly followed by the remaining seven ponies. By the entrance to the cave system was the smoking body of the Changeling, with another one a bit beyond the doorway, in the tunnel itself. Shining launched a low-level bolt at it, only for it to be stopped by a powerful shield. The Changeling in the tunnel was obviously trying to delay them with a powerful shield.

Concentrating on his magic, Shining Armor sent as much power as he could into the shield. The Changeling’s glowing blue eyes went wide open with surprise as it suddenly held a hoof to its head, fighting the magical overload. Within moments, it ran back into the tunnel, the shield collapsing behind it.

Shining Armor and the others slowly walked down the tunnel, with Shining maintaining a powerful shield in front of them, to ward off an ambush. The tunnel was only two meters wide, and two meters tall, hardly wide spaces by any measure. Spotting a green glow coming from up ahead around a bend, they hurried around the sharp corner to see what it was.

They found themselves standing inside of the large chamber described in records. It was about twenty meters across in every direction, and ten meters up, with a fairly consistent floor, the entire ceiling curving like a continuous arch. Green crystals in the walls gave off a dim glow, pulsing faintly with unknown energy.

In the center of the room stood a mostly transparent dome of energy. In the center of it stood their target, Spring Blossom, still in pony form, if it was a Changeling at all. Four Changelings surrounded ‘her’, one of them rubbing its head as it maintained the shield, obviously the one from before. The three other Changelings stared at the guards in a tense standoff.

One of the unicorns made to attack it, but Shining Armor held up a hoof. He knew they wouldn’t be able to overload the shield, especially not with the same tactic. Magical overload could only work if the opponent didn’t suspect it, and at this pace, they would simply let him maintain the spell if he tried to overload it.

The shield could be kept up nearly indefinitely, as Spring Blossom had undoubtedly built up a huge store of love energy from being in the city so long. Sighing, Shining Armor stepped forward. Now came the standoff negotiation, his only remaining avenue of ending this.

“Alright.” He said. “You know what we want: Come out peacefully, and we won’t have to kill you.”

“And why should we trust you?” Spring Blossom said in perfect Equestrian, without even a trace of the normal Changeling accent.

“Because if you don’t, you’ll eventually run out of energy. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Time which we will have soon, unicorn.”

“What’s wrong, Changeling? Feeling the loss of power? We control this situation.” Shining said.

She stiffened. “I’m not a Changeling. Or at least, not exactly. I doubt you would know the difference. You’re a mere pony. Why would you understand?”

“To the point, either come out or we will have to get you out. And I doubt you want that, judging by how close your shield caster is to exhaustion. You still have a chance to salvage this, Spring Blossom.” Shining said, pointing to the obviously pained Changeling.

Spring Blossom sighed for a moment, shaking her head. When she came up, her eyes were glowing a soft indigo.

“My name is not Spring Blossom.” She said, the pure magic practically leaking from her easily detectable to every unicorn in the room. With a small flash, the shield also turned a shade of indigo. “My name. Is. Sapphire. Glow!” With that, her shield completely replaced the Changeling’s, who sighed in relief.

Shining Armor stared in shock. How could a simple pegasus do that? And how could she say that she was not a Changeling? Everything was confusing at this point, so he decided to play his last card.

“Please, just come out. We give you our word that you will not be harmed.”

This seemed to give the mare pause before her eyes lit up briefly.

“Say it again.” She said.

More cautiously, he did so. “If you come out, you won’t be harmed.”

A short silence passed before she sighed. “You are telling the truth.” With that, she seemed to confer briefly with the Changelings before deactivating the shield.

-=-=-

True to his word, Shining did not harm them, no matter how much we wanted to. They were quickly taken into custody and transported to a castle, to a specific chamber just finished to house Changelings. It was like Silent Thought’s chamber, only much more open, with ever more improved anti-Changeling Thaumic-blocking measures. Currently, the only Changeling prisoner they had, Silent Though, had been transported there, and the guards were awaiting the arrival of five others, including ‘Sapphire Glow’.

He slowly walked through the hallways, lost in his thoughts.

“Most curious, don’t you think?”

The sudden voice startled him, and he turned around to find Celestia standing there. Shining gave a brief bow in reverence.

“Princess Celestia.” He said.

She smiled. “Come, Shining Armor. Together we shall go to find the real identity of ‘Spring Blossom’.”

-=-=-

Sapphire Glow sighed. She had gotten to the point where she had revealed part of what she was to the ponies, and it scared her. She thought she had enough control over her abilities, but apparently not. She had even told them her NAME, for Chrysalis’s sake.

She stood alone in the room, apart from the Changelings. Even though she could connect and disconnect with the Hive Mind at will, she was obvious to them as an ‘Outsider’. And in here, they couldn’t even do that, as Sapphire had found her magical abilities suppressed, along with the other Changeling’s.

Suddenly, the door opened. A pegasus guard came in, gesturing towards her.

“You, Changeling, or whatever you are, get over here. The Princess wants to speak with you”.

She could feel get throat tighten, her wings fold up even more, as she forced her body to rise and walk out the door, following him. She was sweating now, thoughts running through her head of how they would- NO! She yelled into her head, silencing all other thought. Although she might not be, in actuality, a full Changeling, she would do her best to uphold what they were.

Her magic was available, but she dared not use it. Inside the castle, she would never escape, and would be either maimed or killed by the guards or… No, she told herself, keeping her mind from venturing down dark paths.

They finally reached the door, the guard opening it and gesturing inside. Composing herself, Sapphire walked in. She looked around at the setting, which had three large cushions. She hesitantly walked over to one and put a hoof on it, before settling in and waiting for whatever was to come.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Princess Celestia quickly walked in, followed closely by Shining Armor. She dared not glance at them, keeping her gaze on the ground in front of her as they settled down, staring at her. Finally, Celestia broke the silence.

“Can you tell us your name?” She asked, in a calm and soothing voice.

Her mind insisted it must be a trick, that this was meant to get information out of her. But another part of her mind told her to just go with it, to spare herself the inevitable pain that would come if she completely shut them out and ignored them.

“Sapphire Glow.” The pegasus said in a low voice.

“I won’t bother asking about Spring Blossom, as I know she is a fake identity, a dead end. However, I am interested in one thing. Just what are you, and why are you helping the Changelings?”

Sapphire glanced up at her. “You… You can tell I am not a Changeling?”

“For the most part, yes. About that other part… What are you?”

Sapphire hung her head low. She knew it would come out eventually, but she had hopes for more time. In the end, however, it made no difference.

“I am a Pony-Changeling hybrid.” She simply stated.

Shining Armor’s mouth gaped open. “H- H- How?” He asked.

Her anger momentarily flared. “Some beings are not as narrow-minded as you ponies when it comes to relationships. Many of your species won’t even consider being close to someone of another race, yet we Changelings embrace all those who do so in return.

“Many ponies do not like you, Celestia, and many come for refuge in the Changeling lands. My mother was one of them, my father a Changeling. Is that so difficult for you to comprehend?”

She continued, staring at them. “I may not be able to transform, but make no mistake: I am a Changeling, at least in part. I can connect to the Hive Mind; My skin is tougher than the average pony’s; I can use magic, despite being a pegasus; and I am almost undetectable, my magical efforts, even when at full use, barley registering on the average unicorn’s senses.”

A pregnant pause filled the gap, before she continued. “In short, I am the future.”

“What do you mean by ‘the future’?” Celestia asked.

“Poor Celestia, you know not that, in two days, your power will be overthrown, and a true, free empire will be established; under the control the Changelings.”

Sapphire looked back and forth between them, judging their reactions. “In short, I have nothing more to say to you.”

Two minutes later, a smug-looking Sapphire entered the special cell. She may have given up when it would happen, but Celestia wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Right?

Right?

As much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, however, she was sure the road ahead would be rough indeed. The ponies would resist, but in the end it would be futile.

The Changelings would rule Equestria, as they rightfully should.

-=-=-

Amethyst Star smiled at the preparations. Soon, in two days, they would unleash the Changeling army on Equestria.

And the ponies would not be prepared to stop them.

Short - Moving Forward

Rainbow Dash soared through the air, the wind a constant force on her wings. She was flying up, into the sky, happy. Unbidden, however, imaged raced to her mind: Of blurred shapes moving at fast speeds, burning trails racing across the sky, and dots swarming in her vision.

She quickly shook away those images. She was finally home, in Equestria. She wouldn’t have to fight in massive aerial battles between dozens or even hundreds of airplanes anymore, or have to kill, either directly or indirectly, to save her life. She didn’t regret helping her friends, but she could almost literally feel the number of times she had to kill. How many had it been in the end? Over two hundred planes and helicopters was the final estimate from Sawyer, but she could have done without the specifics.

Her mind often wandered to those thoughts these days. Even though she had been home for a little under two weeks, she couldn’t seem to lose the mindset she had to adopt on Earth. Hoping to lose her mind in flying, she had instead found that different memories popped up.

Rainbow sighed. She hoped that, eventually, they would go away.

-=-=-

Twilight Sparkle walked through Ponyville, engaging small talk with John.

“-Mayor Mare’s been out the past week. She hasn’t been feeling good, so I’ve been taking up some of her workload.”

John looked up in though. “Huh. Anyone else like that?”

Twilight shook her head. “Only her. Goodness knows she needed a break.”

“Anything else going around town now I should know about?” John asked.

“Only the fact that Rainbow Dash and Anton might as well pronounce that they’re ‘together’. I don’t think either of them wants to pull back their pride enough for one moment to even admit it to each other, much less the entire town. Which, by the way, already knows. It’s pretty obvious when they are together so much.”

Wesley suddenly appeared alongside John. “Hi John!”

John leaned back a bit. “Where did you come from?”

“I saw you both walking together down the street. You should really learn to watch to see if anybody’s following you.”

“What, and be as paranoid as you?” John shot back.

“Yes.” Came the reply.

“Have I ever told you that I hate you?”

“Only a hundred times.”

“You’re both incredibly immature.” Twilight interjected.

“We know.” John stated. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Hey, does anyone know where Anton is?” Wesley asked.

“Probably at his house.” Twilight said.

Wesley immediately split off from the group, headed for their houses. He quickly arrived there and, after retrieving something from his house, knocked on Anton’s door.

“Ебля... [Fucking…], Just a moment!” He heard from behind the door. Four seconds later, it opened.

“Yes, Wesley?” Anton asked in a calm voice.

“Anton, you know how earlier you said you would show me your Sa-61, and I would show you my Sa-58?” Anton nodded. “Is this the right time?”

Anton grinned. “It is the perfect time! I was just disassembling it, checking it for errors. Come in, come in!” He said, motioning Wesley in.

They both walked towards the front living room. On the table in the middle of it, the small submachine gun lay disassembled into its core pieces. And with that, they both began to show off their Czech weapons.

-=-=-

Queen Chrysalis looked over her preparations from her room in the hive. Everything was going according to plan. Most of the infiltrators were already in place to disrupt Pony society, and all of the various Changeling soldiers, infiltrators, and those of other jobs were ready to begin their assault. A small contingent would stay behind to guard the hive, as well as the relatively tiny pony colony inside, but most would be going for the assault.

While they might have been outnumbered by ponies in general, with around 40,000 Changelings to two million, the guards that the ponies had only amounted to 20,000. And this time, unlike at Canterlot, her subjects wouldn’t be knocked out by a magical wave as soon as victory was close. The assault on Canterlot had been by a force of one thousand, against the 500 city guards, most of whom had been knocked out of the fight within minutes.

These were the same odds, and there was no chance of failure this time. Total civil collapse would hopefully commence the moment of the first attack, and with it, the way for her main army would be clear. If all went to plan, the conquest of Equestria would be finished within four months.

And, in her opinion, everything would go as planned.

-=-=-

Amethyst Star was about to go to sleep. There was only one day now until the invasion began. All of the Changelings in the area had reported in, and all of the replacements had gone as planned. Everything was in position for Phase One, which would begin tomorrow: The start of Chaos. If she was lucky, two days from now she would be standing over a conquered Ponyville, with the Elements of Harmony firmly under their control and imprisoned. Then, and only then, would a new era begin for Equestria.

Special Revelations

The sun rose early in the morning for Ponyville, shining its light upon the landscape. John awoke quickly when the first rays of light pierced his window – and landed right on his face. He let out a small groan as he lay in bed, the light warming his face.

“I’ve got to move this bed.” He said, already planning it out in his half-asleep mind.

-=-=-

On the other side of town, Amethyst Star had just finished giving the orders for the day to her small group of Changelings. The plans were going into Phase One today. The first step was making everyone in authority disappear – Mayor Mare was in Amethyst’s house at the moment, with several other ponies, in a gel-induced sleep. Welded Seam and Raindrops had also been replaced and stored there, each with a drone that knew tis place in the plans.

When the time came, their disappearance – and the damage the drones would cause in the latter two’s positions – would create enough chaos to distract the Elements, in which time they would be captured or killed – Chrysalis had not been specific, simply telling Amethyst to ‘take them down’.

Speaking of which, she needed to ask clarification on several points. She opened up her connection with the Hive Mind, requesting a conversation with Chrysalis. Twenty seconds later, she got it.

“[What is it, my child?]”

‘[We are ready to implement Phase One. Key ponies have been replaced, and we have the powder.]’

“[Excellent. You have done much over the past ten years, my child. As when you were young, you have proven to be the best. You shall rise high in our new empire.]”

‘[Thank you, my Queen. On the other hoof, I have a question. When you said to ‘take down the Elements’, did you mean for me to capture them, or just kill them?]’

“[I do not care. Do what you see fit. Farewell, my Child. I am about to launch the invasion.]”

With that, the connection was cut. Her conversations with Chrysalis were often short and to the point, just the way she liked them. Amethyst Star smiled.

After all, she would be striking one of the first blows in the new war.

-=-=-

Three hundred and fifty miles to the south

Outside the main Changeling Hive

The massive outcropping of rock was jagged, the peak of it sticking high into the sky. The ground around the base was rough, with jagged valleys and sharp terrain. At the edge of the rock monolith and its outcroppings, the barren desert of the Badlands stretched on into the distance for at least a hundred miles.

Inside the cutting, deep valleys, and from the tops of the miniature ridges radiating out from the mountain, stood black spires, the only outside view most would get of the massive underground complex beneath the rock area, the only mark on the otherwise flat-to-rolling desert.

Inside of one of the small, jagged valleys, with high cliffs soaring on each side, a gateway opened. All around the edges of the massive area, similar doors were opening in the walls and floors of scattered valleys. Out of them, like an inevitable tide, Changelings began to pour through the valleys. The Captains and Lieutenants of the army began to rally their units, as the Majors and Generals formed up their groupings.

Within a half an hour, the nearly 40,000 Changelings began to split into their groups, each major unit with a target. Four major formations headed out, each with an area.

Their time to arrival? 20 hours.

-=-=-

Chrysalis looked out from her commanding room, near the top of the sharp peak. It had one large window that looked out, in the direction of Canterlot. Right now it showed her armies, appearing as a blue-and-black mass. Other colors dotted the groupings, either ponies or the commanding officers. Several ponies had joined their small army from the tiny colony, and she had put them in various positions in it, mostly headed towards the major cities. They would be good examples for the pony populations in those areas.

A Changeling clad in Cobalt armor stood beside her, looking out over her armies. He was her primary guard, the one she had maintained for the past many years. Cyan stripes down the length of his armor marked him as an expert in combat, one of the select few that she chose to receive the mark.

The armor alone showed the changes she had implemented after Canterlot. While at that city most of the Changelings went unarmored, to make them faster, as suited a small raid like it had been at the start, these days many of her Changelings wore armor, ranging from very basic, light chest plates, to heavy armor like the one next to her wore. Many still went without armor, to act as raiders and infiltrators (after all, armor still stays on after a transformation, and was too heavy to fly with for very large periods).

Her own daughter in Ponyville was about to implement Phase One. All around Equestria, mayors would start disappearing (she had already replaced most of them), attacks on vital infrastructure would begin, and the Elements would be taken out. Although she had no idea if the Elements would even work in a situation like this, she was not about to take a chance.

Her biggest problem would be Canterlot. Her army had managed to get that close last time by threading a needle between several small towns and going straight through the Everfree forest. That would not be the case this time. By design, her armies would be highly visible, and there was no telling if Shining Armor would put the shield up around Canterlot in time. She had recently lost contact with her forces there, so she assumed that her original plan to infiltrate the castle would fail. However, Canterlot would be easily isolated: Once the rest of Equestria had fallen, her forces could surround it and wait them out. It would be a long siege, but they would win in the end.

Her train of thought, however, was disrupted when she sensed four Changelings outside of her door, waiting. Her unique connection to the Hive Mind allowed her to sense her fellow Changelings, unlike them, who had no way of telling if a pony was real or in disguise unless the Changeling in question was connected to the Hive Mind currently. To her astonishment, she couldn’t sense the two other guards that normally stood outside her door. Seconds later, she found out why.

