Inhuman

Chapter 7: Insect

"Hi, Twilight!"

"Gyahhhhh!"

Twilight flopped out of bed as she heard the loud voice speak directly in her ear.  She groaned in annoyance, drawing herself to her hooves, where she met face-to-face with a pink muzzle and bright blue eyes.

It didn't take long to figure out who it was, but something Twilight didn't figure out and would never figure out was how Pinkie was hanging from the ceiling, as she was right now.

Regardless of her own logical misgivings with the situation, Twilight looked affronted.

"Pinkie!  What are you doing here right now?  Don't you think you should be in your own room?  We need to rest up for a busy day tomorrow!" Twilight fumed.  The fall had messed up her mane somewhat, and as she straightened it back into place with her hooves, Pinkie looked sheepish.

"Well... it's not like I could get to sleep with all the stuff going on around here!" she beamed at her friend.  "Besides, I'm not the only pony who's up past her bedtime!" she laughed.

Twilight mulled over what she meant for a second, trying to figure out what that meant.  When she was struck by realization, her horn lit up frantically, and the magic lamp on the nightstand flicked on.

"Gyahhhh!  What are you all doing in here?!" she cried indignantly.  In the middle of the room, three of her friends stood.  In the small bathroom overhead, Fluttershy poked her head out through the doorway.

All six of the Elements of Harmony were there.

"Well, golly Twilight.  Reckon that none of us could sleep with all this stuff we're involved wit'.  Don't know about y'all, but I'm mighty nervous 'bout what tomorrow's gonna bring!" Applejack piped up.

Pinkie nodded her head enthusiastically, while the magenta barrier gleamed in the moonlight outside.  Twilight still looked grumpy.

Rainbow Dash smiled deviously, slinking up to her friends while wrapping a hoof around Fluttershy's shoulder sinisterly.  The yellow pegasus flinched.

"So, all these disappearances are really becoming a problem around Equestria.  Who do you girls think was the one that took them?  That spoooooky Hooded Gorilla?" Dash started dramatically.  Fluttershy whimpered while the others placed their hooves on their chins in thought.

"Well, I..." Dash began, before Twilight groaned.

"Dash!  How many times do we have to tell you this?!  It wasn't Zach!" Twilight shouted at her friend.  Dash's ears flattened against her head.

"I know!  I wasn't even going to say him!  After today, and the way he's done everything he can to help, there's no way its him.  I was just gonna say that it was a creature from the Everfree Forest!" she said angrily.

Twilight blushed, embarrassed over her outburst.

"R-Right... Of course.  I-I'm sorry Rainbow; I just got a little bit carried away!" she stuttered.  Her other friends looked at her with odd expressions.  Rainbow Dash's anger paved the way to concern.

"Are you alright, Twi?" she asked.

Twilight grimaced.

"Ya'll are still hung up over what the Princess told you, aren't ya?" Applejack pointed out, to which Twilight's eyes went downcast.

Applejack sighed.

"Listen, sugarcube.  The Princess is just worryin' 'bout your safety, that's all.  We don't even know whether this no good varmint is actually after ya or not, but I can reassure ya about Zach.  What that colt said was the honest truth.  He'd never do anythin' to hurt ya.  And in the castle, you'll be safe.  So jus' try an' relax, ya got it?" Applejack said, placing a hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

"Y-You're right... of course!  But.... even with all that, this is so strange.  Magically talented unicorns disappearing left and right, and knowing that I could very well be the next target...." she trailed off.

She pulled the blanket across her body with her magic, seemingly for protection against an unknown force.

"I-I'm scared..." Twilight said quietly, her face and eyes still downcast, as she shook slightly in her bed.  Her five friends looked at her in sympathy.

Twilight whimpered slightly in her fear and paranoia, but she yelped as two hooves grabbed her, forcing her to look up at the one who had grabbed her.

"Don't you worry Twilight!  We'll stay the whole night with you if we have to!  No mean ole monster's gonna take you on our watch!" Pinkie yelled at her friend.  Her tone was unusually serious.

Twilight's eyes welled with tears, and she smiled softly at Pinkie.

"T-Thank you!  You girls are the best friends a pony could ask for..." she said.  Rarity smiled at her.

"Of course we'd do such a thing for you, darling.  But don't you fret; you'll be fine!  Besides, we are equipped with the Elements of Harmony.  With those, I'm sure we will be able to handle anything that may come our way..."

