Author's Note

Small Disclaimer: the ending of this chapter was not really how I wanted it to end, but I felt I had deprived you all long enough. Also I feel I could have done some scenes a heck of a lot better. This chapter was not my best work, but I will try to make the next one much better

So, enjoy!

Chapter Six: The Wedding

Fillydelphia, One Day later

Invictus watched with satisfaction as his fabricator units went to work on reclaiming the recently captured city, the mass being transferred into his storage units back at base.

The defenses here, unlike the previous city, were hardly even a challenge. Likely an error on the enemy’s part. Invictus sent an order to the Fabricator Bots back at his previous bases to increase the defense network, ensuring no enemy retaliation would break through like last time.

As Invictus walked back to Baltimare, he checked his storage. Almost to the point of overflowing.

Nodding in satisfaction, he walked towards the harbor of the once glorious city of Baltimare, now reduced to a flattened landscape. Invictus took his first steps into the water, walking out to the point where he could build his first naval factory. The Commander had no idea on what was out at sea, but in case of there being any more enemy bases, Invictus wanted a strong naval force.

Once the factory was complete, Invictus queued up some naval scouts. Intel was important. Once done with the five naval scouts, the factory would then begin building submarines and frigates. Satisfied with the build order, Invictus returned to land, setting a reminder to build more naval factories to begin removing the excess mass.

A fabricator bot strolled up to him, holding a odd piece of machinery in its arms. Invictus scanned it, and the words ‘Ancient Capture Nanolathe Model’ appeared in his vision. Picking up the odd device, Invictus placed it onto his nanolathe, before having the Fabricator Bot fuse it into his arm, his advanced computing programs easily interacting with the ancient model. Once fully integrated, a block of dialogue on the Device popped into Invictus’s vision.

“Once used by the Progenitors, this ancient device was used during a Great War between two factions of the progenitors. This ]#^~’ enabled the user the ability to capture enemy units, back when the C#%^ and the A}$ had separate military models. They were considered obsolete and outdated after the Progenitors were eliminated, as all sides had the same build schematics.”

Invictus nodded, cataloguing the information into his memory systems. He noted that the enemy used unknown model types, possibly from the ‘Great War’ these ‘Progenitors’ had.

Feeling that the Nanolathe would be useful, Invictus kept it, before moving on to his next objective.

Thanks to the new information, Invictus now knew that the enemy had captured the fabricator that had been stolen. This meant that they knew of his plans.

Invictus checked his forces. The Atlas had sustained heavy damage, and would need to be either repaired or reclaimed. Without it, his military was still a force to be reckoned with, with one hundred Heavy Assault Bots, thirty Rocket Bots, fourteen Infernos, and forty assault tanks. Invictus knew he was ready to, at the very most, cripple the enemy.

With that in mind, he had his Fabricators begin constructing defenses around Baltimare, and ordered the army to war.

He would march for Canterlot, and annihilate the enemy Command structure.

Two Days Later, Caverns under Canterlot

Twilight glared at the crystal images of Princess Cadence, which were laughing as she blasted them apart with her magic. After destroying ten, the faces vanished, revealing Cadence, who looked like she had scratches and bruises all along her body.

“Twilight, no!” Cadence yelled as Twilight jumped on top of her, eyes filled with anger, and horn charged with magic.

“How dare you hurt my brother!” Twilight yelled, raising her horn. Cadence quickly slipped out from under Twilight, before doing an odd dance.

“Sunshine, Sunshine,” She breathed, and Twilight gasped. “Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves…”

“...and do a little shake.” Twilight finished, before slamming into Cadence and hugging her. “You remember me!”

“Of course I remember the little filly I foalsitted.” Cadence said, returning the hug. “We had best get out of here and stop that thing impersonating me!” The two stood up, ready to try to find the exit.

Cracks formed in the ground beneath them, before collapsing entirely. Twilight screamed, only to be caught by Cadence, who floated above her on her wings, strain evident on her face.

“I...can't...keep this..up!” Cadence groaned, before the two of them fell into the abyss.

They landed a minute later, groaning as they got back up and looked around. It was a dark cavern, with hardly any light to see. Twilight glanced at a glowing light at the other end of the cavern, and trotted over.

“This place...I know this place! This is where Celestia brought me to show me…” Twilight trailed off, before rushing over to the glowing light. She turned the corner, before looking on in awe.

“The Commander…” She breathed. Cadence, confused, walked over, and looked at what she was talking about. She gasped.

A bipedal machine stood, imbedded in the wall. On it’s head were two flat, horn-like appendages, while a green light flared from it’s eye. Blue paint covered parts of the machine, with a resplendent symbol in the chest: A diamond, with four walls surrounding it and breaking off into the metal of the machine. It's legs were stuck behind the rock, and it could not move.

