Soldiers of Hope

Chapters

Prologue: Arrival
Chapter 1: Hostile Contact
Chapter 2: Unidentified Subjects
Chapter 3: Safety
Chapter 4: Meet the Locals
Chapter 5: An Eventful Day
Chapter 6: Observations

Prologue: Arrival

The sun was just below the horizon preparing to invade the night sky and push back the moon as it reclaimed its place in the sky above. In this predawn light, miles from any other pockets of civilization a breeze began to stir in a field. Slowly the breeze turned into a wing and then a gale as it swirled around a deserted field near a forest.

As the wind threated to become a powerful tornado it suddenly shifted direction and blasted outwards as something was forced into the empty space. In a flash of light where once only sat an empty field now stood dozen upon dozen of builds all lining roads that ended abruptly at the edge of buildings.

A moment later the sound of metal striking metal and the screech of rubber on road filled the air from the town. Slowly lights along the road flickered to life as if they suddenly gained power and lights in many of the houses started to appear. Panicked screams and yells started to fill the air from the town as well as a few loud bangs and flashed of light from inside several houses.

Many figures rushed from the houses and store fronts that doubled as residences as flashing lights began to fill the streets coming from on top of metal objects as sirens filled the air and more screeching of rubber on road filled the air as these vehicles arrived at the site of where other metal boxes had crashed into each other or people gathered in confusion while other ran down the street screaming in panic.

As some of these group threated to panic figured dressed in gold uniforms stepped from the vehicles with the flashing lights holding small objects in their hands. As they spoke into them their voices were amplified by speakers that sat before the flashing lights as they urged the crowds to stay calm. In some instances these figured dressed in gold uniforms had to forcible drag groups apart as some of the panicked people attacked the others, looks of fear plain on their faces.

As this happened across the town larger vehicles with flashing lights began racing from one of the larger buildings in the town heading for the homes where the loud bangs had been heard, now filled with whimpers of pain and frantic fear filled yells for help.

One of these vehicles raced past a group of buildings that sat inside a high fence topped with razor wire. While the dark green wearing figures within this fence looked around in confusion and clutched the metal objects held in their hands they remained calmer than the rest of the town.

The door to one of these buildings burst open and a figure walked out, it was clear this figure was female as she headed for one of the other buildings a look of determination on her face.

Staff Sergeant Dusty Trails opened the door to the administration building and found it filled with other soldiers all trying to report what had happened while the two sergeants behind the desk in the entry way tried to maintain order and make sense of what was happening.

Dusty trails as that like her the other soldiers found themselves transformed into these strange bipedal forms. Dusty had been having breakfast in the mess hall with her squad when there had been a bright flash of light, when her vision returned she found herself still sitting a the mess hall table, only now where her squad had been sitting now sat confused looking bipeds that looked somewhat like her squad.

After everyone had lowered their side arms from the sudden appears of strange alien being before them the soldiers in the mess hall had begun to assess what had happened. It hadn’t been too hard to realize everyone was who they should be but the bodies were beyond strange.

Were once she had been a dark yellow earth pony with a green and pink mane she was now a taller bipeds with the same color fur and mane though where her front hooves had been now sat a pair of hands like a Minotaur’s, in fact her body look a lot like a minotaur only thinner and smaller, also minor the horns. The strangest thing about the body was the two large additions to her chest.

Also strange was while she still had her uniform top she now found herself wearing pants in a black and green camo pattern with knee pads and black sturdy boots on her feet which based on how they felt were no longer hooves either. All the soldiers in the mess hall were dressed like this, even there sidearms had changed locations. Where they once had rested squarely on everyone’s flank just over their Cutie Marks they now rested on their hips.

The pistols had also been changed as they now sat comfortable in everyone’s hands, the mess hall had also changes, it was bigger, the benches now designed for their new bipedal bodies. None of this made sense to her.

A lieutenant who had been eating his breakfast at the same time as everyone else was quick to take charge of the situation and start having everyone assess the situation, once that was done the stallion had sent Dusty to report what had happened to the administration building while they all waited for instructions.

All the others were most likely sent from various sections of the garrison to report what had happened just like her and ask for orders.

As the confusion threated to reach a breaking point the door deeper into administration building opened and a stallion walked out. One of the sergeants behind the desk glanced over and was quick to open his mouth as he saw the insignia on the collar of the stallion. “Officer on deck!”

Like a switch had been flipped the noise died and everyone in the room snapped into a salute aimed at the stallion. The stallion stood slightly taller than Dusty and was noticeable more muscular, not to mention older by a few years. The stallion’s fur was light blue and his mane and tail was red with a streak of grey that was trimmed short to make the horn on his head clearly visible. He surveyed the room with eyes that had clearly seen many things in his career and even in a different body it was hard not to recognize Colonel Brighter Days, the commander of the garrison.

“At ease.” The Colonel said in a voice that sounded like this was just another inspection and not a confusing mess with his soldiers all finding themselves in new bodies. Every soldier in the room dropped into rest, Dusty couldn’t help noticing all their hands went behind their backs and they held them there while their feet sat shoulder width apart.

Colonel Days walked the rest of the way into the room and stopped in front of a Pegasus mare. “Report.”

“Sir, training grounds has suffered an unknown change to all personnel present as well as alteration to equipment. Gunnery Sergeant Fleetfoot has taken charge and began organizing everyone while he sent me to report what had happened.” The mare said crisply.

Colonel Days nodded and moved onto the next soldier, a unicorn stallion. “Report.”

“Sir, motor pool has suffered the same changes as the rest of the garrison, we have a few minor injured caused by the bright flash happening while mechanics worked on vehicles but nothing to serious. Staff Sergeant Grila has organized everyone and began treating the injured with onsite med kits while I was sent to report.” The unicorn said.

The Colonel nodded and moved onto the next soldier, and after receiving that report he went to the next. All the way down the line till everyone had reports the same thing, all personnel in the garrison as well as equipment had been altered after the bright flash.

Receiving the last report the Colonel Days looked at the gathered soldier. “Has anyone heard anything from communications?” He asked calmly. He was answered by shakes of the head.

“Here sir.” A small earth pink pony mare with a lighter pink mane said as she ran into the room from outside, she was panting a bit and it was clear she had sprinted all the way over to administration from the communication building. The mare snapped into a salute. “Privet Cottencandy reporting for communications. We have suffered changes to our bodies as well as to equipment and a partial communications black out.” The mare said. Dusty Trails could tell the mare must have been fresh out of training as she noticeable shook slightly but was still trying to look calm.

“Explain.” Colonel Days said as he walked over to the mare.

The mare swallowed nervously before speaking. “While we have communications with the Royal Guard in the town we have lost all communications with the rest of the county, everything just went dark sir.” She said.

Colonel Days nodded. “Thank you privet.” He said and turned to the gather soldier. “While things may be strange right now I can assure you the situation is under control and I’m sure we will have communications back up soon, most likely whatever that flash was simply overloaded our antenna which would mean we wouldn’t be able to contact anyone, once it is repaired we will have full communications back.” He said to reassure the soldier under his command. He then looked at Dusty. “Staff Sergeant.” He said and Dusty snapped to a salute delivering as ‘sir’ to acknowledge he was speaking to her. “Get your rifle team together and take a couple of Humvees out. I want you to head to Ponyville and report what has happened as well as see if it’s happened to anyone else or just us.”

He said and Dusty nodded. “Yes sir, we can be mobile in ten.” She replied. She could tell the reason the Colonel was giving the order publicly like this was so the rest of the soldier saw that things were being done and everything was under control.

“Good, you are all dismissed.” The Colonel said before he made his way back towards the door that lead deeper into the admin building and the soldiers started to file out to report back to their sections While Dusty did the same she was also going to grab the two squads that made up her rifle team so they could carry out the order Colonel days had for them

Dusty Trails couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, she didn’t know what but something in the air just wasn’t right, she hadn’t noticed it in the initial confusion but now that everything had calmed down the air felt…..tainted somehow.

Whatever it was she was sure it would be dealt with once they reached Ponyville.

Author's Note

Well a group of soldier and an entire town the guard just arrived in a very unfriendly world. Wonder how they will all react.

Also no clue when The Commander will be arriving but she will possibly show up later, most of this story will be done with OCs

Chapter 1: Hostile Contact

In the open field a few miles east of Ponyville two dark green hummers drove at a decent pace inside the lead hummer sat Staff Sergeant Dusty Trails who sat in the passenger seat. It had taken her rifle team just under nine minutes to get geared up and check out the two hummers from the motor pool. There had been a bit of a delay as they found that like everything else their gear had been changed and the armory officer had been inspecting everything when they arrived. Even though the weapons seem to have changed to be more easily by their hands whenever any of them looked at them they knew exactly what they were with ease as if they hadn’t been changed at all.

This day was just getting weirder and weirder as it went on as they simply should not recognize half the stuff they did much less know how to use it. And yet it all came as natural as using their normal gear.

Since this was just delivering a report and returning with information her team had gone without armor and just grabbed some rifles and spare mags. Still…now that they were out of the town the feeling of wrongness in the air had only grown, that feeling was why the hummer behind Dusty’s had a .50 cal. Mounted on it, just in case.

It had been weird finding the hummers changed accommodate bipeds with opposable thumbs but Privet First Class Bright Light seemed to have had no issue driving despite never have been trained to do so with this body.

When they left the garrison they had had to pass by a few Royal Guards who had their hands full keeping the civilians of Hope calm while they dealt with a few car accidents that seem to have occurred as well as what looked like some fights. Despite the few wrecks the town looked to be alright all things consider though it was clear the civvies were scared shitless.

It was when they left the town that things got stranger. Not only had the feeling of wrongness quadrupled but just past the last building of hope the road just ended and the land beyond looked like it had never had a road there before. It was why they had been driving cross county for the past two hours.

It had been about an hour and a half when they moved out of range of the garrison’s radio tower, whatever damage had happened seemed to have effected their link to the communication satellites in orbit so before their radios had degraded too far into static they had been ordered to return before night fall or else a search team would be sent out after them. Dusty had to admit to herself not having contact with command was unnerving; it was one thing when you were under radio silence but it was another when you simply couldn’t talk to Command.

Looking back she could see that Private Violet Storm, a unicorn mare and Corporal Cloudy Skies, a Pegasus stallion ,who road in back of the hummer, were nervous as well, being well and truly on their own with no way to call for back up if you needed it was not a good thing. Dusty had heard that back in the old days radios only went for a couple of miles before you lost signal, she couldn’t figure out how the soldier back then got anything done without being able to call in an air strike if you needed it or report what was happening.

Looking past the two soldiers in back she could see out the back of the open bed of the hummer to the hummer that followed them, she knew Sergeant Flyntel most likely felt as she did, something was very wrong. The two of them had served in the same rifle team since they survive training at Camp Mendez. They had watched each other’s back during training and they continues to do so even afterwards, she had heard some ponies had problems with changelings but she never could understand why.

“We’re almost to Ponyville Sarge, about five minutes I’d say.” PFC Light said and Dusty looked back out the windshield, sure enough the town was just coming into view.

Dusty looked at the town as they neared it, something felt off about it, the town didn’t look right. “Something’s up, stay on guard.” She said. She grabbed the radio and told the squad behind them the same thing though she was sure Flyntel had already gave the same order to his squad.

It was only a few more minutes before they found a dirt road that headed towards the town and the ride become much smoother and faster. It took them no time at all to reach the town of Ponyville; at least they thought it was Ponyville. It stood where the town should be but all of the builds looked to be made of wood with thatched roofs and was randomly placed with no real thought to it. Ponyville was supposed to have stone building with heavy wooden roofs while being in mostly ordered fashion to allow for easy evacuation and defense.

Dusty had read in the history books that the town had been destroyed by Tirek decades ago when he found the town empty during the war with him. After that the town had been rebuilt with some actual planning put into its design. This looked a lot like the pictures of what it used to look like.

As they neared the town limited PFC Light slowed their speed so as not to run the risk of hitting anyone, that all they needed was to bet a ticket and reprimand for hitting a civilian. As they drove into the town Dusty noticed the streets were a bit deserted, this was odd as Ponyville had always been bustling with activity around this time as it was mid-morning.

What few people they did see had clearly been changed like they had back in Hope though they didn’t wear any clothes, Dusty found this made her feel uncomfortable as all the civvies back in hope had been dressed and something about the lack of clothing seem highly unnatural, an odd feeling considering ponies usually went naked but something about these bodies made clothes feel like a must.

Dusty also noticed some people moving along with the other ponies, Dusty had to blink at them as she had never seen anyone who looked like them before and unlike the mares they wore clothes, in fact the only ones not wearing clothing were the mares.

Dusty saw everyone was staring at the hummers as they rolled through the streets of the town, some with fear, others with curiosity and some just plain glared. “Stop here, I want to ask the civvies what the hell is going on.” Dusty ordered and PFC Light stopped the hummer, the one behind them stopped as well a few meters behind them.

“You two with me.” Dusty said to the soldier in the back as she grabbed her rifle and opened the door. The fur on the back of her neck stood on end as her booted foot touched the dirt road of the town, the feeling of wrongness was strong here and everything screamed at her to get in the hummer and fall back to the garrison. Taking a deep breath she calmed herself, she had an objective to complete first.

She couldn’t help noticing the leers the clothed people were giving her and she slung her rifle and motion for the two with her to stay near the hummer as she walked towards a group of ponies and the strangers, she wondered where the changelings were as a fourth of the Ponyville population were changelings.

While she didn’t like the looks the strangers were giving her she needed information. “Excuse me, sirs.” It was clear the strangers were male by their build. “I was wondering if you might answer a few questions.” She asked politely.

One of them smirked and Dusty noticed the mare beside her wore a black collar and looked between the stranger and Dusty with fear. “How about you answer why a bitch is talking to me like some sort of equal.” The male said as he stood straighter and the two beside him glared at her as the mare’s eyes widened in fear.

“Excuse me?” Dusty said a thread of annoyance in her voice at how she was addressed. “I am Staff Sergeant Dusty Trails, equestrian Defense force, and who the hell are you?” She said. She saw the mare’s face went from just holding fear to having a hint of confusion.

“I don’t give a fuck what your name is bitch.” The stranger said as he started to walk towards Dusty, the glare on his face no shifting to anger. The stranger tried to grab her and she easily side stepped him and he went stumbling into the front of the hummer. Turning around the stranger was clearly pissed and Dusty drew her side arm and took aim. “Hands up, now!” She ordered.

The stranger just grew angrier. “You think you can give me an order bitch?” He said and lunged for her again. Dusty side stepped but left her leg in place as she grabbed the strangers arm. With her leg sweeping his legs out from under him Dusty let his momentum carry him to the ground as she twisted his arm behind his back and placed the barrel of her pistol against the back of his skull while his face was buried in the dirt.

“I don’t know who the hell you think you are but attempting to assault EDF personal is not taken kindly.” She said and twisted his arm tighter elating a small cry of pain from the stranger.