“Watch out!” The expert guard to her right said, turning towards the opening of the room as the iron door that blocked it started to dent noticeably. It suddenly broke in two down the middle, the pieces of it flying a couple feet into the room. Four Changelings without armor rushed in.

Her guard fired a medium-strength combat spell, the bolt incinerating two of the charging Changelings. Chrysalis fired a weak explosive one, hitting one of the remaining two dead-on, and blowing the other onto the ground. The guard was on it in seconds.

“Wait.” She said, causing the guard to pause as he was about to kill it. Her guard had pinned it to the floor, watching as it squirmed slightly, most likely born with little magical talent, for it didn’t even light up its twisted horn to attack. Chrysalis walked up to the Changeling, watching at it looked at her.

“Why do you and your fellow Changelings attack us? Answer me!” She demanded when the Changeling didn’t respond. To her surprise, it laughed.

“The ponies may not know it, but just like the small pony colony that you have here, there are some that do not approve of you. Even you should know this!” The small Changeling said, coughing suddenly, its laugher dying down. It looked at her with its blue eyes, seemingly peering into her, seeking answers. “You know, you might be more popular if you didn’t choose your path. I have seen what you have done, to Canterlot in particular, and to the small villages that you found. I have seen the dead, those that our Changeling Empire has killed. And for what? To feed?” It demanded.

“We do it to survive!” Chrysalis snapped, losing her dignified look. “I don’t suppose you have a better idea?”

The Changeling laughed. “How about what we have done for years? We blend in with the population living our lives. We have real names, not the numbers you give us. Your power will be at an end. Even now, one of ours will be informing the Princesses of Equestria of your movements. You’re already too late to…” He trailed off as he saw Chrysalis’s horn glowing.

“Not today, weakling.” Chrysalis said as she fired a combat spell at the Changeling. The guard moved back slightly as the Changeling was instantly killed, going limp on the floor.

Chrysalis was troubles, even after several dozen guards moved in and began cleaning up the room, even after watching her army begin to disappear in the distance.

How had she not known?

-=-=-

Cobalt Sky nervously paced around the small room, waiting for the time to come. He had scheduled a private conversation with the Princesses a week before, in accordance with their practice of allowing such meetings after the Day Court, for matters some ponies felt would better be discussed in private. The security was much thicker during these, although it was mainly outside of the room, for the private meetings were truly private, with Celestia alone in there.

The blue pegasus looked around for the clock. Finding it, he sighed. The time approached.

He was not nervous over what he had to say. Indeed, it had been in the planning for months. His life up to this point had consisted of secrets he could not tell, and things many ponies would not understand. But he had to do this, for the sake of Equestria, if not his parents.

“Hey,” One of the guards said. “You can go in. The Princess is expecting you.”

He nodded to the guard, quickly composing himself before walking in.

Celestia stood at the opposite end of the room. The doors closed behind him, signaling that the meeting would start. He nervously walked forward, doing a small bow in front of her.

“Hello, Cobalt Sky.” Celestia said warmly. “What was it you wanted to discuss? You can dispense with formalities; they are not needed in a private meeting.”

He nodded, before taking a deep breath. Looking up at her, he was ready to do this.

“Princess Celestia.” He said. “I… Have something to tell you that may shock you. But please, hear me out.”

Celestia blinked at him, before leaning forward a bit. “Go on…”

“For some time in Equestria there has been a community of Changelings who are not aligned with Chrysalis. My mother was one of them.”

Celestia twitched a bit before nodding.

“I have come before you today to make you aware of the existence of this group, as well as to the fact that we are opposed to Chrysalis.”

“Go on…” Celestia said after a few moments, her composure never breaking.

“Chrysalis is beginning a new invasion of Equestria, only to conquer the entire country, not just Canterlot. It is beginning now, and friends of ours are attempting to take Chrysalis out of the fight.” Cobalt cocked his head slightly, and Celestia could sense a brief magical exchange, similar to the Hive Mind, take place. “The attempt has failed. It begins tomorrow.”

“How did our anti-Changeling spells fail to detect you?” Celestia asked after a moment.

“I am a hybrid: half pony, half Changeling.”

“I seem to be finding plenty of those lately.” Celestia said sarcastically.

“We know.” Cobalt Sky said. Seeing the look of surprise on her face, he quickly replied. “We noticed the moment the only Changeling group in the capital came under attack. We know who Sapphire is, and what she is. We have our sources, just like Chrysalis does. However, she does not know about us. Yet.”

Celestia looked up for a moment, before turning to him. “I can see that you are telling the truth. Spells are useful for that, are they not? I shall instruct Luna to alert the guards. In the meantime, will you take me to your group? I wish to meet with them.”

Cobalt Sky thought for a moment, before nodding. Minutes later, Celestia followed the blue pegasus through the side streets of Canterlot. Ponies glanced up in awe as she passed, but she paid no attention to them, instead focusing on following the pony in front of her.

They arrived in front of a small, normal building. It was two stories tall, but Celestia could sense that there were a number of lower levels under the building. Cobalt Sky softly knocked on the door. It was opened slightly moments later by an orange mare unicorn, who conferred with Cobalt for a few second, glancing up at her once or twice. Ten seconds in, the door opened all the way, and Celestia walked in after Cobalt.

The house seemed normal, probably was in every respect except for the underground portion. To her surprise, moments after the door was closed, a dark green pegasus walked into the room.

“Welcome, Celestia.” He said. “I assume Cobalt told you about us, and didn’t get blasted apart? Ah, ignore me. I suppose you’re wondering why I asked my son to contact you?”

“Your son?” Celestia asked. “Does that make the other pegasus…”

Moments later, the pegasus mare standing beside them was enveloped in a green fire. Celestia twitched slightly as the Changeling appeared. Old instincts, apparently, died hard.

“Yes, I am a Changeling. And Cobalt’s mother.” The Changeling explained in what was obviously a mare’s voice, free of the normal Changeling accent. “Before you ask, there are about half a dozen such couples in the city. There are several hundred Changelings in Equestria at the moment not affiliated with Chrysalis. Some have joined our group, but some simply stay isolated, choosing to play out their lives in their own way.”

“Does your group have a name?” Celestia asked.

The Changeling shook its head. “No name is needed. Names attract attention, and that is the last thing we need.”

“How did you survive the invasion?”

“We hid underground and activated a shield spell. How do you think Chrysalis’s deep cover agents coped, as well as ours? The love barrier passed right over the shield.”

Celestia blinked. “There are more of you and them? Infiltrating us?”

“Of course.” The Changeling said. “There are several of ours in the guard, although Chrysalis has yet to infiltrate there. The oath they take in this city? The one where they test their loyalty via a truth spell? None of her agents have managed to pass it. Ours have because we truthfully believe in it.”

Celestia was taken aback. This was far too much to take in, especially for one day. Pony-Changeling hybrids? An upcoming attack on Equestria? Changelings that wanted to aid them?

“I think I’ll be going now.” Celestia said. “If you ever need to contact me again, just send Cobalt Sky up. Farewell, my subjects, for I consider you all, Changelings and ponies, part of Equestria.” With that, she walked out of the door and headed for the castle. It was time to begin planning.

They had less than a day.

Unknown Force - End of Act III

John looked out at the midday sun. He was sitting there with Twilight and Wesley, simply enjoying the day. Twilight said she had invited a friend of hers, but John didn’t know who she meant until she saw an orange pony begin to climb the hill.

The cool breeze contrasted nicely with the warm day. Because of weather control, not a cloud was in sight. Rainbow Dash had said something about a large rainstorm tomorrow, and how they should enjoy the nice day while it lasted, so he intended to do that.

Applejack finally finished climbing the hill and joined the group. They all sat down on the quilt, looking down at Ponyville. The town’s citizens wandered about, going through their day without a worry in the world. It was a paradise to John, a place where he could rest himself and forget his past.

“So,” Wesley said, turning to Applejack. “How are you adjusting to being back?”

“Some days, ah don’t know.” The orange pony replied after a moment. “The things ah saw, the things ah did, and what ah went through near the end. To be honest to ya’ll, it scares me. Some days mah brother, Big Mac, asks me what ah saw… Ah can’t bring myself to tell him.”

“We are all going through that.” Twilight said. “I’ve caught myself throwing myself to the ground whenever Spike closes a door too loud, for Celestia’s sake. He just looks at me. I don’t even think he understands.” She finished, her voice breaking slightly at the end.

John nodded. “We’ve all been through too much. You were in the war for almost six months, and we were in it for two months longer than you. Twilight, you had to go through the nuke outside Cascade Falls. At the same time, Applejack, you got taken by the Russians. God knows how much we worried about that.

“The point is, we will all settle in eventually. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Speaking of time,” Twilight said, looking up at the sun. “It’s about two, so it’s time to get down to the town.” With that, she quickly began packing up the quilt as the others stood up and moved off it. Within the minute, they were moving down towards Ponyville.

-=-=-

Four hours later, Twilight was walking through the market, enjoying her day. She even got to visit Pinkie Pie, although her friend seemed a bit more subdued compared to normal, complaining of a ‘secret’ that she had to find out. Rolling her eyes, she had shrugged off what the pink mare said.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw that the library seemed fine, even from two blocks away. Nopony seemed to be inside of it, the tree wasn’t burning, and Spike was waving from the window, while-

She cut her thoughts off and turned towards the library. Sure enough, Spike was waving at her from the window, a slightly panicked looked on his face. Seeing it, Twilight quickly trotted through the crowd, headed for her house.

Bursting through the door, she was greeted by Spike, who had a solemn look on his face.

“Twilight!” He quickly said. “This just came from the Princess! You gotta read it!”

She grabbed the rolled-up letter in her magic, opening it.

To: Twilight Sparkle

From: Princess Celestia

My faithful student, I have urgent news. A Changeling attack is about to occur. Not just in Canterlot, and not just in the major cities, but everywhere. We have information from a group of rouge Changelings that an attack will be made tomorrow.

In all your efforts, you have to keep this a secret from all but your friends. The guards are being alerted, and we don’t want to cause a panic. There is a good chance they have replaced major figures, so watch closely.

Signed, Princess Celestia.

Twilight read it again. She reread it once more, and then again, in disbelief.

“Spike, did you read this?” She asked slowly.

“Yes, I did.”

Twilight looked up at the clock. It was a little after six now. Without a moment’s hesitation, she began to walk up to her room.

“Spike, stay in the house tonight at all costs.” She said. “You do not want to be outside when this happens. Warn Rainbow Dash, and tell her to grab the other Elements, and meet us here. Tell her to grab her equipment. She will know what I mean.”

Seeing the purple dragon’s hesitation, she sighed. “Now? Please?” With that, he scampered off.

Twilight moved to her bedroom and opened a chest, scrounging around inside of it for something. With a grin, she pulled out the camouflage parka that she had worn on Earth. She would need it now. Sliding it on, she went down to the room just as Rainbow Dash raced in.

“I told all the others!” The blue pegasus said, clutching a bag in her hoof. “What’s this about?”

“I’ll tell you when the others arrive. Let’s just say it’s very bad.” Twilight responded.

The other Elements started to arrive one by one. Rarity was the last one, arriving eight minutes after Rainbow Dash.

“Darling,” She said to Twilight. “What is so important it had to interrupt my early sleep? You know I need it.” Rarity finished, glaring at her.

Twilight shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I just got a letter from the princess, and we have a major problem: The Changelings are about to start another invasion.” Several gasps went around the room. “She got the information from a rouge group of Changelings that is allied against Chrysalis. Apparently, it starts tomorrow. This is not a joke.”

Rainbow simply stared at her, before hefting her bag. “Twilight, I don’t know about you, but that is NOT cool. But I know you have a plan. What is it?”

Twilight gave a smile. “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and I will go and alert John and the others. Hopefully, we can beat off any attack here. Rainbow Dash, you grab Anton. Applejack, you alert Wesley. And I will tell John. We meet in John’s house fifteen minutes from now. Is that fine with you all?” She finished.

“Sounds fine, Twi.” Applejack replied.

“Same here.” Rainbow Dash said.

Twilight gave a small nod, before turning to the others. “The rest of you, hunker down in here. You aren’t used to fighting like we are, and I don’t want any of you getting hurt. Fluttershy, can you do something for me?”

“Yes.” She said in a low voice.

“Good. I need you to get Mayor Mare. We have a crisis on our hands, and she needs to be ready. It’s almost eight now, so the attack will begin tomorrow morning, most likely. The sun’s beginning to set, so we’d better get going.” With that, the four ponies left the library, headed for the areas they needed to go.

-=-=-

Unseen Shadow was enjoying his time imitating Mayor Mare. Although he didn’t get to do much, the love he received for ‘being sick’ was enough to easily sustain him and several others, and the drone impersonating the weather mare had already come over to receive some and give it to the small group.

The attack would begin tonight, so he had to disappear before then. The real Mayor Mare had already been moved to Amethyst Star’s house, and so they wouldn’t be finding her any time soon. His time to leave would come in ten minutes, so he simply was waiting around until then.

One thing that he enjoyed about this place, and impersonating ponies, was that he finally got the chance to sleep on a good bed. Most Changelings had to make do without; resources in the main Hive were scarce enough, and it was only the outlying miniature Hives that seemed to have enough supplies to make them.

A sudden knock on the door distracted him. He slowly walked to the door, so as to maintain the illusion of being sick, and opened it. To his surprise, one of the Elements of Harmony stood in front of him.

“Mayor Mare, can I please talk to you? If that’ ok with you, I mean.” The yellow pegasus said.

“Please do.” He said, his voice perfectly matching that of Mayor Mare. He gestured inside, and the Element walked in. He quickly searched the Hive Mind for information on this one. Fluttershy, yellow pegasus, pink mane, very timid and shy, Element of Harmony. The information came quickly, causing him to reevaluate his priorities.

They reached the living room, and the pegasus sat down, prompting him to do the same.

“Twilight found something, and she wanted you to know.” She said.

“Oh, what is it? Certainly the new tax proposals are not a crisis.” He said, maintaining his cover.

The pegasus shook her head. “No. Twilight got a letter from Princess Celestia saying that there will be a Changeling attack sometime tomorrow. She went me to warn you.”

Unseen Shadow didn’t have to mimic the shock on his face. He quickly relayed the information that they knew through the Hive Mind, as well as sending a real-time mental recording of this conversation.

“That’s… Shocking.” He simply said.

Suddenly, he got a message through the Hive Mind from Amethyst.

[Unseen Shadow, I need you to take her down. Capture or kill her, it is your choice. Once you are done, get out of there and fly her over to the safehouse.]

“Well, I need to get going.” The yellow pegasus said, standing up and turning around to leave.

She didn’t see ‘Mayor Mare’ transform, or the bolt that knocked her out. She fell to the floor, out cold. Unseen Shadow looked outside, judging that it was dark enough to do this. Thankfully, he knew some higher-level spellcasting, just as most expert infiltrators did. He cast an energy-consuming spell that would bend light around him and anything he carried. It would drain him of what he had absorbed within twenty minutes, but he could fly over with the knocked-out pegasus within four. He quickly cast it and picked up the pegasus, flying out the door after opening it, invisible to anyone who happened to be watching.

-=-=-

Amethyst Star cursed to herself. Although they may have gotten one of the Elements out early, and thereby disrupted the entire group, it was supposed to be more organized. She ignored Unseen Shadow as he arrived and placed the Pegasus into a deeper sleep with the green gel.

No matter. She quickly sent out the activation signals to all the drones.

Phase One would begin in twenty minutes.

-=-=-

Twilight quickly burst into John’s house. He was on his bed, reading a book. Needless to say, he looked slightly shocked when she ran into the room.

“Twilight! What the hell?” He said, putting the book down.

“No time! I’ll tell you when the others get here! It’s a serious emergency. In the meantime, you should gear up. Sir.” She added at the end.

John quickly closed the door to his bedroom and started to change into his camouflage clothes, out of Twilight’s sight. He walked over to his bag, grabbing his helmet and his AEK-971, attached its ACOG scope onto the top rail, and put the M203 on the bottom rail. He grabbed the ammo and 40mm grenades and started putting them inside of his vest pouches. At the end, he grabbed his MP-448 pistol and the clips for it, finishing up his preparations. He could only hope that this would be over soon.

He walked into the other room, fully armed. Twenty seconds later, Wesley and Anton walked in, similarly armed. Anton had a Russian ‘urban’-style ‘digital’ camouflage uniform on, while Wesley had his normal woodland style. Both of them held their weapons, with Anton having a particularly tight grip on his Sa-61. Rainbow Dash and Applejack followed right after them, the entire group sitting down.

“we have a problem.” Twilight stated, before reading off the letter to them.

John gave a low whistle, before pulling back the bolt on his rifle, loading a round.

“They won’t come tomorrow.” John explained. “If the history of the Changelings is right, like you explained to me several months ago, their first attack will be tonight. Twilight, what’s the most important piece of infrastructure in the city?”

