Equestria in Conflict - Discovering Home

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.