“You fucking bitch!” one of the other yelled as he charged her. Dust look up just in time to dodge a kick aimed for her face. Coming to her feet again the second stranger threw a wild punch and Dust grabbed his arm, spun them around and leveled her pistol. Three quick squeezes sent rounds into the second assailant’s stomach and he fell back with a cry of pain caused by the .45 caliber round now buried in his gut.

Dusty heard the click of a round being chamber by Corporal Skies and Privet Storm raised their rifles and took aim at the other two strangers.

The mare stood stock still as she looked on in pure fear as the stranger dusty had shot lay on the ground clutching his stomach as he ground in pain, blood seeping between his fingers.

“Ok, now then someone mind telling me what the hell is going on?” Dusty yelled at the three still standing people. She looked around quickly and saw they were drawing a crowd rapidly and she noticed most of the mares wore red collars while only a few wore black. Dusty level her pistol at the growing crowd as the stranger glared at her, she almost felt like a rabbit corned by a hungry wolf.

She then saw other strangers wearing armor pushing through the crowd; they defiantly were not royal guard or EDF soldiers. The armor wearing stranger pushed through the crowd brandishing hammers. “What is going on here?” One demanded.

“That bitch did something; I don’t know what, some short of magic.” One of the strangers yelled pointing at dusty who glared.

“She doesn’t have a collar, neither does the other one.” Someone in the crowd yelled.

The armored stranger who spoke before glared at Dusty as he inspected her closely. “Who is your owner?” he demanded.

“My what?” Dusty asked, anger clear in her voice, she was quickly running out of patience. “I am Staff Sergeant Dusty Trails of the EDF and I demand you identify yourselves.”

This seemed to anger armored stranger as they raised their hammers and charged. The street echoed with a brief clatter as the Corporal and Privet fired burst from there rifled and the strangers jerked as their armor sparked when the armor piecing rounds passed through it with ease. Why the hell are they charging soldier armed with guns when they were wearing obsolete armor? Dusty thought as the strangers went down and several mares in the crowd cried out in fear.

The strangers in the crowd surged forward. “Light them up!” Dusty yelled as the three soldier opened fired on the attacking strangers. She didn’t have time to unsling her rifle so she used her sidearm as it was already in her hands. She saw two soldiers had piled out of the second hummer and were firing as well as the mares either dropped to the ground screaming or fled in terror.

It didn’t take long for the stranger to take off either once half of them lay in the street dead and the soldier reloaded quickly as more of the armored strangers were running up the street. Dusty waved her hand forward as she unslung her rifle and brought it to her shoulder. “Drop them!” The street echoed with automatic weapons fire as the soldier fired on the new wave of hostile contacts, none of them had any idea who it was attacking them but rule of engagement were clear in this situation.

“They are flanking us!” Corporal Skies yelled as he fired into a side ally.

Damnit they were going to get surrounded at this rate and they didn’t have the ammo for an extended fire fight. Without any idea of how many were attacking them Dusty had no real options here. “Back in the Humvees!” she yelled as she back peddled towards the vehicle.

As soon as she reached the passenger door she opened the door and dove in as did the other two. Looking back she saw the rest of her team had done the same. “There’s no room to turn around.” PFC Light said.

“No choice, go forward, we will circle back around.” Dusty order and the PFC pushed the pedal all the way down. The hummer shot forward followed quickly by the second. Most of the armored stranger dove out of the way but some actually seemed to try to attack the vehicles, Dusty watched as they vanished bellow the front of the hummer becoming speed bumps for the rapidly moving hummers. Looking in the side mirror she saw their bodies roll under the hummer behind them as well.

“Yeah double tap!” PFC Light said with a smirk as he looked back from his side mirror to watch the road as the hummers tore through the streets of Ponyville.

Startled mares and the strangers dove out of the way as they roared past. More of the armored stranger appeared and seemed to be trying to stop them but the ones who didn’t move fast enough suffered the same fate as the first group.

As they drove a loud thud sounded from the roof of the hummer and Dusty looked up at the roof. “Dusty, one of those fuckers is on the roof!” Flyntel said over the radio.

To prove this correct and armored head appeared in the windshield to glare at the mare in the passenger seat. Dusty unlocked her section of the windshield and slammed it forward into the face of the stranger knocking his head out of view for a moment. It quickly reappeared but now the window wasn’t in the air and Dusty took aim with her side arm. With a squeeze of the trigger the attacker’s head snapped back and as the hummer took a corner the limp body rolled off.

Dusty growled as it was quickly replaced by one of the attacker landing on the hood, his hammer clutched tightly in his one hand. With a swing he sent it into the windshield of PFC Light, thank the gods it was armored but it still sent a spider web of cracks.
Dusty took aim again but a sudden turned caused her shot to miss as the stranger was jerked to the side. He was still able to keep his grip though and he smashed his hammer into the window again causing more cracks.

Dusty took aim again and put two rounds in the shoulder of the arm that was holding onto the hood. With the pain of the bullet biting into his shoulder the attacker let go automatically and PFC Light jerked the wheel quickly and the stranger soldier fell off the hood. Dusty watched as he was run over by the hummer right behind them

“Dash windshields fucked.” Light said as he unhooked the windshield and pushed it down. “Oh fuck!” he yelled and Dusty looked back in time to see them heading straight for some market stalls that sat against a building. Light hit the brakes and jerked the wheel causing the hummer to skid out as it fishtailed wildly.

With the sound of splintering wood the hummer crashed into the stalls sending wooden shrapnel everywhere. A cry of pain drew Dusty’s attention to the stallion behind the wheel and her eyes widened at the piece of wood sticking out of the stallion’s shoulder as he clutched it.

“Shit, get a medkit.” Dusty yelled to the two soldiers in the back.

“Don’t, I’m good.” Light said as he gritted his teeth while he grabbed the wheel.

A very distinct clatter echoed from outside the hummer and when Dusty looked she saw Flynel’s hummer had stopped and one of the soldiers was on the .50 and firing on the approaching soldiers.

As Light put the hummer back in gear two thuds came from the back of the hummer and when Dusty looked back while raising her pistol to deal with the enemy soldier she was surprised to see two mares in the back, one grey and one white. The grey one looked at Dusty with fear in her eyes. “take us with you!” she said and Dusty saw they both had black collars on and while the grey mare seemed to be mostly afraid the white mare had a look of determination in her eyes as she held the other mare close.

“Fine but hold on.” Dusty said, she knew she was taking a risk bringing the two stranger but something about the fear in their eyes and what she had seen so far told her they just wanted to get the hell out of Ponyville. Dusty looked back at Light. “Punch it.” She said and he nodded as he put the pedal to the floor and once more they were racing forward as their two. Passengers held onto the side of the hummers open bed for dear life.

“They are blocking the road with carts up ahead.” Light said and Dusty looked to see a line of soldier behind a row of carts.

“We are going straight through.” She said and Light nodded as he pushed the hummer to top speed. The solder behind the barricade realized the hummers weren’t slowing down and quickly dove to the side a moment before the EDF Humvees plowed through their makeshift road block sending bits of carts in all directions.

Dusty looked back at the two mare who watched the town rapidly shrink behind them and saw them visibly relax as the white mare held the grey one protectively while the other hand held onto the side of the hummers bed. She loomed at Dusty and nodded in thanks, her electric blue mane blowing in the breeze.

Dusty sighed as she sat back into her seat. “Take us well out of sight of Ponyville Light, then we are getting you some medical attention and you get to ride in the back seat while Skies drives.” Dusty said and Light nodded, wincing slightly s they hit a bump in the field they raced through.

Dusty Trail had no idea what was going on in Equestria but whatever it was it was bad, majorly bad and she needed to report his to the Colonel as soon as possible.

With nothing but open wilderness before them the two Equestrian Defense Force Humvees raced away from the occupied town of Ponyville with two intelligence assets as passengers.

Author's Note

Well that went to hell in a hand basket rather quickly.

If I didn't get the speech of the Caribou right i'm sorry as I haven't really read the stories and am basing this off of info I have researched.

Chapter 2: Unidentified Subjects

The two Humvees bounced through the field, staying close to the forest as they headed back towards Hope. It had been about an hour since they fell back from the occupied Ponyville and the lead hummer was starting to weave back and forth a bit erratically. After a minute of this the Humvee skidded to a stop and the second pulled up close to it as the soldiers piled out of it and one of the soldiers from the second rushed to the diver side of the first.

Opening the door PFC Light spilled out and was caught by the other soldier. The front of the driver’s uniform was stained crimson from the wound in his shoulder. Corporal Heart, who was the one to catch the injured stallion, quickly pulled him from the driver seat and laid him on the ground. Corporal Heart was the rifle team’s medic and she wasted no time taking the PFC’s vitals. “Pulse weak, breathing slow but steady…”The medic said to herself the world falling away as she worked.

Staff Sergeant Dusty Trails came around the front of the hummer to check on the stallion. He had needed medical attention a while ago but they needed to put as much distance between themselves and whoever it was holding Ponyville as they didn’t know what sort of capabilities they had and a single rifle team couldn’t hope to take a town filled with a totally unknown enemy.

Hearing the muttering of Heart she could tell Light was going to be alright if out of action for a while. With that settled the soldier mare made her way to the back of the Humvee where their two passaged sat, the grey earth pony was holding the white unicorn tightly and crying into her chest while the unicorn stroked her hair soothingly.

As much as Dusty hated to break up the scene the facts were they needed answers so she dropped the tailgate of the Humvee and gestured with a hand. “Out, now.” She said firmly, she still didn’t fully trust these two.

The White unicorn glared at Dusty but the grey earth pony nodded before moving to climb out carefully and the unicorn followed, staying very close to the other.

Dusty crossed her arms over the things on her chest and looked the two nude mares before her, she still didn’t know why them being naked bothered her but that was a minor detail. Taking in what these two looked like. The grey earth pony had a black mane with a cutie mark on her thigh that was some sort of music symbol, Dusty didn’t know what it was called, and though her eyes still held fear in them they also held relief. The Earth pony was still holding onto the unicorn mare who had an electric blue mane and a music note on her thigh. And while the earth pony was filled with fear and relief the unicorn had hard eyes filled with determination and a clear hint of rage as she glared at Dusty while keeping an arm protectively around the grey mare.

Dusty focused on the unicorn mare as she seemed to most together. “So then, mind telling me who the hell you are and what the fuck is going on and why the fuck you jumped into the back of our Humvee?” The unicorn mare only glared more at how Dusty spoke but didn’t say a word. “Say something.”

“Sh-she can’t…”The earth pony said as she wiped some tears from her eyes. “Our….our owner cut her tongue out because she made him angry with her constant insults…..” The earth pony said and nearly started crying again. The unicorn stopped glaring at Dusty as her features softened and pulled the other mare into a hug, stroking her hair.

Dusty looked between the two of them at a loss for words. “What the hell is going on? What do you mean owner and how the hell does anyone get away with cutting someone’s tongue out.” She said looking at the earth pony mare as the only one who could actually speak. “Who are you anyways?”

“My….my name is Octavia and this is my sister Vinyl.” Octavia said and looked at Dusty. “Thank…..thank you for taking us with you…..” She said. “I thought vinyl was crazy for thinking of escape, she’s been planning it for some time but with the guards are everywhere so there was no way she could get us both out….then your….thing crashed in front of us and we saw the other one fighting the guards…..and….and she just grabbed a piece of wood and stabbed out owner in the neck, grabbed me and jumped in the back……” Octavia said shaking as she explained what had happened and Vinyl held her close before turning her to face the unicorn and giving her a broad smile to say everything was ok now Dusty assumed.

Dusty looked around the field as she processed what Octavia just told her. Most of it made little sense to the Staff Sergeant but she understood the two mares had been in a bad situation and when they saw a chance at escape, they took it. “Flyntel.” She called out over her shoulder. “Grab a couple of emergency blankets from a kit.”

“Right away ma’am.” Came Flyntel’s slightly hissy voice from the other side of the second Humvee where he was keeping watch with the rest of the soldiers besides Corporal Heart and PFC Light.

Dusty nodded and looked back at the two mares with a smile on her face. “I may not fully know what is happening but I can assure you, you are safe now and once we get back to Hope we will see about getting you some food and medical attention.” She said and looked at them. ”As well as some clothes” She added.

Octavia gave a small smile. “Thank you Miss…..”

“Staff Sergeant Dusty Trails, Equestrian Defense Force.” Dusty said and the two mares looked at her in confusion.

Dusty was about to ask why they were confused when Flyntel walked up to the group carrying two blanket from the teams survival kits and the two mares recoiled and vinyl put herself between Octavia and Flyntel who blinked at them with his solid blue eyes.

“What is that?” Octavia asked in fear from behind Vinyl.

Dusty blinked. “You two act like you’ve never seen a changeling before.” She said in confusion.

“Changeling?” Octavia asked looking between Dusty and Flyntel.

“You…..don’t know what they are? Do you?” Dusty asked and the mare shook her head. Dusty looked at the other sergeant then back at them. “Uh….Flyntel here doesn’t mean you any harm; he is a friend of mine.” She said confused still. Slowly the two mares relaxed and Dusty gesture for Flyntel to give them the blankets.

The Vinyl cautiously took them and then placed one around Octavia, smiled as she made sure it covered her before wrapping herself in the second blanket.

Dusty nodded. “Well if you are familiar with Changelings then Hope should be an interesting experience for you.” She said and gestured to the back of the Humvee. “Feel free to take a seat; I’m going to go check on my injured soldier.” She said heading back around the Humvee. She found the piece of wood had been removed from PFC Light’s shoulder and it was now bandaged as the medic took his vital again. “What’s the word Heart?”

The medic looked up at her commanding officer. “He’ll live but I recommend he rest for at least twenty-four hours and have the med-pay back at base take a look at him as he lost a lot of blood.” She said as she got to her feet and dusted herself off.

Dusty nodded and looked at the unconscious soldier. “Well load him into the back of the Humvee as we are heading back to base and the sooner we get to Hope the better I’ll feel.” She said and the medic nodded before gesturing for another slider to help her move the PFC onto a stretcher and then load him into the back of the Humvee. Dusty apologized to the two mares for the slightly cramped conditions but Octavia said it was no trouble at all and thanked Dusty once more for saving them.

With that out of the way the soldiers climbed back into their Humvees and began making their way back to Hope.

<<>>

Deep within the Everfree Forest, now more dangerous do to the magic that affected the once peaceful land of Equestria having sent the magic of the forest even more out of control, sits the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sister. Had anyone been near the ruins just before dawn they would have felt a small earth quake around the same time a certain town appeared.

The quake emanated from the ruins themselves as deep within them, past the crumbling doors and through the debris filled entry way. Past where the old thrones of power once sat and down a flight of stairs that lead to the lowest floors of the ruins and at the end of the hall that once stretched the length of the castle now sat a heavy reinforced steel door.

