With the REA's latest victory against the rogue changelings, they were that much closer to complete victory. This day had been incredibly busy after they arrived in Appleloosa, starting with an battle in the skies for aerial domination, followed by them having to deal with Blueblood getting captured, then battling to take over the outside of the changeling hive where an airship fired on friendly forces, before battling two iron dragons, and then finally battling to get into the hive. The troops were getting weary with all of this activity but they were close to victory. They had to continue further so the rogue changelings couldn't escape, meaning they were now preparing to storm and clear the inside of the hive.

The REA chain of command, Princess Luna, and the commanders of the experimental battalion gathered the least worn out soldiers that weren't wounded. Eric and Tran's sections of the battalion still had plenty of soldiers still capable of fighting and they were bolstered by reserve soldiers and the protective escorts that were assigned to the airships. Even Tran's flying teams were participating, being armed with shotguns and not being nearly as physically exhausted as Eric's machine gun teams, as the primary assault elements.

The main rally point where all of this would start was the massive gates. Previously held by the rogue changelings, the REA had quickly converted it to a defense checkpoint. Eric and Wilson were at the head of the charge, ready to lead the way. Pharynx would be joining them in the assault and warned them of the hive's makeup. They all knew that the hive was a large network of tunnels so the group expected to split up into smaller teams.

But something unexpected happened before they could start. Eric, Wilson, and Pharynx were at the cusp of battle, standing at the very edge of the rally point with hundreds of soldiers behind them that were ready for battle. A pony on guard shouted an alarm and everyone went into "battle" mode, expecting a fight. Much to their surprise, three changelings slowly walked out into the open where everyone could see them, one of them holding a white flag. They walked a good distance before stopping, not making any sudden moves. All three of the changelings were undisguised, being in their natural insect changeling forms, and dressed in haphazard combat gear. None of them were armed with weapons and one of them wore significantly less gear than the other two, only wearing a belt with a revolver. By all standards, the three of them were definitely soldiers from the rogue changeling hive. "Parley!" one of the changelings loudly announced.

Eric and Wilson, both of them having taken cover and had their weapons out, looked over at Pharynx who was behind a different piece of cover. "Hey cockroach!" Wilson whisper-yelled at Pharynx. "What the hell is this?"

Pharynx scrunched up his nose at Wilson's insult but was still attentive to the situation at hand. "I don't know!" he whispered. "This isn't something I expected!"

Eric stared at the trio of changelings with a look of suspicion, as the three changelings were standing out in the open, thinking that there had to be a catch to this situation. He thought that there was no way that this was as it seemed. However, he knew they couldn't just keep hiding, hoping that their work would be done for them. Taking a deep breath, Eric stood up, exposing himself to everyone. Wilson looked at Eric with a worried look, knowing the risks. "Be careful!" Wilson whisper-yelled at Eric.

Eric nodded and slowly walked forth, rifle in his hands, ready to react to anything. The three changelings were clearly just as paranoid and nervous about the situation, as their eyes darted around worried about what could happen next. When they could fully see the human, they were quite alarmed from Eric's appearance. The man was still covered head to toe in blood, only leaving his face free from being stained red and it gave him quite the intimidating sight. Eric stopped walking when he was a half dozen meters away, close enough for them to interact with each other. "What is this?" Eric demanded from the three changelings.

One of the changelings, one that Eric presumed was the officer in charge of the group, cleared his throat to ready himself despite all of the tension running through his body. "You have gained a foothold in our hive, having taken the great entrance," the officer stated. He looked past Eric and took a pained glance at the massive destroyed doors that the REA had taken earlier today before redirecting his attention back at Eric. "The chain of command has seen the writing on the wall from the speed you have gained your many victories today and we are requesting to negotiate the terms of the hive's surrender."

Eric was flabbergasted and the three changelings could see it on the human's face with how his jaw had dropped. He was frozen in place, stunned from the revelation but he soon recovered. Eric looked over at Pharynx and motioned for him to come on over, which took quite a bit of coaxing but the REA's changeling attache finally relented. When Pharynx was given the same news that Eric had been given, the changeling was just as stunned but when he finally recovered, he trotted over to Eric. Pharynx motioned for Eric to come close and when the human did as requested, the changeling started whispering to Eric in hopes of a private conversation. "This might not be a farce, they might actually be surrendering," Pharynx quietly said to the human.

