"The doors are open again?" Applejack's legs were solid under him now, the initial dissociation he had experienced with his limbs had faded. The petitioners all parted and made room, primarily for Princess Luna, but AJ was happy enough to capitalize on it.

"Princess Twilight does things a little different to how my sister and I do them." Luna held no reproach, smiling at the idea. "It is humbling and refreshing, and I think Equestria needs it. Their ruler is open to them, standing before them. Look at her."

And AJ could. He gazed up at his best friend, marveling not only at how much presence she had in the room, but also at the aura his oddly tinted second eye showed. "She… she's beautiful…" The play of colors radiated out, touching every pony near Twilight.

"Hey, make room. Important ponies comin' through!" Rainbow Dash, without having a princess to lead the way, was making a hole through the crowd by dint of looking more like a monster than most things the ponies had seen. "Well, I think we found your patient, Doctor Moony."

"Applejack? Rainbow Dash?" Twilight's voice cut through the crowd, ponies parted between her and her friends. "Please tell me Moon Dancer is with you?" She stepped down off the dais, approaching the little group.

Luna, able to look down on most ponies, spotted Moon Dancer. "It is as you asked, Your Highness." Though she smiled at her little joke, it was tinged with worry still. "I had my best agent on the task, right?"

Rainbow Dash strode up to Luna, wearing the bridle that kept the transformation under a modicum of control. "Of course." She lifted her hoof—full of holes—and got a solid clop back from the mare who she had followed. "So what do you think, Moony? Just rip this nasty suit off?"

Moon Dancer stepped up toward the big stallion. "Oh, uh…" Lighting her horn, she started with examination spells. The room was silent while she worked, nopony daring to interrupt her. She located the main enchantments on the suit, but they were almost completely unfamiliar. "What… what made this?"

" 'What,' not 'who'?" Twilight grimaced in realization. "So I was right, this wasn't made by ponies? I took a look at it earlier, but couldn't work any of it out."

"Technolings." Rainbow Dash cut in on the scholarly conversation. "A species of changeling that were created by another changeling." All eyes turned to her, Moon Dancer even stopped her examination. "Well, near as I know, they take ponies, wrap them up in a suit and either make them into a constant food supply, or put their tech into them. It will slowly spread."

"How do you know all this?" Twilight shook her head. "Never mind that, what can we do about this?" She pointed to Applejack.

"Hey, don't look at me. I know what they are… kinda. I don't know all the magic stuff." Rainbow Dash held up both forehooves in her own defense. "And I really don't know about how they make more of them, just that they do."

"Does that mean they are going to turn Princess Molestia into one of them?" Twilight was posing the question more philosophically, but was surprised when Applejack shook his head.

"Ah don't think so. They were talkin' as if she was going to be food." AJ took a few extra steps and stopped right in front of Twilight. "Yer Highness, if'n you don't mind, ah'm gonna kiss ya." He didn't wait, Applejack leaned forward and pressed his lips to Twilight's own, feeling them still for a moment, then start to return the kiss.

"Uh, somepony want to explain why they are…" Rainbow Dash felt a tingle run through her, like she was standing near a heater. "Oh… never mind. Hey Dark!"

A pony pushed their way through the crowd, a garish alicorn stallion that looked so out of place made his way up beside Rainbow Dash. "My Queen?"

"Yeah yeah, keep the queen bit down. Do you know any more about this sort of stuff?" Rainbow gestured to Applejack, who was just pulling back from his moment with Twilight. "All I know is that it is technoling stuff."

"Slaves!" Dark's disguise dropped, revealing his changeling shape to all the ponies around. "There seems to be something in his eye, and look, the glow there." He pointed at AJ's chest. "But he is wearing their trapping suit…"

"So how do we get it off then?" Moon Dancer was working her spells again, trying to examine Applejack again. "Wait, it is moving, inside him!" She checked and double checked. "Actually… growing."

"Can you get it out of me?" Applejack looked directly at Moon Dancer. "And why aren't I a mare again, if that old armor is broken?" He froze and turned to look at Twilight. "Uh… well, Ah suppose that last bit isn't so bad…"

"I can try." Moon steadied herself and began to build her magic up. She was startled, however, when a torrent of power joined hers, thundering into and through her.

"You don't even have to ask." Twilight stepped up beside Moon Dancer. "Just tell me if there is anything else I can do?"

"Just push when I need it." Moon Dancer started fastening her own magic to the enchantments in the odd bodysuit. The suit itself started to pulse and flare back, throwing off one of her spells and, to her shock, latching on to another. She sliced the spell off, let it fade, then brought another around to stop the enchantment from spreading further. "This… this is built to resist removal."

"More power?" Twilight looked at the interplay of colors from Moon's spells, watched how quickly she moved them, adjusted them.

Moon Dancer shook her head. "It is feeding off the power of our magic already. I am trying to cut off the feeding enchantments, but it is almost like it is-"

"It is modifying its enchantments in reaction to you. Each time you use a spell on it, the suit will adapt and be able to eat that spell the second time you use it." Dark looked on in amazement, watching how fast the unicorn worked, but he could see it was a losing battle. "You should pull back, before it grabs hold of your magic."