Twilight beamed at her, using her magic to grab her Element of Harmony from the nightstand.  She placed it on top of her head.

"I should really wear this even as I sleep... Can't be too careful," she said.  The six ponies exchanged a quick group hug; they were happy that Twilight was no longer frightened.

Though Twilight claimed she was going to sleep, it looked like anypony couldn't bring themselves to sleep with all six of them in the room.

With the issue settled, the six mares delved into more happy things.  They spend the night telling stories and generally getting laughs from each other.

"....And this one time, at Flying Camp.... I told Gilda that Thunderlane was always staring at her with a wingboner..." she paused in uncontrollable laughter.

"I don't think his mane's ever grown back the same way again!" she guffawed, drawing a few giggles from the others and raucous hooting from Pinkie Pie.

"Hahahahaha...." Twilight wheezed in laughter.  "Well, that sure would be a way to..."

She paused in mid-sentence as a strange feeling overcame her, and the laughter completely left her face.  Her expression was set in a stony frown, and she bit her lip as a strange worry overcame her.

"Twilight, is there something wrong?"

"I feel..... I feel weird.  It's difficult for me to describe.  It's like there's some kind of strange spell being worked right now, and it's pervading my senses.  I don't know how to explain it..."

"Wait, do y'all hear that?"

All of the ponies heard the strange crackling noise, even those who were not magically attuned.

Twilight focused her horn, which lit up with a magenta glow, as the other ponies began looking around, hearing the high-pitched crackling noise.

"This... doesn't make any sense.  It's feels like someone is trying to cancel out a spell, and on a big level!  But they're going about it in such a strange way.  Usually you would apply a counter-spell to diffuse the spell's matrix, but that wouldn't make any noise, and it wouldn't disrupt any magical force nearby.  It's like they're trying to attack the spell head-on!" Twilight said.

"You don't think....?" Rainbow Dash cried.  A sinking feeling settled into Twilight's gut, but before she could dwell on it, the crackling noise became a low hum, before they was a huge rumble.

When she looked out the window, Twilight's heart almost stopped.

The magical barrier protecting Canterlot was fluctuating wildly, as the magical energies behind the spell began to diffuse and fall apart.

"No, no, no.  This is impossible... the barrier!  It's breaking, but that's impossible!  This barrier is completely impenetrable!  Has Princess Celestia decided to lower the barrier?" she asked herself, as the other ponies gathered around the window.  Confused and worried faces gave hold to hushed murmurs.

And then, the barrier disappeared, and Twilight became even more stunned.  Not so much by the fact it was broken, but more by the way that it was broken.

When the barrier was broken, it should've slowly fizzled out, or cracked and shattered.  At the very least, it should have given some indication that it was slowly being dissipated.

But... Twilight had never seen anything like this.  The barrier had begun to fizzle for a moment, but the next minute... it was gone.

Just gone.  It had disappeared faster than the blink of an eye, like it was never there in the first place.

The night was getting stranger and stranger.

Twilight Sparkle turned away from the window, a look of determination set on her face.

"Come on, girls!  We need to find Princess Celestia immediately!" she roused.

Too easy.

He couldn't believe it was this easy.

Could it be this easy?

A lone human sat on the very edge of the courtyard.  It was eleven thirty at night; they were going to arrive at twelve.  He sat there patiently, a forlorn look in his eyes.

Honestly, Zachary had only half-expected that Celestia or Luna would try to pull something like that, but even then, it had still been so easy.

They would think a cell would be enough to hold him.  Shadow Star was right; they simply did not understand what he was.

Even so, they were without a doubt looking for him now, but it was too late anyway.

He eyed the pinkish bubble of magic in front of him.  Luckily, the castle was in the very back of the city, and directly outside of the castle courtyard was the edge of the city, and by proxy the edge of the barrier.  Beyond it, there was nothing but steep mountain cliffs.

"Well, guess it's about time for me to drop this disguise..." Zachary sighed, rising to his feet and brushing himself off.  He would have no need to use his mimicry of his past self right now.

He hummed as he focused and meditated, clasping his hands together as he began to exert himself.

A crack appeared on his right cheek, where the skin on his face began to peel and chip off as if it were made of glass.  He brought a hand up to his face, peeling off the skin like it was a mobile cocoon.

