Mordecai finished putting his armor in his backpack subspace, now having adorned himself in a pair of black pants and dark blue shirt. Guardians mostly didn't wear anything besides their armor, but for social outings and events in the Last City, they required casual wear. Without his armor, Mordecai felt naked and vulnerable. To remedy this, he had holstered his Eyasluna to his right hip and slid a Hunter knife in his sleeve inside of a hidden sheath.

Exiting the Ambassador's sleeping quarters, he reached in his backpack again, this time into the resources pool and pulled out a Pre-Golden Age device he found on Earth. It was a broken relic, but thanks to Rain he scavenged the necessary tech to repair it. Once fully repaired, he turned on the device, and selected an option for music. He pulled out a wireless ear pod and started playing his favorite song. There had been an entire playlist of music on the device, and he would occasionally listen to it when he had the time.

Walking down the hallway towards the dining room, he saw two guards posted outside the entrance. They visibly tensed when they saw him approaching. Nodding to them, he pushed the door open and looked over at the table. Princess Luna and Celestia being there was expected, but so was Twilight and the five mares he saw at the Library. They had been conversing, presumably about him, when their attention was turned to him because of Luna waving at him to sit at a empty chair next to her.

Sitting down between Luna to his left and a cowering yellow pegasus to his right, he brought up the device and selected another song. Turning down the volume to hear better, he looked up from the music player only to throw his hands up as a pink blur tackled him. His chair fell back, and Mordecai almost pulled out his knife when he realized the mare was looking at him with a wide grin on her face.

"HELLO TO EQUESTRIA! I'M PINKIE PIE AND I NEVER GOT TO INTRODUCE MYS-" The mare was levitated off of him by Luna, who was sporting a angered expression.

"Ms. Pie, while I enjoy your enthusiasm, tackling our extraterrestrial ambassador is not the best idea for a first impression. Tis best you remember." Mordecai smiled and picked his chair up from its flat position on the floor. Returning to his seat, he held out his hand to the pink mare across from him, and she eagerly shook it with her hoof.

"Hello Pinkie, I'm Mordecai." He said to her. "And this is Rain." Whipping out his Ghost, Mordecai watched as his small mechanical friend stayed right next to him, not wanting to get the same treatment he just had. "Hello everyone, and I speak for myself and Rain when I say it is very interesting meeting you all. May I have your introductions? "

"I'm Pinkie Pie, your best party-pony and baker extraordinaire!" The pink mare said, and Mordecai could feel nothing but joy coming from her.

"Uh we met already, but I'm Applejack, farmer of Sweet Apple Acres." She tipped her hat at him and smiled.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria and future Wonderbolt." The prismatic-maned pony said, the arrogance rolling off her words made Mordecai smirk. She reminded him of young Hunters who thought they were the best at everything, but had nothing to back their claims. He hadn't seen her fly yet, so he decided to believe her until otherwise.

"I'm Rarity, seamstress and the owner of the Carousel Boutique, at your service." She reminded Mordecai of Eva Levante, and a pang of homesickness hit him. Turning to his right, he waited on the yellow mare beside him to introduce herself, but she looked so nervous that she couldn't keep eye contact with him.

"I'm Fl-flut-tter-shy-y and um... I like tak-king care of a-animals." The shivering mare said. It took all of Mordecai's will to not have a heart attack. Rubbing his hand over his heart, he simply gave her his warmest smile, causing her cheeks to blush and hide more behind her pink mane.

"Since our introductions have been concluded with our extraterrestrial ambassador, let us dine." Princess Celestia said regally, her hooves clapping together.

Mordecai was going to bring up his ambassador status when the doors opened and multiple ponies entered, each carrying a dish of food. While Guardians didn't need to eat because of their Light which fed their bodies, they could still eat food when they felt like it, mostly to indulge in the taste. All kinds of dishes were dropped at the table. A glass was given to him by a servant with red fur and was filled with what he assumed to be was red wine. Grabbing it, he took a sip of the sweet wine and closed his eyes, relishing in the taste. His eyes snapped open once he suddenly felt extremely weak, and Mordecai had taken enough gambles to know what was in his drink. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a gurgling sound. He felt an intense burning sensation in his stomach that was spreading throughout his torso. Luna turned to him in concern when her eyes widened as well. She charged her horn up and grabbed all the glasses before the other mares could take a sip.

"Our drinks have been poisoned!" Yelled Luna, when Mordecai started coughing extremely hard, his hand that was used to cover his mouth came away slick with blood. Spots started popping up in his vision and Mordecai lost control of his body. His head would've hit the table when his darkening vision was flooded with a blue aura. The other mares had gotten up from their seats, and Mordecai could hear Celestia call for her guards.

"While I'm sure Mordecai would appreciate the gesture Princess Luna, I don't think your magic can heal liquefied organs, at least not on a unknown biological system. This is my area of expertise as a Ghost after all." Luna gave Rain a withering gaze, before ceasing her magic on Mordecai. He gave one last cough before taking his last breath, his view being of a blood stained table cloth and a frightened Fluttershy.

Rain ignored the panicking ponies as he went to work. The amount of damage done to his Guardian's body was extremely extensive, so Mordecai was going to need more than simple repair, but a whole body resuscitation. Drawing from their Light reserves, Rain wrapped Mordecai's whole body in Light. After he finished extracting the poison, he replaced the destroyed organs by creating new ones, causing Mordecai's body to be as good as new. Finishing up, a pulse of magic was released from his body and Mordecai sat up.

His eyes refocusing, he noted how all the Ponies, even the Princesses, had a look of pure awe in their eyes. He knew these Ponies weren't at fault, but that didn't stop him from grabbing his Eyasluna and walking out of the dining room. Looking down the hallway, he saw the servants walking back towards him. Scanning over them, he quickly spotted the red stallion that had served him. He was about to shoot him in the leg when the servants blinded him with a green flash of light.

"Mordecai watch out!" Rain shouted to him through their mental link. Shade-stepping backwards, Mordecai heard a crash coming from the spot he had just been at. Firing his hand cannon blindly, he heard hisses of pain followed by silence. Rubbing his eyes to clear them, Mordecai saw Rain come out of his subspace and began to scan the three pure black bodies in front of him, green blood beginning to spill from them. They all looked identical, and their bodies reminded Mordecai of an insect's exoskeleton. Hearing movement from behind him, he turned around to face Princess Luna. She took one look at the bodies when her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Tis appears we have been once again infiltrated by Changelings."

Author's Note

Sorry for such a short chapter it's just that I'm still adjusting to going back to school and have been too tired to write much. Changelings will be the least of Mordecai's worries when a certain Devourer of Magic shows up . Next chapter will be much longer.