Equestria in Conflict - Discovering Home

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.