Patriots of Equestria, Part 1

The events in Manehattan had sent a ripple effect throughout the sovereignty of Equestria. With all of Equestria's princesses in the hospital, the leadership had come under brief question and nopony was sure at the time if any of them would survive their injuries. All that mattered now was finding the perpetrators and bringing them to justice. Back in Canterlot, an emergency meeting was called as Equestria's minister of justice, a light gray pony dressed in a black suit, walked in and all the ponies in attendance gave him their undivided attention.

"I appreciate all of you coming on such short notice," said the Minister of Justice, cutting right to the chance. "As you know, our homeland was attacked this morning in Manehattan. What is the status of the princesses at this time?"

"According to the latest scroll, Instant Justice," said another well-dressed pony who was reading from the scroll. Her highness, Princess Celestia, has just come out of surgery now. They say she has suffered lacerations in her back and two broken legs in the front and the back. They also say that her highness, Princess Luna, also has broken legs."

"What about Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight?" asked Instant Justice. "Any word on them?"

"Princess Cadence reportedly suffered a high level of blast trauma," replied the pony. "There is a slim possibility that she might have to have one of her legs amputated. Princess Twilight is as of this moment, resting comfortably with a lacerated wing and numerous cuts and bruises."

All the ponies in the room grimaced at the thought of having one of their princesses possibly losing a part of her body. However, Instant Justice knew that there had to be leadership that had to be assumed and with the princesses out of commission, there was only one pony for the job.

"Then, I am afraid that we must use protocol in terms of situations like this," he said. "Until the princesses are safely returned to Canterlot, I will be once again assuming temporary leadership of Equestria. To this end, the first order of business will be to start interviewing witnesses who were in the vicinity of the blast."

"According to another scroll," said another pony. "It says here that the suspects in questions were last seen leaving the Marathon before the bombs exploded, wearing both white and black hats.

"Show them to me," ordered Instant Justice and the pony allowed the substitute leader of Equestria to take a good look at the disguised Hopper and Thumper wearing two buckball caps. "Are you certain these are the suspects, Law Abiding?"

Law Abiding nodded at this in silence and Instant Justice knew just exactly what he needed to do.

"I do, Instant Justice," answered Law Abiding. "However, since we believe that they are likely the two changelings that Thorax warned us to keep an eye out for, I suggest that we seal off all routes in and out of Manehattan and its suburbs. If these would-be assassins get up as far north as the Crystal Empire or even as far south to the Dragon Lands, they will never be found."

"But, isn't Princess Ember ruler of the dragon lands?" wondered another pony. "We should warn her as well?"

"Grand Jury has a point, Instant Justice," suggested Law Abiding, looking over towards his boss. "Spike, the brave and glorious recently announced that Princess Ember was made an ally of ours not too long ago. We know that the Dragon Lands are dangerous to ponies, but what would they be to a Changeling?"

Instant Justice considered the matter and got up to look out among the citizens of Canterlot, who were already gathering in eternal vigil for the well-being of their sovereigns. The minister of justice sighed heavily as he walked back towards the table of ponies and sat down.

"Changeling can easily adapt to any element because that is the advantage that they have," answered Instant Justice. "Furthermore, we have to assume that they won't be going to just the Dragon Lands. We need to send out a message to every city and town in our land of the dangers that these two changelings are."

"Yes," remarked Law Abiding. "Every single bit of Law enforcement and the ponies that they protect must be made aware of these two Changelings. We need to remember that these Changelings will do everything in their power to avoid capture, so we must enforce additional measures."

"I agree," said Instant Justice, taking a quill and a piece of parchment with his magic. "Its time to increase security measures throughout all of Equestria. With a little bit of luck, we should have the Changelings contained and be captured as quickly as possible."

Instant Justice quickly drafted up the order and passed it around for all the ponies to sign. However, even Equestria's minister of justice had his doubts about his own decision.

"But, all we can do now is hope and pray that all of this ends as soon as possible," he thought to himself.

…

Back in Manehattan, Starlight, Sunset, Trixie, Moon Dancer and Discord began to start their own hunt for the Changelings.

"So, they were conversing over here," explained Moon Dancer as she led them to the warehouse where Hopper and Thumper were hiding. "Saying that they hoped to bring back Queen Chrysalis, who is the Changeling Queen."

"You seem to know your Changelings," remarked Sunset.

"All that studying I did at the library seemed to have paid off for the better," replied Moon Dancer. "Might as well go inside and see if there is anything we can find for evidence."

So, they all went inside and began to look for any signs of anything used to make a bomb among the mess that the Changeling brothers had made. For a while, they seemed to be getting nowhere until.

"Hey, look at this!" cried Trixie, pulling out a box of explosives. "The Great and Powerful Trixie found some pretty powerful weapons!"

All of the allies can rushing over and all of them took a good strong look at the opened box of explosives.

"Amazing," gasped Starlight, her eyes widened in shock. "Greater than anything magical could ever comprehend!"

"Still, we need to clean this place up for the police, don't you think?" asked Discord, transforming into a maid, only to be met with a glance from the other ponies. "What? Believe me, how could anypony want to live in a mess like this?"

"Because the police will need to go through this place for any evidence," answered Starlight, who then noticed several ponies dressed in police uniforms coming in the vicinity of the warehouse. "And speaking of which, we need to leave before the police even come in here!"

…

With his suggestions thrown out the window, Discord snapped his fingers and the group disappeared from the warehouse just before the cops could come in and discover them. Soon, they all reappeared back at the finish line.

"Now what?" asked Discord, who was no longer dressed as a maid. "What do we do?"

"We start asking ponies who had seen the Changelings," answered Starlight, sounding like a true leader. "Perhaps it would be best to split up and then come back in say, an hour or so?"

Discord then snapped his fingers again, transforming into a pony version of himself.

"Sounds right to me," said Discord, a hint of determination in his voice as he was determined to get started. "Let's get going and the sooner we can find these Changelings that hurt Fluttershy, the better."

All that Starlight and Trixie could do was lower their heads in disbelief as they all spread out to question anyone who saw the Changeling brothers.

"Will he ever learn that ponies aside from his friend were affected by all of this?" scoffed Trixie, before leaving with Moon Dancer.

"I don't know, Trixie," sighed Starlight before leaving Sunset. "I just don't know."