“The waterworks.” She instantly said. “It generates the electricity, supplies water, and helps hold back the river to safe levels.”

John grimly shook his head, before walking over to the tap and twisting the knob. For the first four seconds, a stream of water came out, before slowing down into a trickle, and finally stopping. Twilight and the other ponies stared at it in horror, realizing what it meant.

“Guys,” He said. “The invasion won’t fully start tomorrow. But make no mistake,” He walked up to them, staring each in the eye.

“The invasion begins tonight.”

The Event

Drone 8923, impersonating Welded Seam, had just received the bag of the ‘powder’ from Drone 870. He quickly looked up instructions on how to use it from the Hive Mind. Receiving them, he poured most of the powder from the bag into a pile by the most critical piece of machinery in the building: The main pump. Without it, the Dam would have no way to get fresh water to town, or to generate power.

He had already shut off the valves that let water into the town, and all he had to do was ruin any capacity to use them. Anything he could to disorient the ponies, would be attempted. Once most of the powder was in the pile, he led a thin trail of it out of the building, and waited for the signal to set it off.

-=-=-

John sprinted out of the house, followed a second later by Wesley, Anton, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle. He started to head down the street, in the direction of the pumping station, before pausing for a moment to talk to Rainbow, who stopped to look at him.

“Rainbow, can you secure the weather station?” John asked. “If the pumping fails, we might need to get rain.”

Rainbow did a joking salute, and flew off into the sky.

John continued to run with the others, down the street. Several ponies looked out the windows as the three humans and one pony ran past, giving them odd looks. John ignored them, focusing on the lit-up street in front of them. The waterworks were a mile from the town, along with the dam holding the river, and they needed to get there fast. Holding up a hand, he gestured for the others to hold on. When they stopped, he turned to Twilight.

“Can you teleport us there?” He asked.

She nodded, before her face gave a look of concentration. He felt the familiar feeling of teleportation yet again, and looked around him. They were inside of the Waterworks, the main building, where a Changeling and a pony were staring at them, a match being levitated by green magic.

“Well, shit.” John said.

-=-=-

Rainbow Dash flew through the air, headed towards the weather station. Right now, Raindrops would be there, and Rainbow hoped she would understand the magnitude of what she would tell her.

This entire thing was happening, as John would say, ‘Too goddamn fast’. She had gone from a normal night to having a pair of saddlebags full of C4 strapped to her.

She flared her wings, coming to a stop on the cloud porch. She quickly walked inside onto the hardwood floor, the materials permanently enchanted to float on clouds. She turned a corner and knocked on the door there, the official work office.

-=-=-

Inside of it, Drone 31452 was panicking. She was impersonating Raindrops, and was not expecting any visitors at this time of night. Therefore, she had been about to light a match that would destroy many of the weather records. She hurriedly set the box of matches down and went to the door, transforming into her Changeling form.

“Who is it?” She asked.

“Rainbow Dash, now let me in!” The voice on the other side said.

The Drone instantly went into a full-on panic. Instead of doing the classic infiltrator move of continuing her impersonation, she chose the first thing that gave to mind.

Horn glowing, she stepped back and blasted the door, blowing it apart.

-=-=-

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she hard somepony stepping rapidly backwards, and threw herself away from the door right as it exploded into pieces.

A Changeling stepped through the door a second later, coming right at her. Rainbow was lying on her back, and delivered a solid kick to the black bug as it charged her, sending it flying back into the office. On full alert now, Rainbow raced in, decking the Changeling with a hit from her foreleg when it attempted to rise.

Now the question remained of what to do with it. Obviously, she couldn’t leave it here, and capturing it was out of the question with their resources, something she had only now had a chance to think about. Eight months ago, she would have just ignored everything, but six months in the human world had taught her many things, one of which was patience.

Finally, she settled on the only thing she could do. Bringing her left hood to hold the Changeling’s head, she raised her right hoof, and slammed it down with all of her force on the Changeling’s head. By the result of it, she could see that she had obviously killed it. Turning away from the gruesome remains, she walked away while pondering one question: Just where was the real Raindrops?

And when had she been replaced?

-=-=-

John and the others dived to the side as two green bolts crossed through the space they had been in. All of them took cover behind pieces of machinery, trying to avoid getting hit. John popped out of cover, aiming his AEK at the unicorn. He fired and it dropped, instantly reverting into a Changeling. Apparently, they had the place infiltrated.

The other one fired a second later, striking a spot on the ground, which started to spark in a line. The word gunpowder flashed through Wesley’s mind.

“Twilight! Blow out that spark!” He yelled at the purple unicorn.

She leaned around her cover and fired an explosive spell near it, just far enough away to not spark it. The wind from it, however, blew the line of the powder away, causing the remaining amount to fizzle out. The Changeling, however, had other plans. Slowly advancing, it started to get closer to them, firing the entire time.

Anton crouched behind a large box, watching as green bolts flew around it. Deciding he had seen enough, he raised himself over the box and started firing. The Changeling got caught in the barrage of .32ACP rounds, and simply dropped to the floor, dead.

John rushed forward, AEK at the ready. He scanned the rest of the room and, finding nothing, walked over to the black-grey pile of powder next to a piece of machinery.

“That’s the main pump.” Twilight said from behind him. “They were trying to blow it up. I’ll get the waterworks back online, though thank Celestia that they failed to cut off the power.”

Seconds later, a small roar in the pipes, followed by a faint humming sound, indicated that they were back online. John looked at it in approval, before turning to the others.

“We need to get back to town.”

-=-=-

Amethyst Star cursed their progress. She had just lost contact with Drone 870 and Drone 8923, and Drone 31452 had gone completely silent moments before that. Before his death, Drone 870 had sent a report about the weapons one of them used to kill Drone 8923. Apparently, Chrysalis was right to worry about it. It was no matter, however. The official invasion would commence in four hours.

And Chrysalis help those who stood in its way.

In the meantime, she ordered all the three remaining Changelings to attack the tree where Twilight Sparkle lived. If she was right, the other Elements would be gathered there.

-=-=-

Rainbow Dash joined them just outside of town.

“Raindrop was replaced!” She said.

“So was Welded Seam!” Twilight replied.

“We need to go back to the tree and see if Fluttershy warned Mayor Mare.” Rainbow Dash said.

John, grunted, turning and leading them down another street. “Then let’s go!”

They quickly ran through the streets. Several ponies were out and about, apparently confused as to the gunfire and movement around the town. Twilight willed her hooves to move fast, speeding up. She had to get there, and fast.

-=-=-

Unseen Shadow waited with the two drones outside of the treehouse, listening in on the conversation inside.

“-And I don’t understand why this had to be now! Even if the Changelings are coming, why do Twilight and Rainbow Dash have to fight? They should let their ‘pet’ humans do it.” A voice was saying.

“Remember to use knockout spells. Nothing lethal.” He hissed to the other two drones.

Another voice spoke up then. “Rarity, I fought with them for two months before I was captured. They are goin out because they have ta, and you should just pipe down about it.”

“Now.” He said, kicking the door open with his back hooves as the two Changelings rushed in, firing magical bolts. The orange and pink ponies were hit instantly, and the white unicorn a second later. A purple dragon came out from the upstairs, and Unseen Shadow hit it with his own, knocking it out. Moments later, he identified all three ponies as Elements.

“Get them out of here.” He hissed, right as more sounds of running came from outside the three. Hissing, he turned around, just as he felt something hit him, like a kick from one of the Changeling captains in armor. He went down, out cold.

-=-=-

Twilight finished her knockout spell on one of them just as John and Wesley opened fire on the other two, killing them with a bullet each. Immediately, Twilight went to check on her friends, who were slumped on the ground. Thankfully, they were all unconscious, including Spike, who lay on the second floor.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash quickly tied up the Changeling that Twilight indicated she would knock out with some rope that, predictably, Applejack had on her. While she might not have been the best at knots, you didn’t need to do much to restrain something. Moving away from the captured Changeling, she watched as Twilight cast spells on all of her friends, waking them up.

“Oh, mah head.” Applejack said as she got up, nursing the mentioned body part with her hoof.

“Worry about that later, Applejack.” Twilight said. “We need you to prepare to hit the Changeling when it wakes up. No, not the two dead ones, the one that Rainbow Dash tied up. We need to find out where they’ve taken Fluttershy, since she isn’t here and neither is Mayor Mare. Therefore, we have to assume they’ve been taken.”

The orange mare nodded as her headache went away. Slowly, they all waited around the unconscious Changeling, waiting for it to wake up.

And, eventually it did, shaking its head and letting out a yawn before opening its eyes. It stared at them in shock, probably terrified.

“Talk.” Twilight said, letting a spell gather on her horn for effect.

And talk it did, even when the eight Ponyville guards arrived to secure it (Rainbow Dash having gone to get them). Now they knew where to hit.

Twilight was furious. For years, she had known Amethyst Star. To think of her, not as replaced, but as a Changeling herself, made her blood boil.

Together, Wesley, John, and Anton joined her in the center of the library, along with Rainbow Dash.

“Alright.” Wesley said as he stepped forward, pulling back the bolt on his Sa-58 as he finished reloading. “Let’s go crush some bugs.”

Location Down

Two hundred miles away from Ponyville, in Appaloosa, ponies were just beginning to wake up for the morning. Many had jobs on the scatters orchards and farms dotting the landscape, so their days began the moment the sun started to light up the horizon.

Some of the ponies in the streets noticed a faint humming in the air, but dismissed it after a moment. It was probably nothing, they assumed.

In the distance, however, a stallion coming out of a bar was the first to notice it: A black-grey smudge on the horizon, hanging in the air. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out what it was, and noticed that the smudge looked to be dotted, somehow.

He quickly trotted over to the small town hall and got the attention of the receptionist.

“Ma’am,” He respectfully said. “Ah think ah saw something on the horizon, looked kinda like a smudge or sumthin. Mind coming up to clock tower and taking a look-see at it?”

The receptionist quickly pulled out a telescope from beneath her desk and trotted to the stairs, leaving the stallion to follow her. They both reached the top of the two-hundred-foot tower two minutes later. Quickly putting the telescope to her eye with one of her hooves and leaning on the edge, she squinted through the instrument as she looked in the direction of the strange black area.

Her blood ran cold as her mind quickly identified the shapes that she was seeing. Slowly, she handed the telescope to the stallion, who looked through it and simply dropped it, the metal instrument clattering on the ground. As one, they turned to one another a whispered one word.

“Changelings.”

The mare turned around and began to ring the bell as the stallion shouted out what was happening to the city streets. As the blur grew larger and larger, individual shapes started to appear, black dots massing in a swarm numbering in the thousands.

The stallion knew the town didn’t stand a chance, but he was ready to go down fighting. He just hoped his distant cousin was smart enough to survive this.

-=-=-

Ponyville was starting to awake now, but Twilight Sparkle didn’t let that get to her. They had to assault the house that held the local Changeling group, but first she had to do something. Since yet another letter from Princess Celestia had revealed that, not only did some Changelings oppose Chrysalis, but some even helped ponies, she had decided to put it to the test. The letter had informed her that there were eight Changelings in Ponyville not aligned with Chrysalis, and two of them were with the guard. That narrowed down her search quite a bit.

All sixteen of Ponyville’s guards stood in front of her, waiting for what she would say. Clearing her throat, she spoke up.

“As you now know, there is a new Changeling invasion about to start. However, what you do not know is how we discovered this.” Twilight paced in a line, back and forth, getting into lecture mode. “Princess Celestia was informed by a Changeling, yes, a Changeling, that there is a group of them that are opposed to Chrysalis. This has been confirmed with both Luna and Celestia, so don’t worry about the authenticity.”

“What does this have to do with us?” One of the guards asked.

“There are eight of these Changelings in Ponyville. Two of them are in the guard contingent here. Therefore, I would like to know who you are. We could use you in the assault on Amethyst Star’s Changeling group.”

Ten silent seconds passed before two guards, both of them pegasi, stepped forward in unison.

“Firm Barrier, you’re one of them?!” One of the guards exclaimed. “How did you even get into the guard? You’re supposed to take a loyalty oath! You can’t lie during that, or they would have detected you!”

“I didn’t lie.” The mentioned guard said, turning back to his comrade. “I meant every word of that oath. We are as much a part of Equestria as you are. You would be surprised how many ponies you may meet are a part of our organization.”

“What organization is that?” John asked, standing beside Twilight.

“The one opposed to Chrysalis. There are many of us, you know, almost as many as Chrysalis has infiltrated in here.”

“Are there any of those here?” Twilight asked, concerned.

The guard shook his head. “Not in Ponyville. We root them out wherever we can. Remember the guard who got kicked out several months ago?”

Heads nodded. “I hated that idiot.” One of them mentioned.

“That was one of them. We managed to get him out before he could get in too far.”

“Can you detect other Changelings?” Twilight asked.

Firm Barrier nodded. “As long as they are connected to the Hive Mind, then yes, I can.”

“How many are in the house?” Wesley asked.

“Three.” The guard said within moments. “Amethyst Star and two others.”

“Awesome.” John said. “You’re forgiven in my book.”

The two guards turned to their friends, who looked at them. Finally, Firm Barrier asked the key question. “Am I forgiven by you?”

A few moments passed, before one of the guards nodded. “Yeah, you are. Just don’t pull that kind of stuff again.”

“Can we see what you looked like normally?” One of the guards asked.

Firm Barrier sighed, before being enveloped by green flames. Rather than the sickly green of most Changelings, his was a forest green. His helmet fell off as his body turned a grey-black beneath the green fire. Finally, he stood there, a Changeling.

One of the guards gave him a once over, before speaking out. “Change back. You’re even uglier like this than you are normally.”

“Buck you.” Firm Barrier said as he changed back. All at once, the tense atmosphere evaporated, and the guards started to avidly converse.

John whistled, gaining the guard’s attention and causing them to quiet down.

“Thank you.” He said. “Now, are we ready to go kick some ass?” All of the guards gave loud agreements, so John started towards Amethyst Star’s house, intent on leading this skirmish right to her doorstep.

Four minutes later, John and the others stood outside of the house, waiting for the signal from Firm Barrier, who was watching their locations (as he could see them if they were connected to the Hive Mind).

“Almost… Your best chance is now.” The disguised guard said. “They’re gathering up in the main room, right down the hallway from the door.”

With that, John signaled to Rainbow Dash, who walked up to the door, bag in hand. She carefully pulled several small pieces of C4 out, along with the detonators. They were placed along the sides of the door, to blow it in. With a maniacal grin on her face, she stepped back, pulled out the trigger device, and pressed down the lever.

The blobs of C4 detonated, blowing the door to splinters but leaving the guards – and the humans – unharmed. Instantly, John was rushing inside the house, AEK-971 held at the ready. Five feet in, a Changeling, black in the dim light, came around the corner, horn glowing a sickly green.

John fired a burst of eight rounds into the changeling, instantly making a few new, red holes in its already hole-filled body. He stepped forward and past it, entering into the main living room. To his right, he spotted a green glow, and quickly turned in time to see a green bolt coming right at him.

He pressed his eyes shut, but opened them to see a shimmering purple barrier in front of him. Looking behind him, he saw Twilight there, horn glowing, holding up a shield. It dropped a second later, giving John enough time to fire several shots at the Changeling, who put up his own green barrier.

Now that he had a moment to pause, he could see his target: Amethyst Star, still in her pony form, a scowl on her face. Only a second later, she turned around and strode into an open door, headed down. He realized something: She must be headed into the basement, where they would most likely keep all of the ponies they had impersonated/kidnapped.

Two of the guards, both unicorns, came up beside him. As one, they fired magical bolts into the Changeling’s shield, causing it to collapse, and the Changeling to drop to the floor, holding a hoof to its head and rolling around.

“Quickly,” Twilight said. “While it’s having a magical overload.”

One of the pegasus guards stepped forward and knocked the Changeling out with a swift hit to the head. He quickly put a ring on its horn, restraining its magic. He had heard about magical suppression from Twilight, and approved of the quick thinking here. The guard began to carry the Changeling out of the house, with the help of a unicorn guard.

Wesley moved past John and walked to the door Amethyst Star had walked into. Predictably, he said something they all knew.

“She’s headed into the basement.”

John and Wesley rushed forward, with Anton right behind them. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle were mere seconds behind him as they all rushed down the stairs, whatever weapons they had at the ready.

They all emerged onto a small hallway, leading forward. It was completely blank, with the only feature being the dim lights and the door at the end of it, twenty feet away. All five of them moved forward, slowly, preparing for the worst.

John slowly went up to the door and eyed it. Grasping the knob in his hand, he turned it slightly and, seeing it was turning good, and no traps had been sprung, threw open the door. He rapidly stepped inside the room, rifle at the ready, but paused at what he saw.

The room had been carved out of the natural rock, with rough floors and walls. Green crystals dotted it, providing fair illumination for the room, abiet shrouding everything in a green tint. The room itself was about twenty feet square, and the sides were lined with several ponies. Among them, he could see Mayor Mare, Fluttershy, and several others he did not recognize.

