In a dark forest in the southern part of Equestria a small group of ponies, some of them carrying foals, galloped through the underbrush. A mare in the group looked back behind them. “Hurry up they are gaining on us!” The pony shouted.

“We aren’t going to make it!” another pony shouted.

“We’ll make it just keep running, they ain’t caught us yet!” The mare shouted and the group galloped harder. The branches and bushes they ran through scratched at their bodies and slowed their progress but they ignored it all as they galloped as if all of Tartarus were behind them.

“There they are! This way!” a voice shouted behind the group. “Stop right there!”
The group burst into a small clearing where several stones sat in a small circle in the middle. “Hurry up an’ get to work.” The first mare shouted and the unicorns in the group galloped to the circle of stones, their horns charging spells as the others in the group ran for the middle of the stones, had a dozen ponies staying behind and drawing swords.

“What are you doing/!” The first mare yelled at the group that stayed behind in the forest as she lifted a small yellow foal off her back and handed her to another mare.

“Buying you time.” A stallion in the second group yelled back before the half a dozen ponies charged back into the forest. “Get our people to safety!” The stallion yelled before the six ponies vanished into the trees. A few moments later the sound of steel striking steel rang through the forest and was quickly joined by yells and the forest flashed with the light of discharged spells.

“Darn fools…”The mare said before looking back at the unicorns who were quacking going through the necessary spells, the stones around the group staring to glow with runes appearing across their surface. “Come on we don’t have much time!”

“We are working as fast as we can, this teleportation spell was never meant to move so many such a distance, not with so few unicorns to cast it.” A unicorn mare aid as her and two others worked rapidly. The stones around the group started to vibrate as the unicorns fought to keep the spell under control as the power flowed from them and into the teleportation platform they stood on. It had been an amazing spell discovered by some other ponies that allows groups to teleport over great distances without much risk, provided you had enough unicorns to keep the spell under control.

The mare glanced back at the forest as the sounds of battle grew quiet and she knew the six were dead, having given their lives to give the group a chance at escape. As she watched she saw ponies, griffins and a few zebras clad in dark purple armor step from the forest, weapons drawn.
“Give it up, there’s no escape.” One of them barked as the ponies closed in.
The mare glanced at the unicorns as sweat ran down the foreheads and the stones shook violently as they begin to crack. “It’s now or never!” She yelled.

The unicorns nodded and executed the spell. There was an explosion of light as the stones exploded just as the small grouped vanished, the soldier where thrown from their hooves as the energy that powered the platform was released by the destruction of the stones.

Slowly the soldiers got to their hooves and the one who had spoken before looked as the scorched area where the fugitives had been standing. “Damn it all to Tartarus” The soldier said, he was going to be in a lot of trouble for allowing the fugitives to escape. Still with how much energy was released he was just glad nothing happened as it seemed to have just dissipated into the air. “Fan out, secure the area!” he barked at the ponies under his command.

With quick salutes the ponies began to move to the perimeter of the clearing to keep watch.
In another part of the forest all the energy that escaped the collapse of the teleportation platform gathered in a single spot and a moment later a hole was ripped in the very air itself. Moments after the hole appeared a table and set of chairs appears as well as plates and other items you would find on top of a dining table.
Shortly after the table appeared a door came flying out a half a second ahead of a black chitin covered form clutching a smaller dark purple form righty to its chest as it crashed down of the ground and rolled with the impact to avoid injury.

A few second after that a dark blue ball of fur came sailing out of the hole in the air, barley being caught in a dark green glow before it hit the ground. After the dark blue ball of fur was placed on its hooves a larger purple form came sailing out and though it was wrapped in a green glow as well the purple being was far heavier and thus was unable to be slowed down till its face met a tree with enough force to shake several leaves free from its branches.
As the purple being slide down the tree the hole the four had shot out of snapped closed as the energy maintaining it ran out.

