It was just after noon, Celestia’s sun shone brightly as a few small clouds drifted through the sky to create just the perfect summer day as the ponies and changeling went about their days in the quaint little town of Ponyville. Some were shopping in the market place, were venders of both races hawked their wares to anyone who passed by while others met with friends to go for picnics or to do other summer activates. Some tended to personal gardens while other went about making deliveries or other wok their day jobs required of them.
It was exactly what you’d expect to see in any small town, picture perfect for a postcard one would send back to family as they traveled to show where they are and give a brief message on how they are doing.

Just outside the little town of Ponyville stood one of the newest land marks and one of the main reason people traveled to the small town just to see it or to visit those who lived there. This land mark was the Castle of Friendship, home to the Princess of Friendship herself Twilight Sparkle.

The Castle was a pleasant shade of light blue and had many gardens around it. It had the banner of the nation of Equestria flying high and proudly as well as many other aspects that made the place inviting to all those who would come to see it.

At one section of the castle a handful of workers finished painting a mural of the five Alicorns who held power within the nation, that’s princess Celestia, her sister princess Luna. The Princess of Love Cadence, her daughter Princess Flurry Heart and lastly the Princess of Friendship herself Twilight Sparkle.

The mural depicted the five Princesses enjoying a walk through the Canterlot Gardens and was done in a way to make it seem like a candied shot, like the viewer just happened to be there while the five enjoyed their walk. The perfect image to relax anyone who saw it because who wouldn’t be relaxed seeing the rulers of the land enjoying a walk through a garden?

As the painters stepped back to admire their handiwork one of them spoke up to sum up all their hard work. “By the gods I think we made it look worse.” The Stallion said and the other painters, both pony and changeling alike nodded in agreement.

Just above where the mural was sat of the Castle of Friendships massive anti-tank cannons, the 130mm cannon designed to destroy a tank in a single shot. And it wasn’t’ the only one. All along the wall spaced at even intervals were more of the AT cannons.

On either side of the mural sat small bunkers that housed heavy machinegun nests in place to deal with any infantry who would try to attack the walls. On top of the walls, where squads of combat ready soldiers and Royal Guard patrolled sat the castles anti-air defenses, alternating between the four barrel flak guns and the surface to air missile launchers that could lock onto a target and fire then let the missile track the target till it hit it.

Beyond the heavily reinforced walls of the Castle of friendship sat the actual “Castle” it self which consisted of a central tower that housed the living area for the Princess of friendship as well as guests rooms for visitors. The base of the tower expanded greatly and housed everything the defenders of the castle, both Royal Guard and Equestrian Defense Force soldiers, would need to protect the castle should it come under attack.

This consisted of armories, barracks, mess halls, training area, shooting ranges, command centers, checkpoints and security stations. The ground of the Castle of Friendship consisted of an outdoor training field completely with large track for running and various obstacle courses to ensure the defenders could stay in shape.

Scattered around in strategic places were small dug out areas where mortar teams could set up to rain 30mm death over the walls at any attacking force while other would act as foxholes for soldier to take cover in should the Castle’s walls be breeched somehow.

The sublevels of the Castle of friendship acted as a main command center from which the Princess of Friendship could give orders to the army anywhere in the nation should Equestria be invaded by an outside force through the use of the satellite network that orbited the planet.
Another part of the Castle of Friendship sub-levels housed one of the three Crusader Mainframes within the county. The Crusaders were tied into the Military Network and could monitor incoming information, process it, and then access the threat to the location it was house din. Should the facility the Crusader was housed in were to come under attack the computer would accessed the threat level via monitoring all incoming data from satellites, security cameras, reports from MNet, radio chatter as well as any other courses of information it chose to access to gather data. Once it accessed the situation it will label it with a threat level.

Level one means the Crusader allows ground forces and standard security personal to deal with the situation and make a few suggestions.
Level Two the Crusader will support ground forces with automated defenses under the control of the computer.