The thing that caught his attention the most, though, was Amethyst Star. She stood at the other end of the room, not even bothering to hide anymore.

“So, it seems you have found me.” She said.

“You could say that.” John replied, keeping his rifle trained on here.

“Were you expecting something different?” The Changeling asked. “Such as an entire hive? No such luck. My role here was almost completed, so, I feel it appropriate to let you see what you came here to.”

With that, she shifted into Changeling form. Several things were noticeably different: Apparently, female Changelings differed from male ones. Her eyes were a much brighter shade of blue, and the fangs that every Changeling had were shorter, as much as half the size of the ones the other Changelings had shown. Rainbow Dash thought she looked something like the Changeling that had impersonated Raindrops, but noted many other differences as well.

Amethyst Star chuckled, sending a small chill through the ponies and humans. Hearing such a perfect sound that could have come out of a pony, coming from the Changeling, was simply unnerving.

Anton, however, still retained his stone expression. Aiming his Sa-61 at the Changeling, he said his first words since much earlier in the night.

“Either you surrender, or I will kill you.” He said coldly. “Those are your choices.”

“Who says there isn’t an option C?” Amethyst said, taunting him. “Go ahead: Shoot me. Try it.”

“As you wish.” He said, pulling the trigger. Twelve pullets rapidly discharged from the gun and impacted on a green-tinged barrier that sprung in front of them, several feet from Amethyst’s face. She didn’t even flinch. As soon as Twilight started to charge her horn, ready to blast the shield with magic, Amethyst suddenly sung her foot out and into one of the glowing crystals embedded in the wall. Instantly, a blinding light filled the room, and Twilight could hear the faint sound of a teleportation spell.

When they all blinked away the light, the room was empty, except for them and the captured ponies. As Twilight and several others immediately went to wake them up, John smashed his hand into his face. They had been so close to taking down the Changeling commander in Ponyville… And they had failed.

-=-=-

Queen Chrysalis was watching the takeover of Appaloosa when a green flash erupted to her right. Looking over, she could see one of her favored Changelings, Amethyst Star, collapsing to the ground, most likely spent from such a long-range teleportation spell.

“Guards, assist Amethyst Star.” Chrysalis ordered as several of them rushed forward and began to carry the weakened Changeling back to an aid station, along with many other Changelings wounded in the first attack.

Smiling, Chrysalis turned back to the site of Appaloosa.. Seeing that her Changelings were following her orders, and that the captured ponies (most of the town) were not being overly roughed up, she turned away and smiled.

The invasion was going right as scheduled.

Destroyed Again

“Everyone get to good cover, and wait until the invasion is over.” John was telling the crowd of ponies. “Anyone who can fight, feel free to do so, but be warned: This won’t be a small invasion like Canterlot. There will be hundreds coming here alone, and thousands all over Equestria. They won’t hesitate to kill you, so you’re taking a huge risk. That is all.”

John walked off of the staircase in front of the town hall and went through the crowd, as the newly-revived Mayor Mare tried to salvage as much as she could. John wished her luck privately, but didn’t think she would succeed. Exiting the group of ponies, he walked over to Wesley, who was watching the sky to the south.

“When do you think they will come? It’s eight o’ clock already.” John asked his friend.

“Any time soon.” Wesley replied, not taking his eyes off of the horizon.

Twilight ran up to their group, panting.

“John, Wesley. Multiple cities have been attacked, and many to the south have been taken.” The unicorn said. “Celestia just set a letter telling us to expect them within a half-hour.”

John nodded and turned to the crowd, clearing his throat.

“Ok, everybody!” He shouted, gaining their attention. “Get to your houses if you’re not fighting. Those who will, stay in the town and fan out.”

Immediately, many of the ponies, predictably, started to panic, and very few were left standing in the town square. They were mostly unicorns, but quite a few pegasi and earth ponies were there as well.

“Twilight, get to cover in the town hall.” John said. “Wesley and I will defend from the room, and Anton is out with Rainbow Dash. Let’s move!” He finished, running for the two-story building.

Together, he, Wesley, and Twilight ran up the stairs, quickly reaching the second story. The ceiling was still a bit short for the humans, but they could deal with it. They ran up the second flight of stairs, and emerged onto the room, which was flat with three-foot high walls on the edges.

Twilight ran into the center of the room, while Wesley and John each went to the wall. Looking towards the south. Together, they waited.

Three minutes later, with several ponies running around in the streets below, Wesley spotted a cyan blur. It slowed down and quickly formed into Rainbow Dash, who landed on the roof a moment later.

“The bugs are coming down the valley, around two hundred of them.” The pegasus quickly said. “I’ll try and thin them out.”

The pegasus took off before they could answer. Moments later, a cyan blur was seen moving down the valley, to the south.

“I hope she knows what she is doing.” John said.

“So do I.” Twilight replied after a moment.

-=-=-

Rainbow Dash rose on the updrafts, reaching an altitude of two thousand feet within moments at her speed. She hadn’t yet broken the sound barrier, but she was very close. Her time on earth had let her practice enough to perform a Sonic Rainbow nearly at will, and it had come in handy when fighting the high-speed ‘fighters’ the ‘Soviets’ had.

Her bag of C4 strapped to her side, she quickly went through the familiar motions of putting the detonators into clumps of it. When she had four small lumps with detonators stuck inside of them, she quickly spotted the Changeling formation and dove towards it.

They were moving up the valley north towards Ponyville, at a slow speed. That just made it easier. She pulled up above the formation and dropped the C4 into the middle of it, literally hitting the lever on the detonator a moment later.

Turning to look behind her, she could see four explosions annihilating the middle of the swarm. Several black dots turned to give chase, while the others simply sped up. Grinning, Rainbow Dash did roll with a flip, changing directions and heading straight at the ones chasing her. Hopefully, she could wear thin their numbers before they hit Ponyville.

-=-=-

John aimed down his Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight, or ACOG, looking down the valley for the swarm of black dots that would indicate the Changelings.

To his left, Wesley leaned against the wall, his Sa-58 braced on top of it.

It took two minutes, but they finally saw it: A mix of black shapes two miles away, headed straight for Ponyville. John held his fire, but turned to Twilight.

“Our guns can’t hit them at this range, but your magic can.” He said. “Do you mind giving them a warm welcome?”

“Not at all.” Twilight said, closing her eyes in concentration. Moments later, dozens of low-strength spells began to fire out at a fast pace, headed straight for the swarm. The vast majority of them missed, but there were some hits: Black dots knocked out of the sky by the weak bolts.

As the swarm drew closer, it increased in speed, and about half of them were enveloped in green fire as they dove for the streets.

“Magical shields! Hold fire until they hit!” Twilight shouted.

The Changelings started hitting the streets, making small craters where they impacted. They walked out of them, horns glowing, scanning the area.

“Open fire!” John shouted, aiming his AEK-971 at the nearest one. He fired a two-round burst, causing it to crumple to the ground. He immediately switched to another as Wesley started to fire, cutting them down in the streets.

-=-=-

Anton flicked the stock for his Sa-61 Škorpion open and set it to his shoulder, aiming at the nearest bug. He fired a burst, causing it and several around it to die, falling to the ground. He went back behind a corner just as several green bolts flashed by, impacting the area behind him.

Turning around the cover again, he squeezed the trigger, more rounds launching themselves at the Changelings. As they died under his onslaught of lead, he turned to aim at the next target.

-=-=-

Twilight fired a magical bolt at the first Changeling to run up the stairs, sending it tumbling back down. Whirling around, she launched a bolt at a Changeling who was chasing one of the Pegasi through the air, catching it directly and killing it.

As more came up the stairs, she put a weak shield up to hold them off for a minute.

“How many are there?” Twilight asked John, who turned around to look at her.

“You don’t want to know.” He said, before continuing. “Around a hundred left. The ponies in town are lowering their numbers, so we should have that difficult of a time.”

Her shield on the stairwell broke as Changelings rushed onto the roof. Twilight fired several bolts as John opened fire with his rifle, mowing down the half dozen that emerged.

“Let’s just try not to die first.” Wesley suggested as he reloaded his rifle, inserting a new magazine into the receiver and pulling back the bolt.

-=-=-

Rainbow Dash flew through the air, rolling as she dodged yet another magical bolt. Unlike the guns (or, occasionally, small missiles) she had to deal with on the human’s world, the magical bolts that some Changelings could fire were a lot more accurate – and almost as deadly.

She flared her wings out and decreased her speed, causing the three Changelings chasing her to shoot past and ahead of her. They looked behind them as she shot forward and bucked one of them – hard. It immediately started to fall downwards, heavily injured by the blow.

Rainbow rolled right as the remaining two followed her, one of them launching the green bolts occasionally. She looked behind her just as the one firing was hit by a purple bolt, probably from Twilight. It fell down, dead, as the remaining one continued to give chase.

Turning towards the Everfree forest, she quickly dodged left and right, evading between some of the higher trees as the Changeling slowly caught up with her. Even though Rainbow might be a bit reckless at times, she was not suicidal, and dared not move and faster this low.

Suddenly, a loud ‘twunk’ rang out behind her. Looking back, she could see that the Changeling had collided head-first with a tree at high speeds… And the tree had won. Turning upwards, she banked back towards Ponyville, where the fighting was starting to die down.

-=-=-

Anton sprayed bullets into the trio of Changelings in front of him, killing them. He turned to the left just as a blue-colored magical bolt hit the Changeling he was aiming for. Looking to his right, he spotted the unicorn responsible, who turned to launch one at another Changeling. Moments before he could, the unicorn was hit, falling to the ground.

The former Russian pilot grimaced and turned his rifle to fire at another Changeling.

-=-=-

The number of the attacking Changelings in Ponyville was down to around twelve; or so Twilight said when John asked. Even so, groups of two continued to fire at them from around corners, taking potshots at the town hall.

Down the center of the main street, four Changeligns came, surrounded in a green bubble. Three of them fired out of it through small holes, while a third stood in the middle, maintaining it.

“I’ll take it.” Twilight said as soon as she saw it, standing on the wall. Concentrating, her horn began to glow as she released a large explosive spell. It impacted the shield, killing two of them and sending the other two flying into walls, where John and Wesley fired at them as they showed signs of life.

“How many now?” Wesley said after a few moments, as Ponyville’s streets were silent.

Slowly, and then louder, a cheer began to go through the town, as the ponies that had fought the invasion realized that the attack on the town was over.

“Does that answer your question?” Twilight said. “It’s over. It’s finished.”

“But only here.” John interrupted. “There is still probably heavy fighting going on elsewhere. We got hit with a force of a few hundred: What about a force of thousands, and without us to help?”

Wesley nodded, right as a purple lizard thing came up the stairs.

“Twilight! A letter from the Princess!” It said, clutching the scroll.

Twilight enveloped it in a magical field and opened it, reading the lines. When she finished, she closed it and began to write on the back, before handing it to the lizard, who blew fire on it.

“What is it, Twilight?” John asked.

“Princess Celestia knows we’ve won here.” The unicorn said. “She’s asked all five of us to go to Baltimare. It’s under a heavy attack right now.”

“More puns.” Wesley quipped, joking around.

Rainbow Dash landed on the room, followed by Anton walking up the stairs.

“Tell me, Twilight Sparkle.” Anton said. “How is it that this town seemingly is destroyed every few months?”

“It’s an interesting town, that’s for sure.” John said.

“We’re an interesting group of ponies and humans, that is also for sure.” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You’re all crazy, and that’s what I am sure of.” The pegasus said accusingly. “So, what adventure are we going on now?”

“To a city named ‘Baltimare’.” John repeated. “It’s under heavy Changeling attack. How will we get there, Twilight?”

“Mass teleportation spell in twenty minutes, from the library to a place outside the city. Princess Celestia is doing it.” The lavender unicorn said.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Wesley said, walking towards the staircase. “Let’s get this over and done with.”

Twilight smiled at her friend’s enthusiasm as she walked down the stairs, following them. She was worried about what she would find in Baltimare, but Twilight felt she was prepared for anything.

After all, she was not the same mare she was a year ago.

-=-=-

“My queen!” A Changeling soldier said as he ran into the command post outside of Dodge Junction, doing a quick bow. “The attack on Ponyville has been defeated, and our attack on Enticore city is being repulsed! However, the city of Baltimare is more than half secure!”

Chrysalis smiled at her drone. “Good job, Drone 8934. You do your deliveries fast. Send word to Hoofington to send half of their garrison to reinforce Enticore City, and renew the attack on Baltimare. Go.”

With another bow, her faithful drone left her. She would never know if they questioned her commands, but at the very least they followed them. After the attack on her two days back, she had become increasingly wary of any assassination attempts.

The failure of the attack on Ponyville was unfortunate, but not concerning. Even though the Elements of Harmony and the ‘Humans’ remained, she was not worried. The Elements could only cleanse evil and corruption, and she was far from that.

In her own view, her goals were noble: Unite all of Equestria under her banner, where all species could live in peace. For eight years, she had planned, first for the attack on Canterlot, and now for this. And she would not let all of her work go to waste.

City Outskirts

John looked at the ground below as he stood in the chariot, the large forest stretching into the distance. The formation of ten chariots and carriages, along with several dozen Pegasi, moved between misty mountains as they headed one direction: Towards Baltimare.

The mass teleportation spell had gotten them past most of the Everfree forest, and into a guard camp not far from the city, and they were making the last leg of the trip, along with a rather large group of guards. Many of them wore a dull silver armor, having replaced their ceremonial gold armor with sets made of iron and several other metals that John couldn’t tell apart.

The sun hung towards the west, several hours from setting, the beams of sunlight breaking through the banks of clouds, casting odd shadows on the ground. Next to him, Rainbow Dash watched the clouds with some concern.

“Why are there so many clouds?” The cyan mare asked.

“The Pegasi are moving in as many as they can, to stop the Changelings in the air.” Twilight said behind them. “If we can ground them because of cloud coverage, we should be able to move our Pegasi forces around at will.”

“How will that work?” John asked.

“The local Pegasi are often given small training in maneuvering around clouds.” Twilight explained. “The sea seems to produce them quite often, so fog and cloudbanks will roll in, and the Pegasi need to know how to move around and remove them.”

“And the Changelings have no such training.” Anton said from a nearby chariot.

“Exactly.”

The chariots moved around a low-hanging cloud, mountains towering above them. Suddenly, a Pegasi shouted something from the front of the formation, which got repeated down the group.

“Two minutes out!” Came the shout as Rainbow Dash passed it on to the ones behind them. John held on tightly to the rim of the chariot as the chariot descended, quickly having to rise to avoid a sudden ridge. With a final turn around a cloud, the city lay before him.

The city was several miles wide, and stood right along the shore of a large ocean. Dozens of buildings stood higher than thirty stories, and one even stood at around fifty. They towered into the air, although they had much more noticeable additions to them now. Many were on fire, and a few tilted slightly, as if some of the foundations had been damaged.

Right as he watched, one near the edge of town that stood at around twenty stories collapsed in the middle, the entire structure falling sideways into the streets below. Even with the clouds moving in, several hundred specks, Changelings and Pegasi both, twisted in the air, locked in a much more personal version of the fight above Seattle.

The chariot reached the edge of town, and descended onto a field in the middle of a slightly built-up area. Hundreds of ponies milled between dozens of tents, and the Pegasi in the formation began to land in open spots on the ground. Many stared in slight shock as the three humans, along with two of the Elements of Harmony, began to walk from the landing area to a large tent that dominated the middle of the field.

“Well, let’s go over there. That looks important.” Wesley said as the group moved through the camp.

John moved aside the tent flap as they walked in. The tent was is complete chaos: Ponies ran this was and that, clutching messages in their teeth and, occasion, in magical telekinesis. One figure, however, strode at the center of it.

“Be sure to send a group of Pegasi to assist the groups moving downtown.” The tall unicorn said, striding between the ponies around him before fixing us with a glare. “What are you, and what are two of the Elements doing here?”

“We’re humans.” John said. “Celestia sent us down here, and we came to get orders.”

“Good, I heard about your arrival. You’re military, at least from what I’ve heard.” The unicorn said. “Just move downtown. Organization doesn’t matter, the battle is complete chaos anyway.”

“Sounds good.” John said, shooting a salute to the unicorn before turning around and leading the rest of the group outside.

“Well, that’s awfully specific.” Twilight deadpanned as they moved towards the tall buildings that marked downtown, walking through the field and around dozens of groups of ponies.

“At least we have an objective.” Wesley remarked.

“A very uninformative objective. I am quite sure that it did not help us in the least.” Anton said.

“Well, I’ll be taking off, then.” Rainbow Dash said, stretching her wings. “When the battle is over, meet by the waterfront.” With that, the cyan pegasus took off, the others staring after her.

“Well, she’s as impulsive as usual.” Wesley stated.

“No kidding.” John said as they started walking again.