The area where the hole had appeared was silent for a few moments before the purple being groaned. “Remind me to kill whoever was responsible for opening a hole in my dining room.” Came the muffled voice of the purple one as her face was still pressed to the tree.

Slowly Twilight peeled her face off the tree and wiped a small bit of blood that escaped her nose and checked to make sure it wasn’t broke. Satisfied it wasn’t, just sore she looked back at the other three. “Oh come on why is it I’m the only one to crash into a tree and you all get to land on the ground and roll with the fall?”

Chrysalis spoke up as she checked over Violet to make sure she was ok. “Because you weigh a lot more than the three of us combined.” She said and nodded when she found the filly was unharmed.

“Yeah you need to go on a diet Princess.” Dawn said as she dusted herself off.

“I’m not fat; it’s my cybernetics that weighs so much.” Twilight said with indignation.

“Right sure it is.” Dawn said as she picked some twigs and leaves out of her mane.

“Queeny am I fat?” Twilight asked her eyes narrowing at the Changeling Queen.

“No of course not, with how much you exercise there is no way you would have any excess weight.” The Queen replied and she set Violet to the side and got to her hooves to dust her uniform off.
Twilight nodded. “Thought so.” She said and fixed Dawn with a glare who stuck her tongue out at the alicorn who returned it.

Chrysalis could only sigh and run a hoof down her face before Violet spoke up. “That was fun can we do it again?” She asked with a big smile.

“No.” Both Twilight and Chrysalis said at the same time and the filly looked down at the ground.

“Aw….I never get to do anything fun.” She said kicking a pebble with a hoof.

“You get to do lots of fun things.” Twilight said.

“Yes but not really fun things as you both always say no.” Violet said.

“Making a hoofglider out of a bed sheets and random bits of wood held together with duct tape and jumping off
the top of the castle is not ever going to be ok my little flame.” Twilight said.

“I was very careful with the construction; I know it would have worked!” Violet said.

“It burst into flames when it fell over, how the hay was it supposed to actually work?” Twilight asked.

“That was just a minor setback.” Dawn said as she walked up beside the dark purple filly.

“That is not a minor set back and I still question how the two of you thought that was a good idea.” Twilight said.

“You are always saying I should try experimenting but when I do you always tell me to stop.” Dawn said.

“Because what you keep trying to do is beyond dangerous.” Twilight said waving her hooves in the air.

“So was walking around in the wasteland, you got to take risks.” Dawn said.

Twilight’s hoof met her face. “That’s all fine and good in that gods forsaken hellhole but you aren’t there so that excuse doesn’t work.” She said from behind her hoof.

Before the unicorn filly could retort Chrysalis spoke up. “Not that this isn’t entertaining and all, what with you arguing with a foal.” The Queen said and Twilight fixed her with an annoyed glare that she ignored. “But perhaps we should focus on finding out where we are?”

After a moment Twilight nodded. “Right, good plan Queeny, knew I kept you around for more than just what you can do with your….”Twilight trailed off as she remembered who else was present. “Amazing ability to talk to changelings through the hivemind.” She finished lamely and the Queen rolled her eyes at the pathetic attempt to cover whatever the mare had been about to say, a slight blush on her face even if it was unfinished.

Dawn looked at the alicorn “You know I do know about you two f—“

“Anyways!” Twilight said suddenly cutting off the small blue filly while giving her a hard look before glancing at the small purple filly who smiles in ignorance of what the two were talking about. “Chrysalis is right and we should get moving. “She said and started walking in a random direction.

Rolling her eyes Chrysalis started following as Violet flew onto the alicorn’s back and helped pull Dawn up as well. With the two filling now secure, Twilight wings shifting periodically in an unconscious movement to make sure they were still there the four of them made their way through the forest.

<<>>

It took the four of them about an hour to reach the ended of the forest, this was mostly due to being attacked by a pack of Timberwolves that learned firsthand what two well trained and armed soldiers can do while protecting two fillies who are with them as well as the occasional stop so Twilight could fly up above the trees and use her binoculars to look for any sign of civilization.

