New Life, Same Soldier

A/N: I know it took me a long time to get this one out, but whenever I have time I usually get writer's block or my internet won't work. I will try to update at regular times (no promises on that), but it will be much harder now that I have high school and football to worry about.

Henry, Twilight, and the others had been directed to the infirmary in the Royal Guard barracks, where a Griffon soldier was staying. According to the guard, the Griffon had been in the midst of the Changeling invasion and ordered by his Emperor and both Princesses to send word of the fighting.

Henry looked at his friends as they were about to turn a corner and said, "You guys go get ready, we're leaving in the morning. I'll catch you up later." They agreed and went their separate ways. "Twilight?" She looked up at him questioningly. "Do you know anything about this Griffon?"

"No I don't, unfortunately. All I know is what we've already been told. We can ask him more, assuming he's awake."

A nurse stopped them as they turned another corner. "I assume you're talking about Griffon Lieutenant Bladewing?" Twilight nodded. "Yes he is awake, but is not in good condition at the moment. A few days of rest and he should be back in fighting shape." She went on her way, telling them that the infirmary was three doors down.

They entered the room to reveal the Griffon Lieutenant, who was the white room's only occupant. He was a bit larger than the ponies, and had a strange grey tint on the feathers of his wings. He looked up and said, "Are you the Elements of Harmony?"

Twilight studied him uncertainly. "Yes, and this is Henry." she said, nodding towards him.

"Yes, your princesses mentioned the four humans being occupied here." He studied Henry and raised an eyebrow. "I take it you are a soldier where you come from?"

Henry did not try to hide his surprise. "How did you know?"

He grinned. "We Griffons have been taught how to tell a trained soldier from a recruit or citizen. It took several years, but I finally got to where it only takes a few seconds. Would you like to know how?"

"Maybe later. When the Changelings are dealt with."

"Ah, yes I forgot. I apologize." He looked at Twilight. "Also forgive me for not bowing, your highness, but I'm not currently in a position to do so."

"Oh, it's fine," she said, turning away to hide her reddening face. "I never liked all that formal stuff anyway."

The Lieutenant laughed. "Then I should have no reason to apologize, correct?" Twilight couldn't find a response. "No matter. It feels good to speak freely with a member of royalty without fear of being banished somewhere."

"Uh, yeah. So, the guards suggested we try to talk to you about getting some information about the Changelings."

"Oh, I got plenty for ya. Bastards stormed the throne room as if they'd just snuck past all of the exterior guards. Emperor One-Eye told me take that letter to Canterlot. I had to crash through a window to get out, but I fell into a burning building." He seemed to shudder and continue. "The fire was green though, which weirded me out. What scared me was that I couldn't put it out."

Henry nodded in understanding. "You had to keep flying while the fire burned you alive."

"Exactly." Bladewing shook his large head. "Don't know how I survived, but I did. That's something." He sighed. "Anyway, you know the rest of what happened."

Twilight turned towards the door. "Then we'll leave you to your rest."

The door shut behind them as they heard the Griffon shifting in his bed to sleep. Fluttershy said, "That's very odd. Green fire that couldn't be put out. Have you ever heard of that Twilight?"

They started for the throne room, where Cadence was probably waiting. "I did see it mentioned a few years ago in a book before I came to Ponyville. The book said it was a flame spell that could be bound to physical objects, like weapons, created by an ancient race that existed before Discord's original defeat."

Henry was interested now. "Have you seen anything about the 'ancient race' before?"

"I don't know what they were or what they looked like if that's what you mean. There's almost no history books describing them in detail and those that do say nothing other than that they were tool users and very intelligent for their time since coming into existence." She looked around to make sure they were going the right way. "Most books that have mentioned say that Discord had a hoof in their creation."

"Damn. If that's true, he could just recreate them, couldn't he?"

"I'd bet that he could, but I doubt he would. Not unless he had a good reason."

Applejack spoke up. "I dunno about y'all, but I'd wager that those things y'all are talkin' about would be useful against them Changelings. At least, if we have to..." She trailed off, not needing to finish.