Eric was still confused about the situation, his mind giving many doubts. After everything he had experienced today, it seemed too easy. "But why? All of the resistance they've given so far, now they want to surrender?" Eric asked.

Pharynx looked away from the human and over at the three changelings. The three rogue changelings looked ragged and most importantly hungry, not of physical sustenance but from needing love. "We might have gained a hoofhold too fast for them to abandon the hive. Too much to gather if they want to evacuate, food, water, and more importantly, love," Pharynx speculated. "If they leave now, it's just a death sentence in the desert to not have what the hive holds."

Eric broke away from their private conversation and directed his attention back at the changelings. "So what are your demands?" Eric asked.

The officer stared at Pharynx with an angry expression. Pharynx had no doubt that they knew what he was, a fellow changeling, just one that wasn't allied with them. "We will not be surrendering to the Equestrians but to the traitors."

-X-X-X-

Long story short, the rogue changelings surrendered. Pharynx was in fact correct in his deductions. With how fast the REA had taken a foothold in the rogue changeling hive, the rogue changelings knew that the REA would be soon planning a storming of the hive and they had surrendered just in time to prevent the casualties from such an event. It was a pained but practical decision to prevent more casualties with needless fighting as the rogue changelings knew they were fighting an uphill battle that they knew they'd lose. The hive was simply too spread out with its manpower and resources to immediately mass-evacuate or organize any real defense. With gritted teeth, the rogue changelings relinquished themselves to the hooves of the changelings allied to the Equestrians. It was a verdict that was secretly done with the presence of Princess Luna to represent the government, Prince Blueblood, Rarity, and Spitfire to represent the REA, Pharynx to represent the allied changelings, and the humans to represent, well, themselves, the humans.

Prince Blueblood, Rarity, and Princess Luna knew that there would be consequences to the rogue changelings being left to the responsibility of the allied changelings, once others found out about the situation. Only the highest of position officers in the REA and government knew about the faction of changelings that were secretly fighting on the Equestrian side, because the rest of Equestria were quite intimidated by any changeling at all. Despite there being very few who knew the truth, the few that existed held a lot of power and could create quite the stink if they wanted to. The surrendering changelings were forced to disarm themselves and undisguise themselves. To make sure they couldn't disguise themselves and intermingle with the allied changelings, all of the surrendering rogue changelings were forced to wear magic suppression rings. To make these rings more semi-permanent, as in not easily taken off, the rings were looped through one of the holes in the rogue changeling's horn before being welded shut. This prevented them from taking on any forms or using any magic, effectively neutering their abilities.

Once every rogue changeling was properly processed, they were handed off to the allied changelings where they'd be sent to their secret hive. One of the remaining airships was tasked out to deliver the rogue changelings to the allied changeling hive and the aircraft would only be crewed by changelings. The allied changeling hive's location was supposed to be a secret so no pony would be accompanying them on their travels, with some exceptions. As a display of trust, several of Princess Luna's night sentinels would be also crewing the airship for this delivery. Also, Rarity and Prince Blueblood would be accompanying them, the latter of which will be getting treatment for his weakened condition of having almost all of his magic and love being quickly sapped away. Pharynx was leading this expedition back to their hive and had invited Eric and Tran to accompany them as a display of how much trust and respect the humans had earned from the changelings so far but they refused the offer as they still had more important work to do. Pharynx understood the sentiment and bid the humans a polite and respectful goodbye, relishing when he'd be able to work with the humans again.

This victory had meant that the rogue changelings were now almost ten thousand changelings smaller. A few thousand changelings had been killed, ones that were either infiltrators or soldiers, in that entire day's battle. The remaining enemy changelings that were now being transferred over to the allied changelings' hive were mostly only civilians but losing them was still a tremendous blow that had been dealt as they had been essential to the underground conflict that the rogue and allied changelings fought. No matter how many soldiers a nation had, the army still needed civilians on the home front to support, supply, and feed them. The enemy changelings were also now lacking one of their important producers/gatherers of love from the Equestrians as the hive that had been lost was one of the closest infiltration hives to Equestria, in terms of espionage or love gathering.