The sun had been just above the horizon when she spotted smoke rising from chimneys in the distance and the sun was well below the horizon by the time they reached the edge of the forest.

The four of them stood staring out of the forest at the little town in the distance. “Queeny, correct e if I am wrong but….doesn’t that look like how Ponyville used to look before Tirek destroyed it?” Twilight asked as she stared at the town.

The Chrysalis slowly nodded. “I do believe that it is indeed the old Ponyville though something seems off about it.” She said.

“Yeah….you are right…” She looked back at the two changelings in the group. “You two better disguise yourselves as I have no idea how changelings will go over in town.” She said.
Violet nodded before she burst into purple flames for a moment and when they vanished she looked like a normal purple filly.

After making sure her daughter was properly disguised Chrysalis was wrapped in green flames and when they vanished a slender dark gray unicorn with a black mane and green heart for a Cutie mark stood in her place. She noticed Twilight staring at her. “What?” Chrysalis asked in a voice that sounded slightly sophisticated but still wouldn’t stick out in a normal crowd.

“Oh nothing.” Twilight said looking away after a moment. “You just look fantastic.” She said and smirked as she knew the disguised Changeling Queen had a huge blush across her face. Twilight charged her horn and cast an illusion spell on herself, mentally thanking her old teacher Trixie for the lessons.

Within a few seconds she was no longer a cyberneticlly augmented alicorn but a lighter purple unicorn with a dark blue and pink mane and a Cutie mark of a shooting star. Unlike the changeling’s shape shifting magic Twilight’s body was still in fact there and if anyone were to touch her they would feel her wings or mental that made up her legs, she had tried to recreate the Changeling natural shapeshifiting ability for use by unicorns but all attempts had failed. “Well how do I look?” Twilight asked looking back at the Queen.

“You look fine but I prefer your normal body.” The Queen said and smirked at the slight blush that adorned the disguised alicorn’s check, the alicorn still couldn’t understand how the queen found her normal body attractive with its scares and cybernetics and the Queen took full advantage of that fact.

“Anyways let’s get moving.” She said and the four of them walked out of the forest and headed for the road as walking from the direction of the forest would raise questions. Once on the road Chrysalis changed out of her uniform while Twilight changed out of her regalia, having forgotten she had been wearing it as it was a lot like her uniform after a decade of wearing it in that she didn’t notice wearing it anymore. Now looking like two normal ponies the two of them stashed the clothes and sidearm in their respective pocket dimensions before they started to trot towards the town.

“So…what’s our story?” Chrysalis asked. “I mean two ponies and two fillies just walking into town seems kind of off.”

“We are four simple travelers.” Twilight said. “Just looking for a place to stay for the night and perhaps a meal.” She said. “In short we are playing the part of the mysterious travelers who sit in the Inn and observe those around them and are secretly total badasses.” She said with a nod.

“Was that a game reference?” Chrysalis asked. “You have been hanging out with Luna too much.” The disguised queen said with a facehoof.

“I am not.” Twilight said as they walked.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes before a small smirk appeared on her face. “So what level are you?”

“Level 87 warrior mage with mostly platinum equipment, just need to get a helm and a shield and I’ll be set, after that we will be entering the Arena to see about getting some equipment we can only get from there as well as the gold.” Twilight stopped in her tracks and looked back at the laughing grey unicorn. “Ok, perhaps you are right, but in my defense I don’t get to Canterlot that often so have to hang out somehow.”

“Sure. “She said and leaned down and whispered din the unicorn’s ear. “Perhaps you can tell me more about your character….or maybe show me.” She said in a manner that caused Twilight’s cheeks to burn and grumble about Changeling Queens and their abilities to infiltrate anywhere by knowing just what to say.

