Lightning Bug

Rainbow and Applejack rushed ahead of their friends and put their fists up as they glared at the strange Changelings.

"You freaks better give her back, now!" Rainbow said.

The Changeling holding Twilight raised one of his arms up and slowly approached them.

"Alright, take it easy," he said with a distorted voice. "You can carry your friend if you want to, we just want to make sure you're all okay."

Rainbow roughly pulled Twilight's limp form out of the Changeling's metal grasp and jumped back as she hefted the alicorn over her shoulder.

"Big mistake trying to take us on, bugs," Rainbow grunted.

The Changeling that had revealed his face placed the strange device onto its back before holding his hands up in front of him, signalling his non-violent approach.

"Miss, please just calm down," he said. "There's no need for any violence."

"Like hay there ain't!" Applejack said as she stepped between him and Rainbow. "Y'all varmints jus' tried ta kill us!"

"Ma'am, I assure you, we weren't going to harm you or your friends. We were tracking the ones that attacked you. Please, just follow us, an-"

"Piss off, Changeling!" Rainbow spat. "We don't need your help and we don't want any excuses! Get out of here before we kick your flanks!"

The metal Changelings looked at each other before the unmasked one sighed.

"We apologize if we've frightened you in any way-"

"Shut up and get out of here already!" Rainbow shouted.

"If you go back the way you came, you'd die!" he yelled.

"Don't lie to us! We've been traveling through this forest for ten days without-"

"Because they were trailing you," he said, pointing to the unconscious Changelings. "If you go back now without anyone watching over you, you'd get mauled out there."

Applejack clenched her fists as she got into a fighting stance as she saw one of the Changelings in the back raise their strange weapons.

"Sergeant, we've got movement half a click Southeast, approaching fast," she said.

"Crap. Listen, I don't know why you're so hostile towards us, but if you want to make it home, follow us."

"Yeah, follow a Changeling to safety," Rainbow snorted. "Think I'd rather take my chances wi-"

"RRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIII!!!"

The ponies all jumped at the sound, Fluttershy flinging herself into Pinkie's side.

"Think you can handle that without flying?" the Changeling asked.

Rainbow glared at the Changeling before she nearly fell over from a tremor. The ground quaked as whatever was after them began to charge closer to their position.

"I don't think we have room to argue!" Rarity said.

"It's not friendly!" Fluttershy cried as she held on to Pinkie.

"Quick, get over here!" the Changeling called.

The trees beyond them began to break and fall in the wake of the looming beast that stalked towards them.

"Oh, fuck!" Rainbow shouted as she and the girls ran for the Changelings.

The mares huddled together between the metal-fused creatures and watched with baited breath as the unseen beast lumbered close to the edge of the clearing. The creature stood at nearly twenty meters on six legs that were covered in dark green scales, its body short and wide with massive spines darting its back. It glared down at them with four glowing red eyes as its maw opened to reveal four rows of razor-sharp teeth.

"Civilians secured, evac now!" the unmasked Changeling called to no one.

The girls prepared to meet their gruesome end as the beast charged at them, mouth agape. The next moment, however, happened like a blink.

A blue energy surrounded the Changelings and ponies, almost a pillar from the sky above them, and everything around them became a blinding light. The next moment, they felt the ground give way as the air became far cooler.

The five mares dropped into a heap as the Changelings landed on their mechanical legs.

Rarity and Pinkie were the first two to recover, and they paused as they examined where they were.

Gone was the thick brush of the forest, replaced instead by white metal walls and black seats that lined the walls. In the center of the room were four stretchers with strange blocks of metal next to them. The Changelings began to stock their strange weapons onto a rack which receded into the walls.

"Need a hand?" a different Changeling asked, holding a hand out to Rarity.

The alabaster mare examined the form of the armored Changeling, now able to see under the room's lights. His arms and legs were completely replaced with mechanical parts, pistons and rotating parts moving and whirring underneath stretches of green plates of steel that began to shift into a white surface. Rarity looked up at the Changeling to see that he was still offering his hand as well as a smile. This one's mane and eyes, however, were differently colored than the first one and seemed to reflect like a gorgeous sapphire.

A faint blush staining her cheeks, Rarity accepted the hand and was gently pulled onto her hooves, where the Changeling dusted off her shoulders.

"Sorry about that, lift-tech can be a bit jarring to civilians," he apologized as he backed up.

Pinkie stood up and looked around with a worried expression as she helped Fluttershy up to her hooves as well. Rainbow groaned as she struggled to lift herself and Twilight's unconscious form while Applejack rolled onto her front and pushed off the ground.

"What in tarnation was that?"

"The monster or the teleportation?" the first Changeling asked.

"Both."

"We don't have a term for each specific type of animal that lives in the forest, but we call that one Nidhogg. And the teleportation, well, that's just our way of getting out of there."

The female Changeling walked up to a door and hit it twice.

"Let's get a move on! Boss wants us back before next shift!"

Someone on the other side knocked back, and the girls shouted as they felt the ground beneath them move.

"Might want to hang on," she commented. "Gonna be a bumpy ride."