Level three is the extremely rare instance where a threat is so massive it overruns all friendly ground forces. At this level the Crusader will into full automated defense, bringing everything it has from automated turret, UAVs, laser grids designed to slice through all but the densest materials know to ponykind, blast doors, fire suppression system as well as anything else it can use to repel the attack. Level Three had never been reached by any attacking force yet as it would take a significant event for the Crusader Mainframe to reach this level, nothing short of another Nightmare Moon incident to Tirek could trigger this response. Should a Crusader activate a Level Three responds even an alicorn would have trouble reaching the computer core to shut down the system.

The Crusaders were the most powerful super computers ever created on Equus and were constantly being upgraded as technology advanced. However do to how advanced they were it was difficult to create one and took months of round the clock work to create just the program, it was why there were only three Crusader Mainframes in all of Equestria, One here at the Castel of Friendship, one at the Equestrian Military Science Division Facility and the last housed within Equestrian Defense Force High Command. All three locations were deemed high priority locations that simply could not fall into enemy hands at all costs.

Due to the possible risk of corruption or going rogue the Crusaders were not actually artificial intelligence but were in fact just virtual intelligences, granted highly advanced virtual intelligences, but still safe within carefully limited abilities. While this did make them slightly less effective it was a safeguard to ensure the safety of all. Though rumors spread that one of the Crusaders houses a true A.I. that hasn’t gone rogue do to the fact it likes the people around it but should it choose it could wage war against all life on the planet. Though few actually believe this is more than just plots from several movies and books as well as stories meant to scare the gullible.

Also housed within the basement was an entrance to the Changeling Hive, do to circumstances involving the Princess of friendship in the past having the entrance to the hive actually inside of castle itself so that changeling could come and go as needed, normally such an addition would be a weak point in the castle defenses since there were a few other entrances to the Hive elsewhere. But if someone really wanted to try to bypass the castles defenses by going through the changeling Hive then not only would the entire castle be alerted do to the changeling Hivemind telling every changeling within the castle of the threat, but they would also be facing the Changeling Swarm who knew the hive like the back of their hooves and could see in the low light of the hive with ease and numbered somewhere between three hundred to five hundred thousand strong within the hive itself. The hive was the size of a small city, only underground. In short anyone trying to invade the castle through the hive would have a bad time and probably prefer facing the Castle’s guns as they’d have an easier time fighting and higher chance of living, or at least a quick death.

In short though the home of the Princess of Friendship was officially called the Castle of Friendship many called it the Fortress of Solitude as no matter what the workers did to make the place look friendly and inviting it still looked like a fortress meant to stop and massive army dead in its tracks and then destroy said army in short order. Actually sometimes the attempts to make the place more inviting had the opposite effect and made it even more uninviting, such as the mural of the candid scene of the five Princesses in the garden, it was in such a sharp contracted to the rest of the castle it actually would instill fear in anyone unfortunate enough to look at it.

Current the Princess who lived here was holding court and a while the standing rule was non-nobles took priority when it came to entry to speak to the Princess she did have to see nobles from time to time, today was one of those days much to her displeasure.

One of these nobles was informed by a Royal guard that the princess of friendship would see him now. With a smile on his face the Noblepony made his way past the guard, failing to notice the two guards exchange smirks and once he was through the door both made a bet on how long till the noble ticked off their Princess, one said ten minutes, the other said three.

As the Noblepony made his way along the carpeted floor in the Castle of friendship’s throne room he came upon a scene he did not quiet expect to find Royalty in, especially Royalty who was said to be a skilled politician and one who took her status as Princess with a sense of profound duty.

The Scene before the Noblepony was the Princess he was there to see laying across her throne, her back legs hanging over the one arm and her head held in a hoof over the other as she enjoyed a sucker and spoke to the Changeling Queen who stood beside the throne. What they spoke of was even more unexpected.

“So then Queeny which would you sex with if you could, Celestia or Luna?” The Princess of Friendship asked looking at Changeling Queen beside her by tilting her head back.

“Uh…..any particular reason you are asking this now?” The Queen asked as she stared at the Princess whose view of the Queen was upside down do to her leaning her head back to look at the one she spoke to.

The Princess shrugged. “Just popped into my head. So who would you?”

“Uh….well….I’d have to say….Celestia?” The Queen said looking rather uncomfortable.

