The Newcomer

For the first time the class was tired, bored, and on the brink of falling asleep listening to Ms. Cheerilee give one of her normally famous and fun lessons. They started to drift into their own little pockets of mental space, and asleep. While some were staring at the clock waiting for the bell to ring to be dismissed from school, but there in the back row, three little fillies were also waiting for the Bell to ring but they were doing something with their time left in class, they were planning.

"Right, first we should make a list of the things we have tried this time." insisted Sweetie Belle, a white unicorn with an extremely puffy and curly mane and tale, almost like cotton candy.

"Sweetie Belle, it would just be a lot easier to make a list of the things that we haven't tried." said Scootaloo, an orange Pegasus with a purple wind swept mane and tail.

"Scoots right Sweetie Belle we don't have enough time, quills, ink, or paper to make a list that long." said Apple Bloom, a simple down to earth pony quite literally, she was an average everyday run of the mill earth pony with a yellow coat, red mane and tale with a big salmon bow in it.

"CLASS!" yelled Ms. Cheerilee, "I know that this is not the most interesting class topic for the day but please, PAY ATTENTION!!" The class was taken by surprise at the sudden tone that she had used, they knew that calm, gentle mare standing at the front of the class would never use that tone of voice unless there was trouble or a really bad day.

With a sharp pain in her horn Sweetie Belle gave a loud cry in short agony, one after another every unicorn in the class had the same thing happen to them. Cheerilee in complete astonishment, looked in bewilderment as the unicorns of the class moaned and groaned and cried grasping their horns in pain. Ms. Cheerilee galloping to the side of Sweetie Belle, nose now bleeding due to extreme pain, looking around the room she now noticed that a pattern was begging to present itself, the ponies closest to the door where experiencing less pain, Cheerilee began to think but lost her train of thought when one of her students stared at the lights screaming. After a few seconds Ms. Cheerilee began to notice it too, the lights were flickering more and more growing in intensity with each passing moment.

"Everypony-" but before she could finish her sentence one of the light bulbs exploded sending a bolt of electricity through the air striking the ceiling, then three more bulbs burst sending out bolts of electricity one hitting the adjacent fixture, one the window and one the chalkboard. With even more urgency in her voice now she yield at the top of her lungs as loud as she could hoping to be heard over the loud cracks as the four lights continued sending bolts in every direction, "OUT!! NOW!!!" Without hesitation every student ran for the door. With every student out of the school Cheerilee looked back one last time to see if there was anypony else in the room, as far as she could tell there was no one left in the room now but her, but what she did see was the bolts now striking one spot in the center of the ceiling, suddenly with a gasp of understanding she grabbed the one thing left behind by one of the students, Scootaloo’s scooter. With a hired pace she ran to her class, scooter in hoof, with panic in her voice she pulled Scootaloo aside, "Scootaloo, go get Twilight and come back here as fast as you can!"

Scootaloo realizing what she had to do took off like a flash not even noticing that Ms. Cheerilee had forgotten to give her the helmet. Looking back over her shoulder Scootaloo saw the most terrifying thing she had ever seen, clouds blacker than the night began to circle the Bell tower on top of the school. Within minutes Scootaloo reached the town library where Twilight Sparkle lived. Not even parking her scooter Scootaloo ran into the house not knocking either but she didn't have time to knock, something was happening at the school and it did not look good. Running around the house yelling for Twilight, with no response Scootaloo checked the basement, no Twilight, she checked the kitchen, still no Twilight. Running to the next place in the house that Scootaloo thought that she could be she ran to the study. Bursting in chest heaving she finally found Twilight and Spike practicing a transfiguration spell on what looked like an orange crossed with a toad. Hearing the door slam open made Spike jump and turn around in surprise. Running with worry on his face, Spike, a small green and purple baby dragon, sat beside Scootaloo trying to comfort her. After getting Scootaloo to calm down he rushed over to Twilight, looked and her in the eye, “Twi there is somepony here to see you.” with a startled look on her face Twilight turned to see Scootaloo, panic still on her face on the brink of crying, sitting on the floor. Now with a puzzled look on her face the purple unicorn went over to Scootaloo, after asking what was wrong Scootaloo began to explain everything that had happened and was happening. With a look of surprise and worry on her face she turned to Spike, with panic on her face and in her voice.

“Send a letter to the princess labeled ‘emergency’, I am going with Scootaloo to see if there is anything that I can do,” with that said she turned to Scootaloo “Scootaloo, hold on as tight as you can to me, we don’t have time to walk so we are going via teleportation spell.” Grasping on to Twilight with all her might she closed her eyes, with a crack she felt a sudden and strange feeling wash over her, she closed her eyes even tighter, with another crack the strange feeling was gone and she could feel the ground under her hooves once again.

