Internal Changeling Affairs

Chapter Thirteen:  Government Property Pileup

"Attention citizens of Canterlot!"  Princess Celestia said over a hyper-amplified PA system from the top of the highest point  on the royal palace.  "this is not a drill!  I repeat, this is not a drill!  please clear the streets, return to your homes and bear arms!"  After her emergency announcement, the princess began winding up a loud siren and proceeded to blare an attack signal.

Just a few floors down, Princess Luna was operating a headset in a control room communicating with nearby municipalities.

"All Equestrian cities, we have a code nine!"  Luna said to mayors from all over the nation on the headset.  "sound all air raid alerts for a three minute attack signal and dispatch all law enforcement officers!"

Within seconds, sirens could be heard wailing from Cloudsdale, Ponyville, Appleloosa and soon every major city and small town in the nation.  Following the sirens winding up, long distance spotlights could be seen sweeping the early evening skies.

Meanwhile, With Shining Armor

"I've been trapped in that filthy ~squee~ing cocoon for days!"  the real Sergeant Goldstripe said while in the shower to Shining and silver both stading outside his restroom.  "all of the sweating and the itching!  It was agonizing!"

"hurry the ~squee~ up, sergeant!"  Shining yelled through the bathroom door.  "we're under attack!  we've gotta gather up the entire force and defend Equestria!"

"no disrespect, sir but I'll be out when I'm damn good and fresh.  you have no idea what it was like in that thing!"

"do you have the slightest idea what I've been through?"

"Captain, whatever happened to you, I'm sure I have that topped"

"alright, Sergeant.  try having a half inch hole blown through your chest and when the medics arrived, they thought you were dead so after ten minutes of drawing a chalk outline around you, they find that you're clinging to life by a thread.  and on top of that, when they're on their way to the hospital, one of the noobs forgets to latch the door on the ambulance so your stretcher goes wheeling down the street!"

In the middle of Shining's rant describing how his week had been, Shining and Silver could hear the running water being switched off and the sound of a shower curtain being opened.  Sergeant Goldstripe then slowly opened the bathroom door and stepped out wearing a towel around his flank.

"you got shot?"  Goldstripe asked.

"and that's not even the half of it"  Shining replied.  "on top of all of that, everypony thinks you're the one who did it.  I don't remember exactly what happened but it's all coming back to me little by little.  I just knew you weren't the one who shot me and now seeing that you were trapped in that changeling cocoon, it all makes sense now.  And I'll have you know that I broke out of the hospital to try to prove your innocence."

"everypony thinks I tried to kill you?  and you knew it wasn't me the whole time?"

Though the sergeant was a high ranking member of the CRGD, second in command to be precise, Shining Armor was still his boss.  Goldstripe and Shining however, did not have the typical boss and subordinate relationship.  They would act professional most of the time but they were actually the best of friends.  Almost like brothers.  Because of this, they both had the utmost trust and respect for one another.  While on duty they would act as if they were co-workers but after their shifts, they would often go have a drink and talk about their favorite sports teams.  The sergeant was relatively new to his rank as he had been promoted only a year ago to replace the retired Sergeant Sharpen Scythe who was now working as the city coroner.  Twilight Sparkle had known most of her brother's friends and colleagues but had never met Goldstripe so she was unaware of their friendship.

"now you're getting it"  Shining replied.  "but we've got some ~squee~ we gotta take care of.  first things first, we have to get to the headquarters and get some more firepower.  there's no way we can take all these changelings down with just our sidearms"

"Oh I've got that covered, pal"  Goldstripe replied.  "follow me"

Goldstripe, still wearing nothing but a towel, then trotted up the stairs to his attic with Shining limping his way up and Silverbadge behind him keeping him from falling.  When they got to the top, Goldstripe lead them to a door with an odd looking keypad and a strange scanner device of which he lowered his head in front of and allowed it to scan his eyes.  the small screen then began to read in green text "Access Granted" and the door made a series of clicks and soon slowly began to open.