On the door was painted a golden kite shield with two crossed swords behind it with the letters EDF sitting squarely in the middle of the shield. Just below the shield sat a simple red circle with a black biohazard symbol resting in the middle. The words Biohazard Containment Division ran around the bottom half of the circle.

Through the door sat an airlock, past that was the type of sterile white halls you’d see in any hospital anywhere on the planet. The smell of disinfectant was strong in the air but the dozen doctors who call the small lab home had long since grown used to it to the point they did not notice it anymore.

The lab was small as it was only meant to handle the study and containment of a handful of level four and level five biological contagions. This BCD lab was set up has the main facility located just outside of Vanhoover only dealt with up to level three contagions. Do to the inherently deadly and possible world ending potential of some of the Level Five viruses and bacteria’s housed within this lab it was natural to build it in the old ruins as many still feared the place, it was surrounded on all sides by a deep ravine and beyond that, one of the most dangerous places on the planet providing a level of security one could only hope for to guard such a facility.

In one of the labs sat an earth pony stallion and unicorn mare, both of which were hooked up to various medical and lab equipment that took blood samples, brain scans, measured heart rate and blood pressure and every other imaginable test that could be done on the living.

The stallion sat perfectly still as he watched his own reading while the mare did the same thing. “Nothing seems to be wrong; all tests show us to be perfectly healthy doctor.” The mare said not looking up from the screen before her.

“Yes, it seems despite whatever that event was that changed our bodies left no adverse effects besides the drastic changes to our bodies. “The stallion said before deactivating the screen. Carefully he began to unhook himself as the mare followed suit.

Once both were unhooked they stood and made their way to the sealed door and activated the intercom beside it. “This is Dr. Vector, all tests came back negative, unseal the door.” After a few seconds there was a hiss from the door as the locks were remotely disengaged and the air tight seal broken.

Calmly the two doctors walked out of the now unlocked door and were greeted by the rest of the doctors who called this lab home. “So then this was not a biological event.” One of the other doctors said. “Then that leaves just magical as the only other possible theory.”

Dr. Vector nodded. “Yes, we will need to get in contact with the EMSD Facility so that they may look into this matter. What is the status of our radio and other connections to the outside world?” He asked. While the lab’s radio had gone down several hours before whatever event changes Doctors in the lab they had still had connection to the outside world via the Military Network. After the event they had lost all contact and thus had no cause to be concerned. Now with that cut off the lab was alone.

This did not bother the Doctors as they were used to the isolation as few desired to actually visit with the members of the BCD as they found them extremely unnerving, some even said every member of the BCD was completely insane. Dr. Vector preferred to think of them as just having a healthy respect and admiration for nature and what it could do to a living being with ease.

Do to the work of the BCD all of their doctors had seen some of the most horrible things imaginable, some of which defined all logic such as when Dr. Vector personally entered an isolated zebra village where the inhabitants had all perished from a strange virus. He had personally found patient zero. The subject had been dismembered by the rest of the village and it seemed even being in pieces the Zebra male was still screaming for help despite his head being several feet from the rest of his body. That had been a most interesting case and he was happy that the virus was housed in this very lab.

This lab contained some of the most dangerous viruses on the planet, all of which were under researched for either a cure or vaccine. The lab had also decided to see what else they could do and succeeded in making several of these deadly viruses far stronger. Just in case the BCD decided to study a global pandemic as a;; BCD facilities were air tight and could easily isolate themselves from the rest of the world and study the effects of the viruses as civilization crumbled outside of their labs.

However the BCD was a loyal part of the EDF and through them to the nation of Equestria. After all it was the army that funded and allowed them to do their research and if they killed everyone there would be little chance of finding new biological contagions to study as there would be no more subjects to get infected.

That and many of the BCD were away that a certain mare held the codes to remotely unlock their labs and expose them to the outside world if not remotely activate the labs’ self-destruct, there by ending all their research and making releasing the contagions pointless.

Dr. Vector had thought of having the three changeling that worked within the lab try to contact the hive but it would be just as ineffective as the radio as the three changelings were isolated from the rest of the hive to protect the rest of the Hive from being exposed to the memories, feelings and thoughts of the three Doctors. They could still communicate with each other over the link though.

“Well we need to establish contact with the rest of the army or at least another BCD Lab before they think something had happened and either set the facility to self-destruct, or worse, send someone to investigate.” Dr. Vector said, the BCD did not like when stranger snooped around their labs, to many chances for things to go wrong plus the possibility of the lab getting infected by something the stranger was carrying and the doctors being infected, that just wouldn’t do.

The twelve Doctors thought for a few moments. “Well.” One of the others said. “The only option is to head into Ponyville and use a phone or speak to the head of the army herself.” The other eleven Doctors thought about it before nodding, while they did not like exposing themselves to such a large number of people that living in the small town, or any number of people not part of the BCD, it was simply the only option they had. None of them were happy about it.

“Right them, myself, Dr. Green, Dr. Cupcake and Dr. Trilat will head into town and contact the rest of the army to inform them that everything is completely under control and we are just experiencing a minor malfunction with our communication equipment and that it will be dealt with by tomorrow at the latest.” Dr. Vector said.

The other Doctors all nodded and the three Dr. Vector mentioned stepped forward to follow the stallion to the airlock where they would dawn their hazmat gear and venter forth into the outside world.

<<>>

At the edge of the Everfree Forest four figures in bright yellow suits with black gloves, boots and gasmasks walked out as if out for a present stroll in the early afternoon sun. Dr. Vector looked at the town that was not far from where the four BCD Doctors exited the forest. Something about it seemed off. After a moment of contemplation he realized it looked nothing like the last time he saw it over six months ago. No matter, a lot can happen in just a few second, who was he to question was six months could do?

The Doctors began walking again. The walk through the Forest had seemed slightly more dangerous than usual as many of the creatures who called that place home seemed far more agitated. Usually they avoid the Doctors as if their lives depended on it when they left their lab, having learned long ago not to attack the bright yellow creatures but several had attacked them. Their bodies now lay on the forest floor, the location marked for later retrieval as the lab could always use new specimens and fresh tissue.

As the four figured continued their slow walk towards the town they noticed several armor wearing figured coming out to meet them. Odd it wasn’t the uniform of the royal guard or the armor of the soldiers of the EDF, perhaps they were performers or something as they did wear old armor and wielded ineffective weapons.

As the armor clad figures approached the Doctors the four of them saw they were of a species neither had seen nor read of in the BCD’s vast database. This was odd as the BCD was very meticulous in its data gathering of all potential contagion carriers. These subjects were unidentified and that made the Doctors nervous. Not only were they having to go into a population zone filled with gods only knows how many potential contagions but it seemed the town had unknown subjects in it and no one had bothered to inform the BCD. To say the four Doctors were on edge was an understatement. Someone would be hearing about this just as soon as they could make contact with the army.

As the Unknown Subjects neared the four doctors the hazmat wearing group came to as top as their path was now blocked by a wall of steel. Dr. Vector did his best to sound friendly. “Afternoon unknown subjects, how can we help you?” The BCD Doctors were not known for their interpersonal skills.

One of the unknown subjects stepped forward and pointed at Dr. Cupcake. “What is that bitch doing wearing clothes?” It asked, from the voice it sounded male, Dr. Vector filed that information away in his head before looking back at Dr. Cupcake, how did the unknown subject know she was in fact female? Perhaps it was the pointless collection of flesh on her chest; the unknown subjects must have thought the Doctors were members of their species.

Dr. Vector looked back at the one who spoke. “She is wearing a standard hazmat suit to protect against possible infection from any number of contagions that could be in the air.”

This made the subject who spoke blink. “Who is her owner?” he demanded after a few moments.

“Owner? Who would own a pony? Such an archaic mindset.” Dr. Vector said calmly as he thought about what the subject said.

The subjects drew their hammers and glared at the four Doctors. “So attempting to escape eh bitch.” The first subject said as the group surrounded the four Doctors.

Dr. Vector looking around them as did the other three. “If this is meant to intimidate us or some other such meaning I word advice against it.” He said calmly.

The Subjects ignored the warning and charged forward. Dr. Green calmly removed a canister from his back. Popping the top released a white gas the rapidly spread around the four Doctors. As the unknown Subjects entered the gas to attack the four BCD Doctors they couldn’t help breathing the gas. Before they reached the four they started to stumble and cough violently. Several moments later a few of them began to vomit blood as they collapsed to their hands and knees, their eyes, noses and ears starting to bleed. As the twelve unknown subjects vomited up more blood and collapsed to the ground in fits of seizers as blood poured from every orifice the four Doctors calmly watched the effects as they took mental notes.

The one who had spoken early attempted to grab Dr. Vectors boot and the Doctor calmly took a step back to avoid being touched by the unknown subject as he continues to be a passive observer. After about sixty seconds the twelve unknown subjects lay still and it was clear they were dead as the gas slowly dissipated into the air becoming harmless a few seconds later.

“What was that?” Dr. Vector asked as he crouched beside the only unknown subject to speak and observed his body.

“Strain E-579” Dr. Green replied as he calmly observed another body.

“Ah, did not know that was ready for testing yet.” Dr. Vector said absentmindedly as he turned the head of the unknown subject leader, noting how his skin peeled off as he shifted his head.

“Finished it before the event this morning, I must say it was lucky to find volunteers to test it.” Dr. Green said.

“Right then. “Dr. Vector said as he stood up. “Dr. Green remains here and gathers samples, when you have a sufficient number find us in the town.” He turned to the other two Doctors. “In the mean time we have to make contact with the rest of the army as well as report this attack to the local authorities.” The Everfree Chemical Troopers leader said. While that was an unofficial name for the BCD Doctors it was what a lot of the soldiers in the EDF called them and was one of the main reasons they did what they could to avoid the Doctors.

The other two Doctors stood and together the trio made their way towards the town of Ponyville while Dr. Green began taking sample of every part of the recently deceased volunteer subjects.

Inside the town proper the trio of Doctors found more of the unknown subjects walking around, this was most curious to Dr. Vector but was a question for another time as he spotted a mare that only wore a black collar walking beside an unknown subject and the three doctors walked up to her.

Ignoring the unknown subject Dr. Vector spoke to the mare. “Excuse me citizen but might you point me in the direction of the nearest available public phone?” HE asked politely. It would do no good if the citizen was frightened after all.

For some reason she was frightened as she looked between Dr. Vector and the unknown subject. He couldn’t figure out why she was afraid as he was completely polite, perhaps she did not understand what he said through the gasmask.

“Citizen I asked you where the nearest phone is, point me in the direction now please.” Dr. Vector said with a raised voice so she could hear.

The mare jumped and the unknown subject glared at her. “Who the hell are you.” He aid and looked at the rest of the trio. “And why is that bitch clothed?”

Dr. Vector ignored the rude subject; really didn’t it know anything about manners? Looking at the mare once more Dr. Vector was growing tired of her lack of response. “Citizen I am asking you once more, where is the nearest phone or law enforcement authority as it is very important I report some things.” He said in the same elevated voice as before.

Being ignored seemed to have angered the unknown subject as he took a swing at Dr. Vector he quickly jumped back to avoid a possible suit rupture. “Come now, there is no call for that, you could rupture my suit and then no one would be happy.” He said and the unknown subject pressed his attack as a small crowd started to gather.

Dr. Vector side stepped and the unknown subject stumbled face first into a wall. As it turned around Dr. Vector noted that its nose was bleeding. “You should seek medical aide.” He advised helpfully.

Once more this seemed to only make the subject angry as he lunched for the doctor who side stepped once more. “You seem to have many anger issues, I would recommend changing your diet as it can effect mood greatly.” He said and the subject kept attacking and Dr. Vector was going annoyed at the risk of a suit rupture this subject was posing.

He dodged again he spoke up as he thought out loud. “Well it seems you won’t listen to reason and wish to continue to put me at risk of a suit rupture and your level of aggression seems to be the effect of an unknown contagion so to protect myself there is only one logical course of action. “Dr. Vector said and as the subject charged him again a scalpel seemed to materialize in the Doctor’s hand and he deftly drew it across the subject neck as he side stepped him once more. “Euthanasia.”

The subject fell to his knees clutching his throat as blood flowed freely. “Oh that is most point as I made sure to sever both the carotid and jugular arteries. You should be deceased right about…” The subject dropped face first into the dirt. “now.” The Doctor finished.

The Doctor looked at the recently deceased unknown subject and then at the crowd as they started to back away. “Is something wrong?” He asked and the crowd bolted.

Sighing Dr. Vector check the time via the clock town. “We will try again on another day when the town is calmer as it seems something has them spooked.” He said and looked at the body at his feet. “Bag and tag the unknown subject, I want to bring it back for study.” He said.

“Yes Doctor.” The two with him said in unison before Dr. Cupcake pulled out a body bag and laid it on the ground; you never knew when you’d need a body bag.

As the two doctors prepped the subject for transport Dr. Green arrived with his case. “Sample collected Doctor, how did your endeavor to report to the army and proper authorities go?” he asked.

“Poorly, the town seems on edge for some reason so we will be returning another time.” Dr. Vector said as he watched the unknown subject’s body be zipped up into the body bag.

One the body was ready for transport the four Doctors began the trek back to their lab where they would type up a report of today’s events, the effects of Strain E-579 as well as examine the sample taken from the volunteers while others studied the body of the unknown subject.

Least this trip wasn’t a total waste. Dr. Vector thought as the four Doctors entered the Everfree Forest with their cargo.

Author's Note

Yes the BCD has weaponized every contagion they have

Yes the BCD doctors were left not really described for a reason

Yes everyone in the BCD is insane in some way

Also when a quartet of insane chemical troopers think what you are doing is wrong then you know what you are doing is REALLY wrong.

Chapter 3: Safety

Colonel Brighter Days stood in his officer of the town of Hope Garrison. The stallion was looking out the window as the rolling fields just past the garrison’s perimeter fence, normally the peaceful view relaxed him but for some reason now the view was anything but peaceful. The simple fact was everything felt wrong, his body, the view even the very air he breathed felt wrong. The body twisted and alien to the colonel, the view and air felt….tainted like the world beyond the town limits had gone rancid and mixed with the fact that after hours the rest of the country was still dark and the colonel was very uneasy.

The communications officers and engineers had torn communications apart to try and find what was wrong and the engineers had even taken the antenna apart to see if the problem was there. Everything came back as working perfectly fine. And yet they only had communications with the local Royal Guard, unable to make a connection to the communication satellites in orbit. It was almost like there was nothing up there to relay their signals.

Sighing the stallion turned from the window and looked over his officer as it relaxed him more than the view. Even with the alterations it was still his office. The room was rather Spartan with a small bookshelf with a small potted plant on top sitting against one wall. Beside that was a small cabinet with a few bottle of his favorite scotch and glasses as well as a bottle of Nightfall whiskey that had been a gift to him from a friend when he got his promotion. Two chairs before his desk, a painting of a field of flowers across from the bookshelf. The room before his desk was bare.

