Patriots of Equestria, Part 1

Hopper's escape from Ponyville Hospital had left everypony dumbfounded and bewildered at how an injured Changeling had managed to escape. Now, there was another hunt taking place for Hopper and soon, Starlight, Sunset, Thorax and Moon Dancer were with Instant Justice at Ponyville Hospital questioning the guards who were supposed to be guarding Hopper.

"We swear on our lives, my lord justice," they protested as Instant Justice grilled them in Hopper's empty room while Starlight and her friends listened from outside. "All that came into the room was a nurse who was going to take a blood sample from the prisoner."

"Well, did you question her identity?" cried Instant Justice, stamping his hoof down in frustration. "Your orders were to simply ask everypony who comes into the prisoners room if they were who they truly were. If I find out that you were lax in your actions…"

"How were we lax in our actions?" cried one of the guards, being cornered against a wall. "What were you expecting us to do? Be intrusive to everypony that walks in here? We have hearts!"

"But you also have orders which you did not follow, you fools!" snapped Instant Justice, turning away from the cornered guard. "And because of your foolish mistakes, the prisoner has escaped and Celestia knows what he is capable of!"

Reaching his exhaustion point, Instant Justice sighed heavily and looked down at the floor briefly, thinking about the well-being of his son who was still coming to terms with being down a leg. After a few moments, he turned back to his disgraced guards.

"You two are to be dismissed from your posts at once," he ordered, not giving them his attention as he walked to the door. "I can assure you that there will be disciplinary actions against you both for this blunder. You two have a lot to think about right now."

Leaving the room, Starlight and her friends watched with disbelief as Instant Justice sighed in frustration.

"They were most likely tricked," said Thorax, as Instant Justice walked by them. "Changelings are known for being sneaky when it comes to fooling ponies. That's how we were taught to act."

"That's right," added Starlight. "You can't really blame these two for what they did. How were they supposed to know that it was a Changeling disguised as a nurse?"

"Of course I can blame them," retorted Instant Justice, sharply turning around to face them. "They had orders and didn't use them to their full advantage. I can let the two ponies who harbored these murderers off lightly, but these two…well, they won't be getting the same treatment."

Instant Justice sighed heavily again as he continued to contemplate what to do with the two guards that had failed him greatly. But, Thorax and his pony friends knew that time was of the essence and felt that rather than pointing hooves or horns at these two guards, they all knew that they needed to get to the bottom of this matter.

Then suddenly, a guardspony came dashing down the hall, running as fast as his hooves could carry him.

"We found him," panted the guardspony, causing everypony to think that Hopper had been captured. "We found a Changeling that we believe helped Hopper escape from here."

"Where is he?" demanded Instant Justice, talking in a low but angry voice. "I want to talk to him."

"He's in a secluded room on the lower level of the hospital," replied the guardspony. "We have him under guard."

Taking this advice, Instant Justice furiously made his way down to the lower level of the hospital and was determined to squeeze out every single bit of information that this Changeling had in his brain.

"I thought Hopper and Thumper were the only Changelings that had evaded capture," remarked Starlight as they saw Instant Justice leave. "Could there be more on the run?"

"From the looks of it, I think there are more on the run," added Sunset. "Something tells me that there is more to this story than meets the eye and we need to find out what it is. I know just from looking at this that there is a piece to this puzzle that is missing. Don't you all think so?"

"It's most likely," said Thorax. "Even I had no idea that another Chrysalis loyalist was on the run either. Still, we can't take any chances and who knows what this Changeling was trying to do in helping Hopper escape."

…

Without saying another word, they all made their way down to the lower level and no sooner did they get to where the Changeling was being questioned was the loud sounds of beating being heard.

"What's going on?" cried Starlight as they heard a loud banging sound against the door.

"YOU DARE MOCK ME?!" screamed a voice that belonged to Instant Justice. "I WILL HAVE YOUR DISGUSTING CORPSE PRESENTED TO THE PRINCESSES FOR THIS! NOW TELL ME WHERE HOPPER IS?!"

Thorax felt that this needed to be stopped and tried to go inside to intervene, but they were all stopped by two guards that blocked the doorway.

"Let us in!" demanded Thorax, trying to get in. "Do you realize whom you are talking to?"

"You'll just have to wait," said the guards, not knowing who was standing in front of them. "We have orders to not let anypony in until Instant Justice says so."

The sounds of beating were heard again and Starlight realized that they were not going to stand by and listen to this abuse taking place. Using her magic, Starlight teleported herself and her friends into the room before the guards could react. Once they came inside, they saw a lone Changeling bleeding and whimpering like a frightened animal. Instant Justice was about to move in for the kill as he wielded a hammer in his magic aura.

"You think killing me is going to get you Hopper?" he cried, weakly. "Our queen will return and there will be nothing you can do about…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the Changeling passed out and collapsed leaving Instant Justice dumbfounded and furious that he had been denied the chance of getting information out of this particular Changeling.

"Damn it!" he snapped, throwing the hammer onto the ground. "Damn it!"

"He would have told you if you hadn't been so hard on him," remarked Starlight angrily as Sunset ran over to the Changeling. "You think that beating on him is going to get you information on Hopper's whereabouts?"

Instant Justice didn't say anything until he noticed Sunset tending to the Changeling who was now near death.

"Get away from him," he ordered, much to Sunset's shock. "He doesn't need your help."

"Of course he does!" cried Sunset, the Changeling's blood running onto her hooves. "Can't you see what you've done, Instant Justice? You've let your rage get the better of you and this is the result of it."

Thorax ran over to the beaten Changeling as well and Instant Justice was about to tell him to back off as well, only to be stopped by Starlight and Moon Dancer.

"You dare question my methods, young mare?" he asked, his voice and temper rising, roughly releasing himself from . "Are you aware that at this very moment, a dangerous monster of a Changeling who tried to kill our leaders and injured dozens more is on the loose and you tell me that I let my rage get THE BETTER OF ME?!"

Instant Justice was about to strike at Sunset with his hoof only to be stopped by Starlight and Moon Dancer again.

"Enough of this!" cried Starlight. "Can't you see that this is getting us nowhere? Sunset is right, you are letting your rage get the better of you, Instant Justice! Is this how you want your son to remember you by?"

"My son will be happy that his father is doing everything in his power to protect him and all of Equestria," countered Instant Justice, his voice lowering. "And I will not eat nor will I sleep until these monsters are off the streets of Equestria, is that clear?"

"Yes, but lets use our brains instead of our brawn," added Thorax as Sunset gave a glass of water to the beaten Changeling. "We just need to find out where Hopper might have gone."

…

Just then, the door opened and the guards that they had managed to get past entered and faced their leader. Starlight and her friends thought for a moment that they were going to be taken in for interfering in stopping Instant Justice's brutal interrogation methods

"We have urgent news about the escaped Changeling," they said.

"Where is he?" asked Instant Justice coldly. "Tell me now!"

"Prince Armor is reporting that the escaped Changeling is cornered in the Everfree Forest. He has a hostage that he is threatening to kill. We believe that the hostage is a zebra by the name of Zecora."

Taking in all this information, Instant Justice darted out of the room without acknowledging the beaten Changeling that laid possibly dying from his wounds. It didn't take long for a nurse to come forward and call for help in removing the Changeling from the room.

"What do we do now?" asked Sunset.

"We go to the Everfree Forest and end this once and for all," answered Starlight.

Soon, the reign of terror that Hopper and his brother had caused would finally be coming to an end…