"AJ..." Henry looked at her and she met his apologetic gaze. "There is no if. They are going to have to die." Twilight and Rainbow Dash looked at him with what looked like fear while the others looked at anything but him. "I hate to be so blunt, but it's the truth."

They stepped through the open door in the throne room to find Cadence pacing in a panic. "Cadence, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"I'm really worried about Celestia and Luna. From what Lieutenant Bladewing told us, it's been eight hours and we haven't heard from either of them."

"Come on," Henry said rolling his eyes. "What makes you think they're not alright?"

"They would've sent some kind of message by now!" Cadence screamed, making the guards by the door jump.

"Okay, okay." Henry sighed. "Me and the guys are going to go back to that castle where our enemies from Earth are holed up in the morning and going to take their equipment retake whatever they stole from us." He cleared his throat. "The only problem is we don't know how to get there without having to cut our way through the forest."

"I-I might, um, be able to show you the way," Fluttershy said from behind her mane. "I-if that's alright with you, I mean."

"No," Twilight said. "I wouldn't stand for it if you got hurt, Fluttershy. Any of you. I'll go."

"Twilight," Henry said assuringly. "She'll be well out of the line of fire, and if what Rainbow's said is true, we'll need her if we run into a manticore or something. Besides, you need to help Cadence put together a defense plan and a counter attack in case this place gets assaulted."

Twilight growled in a way Henry thought impossible of a pony. "Fine. We'll direct things here. But if we don't hear from you in two days, we're all coming down there."

Henry looked at her uncertainly. Something about seeing her angry chilled him to the bones. "Fair enough."

The next day, Henry and his squad stood at the entrance of the Everfree Forest with Fluttershy. "Alright. Before we go in, let me repeat the plan," Henry said, checking his rifle for the fifth time since leaving the train. "Me and McKenzie will be in front, Captain and Roberts at the back. Fluttershy, you'll be in the middle of us four, directing us down the correct paths. Should we come across wild animals or natives, you decide our course of action."

They all agreed on the plan, Fluttershy being the only one to whimper a response from behind a wave of hair. As they entered, he said, "Remember, Fluttershy. You are to stay away from the castle and hide in the bushes. No matter what you hear, do not come look for us. If we're not back in two hours, go find your zebra friend that you were talking about earlier."

She nodded, oblivious to the fact that she was trembling with fear. "W-what if they aren't there, and they took everything with them?"

"Then that's too bad. We'll head back to Canterlot and help prepare for an invasion."

"Y'know, Henry," McKenzie started. "I know you're technically the boss here, but if this goes to shit and they aren't there, why not go and try to find those other princesses?"

"That would mean all of us going and-" Henry grunted as he tripped over a thick tree root and fell face-first into the dirt. "Dammit." He got up, spitting dust from his mouth. "As I was saying, all of us would have to go and that would mean leaving only the one princess and the Royal Guard."

Roberts spoke up. "What about that 'Discord?' Shouldn't he be powerful enough?"

McKenzie replied, "From what I've heard, I doubt he'd stand a chance in serious combat."

"Shut up," Henry said quietly, motioning for them to get lower. They followed his command and looked around. The yellow pony in their company whimpered as the distant popping of gunfire sounded out. He aimed his rifle and scanned the area to his left. "All clear over here."

"Same here."

"Ditto."

Captain slapped the side of his rifle twice, meaning they were all clear. Henry stood up. "Alright let's keep mo-" He stumbled backwards as a bullet whizzed just past his ear. "Everyone down! In the bushes!"

They scattered out as assault rifle rounds peppered the dirt path they had just been on. Henry laid over Fluttershy as Roberts scrambled backwards into the bushes on the left side. McKenzie did the same as Captain took cover behind a large tree. The rounds stopped and the dust settled. "What do you think that was?" Roberts asked.

Henry got up, still crouching over the shaking pony. "First shot was a sniper, definitely. Fluttershy, how far from the castle are we?"

"W-w-we're a-about a quarter into the forest," she answered, very frightened.

Henry called out to their two other teammates. "You two still alive?"

"I'm green," McKenzie said. "Scared shitless by almost being killed again, but I'm good. Dunno about the captain, though." Two clunks sounded from a nearby tree. "Yeah, he's alright."

