Crimson

Shining Armor slammed a hoof into the table, cracking the surface.

"Damn it!" he shouted.

With a buck, the table went flying into a nearby wall, breaking apart into dozens of fragments. The Prince-Captain galloped out of his office as he thought over the mission reports.

It was supposed to be another great day in the Crystal Empire, just an average routine. Converse with the Guards from Canterlot over re-training of the Crystal Warriors, written exams and psychological evaluations for the Officers, and some tea with Cadance while discussing names for their imminent foal.

But that had shattered the moment he woke up today.

The Royal Guards that had been stationed in the Crystal Palace had all collapsed and began screaming in pain for no reason. They were brought in to emergency care by the nearby Crystal Warriors.

That was when they found the enchantments.

The staff at the hospital had no idea what was working inside those helmets, but the Officers that had been called in to investigate recognized the curses off the bat. They were marked by Sombra's Dark Magic.

Shining had thought it was impossible. He had seen Sombra die when they found the Crystal Heart, there was no way that he could have survived, let alone possessed the entire Royal Guard, no matter how powerful he claimed to be.

But the tests didn't lie. It was Dark Magic, and the Crystal Warriors had explicitly told them how.

Sombra can't die, only be set back.

'I'll just have to kill him myself,' Shining thought.

If only that were the worst of the news.

"Shining!"

The unicorn slid to a halt when he heard his beloved's voice call out to him. He turned his head to see her hobbling towards him, her bump finally starting to show through her slender frame.

"Cady, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I heard about what happened," she said. "I didn't want to believe it, but I felt his hatred, their fears, all of it, circulate through the Heart."

"Shit. How close is he? Do we need to throw up the barrier?"

"No, he can't reach us yet. I don't know where he is."

"There's no need to be afraid of him, Cady, we can-"

"It's not him I'm afraid of."

Shining nodded grimly before turning to the closest two Crystal Warriors.

"You two keep at my wife's side at all times. Protect her at any cost."

They snapped to a salute before going to Cadance's sides.

"Shining, be safe."

The two closed in and shared a kiss before the Prince-Captain shot off down the halls.

\\\//////

Shining Armor arrived at the barracks of the Crystal Warriors covered in a sheen of sweat. He examined the fixed gazes of everypony before him as he tried to find any fault or flaw to indicate one of those things being present.

Satisfied with what he saw, Shining Armor nodded and went up to the front of the hall and put some magic behind his voice.

"Listen up, everypony! We are in a state of emergency! As of now, Equestria and the Royal Guard have been compromised entirely from the inside. Sombra somehow managed to trap the entirety of Equestria's Guards in a massive mind-control spell. They are out of commission at best, and after us at worst. The Princesses aren't anywhere to be found, save for Princess Cadance. However, there is more to this situation than just the return of Sombra."

Shining pulled out a letter he had received from Luna and reread it to be accurate. He closed his eyes and sighed before taking a deep breath.

"According to Princess Luna, approximately 40 hours ago, an alien had landed in Equestria's borders."

This revelation shook the base to its core. The Crystal ponies here were exchanging glances and gasping already.

"That is not all. Apparently, it is some kind of super-soldier designed to be immune to most forms of magic and has weapons that are powerful enough to cut through even alicorn-level magic. Celestia herself was beaten unconscious by it and was nearly killed."

"Is it on our side?" a random Private asked.

"Speak when spoken to, Private," Shining Armor stated, "and no, it's not. We have confirmation from Princess Celestia that... the Changelings have control of this alien soldier, as well as a massive warship that is entirely immune to magic."

This sent shockwaves throughout the Crystal Warriors.

"Changelings?"

"They're back?"

"Controlling an alien?"

"How many are there?"

Shining stomped a hoof onto the ground, the snap echoing through the hall and silencing the Warriors.

"We don't have an accurate estimate to their numbers, but I can tell you this. If you suspect anypony of being a Changeling or under Sombra's influence, do not hesitate to act. And if you see any of those bugs, crush them on sight."

The Warriors froze at this order.

"Sir, permission to speak?" a pegasus asked.

"Granted."

"Why should we worry about the Changelings? Shouldn't we ally wi-"

The pegasus was cut off by a stomp from Shining Armor's hoof.

"Absolutely NOT! I will never ally myself with those love-sucking monsters! I don't care if they say they can end Sombra with a flick of their hole-riddled hooves, we will not cooperate with those things! Kill on sight, that's an order!" Shining roared.

The Prince-Captain took a few seconds to catch his breath as he saw the reaction from the Warriors. Most of them looked shocked and somewhat appalled, and a few even looked... mad? No, Shining wasn't seeing things right. He was tired, only just having woken up into this nightmare of a situation.

"We are hereby initiating a state of emergency. Curfews for all citizens are between 6 am and 7:30 pm. No one is to be seen out of their homes outside of this timezone, or they will be brought in under pretenses of treason or of being a Changeling spy. Dismissed."

\\\//////

The Officers looked down upon Shining Armor with distaste, one in particular scowling harshly at the words of the Prince-Captain.

"Racist bastard, all of those Equestrians," she growled.

"They have some excuse, Miss Inkwell," the stallion beside her said, filing at the curve of his horn. "His wedding was crashed by the Hive."

"But we don't know why! We shouldn't rule out the possibility of desperate measures being a necessity for them!"

"We won't be solving any issues whilst bickering amongst ourselves," an older stallion stated. "But this does prove my suspicion. Cadance is not the true heir we were waiting for."

"To think we swore an oath to them," Inkwell said.

"We swore an oath to the true inheritors of the Crystal Throne. We will serve in time, but for now, we must act without being noticed." The older stallion gazed into the crowd before a blue flame washed over him, turning his brown coat black, and his eyes to slits. "We will find our Mother's Inheritor, and our siblings will return to their rightful home. For Hive and Heart."

The room lit up with blue flames as the Changelings shed their disguises, their bodies lithe and smooth, without holes or breaks in their chitin. Each had their own mane and iris colors, the armor they donned morphed green with the symbol of the Crystal Heart etched into their barrels.

"For Hive and Heart, we will serve our Mother, and her descendants."

"Gather scouting party Centurion-Six. It's time we reunite the family."