The Princess nodded. “I’d have to say Luna due to the whole Celestia raising me and being like a second mother and all that. Be kind of creepy, plus Luna has a really nice body do to all the practice she does with her short swords.” She said with another nod and then looked at the Queen. “Why Celestia for you?”

“Well….you know how Changeling Queens feel about those who are powerful, Celestia has ruled for centuries and dealt with many threats. And she carries herself with such grace and calmness for one who holds such power that it just says she knows what she can do and does not have to prove it to anyone.” The Queen said and the Princess stared at her for a few moments before the Queen sighed. “Plus she has a nice flank, there you happy princess” The Queen said

The Princess smiled. “Yes I am. “She said before patting the Queen’s head who blushed lightly.

The Noblepony could only stare, his mouth open in a very uncouth manner as his mind processed the scene before him. After a few moments she shook his head to clear it of the thoughts and cleared his throat to draw the attention of the Princess who looked at him in surprise as if she just noticed him.

“Oh, there’s more, thought I was done for the day.” The Princess said before shifting herself to sit more properly in the throne, though she didn’t sit like a pony, the noble had heard of how the Princess could stand and walk like a being who is bipedal and would alternate which she was based on her mood so the manner she sat was not that big of a surprise. The noble had been sure to do some research on the mare so even her the scars that adorn her body and the fact her legs and eyes were what she called “cybernetics” was not that big of a surprise, though no amount of reading and talk could quiet describe the mare before him. After all what he was there for it would do good to know a little more about the mare then was just common knowledge.

“So what can I do for you?” The Princess aid leaning forwards, the sucker still in her mouth and five claw like fingers extending from her forehooves and the tips coming to rest against each other as she drummed them together. “I’m all ears.” The princess aid with a kind smile.
The way she spoke had been unexpected slightly but he had been warned about the odd manner the Princess spoke, most likely coming from all the time she spent with commoners, no matter. “Greetings Princess Twilight Sparkle. I am Lord Smooth tongue from house Silvercrest.” The Noble said as he bowed. As he rose he opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the Princess.

“Wow, with a name like that you must be very popular with the mares.” She said with a smirk. “Or stallions, whichever you prefer, I don’t judge.” She said with a chuckle.

The Stallion blustered slightly before regaining his composure and taking several deep breaths the noblepony spoke again. “Yes, quiet Your Highness.” He said. “That actually has something to do with why I am here.”

“Oh?” The princess arched an eyebrow. “I must admit you have quipped my interest Lord Smooth Tongue, continue.” She said waving him on.
Well as I’m sure you know your Highness House Silvercrest is one of the most powerful houses in Equestria.” The Stallion began his prepared speech. “And you have enemies that would love nothing more than to see you dethroned do to some of your more…controversial actions.” The stallion said unable to prevent himself from glancing at the Changeling Queen, something that did not go unnoticed by the Princess of Friendship.

“Uh-huh.” The Princess said with a node. “Go on.”

“Well if the two of us were to enter into a sort of…agreement our two houses would be united and your enemies would never be able to touch you with our combined power.” The Stallion said.

“Wait, wait, wait.’ The Princess said holding up a hoof. “Are you proposing marriage to me?” She asked bluntly

The stallion was caught a bit off guard by the Princess bluntness but still carried on as this just made things easier. “Well…yes I am actually.” He said. “As I said out union would ensure your enemies could never do anything to you.”

The Princess stared flatly at the stallion before her. “You are aware I am in a relationship with Chrysalis here, right?” The princess asked gesturing to the Queen beside her.

The Stallion nodded. “Yes, everyone is well aware of you….relationship with the Queen of the Changelings.” The Stallion said, everyone still talked about the day the Princess of Friendship painted a very rude message on the side of the Equestrian Times building a few years ago that told anyone who looked at it who she was involved with. “However were you to join me then your power would be unmatched.” The stallion said.