And that was exactly what his human body was like: a cocoon.  The skin all over the rest of his body began to crack and peel away too, as a moderate amount of blood poured out of the holes that Zachary was deliberately making in his body.

As the human body melted away, a new figure emerged from the cocoon.  Peach-colored skin gave way to a matte-black shiny material.  His eyes changed to the black sclera that he had when he had eaten from Twilight's garbage can.

Zachary Cricket was becoming a human-sized, insect hybrid.... thing.

His torso gave way to a two segmented beetle's thorax, where a shiny black exoskeleton covered the softer features underneath, protecting them.

His legs did the same thing, changing as the same exoskeleton covered them.  His backside changed into a shiny shell of a beetle's abdomen, ending the exoskeleton.

His arms and legs turned into spindly appendages, thinning out considerably.  It almost seemed that walking on two of them alone would mean that he couldn't support his own weight, but he seemed to handle it well.  At the end of his limbs, fingers became sharp claws and pincers designed for slicing and cutting.  Two small stumps directly below his first set of claws suddenly branched outward, forming two more claws for a total of three pairs of limbs.

His face also became more of an insectine quality, but it seemed to retain fairly humanoid features.  His eyes were still nothing but black sclera, his nose disappeared, and the black exoskeleton covered most of his face and his hair.  Two long, skinny antenna sprouted from the back of his head and started feeling around.

He vaguely resembled a humanoid version of a changeling, but he wasn't one of them.  Not even close.  He did not have holes, he did not have wings, and he did not feed off of love or emotions.

He was something different entirely.

Zachary screeched, testing out his claws.  Changing like that always seemed to have a bad effect on him, but he was at least used to it by now.

What needed to be done was very clear.

This barrier was in the way, and he needed to take care of it.  His abyssal eyes studied the barrier closely; it was as well made as could be.  The Elements of Harmony and Princess Celestia's power combined to create a double fail-safe.  Even providing one matrix of the spell was "hacked", the other one could hold its own while fixing the problem on its own.

From the outside... that is.

On the outside, the spell was so complicated that even he couldn't do anything about it.  However, Shadow Star was correct.  Once he was inside the barrier, it was easy to take care of.  There were far less precautions taken on the inside.

He flexed his right set of claws, sticking them both out.  He shuddered slightly as he plunged them into the barrier, the shield having the consistency of gel to him.

That was pretty much all he needed to do.

A minute after he had plunged his hand inside, the barrier began to crackled and fizzle.  He waited one second, closed his eyes, and plunged his claws in deeper.  By that point, the barrier was gone.

"All done..." he said out-loud.  His voice was higher pitched and far more alien.  There was a mixture of clicks that mixed in with his words as he spoke.

"Time to move.  It won't be long before they arrive.  The castle will have no doubt taken notice to the missing barrier.  It's time for me to move on to the next part of the job..."

The far more important aspect of the job remained, and as long as Twilight Sparkle remained in the castle, she was a sitting duck.

But first, he had to meet at the front of the castle.

While the castle was busy registering the fact that their barrier had been broken, a large vortex of energy crackled into existence at the very front gates of the city.

It was like a storm descended itself upon the city of Canterlot.  The winds picked up on their own, without any pegasus ponies of control.  The citizens felt it all, and some of them paused on the streets or in their houses to stare at the strange phenomenon.

First the barrier had broke, and that had easily been enough to throw the citizens into a sense of dread and paranoia.  But then there was an enormous crack of magical energy in the air, followed by the effects that it had on weather patterns.

Near the gates of Canterlot, something was already beginning to go down.

A bloodcurdling moan of agony pierced the air as the vortex of energy popped and dissipated, and approximately three-hundred humans were deposited near the outskirts of Canterlot.

Yet not everything had gone according to plan for them.

A tall young human woman was the only one to get to her feet immediately after the mass teleportation.  She brought her hands up to her head, pulling her hood off.  Calculating green eyes met the city of Canterlot, which had not been ready for something such as this.

"Looks like Alpha took care of the job well enough.  He better not have been reckless though, or I'm gonna whip his ass..." she muttered, shaking her head.  Her blonde ponytail whipped from side to side.

"Now..." she turned around, and for the first time she noticed the condition of her "army".  The mass teleportation was apparently not as safe as Shadow Star had advertised.

While most of the humans behind her were standing, ready to go, several of them were writhing on the ground, apparently in a huge amount of agony.