Chrysalis just laughed while Dawn rolled her eyes at the two of them and Violet watched with fascination.
Soon enough they reached the edge of the town and upon entering it Chrysalis stiffed slightly.

“What is it?” The smaller unicorn asked as she looked around.

“There is a lot of fear here.” The Changeling Queen said and shivered, while fear was a very useful tool and she used it, the emotion was very bitter and unpleasant to changelings.
Twilight looked around the town, checking the corners and double checking the shadows as the group walked on. She felt Violet land on her back and Dawn moved closer to her, both of them could sense the wrongness for different reasons.

As they made their way down the street they saw that though lighters were on in the houses they seemed empty.

“Ok yeah something is very wrong; I know it’s night and all but Ponyville never was just deserted like this, its way to early.” Twilight said becoming very away of the lack of weight on her flank, while her pistol was in her side arm not having the familiar weight on her flank made the military mare’s skin crawl.

As they walked dark pink earth pony with a lighter pink mane and tail came from a side street and seemed to be in a hurry. “Excuse me.” Twilight called out and the earth pony jumped and spun around, her face showing fear for a moment till she saw who it was coming up the street and she seemed to relax.
As they neared it took Twilight a moment to recognize the pony as she hadn’t seen the old Ponyville school teacher in many years that gave her a general time frame as well as confirmed they defiantly were not home.

“Excuse me miss, but where might we find an inn for the night?” Twilight asked playing ignorant about the lay out of the town.

“Oh…um…Berry Punch runs a hotel not too far from the town square, you can’t miss it.” She said her eyes darting around. “Anyways I can take you to the town square; I was heading that way anyways.” She said and turned and started to trot away.

Twilight looked back at the unicorn beside her, neither of them needed to speak as there was no reason to go the toe town square after dark due to the market being closed hours ago. With both curiosity and caution the four displaced beings followed the school teacher.

As they neared the town square they could hear a growing murmur of voices and a lot of light coming from the town square as if there were a party going on.

Coming around the last house they found the entire town was gathered in town square all of them shuffling uneasily. Twilight looked around the square to try and figure out what they were all there for. One of the first things she noticed was the fact where Golden Oaks should have been was just a scorched crater. The second that caught her the most off guard was in front of where the Library should have been was such a shaper contrast with everything she knew about Ponyville that it almost caused her mind to shut down. Gallows

Twilight stopped and stared at the gallows. There was room for four people to stand upon it but right now there were only two nooses set up. Twilight stared wide eyed till a voice snapped her out of her shock. “You there, hurry up and join the crowd, we are about to start.” A voice said and Twilight looked and saw a griffin in dark purple armor glaring at her with annoyance.

“Right sorry.” She mumble, mind still reeling from what was sitting in the middle of her town. Quickly the group followed where Cheerilee had gone and stood beside the school teacher as Twilight looked around the square.

She saw about two dozen of the dark purple wearing soldiers. At first she thought the Griffins had taken over but these guards were made up of ponies, griffins, zebras, horses and even a couple of Minotaur. All of them patrolling the edges of the crowd with various weapons.

“What….the….hell…..”Twilight whispered as she watched the soldiers. She was trying to figure out what the hell was going on when the doors to Ponyville town hall opened and a dozen more guards came out pulling two ponies in shackled behind them and heading for the gallows.
It took Twilight a few moments to recall the name of the mint green unicorn and the tan earth pony as they were lead onto the gallows. Lyra Hearthstring and Swe….no she went by Bon Bon now and was just a simple seller of confectionaries. What the hell was going on?

As if answering her question a unicorn stallion stepped up to the end of the platform. “These two have been tried and convicted of the crime of treason against our great Empress and ruler of this land.” The stallion said, voice amplified by a simple spell. “They have been sentenced to hang until dead and—“

The stallion as cut off as Bon Bon. “She is not a great ruler, she is a tyrant!” She yelled as she glared at the stallion, Lyra beside her was looking at her hooves and seemed to be silently crying.

