Chapters January 12th, 2007
Fort Campbell, Kentucky
Home of the 101st Airborne
4:33 Pm
Private First Class Edward Smith was stepping off lowered the ramp of the AC-130 that had just landed at Campbell airfield. He was just returning home for leave from a six month tour in Iraq serving with his brothers in arms of the 101st. He sighs and stares up at the blue skies of his home state and glanced around at the other men returning home with him, who were all stepping off the ramp as well and heading towards the fort.
He grins to himself as he spots a familiar face and steps towards the man, grabbing him by the arm and spinning him around. "Hey Dick, how's it been? Long time no see, almost thought you might have gone and died on me,"
The man cracks a grin and lets out a chuckle, "C'mon Ed, you know you can't get rid of me that easily!"
"Yeah, yeah. With my luck you'll be here to haunt me into my old age and well past it. Really though, it's great to see you, though it seems you've been promoted sometime in the past six months. Not sure how though, last I checked your COs couldn't stand you,"
Specialist Richard Corwin would smirk at his longtime friend patting him on the back "Well Ed, that is a long story for another time, maybe I'll tell it to you over a drink sometime. You'll be buying of course,"
Edwards lightly punched him on the arm, chuckling to himself while Richard would let out a mock gasp and in a mock impersonation of their old Drill Sergeant says "Striking a superior officer? I'll see you court martialed for that, maggot!"
They'd both let out small chuckles and would start walking toward the entrance of Fort Campbell chatting about times long past and things they'd seen and experienced in Iraq during their deployments.
"So, in the middle of the firefight the crazy bastard shoots straight up out of cover, rushes for a building about twenty feet in front of us and scoops up this cat he'd seen that'd wandered into the middle of everything and had started grooming itself,"
Edwards would say, in between fits of chuckles.
"I kid you not, he scoops this little thing up and then runs all the way back somehow avoiding every god damn shot that'd been placed his way, then slides behind the wall we'd been taking cover behind and says 'I got it, I finally got it Sarge! I finally got some real pussy!'
James still has that cat to this day, I think he ended up naming him Patton because only a cat as batshit crazy as that man would stand in the middle of a firefight and start licking its balls,"
Richard would let out a loud guffaw of laughter, before glancing up at the sky and letting out a cry of alarm covering his eyes and taking several steps backwards "What is i-," Edwards would shout before looking up at the sky himself.
"What the hell?!" He'd shout, quickly pulling out his phone and snapping a picture as others were surely doing around him. It looked almost like the Aurora, but that was impossible this far south, wasn't it? The light would continue getting brighter and brighter, until it was almost blinding to look at it and he had to look away. Soon after a loud rumbling bang would erupt around the area, and the entire country though he wouldn't know at the time.
January 13th, 2007. New York, 2:31 Pm. Lewiston-Queenston Bridge
Police Sergeant Camilla stands at the edge of the area that was previously one of several bridges to Canada, it having collapses into what was now apparently miles upon miles of ocean roughly 14 hours before hand, after that blinding white light had appeared in the sky.
Over 24 people had died in the incident and over 54 had been injured with first responders rapidly flooding into the scene with situations similar to it happening all over the border with the land that was previously, Canada.
"H-How did this happen?" She mumbled to herself shocked beyond disbelief having just arrived 15 minutes prior after having been woken up by an emergency call from her stations Lieutenant.
"I don't know Sergeant, but I heard President Bush is going to be making a statement with the next few hours. Apparently the same things happening down at our border with Mexico, and all contact with the rest of the world has been lost...People are starting to panic and a lot of them are saying every other country's just...gone," Trooper McClain would say having approached her from the left and heard her mumbling to herself.
"What? Every other country? You're kidding me?! You have to be, there is no way that could possibly happen - it just doesn't make sense! How could this be happening?!" She'd respond, clearly frustrated with his response.
He'd shrug "I dunno Sarge, have you heard any word from the station yet though? I've been hearing every officer in the states being called into active service,"
She shook her head, "No, I haven't heard anything other to stay where we are and try to keep people from panicking. It does sound like something they'd do though, I can assume everyone's as nervous as we are and I know for a fact they don't want any slip ups, for a damn good reason to. Just wait for further issues and make sure no one gets hurt, alright?"
He'd nod and return to his post where the police had made a temporary overnight HQ.
She'd turn back to what used to be Canada and stare across the water thinking 'May God help us if we are truly alone out here..." before turning around and returning to the rest of her men.
Washington DC, The White House 5:30 PM
President George W. Bush stands on a podium in front of a room filled with reporters from various news stations across the country. Having just come from a 6 hour meeting with congress he was tired and worried for his country and his people, especially with these new circumstances.