"Lambda, we have a problem!" one of the people near her exclaimed.  Lambda glared at him.

"Yes, I can see that.  How many are dead or incapacitated?" she asked.

"Fifteen dead and ten down, ma'am!"

Lambda growled, rushing out into the mob of humans.  They gave her a wide berth.  She crouched by a woman who had been killed in the teleportation, surveying her close.

It was a grisly sight.  It was always a grisly sight.

Her face had swelled up completely, and her entire body was covered in nasty, black and blue sores.  Her skin also looked somewhat burned, and her eyes... her eyes gave it away.  The teleportation had caused to to melt out of their sockets like some sort of free-flowing goo that was oozing down her lifeless face.  This was one of the luckier ones.  At least she hadn't been deformed.

"Magical poisoning.  Of course..." she sneered.  She solemnly looked at the rest of them, while the group uncomfortably looked upon their fallen brethren.  Lambda closed her eyes; she hated having to this.

"All of you, proceed on!  We have lost twenty-five of our number, but we must press on!  Today, we will capture the city of Canterlot!  For the Arcane Ascension!" she cried to the remaining two-hundred seventy-five.  She felt sick to her stomach as she said that.

She knew a speech like that wouldn't raise their morale.  Not this group...

Sluggishly, the group of humans began to rally around their temporary leader, even as the ponies out at night in Canterlot began to take notice of them.

Lambda glared as she noticed the watch towers the stood adjacent to one another directly outside the city walls.  The royal guards were already aware of their presence.

One particular squad of royal guards stationed at the front of Canterlot seemed to be the most bold, and they confronted her and the rest of the humans on their way into the city.

"Halt!  What is the meaning of this?!" a guard asked, as a group of half a dozen guards formed a line blocking the entrance to Canterlot.  The one that had addressed the army of humans stepped up to Lambda, poking a hoof into her chest.

"Such an act can only be considered an act of war.  You... things have clearly come here with hostile intent.  By order of the Kingdom of Equestria and the Princesses of the Sun and Moon, you are under arrest!" he boldly said.

Lambda fixed him with a glare of hatred.

"Shut up, horse..." she hissed at him.  The royal guard looked like he had been slapped.

Before he could react further, Lambda's arm shot out and grabbed the crest of his golden helmet.  The guard gave a surprised cry, trying to tug his head away, but there was too much force for him to pull away from the profoundly strong human.

Lambda gripped tighter, then pushed down, slamming the royal guard's face into the cobblestones.

"There it is!  Those superhuman abilities!" a human from the crowd called out.  Lambda's attack had easily knocked out the guard pony, who made the mistake of approaching her completely unarmed.

The other guards took that as a declaration of war, and so four of them attacked.  They were heavily outnumbered though, and their only hope was to hold them off.  The last one had been ordered to return to the castle and alarm both the Princess and the Captain... that this was an act of war.

Lambda wouldn't allow any of it, though.  Less than a minute later, all of the guards had been knocked out by her magically enhanced abilities, including the guard that was fleeing to the castle.

"Pay them no mind!  Pay the city no mind!  The only thing that is important is the castle; we will march in there and demand the crown's surrender!" she shouted.  A lackluster response followed.

"Let's move!"

The mob of humans rushed through the gates of Canterlot as fast as they could while staying organized.  The civilian ponies of Canterlot, from peasant to snooty noble, looked on in fear at the ragtag group of humans who were marching on Canterlot, carrying a variety of weapons.  Luckily, the curtain of night limited the amount of ponies on the street anyway, so the group proceeded through a small amount of citizens who enjoyed the night.

They didn't seem all that animated though, which perplexed the ponies.  Nevertheless, they were smart enough to stay out of their way, for they had no idea what they were.

Lambda continued to lead the group as organized as she possibly could through the main streets of Canterlot.  The streets were wide enough for all of them to proceed in a single group, but once they hit the castle they would have to break off into smaller groups.

With the speed that the group moved, it took them around thirty minutes to reach the front gate of the castle.  Lambda held a hand out, when she saw a familiar face standing directly outside the gate.  A very familiar, insect-like humanoid.

Some of the other humans backpedaled away slowly.  Lambda growled; Alpha was always an intimidating presence in the organization, what with that appearance.

"Alpha, I see you've completed your duty!" she started.  Alpha's insect features took on a hint of disappointment and annoyance, but he answered the question anyway.