John unslung his rifle and flicked the safety off as the sounds of battle drew ever closer. Rather than the bullets and shells he was used to, a low hum filled the air (Twilight stated that it was from the immense amount of magical spells being used), yelling and explosions sounded, with the occasional sound of metal hitting metal.

The buildings around them grew ever taller, and John scanned the streets and rooftops, waiting for any sigh of ambush. Four low-flying pegasi zoomed down the streets, clutching spears in their hoofs as they went between the buildings.

Twilight looked left and right, watching the area with intent eyes. She knew that the Changelings could come from anywhere, at any moment. Four unicorns came up behind them and passed them, giving only a few seconds glance to the humans and the Element of Magic walking down the street.

Two of the unicorns tumbled to the ground not twenty feet ahead as green bolts hit them from above. The remaining two looked to the top of the buildings as John and the others did the same.

“Above! Rooftops!” John shouted, looking through the small scope and finding one of the Changelings in his sights. He fired, the round hitting the Changeling, and causing it to tumble twelve stories to the ground with a scream. A green bolt flew past him, but he ignored his as he went behind a large piece of rubble, blocking their fire.

Wesley rose out of his cover, another pile of rubble in the street, and fired at the Changelings on the rooftop. Several tried to take to the air, but were stopped moments later as a group of pegasi landed on top of the buildings, taking out the ones there within moments.

The group of guards moved on as John reformed the three man (and one pony) group and started them towards a building. He moved in the open door, past a sign that stated ‘3rd Street Hotel’, and into an obvious lobby, headed towards some stairs. As the others followed him and Wesley cursed climbing, John ran up the stairs, headed for the roof.

A minute later, he burst out of a door on it. Turning right, towards the downtown, he ran and leaped over a low wall onto the next roof, taking time to sling his rifle as the others followed him.

“Why are we going this way?” Twilight asked as she teleported the few feet up onto the next roof as John helped Anton up the six foot difference.

“Because the street is too dangerous. Twilight, other rooftop, please.” He said as they reached the next street. Nodding, Twilight teleported them across the forty foot distance, before they stopped as Twilight caught her breath.

“Sorry, teleportation for four across that distance takes a bit of effort.” Twilight said.

“You used to do it all the time.” Wesley commented as they started running across the rooftop again.

“That was a month ago.” Twilight said as she jumped over a low wall in sync with the rest of the group.

Green bolts impacted the rooftop around them, scorching small holes in the concrete as John and the others dived behind whatever cover they could find, such as the ventilation and cooling units. Several Changelings flashed overhead, followed by a large thud. John looked out of cover, and noticed that a Pegasi guard had impacted the rooftop.

A moment later, Wesley ran out of cover and over to the guard, putting a finger to the top of the guard’s throat, feeling for a pulse, before shaking his head.

“The guard’s gone, let’s just keep moving.” Wesley said.

“I sure hope Rainbow is having a better time than we are.” John said as he lifted himself up to the next rooftop, his arms already protesting from the effort.

-=-=-

High above the city, Rainbow Dash rolled to the left to avoid another magical burst from the Changeling behind her, diving down in an added effort. She sped up quickly, reaching the speed necessary for a Sonic Rainboom within seconds. A cone of air formed around her and then dissipated as she shot through the air, losing the Changeling within seconds.

She slowed down to normal speed as she entered the city, seeking out areas where she could help. She still had quite a bit of C4 from the human’s world, and wasn’t shy about using it. She reached into her bag and grabbed onto another clump with her hoof. Bringing it out and slipping a detonator in it before looking at her target.

Up ahead, a large group of twenty Changelings was moving down a street, headed for a rather large group of guards. Rainbow did a quick mental calculation and tossed the C4. It sailed through the air, impacting the side of a building right as Rainbow clicked the detonation trigger.

The blast shattered the side of the five-story building, causing the weakened top to tumble down, burying the street – and the Changelings – in rubble. She rose up in the air, gaining altitude as she flew. Looking down on the city, she could see that they were winning overall, although Changelings seemed to be streaming into the city in the distance.

She gave a small grin, before tilting downward, seeking another target.

For her, the day had only begun.

-=-=-

Wesley squeezed the trigger, his Sa-58 spitting out an empty cartridge as another bullet went down the street. From his position on top of a tall building, he could see the ponies ten stories below on the streets holding off the Changeling counterattack.

Next to him, John shifted his aim as he found another target. Before he could fire, he ducked down, right as a green bolt flew through the space he had been in. Cursing, he rose over the short wall again and fired several rounds, hoping to keep the Changelings suppressed.

He noticed a group of two dozen Changelings come down the street, several among them firing green bolts. To his right, Twilight shot out another spell, the bolt exploding in the middle of the formation as the rest scattered onto the sides of the street.

Several took to the air, flying at the guard forces. Wesley fired several rounds at them, missing most of them, but several fell from the air, due to both him and the unicorns below.

He heard what sound like a yell behind him, and twisted around right as a Changeling is Cobalt Blue armor rammed into him.

“Shit!” He said, kicking back at the offending Changeling and sending it flying backwards as John turned around and saw the Changeling.

“Changeling!” John shouted, firing several sounds, most of them deflecting off of the armor that the Changeling had as it charged forward. Finally, one caught it in the side. The Changeling, however, nearly gored him with the horn as John flipped the back of his rifle down, and then up, ramming the bottom of the buttstock into the Changeling and sending it reeling.

Wesley fired the final shots, sending a burst of three rounds into its side, the rounds punching through the lighter armor there and blowing apart the Changeling’s organs. It collapsed to the ground, dead.

“Are you two alright?” Twilight said, pointing to the slightly charred corpse of a Changeling next to her. “I got distracted by one over here.”

“I’m fine.” Wesley said as he got up, clutching his stomach. “I think I got hit pretty hard, though.”

John noticed something that his friend seemed not to: Blood seeping through Wesley’s fingers.

“Wesley. Remove your hand from your stomach. I think you’ve been more than hit.” John said as the sounds of battle continued to reach their ears.

“Wha…” Wesley voice faded as he looked down, before slowly collapsing with his back at the wall. “John, I think that bastard got me.”

Twilight rushed forward and removed Wesley’s hand, using magic to make a tear in his uniform where the blood seemed to be soaking. True enough, a one-inch hole was in the middle of Wesley’s chest, right below his stomach. Twilight grimaced as she spotted it: She would need plenty concentration and energy to heal it.

“Wesley, hold still.” Twilight said in a calm voice. “John, hold them off as I try to heal this.”

As quickly as she could, Twilight wracked her head for all the medical spells Celestia had taught her. It hadn’t been many, but she knew that, right now, she needed them.

Once she found the one she was looking for, she closed her eyes in concentration, feeling the energy flow into her horn. Wesley watched with half-opened eyes as his skin seemed to close over the spot, the sensation feeling like a thousand tiny ants crawling over his skin. He ignored it as he took a deep breath, feeling the pain fade.

“Thanks, Twilight.” He said after a moment, his hands shaking as they grasped for his rifle. Looking ahead of him, he noticed that Twilight seemed exhausted. “Are you ok?”

“No. I feel like I just ran the distance between Appaloosa and Ponyville. Twice.” The lavender unicorn said, taking a deep breath to calm herself before laying down on the ground. “I’ll be fine in a few minutes. Just… Give me time to rest.”

Wesley nodded and grabbed his rifle, aiming over the wall at the increasing amounts of Changelings attacking their positions. The ponies in the streets below were taking heavy casualties, as attested by the dozens of bodies behind the crude barricade the advance had halted behind.

In all his time fighting, he hadn’t been wounded, not even once. And now, without Twilight here, he probably would have had to been lifted back to the field, a full mile away. He shook the thoughts away from his head, aiming his rifle at the individual black shapes moving down the streets.

John pulled the trigger of his AEK-971, rounds striking a Changeling running across the street, bouncing off its armor before a lucky shot felled it. He shifted his fire to the next one, his rifle emitting a dull click. Cursing, he detached his current magazine before clicking another one in place, and resumed firing.

-=-=-

As the sun started to set on the horizon, Rainbow Dash scanned the ground, looking for the group of humans. She quickly found them: The humans being the only ones with guns firing on the top of the building in the entire city, much less the planet.

Grinning, she swooped down, headed towards them. The fighting was about the wind down with the coming night, and they needed to regroup and rest.

And prepare for the next day.

-=-=-

Tacit Darkness, the commander of Changeling Sub-Group #28, stood on top of a mountain overlooking Canterlot. Around him, eighty other Changelings, picked for this missed, glared at the capital of their enemy. Guards manned the walls, but no shield was up, ensuring that they would be able to get in if they were quick enough.

Sending the single through the Hive Mind, he lifted off into the air, the others following him and splitting into two groups. Tacit grinned at the shapes of his fellow Unitfriends, glad to be with them on this mission. Queen Chrysalis herself had briefed him on this, and given him the message that this was important to her. That, he though, no sane Changeling would disobey.

As he dived down, a shout rang out from the walls, and guards scurried along them as he landed, along with many others, killing the guards when they encountered them. Moving forward, Tacit studied the mental map he had been given, gathering the Changeling together and moving out.

It was time to complete his mission.

Mountain City

Tacit Darkness, the commander of Changeling Sub-Group #28, was lost.

It was an easy assignment: get into Canterlot castle and follow the map in the Hive Mind until they reached the Archives. Once there, steal several scrolls and get out as fast as possible. Unfortunately, thanks to several now-dead Royal Guards, that plan was in hiatus.

When they had landed, he had split his force in two: Forty would go and rescue the prisoners that Chrysalis had been informed were being held inside of the castle, while he and the other forty would journey to the Archives, where Chrysalis had instructed them to steal several specific scrolls.

His first clue that something had gone wrong was when the five Changelings in front of him had suddenly been assaulted by dozens of magical bolts. Throwing up a shield, the more magically-talented Changelings in the group had held the guards in the hallway off long enough for him to come up with an alternant plan: They would take another route.

That alternant route had cost them ten minutes, and seven more of his highly-trained Unitfriends had fallen to the Royal Guards, but not before taking a greater number of the blasted ponies with them. When they finally reached the entrance to the Archives, the twenty guards at the entrance had cost them eight more minutes, and a Changeling for each one.

The Archives had been easy to break through after that, and the scrolls were found and quickly copied. Other than the break-in itself, there was no need to single just what they had stolen, lest the ponies figure it out and form a block for… Whatever Chrysalis intended the scrolls for.

A large force of guards had come into the room right as they had finished. While he had instructed four more of his dwindling numbers of Changelings to hold them off, he and the other sixteen had exited the Archives through an unmarked side passage, which turned out to lead to the tunnels beneath Canterlot.

Tunnels which remained unmapped by the Hive Mind.

And now he stood with his Unitfriends and subordinates, trying to figure out a plan before the ponies found them, or worse, something else.

“…And that is why we should head north.” One of them finished.

“For Chrysalis’s sake, Shade. You couldn’t tell directions if someling handed you a compass.” Another one replied.

“Hey, at least I got better marks in Infiltration and Evasion than you!” Snapped ‘Shade’.

“Do those even matter? We’re in the middle of a cave!” The other Changeling replied.

Tacit Darkness was content to let them argue for a few more minutes, before he stepped in with a thought-out plan. However, the argument was obviously going to take much more time than that to settle, so he decided to defuse it before it could begin in earnest.

“Both of you, stop.” Tacit said. “You’re supposed to be the best that the Hive has, and many of you were given the Cyan Streaks by Chrysalis herself. Stop acting like foals, and start acting like the Changelings you should be.”

The comment bit deep for many of them. The ‘Cyan Streaks’ was a term for the Cyan-colored metal streaks that would be grafted onto a Changeling’s armor if they excelled in combat, made out of an unknown, but extremely strong metal found beneath the Main Hive. If a Changeling received them, but did not act according to what they represented (namely duty, honor, and loyalty), they would be taken away: A severe blow to anyling who had earned them. And, in Tacit’s opinion, the Changelings here were acting like complete foals: The newest additions to any Changeling hive, and always the ones to cause the most trouble.

“Now, before you panic any more, I would enjoy it if someling would explain why we can’t connect to the Hive Mind down in these caves.” Tacit said. “Anyling up?”

“The walls and roof of the cave is too thick.” One of the Changelings in back said. “Distance and an object are the only things that can affect the Hive Mind, and we have both down here.”

“Good enough.” Tacit said, taking a deep breath before directing his gave out at the group. “Everyling follow me: I think I can find us a path out of here.”

With that, Tacit Darkness set out, the other Changelings following right behind him.

-=-=-

Canterlot Castle

Same time

“Are you sure they are in the caves?” One of the guards asked Cobalt Sky.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” The Pegasus/Changeling replied. “Remember, I may look like a pegasus, but I still can access the Hive Mind. It’s one of the things that all hybrids seem to inherit.”

“If I hadn’t been told by Princess Celestia herself that you were on our side, I would have apprehended you for that comment alone.” The guard said.

“But I’m working for you, so you won’t.” Cobalt replied as one of the guards went off to spread the news to the rest of them.

“I know.” Another guard said, shaking his head. “And it bugs me beyond belief. But you’re working for us, and that makes you OK in my book.”

-=-=-

“When are we finally going to find an exit?” One of the Changelings next to Tacit asked.

“When we do.” The annoyed commander practically growled. “We’re in a bucking mountain! If we go any direction, we eventually come out from it!”

“… What if we go the wrong way?” One of them asked in jest.

Tacit stopped for a moment, slamming a forehoof into his forehead and repeating a simple mantra in his head:

‘You will not kill him, Tacit. You will not. You won’t.’ He kept on repeating, before giving up and walking forward with a frustrated snort.

So far, they had been walking for around twenty minutes. And he had been forced to listen to every single joke that one of them made, and had to repeat the frustration every two minutes. It had been grating on his nerves, and he just hoped that it would end.

“So, did any of you hear what happened to the second team?” One of the Changeling said.

“I lost all connection with them when we all lost connection with the Hive Mind.” Tacit deadpanned. “I would assume they succeeded, however.”

“How many guards does Canterlot have, anyway?” Another one asked.

“In the hundreds. Even we don’t know: We haven’t been able to infiltrate into their guard.” The first one replied.

“Why?”

“One of ours said something about a lie test before his mind was cut off.” Tacit said. “We assume that she was killed at that time. After the fifth time that happened, we quit trying. It was a horrible waste of good infiltrators.”

“Did you hear what happened to one of ours?” ‘Shade’ said. “Amethyst Star, I heard her name was. One of Queen Chrysalis’s children. Anyway, when she tried to overtake Ponyville, she had to teleport out after everyling was killed.”

“Did the follow-up force take Ponyville?” One of the Changelings asked.

“Seeing as we had to detour around it: No.” Tacit said.

Sudden, he and the others detected something familiar in the distance: The Hive Mind. Eagerly, they quickened their pace, before they found themselves at the opening to a cave. Moonlight filtered in, and when Tacit took a look outside, he could see the city of Canterlot hanging a few hundred feet above them, with a very steep drop below.

Quickly, he and the others connected back into the Hive Mind. As soon as he entered, he felt himself receive a message from Chrysalis.

“[Tacit Darkness, where have your forces been!]” The voice thundered.

‘[Apologies, my Queen. We have the scrolls, but we were forced to retreat into the caved beneath Canterlot, and we were lost until this point.]’

“[Fair enough. Team two did not succeed: They were a total loss. Return to the command position south of Baltimare. You are needed for an important mission.]”

Before he could even reply, the connection was cut.

Turning to the other Changelings, he looked them over before delving into the Hive Mind for information on their route. With that gather, he took a deep breath and spoke.

“Team two was lost. Completely. We are to report south of Baltimare for another mission, one which Chrysalis did not tell me anything about. Everyling, follow me.”

With that, he turned and jumped out of the cave, opening and rapidly beating his insect-like wings, quickly pulling out of his dive. Looking behind him, he could see the others following him, moving in key with his movements. He banked towards the south, heading in the direction of Baltimare.

For his first mission this far into Equestria, he could count this one as a partial loss. At least they had the copied scrolls, along with whatever was contained inside of them. He just had one question on his mind, though, which had been crossing his mind ever since he had looked at one of the scrolls.

What use would Chrysalis have for an ‘ELD Teleportation Spell’?

Time Repeats

John opened his eyes as a ray of sunshine played on his face, the golden light pushing away his sleep. He sat up and looked around, spotting Wesley leaning against the side of the building, outlined in the brilliant orange of the new day. His friend was looking out over the city, at the buildings jutting into the sky, smoke still streaming out of holes in various highrises.

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were still sleeping on the top of the roof, probably exhausted from the previous day's excitement. If you could call fighting your way across a mile of heavily urbanized area 'excitement'.

Pushing away the fog of sleepiness, John slowly rolled over and pushed himself to his feet. He staggered over to Wesley, looking out over the city. Both of them stood in silence, looking out over the city rocked by carnage.

"I bet it used to be beautiful." Wesley said after a moment.

"It probably did." John replied, detached.