Behind his desk was slightly different, not only did it have a window and two small flags of Equestria and the EDF respectively but a solitary picture sat on the wall beside the window near the EDF flag. A picture of a younger Brighter Days and about forty other soldiers all standing in a desert and scattered about either on the two tanks behind them or the ground before them, all smiling for the picture. His old army unit taken the day they made land fall in Saddle Arabia, a bunch of young soldiers ready to aid the Saddle Arabian government against group of extremists who desired to rule the nation and impose their isolationist views on the people and kill any who disagreed with them.

It was going to be a cakewalk, a bunch of extremists hiding out in caves with weapons that were decades old versus modern weaponry.

Only three ponies and one changeling in that picture walked away from that conflict, some didn’t even get to go him in a box, their bodies never recovered, left out in that godsforsaken desert. Brighter Days was glad that out of everything that had changed in the garrison that one picture had remained unchanged. They were all still ponies and changelings in that picture, how they are supposed to be.

Looking away from the picture the Colene sat at his simple des and looked over the reports from around the garrison since whatever event had caused all this. The Colonel’s desk was much like the rest of his office, empty save for a few pens, some paper a computer and a single picture in a gold frame of a young unicorn with a green coat and red and gold mane, his daughter. He had no pictures of the insufferable bitch that was her mother as he had burned them all the day after he came home on leave and found her in bed with their neighbor. Still he did have to thank her for their daughter but her and the stallion in the bed with her were very lucky he had seen too much death in that desert or there would have been two bodies in the room and not just destroyed furniture.

Brighter Days had been trying to reach his daughter, Sunny Meadow since after dispatching the rifle team to Ponyville. She lived in Manehatten as an assistant to a book publishing house’s editor but no matter what he tried nothing got three. All long distance calls were just dead air, though he still had local calling ability and the phone in his pocket had no service. He had been tempted to try the radio but communications had their hooves…hands full trying to figure out why they couldn’t contact anyone else in the country for him to take their time to try for a personal call, no matter how much he wanted too.

As the Colonel read the reports a calm knock came at the door. “Come.” The garrison leader said not looking up from the reports as the door open and closed. He continued to read till whoever it was gently cleared their throat.

Looking up Brighter Days was met with the sight of a changeling in a black suit with no tight and his jacket undone. It wasn’t hard to recognize who was standing before him based on the thinner frame from the rest of the changeling in the garrison. “So then operative, what does the Military Intelligence Division want because as I’m sure you can guess I am quite busy trying to keep everyone in this base from panicking?” He said calmly.

The M.I.D Operative smiled. “Come now Colonel is that anyways to treat an old friend?” He said.

Brighter Days instantly recognized the voice of the leader of the four M.I.D Operatives assigned to Hope Garrison, Operative Yarnil. Every base and garrison in the country had at least four M.I.D Operatives assigned to it to watch for trouble within the nation or to be in places to go on mission should a possible threat show up. Needless to say everyone was nervous around the operatives as they are what the changeling infiltrators became when the hive was absorbed by the EDF and thus could pull off perfect impersonations with ease. Though any changeling could disguise themselves the infiltrators were the best at it and that combined with what they did made every nervous. It was a bit of a touch call of who made you more nervous, the M.I.D or the BCD, most soldiers couldn’t decide.

“I’m not sure when we became friends as I don’t recall us ever really talking since you showed up Yarnil.” Brighter Days said.

The changeling placed his hand on his chest as if he had been struck. “Oh you wound me Colonel. Here I thought we were good friend what with both of us only desiring what is best for Equestria.” The changeling said with a smile as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small silver case. Opening it he looked at the colonel. “Mind if I smoke?”

Brighter Days waved his hand and the changeling with drew a cigarette and placed it between his lips, closing the case he flipped a switch on the side and a flame snapped to life on the top. Once the cigarette was lite the changeling took a deep drag, only speaking after he blew smoke from his nose, the cigarette shifted to the side of his mouth. “So I was wondering if you knew anything about what was going on out there.” The changeling asked.

The Colonel snorted. “I would have thought you’d know that already, don’t you at the MID know everything before everyone else?”

“That is a myth and you know it, we may be able to be anywhere at any time but that does not mean we are everywhere.” The changeling said with annoyance as he took another drag from his cigarette. “And right now we probably don’t know any more then you do.”

The Colonel looked at the changeling before him. “You’re scared, aren’t you?” He asked simply.

“Yes I’m fucking scared!” The operative yelled taking the cigarette from his mouth and pointing it at the stallion behind the desk. “We have absolutely no connection to our brothers anywhere on the planet much less the nation itself. It’s almost like the hive is simply gone. Do you have any idea what that’s like for us? We can’t even contact our Queen!” Yarnil shouted before taking a large drag from his cigarette. “We are all scared shitless just like you and everyone else in this damn town is.” He said a bit calmer.

“I’m sorry; I can’t imagine what you are going through.” Brighter Days said with sympathy, he honestly never could understand how the changeling hivemind worked but he knew it was very important to them and being linked to it, he had seen changeling who lost the ability to connect to the hivemind, it was not pretty and a few of them were locked up in Irongate.

“I don’t want you sympathy colonel what I want is to know what the fuck is going on and what this garrison is doing to fix all of this.” The operative demanded.

“Currently waiting for the rifle team I dispatched to Ponyville to report in, after that doing whatever we need to get this fixed.” Brighter Days said.

“And what if the situation is bad?” The Operative asked much calmer than before, the Colonel got the feeling he knew something brighter days didn’t.

The Colonel sat back in his chair and his eyes narrowed. “What do you know?” He said calmly.

The changeling took a drag from his cigarette as he looked at the colonel. “That it’s bad, like nothing we have ever seen before Colonel, and with the hive missing I fear what it may mean for all of us in this town.”

<<>>

In the Everfree Forest four being stood in bright yellow hazmat suits that made them hard to miss in any environment, but they didn’t see the point in hiding anyways as they were there to help people after all. Doctor Atreus watched as two of his fellow BCD doctors gathered samples from a manticor Dr. Vector and his team had to deal with on their way into town. The manticor’s body was covered in growths that had reached an impressive size in such a short amount of time before the subject finally died as its internal organs were crushed.

Atreus stood with one other doctor observing the sample taking to see exactly what the modified contagion had done to the subject. From where he stood he could see the glass imbedded in the subjects face still from where the vile had been smashed by Dr. Cupcake, it was a good place to administer the contagion as it was in a liquid state as the BCD had not figured out how to make it work as an airborne contagion yet as all other attempts had rendered the contagion either neutralized or far weaker than the normal strain.

As the doctors worked gathering their samples for later study Atreus observed the forest around them, paying special attention to his emotional sense to read for aggression, as Dr. Vector had said the place was more dangerous than normal. The animals within usually avoided the BCD but they were far more aggressive than normal as was the plant life. The BCD running theory was an unknown contagion was running rampant in the forests possible brought by the unknown subjects in Ponyville. They would soon know once they were done studying the subject they had collected though Atreus was planning to try and take a few of the animal life back with them to study as well.

As he stood watching his ear picked up a twig snapping and a spike of fear for a split second before it was lost to the natural aggressive emotions that permeated the forest around them. Looking around Dr. Atreus tried to determine where the spike of fear came from as the only time he ever sensed fear in this forest was when the BCD was walking through it though that was back when the forest was normal.

As he focused on his emotional sense the changeling doctor was able to sense another emotion besides the normal aggressive one, determinations with a thread of fear mixed with curiosity. That was no animal; the emotions were too refined and pronounced.

“We are not alone.” He said calmly to his fellow doctors. The two taking samples stopped immediately and stood up to join the other two doctors in watching the forest. The three pony doctors looked around calmly while Atreus searched with his emotional sense. From what he could tell their unseen observer was small and very afraid but determined as well. As he continued to search he realized the reason he was having trouble pinpointing the source was that there were three of them scattered around them all with varying degrees of determination but the same level of fear, whoever was watching them all three were terrified but keeping it under control.

Deciding to see if he can draw out whoever was watching them so he stepped away from the group and spoke up. “Whoever you are, we mean you no harm. We are from Doctors from the Equestrian Defense Force Biohazard Containment Division.” He said clearly, he felt another spike of fear as he started speaking but it was quickly reined in by the determination. “I assure you we mean you no harm.”

The changeling thought about maybe removing his gasmask so they could see his face but that thought was quickly discarded as insane when he was outside the safety of the lab. Instead he raised his hands to show he was unarmed and spoke again. “If you are lost we would be happy to help you, this forest is highly dangerous to be out in, more so than usual it seems.”

He waited for a while and felt indecision in the three observers and could tell they were moving around them, he thought he caught movement in one of the trees but it was gone so quick it could have been anything. After a while of standing there he saw movement in one of the pushed and a small face peered out of it. Dr. Atreus looked at it and raised his hands once more to show he was unarmed as he made observations. From what he could see the observer had yellow fur and a few strands of red mane fell over its face from behind what looked like used to be a red bow, now seeming to be used to tie the face’s owner mane back much like a bandanna.

“You with the Caribou?” The face asked. “Don’t try ta lie nether, ah’ll know if’n you do.” The face said with a southern accent.

Atreus looked back at his fellow doctors in confusion; he could tell they were just as confused. Looking back at the face he spoke up. “I can say with all honest I have no clue what a Caribou is, we are with the Equestrian army.” He said.

The face stared back at him from the push for a while before it nodded and spoke up louder than before. “He ain’t lying.” It said and stood up from the bush allowing the doctors to see who had been speaking to them. As he had observed before the subject had yellow fur and a red mane, and it was indeed a tatter old bow that had been undone and used to tie the mane back by wrapping it around the sides of the subjects head like a bandanna and wore what looked like the clothes a farm hand would wear though dirty and worn as if they hadn’t changed clothes in a long time. What caught the doctors most off guard was the stick with a sharpened rock tied to the end in a crude spear and the small hatchet in the subject’s belt.

As the subject stepped out from the bush another bush shifted another subject stood up. This one had dark orange fur and most of its dark purple mane was covered up by a battered helmet one would wear if they rode a bike or other such transport, unlike the yellow subject this one held two crude daggers made from sharpened rocks and had what looked like a set of tools on its belt and wore a t-shirt and jeans as well as what had once been sneakers if Atreus was correct.

Lastly a subject dropped from a tree and landed with a muted thud on ground before their legs buckled and it collapsed with a yelp of surprise. This subject had white fur with a purple and pink mane as well as having a horn on her head. The subject wore what used to be a simple dress, now in the same state ass the other two subjects clothing and Atreus noticed they had a crude spear as well though shorter and lighter as if meant to be thrown, the makeshift quiver filled with half a dozen more on the subject’s back made it clear they were.

As the doctors observed the three subject, the two rushing over to help the one who fell stand up they made two other observation, one was that they were underweight and two they were much shorter than the doctors leading them to believe the three were just children.

Dr. Atreus looked around the forest then back at the three subjects as they help the one to her feet, judging by their clothing, crude weapons and malnourished state he could only conclude they had been surviving out in this forest for a very long time.

Carefully so as not to spook the subjects Atreus approached them. “Excuse me, children but would you like something to eat?” He asked. While the BCD may fear possible contagion they did go out of their way to help the young over older subjects. “Once we finish gathering samples we will be returning to our lab and you are welcome to join us.”

Another one of the other spoke up. “Doctor, are you sure that is a good idea? The risk of contamination is extremely high if they have been surviving out in the forest.”

Dr. Atreus looked over his shoulder. “Yes but we will follow propter decon procedure and placing them in one of the observation rooms will deal with any possible chance of contamination till we are sure they are contagion free.” He said and the other doctor nodded.

With that dealt with he looked back at the three subjects who were staring at them, still with that fear and determination to cover it up and now also with curiosity. “Would that sound good? I’m sure you could use some food and could appreciate a clean bed to sleep in.” slowly the three nodded. “Right then. “He said and looked back over at the other doctors. “Gather the rest of the samples and we shall return to the lab with these three.” He said.

“Yes doctor.” The other three said in unison before going back to work.

Atreus looked back at the three young children. “I am Dr. Atreus of the Biohazard containment Division, who might you three, be?” He asked.

The three looked at each other before looking back at the doctor and the yellow one spoke up. “Ah’m Applebloom.” she said and pointed at the orange one. “This here is Scootaloo and that’s Sweetie Belle.” She said pointing at the third child before looking back at the doctor. “And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

<<>>

Octavia sat in the back of the strange vehicle the mare called a Humvee as it bounced along the open field. Vinyl held her close still though not as tightly as before they spoke to the mare who called herself Staff Sergeant Dusty Trails. The grey earth pony didn’t know what a staff sergeant was or what the Equestrian Defense Force was much less what the strange creature called a changeling that was part of this group was, all she knew is her and her sister were safe, for the first time in a long time she felt safe.

She had broken down completely once Ponyville was out of sight and she knew they had truly escaped the place she used to call home. She had cried most of the trip from there till the vehicles had come to a stop and the mare in charge had spoken to them. She had almost given up hope of ever escaping or things going back to normal despite Vinyl’s continued encouragement that when it became a reality all her emotions had just rushed out, the fear of what was happening, the loss of her once peaceful and wonderful home, the things they did to her and her sister all of it just came pouring out.

After the talk with the Staff Sergeant and her telling them where they were going was safe and they would be given food, medical attention and clothes once they arrived, she couldn’t help noticing the irony that the place they were heading was apparently called Hope.

A groan drew Octavia’s attention to the stallion who lay in the back of the Humvee with them another mare hunched over him keeping an eye on him. Octavia had nearly panicked when the she realized the injured soldier Dusty had said would be back there with them was a stallion but then the other mare had joined them and seemed to be taking care of the injured stallion. After speaking to the mare, who was something called a “medic”, she learned the stallion had been injured in the crash that had allowed Vinyl and herself to escape and was the one driving the Humvee as they made their escape despite being injured.

Octavia was still afraid but as she watched she realized there was another stallion in this vehicle and he didn’t seem like the ones back in Ponyville, he seem like how the stallions used to be before the Caribou and actually he seemed to take orders from Dusty and treat her with respect.

As she watched the injured stallion slowly opened his eyes and the Medic smiled. “Hey there Light, welcome back to the land of the living.” She joked.

The stallion, named Light apparently, groaned again. “What the hell happened?” he asked

The medic chuckled. “Oh just you being stubborn and not stopping so I could take a look at you till you passed out from blood loss and had no choice in the matter.” The medic said jokingly.

The stallion chuckled as well for a moment before he winced in pain. “Ow, don’t make me laugh, it huuuuurts.” He whined.

The medic rolled her eyes. “Oh quit your whining, you lost that right the day you graduated from Camp Mendez.” She said and the stallion actually stuck his tongue out her resulting in the medic lightly slapping him on the chest to get him to groan in pain.

Octavia and Vinyl watched this entire exchange, the unicorn with a glare when the stallion woke up that slowly shifted to confusion as the two talk while the earth pony at first with fear then disbelief. They were talking as if they were friends, the stallion wasn’t insulting her or trying…..other things…with the medic, it was like he hadn’t been effected by whatever drove the other stallions to side with the caribou, he was acting like how things used to be.