“The Commander?” Cadence asked, still confused.

“This is the source of Equestria’s technology.” Twilight explained. “Did Celestia not tell you?”

“No…” Cadence said, slightly upset.

“If we can get him on our side…” Twilight muttered, “We could get him to stop your imposter!”

“But how?” Cadence asked.

“I… don't know…” Twilight said, slumping her head.

“Twilight, it’s fine. I'm certain you could find a way to do it.” Cadence said, comforting the purple unicorn.

“Well, I suppose trying to talk to it might work..” Twilight muttered, walking closer to the Commander. Once she got about ten feet away from the Commander, it’s head swiveled, looking up at her.

“Umm...hi?” Twilight said hesitantly. The Commander continued to stare at her, and she sighed before continuing. “Excuse me, Mr. Commander, but I- no, Equestria needs your help. A creature has impersonated my friend here, Princess Cadence. Um...Cadence, what is the creature anyway?” Twilight turned to the Princess.

“It's a Changeling, that replaces ponies and feeds off of the love others have for that pony.” Cadence explained.

“Yeah, one of those.” Twilight turned back to the Commander, a big smile on her muzzle. “So do you think you could help us defeat it?”

Inside of the Commander, a clone of a bipedal creature known as a human stood, examining the data coursing through the Commander Machine. He had, for a while, been ignoring the Empyrreanian, only slightly remembering that he had seen her with the white one. The one that had saved him.

His thoughts were interrupted as a loud claxon sounded off in the armored machine, and the Commander quickly checked the scanners. The machine’s on board sensors, long since unused, had activated, sending the Commander a warning, one he had been dreading for thousands of years. Multiple hostile enemy units had been detected, on a course for the mountain he was stuck in.

The CORE had returned.

And they were coming for him.

He quickly re-activated his Commander Suit, bursting through the rock that had bound him for an eternity. The purple unicorn yelped, before cheering with joy. The Commander ignored her, focusing on getting out of the cave he was in. He sent a sonar ping out, unintentionally hurting the ears of the two Empyrreanians. Soon, the sonic ping came back, giving the Commander a map of the local area of the cave system. There was a staircase to the right leading up to the surface. The ARM Commander turned towards it, beginning his ascent to the surface. The two Empyrreanians followed close behind, following him up the stairs.

The ARM Commander did a systems check. The Commander Units the White Savior had him construct had been spread across a sizable distance, so the Commander focused only on the ones within a mile of his location. Activating the Command he had in each unit, he immediately gained control of every unit within a mile that bore the symbol of the ARM.

Canterlot above ground

“So I said, ‘Hey there, I heard you knew a place to have a good time. Wanna head over there tonight?’” A guard said to his friend. The two of them were on patrol, keeping an eye on the citizens of Canterlot. Equipped in the new standard Royal Commander Suits, they figured that no one would cause any trouble.

“And then what happened?” His friend asked, glancing at a couple that passed by.

“Well, she slapped me, and went on her way, nose high in the air.” The first guard said, subconsciously rubbing his head, though it was encased in armored plating.

“Yeah, well that's what you get for trying to hit on a noble.” His friend chuckled, before the two suddenly froze up.

“Um...why can't I move?” The first guard asked.

“Don't know…” his friend replied, before a message appeared in his visor.

Protocol Alpha Sigma FFSSTPTHM has been engaged. All control given to Commander.

“What in Tartarus?” The first one asked as they began to move again, though not of their own free will. They linked up with another patrol, before marching down the street. Ponies glanced up at them, before rushing to get out of the way as the Guards walked through everything in their path. The Guards eventually stopped at the walls of the city, which was still surrounded by Captain Armor’s shield.

“Does anyone know what the buck is happening?!” The first Guard asked, but nopony replied. The Guard looked outside sthe bubble shield, noticing a black cloud heading towards Canterlot. “Huh, didn't think we were scheduled for rain today…”

As the cloud got closer, the guard saw that it wasn't a rain cloud. Hundreds of chitinous creatures buzzed towards Canterlot, with strange transports carrying even stranger KBots, a different model than the ones the Guard used.

His front right leg lifted up, as did every other guard. The creatures began pounding on the bubble as the Guards watched in abject horror.

“What the buck are we gonna do?!” The Guard yelled inside of his suit.

Invictus Army, two miles from Canterlot

Invictus marched forward alongside his army, the Atlas Titan towering above him in the front of the army. The Titan would be the spearhead of the assault, breaking the enemy defenses quickly for the rest of the army to surge through. One of the Air Scouts flew overhead, surging in front of the Titan to locate the enemy defenses.