"You know, history books never tell us about what happens in the aftermath." Wesley said, continuing. "All that they show is numbers and maps, and all we see are the chess pieces moving around the board. When thousands are being killed around you, and you huddle in what used to be a coffee shop, or somebody's home. Hell, even a hospital. You never seem to notice the toll it takes on your surroundings.

"Cities crumble to dust as the fighting races across the landscape, fields turned ripe to fallow, and the ruined machines of war marking the landscape. We have fought as one as we ran from Seattle, through the cold hell of the Cascades, and finally in a race against time to stop a nuclear war. Along the way, I think we might have lost something. Part of what keeps us in this fight. Right now, we're only fighting because we have to."

Anton stepped up beside them unannounced, looking out at the rising sun.

Wesley continued. "We need to fight because these ponies, no matter how different, deserve our help."

"We need to fight for them." Anton concluded with a smile.

-=-=-

"What's the plan today?" Wesley asked as they looked down the street they were walking on. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were having an animate discussion about 'their last time here', while John, Wesley, and Anton walked five feet ahead, carrying on their own.

Ten minutes before, as the fighting was about to pick up again with the coming of day, a pegasus guard in full steel armor had delivered them a message, instructing them to return to the command post four blocks down, and one to the west. After that point, they had climbed down the building, walked past the crude barricades of stone and overturned items that the guards had set up, and continued down the street.

"I don't know" John answered for the third time.

"Will they have a special mission for us?" Wesley asked.

"I don't know." John said as he mentally counted it up.

"Will we get to be like that British spy or something? Blowing shit up all across whatever this planet is?" Wesley continued.

"I don't know." Five.

"Is there going to be new guns for us?" Anton asked, purposely misspeaking in order to help Wesley with annoying John.

Said soldier's eyebrow twitched as he automatically replied. "I don't know." Six.

"Oh, are we going to-"

"I don't know! Just shut the fuck up for five goddamn minutes!" John said.

After that, the trip was fairly quiet, until they finally came upon a fairly bustling spot on the road. Ponies of all types were moving in and out of a small building that looked like a café. Pushing past the ground, the guard let them all in after they passed through a small, cyan barrier.

"What's the magic for, Twilight?" John asked as they walked further inside.

"It's a shield spell attuned to Changelings." She explained. "You see, it's quite simple. Because of the interaction between..."

After that point, John tuned her out, until they reached the small room in the back that they were pointed to just as Twilight was finishing.

"... And all of this results in something that drops any illusion or transformation spells, such as the Changeling's natural magic."

"Thanks, Twilight." John deadpanned as he knocked on the door. "You might try shortening your lecture by about three minutes, though."

Before the mare could answer, the door handle was enveloped in a green glow and the door opened. The three humans and two ponies stepped inside of the small room, which had a single table with several local maps on it, some equipment, and about seven other ponies surrounding it, as well as two Changelings in guard armor. All of them turned to look at the newcomers.

John cleared his throat before sheepishly saying the first thing that came to mind. "Sup? This the place we were supposed to be at?"

One of the ponies, at the front of the table, was the first to respond. "Correct. We need the Element of Magic here, and she is often comfortable around you."

"I am right here." Twilight deadpanned.

"So you are." The guard said. "Come, we have come up with an idea. What do you know of Changeling magic?"

"Not much." Twilight admitted as she and the others sat down on stools around the table. "I know that it is linked to regular magic, but only in the sense that it is by the same method. Most of it is completely subconscious. We really don't have many Changelings who have told us anything."

"Which is where we come in." One of the Changelings at the table said. "Me and Steel here were both part of the Baltimare Changeling Resistance, the group fighting against Chrysalis. We know all the 'ins' and 'outs' of how it works, and we have come up with an idea."

"What is it?" Wesley asked, leaning closer.

The Changeling called 'Steel' answered first. "Changeling magic is like normal magic, except for two things: Most of it is natural, and preformed subconsciously. The other difference is how it works. While a normal spell requires the attention of a caster, and indeed we are limited by that for normal magic, Changeling magic in and of itself has a completely different and identifiable energy to it."

The other one picked it up at that point. "We built a device powered by a green focusing crystal that is designed to find the connections of the Hive Mind in the local area. When a telepathic connection is made, the device senses it and links to it. From that point on, we can easily listen in on the conversations taking place. But we have one problem: Power."

"And you want me to power it?" Twilight asked.

"Correct." The head guard said. "It would take five unicorns to continuously power this. Because of your special talent in magic, and your raw power, you would be able to charge it in a few seconds to work for hours."

Twilight sighed, before turning to the others. "Give me a moment. I should be able to imbue it with enough energy."

The unicorn's horn glowed bright magenta as a faint stream of magic poured into the strange equipment. After a few seconds it cut off, with Twilight showing some signs of tiring. Wesley noticed the device having a light on the front that glowed a faint green, probably from whatever crystal was inside. From what he had learned, crystals and gems were useful in focusing some types of magic.

"Done." Twilight said, lifting her foreleg up to wipe a faint sheen of sweat from her face.

"Thank you, Element of Magic." One of the Changelings said before turning to the device. Its horn glowed a lime green as it seemed to mess with the device, testing it.

From the crystal, faint sounds started to some out, sounding faintly like voices. As John and the others leaned it, they grew louder, until the words became clear.

"Everyling in the east sector, report to Grid six-dash-eight for orders on-" "-seen heavy cloud formations moving east. Don't go skybourn: It'll just slow you down." "We need support from two smallunit groups by the shorefront. Ponies are moving to-" "They're coming from the north and east! Everyling in smallunit A-2, retreat back to-"

"It's like a radio." John commented as the connections drifted from link to link, catching snippets of the traffic on the Hive Mind.

"I didn't know the Changelings depended on the Hive Mind so much for communication." A pegasus guard admitted.

"They do." The Changeling controlling the device said. "It's convenient, and they believe that nopony can every take a peek inside."

"Well, now they are wrong." Anton finished.

After a short pause filled with the sounds of the device, Wesley decided to ask the obvious question.

"So, where do we go now?" He said.

One of the night guard, a batpony, answered him. "We could use some help by the waterfront. From what that says, they're about to launch an attack there. However, we wish for the Element of Loyalty to stay and relay messages between the fighting groups."

"Sure." Rainbow Dash said.

"Sounds about right." Wesley said. "Twi, any chance of teleporting us?"

"Yes, hold on a moment." The mare said, lowering her head in concentration as the three humans crowded around her. Together, they disappeared in a blink of light-

-=-=-

-And appeared right in the middle of a street.

Magical bolts flew by on every side as the four scrambled over a barricade several guards were defending. As Wesley rose above the wood and stone construction to fire, he quickly noted that, not twenty meters away, about two dozen Changelings stood behind cover, coming out to trade bolts with guard unicorns. The fog had already rolled in, and was a mere one hundred feet above the ground.

Wesley glanced over the barricade made of wood and chunks of stone, glancing down the debris-filled street towards where the Changelings fired from. Wesley rose above the barricade and fired several sounds from his Sa-58, the 7.62x39mm rounds punching through wooden carts and obstacles to pierce through hard chitin. Several screams rose up from those injured, and the green blood from the dead pooled on the ground.

The battle was not entirely one-sided, however. To John's right, a Unicorn flopped down on the ground, his face melted away by a direct magical blast. Several Changelings flew lower overhead, launching green bolts into the barriers, occasionally striking ponies.

"When do you think they'll give up?" Twilight said as she telekinetically threw a large stone at several Changelings behind a cart, who were knocked down or flattened when the rock hit their cover.

"How the hell should I know?" John demanded as he reloaded his rifle.

"You're better at fighting them!"

"Like hell I am..." John muttered. Turning to his friend, he tapped Wesley on the shoulder, causing the man to turn around.

"What?" Wesley said.

"Do you need any ammunition?" John asked.

"The magazines on our rifles are incompatible, even if they share the same round." Wesley deadpanned, turning to continue firing.

"Well, ain't you a bundle of joy." John sarcastically stated as he rose up to fire again, his rounds only rarely striking a target. The Changeling here seemed much different than his earlier encounters: Most wore armor, took cover quite often, and had good accuracy with magical bolts. Two were being downed to every pony loss, but at this rate, he hopes they would run out soon.

At last, the flow of Changelings began to die down just as twenty reinforcements for the ponies arrived at the barricade. They took their place at the wall, waiting for the word to advance forward.

"Are you ready?" John asked Twilight as shouts and yells started to echo across the city.

"Yes, I am." The mare stated.

"Then let's do this." Wesley said, pulling back the bolt on his rifle to load a new round from a fresh magazine. Turning towards the barricade, the human put his left hand on it, thrust himself over, and started charging.

"Forward!" John said as he followed Wesley out. From the edges of his vision, he could see that the ponies had followed his lead, jumping forward from behind the barricade and charging forward, the unicorns firing blasts from their horns while the pegasi took to the air.

John jumped over an overturned cart and shot a Changeling on the other side with his AEK-971, deftly sidestepping the falling body. He opened fire on two more that had already cut down three pegasi in the air, quickly dropping them from the sky. To his left, Anton quickly killed a Changeling standing in front of him with his Sa-61 Skorpion, the black bug-like equine falling to the ground in a mist of green blood.

Wesley quickly sidestepped to the right to avoid a green bolt flying straight at him. A unicorn to his left fired a blue magical bolt into the Changeling, killing it. They had progressed half a block, and already were running into heavy resistance. Gritting his teeth, Wesley dropped his empty magazine and inserted a fresh one, loading a new bullet into his rifle.

-=-=-

Ten minutes and four blocks later, John burst into the hallway of the Bay Hotel, gunning down two of the Changelings foolish enough to stand in the open. Twilight killed four others in a rapid-fire magical burst, and Anton helped Wesley cut down the remaining two. As the ponies outside traded fire with the Changelings while digging in, John and the others continued further inside, headed for the stairwell.

"How tall is this building?" John asked Twilight as he opened the door and started climbing the first flight.

"About eight stories." Twilight recalled from memory. "The top is mostly flat, with cover here and there, along with the sides."

"Perfect." John said as they started on the third flight of stairs. "We'll be able to see down most of the seaside street. We'll be in a perfect position to snipe. Wesley, do you still have your PSO-1?"

"Sure do." The soldier said as he pulled said scope out of his backpack and started to fit it on the rifle rail. All while climbing the stairs.

John nodded. "Good. We'll be able to establish an effective firezone. Twilight, can you handle anything that comes into range?"

The mare nodded. "Yes, I can."

"Good. The cloud cover will be, at most, a dozen feet over our heads. Don't forget that most pegasi - and Changelings - will be flying below our height."

They finally reached the top floor and burst through the door. No Changelings stood to greet them. As John had predicted, the cloud layer was little over twenty feet above them, providing a comfortable barrier to attack from above. Wesley and the others quickly moved to the side of the building, looking down at the fight brewing. The Changelings were beginning a heavy attack, and the ponies were starting to lose more than they gained - this group of Changelings was obviously more skilled, hiding behind solid cover and only breaking it to fire precise shots at the ponies.

They never saw death coming. John pulled the trigger on the M203 below the modified underrail of his rifle, sending out a 40mm High Explosive fragmentation grenade into the center of their formation. It burst among them, killing around a dozen, and sending nearby objects - and fragments of hot steel - racing around to strike others.

The Changelings advance almost instantly broke down, as John assumed he had hit their leader, by the light blue stripes one of them had on its armor. Wesley shot left and right, taking down Changelings in single hits, while Anton selectively sprayed the crowd. Twilight simply kept up a basic one-way forcefield, as well as slinging magical bolts whenever she could.

Finally, the Changelings withdrew, content to fire from the buildings and down the street, where the humans could not easily kill them.

The sound of an object hitting the ground behind them was audible. They all turned around to see Rainbow Dash standing there, looking at them.

"Hey everypony, the boss unicorn guy said he wanted us to do something." The blue mare said.

"And what would that be?" John asked.

"He wants us to go down in the water tunnels." Rainbow said. "Apparently, some Changelings have been heard to be going underground, and they want to know why. So they send me to tell you and then go along to see what happened."

"Awesome." John said after a few seconds. "When do we leave."

"Right now, probably." Twilight said. "From what I know of the layout, there is an easy entrance to the underground water tunnels in the basement."

"Let's go then." Wesley said, walking towards the staircase. A moment later, the others followed.

"So... Are these sewage or what?" John asked as they started to descend the stairs.

"No." Twilight said. "They provide drinking water that half the city can pump up. It's almost crystal clear down there: You could drink straight out of it, if you wanted to."

"So it is like a water pipe." Anton summarized.

"Precisely."

The group descended into the ground floor, and then beyond it, within a few minutes. Sure enough, at the bottom level they found a concrete stairwell twisting downward.

"Anybody else have a bad feeling about this?" Wesley quipped as they went down.

"Stop quoting." John said. "And stop jinxing it as well."

"Whatever." Wesley said as they found themselves in a tunnel. "I'm just too awesome for you."

The tunnel they were in stretched for twenty feet to their left, and about four hundred feet into the distance to their right. The raised path they were on was made of stone, and was two feet above the water level. Light blue gemstones in the ceiling provided plenty of tinted light, casting a beautiful reflection of the clear water on the ceiling.

"This is amazing." Was the only thing John could say.

After a few moments, Anton was the first one to speak up.

"Let us keep moving." The Russian said. "We do not have the entire day."

The group moved down the hallway, picking up faint echoes in the distance. The tunnel turned twice, in a zigzag pattern. The voices grew steadily louder, although John's comprehension of them did not increase.

"What do you think they are?" Wesley asked in a whisper.

"I don't know." John hissed. "They're right around the next corner, twenty feet ahead."

The group approached it slowly, the tunnel opening up beyond the bend. They stood beside the sharp change of direction to the right, with John in the lead. He held up his rifle, held up, a fist, before dropping it.

As one, all five ran around the corner.

To see five sets of blue eyes attached to black masses, staring at them in the bright blue light.

"Oh fuck..." John summarized.

Return Engagement

Four hours earlier...

Outside the city of Baltimare, Equestria

Tacit Shadow, leader of Changeling Sub-Group #28, trudged wearily across the field, towards the pony city of Baltimare. Even at a distance of twenty kilometers, he could easily see that the rest of the Changeling army had already arrived in the south end of the city, and had pushed all the way to the city center.

Frankly, Tacit was surprised they accomplished even that. There weren't enough expert fighters in the Changeling Hives to provide adequate training to most of the army, so when they did gather, he had seen the results. About 60% of the entire Changeling Army was like this. Royal Guards were easily able to overpower most of them, while only the Special Groups such as his, the Air Groups (all of whom had to be able to use magic), and the Guard Units were able to achieve good results on the battlefield without major casualties. The majority of Changelings had little to no armor, while units such as his were often given it based on personal choice. Tacit himself went with light and medium armor parts, for the sake of mobility.

He was hoping his unit could turn part of the tide of the battle. He had already relayed news of his arrival to the Hive Mind, and gotten a positive response from Chrysalis, who in turn asked him to report to her at the Changeling's temporary base to the south of the city.

And so, after eight hours of traveling over the Everfree from Canterlot with the remainder of his group, in the middle of the night, he had reached the fields outside Baltimare. He had immediately landed with the rest of his tired group once they were out of danger from every living thing in that cursed forest, his insect-like wings feeling like someling had pulled on them with a pair of pliers.

"When are we gonna be there? Someling thought it important that we didn't sleep!" One of the Changelings in back complained, direction the comment towards Tacit.

"It was your choice to fly with us or perish on the ground in the Everfree." Tacit replied to the Changeling. "Remember your choices, or you shall be reminded of them."

The group descended into silence once more, as they continued their trek towards the city.

Tacit Shadow entered the tent where Queen Chrysalis was. After dropping the rest of the group upon entering the camp, he had, per instruction, proceeded directly to her tent for the orders she was sure to give. He may have been very tired, but Tacit felt he was ready to take on any threat to the Changelings.

"Good Day, Sub-Group #28 Commander." His queen said from the other side of the tent as he gave a small bow. "Do you have them?"

"Yes, Queen Chrysalis." Tacit replied as he rose, levitating a small bag with several scrolls in it to Chrysalis.

"Good." His Queen said with a smile. "I have need of you for a special task in Baltimare."

"What is this task that you have?" The Changeling asked. Normally, he would speak in a more modern tone, but in both his command and in the presence of Chrysalis, the more formal language was needed.

"It is simple." Chrysalis replied. "The ponies are about to continue their advance into the city. I need you to take Changeling Smallunit #21 into the underground tunnels. Maps, of course, shall be provided. If we collapse part of the undercity water tunnels, we can sabotage any effort to move around in them."

"Where do I meet my command?" Tacit asked.

"They will be waiting outside the tent in two minutes. I see that you are as observant as the commanders of my army tell me." Chrysalis noted. "The map is on the table to your left."

