Patriots of Equestria, Part 1

In the past few hours since he had reformed a fellow Changeling, Thorax had a very clear suspicion that something was amiss. The injuries that had been inflicted on the ex-Changeling captive were a sign too Thorax that something had gone wrong in the questioning.

"What do wish of me, Thorax?" asked the Changeling as he entered the throne room and bowed to Thorax. "The questioning has gone well and we are getting the captives to start opening up and giving us more information."

However, Thorax was not interested in the well-being of the questioning.

"Um, Sergeant Metapod," he said, firmly. "When the Changeling that we reformed was in here earlier, I noticed that he was covered in bruises all over his body. I clearly said that no physical force was to be used on the prisoners. Am I clear?"

"But, I had nothing to do with that," cried Sergeant Metapod, immediately defending his actions. "I assure you, whatever happened in the interrogations were not of my directions. You know me, Thorax."

"Yes, I know you, Sergeant," he countered, stepping off of his throne and looking down crossly at the sergeant. "You oversaw interrogations that Chrysalis ordered and sometimes, those who were interrogated never came out alive. Well, I'm ordering you to stop these torturing acts at once!"

Sergeant Metapod gulped as Thorax eyed him while he circled around like a vulture to a dead animal carcass.

"But, Queen Chrysalis…" Sergeant Metapod started to say, only to be interrupted by his new leader.

"…is no longer leader of this hive," interrupted Thorax, sharply. "I am your new leader now and we are adapting to a new way of how we deal with captives. You and the ones overseeing the interrogations will use your words and not your claws to make them talk. Is that understood?"

"Very well," Sergeant Metapod said, quietly. "But, what if they still refuse to talk? What will we do then?"

"Use your words," Thorax remarked as he flew back up to his throne. "And if they refuse to talk, then you can only go as far as threatening them. Threaten them with methods that are only to be used if necessary. What I saw earlier was a method that I will no longer tolerate as your new leader."

Exhausted from showing his displeasure, Thorax lowered his head and sighed heavily while Sergeant Metapod just stood there, standing still like a statue.

"However," he said in a low voice. "I can understand that this is going to take some getting used to for all of you. Our reputation was built on harming others and stealing love and it will take a while to repair that reputation. If there is any chance of starting to repair our reputation with the ponies of Equestria, then Hopper and Thumper must be stopped and they must be stopped now."

Thorax banged his front leg on the throne sending out a loud reverberating echo that rang throughout the throne room.

"As you command, Lord Thorax," said Sergeant Metapod, backing away slightly from the noise caused by the bang. "We will do as you command."

"See that you do," replied Thorax. "The sooner we get our prisoners to give us information without having to use violence, the sooner we can stop Hopper and Thumper from carrying out their next move."

However, upon saying those words, the doors were flung wide open and a pair of reformed Changelings came darting into the throne room, panting heavily upon stopping before Thorax's throne.

"Thorax," they panted. "We have some urgent news regarding our intelligence that we have received about Hopper and Thumper."

"Then, tell me what it is," ordered Thorax. "What is happening?"

"A pony family in Canterlot is placed under house arrest," said one of the Changelings. "They are accused of hiding Hopper and Thumper from the Canterlot authorities."

"Where did you get this information?" Thorax asked, his face scrunching with impatience. "Tell me now!"

The fury in Thorax's voice once again sent vibrations among the throne room, frightening the Changelings that stood before him.

"One of our spies just placed in Canterlot have given us the intelligence," answered one of the Changelings. "We have reason to believe that Hopper and Thumper were disguised as ordinary ponies."

Upon hearing this, Thorax used his magic to produce a picture from the marathon before the bombs went off and there was the picture of the ponies seen leaving the site where the bombs were planted. He had every reason to believe that the Chrysalis loyalists were disguised as these two ponies seen in the picture.

"Then, we must not take any chances," sighed Thorax, looking at the picture just a little bit more before turning back towards the throne room. "If any of our spies spots them in these disguises, then they must be confronted on the spot. I will not have another bomb go off and kill any more ponies if I have anything to say about it!"

…

Meanwhile, Hopper and Thumper were in the process of finishing off the bombs that they planned to use at Canterlot Castle. However, Thumper had a very strong indication that something was not right.

"Hopper, have you noticed something?" he asked.

"What?" grunted Hopper, turning sharply around to face his brother. "What do you mean have I noticed anything?"

"They must know where we are," remarked Thumper, nervously. "In the day since we came here, security has tightened all around Canterlot."

"Of course, security is tightened, you foolish excuse for a brother," said Hopper, bopping Thumper on the forehead, before going back to the newly constructed bombs. "But, no matter how tight these ponies make their security, we will find the holes that keep their security from being perfect. Besides, with the most important ponies in Equestria dead, all of their attention will be focused on mourning their deeply departed leaders and idols."

However, Thumper was not convinced at all by this. He had a sense that their plan had backfired, but didn't want to anger his brother any further nor divert him from his plans of more murder.

"I wonder if that is really true," thought Thumper. "Something tells me that we will soon be discovered in time."

Soon, the two brothers donned their pony disguises and climbed out of their hiding place, their newly created bombs hidden in a pair of saddlebags. While the increased security paid no attention to them, Hopper and Thumper approached Canterlot Castle, placing the bombs right at the entrance, right under the stairs.

"Now we set the timer for them to go off at sunset," said Hopper. "Once these bombs go off, that will provide us with more time to carry out our next attacks."

"Where do we go next?" asked Thumper, trying to keep his reservations about all of this down to a minimum. "Ponyville? The Crystal Empire?"

"I think we should target the Crystal Empire next and then target Ponyville," answered Hopper. "Anything that is a symbol of our enemies must be destroyed, for the existence of our enemies must be erased from existence."

Now, it was starting to become apparent just what these two brothers were planning. The events of their attacks at the Manehattan marathon was the beginning of a bigger plot, a plot that would eventually never be completed…