"I would tell you to get over here, but I don't want to risk whoever shot at us." He paused to think. "Keep moving in the direction of the path until you hit a split. If there's a tree, hit it three times and I'll answer with six. Repeat every two minutes until you get my answer. Got it?"

"Ten-four, loud and clear, boss. See you three later."

He heard the two begin moving their way through the bushes slowly. As they began to do the same, Roberts said quietly, "Henry, do you think they've got any kind of traps?"

"Don't know. They may not have had time to lay any land mines, and I doubt they'd have any kind of motion-sensing traps. No way to tell until someone blows up or gets shredded." Fluttershy whimpered at his last statement.

They continued in silence for another five minutes until Henry peeked out of the shrubs and saw that the path was splitting into two different directions. "Now we wait for McKenzie's signal." Another five minutes passed and he heard three clunks come from the other side, and hit the tree next to him six times in reply.

"That you, boss?" McKenzie's voice called out quietly.

"Yeah, we're all here. How about you?"

"We're good over here. What's the plan?"

"We have to find that sniper. Roberts, think you can find him?"

"If we were in a desert and I had some high ground, then yeah. Not here or now though."

"Shit. In that case, who's the fastest here?"

Henry looked across to see McKenzie looking at him like he was crazy. "Flutters there is definitely the fastest, she's got four legs and fucking wings. The question is, who's the dumbest?"

"I-I might have a-an idea that could work..." Fluttershy said. "I mean, if you don't mind."

"Damn right I want to hear it. McKenzie, hold there."

After a few minutes, the timid pony had explained her plan and Henry added a few details. "Fluttershy, you are a fucking genius. This really could work."

Roberts huffed. "Remember kiddies, it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for."

Henry rolled his eyes. "I'll give you guys five minutes to get back and I'll start the show. Remember, on the third signal, come and get me out."

About fifteen minutes later, they waited in the bushes just outside the castle, and they could see that the remaining humans inside were on alert. "Might not have been a good idea to let those three go, boss."

"A grown man drunk in the middle of pony world yelling in gibberish.' Sure." Henry rolled his eyes. "I think they're more worried about the gunshots and missing men."

McKenzie paused. "Good point."

Henry looked at the crumbling stone structure and noticed that a large part of the wall had been torn down. "Fluttershy, is that wall supposed to be like that?"

She looked and scrunched up her face in thought. "It-it wasn't like that the last time we were here a few months ago. Why?"

"Just looks odd, that's all." Henry shook his head to clear out any negative thoughts, then spoke again. "Remember, Fluttershy, no matter what you hear, stay put. I don't want to think about what you could see in there." She looked at him fearfully, but he looked away. "Just don't put yourself in danger. Please."

He stood up and looked back. "C'mon guys. We've got a job to do."

Twilight sat down beside the throne in which Cadence sat in a huff. "Is something wrong, Twilight?" she asked, concerned.

"Everything's wrong, Cadence!" She stood up quickly and began pacing. "We have a Changeling invasion on our doorstep, said invaders have begun using lethal tactics, four somewhat friendly creatures bred from war and death from another dimension with an unknown number of more that could be out to kill us, the two most powerful Alicorns in existence are missing and possibly dead!"

Twilight turned to face Cadence, the latter of which could clearly see tears flowing freely down the former's face. "And I am just so confused right now..." She slumped to the floor and began crying into her hooves. "I just don't know what to do!"

"Oh Twilight, I'm sure everypony is fine," Cadence said, standing to comfort her sister-in-law. "The moon and sun rose like they normally do. That has to mean Auntie Celestia and Luna are fine."

Twilight continued to sob as Discord appeared in the throne room. He seemed to be out of breath. "Hate to burst your bubble, but that was me."

"You mean you rose the moon and the sun?!" Cadence gave him a surprised but angry glare.

"And let me tell you..." He shook his and laughed, but not with his usual arrogance. "The sun sure takes a lot out of ya. That thing is freaking heavy."

Twilight stood up, wiping her face with a hoof. "Yes, I'm worried about the princesses, the citizens, and our friends, but more than anything..." She met eyes with Cadence, in way that seemed to dishearten Discord. "I'm just plain scared."