"Yes, Lambda.  I brought down the barrier, as you can clearly tell.  The crown clearly didn't expect this to happen, and neither did the Elements of Harmony, but they're alerted to it now.  I wouldn't be surprised if they know you're coming by now." Alpha explained.

"It doesn't matter..." Lambda muttered.  Alpha pulled her away from the rest of the crowd, and whispered lowly in her ear.

"You're right, it doesn't matter.  That force is gonna get themselves killed.  There's no way you'd be able to defeat Canterlot Castle with this..." he hissed.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?  You and I both now that we have no choice in this matter, and I was selected to lead them.  It's not like Shadow Star would actually lower himself to leading humans..." she whispered back, out of earshot of the rest of them, who were sitting idly.

"I know.... I know!" he whispered loudly.  "And I know the Boss is crazy enough to try something like this, though I'm tempted to believe this is just a ploy to get attention..."

"That's not all, Zach..." she told him, using his human name.  "The teleportation wasn't perfect.  We had roughly one-tenth of our force succumb to magical poisoning."

Alpha leaned back, and spoke in a normal voice.

"You can't honestly tell me you're surprised.  Shadow Star's the type of stallion who would be sure not to take precautions to ensure their safety.  And with that whore running it behind the scenes..." he trailed off, and Lambda knew already what he meant.

"She's not the type who would ever care about their well-being.  She's already done so many horrible things to her own kind... this is exactly what she's known for," Alpha hissed.

Lambda could sense his distress, and she knew why.  Out of all of them, he was the one who loathed that woman most of all.  But she and Shadow Star were of immeasurable importance to the President of the Arcane Ascension, so there wasn't much either of them could do about her.

"Enough about that!  What about your main job?  What about Twilight Sparkle?" Lambda asked.  Alpha looked at her.

"It's going along smoothly.  They've no doubt suspected me by now, but you know I should be able to slink back in then undetected... with my abilities," he said.  It was only then that Lambda noticed a fat blunt was hanging between his lips.

"Oh... I see.  The organization really wants you to succeed in this job.  That's why they're loading you up with that stuff..." she noticed.

He pulled the blunt from his lips and blew a puff of smoke.

"Take your lead, Lambda.  We don't want to be here any longer than we have to.  For our own sanity..." he advised.  Lambda didn't blink as he slunk against the gate, and then wasn't there anymore...

"Princess Celestia!"

The six Elements of Harmony tore into the throne room, galloping madly with their respective elements hanging from their necks.

Both regents of Equestria were in Celestia's throne room.  They were apparently discussing something with each other, in a very heated exchange.  The absence of the barrier weighed on both of their minds.

"I was just about to call for you, but it seems that won't be necessary.  Thank you... thank you all for coming..." Celestia said seriously.

Twilight was the first to speak.

"Princess, what's happening?!  Why is the barrier gone?!"

Celestia and Luna looked at each other.  If Twilight was hoping that either of them had the answers, then she was going to be sorely mistaken.

"We do not know, Twilight Sparkle..." Luna piped up.  "But we believe we know who the culprit is..." Luna explained.  Celestia gave her sister a stern answer.

"I disapprove of your methods, Luna, but I am afraid you might be right.  Because of the circumstances, I'll turn a blind eye because you were likely correct, but next time I won't be so lenient!" she scolded her sister.

The Elements of Harmony looked at each other strangely.

"I don't understand."

"Girls, do you happen to wake up Mr. Zachary on your way here?" Celestia asked, beginning delicately.

"No... we thought about it, but we figured it would be best to find you as quickly as possible..."

"You would not find him in that room regardless.  He is not there..." Celestia explained.  Twilight's eyes widened, and she bit her lip nervously.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Earlier tonight, Luna did something a little.... reckless... and brought Zachary into custody to be interrogated.  Let it be known that neither of us trusted him in the slightest, and it looks like our intuition was correct..."

"What?!  What do you mean "interrogate"?!" Twilight said.  "Princess Luna, what do you did?!  How could you do something like that to him?" Twilight screamed at the Princess.  She looked livid, and a few tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes.

"What did he even do?!  Tell me!" she demanded.  Luna looked affronted, but when faced from a stern glare from her sister, she relented.

"Think about it, Twilight Sparkle.  His appearance in the castle when creatures like him are abducting magically talented unicorns is no coincidence.  Neither of us wanted to suspect your friend, but there was no way we could leave him be with you around.  I had my guards throw him in the Canterlot dungeon temporarily for interrogation.  If it was found that he had no connection to the disappearances, he would have been released... And yet..." she trailed off.