"All right, give me an update as to what is going on and how long it has been doing this." After Ms. Cheerilee gave a full explanation as to what was going on, after five minutes of explanation, examining, and thinking Twilight finally turned.

“Well I can say with the utmost confidence I have no idea as to what is going on, but I can tell you that it is not magic or at least any type that I have seen or felt before, and that it is very unst-,” but before she could finish her sentence an electric blue bolt of energy shot up out of the bell tower and into the swirling vortex of clouds sending out a thunderous crack louder than any bolt of lightning ever heard.

“See just as I thought, unstable, and very powerful.” Just as she finished saying the bolt of energy shot back down and into the Bell tower with an explosion of light and sound sending the door flying 30 yards followed by a cloud of electrified dust and ash.

“CLASS, TAKE COVER!!” Yelled Ms. Cheerilee over the roar of the cloud thundering toward them. Without any hesitation Twilight put up a protective spell around her and all of the students outside in the path of the cloud, only seconds later the cloud made contact with the barrier of purple energy sending bolts of magical feedback back into Twilight’s glowing horn making her buckle and moan under the power coursing through her body looking over her shoulder at the fillies starting at her in awe, fascination, and some in worry. With a smug smile she stood up tall and with all her might she gave the shield all the power she could muster hoping the they could not see through her clever ruse as she grew weaker and weaker with each passing moment of stopping the flying books and shards of broken glass from hitting them all, as she looked on through the shield she saw that the smoke was beginning to thin, with new found hope she gave the last of the magic she could muster to have the shield stay standing when she passed out from over exertion, with a heave and a sigh of relief she finally gave in to the stress and collapsed on the ground body seizing from the power and pain from the strange feedback she was getting from her own spell, a spell that she had performed before without any flaws or hesitation in the past, or at least before she went on that expedition alone.

“Now class there is no need to panic Twilight is just taking a little nap from using such a large amount of magic in such a short amount of time. I’m sure that she’ll be fine.” Said Cheerilee with a reassuring voice, to be honest, she hoped she was right. As she look at the now settling cloud the protective barrier began to fade and collapse, as the stunned ponies looked on at their school the saw no damage other than the missing door and the blown out windows.

“Well, I see that we are a little late for the festivities.” Said a voice from behind, spinning around with shock and amazement Cheerilee saw standing before her Princess Luna.

“Your highness, I, we did not expect to see you here.” Said Cheerilee with shock.

“Sister sent us, she was off taking care of a peace treaty with the Arabs when she received the letter from Ms. Sparkle and sent it to us.”

“Well Twilight is sort of passed out at the moment.”

“So she is, we will just have to fix that.” With a midnight blue glow around Luna’s horn she closed her eyes, within seconds Twilight had opened her eyes and sat up like a bolt rubbing her head with her hoof and looked around to the damage that was caused by the blast.

“Now would some pony please explain to me what just happened here?” Said Luna a dark blue alicorn with a mane that looked like it was made of the night sky with twinkling stars.

"To be completely frank Luna, we have no idea what just happened," Said Twilight as she stood up off the ground, "it was more power than I have ever felt in my life, and it was a completely different ora than I have ever felt."

"Do I at least get to know what I've missed?! Something like this just doesn't happen without some buildup of energy!" Shouted Luna

"OH! You want what happened before the big explosion! That you should ask Cheerilee, she knows what happened here better than I do." Said Twilight

"Ah yes, well you see your highness we were in the middle of class when," began Cheerilee before a scream of terror was yelled by one of her students. "I thought we talked about this Feather Wait, it is very rude to interrupt!"

"I know Ms. Cheerilee, but, that!!!" Said Feather Wait pointing to the blown out door. Following the trembling hoof Cheerilee saw what he was pointing at, a strange figure outlined in the shadows of the now dark schoolhouse, her jaw dropped to the ground.

"Um, Twilight can you explain that to me?" Said Cheerilee, voice shaking with fear and worry. Turning around at her normal pace Twilight looked at the door with a quick glance turning back to look at Ms. Cheerilee, eyes widening she took a second look back turning her head at a slower pace than before.

“Perhaps you should ask Luna, ‘cause I have no clue what that thing is Cheerilee.”

“OK, Luna what are your thoughts on that... thing?” Asked Cheerilee

“Thing!?! What, thing?!? Oh that thing. I don't know and I don't think I want to.” said Luna slowly backing away from the others.

“Scootaloo!! Stop, where are you going?!?!” Cried Cheerilee

“What you three are too chicken to do, investigate!” She yelled back, walking forward to the silhouette, chin held high with pride and bravery.

“Don't you take another step toward that thing, you don't know if it’s safe!” Chimed in Twilight, that got the Silhouette's attention, it took its first wobbly step before falling to the ground with a wet thud and a moan. Hearing the moan Scootaloo rushed to the door of the school were the now motionless body lay. Taking a closer look at the body she found herself stepping in a pool of what looked like blood.