Octavia’s attention was drawn to the interior of the Humvee as she heard a blast of static and saw Dusty turning nobs on a box that rested just below the front window in between the two front seats. Once she was done turning nobs she grabbed a part of it and held it up to her mouth. “This is Staff Sergeant Dusty trails to Hope, come in Hope over.” She said and after a few moments she repeated herself.

Octavia was wondering what she was doing when the static slowly filtered out and another voice spoke from the back. “This is Hope, we are reading you Staff Sergeant loud and clear, didn’t expect you back this early over.’ The voice said.

Dusty sighed and held the piece up and spoke again. “Something has come up, we have an injured man as well as two civilians with us in need of medical attention, have the boys in the med-bay ready for when we get there, over.”

“Affirmative, doctors will be waiting for you when you arrive; I imagine the Colonel is going to want to hear what the hell happened.” The voice said.

“I’d imagine so, I’ll need to speak to him and I’m sure he will want to speak to the two civilians as well as they seem to know what’s going on.” Dusty said glancing back at them. “We will have a full report when we get there, E.T.A twenty minutes, over.”

“Roger that Trails, see you when you get here, Hope over and out.” The voice said and Dusty replaced the piece she had been speaking into before looking back at the two mares in the back of the Humvee.

“We are almost to Hope, you’ll be safe there.” She said. “We will have the doctors take a look at you and then I’m sure the colonel will want to speak to you about what the hell that was back in Ponyville.” The mare in charge said and Octavia nodded.

Octavia rode in silence still being held protectively by her sister, the only sound besides the animal like growls of the vehicles they were in, an occasional squeak when it hit a pump and the quiet talking of the medic with the injured stallion were the only sounds she heard.

After a while they came around some trees and she saw something she had not expected, an honest to Celestia town. When the mare in charge had said they were going to a place called Hope, Octavia had thought that it would be some ramshackle shelters made up of ponies who had managed to escape the Caribou but what she saw where actual buildings with roads between them as well as what looked like streetlamps along it. The building looked different then she was used to as they looked sturdier then what she was used to and some appeared to be older, that was the oddest part as she was sure there was no town out here this close to the Equestrian boarder.

As the vehicles neared Octavia could see ponies walking along the sides of the street seeming to go about their day without a care in the world, as they got closer she saw they were a bit nervous but not afraid as if it was something other than the Caribou that had them spooked.

Nearing the edge of the town Octavia saw a sigh sitting just outside of the town.

NOW ENTERING HOPE
POPULATION: 1539

The earth pony’s eyes widened, that sign couldn’t be correct, there was no way the Caribou would have missed a town this big or that you could have hidden such a large population, it just wasn’t possible!

As they passed the sign the bouncing suddenly stopped as tire met road and the vehicle glided into town, several of the ponies walking along the street looked over at them but seemed to not find anything alarming about the strange vehicles.

A minute alter Octavia saw why when they passed another vehicle that seem to seat two ponies and the back half of it was a larger version of what Octavia sat in right now, the other vehicle was going in the opposite direction as they were. The deeper into the town they got the more ponies and vehicles of different shapes and sizes, the most shocking were the gold colored ones topped with lights that said “Hope Royal Guard” on the side that were either driving or stopping to chat with other ponies. Octavia had to shutter as she saw the words Royal Guard do to what had happened.

When everything went to Tartarus her and her sister had been lucky to live at the edge of town. Octavia had been home alone practicing her cello, she had no clue where Vinyl had been as the unicorn had stayed out all night DJing some party or something in town. Octavia had nearly jumped out of her skin when the front door slammed open and a bleeding Vinyl had stumbled in. When Octavia had gone to get the first aid kit as she started to berate her older sister Vinyl had silenced her and told her to grab whatever she could carry, food water anything as fast as they could and pack it all into whatever they could carry as they needed to leave quickly.

Octavia had been confused and then noticed Vinyl was more injured then she normally was, she had a cut above her eyes and her shades were missing, that had been one of the oddest things as the DJ never went anywhere without them and she had a black eye rapidly forming along with her lip was swallow. Most concerning were the bruises around the unicorns wrists as if someone had griped them tightly.

When she had asked what was going on Vinyl just told her to hurry up and pack as she kept looking out the window back towards town in-between emptying the closed beside the door till she pulled one of her spare equipment bags meant to hold a few odds and ends for her DJ booth set up.

As Octavia started going through the kitchen wondering what was going on she heard vinyl swear from living room and when she came to investigate the unicorn was in the middle of pushing the couch against the door as her magic held one of the heavy rods meant to hold up one of her AMPs. Before the cellist could ask what was going on a loud pounding had sounded at the door and someone telling them to open up.

Vinyl grabbed Octavia and ran for the back door. Before they even reached the door the banging had grown loader, it sounded like someone was trying to break down the door. As they reached the door vinyl threw it open before being drawn up short by a stalling standing there with a sickening smirk on his face. As Octavia had tried to figure out what was going on Vinyl hand launched herself at the stallion swinging the heavy rod, it connected with a loud crack against the side of the stallions head and he went down.

And then Vinyl was dragging her across the back yard for the fence yelling at her to hurry up as they needed to run, Octavia had though her sister had done something incredibly stupid, it wouldn’t have been the first time, but then she heard the yells from behind them, the things the stallions had been saying, Octavia was no longer being dragged by Vinyl but was running alongside her as she realized why her sister said they needed to run.

It hadn’t been too hard to lose the stallions when they reached Whitetale Woods. They had gone deep into them and hid there for the rest of the day and night. The next day around noon was when everything went wrong as they spotted Royal guards walking through the woods, to say they were relived was an understatement and they hadn’t hesitated approaching the armored ponies.

That had been a mistake and Octavia learned why Vinyl had been afraid and injured, after that the guards had taken them back to Ponyville and delivered them to the Caribou who now ruled there and Vinyl had begun her planning for them to escape.

She was shaken from the dark memory by Vinyl nudging her and giving her a look that said “Stop thinking about it” Her sister had always been able to tell what she was thinking about. With a nod Octavia pushed the memory back down and focused on the now as the Humvee took a few turns and was then driving along a fence that was around a group of buildings that looked much different hen the rest of the town in that they were made out of some sort of solid stone, but not in a way that was individual stones all packed together, the buildings seemed to be made out of a single solid stone.

As they neared a gate the Humvees slowed and turned onto the small side street that lead up to it and stopped besides a small building that was just outside of the gate, a red and white piece of wood blocking their path. As the Humvees stop a mare stepped out of the shake, she was dressed in the same uniform as the ones in the Humvee and had the same type of weapon they had on her back, held in place by a strap over her shoulder.

She spoke to the mare behind the when and after a moment waved a hand and the wooden arm blocking there bath raised and the gate opened up. As the Humvees pulled through Octavia read the words above the gate.

TOWN OF HOPE EDF GARRISON

The Humvees pulled in and the mares in back could see two flags flying from the top of what she assumed was the main building, one bore the insignia of Equestria, the dark and light alicorns chasing the sun and the moon, while the other bore a golden kite shield with two crossed swords behind it and the letter EDF in the center in dark green.

Octavia wasn’t sure what to think or feel seeing the symbol of Equestria flying high above this structure but looking around at the ponies and the strange changeling patrolling the perimeter, all armed with the same weapons that the ones who rescued her and her sister wielded. She just knew they were safe here, there was no danger to either of them and that this place was safe. It was a strange feeling, safety, she hadn’t felt it in a long time and she had almost forgotten what it felt like, it felt good to feel safe again.

Author's Note

Well another Division ahs been tevleled.

and we get to see where the CMC has been during all of this and they have now been rescuded by the BCD.
not to sure who is more dangerouse the CMC or the BCD?

and SSgt Dusty Trails has safely returned to Hope with their two passanger in tow. who knowns how the EDF will react to the information they are about to recive.

Chapter 4: Meet the Locals

Dr. Vector stood with his fellow BCD Doctors, all of them were in their hazmat suits as they looked through a window into one of the small labs near the airlock. Inside the lab three foals were scarfing down food as if they hadn’t eaten anything proper in weeks, which based on where they were found and the crude weapons they carried was a high possibility.

Dr. Vector had verbally reprimanded Dr. Atreus for bringing three possible carriers of unknown contagions that could contaminate the lab and lead to all their deaths. After the reprimand Dr. Vector had commended Atreus for aiding the foals as they surely would have died out in the forest, though he did make it clear he wished he’d taken them somewhere else and let the rest of the army deal with them.

Still the foals were now here and that meant they were the responsibility of the BCD till they were able to establish contact with the proper authorities.

Once the foals had gone through the decon shower in the lab’s airlock, that had been an interesting experience as the Doctors with them had forgotten to warn them about it do to the fact it wasn’t noticed by anyone who has worked in the BCD long enough.

After the foals had been calmed down and ensured they were in no danger they were quickly lead to the small lab. There Atreus had asked for permission to take blood samples from all three as well as mane samples. Those samples were now being rigorously screened for all contagions and till the Doctors knew what the foals were infected with, they had been outside so they were infected with something even if it was dormant, none of the BCD Doctors were removing their suits and the lab was going to remain sealed.

Even though they were carriers of any number of contagions Dr. Vector had ordered them fed on the ground they were very malnourished. Dr. Vector had to question why three foals had been choosing to survive out in the Everfree Forest when there was a perfectly good town nearby, granted the town had a large number of Unknown Subjects in it and the citizens were acting odd but still a towns a town.

When Dr. Cupcake had brought in the food the three foals seemed surprised that she was female but their surprised has been over shadowed by the food which they had started eating in a manner only a half starved individual could pull off.

Still their reaction to Dr. Cupcake as well as asking Dr. Atreus and his team if they were part of the “Caribou,” then that they chose to living in a highly dangerous forest rather than in town had Dr. Vector puzzled.

Dr. Vector had seen people choosing to take their chances in the wildernesses, sometime with nothing more than the clothes on their back as they fled towns and villages suffering from outbreaks of contagions. The BCD had to hunt down these people to ensure they weren’t infected once the quarantine was in place. Dr. Vector had been at the town personally and saw no signs of serious infection, all there was were those unknown subjects who seemed rather aggressive and had a problem with Dr. Cupcake.

Rubbing a gloved hand on the base of his suits gasmask where his chin was Dr. Vector started connecting dots. It was a lot like tracing the origin of an outbreak back to patience zero really. The town had an unknown number of Unknown Subjects; the town was very much on edge and the female citizen Dr. Vector had tried to speak too seemed afraid long before he spoke to her. There was also the fact only the females were unclothed and only some were afraid, those that had that black collar on.

The Unknown Subjects had thought Dr. Cupcake was trying to escape and asked who her owner was, that still threw Dr. Vector for a loop as he questioned how anyone could own another sentient being.

Then there was what these three foals asked Dr. Atreus. He could assume the Unknown Subjects were these Caribou the foals seemed to fear. The fact the foals would choose to living in the Everfree Forest rather than the town and were hiding from Dr. Atreus’ team till they knew none of them had any clue who the Caribou where.

It was all started to come together as one dot after the other connected. Something was wrong in Ponyville, something involving these Caribou and since the army and Royal Guard were nowhere to be seen to deal with it, it meant the problem must be everywhere in the country and the army is either trying to deal with it or was somehow defeated and is regrouping elsewhere.

Dr. Vector needed all the information he could get and luckily they had three foals here who could provide some information though there was still one course of action the BCD currently had. They needed a live subject from the town in order to get the full story. This meant tomorrow the Chemical Troopers were going back to Ponyville.

<<>>

Octavia sat on a bed in room the soldiers who brought her and her sister to this place called an infirmary. While she knew what an infirmary was she had never seen one like this before. The room was packed with all sorts of machines and devices she had never seen before, while she recognized the heart monitor everything else was a mystery to her.

After the Humvees had come to a stop in front of a building a mix of ponies and what Dusty had called Changelings came out in white lab coats to greet them. Octavia had been reluctant to leave the Staff Sergeant’s group but with some encouragement form Vinyl as well as the fact the Medic and injured member of the Staff Sergeant’s group was also being taken by this other group which meant Dusty was going with them to make sure everything would be ok Octavia had gone with them.

The walk had been filled with quiet conversation between the medic and the doctors who came to meet them, mostly about the nature of the injury to the stallion but a few words about Octavia and her sister.

After they had been settled Dusty had left but the medic stayed behind to keep an eye on things. One of the changelings had come over to take some of her blood and the earth pony mare had recoiled and the changeling backed off with a quick apology. Octavia got the feeling that her reaction had upset the changeling, she felt even more so when the changeling said he would have a pony come and examine her before leaving. After that the changelings seemed to give her and her sister a wide berth and only the ponies came near, though they seemed to frown at Octavia and her Sister. Octavia felt she had possible upset their hosts.

The exams had been quick, mostly just a few quick questions and drawing of blood. After that her and her sister had been given dark green jumpsuits and sturdy boots. The nurse who had brought them apologized that it was all they had. Octavia didn’t care as she happily put the clothes on; she had almost forgotten what it felt like to wear clothing.

After that the doctors gave them space, seeming to not really wanting to be around them and making a point to speak to the changelings and ask for their help in front of the two mares as if making a point.

It made no real sense to the mare and looking at her sister and her confused expression told her Vinyl had no clue what was going on either.
They after a while they had been asked if they wanted anything to eat and both had nodded. A nurse had been sent to grab something from a place the doctors called the “mess hall.” These ponies seemed to have a lot of placed named things the mare didn’t know. She spent her time looking around the room trying to figure out what everything was, in the end she gave up as it was all so alien to her.

The meal turned out to be grilled vegetable kabob with a side of apple sauce and water. It had been the most amazing meal either mare had eaten in a long time and she couldn’t stop thanking the doctors who looked at her strangely.

As Octavia finished her meal a stallion dressed in the same type of uniform the group that had been in Ponyville wore, though he carried himself differently than they had. With him was another changeling dressed in a dark suit though the jacket was open and he didn’t have a tie, when the changeling saw he seemed to frown at her for some reason and she could tell he was displeased with her for some reason.
When the medic noticed the stallion the door it was like something clicked in the room as she jumped to her feet. “Officer on deck!” she called and everyone stood and faced the stallion, their left hands going to the side of their foreheads in what Octavia could only assume was some form of salute.

The Stallion looked around the room before speaking. “At ease and continue on as if I’m not here.” He said in a calm voice that seemed to carry authority to it. At his words everypony went back to work. The stallion and changeling made their way over to Octavia and despite herself the earth pony found herself scooting away from the unicorn and she saw Vinyl tense.

The Stallion paused seeing her reaction and raised his hands in a soothing manner. “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you two.” He said calmly, his voice no longer carrying the authority in it. Slowly he started to walk again and when he reached the bed beside Octavia’s he took a seat on it while the changeling remained standing. “I’m Colonel Brighter Days, I’m in charge of this garrison.” He told her.

