Full Metal Pony

Celestia saw it all, from her point of view. It was a forced out of body experience, and she saw what it was that caused everything to go so wrong. Somehow, a portal to the Void had opened, taking Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Now, the void was no ordinary thing, and for all of Equestria knew, Celestia was the only one who could control such power. But before her stood the portal, engulfed in the glowing shadows (the glowing was said to be caused by the poor should that stepped a bit to lose to the portal, or were just sucked in.) Looking over, she saw the feared changeling queen flapping her wings violently in the current of wind to escape, and eventually doing so. Then her world started to glow an intense white, and she was pulled back inter her world. Her world could suffer an unfortunate and dramatic end, should it not be stopped.

Luna was in the room as well, and was just finishing her book she saw her sister waking up. "Celestia, I have news. Queen Chrysalis has esca-" Celestia cut her off to reveal what she had seen, what the others had not. "There's more, Luna. The void opened and took Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. And we both know what happened last time the void opened like this..." she said, raising an eyebrow and hinting back ages ago, when Discord first spread his chaotic rule over the land. He had uncovered the power of the void, which had swallowed a larger portion of Equestria. However, that was long forgotten history, and few ponies cared about it anyways. Luna sat, lost in thought. She fondly remembers the time she herself almost used in rage towards her sister. "Well, you know we can’t just leave them in the Void. How do we get them back out?" Luna asked, knowing it was possible. "Luna, I know that we need to, but there isn’t any way to bring something out of the void without losing something, or some pony, for that matter. Since we need to retrieve 3 ponies, we would lose 3 others..." Celestia said, trailing off into another thought. "But it is obviously possible to make it out... General Derpy did, remember?" Luna said, thinking of positive things to sway Celestia's thought. "Yes, Luna, but did you see what it did to her!?" yelled Celestia, her face turning red with frustration. Luna was just about to excuse herself from the room when a nurse, who’s name she had forgotten walked into the room with a look of pure terror on her face. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna..." she said, taking a small bow. "You have a.... changeling king who wishes to speak with you, he's a big one." she explained, her face pale.

The lobby had completely cleared out except for Derpy, who was taking a nap in her chair. She was drug out of sleep by what sounded like chains and armor clanking and rattling by her, and a thud as something fell to the floor. Or so she thought. She opened her eyes, the bright hospital lights blinding at first, and looked around. Finally her eyes landed at the source: a huge changeling sitting in the chair. He had thick armor, made of what she thought to be machalium. She was just backing out of her chair to protect Celestia when he spoke up. "Yes, Pegasus. I can see you there." He said, turning his full attention to her. "You must be the infamous General Derpy Hooves, Celestia right-hand pony. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the leader of all the changelings you and your soldiers have ruthlessly and rather efficiently slaughtered over the course of this war. Yet I seek not to destroy you, for if I did, you wouldn’t exist anymore." he said, pausing for a see if she was keeping up. By this time, and had straightened herself up, and was rather curious as to what he was doing here, let alone how he knew where Celestia was being held. "That means you're King Thorgvade..." she said, speaking as little as possible. “Yes, so it seems you understand who, exactly I am. Well, I have not come here to attack any of your forces; in fact, I come with a proposition for you’re... rather weakened princess, who I shall speak to now. I wish you luck, and leave you with something to prey on... You should pray your beloved Princess accepts this offer, for it means the sure destruction of your empire as you know it should she not." he said, and got up. Each step he took, there was a loud thump, until Derpy had traced them off into another hallway. And she started praying.

Celestia was just drifting back into sleep when there was a loud knock on the door, one that would tear any thinner door off its hinges. Luna got up and answered it before looking at the intruder. "I regret to inform you that Princess Celestia is not in any condition to take any visitors at this time, please come back later." she said, and went to shut the door, but the visitor had stuck his hoof out to keep it from closing. "I do feel that she may want to hear about my proposition for her, Luna..." he explained with an almost emotionless voice. Looking up, she was taken by surprise when was confronted by the gargantuan changeling standing in the doorway. "Well, well. King Thorvade. She is almost asleep, so you had better make this quick. You know your presence should not be tolerated in our territory." she explained, and let him in. He walked, and stood at the foot of Celestia’s hospital bet. He waited for her to wake up, but with no response, he stamped his foot, letting loose an earth-shattering clap. Celestia took a quick breath, and her eyes shot open. Looking around, she could easily identify where it came from. "Thorvade, you have no place here, why is it that the guards let you in here?" she asked, sternly. She propped herself up in the bed and awaited his explanation. "Princess, I don’t come with my army. I have come with an offering for you. Seeing as you and your kingdom have been weakened by the constant battles, I see it fit to offer a treaty. Should you agree to forfeit all of Equestria's land to the Changeling federations, you and the rest of your army will be spared from more of this simply pointless war." he said, with a sudden burst of emotion in his voice, such was a stunning difference from the flat tone just minutes ago. "You know we are too smart to just give you our lands, our people, and everything we've worked for. You should know better, and you said so at the very start of this war." With this, Thorvade was angered and stood on his hind legs, ready to bring them down on the defenseless princess. Just then, Luna raced in-between the two the them and spread her wings. "I do say it is time for you to leave, Thorvade!" she yelled in her 'royal Canterlot voice' and started backing him to the door. Once out of the room, he left Luna with a piece of advice. "You had better hope you can defend yourself after this outrage. If not, all of Equestria shall burn, for all you will know." he said, and turned away, the ground almost shaking with every step he took.

~-Meanwhile, in the Void-~

The three of them had been floating endlessly, but each one of them saw it. There was definitely a light. Somewhere, none of them knew. But there was light. As they got closer, Applejack noticed something floating to her left, almost like a rainbow. That’s when it hit her: that was Rainbow Dash. Looking to her left she saw Fluttershy. By this point, all of them had seen each other, but found they couldn’t talk, as if there was no air, but they hadn’t suffocated. It didn’t matter anyways, they were nearing the source of light, and the world went from black to a bright white. Then they found themselves on land, actual earth. "Applejack, Fluttershy!" screamed dash and ran to her friends, hugging them both. "Good to finally see ya, partner." said applejack with her country twang in her voice. Oh, I’m so happy we're finally out of... ummm... where was that, exactly?" asked Fluttershy, her expression going from happy to somewhat confused. "I don’t know, sugar cube. But we're back, and that’s all that matters." said Applejack, comforting her friend. "Yeah, but back... where?" asked Rainbow. Applejack was about to tell her not to worry Fluttershy when she realized that she didn’t exactly know where they were. "Well, you’re in the finest part of changeling territory you could ever just drop from the sky into." said a voice from the woods. Applejack was confused at first, but realized that exiting the portal must have dropped them from the sky. "Well howdy there, partner. Where exactly are we?" she asked. "Well, all I know is that changelings have control over everything here. Come with me, I’ll give you three a place to stay for the night." he said, and started walking down a narrow path into the woods. "Hey!" said dash, flying up next to him. "You never told us your name." she said. With this, the almost pitch-black pony stopped, and his blood red mane flowed in the wind. "You can call me Voltage. Now hurry along, we don’t have a lot of time 'till sundown." he said, and continued down the brush-lined path.