The Princess looked at the stallion as did the Queen, though the Queen remained quiet as even if she wasn’t an empath she knew the stallion was treading through a minefield and had no clue. “Chrysalis here has a lot of power do to her Hive and how it functions, not to mention being a distinguished officer within the military and well decorated for her actions in defense of this nation.” The princess said calmly, a friendly smile appearing on her muzzle. “So I wonder why you would propose to me when I am in a relationship already.”

The Stallion wasn’t sure what to say but after a few moments he organized his thoughts and formed a response. “Well you see it’s that many of your enemies are such because of your relationship with…The Queen.” He said. “Were you to end it and only have a professional relationship with her then many would become your allies.” The noblestallion said and the princess nodded, the friendly smile never leaving her muzzle.

The stallion continued on as he seemed to be getting through to the Princess. “While everyone already knows of the reason your relationship exists. “ The Princess noted the stallion not mentioning the reason by name and the stallion didn’t notice the Queen take attentive step away from the alicorn. “The Queen is loyal to Equestria, only a few question that these days” The Stallion said he voice rising slightly. “But many believe your relationship with her is beyond unacceptable and that you should enter into a proper relationship with a pony and not a bug.” The stallion said before catching himself. He blinked as the air in the room seemed to grow cold and he looked around confused.

It was when he looked back at the Princess of friendship that he realized just how big of a mistake he had made as the smile that had been on her face was gone, having been replaced by a cold stare as she leaned forward, hands gripping the arms of her throne. “So let me get this straight.” The Princess said calmly. “You come into my home, stand before me and propose marriage knowing full well I am in a relationship already and have been for years.” She said her voice growing colder with each word. “You refuse to mention my daughter in anyway, taking great pains to avoid acknowledging her very existence.” The Princess said, fingers gripping the hoofrests of her throne tightly. “then you have the nerve to insult Chrysalis right in front of her and also insulting me for being in said relationship of my own free will and not because of some bullshit political angle but because I want to be in the relationship. “ She said as she glared at the stallion before her. “Do I have it correct, let me know if I left anything out.” She said.

The Stallion could only stand there as he tried to think of a way to salvage this as he realized her made a grave blunder. “But…but your highness as a Princess of Equestria it is only proper that you should enter a relationship with a pony and not….not a changeling.” HE said desperate for the Princess to see reason.

The Princess eyes narrowed. “Celestia, Luna.” She called and the stallion blinked as the Princess of friendship called for the other two rulers as last he checked they were in Canterlot.

However what arrived from behind the throne were the two floating machines he had heard the Princess kept around for some reason. “You called Commander?” The one with the word CELESTIA painted on the front asked.

The Princess gestured to the stallion. “I found a new target dummy for you to practice with.” The Princess aid as she sat back. “Please remove it from my sight.”

“No problem Commander.” The one with LUNA on the front said.

:”As you wish Commander.’ Celestiabot said.

The try barrels under both machines rotated once as there was a click and then both spoke in unison. “Training rounds loaded.”

Outside the throne room the two guards didn’t even flinch as they heard the sound of automatic weapons fire form inside and one simply held out a hoof and the other tossed a back of bits onto it as the noble shad lasted close enough to ten minutes for him to win the bet. A moment after the bits exchanged hooves the noble came galloping out, the side of his body cover with blue pain marks as he galloped for his life, the two sentry bots in hot pursuit. “Get back here! We aren’t done practicing!” Luna bot called after him before firing a burst of training round at the stallion, nailing him in the flank before he made it around the corner.

Once the bots vanished one of the guards glanced at the other. “You think they ever have to deal with this back in Canterlot?”

The other guard just shrugged. “Just another day in the Castle of Friendship.” He said and the first nodded before going back to watching for intruders.

Inside the throne room the princess of Friendship glared after the noblepony as he fled. “Fucking asshole.” She said before looking at the Queen beside her. “He didn’t upset you with what he said did he?” She asked.

The Queen shrugged. “No more than those comments usually do.” She said. “Still thanks.”

“Hey, no one insults you when I’m around unless they want to feel my wrath.” The Princess said with a smile before glancing around, after she was sure the room was clear she leaned over and nuzzled the Changeling Queen. “Want to grab an early dinner? After dealing with that asshole I’m not in the mood for anymore court today.”