"That interrogation isn't the main problem anymore..." she finished.  Celestia nodded at her sister forlornly, but the Elements were wearing looks of anger and disappointment in the night princess.

"I am sorry... all of you.  I should not have acted so rashly.  I'm sure that we could have reached a solution through alternative means, but... I never got the chance to interrogate him..."

"The human has disappeared from his cell..." she finished.

The six Elements gasped in alarm.

"H-How?" Twilight asked.

"We do not know; it was the strangest thing.  The chains remained in place, like they had never been unlocked, and the cell door had not even been touched.  It was like he just disappeared into thin air..." Luna explained.

"Twilight Sparkle, you claimed that this human was capable of using magic, yes?" Celestia asked.

"W-Well, he claimed there was no such thing as magic where he came from, ridiculous as it sounds.  B-But, I've never seen him use an ability like unicorn or even earth-pony magic.  It just didn't seem to be there..."

"Careful, Twilight Sparkle.  I did not think to magically restrain him, because I assumed that he did not need to be magically restrained.  There may be some sort of magic underhoof here, but be warned.  Whether he is innocent or guilty, whether he is connected or not connected to the disappearances, we know one thing..." she trailed off.

"He is hiding something from you..." Luna finished.  Rainbow Dash exchanged a worried glance with Twilight, who seemed to be getting very upset.

"And that's not all.  The barrier situation may have something to do with him as well.  For directly after he escaped his cell, the barrier surrounding Canterlot disappeared in a manner that neither of us have ever seen.  Regardless, one of our top priorities should be to find Mr. Zachary right away," Celestia piped up.

At that point, a loud rumble was heard all throughout Canterlot, even stronger than the one that had occurred when the barrier had been dispelled.

"Ugh?  What is this?  A mass teleportation?" Twilight grunted.  She recognized the sound.  It was a mass teleportation of sorts, but it was a ludicrously strong one.

Celestia's eyes widened.

"And things continue to get worse.  A mass teleportation?  Almost immediately after the barrier goes down?  They were trying to catch us off guard!  You!" Celestia shouted to the guard at the base of the throne.

"Report to Captain Flare right away, and tell him to mobilize all active troops for battle immediately.  We may be facing a force of up to five-hundred..." Celestia ordered.  The guard saluted the royal and galloped away immediately.

Celestia grimaced.  Shining Armor was away running the Crystal Empire with his wife, and this invasion couldn't have come at a worse time.  She had to promote one of her other guards to be the new Captain of the Royal Guard, but Captain Flare was brand new to the job, and already he was tasked with leading a defense of the castle.

Meanwhile, Twilight forgot her anger towards Luna, and her voice wavered in slight panic and fear.

"P-Princess, what's going on?" she asked her mother figure.

"Invasion, Twilight Sparkle.  That mass teleportation you felt can only mean one thing.  The enemy has found a way to break the barrier, and they are invading.  It cannot mean anything else..." she explained.

"E-Enemy?  Is it changelings?" she asked.  The other Elements seemed to have that on their mind as well.  It seemed to make the most sense.

"I do not know, but my hunch is telling me something different.  Whatever the case, there is an invading force within Canterlot, but given the circumstances, I feel that this is connected to the disappearances..."

The mares sat in stony silence, even as the sounds of a panicking Canterlot grew louder.  MInutes passed, and still no course of action had been decided.

The doors slammed open.

"Your Majesties!" a guard shouted, as he penetrated the throne room.  He was accompanied by another guard, one who had been stationed outside the castle.  He looked a little worse for wear.

"Your Highness, I have come to inform you that Captain Flare has stationed guards all throughout Canterlot, but once we saw the enemy, he ordered the half of the guard to return and fortify the castle.  The rest are already out there engaging the enemy.  They are not interested in the city of Canterlot; they want to capture the castle..." the first guard reported.

Celestia placed a hoof to her chin in thought.

"I see.  What of the invasion force?"

"Uh... yes, your highness.  They are not ponies, griffons, or changelings.  They are... they are something like I've never seen.  They are completely foreign to me, but they number in around the three-hundred range.  They do not seem to be well-equipped, but a small percentage of them are carrying a dangerous sort of weapon that the Royal Guard cannot identify..."