Tightening her grip on the enchantments she had already choked off, Moon kept fighting, using the information the changeling had given her to mix up each spell. It seemed to work, struggling against the flow of the enchantments, but then one latched on to a spell it shouldn't have been able to. "What-" She didn't get another word out, suddenly all her spells were failing and the enchanted magic swam up her own flow, rushing toward her like a hungry timber-wolf.

A flash of green illuminated the struggle, fire wrapped around the head of Dark Thrust and he shot forward. Cutting through the flow of magic, he pushed both Moon Dancer and Princess Twilight away from Applejack.

The room erupted in panic. Guards rushed in to protect the Princess from harm. Rainbow Dash rushed to her drone, and seeing him much the worse for the encounter stood over his downed form. "Back off! Keep back from him. What the buck just happened?"

"Protect the Princess!" The guards that charged in to surround Dark suddenly realized they not only had Rainbow Dash to deal with, but Applejack too.

"Stop this!" Twilight's voice carried over the noise. "STOP NOW!" Her wings flared out as she glared around. "Okay. Moon, are you alright?"

"Not really…" Moon Dancer lay on the cool floor, her head pressed to it, feeling like her brain was a few sizes too big. "Ugh… what are you doing to that changeling? Dark saved us." She waved a hoof toward the downed changeling.

"What do we do?" Twilight looked to Applejack, not daring to even try to probe the suit clinging to him.

"Well we ain't gonna to try that again." Applejack looked down at the drone who was slowly coming to. "Ah don't think we have been introduced. Ah'm Applejack."

Dark looked up, spotting his queen standing over him. He shivered a little at the determined and concerned look on her face. He focused on the stallion addressing him. "Dark Thrust…" It felt so wrong to be among so many ponies without owners. A huge hoof came down, covered in the black suit AJ wore. He took it and got to his shaky hooves.

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

"I think this is the first time this many princesses have been together without an orgy." Cadance sipped her drink, looking between Luna and Twilight. "A little refreshing, I can have orgies anytime I like, but this… this is interesting. So what exactly happened to ol' sun-butt? The rumors are flying."

"No more orgies. Not here." Twilight pushed the map over to Cadance with her magic. "You get the contract Princess Luna offered, in exchange for lending us an army." The words stung Twilight's throat, she hated the idea of sending ponies to fight; if there was one thing being Molestia's whipping colt taught her, it was that sometimes the results are worth a harsh price. "How is Shining?"

"The deal is done. Your sister fares well. She rules my household, you know, won't even let me go out and have fun." Cadance gave a deep sigh. "She is happier now, than-"

"I know. The nobles don't, but they are over the moon that I am on the throne." Twilight looked to Luna, suspecting something, but unable to bring herself to ask it. "You should visit more, Cadance. Mom and Dad are always asking after Shining, I would love to be able to take you both to visit them."

"I…" Cadance paused and thought about it. "That might be both nice, and terrible. Everypony thinks I stole her away, tore up her roots and stained her. I can be the bad-pony for them, if it means there is peace." She looked at the map, a progression plan of the war Equestria was about to be thrown into. "We stop short of the badlands, why?"

"There is a deal. All you need to do is follow the plan." Luna's eyes flashed. "We will, of course, have our own General to lead this."

"A general? Might I know who will be leading my poor 'lings into this?" Cadance turned her full gaze to Luna, trying to gauge what her full game was.

"Mac!" Luna called, a wide smile on her snout. "Bring in your adviser."

Big McIntosh pushed the doors open, stepping into the room. Her belly had a slight rounding to it, showing signs of life from within. "Your Highnesses."

Rainbow Dash took up Mac's left side. Standing taller than Mac, almost as tall as an alicorn, she had all the ego of her pegasus-self mixed with a changeling queen; plus a good helping of the audacity of both too.

The shocked look on Cadance's face made Luna almost jump for joy. "Is there a problem, Empress?"

"You never said you had changelings living in Equestria." Cadance stared at Rainbow Dash, taking in the features that were still very much pony. Wings, a few streaks of color in their mane and tail, even the mare's snout still hinted at a pony origin. But it was Rainbow Dash's eyes that really caught Cadance's attention, cerise and slitted, they looked hungry in a way that put her off her guard.

Trying to rally herself and avoid thinking about Equestria having changelings—let along a hive—of their own, Cadance pointed to Manehatten. "I hear they have a new leader just taken office." She looked between the interested expressions on Twilight and Luna's faces. "No real information on her, but my drones got her name. Starlight Glimmer."

Author's Note

Question for Night Reign: "How does it feel to be so "Synchronised" With Mac?"

"Ah'm going to have to translate for her?" Mac looked around and got a few nods from the audience. "Alright, here-" They can hear me, don't worry. Without a body I am... nothing. I am a recording, an echo. Night Reign died a very long time ago, I am her ghost. Mac gives me a problem and a solution. Without her I am nothing. But I have to be careful not to give too much of my recording to her, she isn't me, I don't want her to be.

Mac stood, looking more than a bit dazed. "Uh," she finally came around, "did you get all that?"

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

And there we have the first part of the saga. We start as a pinprick, looking at just one life. It expands to two, then more. At the culmination of the story we find events taking place that will shake the entire world, but they were all put in motion right at the beginning. If not for McIntosh doing his duty, or Applejack running off to save her brother, Equestria would be damned under Molestia's shadow still. If not, for Big Mac's Duty...

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

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