Most importantly from all of this, the REA and humans gained a lot of intel from the capture of this hive. This rogue changeling hive was one of the primary spy networks that was aiding the griffons. These rogue changelings were the reason why the griffons were able to track the REA's movements so effectively or move their soldiers secretly, enough that they could ambush the Dauntless months back. This would be a crippling blow to the Griffon Empire's war effort and hopefully help lower the amount of enemy espionage that the Equestrians face. These rogue changelings had also been supplying the griffons with raw materials and supplies stolen from Equestria for their war effort. What the changelings gained in this deal were POWs that the griffons had captured, whether they be soldiers or civilians. This supplemented their own supply of ponies that the rogue changelings captured themselves, meaning this rogue hive was a major factory/farm for the production of love. Any excess was stored in crystals for further changeling use.

Speaking of gathering love, this hive housed a few thousand captured ponies. All of the ponies they freed had to be removed from cocoons where they had been being used as a food source for god knows how long. These ponies they had freed still had enough emotions/magic left to not be a zombie but would need lots of treatment and therapy before they would be back to full health. The ponies that were too far gone had been already taken care of, having been used as cannon fodder in one of the previous battles. The survivors were divided almost perfectly between military POWS from past battles or civilians that had been kidnapped. However, a big however, was that this hive, according to Pharynx, had far too few ponies for the size of the hive and how many changelings it housed. According to the allied changeling attaché, there should have been more than double the number of ponies, ponies that would have been sucked dry. The REA and humans had faced a good amount of the love and emotion sapped ponies but there easily should have been more. Strangely enough, prior to the events of today, once a pony had been used up, love and magic wise, the emotionless husk would then be given back to the griffons. The leaders of this hive didn't know why the griffons wanted the emotionless husk zombie ponies after they had been sucked dry. It was a mystery what the griffons were using them for as this was the first occasion in the history of the war that the Equestrians had encountered the emotionless husk zombie ponies. The current speculation was that they were being used as slave labor due to the fact that emotionless husks wouldn't complain or fight back.

Still, after a very long day, the mission had been completed.

-X-X-X-

Tran, Wilson, Eric, Logan, Princess Luna, Soarin, Spitfire, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie were once again gathered together on the deck of the airship, watching the ground fly by as the airship flew. They were now flying back to Appleloosa so they could stay there for the night. As they had previously done, they were being escorted by many scores of pegasi flying in the air, acting as a protective escort. They were accompanied by the airship that had been damaged, having been repaired enough that it could fly back to Appleloosa, being barely able to.

These two airships that were flying back were chalk full of ponies that had been freed from that rogue changeling hive. The freed civilians filled up the cargo and troop bays and would be dropped off in Appleloosa where they would be later disseminated back into Equestrian society, after they had been rehabilitated from being used as love cattle by the changelings. Wilson's medics, the ones that were changelings, were working hard to help treat the most severe cases of emotion sapping. Despite how full and busy these two airships were, it was nowhere as cramped as it could be. The third airship, the only other undamaged one, also the one that was temporarily loaned to the allied changelings, was using almost every bit of deck space it could to house all of the changelings they captured.

Eric, after all of today's events, had finally cleaned himself off of all of the blood and changed into a new set of clothes. Despite that, ponies would swear that the sight of him still held a red tinge to his figure, especially when looking at him from a distance. However, his eyes were still entirely blood red with pupils, as if some veins/arteries had been blown in his eyes despite there being no signs of said condition, of which, gave him a very terrifying visage up close. Many ponies were wary of him, after finding out he had killed many of the officers and crewmembers of one airship with one exception, the soldiers that were part of the experimental battalion. They cared not that he killed fellow REA soldiers, they had wanted to do the same after being shelled by them. Astoundingly enough, he was in decent condition, health wise, only sporting a few minor shrapnel wounds in some of his limbs and some slight ringing in his ears, nothing else noteworthy.

Rainbow Dash and Gilda, were annoyed with their current conditions, heavily wounded from being bowled over by an iron dragon's heavy helmet. Both of them had a few broken limbs, many major bruises, and gashes that were stitched closed, but they weren't in pain. Morphine was a hell of a drug and they had been given a good amount. Both of them could still move around on their own, Gilda using crutches and Rainbow Dash in a wheelchair. Irritatingly enough, both of them were barred from flying until they recovered, having been banned from doing so by a doctor and if they did try to fly against doctor's orders/recommendations, it would cause them a not-insignificant amount of pain.