The Queen chuckled. “Sure, sounds good to me.” She said and with that the Princess hopped off her throne and headed for the door as she swapped back to being a quadruped.

In another part of the castle, far enough away to not be able to hear the gunfire sat another noble of a minor house waiting his turn to speak to the young Princess. As he calmly waited in the room he felt like someone was watching him but after a quick glance around the room showed nothing he shrugged it off as just nervous, this noble having done better research on the princess so was fully aware of the alicorn’s temper and what could set her off.

As he sat there he heard what sounded like hooves walking in the room but another look reveled nothing. “Hello sir, are you here to see mom?”

The sudden voice beside the stallion caused him to jump and when he looked his vision was filled with a set of pink eyes with slited pupils, a sea green mane with a single purple stipe in it and a dark purple coat with a small curved and pointed horn a mere inch from his face and standing on the wall. Finding his personal space so drastically invaded unexpectedly the stallion recoiled and fell from his chair, smacking his head on the edge of a table as he fell that knocked him out cold.

The small filly calmly walked down the wall till she reached the floor where she stepped onto it. Once on the floor the filly walked over to were the stallion lay and poked him with a hoof. “Excuse me sir, but are you dead?” The filly asked before poking him once more.
The Filly was about the size of a normal filly her age but one look at her reveled she wasn’t a normal filly. For what she had draconic eyes and two small fangs that ran from her mouth. The filly’s upper torso was wrapped in chitin that was a slightly darker shade of purple then her fur. The chitin ran down the upper half of her forehooves as well as down her spine to the base of her tail which matched her mane in color scheme. On her fore head rested a small curved horn that ended in a sharp point.

After a third poke that received no response from the stallion on the floor two small incectoid wings buzzed for a moment as the filly smiled reveling rows of pointed teeth, though they were not sharp. “Guess so.”

“Violet Flame what are you doing?” A voice asked sternly from the door and the filly looked from the stallion on the floor to the alicorn in the doorway.

“Nothing.” She said then looked back at the stallion on the floor. “I think your next guest is dead.” She said with another poke before looking back at the alicorn. “Do you want help burying the body?”

The alicorn in the door way sighed as she walked into the room. “How many times do I have to tell you my little flame.” The Alicorn said as she reached the filly. “Use your emotional sense to check to be sure or at least check for a pulse.” The alicorns aid before lowering herself to be eye level with the filly. “And then ask to help bury the body.” She said and nuzzled her daughter.

The filly giggled. “Yeah, sorry mom, still getting used to that.” The filly said before opening herself up to the emotions around her, she could feel her mom’s emotion easily do to proximity and her being awake but she could also feel some emotions from the stallion on the floor which meant he was still alive.

“What is your sense telling you?” The alicorn asked.

“That he is still feeling emotion so it just knocked out and not dead.” The filly said looking back at her mom.

The Alicorn nodded and smiled. “Correct, we will have a medic come pick him up.” She said and got to her hooves. “Anyways I’m closing court early today so we can have an early dinner.” She said and the filly smiled before her wings buzzed and she lifted into the air. Coming to land on the alicorn back she got comfortable and the alicorn headed out the door.

The two arrived in the Castle’s small privet dining room; this room only had seats for a few people as it was meant for family and friends only. As they entered they found the Changeling Queen had already arrived with the only other pony who called the castle home besides the soldiers and guards.

The other pony was a small filly around the filly on the back of the alicorn though exact age was unknown do to circumstances. The other filly was dark blue with a red and pink mane with a small horn on her forehead. The alicorn smiled as she saw the small filly. “Hey Dawn I see Chrysalis was able to find where you were hiding.”

The dark blue filly looked at the alicorn. “She cheats because I can’t stop my emotions.” She said with annoyance.

The alicorn chuckled, the Filly had a habit of hiding whenever she was alone, a habit left over from where she grew up as noting hiding could easily result in an early death. The alicorn felt the filly on her back shift and hop off her back and smile at the filly and changeling queen. Hi Dawn, hello Sire.” The hybrid filly said getting both the other filly and changeling queen.

The queen sighed. “I still don’t know why you call me that.” She asked the hybrid filly.

