Equestria in Conflict - Discovering Home

Sturdy Barrier stood at the ready, in a house on the mountain side of Canterlot. He was looking out the window at the small house across the street, where a certain suspected Changeling lived.

Right on time, the mare Canterlot knew as Spring Blossom walked down the street and into the house. The door closed immediately afterward, denying Sturdy Barrier and the two other guards in the room any sort of view.

“She’s good, very good.” Sturdy Barrier said. “Let’s review her again. Information gathered by several sources indicates that she simply showed up in the area one day, four years ago. She has a birth certificate and other assorted records, but in-depth analysis has shown them to be false, besides for everything ten years back and forward. Those all check out, but it’s what happened before then that counts.

“She was a temporary suspect in the assassination of the Mayor of Pullmare, although she was later released for lack of  evidence in respect to any suspect. Changeling involvement was suspected, but she was able to answer every question about her ‘background’, so no suspicions were raised.

“Then she comes to Canterlot and nearly instantly catches Prince Blueblood’s eyes. She was present in the background of almost every official reception. She was also present during the Changeling invasion, although local residents indicated that she did not venture out.

“Her physical description is as follows: Purple pegasus, blue mane. Often keeps hers fairly trimmed, so don’t expect her to look like many other ponies around here.” A few chuckles went around the room: They all knew what many of the locals were like. “Make no mistake, though: She’s most likely a Changeling, either that or actively aiding them. Primary goal of the mission, once executed, is to capture her, although if she resists overtly, you may kill her.

“One more thing: The house itself has access to the mines and scattered tunnels below Canterlot. In actuality, fifty feet below the house is a small chamber, with an entrance that leads to the mines and an entrance that leads to the basement of the house.”

The other two guards nodded in confirmation. Suddenly, the sensitive detectors in the room pinged for an intense magical buildup. It would normally be invisible to unicorns, but the more advanced sensors coming into the guard were capable of detecting magic at far greater ranges, and in far worse conditions, than any unicorn. In this case, it was needed; The target was literally under two hundred feet of rock, inside of the supposed chamber. They couldn’t detect what type of magic it was, but they could detect it, and that had its own advantages.

Sturdy Barrier touched the communications crystal around his neck. It lit up, a signal that it was active.

“Yes?” The voice of Shining Armor said.

“We have confirmation of Thaumic activity, and we are ready to lead the assault.”

A small sigh came from the other end. “Confirmed, we will be out there within five minutes. Within three, the street will be blocked off.” The crystal stopped glowing as the connection ended.

Sure enough, what little traffic there was on the street slowed down and finally stopped as several guards erected small, wooden walls with the word ‘Guard Activity’ burned onto the outer surface.

Sturdy Barrier went out on the street to meet Shining Armor, who was standing in the center, designating who would go inside.

“I will lead the first team of three, Sturdy Barrier will lead the second, and Steady Flight will lead the third. All others will stand outside as backup.” He finished. The designated three-pony teams waited outside the door for a chance to burst in. All of them were unicorns, having training in fighting at close quarters. This would be the first real test of the guard since the invasion, and all of them were ready to prove themselves.

Shining Armor went up to the door, sensing for magical traps. Finding none, he moved out of the way so Sturdy Barrier could break down the door.

Sturdy Barrier charged up his magic, releasing a large explosive spell that blew the door down, as well as some of the doorframe. He immediately charged in, followed by the rest of the team. They quickly searched the one story aboveground, finding nothing in it. They also found the entrance to the basement. They shattered the door down with a kick and charged in, well-aware of the risks of staying still.

Green bolts launched from the end of the room, soaring across the basement to strike objects and, occasionally, ponies. Sturdy Barrier scream in pain as a bolt hit him dead-on, melting most of his left side off and giving him massive third-degree burns. He was quickly silenced by another bolt that hit him, killing the guard instantly.

