Changelings ran rampant through the city, terrorizing it's citizens. Celestia was captured and Luna is nowhere to be seen. The Elements of Harmony wreak destruction as they fight their way to where the Elements are kept. If they could just get there in time, they could turn back this chaos and bring back the happy, peaceful city they knew. What had started out as a trip to Canterlot for a wedding has now tuned into a fight for their very lives as the chitin covered beings try to stop them every step of the way. As they run, they see husks of ponies, drained of emotion, laying on the ground. Some ponies were just outright killed, bloody holes marking the passage of horn or sword.
This wasn't what Twilight thought an invasion might be like. Then again, she didn't know what to think it'd be like. She's never been in one and the oldest book depicting an invasion was about the Gryphon Wars and was blatantly censored in many areas. It would mention armies closing on each other with blades and spells readied for war and yet it wouldn't speak of the actual battle and would only mention who won.
The purple unicorn assumed that this was a plan of Celestia's to keep her ponies a friendly sort. If books always had scenes of death and carnage in them, then the population reading those books would surely be violent and war-thirsty, right? Either way, she was getting a full taste of war now as she charged through the streets, avoiding the green bolts that she had earlier learned were not stun spells when she saw one hit a mare as she tried to get inside.
Finally, Twilight and her party reached the Element chamber. They were greeted by an army of Changelings. Fighting through the Changelings, stunning them when they could, the group found themselves soon captured by a surprise attack inside the chamber. When they awoke, they found themselves inside the Throne Room of the Canterlot Castle. Queen Chrysalis was there, going on about her plan and how the ponies wouldn't be able to stop her.
Through careful manipulation of magic and the Queen's diversion of attention, Twilight was able to free Cadence and tell her to go to Twilight's brother. What happened next surprised even Twilight as Cadence seemed to break Chrysalis's hold on Shining Armor. Then, together, the two combined their powers, and their love, to create a spell that reached out across the city and blew Chrysalis and her goop from the Throne Room, freeing the ponies and Celestia. Celestia, tired from the cocoon's influence immediately passed out. Before anypony could really cheer or help the Princess, though, they made a horrible discovery. The Changelings were still in the city!
Not only that but now there were two, large, green beasts hovering in the sky. Twilight watched in a mixture of different emotions (awe, fear, hope, horror) as they seemed to scan the city with their eyes. Eyes that sat one on top of the other and seemed to move independently from the other. The purple unicorn also realized that a strange attachment underneath the beast moved with one of the eyes.
"Woah, what the hell happened?" questioned CW3 Smith as he looked around at his sudden change in scenery. One second he was flying his Apache on a mission in the sandbox and next, he's next to a large mountain over a city built on the side of afore mentioned mountain.
"I don't know, but I'm seeing some strange creatures on the ground. Looks like... horses?" replied Smith's CPG, CW2 Fraiser, as she panned the TADS system, located on the front of the Apache, so that the cameras could scan the streets of the city. What she saw were a bunch of technicolor horses fighting what appeared to be insect versions of themselves.
"2-3, you seeing this?" asked the voice of Smith's counterpart in the other Apache, CW4 Hent.
"Affirmative 2-3. What do think?" Smith asked.
"You know what I think?" interrupted WO1 Gohl, who was Hent's CPG, "I don't think we're one Earth anymore. I think that we're in a FUBAR'd First Contact situation."
"However much that sounds like a conspiracy theory, I'm gonna have to agree with him on this one 2-3," Hent added. Smith just sighed as he looked at the images coming up on the device in front of his right eye. He could see some of them wearing armor and wielding weapons. No matter how much he wanted to disagree, he felt that he couldn't.
"Even so, it looks like we stumbled in on some sort of battle," Fraiser stated. That was also true as Smith could see fights in the streets and what were unmistakably corpses.
"So, who do we help?" Hent asked.
Before anyone could say anything, a couple of green bolts reached up for the hovering Apaches. Though most missed, some hit and scorched the helicopters' plating.
"Direction?" Smith asked as he tried to maneuver the aircraft to avoid getting hit again.
"Directly below," Fraiser replied, "looks to have come from one of the insect things."
"Well, looks like that answers that question," Gohl commented.
"That it does. Thirty Mike-Mike only. Don't want to hurt the civvies," Hent ordered.