Slowly Octavia nodded. “I’m….I’m Octavia and this is my sister Vinyl.” She said. “Um…thank you for saving us…”She said.

The Stallion nodded. “You don’t need to thank us, it’s our job. Based on what Staff Sergeant Trails told me Ponyville seems to be occupied by some rather unfriendly people.” He said. “I was wondering if you could maybe tell me a bit about what is going on as we seem to be cut off from the rest of the country right now so we don’t know what’s going on.”

Octavia swallowed. “You mean you don’t know about the Caribou or the invasion?” She asked.

The Colonel looked confused as did the changeling; both of them exchanged a look. “What invasion and who are the Caribou?” the stallion asked looking back at her.

“How can you not know?” She asked.

“We are currently experiencing communication issues so are a bit out of the loop. Perhaps you could fill us in so we know what to expect.” The Colonel said.

Octavia nodded and licked her lips before she began to tell the stallion everything she knew. About what happened to the Crystal Heart, how it made the stallions go crazy and join the Caribou. How their king defeated the Princesses and took them as his slaves. How the Caribou just walked into the nation as it was torn apart by anarchy as all the stallions fought the mares. How all the mares were stripped of all rights and enslaved. About how they were treated and how the nations was run now. She told him everything she knew, when her voice started to break Vinyl placed a comforting hand on her should to support her with a small squeeze ever now and then.

As she told the Colonel his face slowly grew darker and darker, as if a storm where brewing just beneath the surface and the same was true for the changeling beside him. As she spoke the doctors in the room slowly stopped working and watched her. Several of them had their hands clenched in fists as they shook with rage.

When she was finished she felt tears rolling down her face and the Colonel withdrew a small handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to her.
“Thank you…”She said as she took it and dried her eyes. Vinyl wrapping her in a tight hug.

The Colonel took several breaths before speaking. “I don’t understand how this could have happened and we not hear anything about it. Something like this would have been all over the radio, the TV, hell MNet would have been exploding with reports and orders from High Command.” He said and rubbed his eyes as if he was tired. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

After Octavia got her emotions back under control she looked at the stallion with confusion. “Radio? TV? MNet?” She asked. “What are those?”
The Colonel blinked at her. “How do you not know what those are, everyone knows what those are.” He said. Octavia could only shrug light. “Radio is….well basically sending sound through the air and TV is much the same thing only with sound and images.” He said trying to find the words to explain something he seemed to find so common he didn’t need to think about it. “MNet is the Military network, it’s like the Civilian Network but only the military is allowed to use it.” He said.

“Network?” Octavia asked.

“You know, computers? You have to know what a computer is; you can’t go through life without running into one these days even if it’s just a calculator.” The Stallion said with confusion.

Octavia could only shake her head and the stallion looked at the changeling with him who looked equally confused before looking back at her. “Do you know anything about the Equestrian Defense Force?” he asked and Octavia shook her head. “Tell me is there a group of buildings between Ponyville and Canterlot?” He asked.

Octavia shook her head. “No there is nothing between Ponyville and Canterlot except open ground. There may have been before but nothing for as long as I have lived in Ponyville.”

The stallion blinked. “Tell me Octavia how long have the Caribou been in control over Equestria?”
“A little over a year, why?” She asked.

“That’s….not possible…we’ve only been having communication issues for about twelve hours, before that everything was fine” He said shaking his head. “None of this makes any sense” he said and rubbed his eyes once more. “wait Sergeant Trails said you didn’t know what a changeling was, how is that possible when they invaded Canterlot about fifty years ago during the wedding of Princess Cadence and Guard Captain Shining Armor.” He said looking at her.

Octavia blinked then shook her head. “No, there was no invasion of any kind.” He said.

“Are you sure?” The Colonel asked.

Octavia nodded. “Yes, I was there as a cellist during the ceremony, it was very lovely and there was no invasion.”

The Colonel looked at the changeling beside him. “Well then Yarnil it seems we know why you can’t Contact anyone besides the changelings in this town, they don’t exist.” He said, the changeling shifted uncomfortably and for a moment he looked very afraid before it vanished so fast Octavia wasn’t sure she actually saw it.

The Stallion looked at her and nodded his head, “Thank you for your time Miss Octavia, if you would like I can have one of our therapist speak to you later. If not that is fine.” He said and stood. “It was a pleasure to meet the both of you.” He nodded once more before turning on his heels and heading for the door the changeling right on his heels.

Octavia leaned into Vinyl who held her and stroked her hair to comfort her. Speaking about everything the Caribou had down out loud and made her realize just how much they had done to Equestria and how they had destroyed the lives of so many. Quietly she started to cry in her sister arms, not noticing as the unicorn silently shed tears as well. The Doctors in the room gave the two their space as they let out their emotions.

Outside the room Colonel Brighter Days walked with purpose back towards his officer, Operative Yarnil by his side.

“So then Colonel what’s the plan?” he asked.

“Well if what Miss Octavia said is true then we are some place where there is no EDF which means we are alone in a country that is under the control of a hostile force who luckily hasn’t noticed us yet.” He said.

Yarnil nodded. “Yes I was there so I know that.” He said. “I asked what the plan was, we are just a single garrison versus potentially hundreds of thousands enemy soldiers not to mentions those who now help them.”

The Colonel nodded as his mind digested the information he had just received and he didn’t speak again till they reached his office. “Well the way I see it we can sit tight and wait for the EDF to realize we are gone and send a force to rescue us.” He said as they walked into his office and he went around his desk and sat. “We have enough food here in town to last us over a year, longer if we ration it and as long as we don’t do anything else to make these Caribou aware of us it should be some time before they find us.”

Yarnil nodded. “True or…”

The Colonel smiled at the M.I.D Operative. “Or we declare war on a nation of rapists and show them what a couple hundred soldiers can do.”

Author's Note

I apologize for the way this cshoter looks. It was uploaded from mu cell phone by copying it from a email draft as thebwifi network dienst like my laptop so don't let me upload.

Anyways this chapter we learn what the BCD is planing and how they are both reacting and treating the CMC. Ponyville is going to have an interesting day tomorrow.

And Hope Garrison has learned what is going on and now they have a decision to make.

Chapter 5: An Eventful Day

Octavia sat on the edge of a small bed beside a window. When the doctors had been done examining them a soldier had arrived to escort them to a room that had been prepared for them. The earth pony had been hesitant at first but Vinyl had calmed her with a small squeeze of her shoulder and a smile. Her initial fear was unfounded as both mares were giving a privet room. She had been surprised to see two beds in it but the soldier had simply said it was orders from “on high” that they get a room together.

Octavia had to admit having Vinyl in the same room did calm her a great deal. The room was nothing fancy and clearly meant to be used as a sort of guest type area. There were two beds, each with a small night stand and lamp. A small table with two chairs and a writing desk. The light in the room was provided by one of the strange long lights that were everywhere in the building. Octavia had asked what they were as they weren’t lanterns and was told they were called “florescent lights” and was controlled by a switch beside the door. Octavia didn’t care what it looked like, the fact she was told it was her and her sister’s room to do with as they please had sent a wave of emotion through the mare that once the soldier had left telling them that if they needed anything a guard was at the end of the hall, that she had broken down once more. Their own room, their own privacy, coupled with the clothing that was provided and everything the soldiers were doing was a lot for her to take after over a year of….living with their owner.

Across from the door was a window that let them see out over the grounds of the garrison and the town beyond.
It was that town that held Octavia’s attention now. She was still in some shock that such a town existed still under control of ponies and seeming existing without the caribou being aware of it somehow. She had spent a bit of time watching the town after the sun went down; she was amazed as the town lite up with street lamps and lights inside of the building as well as the strange self-propelled carriages having their own lights. Her and Vinyl had stayed up later watching the town as lights twinkled.

Now though the town was abuzz with activity, it was like kicking a beehive. She saw the soldiers of the garrison walking back and forth from building to building, it was clear they were doing something important as they moved with determination. The patrols along the fence line had been increased as well, the soldiers now wearing armor and there being twice as many of them.

The town was also full of activity as she saw the Royal Guard vehicles rushing back and forth with their lights flashing and ponies on the sidewalks moving about quickly, some actually running to complete their task. One of the strangest things was the flying machine in the air that seemed to be flying around the edge of town. She couldn’t make much detail about it except that it was gold colored and seemed to have writing on the tail.
This had all been going on when the two sisters woke up an hour ago.

A gentle knock came to the door and Octavia blinked and just stared at the door for a few seconds till the knock came again and she realized whoever it was waiting for permission to enter.

Pulling on the boots the soldiers had given her yesterday the mare walked over to the door and opened it a crack,
keeping her hand braced firmly against it as she saw Vinyl press herself against the wall behind the door.

Octavia blinked as she saw it was a changeling standing on the other side of the door in a white dress shirt that covered her surprisingly small breasts and she wore a knee length grey skirt and half inch heels. “Um…hello?”

Octavia said still a bit uncomfortable around the strange beings.
The changeling smiled gently and spoke in a calm voice. “Hello, I’m Dr. Hetio; I understand you wished to speak with someone from Psy-Ops?” She said.

Octavia stared at the doctor taking in more details; she had a small brief case in one hand as well as holding a grey jacket that probably went with the rest of her suit. She seemed more slender then the other Changelings the former cellist had seen. “Oh…um…I…”

“Wasn’t expecting a changeling, I’m not surprised, from what I have heard you have never seen one of us before nor heard of us till recently.” Dr. Hetio said with a soft laugh. “Don’t worry word spreads rather quickly for a changeling so we won’t take offence if you are startled by us or stare. We all know you are not used to us.” She said with the same soft smile. “If you’d like one of my colleges to come back I can go get them if it will make you more comfortable. It would just take a few minutes and won’t be any offense.”

Octavia blinked several times. “n-no….no it’s alright.” She said and opened the door the rest of the way to allow the doctor in.

The changeling nodded and stepped in looking around the room. “Boy they sure put a lot of thought to practicality and none to creativity in these rooms.” She said looking around the room.
“Oh it’s quiet alright it very….nice.” Octavia said looking around the room with a smile. It was nice to have a room against that was hers and she got to choose who entered and when so it could be just her and her sister if they wanted.

The doctored eyed the two mares before nodding. “Well still think they could put up a picture or something but it is your room so you get to choose what go into it.” She said. “May I take a seat?” She asked gesturing to the chair by the desk. Vinyl walked up beside Octavia and gave a nod. “Thank you.” Dr. Hetio said as she set her briefcase on the desk and turned the chair around to face the room before taking a seat.

“So….how does this therapy stuff work? The doctors in the clinic said it would help us heal other wounds but they didn’t elaborate.” Octavia said still unsure about all of this.

“Well basically what I do is listen to you as you talk, you basically talk about whatever you are conformable with and I try to determine the best way to help you.” Dr. Hetio said. “Basically I am a doctor who heals the mind of illness and trauma, much like the doctors in the infirmary just with words mostly.” She said with the same gentle smile. “I’ve already been informed about the…..situation you found yourself in till you arrived here but I want you to know we do not need to talk about that if you don’t want to.” She said. “This is just for us to get to know each other and you to be able to make an informed decision on if you want to continue.”

Octavia slowly nodded. “O-ok.’ She said as she sat on her bed, Vinyl sitting on her and eyeing the changeling suspiciously, she had been doing that to everyone since they had escaped but Octavia couldn’t blame her.

Dr. Hetio nodded. “I will warn you, if we do start to move forward with this after this meeting then it’s going to get worse before it gets better as we will talk about a lot of what happened to the both of you.” She said with a somewhat sad smile. “It’s darkest just before the dawn as they say.”
Slowly Octavia nodded once more. “O-ok Doctor.”

“Please call me Hetio if you like. We don’t need to be formal.” The Doctor said and Octavia nodded once more.

<<>>

The sun was shining high over the town of Ponyville, it was around mid-morning and ponies and their Caribou rulers were going about their day. The males went about their tasks with the arrogance afforded them by their society or what magic had done to twist their minds to think like the Caribou as they went about running errands or the like. While the mares and doe stayed close to their owners ether out of fear of not being at their beck and call or because they had long since been broke and now believed as the Caribou do, that they are mere objects.

A typical day for any town or city in Equestria and completely picturesque for any male that might be traveling the country or a sight to fill one with sadness if you were a mare who remember how things used to be.
At the edge of the nearby forest through something unusual and never before seen by Equestria emerged. There were two of them both completely black with a slight shine to them and were box shaped. The one in back was larger than the one it followed and if one were to look at them they would see both things sat on wheels much like a cart. However, no one was pulling them and a sort of growl could be heard as the two objects raced out of the forest and headed straight for the town of Ponyville.

As the two black self-propelled carriages raced for the town the sun shown off the only other color to break up the pure back carriages outer shells. That being a red circle with a back symbol resting in the middle of it. The symbol would look strange to any Equestrian as it appeared to be a small circle with what looked like three crescent moons over it. The three moon like symbols each faced away from each other with two of them bellow the third.

Both carriages raced into the small town causing ponies and caribou to have to dive out of the way as both carriages made their way to the marketplace. Once there both of them skidded to a stop and a small crowd formed slight keeping their distances from the strange growling objects not sure what to make of them. Some who had been out yesterday remember when a different pair of growling objects raced through the town just yesterday bit those were dark green and look complexly different then these two black vehicles.

The guards certainly hadn’t forgotten and the few that were already in the market readied their hammers as they glared at the growling vehicles as they sat there. Eventually a caribou male in the crowd spoke up as he read the words on the side of one of the black box vehicles. “What in Tartarus does Biohazard Containment Division mean?”

As if in answer to the male’s question doors in the back of both large boxes burst open and the crowd saw the family bright yellow suits of the creatures who had arrived in town yesterday afternoon, at least the ones who had seen the first four did, and those ones were already moving to bolt as this time there were ten of the beings.

Dr. Vector surveyed the crowd as he stepped out of the BCD van before speaking up to be heard by the other doctors. “Alright, round up one male and one female of both species!”

“Yes Doctor.” The other nice Chemical Troopers said in perfect unison as they walked towards the crowd. One of the guards stepped forward as he saw the clear signs of females in the group and wasted no time confronting one of them. “What are you doin—“

The guard was cut off as the female jammed a needle into his neck and depressed the plunger quickly.
The guard recoiled and tore the needle from his neck. “What the fuck…are….you……”The guard trailed off as his words slurred and he began to sway on his feet before collapsing two the ground.

“One male acquired!” The female doctor called out and two other descended on the downed guard carrying a stretcher with some sort of clear plastic tube around it. The two doctors set it down and opened it before lifting the guard into the tube and resealing it leaving his hammer behind.

As the two doctors stood with their quarry a panicked scream echoed across the market place and a moment later a dark pink earth pony with a pink mane collapsed as one of the BCD doctors withdrew another needle. “One Female acquired!” The doctor called out and like the guard two more doctors descended on the mare with the same contraption the guard was housed in who was currently being loaded into the back of the lager of the vans.