Logan was obviously not wounded as he had not participated in any of today's battles, nonetheless he still sported the wounds he started with. The body he was inhabiting still should have been dead but he was still alive despite obvious medical knowledge. Ponies were especially distrusting of him, being a griffon now, and the fact that he sported eyes that were completely white gave him quite the haunting appearance. Said unique bodily feature meant that it was impossible to tell what he was looking at, which unnerved anypony he faced up close.

Tran, Wilson, Princess Luna, Soarin, Spitfire, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had been completely untouched by today's events, of which, Applejack and Pinkie Pie being unwounded was quite the marvel as they had participated in many of the day's battles directly up close. Pinkie Pie had chalked up her survival from being able to sense and dodge danger before it happened, which sounded like complete nonsense to the humans who were told it was just "Pinkie being Pie". As for Applejack's survival, she just chalked it up to luck, something rather desired on open battlefields.

Logan walked over to Wilson on unsteady legs, still not used to his new quadrupedal griffon body. He was currently trying to walk on his hind legs, a shaky affair for his current state of health. "Sounds like y'all were pretty busy while I was gone," Logan commented. "Made some new toys I want to play with and got your own soldiers to lead. Say, what do you call them anyways? You keep calling them 'the experimental unit' instead of any name or nickname."

Eric scoffed, walking over to the living corpse. "Well, it very much is an experiment for these idiots," Eric shot out, referring to the ponies. "But we don't know what to call them."

Logan looked at some of the ponies that were filling the deck of the airship, not choosing any particular pony, whether they be a recovered civilian or member of the REA, to focus on. Knowing that he had been previously dead was a very mentally impacting concept to his psyche. He had no idea what to make of it, not remembering anything during his period of death. To him, it had very much felt like he had gone to sleep one day and woke up the next, referring to when he died as a human and then reanimated in a new body a month later. He was finally realizing all of the new feelings and senses that came from switching from a human to griffon body, further impacting the current strain on his mind in dealing with this situation. Now that there was a lull in the day's excitement, all of it was crashing down onto him, giving him a lot to think about, as it was a lot to comprehend. "Am I going to get my own soldiers?" Logan asked.

Tran and Eric shared a look upon hearing the question and both of them had a lot to think about. They were the true leaders of this experimental unit, being in charge of the primary combat forces of the battalion. Logan's background prior to coming to Equestria did not involve any prior military experience, which was a huge nail in the coffin to the idea. "No," Tran replied.

Logan heard Tran's reply and the answer did not offend him in any way. He knew his limits and shortcomings, remembering his civilian past. Eric interrupted Logan's thoughts when he added in his own two cents. "You can definitely help teach, though," Eric replied.

Spitfire glanced at Gilda and then to Logan. They now had two Jaegers on their side, which was a very strange thought to her. "Well, it wouldn't be a first, having another griffon work with us," Spitfire mentioned.

Soarin, looking at Logan's spine-chilling appearance, and shrugged. "But not zombies, that's different. Something new, every day, right?" Soarin jokes.

Logan chuckled at the joke, fully aware of what he looked like. "Having a zombie serve in the military, that's a comforting thought," Logan joked.

Princess turned her attention to look at Logan, thinking about the implications. "Though I believe you are akin more to a revenant," the princess corrected. "And if you have a fraction of your friends' skills, you can provide quite the contributive service to Equestria." Having a griffon be in such a high position and close proximity to such powerfully positioned ponies brought some unease to the princess's mind, the same with Gilda being with Rainbow Dash, but she trusted the human's decision. After all, they had clearly displayed their ability to deal with problems of this sort, if it arose.

Logan rubbed the bottom of his chin, an idea coming to mind. "How about the revenant legion?" Logan asked. "As a name for your unit?"

Pinkie Pie gasped and shivered. "Revenant legion? That's too scary!" Pinkie Pie remarked.

Wilson chuckled, the suggestion name eating at his mind. "Are we trying to be edgy?" he joked.

Tran cleared his throat, loudly, to get everyone's attention. "How about the lost battalion?" Tran proposed.