"Thank you, my Queen." Tacit replied. Sure enough, several rolled-up scrolls were on said table. After sorting through them, he was able to find the one that marked the entrance they would use, as well as provided the path he would take once underground.

That being accomplished, he stepped outside of the tent, willing to shrug off his fatigue if it would benefit the Swarm. He was well-fed, both emotionally and physically, and he had gotten a good sleep before the attack the previous night. He was ready.

Tacit Shadow walked forward, willing himself to ignore the weight on his back. Before the group of four he commanded had left, they had all been given packs of a basic explosive that an alchemist had made. He called it 'black terror', but all Tacit had seen was a silver-black mix of a powder that, apparently, ignited violently when on fire. He had also been given lengths of rope, as well as instructions to have the rope on the bottom, or the sparks would ignite it prematurely.

In short, to avoid being blown back all the way to the Hive, he was to avoid all situations where he could die. Thankfully, he had been told that the rope burned almost invisibly, so at least nobody would think anything of an occasional orange glow if they stumbled on it.

The other four Changelings he had been put in charge of all had the Cyan Stripes as well, and all remained quiet and mission-focused as they followed a careful path underground. It was much better than his last team. They had been good, but much too talkative for his tastes.

Looking down at the map he held in a green glow, he turned a last corner, walked forward twenty feet, and then stopped in a area of the tunnel that widened, with a large flat area on the catwalk and several pillars that seemed to be holding the roof of it up.

"The map says here." Tacit said to the four Changelings. "Place the explosive devices by the pillars."

Tacit levitated the one on his back to the pillar, getting out the length of cord and attaching it to the wooden barrel.

"Remember to leave the fuses on the bottoms." Tacit said as a reminder, lighting his horn and preparing to ignite the fuse.

"Are you ready?" He asked the others.

"Yes sir." One replied, while the others simply nodded.

"Good." Tacit said, lighting his fuse while the others did the same. "Let's get back to the surfa-"

He cut off as he and the others stared at what had come around the corner. Lo and behold, it was two ponies - two of the Elements, at that - and three of the 'Humans' he had been briefed about.

"Oh fuck..." One of them said as Tacit put up a shield.

Present

Waterline U7, Baltimare, Equestria

"Oh fuck..." John said as he dived behind a pillar, followed by the others seeking cover. Several green bolts lanced through the space they had been in and impacted the wall of the tunnel, sending out splashes of green fire.

John leaned around the corner and Wesley and Anton did the same, opening fire with their weapons. However, John noticed the faint simmer that marked a shield where the rounds hit.

"Shield! Twilight!" John barked out.

Twilight Sparkle jumped out from behind cover, producing a shield of her own. She shot a massive bolt through it, dissipating the shield. By that point, three of the Changeling had turned to run after one of them had shouted something.

"Wesley, you're with me! We need to chase them down. All of them had those marking the officers had." John said as he cut one of the remaining two Changelings down. "Twilight, Rainbow, and Anton, you need to complete the sweep. Go!"

With that, all of them rushed forward as the last Changeling who stayed behind was killed by a burst of gunfire.

None of them noticed the barrels, or the slowly burning fuses.

"Retreat back! Our job is done!" Tacit said as the projectiles from the 'Humans' cascaded into his shield, weakening it.

"We shall hold them off." Two of the Changelings said simultaneously, signaling through the Hive Mind that they wished to stay behind.

Tacit acknowledged them as he retreated, along with two others. His job was done, and being killed alone in this tunnel would not do the Hive any good.

He quickly accessed the nearest exit through the Hive Mind: A skyscraper lobby. It was close to the frontline, but it would have to do for now. He frowned as first one, and the then second Changeling that had stayed behind 'went silent'. They had disappeared from the Hive Mind, and were likely dead.

Tacit willed himself to run faster, but knew it would not be enough. He had to reach the surface before they caught up to them, and fast! He could hear their rapid hoofsteps behind him, and could only hope he made it.

John ran forward, chasing the dim shapes he recognized as the Changelings. He and Wesley had sprinted forward, leaving the others behind to continue the sweep. He didn't know precisely why he chose to chase them down, but John figured that one of them might have information he could use.

That is, if his assumption about the cyan stripes on armor was true.

Ahead, he spotted the three Changelings turn and race into a side passage. He slowed down and paused, checking around the corner to see them racing up a staircase that curved sharply right near the top. Wesley raced beside him, and together they both ran up the steps, gaining on the Changelings with every second.

He could hear the sounds of battle up ahead, from the top, and assumed they were going to the surface. John brought his rifle up as the staircase turned, ready for anything.

'Damn it!' Tacit mentally shouted as they reached the surface. The two other Changeling, who were ahead of him at that point, were cut down by a unicorn the instant they exited out into the lobby of the skyscraper. He had quickly formed a magical bolt and fired it, killing the unicorn guard.

The building wasn't near the frontline: The skyscraper was the frontline.

Looking around, he quickly spotted a staircase and ran towards it. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the 'Humans' emerging from the staircase and spotting him, but he no longer cared. He just needed to get out, and fast.

As John emerged into what looked like a lobby, he noticed a massive battle right outside the doors.

Apparently, the ponies were advancing.

Several bodies lay on the ground, including two of the Changelings and a unicorn. He noticed the last one running towards a staircase, presumably to go up.

"Wesley, to the staircase!" John shouted.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" His friend replied as they reached it, racing up after the Changeling.

Tacit raced out of the third level exit. The Changeling could hear the 'Humans' behind him, following him. Tacit didn't dare teleport: He was just as likely to be in the open as he was inside an object, and he would have to pause to do it anyway.

Tacit spotted what looked like a bridge between his building and the one across the street. In desperation, he angled for the glass and metal construct. It looked rather unstable, with only a support reaching from the middle to the street to hold it up, but Tacit was willing to take any chances. He knew he wouldn't last a second against the Humans, no matter how skilled he was.

He was halfway across when he bangs. Looking around at the other end, he watched as the charges he had placed underground went off.

Right underneath a tall building a block away.

John and Wesley surged across the skyway between the two buildings when they heard a boom. The Changeling was about twenty meters away as John looked behind him, eyes widening in horror.

"Run!" John said, spurning them to cross to the other side as the Changeling continued to run. John kept looking behind him as he watched it unfold.

A tall building a block away started to collapse downward and sideways, leaning towards the building they were in. They smashed together, steel and stone crunching and snapping as glass rained down. The other half of the skyway fell as the other building was smashed apart, debris and rubble raining down on the street.

"Come on!" Wesley shouted, shaking John out of his trance. "We have to keep going!"

John noticed that he was lying on the ground. Shakily moving to his feet, he switched roles to following Wesley, as they continued chasing the Changeling.

Tacit rushed over fallen debris and through collapsed walls. The entire building had bee fought through in the fighting several days ago, while more recent damage showed in the fresh bodies that littered the ground, of both ponies and Changelings.

'[Queen Chrysalis!]' He shouted through the Hive Mind.

"[What happened to the rest of your team, Commander Tacit Shadow?]" Chrysalis replied in question for a moment later.

'[All dead! The tunnels are down, though. Where is the nearest force to me? I am being chased by the Humans!]'

"[One block to the south. I cannot have my best Special Group Commander die just yet.]"

With that, he felt the connection cut off. He knew he couldn't fly very, with the cloud layer a mere one hundred feet above the ground. If he went in the street, he would be slaughtered by the ponies. However, he had one trick left to prevent that.

Gathering his magic all over his form, he charged at the wall ahead of him, just as the Humans burst into the room behind him. His body glowed bright as green fire ran along it, forming a solid shield around his hooves as he raced downward, hitting the ground with massive force and leaving a crater in the stone.

Tacit quickly formed a shield as he ran towards the Changelings on the other side of the street. Bolts, both magic and otherwise, impacted his shield, but he held it up as he crashed through a window hooves-first, quickly slowing to a stop. Around him, he could see dozens of Changelings paying him no heed. He was anonymous among his own kind once more, and was free to return to the camp.

The Changeling released the breath he didn't realize he was holding, letting out a sigh. He had taken many risks in his career, but this was the second time in a day he had come close to death. Above all, he was grateful to be alive.

John rushed forward as he looked over the edge where the Changeling had jumped. He noticed it impact the ground and jump forward, unharmed. Cursing, John raised his rifle and opened fire, only to see his rounds his nothing but a shield. Four seconds later, the Changeling was inside the building, and with it his chance and finding any information.

"Damn it." John hissed.

"Less talking, more fighting!" Wesley said as he started firing on the Changeling below.

John ignored the thoughts on the edge of his brain, losing himself in the simple process of firing his AEK-971. He lined the sights of the weapon up on a black shape in a window. With a sudden bang, the black shape dropped, a fine green spray the only reminder of it being there.

Tacit Shadow walked back into the Changeling camp, exhausted. After finally escaping from the battle, he had left the city in time to see the near full collapse of the Changeling Army. Reinforcements were being rushed past him into the city, but it was a near certainty that they would lose the downtown area, and with it the entire city.

Banks of clouds still covered much of the city, although they were slowly dissipating in the midsummer sun. Through the clearing sky, he could see the damaged city, remnants of skyscrapers and buildings dotting the skyline. Above all of it, he could hear one sound.

Cheering.

The ponies had taken the initiative, there was no doubt about that. Tacit did not know how the situation was in other cities, but he assumed that it could not be worse.

Reaching the tent he had been assigned, he sighed, laying down on a cot within. His entire team, save for him, had been killed today. Tomorrow, they would assign him another team, another group. But it would all be the same. It was only the afternoon, but Tacit had to wonder.

How much would change while he would be asleep?

-=-=-

Several tents away, Queen Chrysalis looked out of her quarters, at the city. There was no doubt on her mind: Her invasion had failed. Nontheless, her contingency operation would succeed. What the ponies had failed to realize was that, before they had fully secured Silent Though, the Changeling she had sent to assassinate the Princesses and the Elements, she had gathered the information from his mind. She knew what had happened on the Human's world, as well as what they had experienced there.

And she knew that if she could go back, she could gain powerful allies, enough to change the course of the war. If they had to retreat, if the land of the Appaloosan Desert stood at her back, she would do it. For the good of all under her care, both Changeling and otherwise, she had to succeed.

Her failure would mean her death.

John sat down in a room with Twilight and the rest of the group. It was merely the afternoon, but the group felt they needed a small rest before they pushed on. John, Wesley, and Twilight Sparkle sat together, as did Rainbow Dash and Anton.

After the failure to reach the Changeling, John and Wesley had met up with the two ponies and Anton as they climbed out of the tunnel via a different exit: Right in the middle of a street. Apparently, they had been trapped underground by the explosion, and Rainbow Dash had used some of her explosives to blast through the roof.

John was thankful that they were alive, and that the advance had gone as planned, but something tugged on the back of his mind. If anything, the Changeling he had fought seemed willing to fight to the death. None had call an outright retreat as that one had, and John felt that he was probably missing something important.

Eventually, he decided, it had to have something to do with the Cyan marking on their armor. That was what set them apart, other than the fact that they wore extensive armor, backed up by greater fighting skill. He would have to ask one of the Changelings in the guard. In the meantime, the group settled back, waiting to resume their advance forward. Only time could tell what would happen, but John knew one thing applied to his brain.

If it told him something was wrong, bad things were due to happen.

Far Away - Plans Unveiled - Second Contact

To: Princess Celestia

From: Captain Iron Front

Timeline of initial battle in Baltimare, from June 2nd, 0600 hours until June 3rd, 1600 hours.

-June 2nd-

0608 hours: Changeling army spotted in the air by several dozen pegasi eight miles from the city.

0610 hours: Guard company, consisting of 212 unicorns, 58 pegasi, and twenty earth ponies, along with several hundred (est. 400) militia.

0612 hours: Guards fully alerted, evacuation ordered by mayor, several (est. 20) infiltrators attacked barracks and points around the city.

0620 hours: Civilian evacuation in confusion when Changeling army arrives.

0640 hours: Orders given to pull back to the north side of the city.

0750 hours: Center of Baltimare effectively lost. Visible damage to city.

1130 hours: Reinforcements arrive, halting Changeling advance in the west of the city.

1420 hours: Front stabilized.

1500 hours: Elements arrive with small group. Offensive launched.

1840 hours: Offensive slowed down.

2048 hours: Progress halted. Guards wait until next day.

-June 3rd-

0640 hours: New magical device *sic* working.

0730 hours: Offensive launched.

0950 hours: Several major buildings in the downtown area collapse, hindering progress.

1120 hours: Changelings pushed into southern suburbs. Clear evidence of unorganized retreat, along with general confusion. Several dozen taken prisoner.

1844 hours: Time of sending of report.

Estimated Guard KIA: 6,200

Estimated Changeling KIA: 9,600+

Estimated Civilian KIA: 2,000

Equestrian Wounded: 20,000+

Note: Princess, we need more Guards to continue our pursuit of the Changeling Army. We believe Chrysalis has already fled, and it would take several major pushes before it finally is defeated.

~Captain Iron Front, Equestrian Guards, Baltimare Group

Canterlot

1008 hours

Celestia rubbed her eyes as she finished the letter, cursing her lack of recent sleep. In the past few days, with the constant need for her and Luna to make decisions and devise plans, they had retained little time to do much else.

"Yet another casualty report." The Alicorn said as she lifted the scroll in her telekinesis, rolling it up before placing it on a pile of twenty similar reports. Unlike what others may say about her, Celestia had no warning that the invasion was coming. The only signal had been from a Changeling that had belong to an apparent resistance group, who had willingly come to her with the information. Celestia was neither omnipotent or omnipresent; neither was she a goddess, knowing everything that happened n her realm.

Despite the fact that she was immortal, that did not make her all-powerful.

The recent trip to the human's work, entirely unexpected though it was, had turned into a powerful lesson on that. Although Celestia had known of the spell, having see the work Star Swirl had done on it over a millennia ago, she had no idea of what it would actually do. She felt lucky, however, that they had been transported where they were. Despite the fact that Celestia knew that Twilight had seen horrible things in that war, it was counterbalanced by the fact that she couldn't change the way things were. The Element's human friends - John, Anton, and Wesley - had turned out to be wonderful beings, and were currently doing the best they could in the war they had now.

"Tia, you're daydreaming again." A voice said, startling Celestia out of her thoughts. The Alicorn looked over to see her sister, Luna, smiling at her with small frown.

"Hello, Luna." Celestia stated.

"Shouldn't you take a break?" Her sister said. "We think that you need your sleep, now more than ever."

"Can't. Paperwork." Celestia said, sighing.

Luna shook her head. "Tia, that's why you appoint bureaucrats. They do the things you can't. Shining Armor is a decent tactician; let him make the plans."

Celestia thought about it for several protracted seconds, before giving it and sitting up. "You are correct, Luna. I need sleep, the same as any other being. What became of your meeting with the griffon ambassador?"

Luna sighed, rolling her eyes. "'We cannot afford to help you combat the Changeling menace, but we wish you good luck.'" She dryly quoted. "Honestly, I don't see why We tried."

"Because the griffons don't like the Changelings, any more than we do." Celestia commented as they walked out of the study, and into the castle walls, passing by several attentive guards.

"And that matters to them?" Luna asked rhetorically. "They are content to wait until the Changelings have taken Las Pegasus in the north. I am beginning to think they shall help us when the Crystal Empire finally returns."

"Careful, Lulu." Celestia said with mirth in her voice. "That, too, shall happen soon."

"Faust only knows when THAT will happen." Luna replied, rolling her eyes. "They are still waiting for the 'opportunity to help'."

"They're been waiting for that opportunity for quite some time, and will continue to wait until somepony deals with it." Celestia noted. "I only wonder how Twilight is holding up in this..."

"She's a grown mare, sister." Luna said. "We both saw her fighting in the human's world, and now here. She knows what to do more than anypony I know of."

Celestia sighed, looking down at the floor. "I hope you are right, Luna."

Outside Baltimare

Same time

John fired over a rock wall at the Changelings on the other side of the field, shooting off magical spell from a rock wall at the other end. He looked over to Wesley, who knelt down in a window, firing from the smoldering remains of what was once a farmhouse. The wheat field was on fire in several areas, and scattered corpses littered it.

After the Changelings had gone on a disorganized retreat from Baltimare, John and the others had been forced to fight them for every farm as several scattered groups worked to delay their advance. The numbers in the unit of Guards he was working with had lowered from about two hundred to a little over fifty, the rest either killed or wounded in the advance.

And all that work for about four miles of ground.

John switched to another magazine, noting that he only had four in reserve after this one. Before setting out into combat again, he had gone with the other two humans to the new HQ, receiving a basic set of orders and having a unicorn duplicate the remaining magazines in the process. John was relieved it was done: He was close to empty when they had gotten them duplicated, and he knew he wouldn't be at his best fighting with a sword.

He ceased his internal monologue as a lime green magical bolt impacted the rock above him. John shook himself from his thoughts and rose above the wall to fire again, letting out a large stream of bullets.

