Transparency: Q. Mint Jewelip

Beachhead darted up the stairway towards the throne room antichamber, the sounds of armed combat stirring his wings to fly faster even as his years of experience told him to stay with the group.

It was infuriating!

He wanted to MOVE! He wanted to be in the thick of things. He wanted to get those chitinous little bug-brained insurgents before they could do any damage. And all the while, he had to deal with the majority of the troupe Early and himself had been able to raise, as being grounded.

Behind him, the clanging and crashing of the tide of Guard told him they were keeping a decent pace, but 'decent' wouldn't be good enough if those bugs got to Celestia's personal guards before they could raise the alarm. With a burst of speed, Beachhead tried to dart ahead again, only to be yanked back by the blue-white glow of one of the unicorn arcanists.

Blasted mages... always cheating with that freaky magic of theirs.

Beachhead snarled to himself, glancing back and trying to find the glowing horn among the mass of metal behind him, a task made impossible by the uncounted reflections of gold and stained glass. Probably better that he didn't know anyway... what with the need to keep morale.

Beachhead snorted as the magic winked out, turning to resume his course around the corner, only to see a full team of Royal Specialists arrayed in a defensive formation in the antichamber.

Pulling an abrupt aerial somersault, he kicked off the nearby wall and spun back around the corner to halt his troupe. It would do nopony any good to charge headlong into that mess. Time for the unicorns to earn their keep.

"Aura! Blaze! Cinder! Flash! Cupcake! Get your horns in gear and shields up! Defensive line at point and Specialists confirmed!" Beachhead barked.

As the unicorns named snapped to attention and began to channel their shields, Beachhead took a second to check over his improvised assault squad. Far too many earth ponies and unicorns for his liking, but then again, they were at least all Guard.... that had to count for something, right? Couldn't have everypony a skilled aerialist or strafer. Besides, it was always easier to soak up the mess with earth pony stamina.... something he admitted made the big guys more valuable in protracted conflicts. Unicorns... magic was a cheat, but as long as you had more than your adversary, it seemed fair..... kind of.

He glanced back to the line of unicorns but blinked as he noticed Early Warning tentatively peeking around the corner.

"Early! Get your sorry little muzzle back here before it gets blown off!"

As much as that colt played with the heavies, Beachhead never could understand how he'd managed to not get messed up. Ah well, the mares loved his own scars... helped him look ~distinguished~... and Early would forever be the 'cute' one rather than the stallion the mares giggled about like himself.

But that didn't mean he should go and get his face torn off by some spell-happy idiot with an itchy horn.

Before anything could happen, Beachhead darted across the corner, rebounded off the wall and piled into Early, knocking the pair back behind cover.

"Early, so help me, if you do something that stupid again, I will geld you myself!"

Early Warning, a bit dazed from his unexpected trip back into the hallway, simply blinked for a moment before reaching up and adjusting his helmet. "Um, Sir, yes sir. But.... um.... "

"Spit it out Early, In case you didn't remember, we're about to engage our own forces in an attempt to save Equestria."

"About that, sir, they're...."

"They're WHAT?"

"They're on the ground sir."

Beachhead blinked and jerked his head towards the corner, "Horn-heads, assess the situation."

With a nod from Cinder, the four steeled themselves and leapt out of cover, a multi-hued shield spell wobbling and sparking between them, only to come to a quiet halt.

"Sir!" Aura called back, her voice warbling with the shifting glow her spells were known for, "zero hostiles. Force neutralized by unknown cause. Orders?"

Beachhead frowned. He'd been around that corner not ten seconds ago and had seen a mass of the crown's best arrayed in a defensive formation. He'd seen the armor, felt the wind of their pegassi, and could damn well taste the ionization of their mages as they prepped spells. He knew they'd been there.

Hopping off Early Warning, the pegasus stole over to the corner and ducked behind the unicorn shields before looking into the antechamber.

"What the...." he started before catching himself. "Proceed with caution. Unknown hostile may be present. Unicorns and skirmishers up front. Shields ready. Flyboys, keep back until we know the score."

Early Warning shook himself off and got to his hooves before glancing around the corner. "Um, sir?"

"What is it Early?"

"Is that the changeling Me over there?"

Beachhead glanced around the room, eyes flicking over all the unmoving ponies, noble and guard alike, until his eyes settled on a familiar face.... albeit a familiar face that was chained up and slumped between four guards.

"Looks like it, Early," he chuckled, "What's the matter? Getting ideas seeing yourself chained up and being held by the guard?"

"Hardly sir, but if he's here, who was the one at the barracks?"

And for the second time in less than ten minutes, Beachhead wondered how Early Warning wasn't an officer yet.

"Oh, and sir?"

"Yes, Early?"

"I like your attitude better when I'm off shift."

Ah..... sweet mystery of the cosmos solved. "Early, When this is over, you'll be giving me 50 laps."

-~oOo~-

Recon groaned softly as she swallowed another bite of the incredibly-delicious-and-completely-not-a-distraction-from-the-overwhelming-stress-of-being-held-by-the-royal-guard cake. It had been her 9th slice, and though delicious, she was well aware that she was well past her limit.

Her belly was rounded and sore to the touch, her head ached with the tension of hours of twitchy alertness, and her jaw hurt from chewing on far, far too many treats in an effort to distract herself... er... to lull her captors into a false sense of security.

Lowering her head and closing her eyes, she let her horn rest on the pillow before her, soaking up the warm comfort of the pegasus whose wing was draped over her body.