Eric, meaning a fellow military history academic, knew the history behind the name. "Why d'ya propose that?" Eric asked. In WWI, the name referred to a battalion of men who the US chain of command had forgotten about, losing their position. As a result, that unit suffered horrid conditions and at one point getting shelled by their own friendly forces, ending with only 1/3 of the unit surviving their experience. It reminded him of what they had gone through, getting lost during the Dauntless Incident and getting shelled by their own forces.

Tran looked the Princess in the eyes before he answered back. "For when we were lost, for those we have lost and will be lost permanently, and once we are no longer needed, when we are lost in everyone's mind, when you want our existence to be forgotten, censored from common knowledge," Tran replied.

Princess Luna was offended and stunned, thinking back to the bond the two of them shared, but knew there was a kernel of truth to that statement. They had achieved astounding achievements but at the same time, had executed deplorable actions in the meantime. Their tactics, despite being effective, were taboo to the REA's chain of command and had the chance of not lingering once the war ended.

Applejack grimaced and took the hat off of her head, putting it to her chest. "It fits," she commented. "And it's the truth, one that's mighty hard tah swallow."

Eric looked at Tran and let out a sigh. "I don't see anything wrong with it. I'm going for it," he added in.

Tran looked over at Wilson, who shrugged in response. "Ditto, I'll go with it," Wilson said.

Tran turned his attention back to the ponies. "From here on, us and our soldiers are the Lost Battalion," Tran announced.

Soarin narrowed his eyes. "The Lost Battalion," Soarin said, testing out the name. It rolled off of the tongue decently and it was definitely catchy in his mind. "I like it."

Applejack, still holding her signature stetson in her hoof, dug into the hat with her mouth, retrieving a flask. She held it up for everyone to see. "Let's have a toast! The Lost Battalion's first battle and success!" Applejack commemorated. Miraculously, Logan pulled out a flask from his(Tran's loaned) coat and held it up with the farm pony. Applejack raised a brow at the sight of Logan holding the flask. "Where'd you even get that?"

Logan had barely been back could barely move around on his own, making several someponies question how he had already managed to acquire a flask, or hell, alcohol. He shrugged in response. "I found it somewhere." That raised even more questions in everyponies' minds as these airships weren't exactly a liquor store so the options for getting a flask was limited. "Let's drink!" Logan declared before more questions could be ask.

As the walking corpse took a drink from the flask, Applejack shrugged and opened up her flask to join in on the celebration. She took a quick sip before handing it around to fellow ponies, Logan doing the same with his human friends. When the flask came around to Wilson after Eric's sip, he walked over to Tran while pulling out a syringe of morphine. Tran was eventually given Applejack's flask while Wilson administered morphine to his friend, temporarily pausing the passing of the flask he currently possessed. Tran took a long sip from Applejack's flask, savoring the burn the moonshine gave him, as the fleeting pains of his body were whisked away by the morphine's embrace. Even the princess joined in on the celebrations, getting passed Applejack's flask from Tran.

Much to everyone's amusement, the princess went into a hacking fit upon the slightest drop of alcohol touching her throat. Applejack chuckled and took the flask from the squawking princess before the princess could drop it and waste any of the precious liquid. "Yea princess, it's a touch stronger than most ponies can handle," Applejack commented. The princess, specifically her alicorn's boosted constitution, was being tested from the potent poison. She regained her composure and display of regality despite tears of pain and suffering filling her eyes. Having returned from the moon not that long ago from her thousand year prison stint, she had yet to build up her resistances to stuff like this. Just to emphasize her acclimation to alcohol, Applejack took a long, slow sip from the flask in front of the princess before swallowing it quickly, followed by one loud cough. "Puts some fluff on your chest!"

Princess Luna gave Applejack quite the smiting glare. "While the concept of alcohol is the purposeful intoxication of oneself, I do believe you have affixed yourself to the poison aspect of it far beyond what should be considered suitable," the princess said with quite the irritation in her voice.

Applejack chuckled and handed the flask back to Tran, now that Wilson was done with his task. Everyone else had already taken a drink in celebration, leaving the medic last. Tran clunked Applejack's flask against Logan's flask held in Wilson's hand and they each took took a sip, the unkillable one taking a longer drag than the other. When Tran brought the flask down, he started swishing the alcohol that was in the process of burning away every nerve ending in his mouth. Just to show off, he made sure the princess could clearly see the clear display of hubris, before slowly swallowing away the borderline explosive.

