A Changed Town

It was just after midday, Celestia's sun casting its warm glow throughout Canterlot. Perfect temperature for a stroll, or any kind of outdoor activity, really... But you wouldn't think it walking down the streets, barren, abandonned... On occasion, a few ponies could be seen inside shops, trying to go about their usual business... But there was just a feeling in the air that made everything seem... Off...

"It sure is... Quiet..." Shockwave piped up, the rookie that had been assigned to Moonlight's patrol for the day.

Shockwave was a fairly quiet unicorn, with a white coat and a long unkempt navy blue mane and a similar tail. She had graduated from Canterlot's college for gifted unicorns a year before she enlisted with the guard. She had majored in offencive spells and hexxes, and was one of the more talented recruits to come by in quite some time. Her cutie mark was a deep blue sphere of what looked like magic energy.

"Get used to it... Nopony wants to walk around this time of day, it was just about the same time the Changelings first attacked..." Moonlight responded. "It's almost funny how everypony seemingly forgot about the Royal Wedding after it happened and just focussed on the attack..."

"I know, but... It's safe now, why is everypony so paranoid about the outside?"

"You can't really blame em'. I mean, you watch your entire town get ransacked by a species almost nopony has ever heard of... You're gonna be a little bit paranoid. Heck, everypony should be worried... We're not out of it yet... Not until all of Equestria and the surrounding area is declared 'Changeling Free'... Psh, yeah right..."

"What? You don't have faith in the teams searching?" Shockwave sounded concerned by her superior's words.

"It's not that I don't have faith... It's just that they're gonna be scouring all of Equestria... They're bound to miss someplace, and that could be where the Changelings are hiding..." Moonlight retorted.

"Y'know, that sounds pretty much like 'no faith'..."

"Noted, but think about it, if we're at war, we can't trust anypony else to do our work for us. Instead of sending a few ponies over to our lovely Griffon neighbours to the east to look out for Changelings, we send them a nicley written letter, warning them and asking them to look for us. I hate politics..."

Shockwave glanced at her superior, preparing her response. Although before she could voice it, a yell interrupted the exchange.

"Help! It's one of those things!" A panicked, elderly voice could be heard in the distance.

Moonlights ears pricked up, before he quickly spun around, lifting himself off the ground, preparing to fly off toward the disturbance.

"Looks like this discussion will have to wait, Shock. Sounds like we got trouble on our hands."

"Yes, sir."

Moonlight sighed, "One last thing... Can we cut the formalities, they bug the heck outta me..."

"Uh... Yes, sir, Gen- Er... Moonlight..."

"You'll get used to it... It's just how I prefer to operate." Moonlight said, grinning.

"Heh... Right..."

In a split second, Moonlight's friendly grin turned to a look of determination, right before he sped off in the direction of the call for help.

"Hey! Wait up!" Shock called from below, before sighing and following the sound on foot. "How am I expected to help out if you're just gonna fly off like that..." She mumbled.

"Because last time has to be exactly that, the last time." Crimson finished the same speech for what seemed like the tenth time today, Moonlight was right... It does get a little old after a while...

Crimson's newest group of recruits dispersed, moving off to their various training exercises. Although Crimson's focus was elsewhere, a feeling of paranoia he hadn't been able to shake since speaking with another group of recruits earlier... Something about the bunch just felt... Off... But Crimson just couldn't put his hoof on it.

"Er... General?"

Crimson perked up, turning to the source of the interruption.

Dull Sword, a recruit from his latest group was standing before him, a confident look on his face.

"Oh, what is it Sword?" Crimson responded.

"I just wanted to know... Uh... How come we're waiting here for the Changelings to come to us? Shouldn't we be going after them right now?"

Dull Sword wasn't the brightest recruit amongst the group, his cutie mark resembling his name, a rusted looking sword, possibly symbolizing his lack of intellectual ability, but he made up for it with spirit and power. He was a regular Earth Pony, supposedly moved to Canterlot after the attack from Ponyville... Although nopony had reported seeing him around town before he signed up. Crimson thought this was suspicious, considering an attack shouldn't draw ponies to migrate to the area in question...