Shining Armor formed a powerful shield with a small hole in it, quickly launching five magical bolts out of it. One of them apparently hit, because the bolts of green magic stopped suddenly. Shining Armor rushed forward, quickly followed by the remaining seven ponies. By the entrance to the cave system was the smoking body of the Changeling, with another one a bit beyond the doorway, in the tunnel itself. Shining launched a low-level bolt at it, only for it to be stopped by a powerful shield. The Changeling in the tunnel was obviously trying to delay them with a powerful shield.

Concentrating on his magic, Shining Armor sent as much power as he could into the shield. The Changeling’s glowing blue eyes went wide open with surprise as it suddenly held a hoof to its head, fighting the magical overload. Within moments, it ran back into the tunnel, the shield collapsing behind it.

Shining Armor and the others slowly walked down the tunnel, with Shining maintaining a powerful shield in front of them, to ward off an ambush. The tunnel was only two meters wide, and two meters tall, hardly wide spaces by any measure. Spotting a green glow coming from up ahead around a bend, they hurried around the sharp corner to see what it was.

They found themselves standing inside of the large chamber described in records. It was about twenty meters across in every direction, and ten meters up, with a fairly consistent floor, the entire ceiling curving like a continuous arch. Green crystals in the walls gave off a dim glow, pulsing faintly with unknown energy.

In the center of the room stood a mostly transparent dome of energy. In the center of it stood their target, Spring Blossom, still in pony form, if it was a Changeling at all. Four Changelings surrounded ‘her’, one of them rubbing its head as it maintained the shield, obviously the one from before. The three other Changelings stared at the guards in a tense standoff.

One of the unicorns made to attack it, but Shining Armor held up a hoof. He knew they wouldn’t be able to overload the shield, especially not with the same tactic. Magical overload could only work if the opponent didn’t suspect it, and at this pace, they would simply let him maintain the spell if he tried to overload it.

The shield could be kept up nearly indefinitely, as Spring Blossom had undoubtedly built up a huge store of love energy from being in the city so long. Sighing, Shining Armor stepped forward. Now came the standoff negotiation, his only remaining avenue of ending this.

“Alright.” He said. “You know what we want: Come out peacefully, and we won’t have to kill you.”

“And why should we trust you?” Spring Blossom said in perfect Equestrian, without even a trace of the normal Changeling accent.

“Because if you don’t, you’ll eventually run out of energy. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Time which we will have soon, unicorn.”

“What’s wrong, Changeling? Feeling the loss of power? We control this situation.” Shining said.

She stiffened. “I’m not a Changeling. Or at least, not exactly. I doubt you would know the difference. You’re a mere pony. Why would you understand?”

“To the point, either come out or we will have to get you out. And I doubt you want that, judging by how close your shield caster is to exhaustion. You still have a chance to salvage this, Spring Blossom.” Shining said, pointing to the obviously pained Changeling.

Spring Blossom sighed for a moment, shaking her head. When she came up, her eyes were glowing a soft indigo.

“My name is not Spring Blossom.” She said, the pure magic practically leaking from her easily detectable to every unicorn in the room. With a small flash, the shield also turned a shade of indigo. “My name. Is. Sapphire. Glow!” With that, her shield completely replaced the Changeling’s, who sighed in relief.

Shining Armor stared in shock. How could a simple pegasus do that? And how could she say that she was not a Changeling? Everything was confusing at this point, so he decided to play his last card.

“Please, just come out. We give you our word that you will not be harmed.”

This seemed to give the mare pause before her eyes lit up briefly.

“Say it again.” She said.

More cautiously, he did so. “If you come out, you won’t be harmed.”

A short silence passed before she sighed. “You are telling the truth.” With that, she seemed to confer briefly with the Changelings before deactivating the shield.

-=-=-

True to his word, Shining did not harm them, no matter how much we wanted to. They were quickly taken into custody and transported to a castle, to a specific chamber just finished to house Changelings. It was like Silent Thought’s chamber, only much more open, with ever more improved anti-Changeling Thaumic-blocking measures. Currently, the only Changeling prisoner they had, Silent Though, had been transported there, and the guards were awaiting the arrival of five others, including ‘Sapphire Glow’.

He slowly walked through the hallways, lost in his thoughts.

“Most curious, don’t you think?”

