Patriots of Equestria, Part 1

Everything seemed to happen so quickly when Starlight tried to negotiate with Hopper and Thumper. Thumper was a Changeling who was intending on switching sides, but Hopper was going to hear none of it. Now the last thing that everypony wanted to have happen was happening.

"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" screamed Hopper as he went back and forth, firing off sickly green magic like a machine gun at the guardsponies who were trying to subdue him with their magic. "LONG LIVE OUR NOBLE AND TRUE CHANGELING QUEEN CHRYSALIS!"

Taking shelter behind a structure, Instant Justice and Starlight gave each other a concerned look to one another and it didn't take long for the hooves to start pointing to each other.

"What did you do, young mare?" he snapped. "You did something to him, didn't you?!"

"No, I didn't do anything wrong!" protested Starlight, powering up her horn with intense magic. "I wasn't trying to start this, Instant Justice, you must believe me!"

"If only I could truly believe you are telling me the truth," he said, bitterly and Starlight got up and fired several blasts of her magic at Hopper, trying to get him subdued but it was no use. Hopper was too fast and too quick as he continued to move around like a machine gun, protecting himself by firing continuous blasts, striking several guards and knocking them down like dominos.

Even Trixie and Sunset tried to fight back, but even they were forced to retreat, joining Starlight and Instant Justice in hiding.

"He's just too powerful!" cried Sunset. "We can't hold him down for long!"

"Yeah, not even my magic tricks can outsmart him," added Trixie, taking quick note of Instant Justice's irritation. "He's just too quick and don't put the blame on Starlight! She tried to end the situation!"

Just then, a blast from Hopper's horn struck the statue that was above them, breaking off several pieces in the process. However, Trixie's words struck a chord with Instant Justice.

"Don't you dare blame me for something that your friend did," he retorted as Sunset got up to try and fire several blasts which were quickly deflected. "I am the Minister of Justice and why should I not put the blame on your friend? This is a matter that you shouldn't have been involved to begin with!"

"Excuse me?!" snapped Starlight, growing angry as she scowled in fury at Instant Justice. "Our friends were targeted for assassination and we are trying to get justice for them. How would you feel if your friends were put in harm's way?"

…

Instant Justice listened with very little interest and instead refocused on the task at hand while another guard screamed after being hit. Nevertheless, they all tried hard to combat the fury that Hopper was throwing at them. Discord was not too far off firing whatever chaos magic he had from the tank that was strapped to his back.

"THIS IS FOR FLUTTERSHY!" he screamed in fury, trying to take down Hopper, but to no avail when Hopper used a shield to protect himself from Discord's blasts. "Oh, you want to hide behind your blasts? Let's see you get through…this!"

And Discord somehow used his magic to fire a strange green gas from his weapon in an effort to suffocate Hopper, but when Hopper saw the smoke, he simply pushed it back with his own magic right towards Discord. Seeing this, Discord attempted to fan the gas away, however he couldn't risk the other guards having their magic negated, so he simply sucked back into his weapon.

Just then, Hopper noticed Discord seemingly falling back by sucking back in the green gas and took advantage by firing several magic blasts at him, hitting Discord several times as he let out a sharp yell and crashed onto the pavement.

"How's that for chaos?" laughed Hopper as Discord struggled to his feet, glaring at the changeling. "Believe me, you are just as pathetic as my poor excuse of a traitorous brother. Some master of chaos you turned out to be!"

Discord got to his mismatched feet and did not take this lightly at all. Producing a small smoke bomb, he threw it at Hopper, only for it to be deflected and send smoke towards several guardsponies, blocking their firing range on Hopper.

"You want to join the element of kindness?" remarked Hopper, aiming his horn right at Discord. "Then do so at once!"

Before Discord could react, Hopper fired a blast of green magic and struck Discord squarely in the chest, causing him to let out a sharp scream in pain as he was thrown back onto the ground.

"DISCORD!" cried Starlight, running over to the wounded creature of chaos. "Somepony help me!"

Sunset and Trixie ran over to aide Starlight in getting the injured Discord to safety and as he was being moved, Discord felt a sharp pain go through his entire body.

"Don't touch me!" he cried. "Don't touch me!"

"Where did he hurt you?" asked Sunset while Discord attempted to clutch his chest. "Did he hurt you in the chest?"

"Yes," whimpered Discord, crying out in pain. "He hit me in the chest, near my chaotic heart where my chaos magic is stored!"

They all placed Discord against their hiding spot as Discord continued to scream out in pain. Seeing Discord in pain caused Instant Justice to realize that perhaps maybe what he about Starlight and her friends said was wrong. Upon seeing what was happening, Moon Dancer, who had been hiding behind a fountain, bravely dodged magic blasts coming from all sides to try and help out the wounded Discord.

"He's hurt, Moon Dancer!" cried Sunset as Moon Dancer examined him.

"It's in my chest, blast you!" moaned Discord, loudly. "He hit me near my chaotic heart!"

Moon Dancer examined Discord and seeing their comrade in pain made Starlight, Trixie and Sunset realize that Hopper had already gone too far and charging up their horns in pure anger, fired rapid blasts at Hopper while Moon Dancer tried to help diagnose Discord's injury. Upon carefully looking at Discord's chest, Moon Dancer was shocked to find a small hole in Discord's chest, not far from his heart. In fact, Moon Dancer was so shocked that she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"You need help immediately," she said, firmly before calling out to Starlight and her friends. "SOMEPONY GET A DOCTOR NOW!"

Trixie turned to heed Moon Dancer's call, but no sooner did she turn around did she herself feel a sharp blast hit her.

"TRIXIE!" screamed Starlight as the magician fell on her stomach, crying out in pain as her magician's hat flew off her head.

"My neck! Trixie's neck!" she cried and realizing what was going on, Starlight ran over and attempted to get her friend to safety. But, the ricocheting blasts of magic made it almost impossible and put Starlight herself in great danger of being hit by the blasts.

With two of her friends out of commission, Sunset realized that it was almost next to impossible to combat Hopper. Seeing this, Instant Justice reluctantly realized that they couldn't fight any longer and with several of his fighters already hurt in addition to Discord and Trixie, decided to motion for his fighters to fall back.

"They're falling back," thought Hopper. "Guess that they couldn't stand up to the fury that I possess. Now, to find my Queen while I have a chance."

So, Hopper started to make his escape, but Starlight saw him attempt to do so and a fury flowed through her body, almost a killing fury. Everything that Twilight told her about not everypony willing to abandon their evil ways was beginning to make sense. This was a Changeling that harmed her friends and needed to be stopped once and for all.

Letting out a shrilling yell, loud enough for all to hear, Starlight fired a sharp blast at Hopper and managed to strike him in the back, knocking him down next to Thumper who was already dying from being struck in the chest.

"We must…surrender….Hopper," gasped Thumper, clutching his chest, tightly. "There is…no other choice."

Hopper was not going to listen and with one final blast of magic, struck Thumper in the chest again and killing him. Seeing this, Starlight attempted to finish off Hopper several more times before the murderous Changeling managed to get away.

"You hurt my friends," whispered Starlight, furiously as she watched Hopper run away. "And now, you will suffer the consequences of your actions."

Sighing heavily, Starlight returned to her friends' side and watched as Discord and Trixie were placed on stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital not far from where they were, while Thumper's dead body was taken to a nearby morgue.

Hopper had managed to escape, but little did he know that the blasts of magic Starlight had inflicted on him while escaping would come back to affect him and put an end to his quest of restoring Chrysalis to her former glory…