Henry ducked down behind a large pile of stone bricks and a burst of gunfire sounded. "Fuck!" They had drastically underestimated how many there were hiding out in the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. They had expected a few dozen at the most, but there were instead at least a hundred. "McKenzie, now would be a good time for some grenades!"

"I'm on it!" The group's pyro pulled a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and threw it blindly into the building. A few seconds of panicked yelling later, and explosion rocked the ground, sending bits of stone and body parts flying. He poked his head up to look at the destruction he had wrought, but quickly came back down and braced himself. "Shit! Heads down, secondaries!"

Henry braced as more violent explosions partially collapsed one corner of the castle ruins. "Celestia's probably gonna be pissed about that!" he yelled to no one in particular. There was a noticeable decrease in gunfire, which was replaced with more yelling and the roar of fire. Henry looked into the area McKenzie had thrown the grenade and found that several barrels of gasoline had exploded.

"Gasoline barrels!" he called out. "You think they've got vehicles here?"

"If they do," Roberts yelled back from somewhere around a corner, "I'd say it's best to avoid destroying them! We might could use them!"

Wait a minute... "Where the hell did Captain go?!"

"Dunno, man! How about we take care of these guys before we start thinking about what ifs?!"

"Dammit!" Another explosion, this time closer, rattled his bones and made cover his head with his hands.

Rainbow breathed heavily as she quickly maintained the weather in Ponyville. She'd flown from Canterlot after being woken up late and missing breakfast. "Damn it," she said, flinching at her growling stomach. "Gotta get something to eat."

She hovered and looked around the town. "Too hungry to go all the way back in time for lunch." She looked warily at the Golden Oak Library. "I wonder if Spike's home."

She flew down and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, a tired looking baby dragon opened the door with a yawn. "Oh, hey Dash. What's up?"

"Just came by to see if we could have a late breakfast. The girls are up in Canterlot still and I don't feel like flying all the way back up there on an empty stomach."

"Yeah, I still have some leftovers from last night." He yawned again and walked inside. "Come in if you want to. You know where everything is."

Rainbow entered and closed the wooden door. It felt odd and strangely lonely here with just Spike. I'll only be a few minutes, then back up to Canterlot. She walked into the kitchen and looked through the cabinets. She didn't find much other than a lot of empty ice cream cartons. "Spike?"

"Yeah?" he answered from the next room.

"Why are there so many empty cartons of ice cream?"

She could hear his small claw slap against his face. "Oh no..." He walked in and looked around. "I forgot about all of that."

"I'll make you a deal," she said smugly. "I won't tell Twilight about this as long as you can make me some food in five minutes."

He groaned, then looked around the room again. "Alright, fine. Just don't tell Twilight, please?"

"As long as you keep your end of the deal."

Henry hugged the wall as he ran down a hallway within the large library. Bullets whistled past him and implanted themselves into the ancient books, some of them irreplaceable originals. Twilight's gonna be pissed about those, probably. A bullet finally found its mark, tearing into his left knee cap. "GODDAMMIT!"

He fell to the ground and hit face-first for the second time that day, except this time his nose broke and began bleeding upon contacting the cold stone. He crawled up behind a wall as more bullets peppered the stone around him. He put his hands around the wound, crying out at the pain. "Shit. Shit shit shit shit!" He slammed a fist against one of the bookcases, knocking dust and some books loose.

No, I'm gonna be okay. It's just the knee. Need something to wrap it up. He looked down at his shirt. Sorry Rarity. He ripped the shirt apart and wrapped the strips tightly around the hole. Let's see if I can stand. He grabbed a shelf and pulled himself unsteadily onto his feet. "Just a bit of pressure and-" just as he began to take a step, his leg gave out. As he fell, he grabbed helplessly at some of the books still standing on a shelf.

But he didn't fall.

Instead, one of the books came out partially and a bookshelf moved slowly out of the way, revealing a hidden passage. Still gripping the fake book, he pulled himself up onto one leg. Let's see where this goes. He hopped along into the passage, putting a hand up for support. As he entered, the bookshelf moved back into place. Torches planted on the walls lit up in a magical light, allowing him to see.