“Get a doctor down here! NOW!! I think its hurt.” she yelled to the others. Rushing off to the hospital was Ms. Cheerilee at full gallop while Twilight ran to Scootaloos side faster than Scootaloo could turn her head to see if anypony was coming to help.

“Scootaloo get back and let me handle this matter.” said Twilight with a rush in her voice.

"Oh no you don't! I found him first, he's mine!"

"You don't even know if IT is a he. You don't even know what IT is. Besides all I'm trying to do is stop the bleeding." said Twilight examining the body that lay motionless on the ground.

“Twilight, what is it?” asked Scootaloo looking at the thing that lye before them.

“I don't know, but what I do know is that IT IS BIG! Well, compared to us anyway.” said Twilight gesturing to the body. It was a fairly large thing after all measuring in at about 5' 9”. It was covered in hair but not as much as the two onlookers were, on its head was a much shorter muzzle and what appeared to be ears, only dropped to the side of its head. It's hair was a mix of gold and brown. It's eyes were one long reflective black bar spanning the width of what appeared to be its face and resting on what looked like a nose. The rest of  its body was covered in a strange tan fabric covered in squares of darker tan and brown in an array of varying shades, on his collar was a golden pin in the shape of a leaf.

"Twilight I got Nurse Redheart!" Yelled Ms. Cheerilee from the other side of the field.

"Good, send her down with a med pack!" She yelled back

"Um, Twilight, IT is looking at us." Said Scootaloo

"What? That's not possible IT has lost too much blood to even be conscious." Argued Twilight

"Well, I don't like being referred to as IT," Said the body on the ground. “If I am going to be referred to I would prefer he or my name, but since you don't know my name let’s just go with he."

"Hi I'm-"

"Scootaloo, I know, the other one would be Twilight Sparkle, up on the hill over there is Princess Luna and her royal guards standing next to Ms. Cheerilee and Nurse Redheart, believe me I know who you are. Now can I get a hand err HOOF up?"

"Um... OK, but you shouldn't be sitting up?" Insisted Twilight

"What because of this little scratch? That's more the reason that I NEED to stand up."

"Alright if you say so. I'm not the professional on your species." she said as she struggled to lift him to his feet. “So why are you so heavy?”

“That would be due to the body armor I am required to where in combat missions as well as combat training. Basically I am wearing a form of armor similar to that of the royal guard only stronger, ¾ the weight, and more flexible.”

“So why do you need it?”

"Just imagine that I'm an earth pony, just as simple and just as fragile, 'cause that's pretty much what I am."

"Then how is standing up going to help?"

"Simple, I'm not so simple. I have taught myself a little trick to heal myself, here watch. Um... You might want to take a step back." With some grunts and groans he started to glow yellow, he lifted his what appeared to be skin to reveal a second skin one that appeared to be more flesh colored with a red gash along the side where the yellow glow was emanating from, within seconds the wound had closed itself.

"What!? But... HOW!!!" exclaimed Twilight

"Don't know and I don't really want to know how, but all I know is that I can initiate what I call an accelerated cellular reproduction. From what I can tell the yellow glow you just saw was a discharge of excess metabolic energy." He explained

“OK that brings up many new questions, about five of them, so if you don't mind I would like to take you back to the library and run some tests and ask you those questions.” said Twilight

“Well first shouldn't we go and calm down the others, introduce myself to the others, and send Nurse Redheart away?” he asked with a smug grin on his face.

“Yes I guess we should, besides that will answer some of my questions that I had for you anyway, but be forewarned the others might be a bit nervous so I should probably go tell them that you come in peace and have no hostile intentions.” said Twilight lifting her front hoof and rubbing the back of her neck.

“Yes, that might be a good idea, I really don't want to be locked in an Equestrian dungeon for who knows how long. Just make sure to come and get me when you're done with that.” he said dusting himself off.

“Yes sure we’ll go explain it to them and I’ll come get you. Come on Scootaloo, we have some explaining to do.” said Twilight nudging Scootaloo back to the field.

After about ten minutes of explaining Twilight returned to the figure now sitting on one of the desks he pulled off of the now broken windowsill two boxes sitting next to him, one a black case made of what looked like alligator skin that was no wider than him and hit his shoulder in height. The other was a long black case tapered at one end about 3” thick and 4.5’ long.

"Alright, they understand the situation and the have agreed to cooperate with you and hear you out, but Nurse Redheart would still like to meet you."

“That is perfectly fine with me just no immunizations, I don't want to be killed by something that is meant to save lives.” he said

“Why would you be killed by an immunization?” asked Twilight as they walked up the hill.

“Because we have no idea of whether or not we have compatible immune systems and if we don't know what the repercussions on me taking drugs for an alternate species are the might not work, they could kill me, or I could become a walking petri dish and spread an altered form of the disease.” he explained

“Ah yes, that could be very bad.” she said nodding her head in agreement.

