Equestria in Conflict - Discovering Home

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.