"General?"

Crimson's thoughts were interrupted a second time, maybe he was overthinking this. "Oh, well... We have ponies on that, checking Equestria for Changelings. Until we know where they all are, if they are still anywhere near Equestria, that is... We can't just go charging around the country with our weapons drawn... Ponies might get more than a little worried... For now, it's more of a political situation... Keep the public calm and such."

Dull looked at the ground for a while, seemingly lost within Crimson's words... Confused, maybe... After a few minutes, the general sighed and continued awaiting a response, almost losing himself in thought once more.

Suddenly, Dull Sword's gaze lifted from the ground back to Crimson. "Oh, right!" He responded happily before trudging off with the rest of the group.

"Jeez, are we really that desperate? That we just let anypony with at least half a brain into the guard now..." Crimson sighed, muttering to himself.

Moonlight came to a halt outside of the building where the argument had originated from. By now, a small crowd had gathered outside, trying to figure out what was going on inside.

"I know what I saw! You're one of them... Changer... Things!" An old, frail voice shouted from within the building.

This prompted Moonlight to make his way through the crowd, the words had caused some ponies around to panic and back away from the door, fearing what may be about to happen.

"Okay everypony, calm down we're here to resolve this. If you could all please back away from the building, it would be appreciated." Moonlight called, attempting to calm the crowd and get them to leave before the situation could escalate.

Some ponies amongst the crowd backed away further, some leaving the area entirley. The prescence of guards didn't really mean the situation was just a misunderstanding. It usually meant trouble wasn't far.

Moonlight proceeded through the remainder of the crowd, making his way to the door. A little further down the road came an exhausted Shockwave, who had to sprint a quarter of the way across the city in order to keep up with her General.

"Jeez, can you warn me next time you're gonna just fly off or something like that!?"

"We can't take any chances when it comes to trouble around here now. You'll get used to it, don't worry." Moonlight responded.

The two entered the building, expecting to find a changeling. Instead finding nothing but silence and broken glass.

"Get back!"  A glass bottle, filled with a glowing purple liquid narrowly missed Moonlights head, shattering against the wall at the far side of the room. "I don't want any of you Changers near me!"

Moonlight immediatley scanned the room, searching for the source of the bottle. The interior of the building was filled with these kinds of potions, a small banner hung over a counter reading 'Crucible's Potions and Medications'. Cruicible was a respectable pharmaceuticals salespony in Canterlot, owning two shops at either side of the city.

In the corner of the room, two figures could be seen standing in plain view. One of them was a startled looking old mare, her mane was frazzled and messy, clearly she was the one who had thrown the bottle. The other pony on the other hand, a unicorn stallion, Cruicible, looked calm and quite unharmed. The older mare reached for another nearby bottle to throw.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Moonlight called across the room, grabbing the attention of the two in the corner. "What's going on here?"

Both ponies tried to cut in at the same time, almost causing their argument to pick up again before Moonlight could intervene a second time.

"Alright! Both of you, calm down!" Both ponies looked startled by the sudden outburst from Moonlight. "Ma'am, give me your side of the story." He said, gesturing toward the old, shaken mare.

The old mare remained still, shaking slightly. "I... I was just here to get some medicine, you see... B-but when I came inside, nopony was around, so I called out, 'hello?'. Then I saw all this green flashing from the other room." The mare pointed her hoof toward a door opposite the counter. "Then he came out! He's one of them changers, I tell ya!"

"Oh, you're kidding, right?" Shockwave piped up, in disbelief from the random accusation.

"Don't worry about it, Shock..." Moonlight sighed, sharing Shock's annoyance. "Okay then. You, Cruicible, I presume. What do you have to say?"

"Her story is ridiculous!" Cruicible responded, "I was in the back room enchanting some potions with my magic, when I heard her come in, so I finished up my work and then came to serve her! Next thing I know, she's throwing bottles at me!"