Chrysalis looked back at the small remnants of her army as she flew away, leaving them to delay the ponies as the swarm withdrew towards Dodge Junction. Sadly, her invasion seemed to have failed. Baltimare was lost, and her second army in Enticore city was being pushed back. Her third and fourth armies were fortifying Hoofington, in her plan to turn that into a fortress city.

Her plans had moved to the last-ditch option: Use the spell that had been stolen from the Canterlot castle library. Since all else had failed, she had but one option left. She truly didn't want to use it, but Chrysalis knew what would happen to her weakened armies if she did not come up with another source of outside help, and quickly.

She only hoped that she was making the right choice for her Changelings.

Several hours later...

Celestia and Luna continued through the halls, chatting about topics neither of them particularly cared about. Celestia, however, was still concerned about Chrysalis. Celestia had failed during the wedding: Chrysalis had preformed a burst of magic more powerful than Celestia had realized, and it had quickly incapacitated her. The Solar Princess felt ashamed that she could not have prevented the attack, and at her failure to listen to her student.

Chrysalis, she knew, was probably insane, but still intelligent. If she invaded Equestria, she would have a backup plan in the case that she failed. Yet again, Celestia cursed the fact that the Royal Guards had been unable to find out which scrolls Chrysalis had taken, or if she had taken any in the first place.

Sighing, Celestia stepped out with Luna onto a balcony, watching over the city of Canterlot as the sun started to dip towards the tall hills in the west. Because of how high up Canterlot was, the city was already in partial darkness, the sun having set so far that the shadows were stretching up the walls.

The Solar Princess's horn glowed as she gave the sun a push, keeping it in its odd orbit of the planet, while Luna did the same with the moon.

Queen Chrysalis had landed on the outskirts of Hoofington: No sense in making HER new subjects panic, and it was where the main Changelings force was located. Looking at the scroll she had been given, Chrysalis could see that she would need quite a bit of magic for it. Thankfully, she had plenty of that. There were two versions: A one-time, and a more permanent one. She would obviously need the more permanent one for this.

"[Move away, my children.]" She instructed through the Hive Mind to all the Changelings surrounding her. Slowly, they took several steps back, clearing an area forty feet in diameter around her. Satisfied, Chrysalis focused on her magic, levitating the scroll in front of her, before surging her magic into her horn, using her will to form the spell.

Celestia was the first to detect it: A massive surge of magic far to the south. She was quickly able to pinpoint the user of it, as well as identify the spell. Her eyes widened as Luna found out the same thing she had.

"Chrysalis, you foal." Celestia whispered under her breath. "What are you doing?"

In the center of the circle, Chrysalis stood, her twisted horn glowing a bright green as she shaped magic last used only one month before. Slowly, a brilliant white light started to form just a meter in front of her. It grew brighter and brighter, until it outshone the setting sun. With a final burst of green magic from her horn, the light spread out, forming a disk in the air ten meters in diameter. It glowed with a brilliance that faded over the next few seconds of stunned silence. As Chrysalis gazed into the depths of it, she slowly grew a twisted smile.

"Now, to find out if our supposed 'allies' are on the other side." The Changeling Queen said with a grin.

And with that, her hoof-picked team of soldiers moved in.

Earth

Russian Federation, Siberia

20 Kilometers North of Yakutsk

In the glowing light of dawn, in a snowy field north of the town of Yakutsk, a glowing blue light in the middle of a forest shone through the darkness. A local hunter frowned at the strange light: It had scared off the prey.

"Now what, by God's name, is that?" The old hunter mused as he looked at it.

Suddenly, it expanded outward, forming what looked like a circle in the air. The Russian hunter stumbled back, turning around and running from whatever unearthly event it was. He looked behind him to see several twisted, black shapes emerging from it. They looked like the demons his mother had told him about in stories: Coming to drag him away. He ran faster.

Fifteen minutes later, the old man stumbled back into the bustling town of Yakutsk. Ten minutes after that, the local police chief knew, and in turn put in a call to the military, who sent a request to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They, in turn, did some basic research, discovered a similar description, and had a large force in the town four hours later. They moved quickly into the forest to the north, moving to discover what the ministry had termed 'Most Important'.

It was June 4th, 2019. First Contact had occurred again.

Epilogue - War Never Truly Ends - End of Act IV

John looked out on the forest below as the chariot sped through the sky. Truthfully, he had no idea why he, Wesley, Anton, Twilight, Rainbow, and all four other 'Elements of Harmony' had been summoned to the castle, but he assumed it had to be big. Judging from the near-panic the letter displayed, he was probably right.

Right now, he and the others were riding a group of three chariots over the Everfree forest, the gigantic patch of woodland that dominated the center of Equestria, and seemed to be the only thing the ponies were scared of.

'It's just a damn forest.' John thought. Nothing too scary about clouds moving on their own or anything. Of course, there are supposed 'monsters' there, but the ponies have magic. Why can't they just clear the area out?

When he voiced that to Twilight Sparkle, who stood next to him in the chariot, she just stared at him before replying.

"Half of the creatures in the Everfree are immune to most magic, John." She said. "And not all unicorns can cast spells at my level. Think of it as the difference, in your army, between being a cook and operating one of your war vehicles."

"Most soldiers know how to drive, but I probably couldn't operate a tank worth a damn." John admitted.

Twilight beamed at him. "Exactly. There just might be hope for you yet!" She sarcastically commented.

John rolled his eyes. "At least I don't go into a panic every time Celestia comes over. I still remember that. Twenty miles outside of Seattle, and you were suddenly going crazy because 'Celestia might not approve'."

Twilight gave an exasperated sigh. "John, I put off that habit three months ago."

"That's why I'm here." John said, bracing himself as the chariot - and the pegasi pulling it - hit a small crosswind. "To remind you of all of your mistakes."

"I don't know whether I regret casting that spell or not now." Twilight joked.

"What? And miss out on all of us?" John said, throwing an arm out in fake horror. "I am shocked that you would even suggest such a thing!"

"I regret nothing." Twilight deadpanned, before both of them erupted in laughter.

Fifteen minutes later, the chariots touched down in the castle gardens in Canterlot, quickly slowing to a halt in the soft soil. John quickly jumped off of the one he was in as the others did the same. They made their way towards the castle, moving across the green lawn, before finding a familiar group of ponies waiting for them.

"Twilight!" Applejack shouted as the orange mare saw them.

"Girls!" Twilight replied as she and Rainbow rushed forward, meeting each other in a large group hug.

"I almost thought I might never see you all again..." Twilight said as they broke the hug.

"We're your friend, silly!" Pinkie Pie answered. "Of course we'll be there for you!"

"Any idea why we're here?" Wesley asked as he, John, and Anton caught up.

"I have no idea what could have prompted this." Rarity replied, avoiding Wesley's gaze. "But I am sure Princess Celestia must have a good reason."

"Let us move on so we can find out." Anton said, turning towards the doors to the castle and opening them.

"Come, we have much to discuss." Celestia said without funfair as soon as they entered, gesturing them towards a room at the side. The ponies nervously went inside, followed by the humans. They quickly found places on the chairs and couches scattered around the room as both Luna and Celestia entered, shutting the door.

"We have a problem, I assume." John immediately said.

"You assume correctly." Celestia stated. "Chrysalis has activated the same spell we used to get back from your world, and has changed it to allow a permanent portal to be made."

"How do you know this?" Anton asked.

"Tis a massive spell: It used a large amount of energy, sufficient enough that We noticed it immediately." Luna stated.

"What is your plan? You do have a plan, right?" Wesley asked.

Celestia nodded. "We do. The Changelings on your Earth were allied with the 'Russians' in your war: we cannot let them do so again. We shall reestablish the portal, make it dependent and permanent based on the background magic here, and set it to open where we left." She paused, and then continued. "Your government gave me the assurance that, if we should ever choose to come back, they would be ready to receive us there."

"What about the time difference, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked. "Last time, months translated into hours!"

"Whenever a portal is opened, the times pass the same for however long it is active." Luna replied. "I was able to observe this when we came back."

"Ok, when do we do this?" John said.

Celestia gave a small frown. "As soon as possible. I shall teleport us to the spot."

With that, her horn lit up, and John had only a moment to prepare himself before he went through the slightly disorientating sensation of teleportation...

... And appeared in the castle gardens, on a stone rise. Wesley looked around him, taking in the area. The rise was an octagon, roughly twenty feet in diameter. There was plenty of grass around them, being that they were in a clearing in the practical forest behind the castle.

"Twilight, Sister, assist us in this." Celestia said. "This will take more energy than I am willing to spare."

John watched as Twilight Sparkle walked nervously up to Luna and Celestia, stopping in front of them. With that, John began to step back, as did the other ponies and his fellow humans.

Celestia's horn began to shine a golden yellow, starting at a dull glow and slowly turning into a brilliant spear of light. Likewise, Luna's horn began to glow a deep blue, and Twilight's a bright magenta. The light swiftly grew from bright to blinding, and John shielded his eyes with his hand. A low, deep hum began to reverberate through the air, and John thought he smelled ozone.

Will one final burst of brilliant white, everything returned to normal, save for a deep, majestic blue disk in the center of the stone octagon. It stood in the air, simmering slightly, as ponies and humans alike stared at it.

"So..." John said several seconds later, breaking the silence. "Who's going in first?"

Earth

United States of America, Washington

60 miles east of Seattle, Cascade Mountains

Senior Researcher James Hartlock buried his face in his arms, trying to stave off the boredom. It didn't work. Ever since the end of the Third World War in 1992, and since this facility was last 'in use' in 1990, the United States government had stationed a small team of researchers here to study the aftereffects of the 'ponies'. Why they appeared a was a partial mystery, happening the day of the First Battle of Seattle, with the specifics locked up in enough red tape to make obtaining it nearly impossible.

And so, day after day, he went to work here, studied the aftereffects of the strange fields that the 'unicorn' and 'alicorn' ponies could manipulate, went home, and did nothing else besides. He was one of four that had to monitor the room for a possible 'return', and he was thankful his shift ended in an hour.

"Thank god I only have two more years of this duty." he mumbled into his sleeve. "Remind me never to piss off the head of technology at the DoD again."

Suddenly, a speaker to his left began to emit regular beeps. James raised his head out of his arms, expecting another false alarm from the radiation near Cascade Falls again, only to see several light lit up various shades of green and red.

"What in the world..." The scientist murmured.

Several displays, many ten years old, began to light up, showing large readings of the mysterious force that the 'unicorns' and 'alicorns' had emitted. James looked out, through the glass of the small control center, and out onto the dimly lit 'field' in front of him. The area enclosed in a complete dome was almost a fourth of a football field. In the center of it, a dim ball of blue light hovered, growing brighter with every second. James Hartlock, Senior Researcher, stared at it, his jaw open, before shaking off the surprise and shock while moving towards the hidden compartment.

Behind a slide-up steel barrier, sat a small, black button. He had been shown it only once, and told to activate it only if there was a positive sign that they might return.

James slid the small piece of steel up, before pressing the button down for the instructed five seconds. After that period, he let go as it automatically notified local authorizes, specifically the military bases in Yakima and Puget Sound, that there was something amiss.

One of the screens switched to a camera view of an office as the orb in the room began to glow. In the view of the camera was Major General Ronald Cruz. The general was staring at the camera as the room around James began to light up.

"Dr. Hartlock, you'd better have a good reason for this." The general said.

"Sir, I have confirmed sight of another portal opening!" James said immediately. He might have been stretching at 'confirmed', but there was definitely something happening.

There was brief delay as the general opened up the live camera view, just a the orb transformed in a brilliant flash of light to a bright blue disk twenty feet across, before slowly darkening to a deep blue. The general stared in complete shock, before quickly recovering and getting to work.

"Dr. Hartlock, I am going to immediately send this up the line." Major General Cruz said. "See what you can do for our incoming 'guests'. A backup team will be there in five minutes. Godspeed, James."

With that, the general cut the connection.

James rubbed his eyes to clear out the spots from the light. He proceeded to stare at the portal, waiting for something to happen.

He did not have to wait long, as a bipedal figure came strolling through the portal, clad in late 20th century army fatigues, and carrying what looked like an AK-type rifle. When the helmet tilted up, James could see that the figure was clearly human, and quickly identified him as John Maddox, one of three humans given the option to go with the ponies in 1990, and nearly legendary among research circles.

"Anybody home?" The figure called out. James took a deep breath, before moving to the side of the control room, opening a door, and stepping out onto the small field.

"Are you John Maddox?" James asked as two other figures stepped through the portal, whom he identified as Wesley Brown and the mysterious Russian who had went with him.

"Yeah, who's asking?" 'John' replied.

"James Hartlock, senior researcher." James said. "You guys have been gone a hell of a long time, y'know."

"What year is it, then?" 'Wesley' shouted out as several of the ponies walked in. James's eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he saw the two 'monarch' ponies, as well as the four identified to have been on earth, along with two others.

"It.. It's 2019." James replied after a moment of hesitation.

"Thirty damn years..." He heard 'John' mutter. "It's only been a few months in Equestria."

"Equestria?" James asked. He vaguely remembered the name from somewhere, but couldn't remember what he had read about it.

John chuckled. "Boy, do I have a story to tell you..."

On June 4th, 2019, contact was reestablished. An event planned for thirty years on one side, and in a single night on the other.

Neither could see the war that would come.

Major Fighting

Ponyville was not the only town to come under attack that night. All across Equestria, many cities and villages awoke to the sound of fighting in the streets, as scattered Royal Guards combated Changeling infiltrators. Here and there, they failed, but they managed to rally in most of the cities.

However, they faced bigger threats than the small numbers of infiltrators: Namely, the entire army of the Changeling Empire. It swept into Equestria, attacking the first cities right at dawn.

[Map]

-=-=-

Appaloosa

0600 Hours

The sounds of fighting still echoed through the small town, but it was mostly over: Appaloosa had lost. The stallion that had first spotted the Changeling attack stood with most of the rest of the population of the small town while the Changelings killed or wounded the remaining fighters. He himself nursed a few broken bones, but the pain was nothing compared to his anger.

They had presumed to attack HIS town, and in the daylight no less. From what he heard from gloating Changelings, it was happening all over the Kingdom: Entire armies of Changelings attacking and invading.

He still had a small smile inside of him, though. They had still managed to kill or severely injure two hundred of the Changelings before being overwhelmed.

A darker thought crossed his mind, however: If all they had taken out here was a measly two hundred, how had the bigger cities fared?

-=-=-

Hoofington

0610

Entire formations of Changelings marched down the street, frightening the ponies to stay inside. After a bloody but brief battle that saw the entire guard force of one hundred and twenty slain, along with at least two hundred and eighty Changelings, the entire city had gone on lockdown.

Rumors, passed from house to house, spoke of a Equestria-wide invasion happening. The residents could only watch in horror as the black, misshapen creatures walked through the streets in formations of hundreds, flaunting their strength to the residents.

They could only hope that it ended soon.

-=-=-

Enticore City

0620 Hours

Across the city, in the streets, and by the docks, fighting raged as the Changeling army continued to pour into the city. Being a primarily unicorn city, it had one advantage that many did not: Spells, and the ponies with at least basic training in how to use them

Magical bolts of every colors zoomed across the city, between buildings and alleys, as the ponies and the Changelings fought one another. In this city, everypony could resist to one degree or another. And they did.

Fighting was chaotic and widespread, taking place over the entire city. Changelings descended randomly from a swarm hovering over the city, and what few pegasi were there took to the skies to attack it. Casualties on both sides piled up, but slowly, inevitably, the Changeling forces began to push the ponies back into a small circle around the center of the city, by the wharves.

The fighting would go on for hours, and even days, but the outcome was clear: The city had fallen, at a terrible price to both sides.

-=-=-

Baltimare

0630 Hours

The city of Baltimare was often credited with being the best source of manufacturing and industry in Equestria. Much like Manehattan, it was a large city, its streets filled with a mix of all pony types.

And it was under attack.

In the factories and buildings, between the skyscrapers, and everywhere else, Changelings fought ponies, and both died. Thousands of pegasi, most of them not guards, duel in the sky and between the buildings with entire swarms of Changelings. Unicorns and Earth Ponies fought in the streets below, the former casting combat spells that many unicorns chose to memorize, the latter arming themselves with everything from spears to experimental crossbows.

The fighting was fierce, and, quickly, lines were formed, dividing the city into two sections: The northwest section, controlled by ponies, and the southeast section, controlled by Changelings. The lines shifted by the minute as individual ponies and Changelings discovered their hidden talents of leadership.

It would have been a great day for either side in terms of heroics, if the casualties had not been so large.

Thankfully, the guards had been alerted to the hidden cells of Changelings who worked against Chrysalis, and together, they cooperated, the Changelings feeding information from the Hive Mind to the local guard captains.

None of them would figure how long the battle would last.

-=-=-

Ponyville

The same time

John looked into the sky, scanning for the Changelings. They had alerted the entire town to the attacks, and now they had but one thing to do.

Wait.