Tran returned Applejack's flask to the farm pony while the princess debated whether or not her friend could be considered a living being or not. He looked at everyone with the usual emotionless display on his face. "Now that the Lost Battalion has survived her first trial by fire, she must face her true challenge," Tran cryptically declared.

-X-X-X-

Tran, Wilson, Eric, Logan, Princess Luna, Soarin, Spitfire, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie had reconvened in the airship's loading bay, the one where the Lost Battalion's soldiers were gathered in. Every living member of the unit was gathered here, even the wounded, albeit only the ones in stable condition, being the only ones in this large cargo bay. The only ponies not affiliated with the unit that were also present were several of Princess Luna's Night Sentinel who were guarding the exits and entrances to this area, not allowing anyone through. The command team was gathered up together in no particular uniform military fashion, standing atop a temporary platform so they could be seen.

The soldiers were gathered up in battalion formation, all at proper military attention in front of the raised platform that housed the command team. They had relinquished their weapons into one area, in front of the platform, between the chain of command and the soldiers in formation leaving the humans and primary members of the chain of command being the only ones armed. Every soldier thought this was some type of ceremony and the humans in command started out by initiating a roll call, verifying the soldier's expectations.

A roll call, simply put, was the official ceremony of them reading down from a list of names and calling them out, checking on their condition or presence being very similar to attendance roll calls done in schools. Of the 1500 soldiers that made up the battalion, about four dozen had been KIA(Killed In Action), most of which as a result from the friendly fire. More than double the number of KIA, were ponies that gained new major wounds that would temporarily put them out of commission but they'd be able to recover and continue serving with this unit if they so desired, to which they summarily wanted with all of their soul and heart for they did not desire to leave the new family they joined.

Of the remaining members of the Lost Battalion, a quarter had gained minor wounds, the body armor they had been issued performing as intended and protecting their vitals. A significant majority of these minor wounds were light shrapnel wounds in their limbs, something that could be easily treated, before they would quickly heal from, benefitting from the accelerated healing that ponies possessed. As the roll call ended, they had a moment of silence for those that had fallen. They had paid the ultimate price in the defense of their country and would enter a state of immortality as they would be forever remembered for the sacrifice they were and did give.

Once the moment of silence was over, all of the soldiers were still standing at attention in formation while the humans and chain of command stared them down. Tran was the one standing out in front, standing casually, where hopefully everyone could see and hear him. "We have faced our first trial by fire and rightfully succeeded," Tran announced, pausing for dramatic effect. Soarin started stomping his hooves, the pony equivalent of clapping hands, to which everyone joined in on. The celebration was short lived as everyone returned to a moment of silence, their attention back on the unkillable human. The cheering soon ended and Tran continued his speech. "But now we must face a far more difficult battle. Remember, we have fought and bled together. This is your family now, no matter what happens or who or what they are."

Tran then started pointing at the soldiers standing in formation. First, he pointed at a zebra. "Whether they're a zebra." Then, he pointed to a yak. "A yak." He next pointed at Logan. "A griffon." That last one had definitely raised some murmurs but they accepted the statement, many of them having been taught by a rather friendly griffon, Gilda.

As Tran continued, he pointed at a supposedly random pony. "Or anything else. Today we have faced a great enemy, the changelings. We have heard of what they are capable of, being able to shapeshift to look like anyone. And... By now, All of you may have heard tales of my apprehension of changeling spies, especially the one who attempted to mimic the prince, as I am immune to the changeling's illusions." Tran paused again, giving the crowd to marinate in the statement. Some of the soldiers in the crowd started booing, remembering their ordeal with the changelings, more of them joining in by the second, jeering making some disparaging remarks about the changelings after remembering they had to free ponies from cocoons or having to slaughter their own citizens that had been turned into emotionless husks. Before the crowd could get rowdier, Tran yelled, silencing everyone. He cleared his throat to continue his speech. "No matter what you experienced, especially today's battles, the changelings are still people, we will not be exterminating their race. Do not think they are bad people just because of what you have seen so far. "

Tran then pointed to Eric as he continued speaking. "Remember, we had to root out the unscrupulous in the REA's chain of command. Ponies, not changelings," Tran continued on, no longer pointing at Eric. "Changelings are the same as you, just people trying to survive." Tran paused and with the silence, there were murmurs among the soldiers, side comments they made to fellow soldiers, unsure about this new information.