The Stallion backhoofed the earth pony hard enough to knock her from her hooves. “Be silent you miserable traitor, you shall not speak of out Empress in that manner.” EHs aid with anger.

Bon Bon spat a tooth on the plat form below her and looked back up at the stallion still glaring. “You might follow her but I follow Princess Celestia and princess Lune, the true rulers of this land!” She said and received a swift kick to the ribs in response. The candy maker gasped as the air was driven from her lungs and Lyra could only wince beside her.

“Bon Bon stop….there’s no point….”the unicorn said weakly and Twilight looked at her and her eyes hardened as she read the medical dated displayed in her vision. Multiple broken ribs and facial fractures. Damage to her lungs caused by water and several burns along her forehooves. Twilight couldn’t’ how growling silently as she looked at the tortured mare.

A cry of pain drew her attention back to Bon Bon who was on the ground clutching the side of her head, the stallion holding a baton in his magic as he stood over her, seems Twilight missed another exchange between her and the stallion.

“You will hold your tongue traitor!” The stallion said and brought the baton down on the prone mare.

Chrysalis leaned close to the disguised alicorn, able to sense her rising anger as Bon Bon tried to say something and received another blow from the baton. “Twilight, you need to calm down before you do som—“

The disguised queen was cut off as a loud bang echoed across the town square and the unicorn stallion’s head jerked to the side in a spray of blood as the crowd cried out in fear as the unexpected noise.

The square was dead silent as everyone stared at the dead stallion as a pool of blood slowly spread under his head. Slowly the crowd all looked towards where the sound came from as they backed away from the light purple mare holding a small black object in her magic with a look of profound rage on her face.

The soldiers were quick to recover once they saw the cause of the disturbance and they drew their weapons as one of them spoke up. “You are under arrest for mur—“
Another bang sounded and the speakers head jerked back in another spray of blood. “You want to try and take me?” Twilight said. “Then bring it the fuck on!” she yelled as a second pistol appeared beside her and the soldier rushed forward as the crowd of ponies ran for their lives while the town square exploded into violence behind them.

“Chrysalis get to the gallows, untie those two!” Twilight ordered as she fired on the soldiers charging them. She could only beret herself for allowing her anger to take hold before getting Violet and dawn to safety first but it was too late now. The Queen nodded and galloped towards the gallows as Twilight cleared her a path by gunning down the soldiers between the disguised changeling Queen and the two mares staring in shock from the gallows.“

Dawn get Violet out of her, keep her safe! We will meet you at the edge of the forest where we came out.” Twilight barked. Dawn nodded and drew a small piston from her saddle bags, placing it in her mouth as it was designed to be fired in that manner she grabbed the purple filly who was watching everything going on with the widest smile and started pulling her away from the town square.

“No I want to watch mom and sire fight.” The purple filly complained but Dawn just grabbed her and dragged the protesting filly behind her as they ran and disappeared into the crowd.

With those two out of the way it gave one less thing Twilight had to worry about a she reloaded her pistols and continued to fire on the soldiers as more seemed to be showing up from else wear in the town. Twilight had to dodge a dive bombing Pegasus then duck a magical blast from a unicorn. Even if these soldiers only had melee weapons and steel armor the fact was there was way too many of them.

As twilight fought, having to keep a shield up whenever she needed to reload as it didn’t take the soldier long to figure out when to attack, they defiantly weren’t the Royal Guard. Chrysalis appeared beside her along with the two from the gallows, Lyra on the Queens back as her injuries would make her unable to run.

“I think it’s time we leave now!” Bon Bon yelled and Twilight nodded as she fired several more shots to clear them a path. The group quickly galloped away from the town square with the purple armored soldier in hot pursuit.

Running through the town they passed the ponies who had been in the town square as they hid from the fleeing group and the soldiers. Twilight fired rounds behind them to keep the soldier at bay but stumbled when an earth pony tackled her from the side, the only thing that allowed her to stay on her hooves was the fact she weighed so much so the pony basically tackled a brick wall.