Dr. Vector watched as some of the crowd began to panic and try to flee as the doctors swept through them hunting for the missing subjects they still needing. Some of the guards attacked the doctors but they were easily subdued by the Chemical Troopers’ scalpels, normally they would just release a contagion into the air but they needed lives subjects to study. The guards seemed to be decently trained but the BCD Doctors were trained in hand to hand combat as well as having years of experience of being attacked by patience’s, sometimes in large mobs and so it was a simple thing for them to dodge the swings of the hammers and euthanize the unruly subjects.

As Dr. Vector watched his team work he thought back to what the three children back at the lab had told him of the situation in town. The children were currently under the watchful eyes of Dr. Atreus and Dr. Cupcake as they seemed to have attached themselves to the doctor who had found them and the first female they had seen. If what the children were correct then the situation was rather grim in the nation, though he questions why they were sure it had been over a year since the situation had happened when it was just the other day the lab had full contact with the rest of the nation and there was no hint of an invading force.
No matter that little fact was not important, what was more interesting was that all the males seem to have went mad and joined the invading army as they rounded up the females and enslaved them, something Dr. Vector and the rest of his team found beyond appalling.

From what the three had told him the only reason they had escaped when the nation went to hell was that they had been at their clubhouse in the nearby apple orchard. In all the chaos the pegaus’ adoptive sister had found them just ahead of the males and told them to run and hide while she stayed behind to hold off the approaching males. The children were unsure of what had happened to her but DR. Vector had an idea just based on how this contagion seemed to work on the males, while he knew this was not a virus or bacteria the fact was it behaved like a contagion so that was what the BCD had labeled it as for the time being till they knew exactly what it was.

After the children had fled the clubhouse they made their way to the earth pony’s home where they found it already under attack by the males from town. The three had tried to help but the earth pony’s sister had dragged them inside before barricading the door. She had quickly backed food for them and given the earth pony the small hatchet and told them to head for someone named Zecora, who apparently was a zebra who lived in the Everfree Forest and to wait for her there. The sister had lowered them out the kitchen window just as the front door had been blasted off its hinges by a unicorn.

The three had stayed with Zecora for a couple of days till the males came for the zebra in the night and once more the children were on the run as another person stayed behind to buy them time. They had been on their own ever since. Dr. Vector had to admit be was impress with the three for having been able to survive in the forest for so long on their own with only occasional nighttime raids into town to get supplies they needed and couldn’t acquire in the forest.

None of them had tried to find out what happened to their families once they found the town under the control of these caribou as it would be too dangerous. While the three tried to act brave it was clear to the BCD doctors the not knowing and knowing how the caribou treat females was having an effect on the three. Still they did a good job of keeping it under control and doing what they needed to survive.
Doctor.” One of the other called out drawing Chemical Trooper leader back to the situation at present.

Dr. Vector glanced over at the doctor who stood beside an abandoned market stall and easily recognized Dr. Xinil, honestly he wondered why everyone else said the BCD doctored all looked the same when in their suits when it was so obvious who was who. No matter it wasn’t important. “Yes?” Dr. Vector asked as he made his way over to the changeling doctor.

“I found two more children.” She said as she gestured to the stall beside her.

Dr. Vector looked over the stall and saw two fillies cowering behind it trying to make themselves as small as
possible as they clung to each other. They were both clearly of the earth pony variety with one of them being pink with a purple and white mane while the other was dark grey with two tone lighter grey mane. It was clear they were both terrified by what was going on in the market and that they had been subject to the same treatment as the other females as all they wore was a black collar. Dr. Vector desired nothing more than to release a contagion into the town and purge it of the virus that these caribou were.

Quickly getting his anger under control he looked back at Dr. Xinil who waited for order. “Sedate them and load them into the van, they are coming with us.” He said and the doctor nodded before producing two syringes from a pouch in her suit and quickly injected the two children. Both of them gave a yelp of surprise before the tranquilizer took effect and both her out cold.

Dr. Vector waved over a two other doctor who picked up the two children and gently placed them in a biohazard transport stretcher. One it was sealed they were loaded into the truck a moment before the last of the two missing subjects was loaded.

“Alright, we have what we came for.” Dr. Vector said as he headed for the van. “Let’s return to the lab and begin our research.” He said.

“Yes Doctor.” The other intoned in unison and followed his lead. Once everyone was in the BCD transports they started the vehicles and headed back towards their lab leaving behind the deserted market place and the bodies of over a dozen guards and a few other who made the mistake of attacking the doctors as they worked.

<<>>

Outside the town of Ponyville four caribou, three males and one female in a red collar, made their way along the road away from the town. As the four walked they glanced back as they heard a scream echo from the town. “Any idea what that is about?” One of them asked.
Another shrugged before speaking. “No idea, but it’s not our concern at the moment.” He said and the four started walking once more.

As they one side of the road soon found a fence running along it, beyond the fence sat rows upon rows of apple trees. Neither of the four so much as glanced at the trees nor the sign above the gate they came to and quickly passed through.

The four made their way towards the house that appeared to have been converted from a barn. The four paused here and glanced around at the property before one of them nodded his head and started walking towards the door.

Big Macintosh sat in the living room of the house enjoying a drink of hard cider, he had taken to having a bit of hard cider each day to keep himself calm and relaxed and to try and drown out the images of what the town had become. His ear swiveled as he heard a curse come from the kitchen and knew his sister was most likely on her third glass of hard cider. She had taken to drinking as well though not for the same reason as the stallion do to the situation she was in.

The large red stallion couldn’t blame his sister for her drinking and didn’t say a word unless someone was on the property as it could cause her to go off on the other males from the town and that caused problems. She had come very close to having the caribou deal with her attitude but he had barely talked them out of it and swore she wouldn’t do it again as he would take care of it.

Sighing the stallion pressed the cold glass to his forehead feeling a headache coming on thinking about what his life had become in the past year.

The stallion jumped slightly as a knock came at the front door and he heard another swear from the kitchen as well as the sound of a shuffling chair and clink of a bottle as his sister quickly put away the bottle of cider.

Once he was sure she had everything hidden the stallion stood and made his way to the door. Whoever was on the other side knocked a second time, this time a bit louder before the stallion opened the door. Standing on the porch were four caribou in jeans and t-shirts for the males and nothing but a red collar for the doe. Big Mac averted his gave from the exposed doe who stood there without a care in the world. “Can I help you?” He asked the three males.

“Yes I believe you can.’ One of them said. “We were interested in arranging deliveries of your apple to our employer. Might we come in?” he asked politely.

Big Mac stared at the group and he had a distinct feeling the caribou was lying through his teeth. Shifting the stalk of grass to the other side of his mouth the stallion stepped to the side to allow them in. If they were lying then the only way to know what they were after was to talk to them, plus something about the four made the stallion feel as though they weren’t here for anything bad, a strange sense from a caribou.

“Thank you kindly.” The one who spoke before said with a nod and walked in with the other following behind. The four waited till Big Mac closed the door and lead them to the living room where he found his sister sitting in the corner scowling with her knees pulled up to her chest in her best attempt to cover herself.

He gave her a hard look and she dropped her eyes and glared at the floor before the caribou entered and could see it and make a fuss. Retrieving his glass of hard cider from the coffee table the stallion eyed the three caribou males who looked around the room, one of them glancing at his sister for a long moment and the stallion had to restrain his tongue from saying something that would cause trouble. “What a nice looking bitch.” The caribou said looking at Big Mac.

The hackled on the stallion’s neck rose but he kept his voice even as he spoke. “Thank you kindly.’ He said before taking a sip of his drink.

“Isn’t it a bit early to be drinking?” The one male who had been speaking said.
Big Mac merely looked at them. “Enope.” He said before finishing the last of his drink. Something about these caribou was odd, he wasn’t sure what it was but something about them was off.

His swiveled towards the kitchen as he heard the back door open. “We’re back and done with the morning chorus.” He heard one of the other three who lived with him say. “We heard a lot screams coming from Ponyville and…” The mare trailed off as her and her three sisters walked in and saw the three caribou males.
Big Mac turned to tell them to go wait in the kitchen and a moment after his eyes left the male who he had been speaking he hears a strange clicking noise and the three mare’s eyes widened and Applejack looked up from her corner. Looking back the stallion found himself staring down some sort of black barrel that was attached to a strange black metal L held in the caribou male’s hand as he looked calming at the stallion.

“Seems you have several fine looking pieces of meat.” He said with a sickening smile that almost caused the stallion to glare but he held his neutral expression as he looked down the barrel of whatever it was the caribou was holding. The male’s smile dropped and he arched an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
“He’s not like the others.” The doe said as she eyed him with a calculating look to her eyes, this caused the ponies in the room to blink in confusion.

“Yes….this changes thing.” The male said as lifted whatever it was he was holding to point it at the ceiling and then stood there for a moment. “Well then it’s your lucky day pony you get to go on living.” He said with a smile as he tapped the side of his head with what he held.

“So can we get on with this? Walking around like this is not my idea of fun.” The doe said as she crossed her arms and tapped her foot with impatience.

“Relax Frinta; we are currently guests of the good stallion here.” The male said looking at her before turning back to look at the confused stallion.

“What in tarnation is going on here?” Applejack blurted and Big Mac winced.
“What was going on here was a plan to….remove the stallion here, get you lot to safety then use this farm as a listening post to observe the comings and goings in town.” The male said as he looked at her with a friendly smile.

“However seeing as my comment filled him with disgust and anger means plans have changed.” He said looking back at Big Mac. “So then pony, how would you like to help liberate Ponyville from a bunch of rapists?”
Big Mac blinked at the caribou, this had to be a trick but as far as he could tell the male was telling the truth.

“Who are you?” Applejack demanded standing up and glaring at the male.

“Oh just a few members of a group who has a problem with rapists and the like and have been instilled with the belief in doing what is right and to damn the consequences.” The male said and suddenly he was wrapped in green fire causing the ponies in the room to jump back with a cry of surprise and Big Mac readied himself for a fight. When the flames vanished and a…thing with solid blue eyes and fangs and whose skin was made of something black and shiny stood where the caribou had once stood wearing the same clothes.

“What….the buck are you?” Applejack asked as the three mares behind Big Mac eyed the thing with a bit of fear.

The thing smiled reveling a mouth full of sharp teeth. The other three were wrapped in the same green flames and were replaced by things that looked just like the one speaking, one of them pulling a long coat from a back he had and passing it to the former doe who promptly put it on. “My name is Henra and I am the leader of this team.” He said.

Big Mac eyed the thing wearily not sure what to think of this development as Henra just stood there smiling at him before tilting his head and thinking for a moment. “That still doesn’t answer what you are.” Big Mac said.

The changeling tilted his head to the side. “No suppose that doesn’t.” HE said with a chuckle and then looked at the stallion with the same smile. “We are what is known as changelings and we are part of the Equestrian Defense Force Military Intelligence Division and we’d like your help in liberating Ponyville and maybe the rest of this nation from the hands of the rapists known as the Caribou.”

Author's Note

Brought to you by my phone.

Well today was eventful.

Octavia and her sister are getting help from the Psy-Ops Division

Ponyville got attacked by the Ever free Chemical Troopers

And Big Mac just met some people he has never seen before and now has a decision to make.

Chapter 6: Observations

Applebloom slowly woke up with a large yawn and wiped the sleep from her eyes, the small farm filly had woken after one of the greatest night’s sleep she had ever had in the past months. This was on account of the fact she was sleeping in an actual, well hospital bed but still it was far better than the makeshift sleeping area her and her friends would fashion up in the trees of the Everfree Forest.

There was also another reason she had slept so well, she actually felt safe. For the first time in the past year she didn’t have to sleep with one eye open incase whoever was on watch raised the alarm because of a monster or the occasional Caribou that would wander into the Everfree for some reason, or being woke up after just a few hours’ sleep to do her turn on watch.

The three fillies always took turns on who took what watch, first watch and last watch was always best as you got the most uninterrupted sleep but they needed to be fair so they rotated who got what watch each night so they all could take advantage of first and last watch.

But here in this weird lab they didn’t need to keep watch, they didn’t need to sleep with one eye open because there were a dozen other ponies here and they were safe behind a thick steel door. While the ponies here were strange, what with their funny way of speaking and the weird yellow suits they insisted on wearing around her and her friends the fact of the matter was they hadn’t done anything but give them food, a place to sleep and talk to them. The one called Dr. Cupcake even gave the three fillies some of the funny clothes they all wore when Scootaloo had asked about them.

Applebloom and her friend wore them now just without the mast on, that was clipped to the their shoulders and though the suits were made for adult ponies Applebloom had to admit she felt like some kind of comic book character while wearing the suit. She needed to remember to asked Dr. Cupcake or Dr. Atreus what Hazmat meant as that was apparently the name of these suits.

Yawning once more the small farm filly slipped off her bed and made her way to the small bathroom that was in one corner of the room. This room reminded the filly of Ponyville General only it had half a dozen beds in it instead of just one and the glass widows leading out to the hall instead of the outside were different, though being underground there wasn’t much to look at really.

Finishing up in the bathroom the filly exited the bathroom to find the rest of the Crusaders starting to wake up as well with Scootaloo sitting on the edge of her bed rubbing sleep from her eyes while Sweetie Belle yawned and stared straight ahead with unforced eyes clearing still half asleep.

One by one the other Crusaders used the restroom before they gathered at the small table in the room and took a seat. “I call this meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to order.” Applebloom said as she lightly banged her fist on the table. Even with all that had happened the three fillies kept up their daily meetings as an attempt to have something normal in their decidedly abnormal lives. Though unlike how it used to be where they planned how they were going to work on getting their Cutie Marks the CMC would plan out how they were going to survive that day.

“First order of business is to talk about what happened yesterday.” The yellow filly said.

“Well…”Sweetie Belle spoke up. “We managed to drive off that Manticor that had been stalking up since early morning.”

“Then we headed for our food stash.” Applebloom said.

“Where we ran into Dr. Atreus and his team and then came here where they gave us food and these awesome suits!” Scootaloo proclaimed as she poked at the suit she wore, the orange filly had been going on and on nonstop about how cool the suits were.

Applebloom nodded. “Right, now that that is out of the way, what are we going to do today?” She asked.

Before either of the other two could answer there was a soft hissing noise that signaled the door to the room was opening and allowing air to escape from the room and into the hallway. When the three fillies looked over at it they saw who they assumed was Dr. Cupcake, it was hard to tell what with her wearing the fully suit but since she was the main mare to have contact with the three fillies it was a safe bet it was her.

“Good morning you three did you sleep well?” The mare asked confirming it was indeed Dr. Cupcake by the muffled voice. In her hands she carried a two trays of food, this being eggs, half an apple and a glass of orange juice. Despite the eggs having a slightly funny taste, this being due to them apparently being powdered eggs as most of the food in the lab was powdered so as to store it for long periods of time, it still looked like the greatest meal you’d find at any of the five star restaurants you’d find in Canterlot to the three fillies.