Tran pointed to the supposedly random pony soldier that he had pointed out earlier. The pony in question was a unicorn stallion, and was a member of one of Eric's machine gun teams. He sported a few minor injuries on some of his legs that were wrapped up in bandages. "Present yourself up here," he commanded, still pointing at the pony. The stallion in question gulped, afraid of what would happen to him, but he still properly marched up to the front of the formation, placing himself at attention on the platform in front of Tran and the rest of the Lost Battalion. "Undress yourself!" Tran commanded.

There were some chuckles from the battalion, but deep glares from the humans stopped that pretty quickly. The unicorn stallion didn't know what was going on but he still reached up with a hoof to start taking off his REA uniform, as the command was still a lawful order. "Stop!" Tran commanded, as the unicorn had undone the first button of his khaki/tan tunic. "Undress yourself," Tran ordered again, this time with a much more chilling tone.

The unicorn stallion gulped, knowing what the human was ordering. He was afraid of what would happen, but those fears weren't enough to convince him to not do as he had been commanded as the consequences of not obeying the human was perhaps far worse. The unicorn stallion was sheathed in green fire as he transformed into a changeling, still bearing the REA uniform he had been wearing.

There was an uproar amongst the ponies in the battalion formation, as fury and wrath blossomed among the ranks of the formation, aside from the other changelings that secretly made up the Lost Battalion. All of the hate was directed at the changeling that had been singled out, who was disheartened from seeing and hearing his fellow soldiers wanting to kill him. Tran quickly drew his signature hand cannon and fired a round into the deck. "Quiet!" Tran commanded as the gunshot rang out, silencing everyone. The changeling was still facing Tran but he didn't need to look at the rest of the battalion to feel all of their negative emotions that were now being directed at him.

Tran looked at his soldiers with an angry expression and all of the gathered soldiers felt fear and a growing sense of unease building up in their body. "I am not exposing an imposter or spy," Tran continued. "This is a changeling who wanted to fight for Equestria's survival, he is no enemy." He looked back to the changeling. "You are a part of our family," he said, trying to soothe the changeling's worries. Still, the changeling was distraught and filled with fear, knowing that his fellow soldiers had no trust for him. Tran's next words were quieter, enough that only the changeling could hear him. "Form griffon hands," Tran quietly commanded. Even though the changeling was mentally and emotionally destroyed, he did as he was commanded and green flames sheathed his front legs as they transformed into griffon arms, including the clawed talons.

Tran slowly raised his signature hand gun and pointed it at the changeling's head, who was flinched and closed his eyes, scared that he was about to be executed. However, the battalion were aghast when Tran twirled the hand cannon in his hands, spinning it 180 degrees, so he was presenting the hand cannon's grips over to the changeling. "Take it," Tran commanded, quiet enough that only the changeling could hear. The changeling opened his eyes and wasn't sure what was going on. He was still mentally devastated, but took the hand cannon in his taloned claws. "Point it at me," Tran quietly ordered next. The changeling hesitated but did as he was ordered, raising the hand cannon and pointing it at Tran's head.

All of the soldiers in the formation raised their concerns by loudly protesting, some starting to break rank and charging towards the changeling pointing at the human. However, they were stopped when Princess Luna joined in and raised a shield, stopping anypony from reaching them. "Silence!" The princess boomed with all the power of the Royal Canterlot Voice, amplified with magic, nearly deafening some of the soldiers. The soldiers were stunned, but quieted down and the soldiers who broke rank, returning to their original position.

Tran redirected his attention from the soldiers reforming back up in their formation to look at the changeling that was pointing a hand cannon at his face. "Are you the enemy?" Tran asked, raising his voice so that everyone could hear him.

The revolver shook in the changeling's claws, uneasiness plaguing his mind. "No!" the changeling yelled.

Tran could see the bullets in the revolver's cylinder and knew that if the changeling fired, it would blow apart his head to smithereens. Tran gestured over to the standing soldiers of the Lost Battalion with his hand. "Do you consider those soldiers as your friends and family?!" Tran demanded, yelling.

