Equestria in Conflict - Discovering Home

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.”