Behind Dr. Atreus carried two trey of the same food in his hands and a third in his green mage and the Crusaders looked at the extra tried. “Will you be joining us Dr. Cupcake, Dr. Atreus?” Sweetie belle asked.

The mare shook her head. “No, but we do have more guests now besides you.” She said and as Dr. Atreus walked over to the table the three friends saw two other fillies staying back near the door. They were dressed in medical scrubs that had been cut short to fir on their smaller bodies and had been given sandals. The two new comers stood back near the door huddling close together and looking around as if they expected something in the room to leap out and attacked.

It wasn’t hard for the CMC to recognize the other two fillies. “Diamond Tiara? Silver Spoon? What in Tarnation are you doing here?” Applebloom asked as her and her friends stared in shock at the two fillies who had bullied them throughout their time in school.

At her words the other two fillies seemed to notice the other foals in the room and blinked in both surprise and recognition. “A-Applebloom? Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo? Is…..is that really you?” Diamond Tiara asked hesitantly.

Applebloom blinked as her once arrogant manner of speaking was noticeable absence, replaced with one of fear and hesitation as she and Silver Spoon kept glancing around the room. These were not the same bullies that her and her friends knew and she couldn’t even begin to guess what had happened to them and with what little she knew of the Caribou none of the CMC wanted to know.

“Yeah it’s us.” Scootaloo said as the trays of food were places on the table and the two doctors stepped away. “You know each other?” Dr. Atreus asked in his strange voice that had a slight hiss too it.

“Yeah we went to school with them. “Sweetie bell said not taking her eyes off the two scared foals.

Dr. Cupcake nodded. “Well then that’s good as it will make things a bit easier as they will be staying with us for a while.” She said and the CMC finally took their eyes off the other two fillies and looked at the doctor. “Can you three keep an eye on them?” She said.

The three fillies nodded. “You can count on use.” Scootaloo said.

Dr. Cupcake nodded once more. “Alright, if you need anything just hit he intercom by the door.” She said before hear and Dr. Atreus left the room to go do whatever it was they did here.

The three Crusaders looked at the two other foals who had quickly gotten out of the way of the two hazmat suited doctors as they left. “So….why don’t we you two come over and eat some food, you look mighty hungry.” Applebloom said.

Slowly the two former bullies approached the Crusaders as they watched them with friendly smiles.

<<>>

Dr. Atreus walked down the hall of the Everfree Lab; he had just left Dr. Cupcake who had volunteered to stay in the low security area of the lab in case the five children needed something which left Dr. Atreus to go to the High Security area of the lab.

Most of the other doctors were in that area already working on projects for the government or working with Dr. Vector on the BCD’s latest project simply called Project Caribou.

Dr. Atreus reached a heavy steel door with a keypad beside it and after punching in the ten digit security pass there was a pause as he heard several click of locks disengaging then with a beep from the keypad and a somewhat loud thud the door slowly started to open silently.

The changeling doctor stepped into the small airlock, this one was much smaller and simpler then the airlock that lead to the outside world as it only needed to ensure you didn’t walk out contaminated with the level five viruses housed within the high security area. After the door sealed behind him there was the sound of rushing air as the room pressurized to match the labs beyond.

After a few moments the glass doors slid open and Dr. Atreus’ ears were assaulted with a string of obscenities and threats of bodily harm being let forth by Subject MC-1. As Dr. Atreus walked in he could see the four subjects associated with Project Caribou housed inside of locked rooms with large observation windows so the doctors could monitor them.

Currently Subject MC-1 was strapped down to its bed as he had attacked the doctors upon waking up and thus needed to be restrained. The doctors of the lab were debating whether they should gag the subject as well as it had not stopped spouting threats and throwing curses at the doctors and it was very distracting to their work.

Subject MC-1 was the male Caribou who had been captured during the excursion into the town of Ponyville, he and the other subjects had been brought here and tripped of their clothing and dressed in medical gowns before being placed into the secure rooms. Their cloths and such were certainly all locked in secure biological containment cases for later study for possible new contagions.

As Dr. Atreus walked by Subject MC-1’s room he could feel the hatred so strongly it took all his will to not be sick from it, Changelings could not stomach extreme negative emotions like hatred and unbridled rage as it was like trying to eat spoiled food to them. However there was something under nether the hatred and anger currently directed at him, fear, and the subject was scared though he did not show it.

Past Subject MC-1’s room was Subject FC-1’s. The Female Caribou had stripped off her medical gown and sat curled in the corner far from it and the door and every now and then she ran her hand around her neck where the red collar had once been before the doctors removed it for study. All Dr. Atreus could feel from her room was pure fear at near panic levels and he made a mental note to see about getting the Subject a mild sedative to calm her.

Past the Caribou female’s room was Subject FP-1, this being the female pony that had been recovered. Unlike Subject FC-1, Subject FP-1 sat on her bed still wearing the medical gown given her and watched Dr. Atreus as he walked by the observation windows. The dark pink pony hadn’t said anything since waking up and Dr. Atreus could feel the fear emanating from her but there was also a sense of disbelief and relief as she absentmindedly ran a finger along where the black collar had rested around her neck.

Lastly Dr. Atreus walked past Subject MP-1’s room. The light brown stallion still wore his medical gown as he paced the length of the room and the strongest emotion emitting from the stallion was concern and worry but didn’t seem to be about his situation but towards a different target. Whatever the subject was worried about it must have been more important than the situation he found himself in as there was very little fear for himself, al his emotion were directed at something else besides himself for the most part.

When the stallion saw Dr. Atreus he stopped his pacing and approached the observation window. Tapping on it to get the doctors attention he spoke in a Trottingham accent. “I say whoever you are you must let me go, I have to get back to town. I don’t know why you have taken me but it is imperative I return to the town before too long.” He said.

Dr. Atreus ignored the subject and the subject followed the doctor from the other side of glass till he reached the wall and was forced to stop. The Subject released a huff of frustration and Atreus could sense the worry and concern grow.

At the end of the hall was a door that lead into one of the labs and it was here that was Dr. Atreus’ destination.

Inputting the a six digit code the door opened with a soft click and the changeling doctor entered the lab where he saw three of his fellow BCD doctors examining the blood samples taken from Subjects while Dr. Vector monitored the subjects via closed circuit TV cameras set up in the corners of the room. These allowed the doctors to observe subjects without interfering with their actions.

Dr. Atreus saw that Subject MP-1 had resumed his pacing and was now wringing his hands as he did so. “The two new guests have been left with the CMC and Dr. Cupcake stayed behind to monitor them all.” Dr. Atreus reported to the head doctor.

Dr. Vector nodded. “Excellent, how were all five of them?” Dr. Vector asked not taking his eyes from the monitors, it was impossible to tell which the stallion was looking at behind his gasmask but he was definitely observing the behavior of the Subjects.

“The CMC seem to be calming down, the fear is mostly gone and has been replaced with excitement for the most part while the two new children are filled with nothing but fear.” Dr. Atreus replied. “The CMC seemed to have gone to school with the new guests so we don’t have to worry about them having to get used to each other.”

Dr. Vector nodded once more. “Excellent I am glad to hear that those three are doing well.” He said. “As for the other two let’s hope being with familiar faces will help them overcome whatever has happened to them in the town.”

Dr. Atreus nodded in agreement and moved to begin analyzing a blood sample when the perimeter alarm start to sound alerting everyone in the lab something had entered the hallways outside the main airlock.

Dr. Atreus and the rest of the doctors in the lab moved over to the monitors as Dr. Vector flipped to the CCTV camera set up in the hall near the stairs. Dr. Atreus had expected a manticor or a pack of Timberwolves as sometimes they braved the lower levels of the ruins where the BCD lab dwelled however that was not what the monitor show.

What was making its way down the rapidly was a female pegasus that was clutching something to her chest as she ran down the hall. It didn’t take long to see why she was running as a manticor pushed its way through the door that lead to the stairs and gave chase. Dr. Vector flipped to the camera near the door and saw the pegasus mare reach it and skid to a stop as she looked around in clear panic at finding the steel door blocking her path.

The mare moved to the corner and placed what she had been carrying there before turning to face the charging manticor after picking up a brick that had been laying on the ground and brandishing it as a weapon while her wings flared wide to make herself look bigger.

“That’s a child with her.” One of the other doctors said as they got a clear look at the small unicorn child the pegasus had been carrying. “What is she doing brining a child into the forest?”

“I have no idea.” Dr. Vector said. “However we are not going to stand by and allow them to become food for one of the beasts of the forest.” He said as he stood from the chair. And turned to face the four doctors with him. “Euthanize the Manticor Subject and retrieve the two pony subjects.”

“Yes Doctor.” Dr. Atreus and the other three said before turning and rushing to the door to obey the Chemical Trooper leader, they just hoped they could get there in time.

<<>>

Big Mac covered his mouth with his hand as he yawned while walking down the stairs. The large red stallion had ended up sleeping in a bit later then he normally slept do to not getting to bed till late though yesterday evening had been rather eventful so nopony could blame him for being a bit late to his chorus.

He could smell breakfast being cooked so he figured his sister was already awake which meant he’d probably get an earful for sleeping in but that was fine as it was a sense of normalcy within this messed up world he found himself in.

“Mornin’ AJ.” The stallion said as he rounded the corner into the dining room and blinked as he saw his sister and the other three mares’ he lived with sitting at the table. This was confusing as he could hear the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen. “Are they…”he said slowly.

Applejack nodded. “Woke up this morning to them already in the kitchen making food, said it was the least they could do seeing as we let them stay here without much fuss.” The orange pony said, her arms crossed over her breasts.

Big Mac nodded slowly as he thought about the houses strange new boarders. It was because of them the stallion and everyone had been up so late, it wasn’t every day you met a creature you never seen nor heard of in your entire life who claims to be part of something called the EDF MID and that they were there to observe the town of Ponyville and that they planned to later liberate it from the Caribou. Big Mac had to admit it all sounded rather crazy to him but the way these changelings poke made him think there was something more going on than just four strange shape shifters.

Big Mac had talked to them for a while and he knew there were things they weren’t telling him, such as just where they came from as he knew there had to be more of them because no way four people could liberate the entire town of Ponyville even if they were strange bug like shape shifters. However the leader Henra either deflected his questions to another subject or just outright changed in and ignored his questions.

Still despite it all the famer never got the feeling the four of them weren’t lying when they said they were against the caribou and were there to help. In the end, after a near three hour discussion, Big Mac had decided to allow them to stay as long as they didn’t cause any trouble or interfere in the running of the far. Though when he said he didn’t have room for the four of them in the house, with the other three mares living her in Applebloom’s old room that left just the single guest room it was Henra who said that wasn’t a problem as they were used to being together as it was their way/ Big Mac wasn’t sure what that mean but sure enough two of them went up to the room to set things up, what that mean the stallion didn’t know as Henra wouldn’t tell him, but he did stay and chat with the ponies in the room. Mostly about the Caribou and what they all knew which wasn’t much as they kept their heads down so as not to draw attention to themselves.

Though allowing four people who said to be from the army and that they plan to liberate the town was the exact opposite of keeping your head down and not causing trouble but….well Big Mac simply wanted things to go back to how they were before when the world wasn’t so crazy and if these four said they could do it then he was throwing his proverbial hat in the ring with them.

But that was his decision and he wouldn’t make if for the others so he allowed the four of them to decide. Roseluck agreed immediately but that was probably because she went for this whole “ownership thing and was agreeing because Big Mac had. The other hadn’t been so ready to agree to this and were very uncomfortable with the idea.

Henra told them they could ask him whatever they wanted and he would tell them what he could but that something’s needed to remain secret for safety reason. Over the next two hours of questions and talks the other agreed with Applejack being the easiest to convince do to wanting to kick the Caribou’s flanks and send them packing out of Equestria.

With all that out of the way and with it being well after midnight the group of conspirators all headed to bed with Henra and the female changeling joining the other two in the room, only pausing to ask that the farmer not enter the room unless given express permission to do so. With that everyone retire for the night.

As the large red stallion stood there thinking of yesterday’s events the female changeling, dressed in a black jumpsuit and sturdy looking boots walked out with plates, forks, knives and various other items to set the table. “Ah you are awake Mr. Mac, did you sleep well?” She asked in that voice that had a slight hiss to it all four of them seemed to have.

The farmer nodded before looking at the changeling female. “So what all you four doing in there?” He asked.

“I believe you ponies call it making breakfast.” The female, Big Mac believed she was called Frinta though he only heard her name once and that was near the start of the discussion.

“We do but why are y’all makin’ it?” Applejack asked.

“As we said before it is as a thank you for allowing us to use your farm as an observation post, we know it puts all of you at great risk and so we will help out a bit around her as a sort of rent.” She said.

“That’s mighty kind of you.” Big Mac said.

“It’s not out of kindness, its respect; anyone willing to fight back against these disgusting bastards is worth respect in my book.” Frinta said with a nod towards the large red stallion.

After she was finished setting the table Henra and the other two changelings walked out of the kitchens with a large platter of pancakes, a few apples and some non-alcoholic sider in a pitcher between them. “Good morning Mr. Mac it is good to hear that you slept well.” Henra said with a small smile as he used his magic to divide up the food so everyone had a decent amount of pancakes, an apple and a glass of cider with the pitcher resting in the middle for anyone who wanted a refill.

“How did you know I slept well?” Big Mac asked curiously.

“Ah Mr. Mac that would be telling now wouldn’t it, we have to keep some secrets now don’t we?” He said and chuckled at what was clearly a joke as all they seemed to do was keep secrets. With that he took a seat on one side of the table alongside the other four and Big Mac realized they had found the other leafs for the table to make it as long as it could be to accommodate all of them.

Big Mac walked over and took his normal seat beside his sister and Henra lifted his glass of cider. “A toast to new friends for it is always a good thing to make new friends is it not Mr. Mac?”

Big Mac nodded his head in agreement and raised his own glass towards Henra and the other all did the same a bit confused at the overly formal gesture but it was just one of many things about these changelings that was strange. “Yes it is. “He said after taking a sip of his drink. “And call me Big Mac, Mr. is far too formal.” He said.

Henra nodded. “Very well Big Mac as you wish. “He said as he sipped his drink. “By the way I assume that care of apples is bound for town yes?” he asked as he slowly ate his meal.

Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup.” He said as he ate as well.

Henra nodded. “Excellent, I wonder if Frinta might accompany you into town to take a closer look, if that is alright with you of course.” He said.

Big Mac slowly chewed on his bite of pancake as he thought. “Don’t matter to me but how is she going to go into town, everypony knows I don’t have any does” he said.

Frinta smiled and looked over at Roseluck before being wrapped in green flame startling the ponies at the table for a moment. When the flame vanished Roseluck was sitting where the changeling female had been siting dressed in the same clothing as Frinta. “Oh don’t worry. “ The Roseluck copy said in the mare’s voice with a smirk. “We are highly skilled infiltrators, getting in places we should be is our specialty.”

Author's Note

And things are being put in motion, and the Caribou have no idea who they are dealing with....