"Three-hundred?  Seems very low..."

"I see.  Tell the guards out in the city of Canterlot to return to the castle immediately.  If they are not interested in the city, engaging them there would only bring danger to the population.  We will rout them at the castle and eliminate the threat in the courtyard..." Celestia ordered.  The guard saluted.

"P-Princess..." Twilight asked her mentor.  Celestia and Luna looked down at the six young mares who had been once again dragged into a conflict.  It was fortunate that they were already wearing the Elements of Harmony.

"Listen, you six.  You are the finest gifts to Equestria; you exemplify everything that Equestria stands for, you are national heroes, and you are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony.  That is why I am going to request your help..."

"I would prefer to end this conflict in the most non-violent way possible.  It is because of this that Luna and I will be taking to the castle courtyard, to see if we can negotiate with the invaders.  As the Elements of Harmony, I would be honored if you six would accompany me.  If there's anything that can make these invaders see reason, then it is the power of the Elements of Harmony..."

"Princess, we would be honored to, but...." she trailed off, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"I promise that no harm will come to any of you.  As long as you don't leave Luna's or my side, then you will be safe.  I guarantee it..." she reassured, in a matronly tone.

"Girls?" Twilight asked, turning to her five friends.  All of them had mixed reactions.

Rainbow Dash seemed to have the most bravado, and seemed thrilled to go out there and kick the flank of whoever would dare attack Canterlot.

Fluttershy just looked fightened.

Applejack didn't seem to like the events at all, but she was happy to support the Princess if she was needed.

Rarity seemed scared as well, but she was also complaining about the "brutishness" of the invaders and why anyone would ever negotiate with "ruffians" like them.

Lastly, Pinkie Pie seemed to think this was all a game.

Nevertheless, they all agreed to support their nation when it counted, even if it meant throwing themselves into dangerous territory.

"Let's go!" Pinkie Pie shouted enthusiastically.

The force of humans had dwindled down another fifty as they made their way into the castle courtyard.

The Royal Guard had apparently gotten wind of the oncoming humans, so they did the best they could to halt them before reaching the castle.

It was at this point that the humans realized that they were heavily outmatched.

Only a few of them even had guns in the first place, and the rest of them had to settle for things such as knives and axes.  It became apparent that those sharp melee weapons were no use against the guard's special armor.

Some of them even had to tangle with their bare hands.  That was just how little of a weapon stock that the organization had for them.

Of course, them trying to tangle barehanded against one of the Royal Guards was just asking for trouble.  Lambda watched as one of her own threw a punch at a golden-clad guard, only for it to clang against the armor.  The royal guard grunted and struck back with a hoof to the jaw, knocking blood and fragments of teeth out of his mouth.  The guard wrestled him to the ground and began hoof-punching him repeatably.  Blood and gore flew through the air as the human's face was battered.  He gurgled and screamed for mercy through a swollen bloody face, but it wasn't until he lost consciousness that the guard stopped.

Lambda heard another shriek to her right.  She saw another man get impaled through the abdomen by the trademark spears of the Royal Guard.  Armed with only a knife, he gagged up blood as the guard withdrew his spear, and blood rocketed from the wound.

It was becoming too much for Lambda, especially after a seeing a girl barely older than her get riddled with a barrage of arrows from guards on top of buildings.  She was one of the few with a gun, but she hadn't been trained well for it, and she had already run out of ammo anyway.

It was really only her who was keeping them advancing.  Her abilities allowed her to tangle with any guard she came across, and she was keeping their numbers manageable while reducing the losses on her side.

It was beginning to get a little too hectic though, and the Royal Guard seemed to be ready to take their victory.  Yet as soon as they advanced... they retreated.  The Royal Guard stopped their attack and galloped and flew away from the scene.  They appeared to be going back to the castle.

Lambda didn't waste this opportunity.

"They're retreating!  Break into the castle, hurry!" she shouted to the remaining two-hundred or so humans.  It wasn't like any of them had a choice though.

With her leading the charge, they broke into the castle courtyard.  The other humans followed right behind them, slightly more energized than when they were in the city.  They waved their weapons around, but they everyone halted in place when they glimpsed upon the Royal Guard.

At the center of it all, underneath the pale moonlight, Lambda saw them standing directly in front of the door leading to the interior of the castle, flanked by six mares.

Princesses Celestia and Luna had came out...