"Good evening, my fellow Americans. As I am sure you are very much aware yesterday at 4:40 PM the entire country was engulfed in a bright white flash, which was followed by all of the countries and land masses bordering our country disappearing,"
"I am as of now declaring the United States of America to be in a state of emergency. I am calling all members of the US National Guard and US Army Reserve into active service until this state of emergency ends. As of now I am also declaring martial law in the following cities due to reports of heavy rioting and panic. New York, Washington, Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas, and Boston."
"I implore of you, my fellow Americans to stay calm and collected. Our great nation has weathered far worse than this, though I do indeed have some good news for our worried fathers and mothers. All troops that have been deployed overseas have by some act of god, been transported to the Nevada desert. I do not know how, or why this is has occurred, but I am thankful that America has not left tens of thousands of servicemen behind in whatever has occurred to us,"
Our satellites have also appeared to have come with us, registering what seems to almost be an entirely new WORLD. Now I was just as shocked as you must be feeling right now when I heard this news, but do not panic, again. The best you can do at this moment is stay calm and await further news. I promise, we will weather this as we have weathered everything else our enemies and nature have thrown at our great nation. Together. "
"Thank you, and god bless you all. I promise to keep you updated on further events of importance, and no. I will not be taking questions this time,"
He'd step off the podium and and leave to a door to his left, letting out a sigh and wiping his hand across his forehead now that he was away from the vultures of the media."
The Changeling Lands, Queen Chrysalis Hive, 1003 ALR.
Chrysalis would be brooding on her recent failure in Canterlot while sitting on her throne, having canceled court early this day due to severe pain from several injuries she sustained after slamming into the ground due to the love wave emitted from Shining Armor and Cadence. She couldn't believe how foolish she was, turning away from that insufferable rat Twilight Sparkle for just a second giving her the time she needed to free Cadence so she could 'empower' her fiance with her love.
She'd shift slightly on her throne, letting out another wince as pain from her broken rib shoots up through her chest, she had denied medical treatment, stating that it was nothing and the more heavily injured drones needed it much more than she did. She was starting to regret this decision as the pain was slowly starting to get worse. She turned her thoughts to those that she lost from the love wave.
Having started the invasion out of desperation to save her starving hive scrambling together a meager 40,567 drones to invade Canterlot, many of which had lied about their age to save their dying empire. Out of over 40,000 only 10,201 returned home with over half being injured.
The rest having been captured, or even worse, killed by Equestrians. She lets out a snort of disgust, the problem of starvation having solved itself, though not in the way she'd have ever dreamed of. A few tears would begin rolling down her cheeks as she thought of her dead husband, King Rarnax. He'd died in the lower levels of the cities, preventing over eager drones from killing any captured ponies after all, they had a no kill policy. She'd only wanted to take over the city to drain as much love as possible before leaving.
Before hoof she had sent several diplomats to Equestria, begging them for aid for her starving people. To only receive empty promises of 'aid soon to come' that was four years ago and she had finally broken after her own daughter had perished of starvation.
Timeline
January 13th 2007 - The United States of America is Displaced
January 14th 2007 - State of Emergency is declared. Armed forces reserve and National Guard are called into Active Duty.
January 17th 2007 - Several Unidentified Landmasses are discovered, one of which is within 300 miles of the United States though it is the smallest of them all.
January 19th 2007 - President Bush Announces to the public that the Plans to decommission the USS Saipan are suspended and she is to be returned to her position as the flagship of Amphibious Squadron Eight which is then assigned as an Expeditionary Strike Force and is to be sent to the nearest continent in the 'new' world to establish contact with any new possible civilizations and just maybe find out what happened within the next 3 days.
Her Captain, Wilson Fitzgerald is placed in charge as commander for the entire Battle-group. The Battle-group is comprised of the USS Saipan which is an LHA-2, the CG-58 USS Philippine Sea , the LPD-15 USS Ponce , the DDG-66 USS Gonzalez , the LSD-44 USS Gunston Hall , the FFG-47 USS Nicholas , and SSN-755 USS Miami .
January 22nd 2007- The ESF departs the United States for foreign soil, the entire country holds its breath.
January 24th, 2007 5:00 pm
The shout of "Land sighted!" echoed and spread across the USS Saipan rapidly. Captain Fitzgerald himself even coming down from the Bridge onto the main deck to stand with the men and stare in shock and awe at the Land mass in front of them, about in size of Australia it wasn't at all impressive to the US size wise, and it appeared to mostly be desert, but still they were the first men to ever see new land on what seems to be a completely new world, and that awe soon spread to the entire Fleet as everyone took a moment or two to consider what their place in history will be, enforcing the importance of their mission to all aboard the six ships and one submarine.
Within two hours they were close enough to see the shore, several scraggly looking trees poking out of the parched soil. Soldiers of the 22nd Marines were soon loaded onto Helicopters and sent to the shore to establish a beachhead, reporting an 'All Clear' within 30 minutes. Causing the rest of the Division to deploy to shore, and the fleet to set anchor and start reporting back to their Command.