"gentlecolts"  Goldstripe said.  "feast your eyes on my hardware collection!"  He then swung the door wide open revealing a room completely packed with an arsenal of weapons and ammunition fit to fully equip a squad of fifty.  On one wall, there were high powered revolvers, pistols and even a few fully automatic sub-machine guns including a Trottson with a drum style magazine.  hanging up on the next wall were several shotguns and rifles ranging from .30 caliber bolt actions to 10 gauge magnum twin barrels.  The wall on the other side of the room caught Shining and Silver's interest the most as it contained pieces of heavy artillery that the very sight of caused the two to drool.  there was a tripod mounted high caliber machine gun with butterfly style triggers.  Next to that there was a six barreled, chain fed minigun.  The last one and the most destructive of the bunch sat in the last corner of the room.  It was a rocket propelled grenade launcher capable of taking out three choppers in one shot provided that they were close enough to one another.

"you two got a coach?"  Goldstripe asked the other two to which they replied by nodding their heads hard enough to splatter their drool on the floor and ceiling.

"good.  now let's suit up and load this ~squee~"

Meanwhile, With Twilight and the Task-force

"Cadence! Spike!  Dispatch the entire department!"  Twilight screamed into her mic.  "we've got a changeling invasion!  set the entire city on lock-down!"

Twilight then paused for a moment but received no answer.

"control, this is coach 45!"  She said even louder this time.  "do you copy?!"

Again, there was silence.  Twilight was now beginning to worry that not only would it be difficult for her to receive assistance, but that something may have happened to Cadence and Spike.  She then turned to her comrades who were all taking cover underneath the massive Sadillac coach.

"Everypony get in the patrol Coach!"  she commanded.  "we need to form a base at the castle where we have more cover!  MOOOVE IIIIIIT!"

As everypony was springing up to enter their vehicle, Twilight noticed that somepony was still hiding under the coach next to her as she was just about to make a gallop for it.

"fluttershy, what are yo-"  Twilight said, cutting her sentence short when she noticed something was wrong with her pegasus friend.  "Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy was not responding to Twilight.  She was hyperventilating worse than the night before and she was clutching her chest and going blue in the face.  It was now clear to Twilight that things were only getting worse and Fluttershy appeared to be suffering a stress induced heart attack.  Using her telekinesis, Twilight lifted the ailing pegasus out from under the vehicle and gently placed her in the back seat and joined the rest of them.

"Steel!  Floor it!"

Back With Shining Armor

Shining Armor and Goldstripe were on their way to the heart of the city where most of the invaders were occupying with Silverbadge in the driver's seat of a large paddy wagon style coach with a full load of weapons in the back.  They were going 70 miles per hour down an unusually empty street with the siren wailing at full volume when an unlucky changeling crossed paths with them.

"Luna'a Plot!"  Silverbadge cursed as he stomped on the brake pedal.

SCREEEEEEEE-SPLAT-EEEECH!  THUD!

Silver's reaction proved not quick enough as the large guard van plowed the creature over and tossed it up the street before finally screeching to a halt.

"Oh Celestia, what have I done!"  Silver yelled as he shifted to park the vehicle and jumped out, the other two following behind.

"I tried to stop" Silverbadge said as he removed his guard cap.  "I didn't mean for this to happen"

"it's not your fault, silver"  Shining Armor assured while leading his upset partner back to the coach.  "but listen, we don't have time to fu-"

"Hit the deck!" Goldstripe yelled.

Shining and Silver didn't question their comrades warning and ducked down to the ground not knowing what was going on.

BLAM!

"all clear!"  Goldstripe spoke again.

Shining and Silver both got back up on their hooves and turned around to see the sergeant with a pistol in his wing and a few yards in front of him, the same changeling that the coach had collided with.  The changeling was not killed by the collision and tried to charge after Shining and Silver when they were distracted to end up being finished off by the sergeant.

"I've always got your back, Captain"  Goldstripe said with a salute.  "It's the least I could do since you had mine!"

"much obliged, sergeant!"  Shining replied.  "now let's go!  we've got a nation to defend!"

soon they were all back on the road with the sergeant behind the wheel to give the shaken Silver time to gather himself.  they were now going over 100 miles per hour down the street preparing themselves to engage in combat with the invading changelings and they were quickly approaching an intersection when suddenly, another patrol vehicle was speeding through in their path.

"OH ~SQUEE~!" the sergeant yelled as he reacted.

Back With Twilight and Friends

"Cadence and Spike!"  Twilight once again yelled trying to get a hold of her dispatchers.  "answer me!"

"hey, look out!"  Pinkie Pie shouted over the radio from the chopper.  "you're about to get hit by a-"

SCREEEEEEEE-SMASH!

End Chapter Thirteen