"So let’s go introduce myself to the others, shall we." He said with more energy than Pinkie Pie after picking up his cases and reaching the others in no time taking long strides with his strange tan legs, that matched his upper skin, keeping surprisingly good balance for only walking on two of them.

"Good um... err... Twilight what time is it?"

"1:30 in the afternoon. Why?"

"It makes a difference when introducing oneself. Anyway, good afternoon everypony I come in peace I mean you no harm yada yada yada, blah blah blah, any way my name is Buzz no need for you to introduce your selves," he said shaking there hooves with more energy than Pinkie Pie "I already know you and it is a pure pleasure to meet you all in person, or is it in pony?"

After he finished his introductions Twilight ushered him off to the library to start testing. During the long walk back to the library Twilight glanced at the two cases and back at him eventually curiosity got the better of Twilight.

"So... what's the pin on your collar mean?" she asked reluctantly looking around and over her shoulder at all the eyes staring at them and ears twitching, listening, to all the voices and whispers from the other ponies as they walked down the road.

“Military ranking, it means that I'm a major.”

“Oh, ya know my older brother is in the royal guard.”

“Ah yes, Captain Shining Armor, I would be his superior.”

“Oh you would would you? I bet you wouldn't be saying that if you met him.”

“Ya I would, captain is the rank under mine, I'm sure he is a nice colt and all but he would still have to follow my orders, I might not like it but it's the truth.”

“Ah, I see.” she said, “So... what's in the cases?”

"I'll tell you when we aren't being ridiculed and given strange looks. I can hear them to you know, we'll trained hearing, self-taught, had to for the bigger case."

"How do you... I can barely hear them, much less separate them."

"Six years of band, six years of getting the pitch and balance right, six years of having to fit my sound into that of a tuba. Oh that's a little too far, hang on a second. Oh Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara I don't take to kindly to being called a spy, an insertion, or a terrorist so I suggest that if you don't know what you’re talking about you not talk about it behind ITS back, and that goes for the rest of you too," he yelled over his shoulder "people that normally do end up missing." he grumbled to himself.

"What was that all about?" asked Twilight

"I'll tell you later, it's a little personal." he said now looking at the ground with remorse on his face and in his eyes.

“Hey, you alright, don't let what they said get to you.” she said with a look of concern.

“I told you it's personal, look I’ll tell you when I'm ready to talk about it Twilight, so until then just drop it and give me a little peace of mind, I left that world to get away from all of that.” he snapped, tears welling in his eyes.

“Okay then, so what's with the weird colors of your skin?”

“Weird skin? Oh you mean my clothes!”

“Those are clothes? Well they're not like any of the clothes we have here.”

“Well that's because your clothes are for formal events, while we do have clothes for those we also need clothes for every day tasks like everything we do. You see we do have hair our bodies but not in the quantities that you have. Here thing of it like this, they're our version of you coat, now would you go outside without your coat?”

“Well no that would be weird, awkward and disturbing.”

“Exactly, and we can't grow our hair that much so we make our own coats, that and it gives us mini saddle bags that we call pockets. Make sense?”

“When you put it like that it makes a lot of sense actually.”

After they entered into the library he laid the two cases down on the floor opening the bigger one to reveal a large black metal twisted thing with long rods running up and down the full structure and complex inscriptions on the front of the device surrounded by sheets of crisp clean white paper and some that weren't so clean or crisp but fading and crumpled with tears along the edges.

"It's beautiful. What is it?"

"This is one of the few things I was able to save from my world, it is one of my most prized prosecutions, this is a saxophone, this is what I made music on." said Buzz, "I was hoping to join the bands that you have here and if necessary make my own, but I won't have to if Equestra has a jazz band but if I couldn't find one or make one than I would be happy to join a classical band."

"What's it sound like?"

"My dear Twilight, are you asking me to play a song for you?"

"Yes as a matter of fact, my only question is what can you play?"

"How's about something, peppy?"

"Sure, but isn't that you making that noise?"

"That low buzzing? I thought that was you?"

"No, now that I listen to it sounds more like it's coming from outside." she said as she trotted over to the door she opening it and peering out the door pulling her head back in and closing it abruptly as a ball of green fire exploded as it hit the slamming door, licking flames coming through the cracks as the door buckled under the might of the blast.

"We have a problem!" said Twilight bangs smoldering from the fiery blast.

"You don't say." he said with his back to her standing over the thinner case. "Lucky for us you still have The Elements of Harmony here. Right?"

"Um, ya they're sort of back at Canterlot so, no I don't." she said patting her still smoldering hair out, "So unless you have something that can stop a Changeling army we are hopeless."

"Um, funny you should mention that..."

"You're kidding, right?"

"How many would you say are out there?"

