Lord Shaxx, Equestrian Crucibus Driver

"Applejack! Get back!" Twilight whispered to the farm pony, who was peeking out the door of the barn they were all hiding in. The sky had turned a deep crimson, giving the place an eerily apocalyptic look. There were no clouds in the sky either.

All of the Element bearers, along with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, where hiding inside of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. None of them dared to step out the door, except Rainbow Dash, who desperately wanted to find Scootaloo.

Several other ponies were in the barn as well, and most were huddling against each other in fear. In total, there were about twenty ponies inside. These were the only ponies who got away from the deceptively familiar faces of the Changelings, a foe they couldn't fight because they never knew when one of there friends would end up being just another imitation.

"If one of them sees us..." Fluttershy didn't want to finish her sentence.

"C'mon guys! We've gone up against Changelings before! We can totally take them on!" Came Rainbow's ever-confident voice.

"In case you've forgotten, dear, they gave us quite the lashing last time we crossed paths with them," came Rarity's voice of reason.

"I agree with Rainbow Dash. We can't just hide in here! We could be the only ones able to protect Ponyville! Who knows if the Princesses even notice what's going on down here? The Changelings could be in Canterlot, too! Oh no... what if they're dead?!" Octavia began freaking out, but she was quickly silenced by Vinyl Scratch.

"I highly doubt the Princesses would be so easily... killed, by a bunch of fancy changing bugs no less."

"You weren't there when they attacked Canterlot, Vinyl..." Rarity tried explaining, but she was cut off by Twilight.

"We're the Elements of Harmony. We can't just sit back and hide this out!"

"Ah don't know if you noticed, princess, but we don't exactly have the Elements anymore. There's nuthin' we can do..."

"But... there must be something! We can't just give up and let them win!" Twilight retorted.

"They've already won..." came Pinkie's somber voice. Her mane had flattened against her head, and her eyes were sunken. Her will was already broken.

The room was bathed in silence as Pinkie Pie's words set in. They all knew what she said was true. They didn't stand a change against a horde of this size.

"Sh-she's right..." mumbled Lyra, who was trying to cheer up Bonbon until now.

"Well I'm not just gonna stay in here while ponies get hurt!" Just as Rainbow Dash was about to break down the barn doors by flying through them, they all froze as they heard a loud horn-like noise.

"Looks like you misjudged your enemy," said an amplified voice from outside the barn. All the ponies inside quickly ran out to investigate the outsider.

What they saw took the breath out of them. It was a large white shuttle-bus, with an emblem of black crossed swords on a red diamond-shaped backdrop. Underneath, 'Cruci-bus' was written in what looked like blood.

The bus looked like it could hold at least one hundred ponies. How something like that could steer, control, or even be handled was a complete mystery.

"You fight to win Guardian. So fight!" said the voice as the doors on the side of the bus opened. Inside, in the driver's seat, was a large bipedal creature in some kind of armor, with one horn on the side of his head. His chest piece was adorned with fur. The one feature everypony noticed right away, however, was that Scootaloo was half-standing, half-sprawled out on his shoulder. Lyra nearly passed out upon seeing the human.

"Hey guys! Is this awesome or what?!" the little Pegasus filly yelled energetically.

The others just began stuttering, making vain attempts to pick their jaws up off the ground.

"Time's running out, Guardians," the man beckoned the ponies forward.

Nopony acknowledged the gesture. They were too busy trying to understand exactly what was going on.

Shrugging, Rainbow Dash jumped aboard the bus. It wasn't like they could help Ponyville anyway, so why not?

One after another, the Element bearers and the two fillies boarded the bus, figuring it couldn't do any additional harm. None of them even bothered to question it anymore. Eventually, everypony was on the bus and sitting on the fuzzy pink seats. The interior was mostly beige, and there was even a restroom in the back.

Lyra took her seat next to Bonbon, and began hyperventilating. Octavia sat next to Vinyl Scratch, Apple Bloom sat next to Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy timidly took her place sitting beside Pinkie Pie (who's mane was no longer flat against her head), and Rarity cautiously sat next to Applejack.

Everypony began mumbling amongst each other, with subjects varying from who this guy was and why they should care, to if this was even real life.

"The name's Lord Shaax. Looking for the Crucible? I am the Crucible."

"The what?" Rainbow asked.

"A crucible is a container for dangerous materials, such as molten metal and toxic chemicals... so I have no idea what he's talking about," Twilight answered, finally taking her seat next to Rainbow.

"I wanna know what he is and why Scootaloo is with him... but for some reason I don't care."

"Why does that not surprise me, Rainbow?"

"Because... I'm me? I don't know... and I don't care.

The engine of the bus revved, silencing the mumbling between ponies.

Lord Shaax firmly gripped the steering wheel and leaned forward.

"Total control."