Still Twilight wasted no time in putting a round from both her pistols in the pony as she ran. “This isn’t working!”

She shouted. “We need to split up so they have to divide their forces.” She yelled.
Chrysalis nodded. “Alright, I’ll meet with the others!” She said before peeling off down a small side street.
With that, half the soldiers chasing them had to break off to chase the queen. Twilight couldn’t help smiling as she heard automatic weapons fire from the street the queen galloped down, she did love to use that light machine gun of hers.

It didn’t take long for Twilight and Bon Bon to reach the edge of town. “This way!” Bon Bon yelled as she took the lead and Twilight had to admit she was impressed as Lyra wasn’t the only one who had been beaten before being taken to the gallows and yet the candy maker galloped as if she wasn’t injured.

Twilight had to fire continuously behind them as they were not on open ground and so the unicorns couldn’t fire off their spells. What she hadn’t expected was to hear a gunshot from behind then and feel a bullet rip through the air an inch from her own head. Looking back she saw something she hadn’t been expecting. “Is that a musket?!”

She yelled a she saw a griffin going through the long process of reloading the privative firearm.
While her home Equestria had by passed the first type of firearms and gone straight into full automatic and magazine fed rifles and the like she was still aware of what the earlier versions of those were and how they functioned, she made it a point to learn about all types of firearms after all.

“Yes, they are pretty new to Ponyville, only arrived about a week ago!” Bon Bon yelled back. The two of then doubled their efforts to reach the trees line in front of them as several more shot fired behind them. Twilight thanked the gods that since they were muskets and new to the area they were not that accurate, if they had modern rifles then her and Bon Bon would be well and truly dead as all they’d have to do is spray and pray to hit them.

As they reached the trees Twilight stopped firing her pistols and stashed them back in her pocket dimension as the trees made it so the muskets couldn’t be used easily or that the unicorn spells could hit them as they weaved between the trees.

After a while of following Bon Bon through the trees the sound of pursuit slowly faded, still bon Bon galloped and Twilight followed her. “Hey slow down, what’s the rush?” Twilight yelled.
“Making sure we aren’t still being followed.” Bon Bon called back as they galloped through the trees deeper into the Everfree forest.

After a few more minutes they entered a small clearing and the earth pony finally stopped to catch her breath, Twilight doing the same right beside her though Twilight wasn’t as winded as the mare beside her.

“Ok, now that we have lost those soldiers you mind telling me what the hell is going on?” Twilight asked as she looked around, she felt like someone was there but she couldn’t see anyone.
“I’ve been feeding the resistance information for months now.’ Bon Bon said. “Lyra’s been helping me though I think since we were both about to hang that was pretty obvious” The mare said and looked at Twilight. “Thanks for helping us.” She said.

“Yeah no problem, I have an issue with people like that stallion.” Twilight said with a scowl at the memories.
Bon Bon nodded. “Yes I can tell.” She said. “Also sorry about this.”
Twilight blinked and opened her mouth to speak when a spell hit her from the side. She stumbled and fell as she register she just got hit with a sleep spell and did everything she could do to stay awake. “What…the hell…”She asked.

“Sorry but this is for safety as we don’t know who you are.” A second voice said and Twilight saw several figures seeming to separate from the surrounding trees as he vision starting to go black.

“Hell…of…a way…to….thank….someone…”Twilight said as the last of her consciousness faded. The last thing she registered was her illusion spell failing as she was unable to maintain it and hearing a loud gasp and then she was lost to the darkness.

Author's Note

Once more uploaded via mu cell phone. I'll be going back to fix all of this when I can.

Well we lot happened in tjsi chapter. The Commander is sepersted from Chrysalis and captured by persons unknown after saving two ponies from the hangman's noose.

Also seems The Commander has some resentment about tyrants from her past. Who would have guessed that?