“Well because. “She pointed at the alicorn.

She gave birth to me and so is mom. “She then pointed as the changeling queen. “You provided the other half of the genetic code and so you are Sire.” The hybrid said as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You could call me mother.” The Queen said.

The purple filly shook her head.

No those words are reserved for mom since she actually carried me and gave birth to m where as you sired me.” The filly said tilting her head to the side.

The alicorn couldn’t help laughing. “She has you there Queeny.” She said before going to the table and the hybrid followed as well. Normally there would be a fifth person at the table but the alicorn’s assistant was currently running errands in town.

Once they were all seated the castle servants made entry and took their orders. Originally the staff was disturbed by the fact the Princess always ordered meat of some kind with her meals but they quickly got used to it and it was filed under “Just part of working in the Castle of Friendship.”

The only one who didn’t order meat was the dark blue filly as that was mostly just because she wasn’t in the mood for it today. As the four ate they talked about what they had all been up to that day, the alicorn mostly complained about the nobles who came to see her, though a couple she did praise for bringing an actual problem to her rather than the normal ridiculous requests. The queen reported on how the army had been doing as while she had been standing beside the alicorn while she held court she had been busy with the Hivemind getting reports from her changelings all across the nation and sending out orders.

The two filly’s had played tighter for most of the morning before Dawn had left to go study some books her mentor, the alicorn, had given her to study, they were books to help her improve her reading as the filly was still learning how to read. During that time the hybrid alicorn had explored the castle for a bit and spied on the staff from her perch on the ceiling, though the staff was used to the filly doing that so they just ignored her for the most part. After that she had gone to check on some of her biology experiments in her room. The alicorn was both proud of her daughter’s interest in science and the fact she did experiments to further her understanding, but absolutely terrified of the fact it was biology and that no matter what she did she couldn’t steer the small purple filly away from that particular science.

Overall it had been a typical day in the Castle of Friendship.

Right up till a hole ripped in the air on one side of the dining room and a massive wind started pulling everything that wasn’t nailed down into it.

“What the fuck!” The alicorn yelled as a blade shot from her hoof and she drove the full fourteen inched of it into the floor to anchor herself as she grabbed the dark blue filly before she was sucked like her chair was. The Queen dropped to the floor and used her wall walking ability to stay on the floor as did the dark blue filly as the table and chairs were pulled into the rift.

Though the hybrid filly was of changeling queen’s blood and thus stronger than a normal changeling in all their abilities the fact was she was still a filly and he wall walking ability gave out. Before she could go more than a foot the Queen’s hoof shot out and caught her.

She held on tight as she started to slowly inch towards the door of the room to get out of the storm, though that plan was interrupted when the door was torn from its hinges and flew straight for the Queen’s face. She had enough time to register the door flying at her before it connected and tor her from her hooves and the two channelings were pulled into the rift.

“We have to go after them!” The dark blue filly yelled over the wind.

“I will after I get you to safety!” The alicorn yelled back as she looked around the room for how to get out. She tried grabbing her magic but whatever energy this rift was made of was interfering with her spell so teleportation was out. The wind was growing stronger as it actually lifted the alicorn off the ground, the only thing keeping her from being pulled in was the blade imbedded in the floor.

“No time, they could be hurt and I’m not abandoning Violet!” The filly yelled before she jerked her hoof free of the alicorn’s finger and turned and dove through the rift as it pulled her in.

The alicorn facehoofed as she waved in the air like a flag. “Why the hell does this crap keep happening?” She said and looked up at the ceiling. “I’m getting really tired of this shit!” she yelled She focused as best she could and managed to get a small magical blast to form that she fired at the wall. The scorch leaving a message saying “RIFT OPEN. PULL IN. BE BACK LATER.”

With the message left for her assistant so he would worry too much the alicorn withdrew her blade and allowed herself to be pulled into the rift.

Author's Note

And her we have the start of our story done via mu cellphone.

Got some expontion about things that may come up later or may not. Who know.

Also got to see how Twilight runs her court and what life in the castle is like.

And yay got to meet their daughter.

Also poor commander. She can never seem to get a break.