"2-3 copies. Waiting for your go, 2-1," Smith replied as Fraiser set up her weapons system accordingly.
"Alright, let's show these things why the Russians fear us."
Fraiser smiled, "Sandstorm 2-3 copies and is engaging."
Twilight had sat watching the two beasts hover over the city. They just sat there, looking around with those weird eyes. The unicorn flinched when she saw the green bolts fly into the air at the beasts. When the bolts struck, she thought that they would go down. She couldn't hear the bolts hit over the weird things' wings but she did see the scorch marks. Surprisingly, the two beasts simply moved away, as if only troubled.
A couple seconds later and Twilight found herself trying to cling to the ceiling like a startled cat as thunder roared from the beasts. The strange thing under their... nose, the only she could think of, belched fire and shouted thunder. It also dropped pieces of metal that glittered in the sunlight. Looking down at the courtyard, she could see Changelings exploding, great holes appearing in the ground. She quickly made the connection that wherever that thing pointed, the Changelings exploded. She was scared, now, more by the beasts and their weird spell than the Changelings.
With the Changeling numbers dwindling in the immediate area, the two beasts began to move slowly over the city, their great wings causing a wind that tried to blow trees sideways. Looking down at the avenue in front of the castle, Twilight gasped. An army of Changelings were advancing on the castle, seemingly undeterred by the gruesome death of their comrades. In the middle of them was a hulking brute of a Changeling that stood a whole pony taller than it's brethren.
"Mob advancing on indigenous Castle. Take care of it 2-3. Rockets authorized."
"Affirmative. Taking care of it."
Without warning, pillars of fire fell into the Changeling ranks. Where the pillars fell, great fireballs took their place. Looking up, she saw one of the beasts hovering over the Castle gates. She noticed other things hanging off of smaller wings hat she didn't notice before. Two cylinders on the wing were spawning the pillars of fire, sending them crashing into the Changeling ranks. The explosions, mixed with the beasts roar, caused Twilight to cover her ears. A glance to the left and right revealed that everypony else in the Castle had joined her at the balcony with mouths agape and ears covered. She thought she saw her brother mouth "Sweet Celestia" but didn't comment on it as she looked back at the carnage. The beast had stopped with it's spell and seemed to wait for the smoke to clear.
When it did, Twilight was amazed to see the Brute still standing. The large creature looked at the hovering beast and roared defiantly. Twilight was worried. If the mysterious newcomer couldn't take it down, then how could the ponies?
"Big guys still up."
"Hellfire?"
"One sec. Oh, I got a lock."
"2-1, we-"
"Authorized, take it down."
"Roger that," Fraiser replied with a grin.
Twilight continued watching the the beast above the gate. The other was flying over the city, firing spells at Changelings that she couldn't see. At least, she hoped it was firing at Changelings. A roar smaller than the beast made her flinch as a pillar detached from the beast, spat fire out the back and then flew at the Brute. The Brute, seeing it coming, lowered it's thick head plates toward the pillar.
"There's no way..." Twilight whispered sadly. She watched the pillar until it struck the Brute, expecting the Brute to shrug it off like it did the others. This time, though, the pillar blew and the Brute blew with it, scattering it's guts over the street. Twilight sat down hard, her mouth agape at what she had just witnessed. She also realized that Chrysalis was laying dead in the middle of her horde.
"Ha, tank down."
"Nice Frais."
"2-3, began a run over the city. We've about cleared them out of the streets. The indigenous should be able to handle the rest."
"Roger that."
With an increase in volume, the beast above the gate moved away and began to fly over the city like it's sister.
"I don't know if our prayers were answered," began Cadence as she stepped up beside Twilight, "but I feel that either way, we have brought monsters upon Equestria."
Twilight merely nodded as she watched the beasts tear apart unseen Changelings. About a hour later, the beasts stopped firing their spells and began to move away from the city.
"They're le-leaving?" Twilight asked in disbelief. She was happy... and scared. She felt in danger without those beasts watching over the city. However, she also knew that it was a good thing that they flew off. They were dangerous.
"2-1, 2-3. What now?"
"I don't know 2-3. I don't know."
Author's Note
I work on the Apache helicopters (more specifically; their electronics, avionics, and weapons) and got this idea out of nowhere. It's a OneShot mostly because I wouldn't know how to continue this without going into the "Totally Impossible" area.
Hope you enjoyed it though.