"About a dozen. Why? What are you up to?"

"Air or land based?"

"Both. I still want an answer, what are you... What in Tartars is THAT!?!" exclaimed Twilight as he pulled a strange metal tube with what looked like wood inlays out of the thin box.

"Do they have any hostages out there?" he asked not even looking up.

"Yes. Now tell me what you are doing or I won't let you out!!" yelled Twilight blocking the door with her body.

"Saving your lives." he said as he put the metal tube down and pulled out a different one, this one the tube was thinner and instead of wood it was mounted on a strange substance that looked like plastic but firmer, on top of the tube was another tube tapered at the center with the ends of the tube having glass lenses similar to that of a small telescope. Twilight looked at him worried at the sight she saw as he put little brass tubes in the bigger tube.

"Do you have a balcony?" he asked putting strange substances in his ears.

"Yes. Now tell me what you are doing!!" she yelled at him with a stern look as if she didn't care what happened to the ponies outside and only about getting an answer.

"I can't tell you, but I can show you, all I need is for you to follow me and put these on." he said with a look of pure sincerity giving her a pair of glasses and what appeared to be really big earmuffs.

"What are these and what are they for?" Twilight asked taking them with extreme caution and bewilderment.

"Safety glasses and earmuffs. Trust me you WILL need them, so are you coming to the balcony with me to see what this is or not?"

As they rushed up the stairs and on to the balcony Twilight rushed to put on the glasses and earmuffs stumbling with them, looking back Buzz saw that she was having trouble getting them on he stopped and turned on the spot to help her. After the struggle to get them on they ran up the stairs, Buzz bounding up them 2-3 at a time, Twilight trying to keep up fell face first up the stairs, grumbling he slung the strange tube over his back and doubled back grumbling to himself as he grabbed Twilight and began to carry her over his shoulder once again, bounding up the stairs past a sleeping Spike Twilight using her magic grabbed him waking him with a start she began to fill him in on the situation. As soon as Buzz saw that there was another coming to see what he was doing he gave a set of earmuffs to Twilight to give put on Spike.

"Alright you two I need you to stay behind me and do exactly as I say got it!?!"

"Yes Mr. Cyclops." said Spike

"I'm not a Cyclops. What on earth made you think that?" He asked as they reached the door to the balcony setting them down and pulled a small strange object out of what they still thought to be multiple colored skin.

"Well you do have one eye." They both said in unison.

"What these? They're sunglasses they protect my eyes from bright light."

"Well that might be why we were getting strange looks on our way here." Said Twilight as Buzz looked out the door to see if there are where any changelings on the balcony.

"After what I'm about to do I'll have to go live in the Everfree Forest so that won't be a problem anymore." Buzz said as he put the object back into his alleged skin and pulling the other from his back. Quietly opening the door he played down on the balcony putting one end of the device in his shoulder. After looking through the small telescope he riled over and pulled a smaller metal tube from the front of his green skin and screwed it onto the end of the tube, "You can take off the hearing protection now." he said as he rolled back over onto his Belly putting the end of the device back into his shoulder, with three muffled pops three changelings collapsed with mists of green liquid now pooling where they lay. With a quick shift and three more pops three more went down in a pool of green liquid, another shift and three pops then the three in the air went down with three cracks as their exoskeletons cracked. Four left on the ground, a large shift and three pops later three on the end go down sending the last one running, one pop, it falls over, after getting up it started to buzz its insect like wings two more pops and its back on the ground, two more pops and its hind legs explode.

"What just happened Twilight?" asked Spike a look of worry on his face as it began to grow greener?

"I don't know Spike, I don't know." Twilight responded looking at the stranger in complete astonishment as he stood up and slung the tube over his shoulder and jumped down to the ground below.

"Twilight you might want to come and get the ponies off your library wall and see if they are all right!" Buzz yelled up to the balcony.

"But the changelings are still down there." she replied sending Buzz's eyes rolling as he turned around looking up at the balcony with a look that would send chills down the spine of even the most evil of villains.

"They won't bother you any more Twilight, they won't bother anyone actually." he said as he turned his back and started to stride over to the changeling now crawling away leaving a trail of what Twilight now knew to be blood, as she looked around she understood what had just happened, he killed all but one changeling, the changeling that he was now lifting off the ground with one hand and was now dragging to the library.

"Twilight do you have a chair and some rope I can borrow? I think it's time we got some answers don't you, and delivered a warning to the rest of the Changeling Empire." he said glaring at the now quivering changeling. "I might need a hot metal bowl as well, at least something to chartreuse these leg wounds."

"No, but Pinkie Pie and Apple Jack might."

"Well in that case can you come get them of the door? Well, no never mind I'll get them off on my way in." he said as he pulled a black bladed knife out and walked toward the library. Worried at what the stranger might do to her friends after seeing what he had done mere moments ago she jumped down onto the ground to stop him from potentially killing them only to land and dislocate her rear left hip.