The sudden voice startled him, and he turned around to find Celestia standing there. Shining gave a brief bow in reverence.

“Princess Celestia.” He said.

She smiled. “Come, Shining Armor. Together we shall go to find the real identity of ‘Spring Blossom’.”

-=-=-

Sapphire Glow sighed. She had gotten to the point where she had revealed part of what she was to the ponies, and it scared her. She thought she had enough control over her abilities, but apparently not. She had even told them her NAME, for Chrysalis’s sake.

She stood alone in the room, apart from the Changelings. Even though she could connect and disconnect with the Hive Mind at will, she was obvious to them as an ‘Outsider’. And in here, they couldn’t even do that, as Sapphire had found her magical abilities suppressed, along with the other Changeling’s.

Suddenly, the door opened. A pegasus guard came in, gesturing towards her.

“You, Changeling, or whatever you are, get over here. The Princess wants to speak with you”.

She could feel get throat tighten, her wings fold up even more, as she forced her body to rise and walk out the door, following him. She was sweating now, thoughts running through her head of how they would- NO! She yelled into her head, silencing all other thought. Although she might not be, in actuality, a full Changeling, she would do her best to uphold what they were.

Her magic was available, but she dared not use it. Inside the castle, she would never escape, and would be either maimed or killed by the guards or… No, she told herself, keeping her mind from venturing down dark paths.

They finally reached the door, the guard opening it and gesturing inside. Composing herself, Sapphire walked in. She looked around at the setting, which had three large cushions. She hesitantly walked over to one and put a hoof on it, before settling in and waiting for whatever was to come.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Princess Celestia quickly walked in, followed closely by Shining Armor. She dared not glance at them, keeping her gaze on the ground in front of her as they settled down, staring at her. Finally, Celestia broke the silence.

“Can you tell us your name?” She asked, in a calm and soothing voice.

Her mind insisted it must be a trick, that this was meant to get information out of her. But another part of her mind told her to just go with it, to spare herself the inevitable pain that would come if she completely shut them out and ignored them.

“Sapphire Glow.” The pegasus said in a low voice.

“I won’t bother asking about Spring Blossom, as I know she is a fake identity, a dead end. However, I am interested in one thing. Just what are you, and why are you helping the Changelings?”

Sapphire glanced up at her. “You… You can tell I am not a Changeling?”

“For the most part, yes. About that other part… What are you?”

Sapphire hung her head low. She knew it would come out eventually, but she had hopes for more time. In the end, however, it made no difference.

“I am a Pony-Changeling hybrid.” She simply stated.

Shining Armor’s mouth gaped open. “H- H- How?” He asked.

Her anger momentarily flared. “Some beings are not as narrow-minded as you ponies when it comes to relationships. Many of your species won’t even consider being close to someone of another race, yet we Changelings embrace all those who do so in return.

“Many ponies do not like you, Celestia, and many come for refuge in the Changeling lands. My mother was one of them, my father a Changeling. Is that so difficult for you to comprehend?”

She continued, staring at them. “I may not be able to transform, but make no mistake: I am a Changeling, at least in part. I can connect to the Hive Mind; My skin is tougher than the average pony’s; I can use magic, despite being a pegasus; and I am almost undetectable, my magical efforts, even when at full use, barley registering on the average unicorn’s senses.”

A pregnant pause filled the gap, before she continued. “In short, I am the future.”

“What do you mean by ‘the future’?” Celestia asked.

“Poor Celestia, you know not that, in two days, your power will be overthrown, and a true, free empire will be established; under the control the Changelings.”

Sapphire looked back and forth between them, judging their reactions. “In short, I have nothing more to say to you.”

Two minutes later, a smug-looking Sapphire entered the special cell. She may have given up when it would happen, but Celestia wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. Right?

Right?

As much as she tried to convince herself otherwise, however, she was sure the road ahead would be rough indeed. The ponies would resist, but in the end it would be futile.

The Changelings would rule Equestria, as they rightfully should.

-=-=-

Amethyst Star smiled at the preparations. Soon, in two days, they would unleash the Changeling army on Equestria.

And the ponies would not be prepared to stop them.