Equestria in Conflict - Discovering Home

“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.