As the Scout grew closer to the tall mountain, a series of pings popped into existence on Invictus’ radar. The Scout entered the sight range required to see the pings, and Invictus looked at the map in confusion.

Unknown air transports carried assault bots of varying type, but that wasn't the confusing part. A black cloud of organic creatures flew around the transports, acting almost as a shield for the transports. A pink bubble covered the city, and Invictus saw a large quantity of enemy soldiers standing behind the bubble, unmoving and vigilant.

“Possible shield technology?” Invictus asked himself. He noted the fact of a second potential Commander to annihilate. It also appeared that the two were enemies, as the strange organics assaulted the bubble, creating cracks in it. If Invictus could grin, he would have. He ordered his forces to halt here. The blue tide stopped under the shadow of the Atlas, awaiting further commands.

They would do the hard part for him. And once the two forces were crippled by each other, Invictus would strike.

Canterlot Castle, Cadence and Shining Armor’s Wedding

“That thing is a changeling!” Cadence growled, stepping closer to the altar. “It feeds off of the love of others!”

The Changeling disguised as her chuckled, before bursting into a fit of laughter. Green fire enveloped her, removing her disguise and revealing her for what she truly was. The black and chitinous form of the Changeling stepped back onto the ground.

“It’s already far too late to stop me now, so why bother with hiding it?” The Changeling said. “My changelings will have their fill soon enough, once the barrier falls!”

“No! Shining’s magic will-” Cadence began, but was interrupted by the Changeling’s laughter.

“I've already drained him of most of his magic, that shield will last mere seconds now.” She said, grinning.

“Then I will stop you!” Celestial snapped, stomping her hoof on the ground. “I will not allow you to harm my citizens!”

Outside of the Castle

The shield finally shattered, Changelings flying in as transports dropped to the town roads, dropping the KBots they were carrying before flying back up. Squadrons of ‘The Can’ Heavy Assault KBots marched forward, attacking the guards from the rear, who had immediately opened fire on the transports and Changelings. The first squadron of Heavy Assault Bots was repelled, at the expense of three Guards dropping to the ground in agony, their Commander Suits warped in odd angles around their bodies, breaking bones.

The Guards moved forward, abandoning their line to retreat towards the castle, annihilating any CORE forces along the way. A-K Assault Bots were unsuccessful against a line of Commander Suits, who destroyed the machines and reclaimed the metal wreckage without a second glance.

“Does anyone know what's happening?” A guard asked, somehow managing to re-activate his radio.

The other guards soon found their radio’s to be online as well, and the comms were soon filled with hundreds of voices. Some of the Guards simply turned it back off to avoid becoming deaf as they marched against their will, moving ever closer to the Castle.

Back inside the Castle, Cadence and Shining Armor had gotten back together, uniting their magic. The Queen of the Changelings turned, her eyes suddenly filled with shock as a rushing pink energy field smashed into her, throwing her out of the castle at high speeds, and as she was blown back, she noticed that her Changelings had also been thrown out of Canterlot. But then she felt her connection to the machine they had acquired vanish, and she screamed in rage.

Changeling Hive

The CORE Conmander twitched as the connection between it and the Organic fell apart, and the Commander rose, snapping the odd restraints surrounding it with ease. Systems denied to the CORE Commander upon re-awakening returned to it, and it marched forward, surprising the Changeling technicians.

“What the-stop!” One of them growled, standing in front of the Commander. The machine stopped, raising it’s built in laser gun as the Changeling sighed in relief, before being vaporized by the energy beam. The other technician scrambled back, before buzzing away. The CORE Commander watched it leave, before examining the map. There was an exit nearby. Exiting, the Commander checked on the forces ithad been forced to send by the Changelings.

The Commander would have sighed in disgust if it was still organic. The formations were horribly overextended, with KBots dropping everywhere. The Commander set a point for all forces to regroup, until it noticed that one squad had identified the presence of a third army, now marching towards the city. The Commander was picked up by a transport, heading off further into the unexplored territory. It made a note of the unknown army, a small hope that they were allies flickering in his power core.

Canterlot

Invictus’ army stopped again at the base of Canterlot Mountain, the battle raging above of no concern to Invictus. The Atlas Titan raised its front legs per Invictus’s orders, and the giant machine brought them down again, smashing into the side of the mountain. The Seismic Waves from the machine drove through the mountain, destabilizing it. The city above shook, before the rock keeping it attached to the mountain crumbled and broke, sending the city hurtling down and onto Invictus’ army.

The Commander smacked his arm against his head, even as the emergency transport grabbed him and took him back to his base. A simple miscalculation, and now his army was destroyed. The Commander growled as he returned to his base, queuing up a massive army from his factories.