"No I'll get them." she said as she limped toward the door teeth gritting with each step horn glowing with power as she cut the eight ponies off the library walls.

"Twilight, are you alright? That was no small fall you just took?" Buzz asked with concern on his face and in his voice.

"Yes just a little shaken up by the fall and the amount of blood." Twilight said gesturing to the pools of blood.

"Twilight, you're a worse liar than Apple Jack so sit down and let me have a look at your leg," pulling her over to a park bench he examined the injury, "I need all the dandelion wine in the town so if you would please, go get it and Twilight I need you to drink all of it or at least most of it and be ready for major pain, I need to reset your leg so we can get you to the hospital and have it properly set."

Within minutes Rainbow Dash, a Pegasus dare devil with a sky blue coat and a mane the color of the rainbow and a tail to match as well as mentor to Scootaloo,  Apple Jack, an orange, hard working, earth pony with a blond main and tail with a brown stetson and older sister to Apple Bloom, Pinkie Pie, an insane earth pony with a light pink coat and a mane of hot pink with more poof then the biggest pile of fresh cotton candy, Rarity, the most dramatic and fashionably inclined with a stark shite coat and superficially curled dark purple mane as well as older sister to Sweetie Belle, and Fluttershy, a Pegasus with a fear of everything and the heart of a saint with a soft yellow coat and a mane the same shade of pink as Pinkie Pies coat, had returned with three bottles of wine. Within mere moments Twilight had finished all of wine and now had very little feeling in her injured leg.

"Dash, AJ, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, I need all of you to pin Twilight down so I don't get hit from her flailing around while I basically crack her leg into place." As he instructed them he went to his bag that Scootaloo had brought him after somepony had found it while running the cleanup team, out of the bag he pulled a small syringe and bottle of what the label said to be a local aesthetic and priced to administer it to Twilight's leg."This will help a little but you won't be able to move your leg at all so Apple Jack, I need you to go and get Big Mackintosh and a wagon that will hold her." he said as he knelt down on her and grabbed Twilight's leg. With a sharp twist, a loud crack and an immense shriek from Twilight her leg was set back in place just as Big Mack, a big stallion for his age and older brother of Apple Jack, came thundering in at full gallop and practically through her into the back of the wagon and rushed off to the hospital.

"Now I think it's time we got some answers don't you Rainbow Dash?" he asked as he slung the still bleeding changeling over his shoulder and walked right into the library.

"WAIT!!" yelled Pinkie Pie, "Didn't you say that you wanted a chair and some rope?"

"Yes and something to chartreuse the wound."

"Well then here, take these. Pinkie said as she gave him a chair, a small amount of rope that she pulled out of her springy mane.

"Well if it will help here's this," said Rarity as she gave him a curling iron, "I was doing my mane when one of those brooding changelings came and abducted me," in her ever dramatic fashion, "just clean the blood off when you’re done."

"I know that I'm going to regret this but, she's your friend more than mine so would you like to be present when I interrogate him, you know after you drop those three off somewhere, these tend to get a little, gruesome, and the last thing I need is three fillies getting scared of me more than they should be." Buzz said as he tested the strength of the rope he had been given.

"I'll take them while you do that," volunteered Fluttershy in her quiet voice with the usual shake of fear and nervousness in her voice, "I can't stand the sight of blood at such a close distance." Slowly at first she ushered the three fillies away from the area than with extreme hast.

"Yes, I figured that would happen if I said extensive amounts of blood or something along those lines.” He said as he removed the body armor and the top layer of his clothes to revel a light brown shirt, “So, anypony going to go help Fluttershy with the three little fillies or are you going to help me with our guest?"

"Will there be lots of blood or did you just say that to scare Fluttershy off to take care of those three?"

"No there is actually quite a bit of blood involved in this form of interrogation Pinkie why, does that bother you?" he asked looking at her with a look of 'I know'.

"In that case I think I'll go and see if Fluttershy needs a hoof with my sister, she can be quite bothersome after all, and I don't want to stain my coat with blood." Rarity said as she trotted out of sight.

"Ya Apple Bloom has a reputation of being a little difficult to control so good luck with the interrogation." said Apple Jack as she trotted away leaving a trail of dust in her wake.

"What about you Rainbow Dash going to help them?" he asked giving her the same look that he gave Pinkie Pie.

"Nothing takes me and my friends from our homes and gets away with it!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash "It thinks it can just waltz into my house and take me without me wanting pay back I want to beat the crap out of it!"

"Easy girl, I still need him to get back to the Changeling Empire alive so he can inform the queen that if they try anything like this again I will hunt each and every one of them down and kill them slowly and very painfully. But other than that you can beat the piece of crap as much as you want."