When the hells had that happened?!?

Quickly blinking back to alertness, she glanced at the stallion who was idly reading a book while she leaned against his side.

She honestly didn't remember him laying down next to her, let alone putting his wing across her back. It was a strange sensation, not knowing. She was so used to being the scout or being called on for a deep-strike by Sleep Dep that it actually ~FELT~ different to have missed something so obvious. It was strange enough that she opened her mouth a tiny bit to see if she could taste the difference.

A few seconds later, she popped her mouth closed, embarrassed with her childish lapse. Of course she couldn't taste her ~own~ emotions.... she ate those, just like every changeling.

But after a few moments, she noticed that the stallion was no longer reading his book but, rather, looking at her with a bit of concern.

"Are you feeling a bit better miss?" he asked, the softness of his voice matched with a slight hint of affection across her tongue.

Affection?!?

Recon blinked for a moment. The fact that the stallion was a sworn enemy, and yet showing such vulnerability and care was almost as startling as the sudden recognition of the stack of empty trays before her.  He felt warm and ... comfortable, even though she was undisguised. He should be screaming ~hate~ or ~terror~ with her being revealed. She should be vomiting up gel to secure him and purging herself of the bitter emotions. He should be fighting her and she should be formulating an escape plan.

She ~really~ shouldn't have eaten all those sweets.

A tiny burp was the only warning either of them had before a large quantity of both baked goods and changeling gel were splattered across the two of them and the pillows they rested on.

To his credit, the stallion only made a face and wiped the mess off.

The other one in the room... well, he puked like a drunk and stumbled from the room calling for aide.

Recon wasn't sure what to think... but if he wasn't running after that, he was a tougher pony than she'd given the race credit for.

-~oOo~-

The herald crept out from his hiding spot behind the podium in the throne room antichamber. For the last few minutes, the nobles had been rioting and, up until the Guard arrived, doing a fairly good job of it.

Then, of course, the Guard ~HAD~ arrived. Spears had been drawn, spells had been cast, nobles had been reminded why they hired others to fight in their place, and the Guard had stood proudly upon the veritable mountain of humble pie the nobles would be feasting upon tonight... and then, they'd all fallen over.

Peeking out from behind his highly polished improvised barricade, he surveyed the scene before him.

Nobles, everywhere, in various stages of dishevelment. Guards, everywhere, in various stages of silly poses. Weapons littering the marble hall in every location not occupied by a pony of one of the two groups.

It was utter nonsense... There was no way the nobles could have repelled the Guard... especially considering these particular Guard appeared to have been better trained and armed than the run of the mill variety that sat on battlements, gave directions and posed for tourists.

And then he heard the sounds of hooves and armor clattering down the hall and ducked back behind the podium. No sense in giving the wrong impression to twitchy guards responding to the commotion.

He blinked softly as he listened to the new arrivals. They were being careful, which was good. No guard should be foolhardy enough to simply charge into such a bizarre scene, but at the same time, 'careful' could become 'paranoid' all too easily.

Sighing inwardly, he took a breath and steeled himself for what was to come.

He didn't have to wait long.

A unicorn stallion crept by, horn aglow with a prepared spell of some kind, and nearly fired when he swung his head around and spotted the herald hiding behind the podium. A few tense seconds passed as the two stared at one another before the herald slowly raised a hoof and pointed at the throne room door with a frightened look on his face.

"S-she's in th-th-there," he stuttered, making sure his movements were small and as non-threatening as possible.

It was a few seconds later that the unicorn's horn dimmed and he pulled his head up. "Hey! Captain! We got one awake over here!"

The rapid, though restrained clopping of hooves announced Beachhead's approach, each clop causing the herald's ears to twitch nervously.

But, who could blame him? He was the herald, afterall. He was old and gray and certainly not fit for combat for several decades and the madness that had broken out only minutes ago was clearly still working its way through his system.

"At ease, civilian. What happened here... in as clear a manner as you can, please."

The herald swallowed before nodding nervously. "The nobles, sir, they just came in and got ornery today. More ornery than normal, I mean. And they kept getting worse. But the Princess said not to let them in today... that she was busy with something important with the changeling. So, I've been turning them all away, but then some came with another changeling and they disappeared inside. Been in there for hours. And when another mare came up, saying she'd been injured, I remembered that the Princess had said that 'actual' grievences should be let through, so I let her in, and the Nobles just erupted!" He gestured to the floor covered in ponies.

"The next thing I know, the Guard are teleporting in, flying around, and weapons are drawn. They got into it, real gently, don't think anyone was hurt, but then Celestia yelled from the throne room and everyone just dropped!" He licked his lips, visibly shaking.

Beachhead waited a few more moments before turning back to the troupe. "Get in formation, everyone. We were right, Celestia's stuck in there with the changeling. Might already be under their mind control. Aura, check to see if that was one of Celestia's stun spells... if it is, we've got more problems."

A few more seconds passed as the unicorn mare cast a few spells of her own before turning to Beachhead and nodding. "Sir, it's her work, sir."

"Damn. Troops, assume Celestia's either been replaced or is currently under the control of the changelings. Prepare to do your duty."

A grim nod passed through the assorted mares and stallions. Early Warning frowned and opened his mouth to speak, but one glance at Beachhead told him it was a lost cause.

And as one, they turned to the throne room doors as two heavyset Earthpony stallions in three inch thick iron plate tramplers turned their backs to the doors, cocked their legs, and bucked.

-~oOo~-