The changeling's eyes started watering. Even though the ponies of the Lost Battalion now wanted to kill him, after finding out that he was a changeling, he still wanted to be a part of the unit. "Yes!" the changeling answered, yelling loudly enough so that everypony could hear him.

Tran looked past the changeling to see the various reactions of the battalion's soldiers. "You are my brother, don't forget it!" Tran replied. "Do you consider me the same?" he demanded.

"Yes!" the changeling immediately answered.

Tran nodded and eyed the revolver still pointing at him. He once again lowered his voice so that only the changeling could hear him. "You can lower the gun now," he said, to which the changeling immediately did while sighing with relief. The changeling was then surprised when Tran shot forward and hugged the changeling. "Don't worry about the other soldiers, they'll grow on you," Tran said, reassuring the changeling.

The changeling nodded while a few tears fell from his eyes. He reached up to wipe away the tears, when he felt... Alive and powerful. It felt like he had been filled to the brim with love but supercharged. Tran took the revolver back in his own hand and broke away from the hug, the changeling doing the same. "Take a position next to me," Tran quietly said, the changeling only hearing the command. As the changeling walked over to his new position, Tran aimed the revolver at the deck and pulled the trigger. Naturally, the hand cannon barked its deafening roar of deaf and sending a bullet into the deck, to which it punched through the floor and continued on. This had proved to everyone who was watching that the hand cannon was indeed loaded and that the changeling had been given an opportunity to kill the human, but didn't.

Tran looked amongst the soldiers of the Lost Battalion, most of the soldiers being stunned at what transpired. "Undress!" Tran commanded like he previously did. All at once, every changeling that were members of the Lost Battalion and were holding their illusionary disguises, transformed, revealing their true selves. All of the other ponies, zebras, and yaks were filled with mixed feelings as a riot nearly broke out. However, as a display of true alicorn strength, Princess Luna's horn and eyes glowed with the nearly brightness of a star, and every single non-changeling soldier was sheathed in the princess's magic. Before any of them could react, they were all rooted to the deck, unable to move. "We are the princess of the night, and you will act as proper soldiers, or we shall teach you the true way!" she commanded, again using her magic amplified Royal Canterlot Voice.

Everyone was immediately filled with fear, terrified of the princess. They knew that Princess Luna was not a changeling as no changeling could display the power they were currently witnessing. Tran looked amongst his soldiers and cleared his voice. "This is the truth and it always has been. These soldiers have always been changelings and it changes nothing! They are still your family and you do not hurt your family!" Tran bellowed. "Are we clear"!?" Tran demanded while staring all of them down aggressively.

All of the frozen soldiers stayed quiet, unsure of what to do. Tran’s frown was becoming more and more impossible to face, as everyone felt like they were now going through the worst experience in their life. It went dead quiet as everyone in the battalion had their blood curled, as if someone had started dancing on their grave. If the princess hadn't been magically holding them from moving, they still would have been frozen, in terror. The vitriol the soldiers previously held was gone, replaced with... Nothing. They couldn't bring themselves to create more hate, as if their souls felt empty.

"I said, Are we clear?!" Tran demanded again, his voice breaking through to them. As if hit by a runaway carriage, every one of the soldiers felt their hearts sink far enough that it threatened to shoot out their rear. Tran turned towards Princess Luna and gestured his hand at her and she dropped her magic hold on everyone. All of the soldiers shifted as they could finally move again, using the chance to finally shiver like their bodies desired. Most of the soldiers in the formation turned to look at their undisguised changeling comrades with some apprehension. The tension in the air was so thick that it could stop a bullet and you didn't need to be a changeling with the ability to sense different emotions to see it.

"If you wish to betray your family and leave, you may file for a transfer," Tran said, his voice piercing through the veil of tension. "But know that if you do, you are a coward that knows no bounds. Those that wish to do so, report to Captain Spitfire or Major Soarin. You have until midnight. Dismissed!

-X-X-X-

The soldiers had five hours to file for a transfer and the seconds ticked by as Spitfire and Soarin waited. Midnight hit and zero transfer were filed.

Author's Note

Still alive! As usual, leave a comment, I enjoy reading them and replying to the good ones.