"Now let's begin, can you hand me my bag and the curling iron please?"

After Rainbow Dash had handed him the bag he began to dig around, after about five minutes of digging he finally gave up and yelled for Spike to come and burn its legs to stop the bleeding and told him to go get Twilight from the hospital. Hearing the two words Twilight and hospital used in the same sentence let alone the same phrase he rushed off to the hospital to be with Twilight in her time of need. After slamming the door behind him with enough force to crack the framework he got a second syringe, this time all ready filled, and jabbed it into the chest of the changeling who work abruptly.

"Good, you're awake, it's time I got some answers. Why did you mount an invasion of Pony Ville?"

"Where are my legs!? And my wings!? Who... What are you? What's going on?"

"I'll ask the questions here!" yelled Buzz as he gave his captive a strong slap across the face. "Now you're going to tell me what I need to know or I am going to make your day even worse. Understand?"

With a nod of understanding as it felt a trickle of blood run down its cheek as it looked into the three sets of cold merciless unblinking eyes staring.

"Good, now that we're on the same page it's time to start asking questions but first I do believe I owe you some answers as to where your legs and wings are gone, I did that from up on the balcony, had to stop you from getting away somehow, and no I'm not sorry for that." he said going over to his bag and pulled out a large knife it's silver blade sharpened to the point that you could see its razor sharp edge in in the light filtering through the window. "Now I'm going to ask again, why did you decide to invade Pony Ville?"

"It was an early strike against them before they attacked us with that super weapon we saw them testing. Our job was to seek and destroy the weapon as well as bring back the users of the Elements of Harmony with the elements themselves and report back to base before 17:00 hours, if we were unable to complete the mission than we were told to go to the back-up plan and separate the users while a second extraction team infiltrated the known places that we were informed to try to send them to, the back-up plan was always in motion from the beginning, oh and that reminds me Mr. Buzz Brown we know you and where you come from and we also know how to get a little leverage in these sort of situations."

"Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, leave NOW!" Buzz yelled face draining of all color. "I said NOW did I not make myself clear!!"

"Dash I think we should go, quickly out the door." insisted Pinkie as she ushered her to the door.

"Wait, don't leave just go to a different room, I have a very bad feeling that the others are in danger." Buzz said looking at the clock realizing the time.

"You must not delay for if that clock is correct then it's too late to save the others but not the other specimen we collected when we opened a portal." chuckled the changeling before breaking a false tooth that he then crushed between his remaining teeth as it started to foam at the mouth sputtering and shaking before it slumped over in the chair dead.

"Where did Fluttershy say she was taking the three fillies?" Buzz asked with concern in his voice.

"Um let me think, if I know Fluttershy she would have taken them to her cottage. Why?" asked Pinkie

"They knew, they knew where they would go, they knew exactly who to take and where they would take the fillies! Please tell me there is more than one hospital in Pony Ville." he said with a sense of panic and urgency.

"No just the one. Why, is that a bad thing?" Rainbow Dash stated.

"Okay not good very not good, here's what we need to do, Dash go to the hospital and see if Twilight is there, see if she even made it to the hospital and be careful, Pinkie Pie you're coming with me to check on Fluttershy and the others." said Buzz without any hesitation.

"Why, what's wrong? Why wouldn't Twilight have made it to the hospital?" asked Rainbow Dash

"Because that fireball wasn't meant to kill it was meant to injure and make angry, they were a suicide team, they were meant to die and Twilight was supposed to go to the hospital, the ONLY hospital in Pony Ville!" Buzz yelled, eyes wide with terror and fear.

"Wait you mean to tell me that they meant to send Twilight to the hospital and have Fluttershy take the girls to the cottage!" Rainbow Dash yelled realizing what was happening and why she had to get to the hospital and see if they had made it.

"Yes that is exactly what I'm saying."

"Then get going! I'll see if I can beat my time record to get to the hospital!"

"Good, WAIT... You have a time record for getting to the hospital from the library? Dash I knew you were competitive but that is completely pointless, and I know I'm going to regret this but, why?" Buzz asked rolling his eyes.

"Ever wondered what happened to the old librarian? Yes didn't make it to the hospital in time didn't end well for him." Explained Rainbow Dash.

"Well no but now that you mention it that is a valid point. Anyway we need to get to going, remember that if you find a changeling kill on sight I don't care how just do it. Now get going!" Yelled Buzz as he pulled Pinkie Pie out the door and ran off to the cottage on the border of the Everfree Forest.

Upon arriving at Fluttershy's cottage they approached with a slower more cautious pace they noticed there was a lack of small animals which normally occupied the small surrounding bird houses and holes in the ground. At first glance the cottage seemed abandoned and ignored, some would have described the cottage as a shack, some would say haunted. With the broken windows and foul smell that permeated the air who could blame them, but on closer examination the small shelters were not empty but fill with death and misery as the skins of rabbits and birds lay in their houses and burrows.