He looked back one more time, listening to the approaching footsteps and unfamiliar voices. He turned around and continued down the hallway.

Luna felt... odd. It felt like she was asleep, but she knew she wasn't. Like when she entered someone else's dream. A strange mixture of relaxation and urgency, but something felt off. She knew she was awake, but she couldn't seem to open her eyes. She thought something was- there it was again! She was surrounded by something and whatever it was was moving! It kind felt like something had enveloped her body and was sucking the life out of her.

Hold on a moment... She realized where she was. She was in one of those pods made by the Changelings to hold prisoners, she knew from what her elder sister had told her when Chrysalis crashed Cadence's wedding. I've some magic still. I'll just blast- She stopped in mid-thought. This can't be...

She couldn't use her magic and she couldn't move. She was truly helpless. "Luna..." Her mind recoiled. It sounded like Celestia's voice had just spoke to her in her mind. "That's because I did."

"Sister?"

"Yes, Lulu. These pods cut off any use of magic and movement, but cannot block out telepathy."

A familiar voice broke through the blackness. "Thank you for the heads up," Chrysalis said.

Luna knew Chrysalis was preparing a spell to block out telepathic speaking, but Celestia spoke to her once more. "Do not show fear, sister. Be strong." There was another noise as the Changeling Queen's spell took effect.

Luna used scared truly scared of one thing, and one thing only. That fear was of losing a sister. Since that time over one thousand years ago, she had developed a new fear. A fear she had forgotten during her time spent as Nightmare Moon, and had only just resurfaced. She was scared of losing both.

Henry sat heavily in the oak wood chair that sat in the large stone room hidden underground. "What the hell is this?" He looked over the desk and found a small, leather bound book laying there. "Huh..." He picked up the book and looked at the cover. There was nothing on the cover other than a nasty looking scorch mark.

He put the book in his pocket, opting to read it later. He then looked around and found a trunk in the corner of the dim room. A note sat on the lid that read, in a very elegant handwriting, Use what you find inside. He opened it and his eyes widened at what he saw.

Armor. For a human. "What the fuck?" he said quietly. It was made of steel and bronze, and looked as if it had never been used. He went through the entire chest found several things that made him think it was no coincidence he'd found it.

A plain white undershirt, the steel and bronze armor, leggings and boots to match, bronze-plated gauntlets, chain mail to rest over the armor, and an oversized cloak to cover it all. He took a shot in the dark and tried it all on, and everything fit perfectly. "Now this is fucking weird," he said, his voice wavering slightly. He turned to leave the room and saw that two new items rest on the desk.

There was a bottle filled with a red liquid with a note that said simply, Drink. He did, though hesitantly, and the liquid had a strange but not unpleasant sourness to it. Almost instantly, the pain in his knee vanished. He removed the leg armor to find that only the blood from the gunshot wound was there. Other than that, all other remnants of it had vanished.

Next was a large piece of cloth covering something large. He removed it to find a large sword, but when he picked up the ancient weapon, he found that it was next to weightless. The blade was easily an inch thick, two inches wide, and five feet long, made up of an unknown black metal. Though large, the edges were razor thin. The hilt and guard was easily a foot long combined, and the was made out of a very sturdy wood. He turned the large sword upside down let the tip of the blade rest on the ground. It was almost as tall as he was.

"Now this is fucked up." He picked up the piece of paper that was under the sword and read it. This sword will never falter in battle and will never need to be sharpened. Command it as you would do your own body, and bloody its blade once more. "Here goes nothing." He couldn't exactly carry it out, despite how light it was. He did as the note said and commanded to get smaller.

It shrunk down to the size of a large dagger, about two feet in length. "Holy shit. It worked..." He noticed a convenient slot for it on the breastplate of the armor, sticking out of the chainmail, which he stored for the time being. He read the rest of the paper. One more gift for your endeavor. Check the right pocket. He did, and found a simple golden ring. Put it on and use it to teleport to any location of your choice, though it must a specific place.