"Alright... Would you mind if I checked out your workspace Cruicible?"

"Wait," Shockwave interrupted. "We're actually checking this out?!"

"It's standard procedure... In the case of any kind of incriminating accusation, we usually have to check around, just to be sure..." Moonlight replied, "Now, could I see the shop's back room, please?"

Suddenly Cruicible's tone changed to one of panic, "Erm... W-why would you need to look in there? I assure you nothing is wrong."

Shockwave looked at Cruicible suspiciously. "Hold up... You said you were enchanting potions, right?"

"Er... Yes..."

"I've studied medications and potions, you shouldn't need magic enchantments to make medicine... What were you enchanting them with?"

Cruicible went silent, a worried look taking over his face.

"You were asked a question. What were you making these potions do?" Moonlight restated the question with a much more serious tone.

"N-nothing! I was making them do... Er... Nothing..."

"Stop making excuses for yourself! There are other ways we can make you tell us. So if you speak up now, maybe we can save some time... And some of your teeth." A scowl replaced Moonlights serious frown, his tone was very intimidating.

"Er... G-General?" Shockwave was worried by Moonlight's sudden, erratic behavior.

What sounded like a squeak came from Cruicible's throat, followed by a rather loud confession, "Alright! I admit it! I was enchanting them so that anypony who drank them would become addicted to the potion! It still treats them and keeps them in good health! What's the harm!?"

"The harm? This may as well be a scam!" Moonlight responded, "You're practically stealing bits from everypony! That's illegal!"

Shockwave led the older mare outside, making sure the last of the crowd dispersed and checking that the mare was alright and unharmed while Moonlight continued questioning Cruicible. A few minutes later, Shockwave returned inside, and was immediatley ordered to head back to the Castle and have a team better suited to investigation sent over.

Crimson followed behind the investigation team, getting the full story from Shockwave on the way. He was concerned. From what he had heard, Moonlight's behaviour was much more aggresive than usual... He always seemed to be slightly more level-headed in a serious situation...

Upon arriving at Cruicible's Pharmacy, the group entered the building one by one, closely followed by Crimson and Shockwave. Moonlight started directing the team to study the customer records and confiscate any harmful product. He barely noticed Crimson's presence in the room.

"Moonlight? You alright?" Crimson asked, concerned for his friend.

Moonlight grunted in response, not even glancing over at Crimson.

"Sir? Listen, we've got this under control, go get some air." Shockwave suggested, "You look like you could use it..."

Moonlight sighed. "Yeah... Maybe you're right..." He responded, before making his way out to the streets to take a reprieve from the situation at hand. Crimson followed him.

"Moonlight, you sure you're ok?" Crimson asked again.

The two Generals sat down outside, fatigued by the events of the day.

Moonlight hesitated before responding, "I don't know... I guess everypony is a little on edge since the attack..."

Crimson gave a chuckle, "Yeah, I guess we could all use a little vacation... Aliktor sound ok to you?"

"Heh... I don't think I'd ever want to go back there in my lifetime... I still find it hard to believe that the Griffons are able to play nice with Equestria now."

"Oh, how the times have changed..."

"Heh, Yeah..."

"Moonlight, sir." A guardspony emerged from Cruicible's. "Almost forgot to mention this..."

Moonlight stood up, turning to his fellow guard with interest.

"Princess Celestia has requested to speak with you."

"Me? What for?" Moonlight responded.

"Not sure, sir. I'm just the messenger here. If you want to know you'll have to go and find out for yourself..."

Moonlight sighed once more. "Alright... No rest for the weary, I suppose... Dismissed, Private."

"Yes, sir." The guardspony returned to the pharmacy, leaving the two Generals once more.

"It doesn't end, does it?" Crimson asked.

"You and I should both know by now that it doesn't..." Moonlight replied, "I'll talk to you later... I had better go find out what's so important."

"Heh, yeah... Good luck, buddy."