"I didn't know that Fluttershy was teaching her animals to act, they're very good," Said Pinkie as she bounced over to mangled pile of fur and bone, "come on Angle, time to stop, rehearsal is over."

"Pinkie I'm sorry but they're not acting, they really are dead."

"What, no they're not, they're just very good at acting," said Pinkie nudging the pile with her bright pink snout drawing back in horror as she realized that it was not corn syrup and food dye or any fake blood, "I don't understand, who would kill innocent animals?"

"Someone who doesn't want us to know what happened here or someone looking for some food, but seeing as how the meat is still here I would say that it was fear of us knowing." Said Buzz as he knelt down and pulled up the pink mare as her puffy almost balloon like mane flattened lying flat against her head.

"I WILL kill whoever is responsible for this whether or not their number comes up." Pinkie muttered, tears rolling down her face.

"Well, to do that first we need to know who did this."

"But how they're all dead, what could we possibly learn from them?" Pinkie said as she walked away head dropping down.

"Twilight never told you, did she? Well now that I think about it she never really had time to tell you." Said Buzz as he knelt down to the pile of fur and bone. "Pinkie you might want to see this!"

"No I don't want to see anything over there!" Exclaimed Pinkie over her shoulder as she trotted to the cottage door as it creaked and swung on its one lone hinge, pushing it open she was greeted with a disturbing sight, the bodies of three young fillies lay mangled in a heap on the floor. "NO!!!" Yelled Pinkie with enough power to freeze the sun and the blood of even the most hardened soldier.

"Pinkie what's wrong?" Buzz's voice trailing off as his eyes dropped to the corpses. As he walked toward the bodies his knees began to buckle and shake and eventually giving way as he collapsed next to them.

"How could this happen to them? They were so young and innocent." Said Pinkie as she joined him on the floor.

"It's not too late, I can fix this. Pinkie step back."

"Look, Buzz, there is nothing you or I can do, there gone."

"No, they're not, as long as I am here and there is breath in my body I can save them. Now, step, BACK!" Buzz yelled to Pinkie forcing her to stumble backwards and trip landing on her flank. "I know what must be done."

As Buzz knelt down next to the bodies he placed his hands on the piles of fur and bone, Pinkie sat idle in shock at the voice he had used, a voice to rival that of Princess Luna. With his eyes glowing a bright yellow brighter than the sun an energy poured out of his hands and into the lifeless bodies marking the bones repair themselves and the heal and shift into the proper places with snaps, pops, and cracks the bones followed suit while the flesh and meat and fur churned, boiled and smoked. After the bones where once again in the shape of the three fillies the organs began to move into the chest cavity and their respective locations, once there the now streaming piles of flesh separated and slithered onto the three bodies which now had their flesh and muscle back, it made them look like they were sleeping, he continued to pour the energy into them until their chests began to heave and the color returned to their faces then he immediately stopped and fell back, his face a sickly green, as the once dead fillies bolted upright and gasped for air, with a sigh of relief Buzz passed out.

"Girls, you’re alive! Are you alright? Are you hurt? What happened?"

"Actually Pinkie, I was about to ask you the same question." Said Apple Bloom as she stood up, unshaken by the experience.

"Well that's where it gets a little strange, I mean one minute your dead and the next you’re standing up talking to me like nothing happened." Pinkie said, her jaw still on the ground.

"Pinkie, was there a bright yellow light?" Asked Scootaloo as she looked over at the unconscious Buzz, hands still slightly glowing.

"Yes, why?" asked Pinkie Pie walking over to Buzz and putting him on her back, looking out the shattered window at the setting sun when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, "Girls get down to the basement, it's getting late and by the looks of things we all need some sleep."

"Yes Pinkie Pie." Said the three fillies in unison, heads hanging low as they shuffled to the basement.

"I don't believe it, I'm going to beat my record!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she flew close to the ground swerving down streets and back allies. With an abrupt stop she back tracked to find the cart they had put Twilight in overturned on the side of the road, a green goo locking the axle, a few feet away lay an unconscious Big Mackintosh a small gash on the side of his head blood trickling out of it.

"Rainbow Dash? Run Rainbow Dash. RUN!!!” Exclaimed Big Mackintosh with his last dying breaths.

By the time she realized what he had meant it was too late, there was a swarm of changelings surrounding her in every direction even above and below. Standing her ground she reared up on her front legs and kicked a changeling in the jaw knocking it on its back, nose broken and mouth bleeding leaving a hole in the ring of changelings surrounding her. With a sudden turn she went straight for the gap running at full gallop only to grow suddenly drowsy after exiting the ring of enemies and to fall victim to the swarm, before falling fast asleep she managed to swing the sack she was being placed in into a small low hanging branch and ripping off a small piece of the brown burlap bag.