He removed his right gauntlet and put the ring on his ring finger, then replaced the armor piece. Everything fit comfortably, like it was made for him and him only. "What the fuck does all of this mean?" he asked as if there was another person in the room with him. He shook his head and looked at the paper one more time. You are only a small piece of the puzzle, but even the smallest piece is needed to complete it. Time is your greatest ally, but even it will abandon you eventually.

He was about to use the ring to get out of the room, but before he could, he heard a voice. It sounded motherly, yet older than time itself. "Your coming here was no coincidence, human. You have a purpose in this world, but fate does not command you. Do what you think is right, but remember this: Everypony has their own fate, and their own destiny. It is up to you and you alone which to choose."

"Who are you? What do you want?" He did not want to be messed with at this point.

"Do not fret, human, you will find out eventually, trust me in that. I have been waiting for the one to come in this room, and here you are. I have only this chance to speak before I pass into eternal slumber, so I ask you of one favor. Take that book to Princesses Celestia and Luna. And..."The voice trailed off, and when she spoke again, she sounded like she was fighting back tears. "Tell my dear Crystal that I forgive her."

Before he could question what the final sentence meant, the room suddenly felt empty, as if the air had held substance. "I don't know what that means, but..." He felt of the ring on his finger and thought of a place. "I'll figure it out eventually." He disappeared from the room.

It was lunchtime in Canterlot, and Twilight Sparkle was leaving the throne room when she heard a voice yell, "Holy shit!" There was a clatter of armor and she turned around to see-

"Henry?"

He stood up, groaning. "That didn't go well..." He shook his head and blinked a couple of times. "Hey, Twilight." He reached into a pocket on the inside of a cloak he hadn't had this morning and threw a small book to her, which she caught with her magic. "Hold that for me." Before she could ask, he'd disappeared into thin air.

"Wha-what?" She stared blankly into the large vacant room. "Did that just happen?"

Henry landed face-first, now for the fourth time, on the ground. He stood up, disoriented, and faced a house that was made from a tree. "Is this Zecora's Hut? A tree?" He shook his head and knocked on the door.

The door opened and he found a surprised looking zebra. "What sort of creature are you, one that stands on not four legs but two?"

"No time for rhyming, are you Zecora?" She nodded. "Is Fluttershy here?"

"You did not answer my question." She eyed him suspiciously. "Are you running from apprehension?"

"No, I-" He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am not a fugitive. I'm making sure she's safe before I get back to help my friends!"

"I sense something amiss, so riddle me this: What would you do for a Klondike bar?"

Henry blinked. "...What?"

Suddenly, he felt water rush over his face. He noticed he was now laying on the ground. Sitting up, he saw Fluttershy looking him with concern, setting a bucket on the ground beside her. "A-are you okay, Henry?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest." He shook his head violently. "That was probably the weirdest thing that's happened so far."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"I'll tell you later, but right now, I need to get back to the castle. Preferably a way without breaking my nose in the process." He stood up, thinking back to what had just happened. He said to himself, "That had better have been a fucking hallucination."

Twilight sat down next to Rainbow Dash at the dining table in the Canterlot Palace for lunch, setting the book down next to her prepared plate. "What's that?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know. There's no title, or if there was I can't find it because of the burn on the cover, and it's bound closed by some kind of ancient magic." Rainbow gave her a blank look. "Some kind of magic from a really long time ago is keeping me from opening and reading it."

"That's weird. How about you ask Discord?"

Twilight facehoofed. "Why didn't I think of that?" She looked up at the ceiling and waited. "Well?"

"That's some serious stuff, Miss Sparkle." Discord had suddenly appeared and was studying the book. "Haven't seen magic from this pony in a very long time." Discord appeared to be worried. "And I'm tens of thousands of years old. That's saying something." He hovered down to the floor and walked his back legs to them. "Where'd you get this?"

"That's the weird part. Henry appeared from thin air, literally, told me told 'hold onto it for him,' then disappeared again."

Discord carefully laid the book back where Twilight had put it. He looked sad, almost... mournful? "That is a very important book, Twilight Sparkle," he said solemnly. "I do not know its contents or exact purpose, but it is important nonetheless. Keep it safe. It is part of something bigger than all of us." He turned to leave, and stated simply, "Something much bigger."