"Hey, Sergeant! Come 'ere and take a look at this!" Came a shout from the east side of the beach. Sergeant Stuart turned towards the direction of the shout and walked over to the man who called for him, raising his eyebrow as he saw what the man had found.
A small insect like with a ratty looking Green mane and green pupils stood shaking in pure terror as four men stood around it, guns drawn and fingers on the trigger. Little did these men know they had just found and captured Queen Chrysalis's last surviving daughter Princess Nymph.
"What in the name of..." Stuart muttered looking at it. He'd let out a sigh and gesture for the men to lower their weapons.
"It's just an animal, new land entails new creatures after all...even if they look...odd," He'd say taking a knee and getting a better look at the creature, as it impossibly took a slightly insulted looking expression.
"I-I'm not an animal you stupid monkey, I-I'm Princess Nymph of the Changeling Kingdom and I-I demand you release me before my mother finds out," The small now named Princess states with a slight stutter as she looks around at the baffled looking bi-peds around her.
"Did that thing just talk? Please tell me I'm not hearing things Corporal," Stuart would say to the man next to him, who would respond with a smirk.
"New land 'sarge. Anything is possible after all,"
"H-hey I'm not a 'thing!'" the bug horse would respond standing up straighter and puffing out her chest, trying to be intimidating, but only receiving a chuckle from the battle hardened marines around her.
The Sergeant would return his gaze to her, seemingly lost in thought for a moment before gesturing to the men around him. "Alright, take her into custody for now, I'm going to report to the Captain. For the love of god don't hurt her, I don't want to have a diplomatic incident with a new god damn race and have my name put on the front of it."
His response was met with slight grumbles from the men and pure panic from the Nymph as she attempts to bolt, though she's quickly intercepted and gently, yet firmly pinned to the ground and picked up.
"L-l-let me go! P-p-p-please!" She'd wail tears flowing from her cheeks.
"Shhh, its alright young'un we aren't gonna hurt ya, we're just takin' you to the Captain so we can find out where we are." Says the bi-ped who scooped her up, before rummaging around in his pockets and taking out a small brown package labeled 'Hersheys' and unwrapping it, revealing to her wonder chocolate. Now Chocolate was an extremely rare luxury in the Changeling Kingdom, due to their current status with Equestria and lack of means of producing Coca Beans so when she saw this creature pull out the bar like it was nothing, she let out a small gasp.
"Here, take this little gal, my brother sent this from home, but I was never a big chocolate fan anyways so you can have it," The creatures would say, handing the bar to her. Which she eagerly accepted into her small hooves, starting to nibble on it savoring the sweetness and pure taste of chocolate of which she had only tasted twice in her eight years of life before hoof.
"T-thank you very much for that, b-but how did you get it? Chocolate is so rare! Are you a noble from some long last land?" She'd inquire, wonder in her eyes and chocolate in her teeth.
The bi-ped lets out a chuckle at the look on her face. "Nah, I'm not anyone special. Just a raggedy ass marine we have a ton of Chocolate at home, it's pretty cheap actually, guess it isn't so here huh?" He says a smirk on his face.
"N-no, we only get chocolate from Equestria, but ever since mom went over there things aren't so good anymore... A lot of the changelings that went with her didn't come back... mommy says their in a better place now though, so I'm happy for them." She says looking sad for a moment.
The biped would grimace, knowing what her mother meant by 'a better place' having sent many men and seen many men to sent to it himself. He continued carrying her to the command tent in silence, both of them lost in thought.
As they reach the command tent they see several other men gathered around it all trying to get a look at the new creature and muttering among themselves. "HEY! THIS ISN'T A ZOO BOYS, GET BACK TO YOUR POSTS!" came a sudden shout as a rather short, yet angry looking man came bursting out of the tent bearing the rank chevrons of a Gunnery Sergeant.
The crowd instantly scattered, no one wanting to be subject to the wrath of their Gunny. The short man turns his gaze to Nymph and the man holding her. "Hartman, took you long enough drop off the kid inside of the tent and get back to your post before I have your ass served up for this mornings breakfast!"
"YES, GUNNY!" Shouts Hartman as he quickly enters the tent, sets the changeling down and bolts for his previous watch post.
Princess Nymph was terrified as she was set down, the short biped having hurt her ears with his shouting and her 'friend?' having left almost instantly after dropping her off. She took a few seconds to take in the tent in which she was deposited in. Taking note of a strange flag hung up the east side bearing too many white stars for her to count, a blue background and thirteen of a mixture of red and white stripes. She also saw another Bi-ped wearing a slightly different uniform, looking more 'official and regal' compared to others outside. This must be their King she decided, quickly bowing and pressing her muzzle into the sandy floor afraid that he might have her killed it she doesn't.
She tilted her head in confusion when she heard a low chuckle come out of the bi-ped as it gently lifts her chin to look into it's bright blue eyes. "None of that now, I'm a solider not a Monarch. In fact the United States hasn't had a Monarch for its entire existence."
'No King? No Queen? How could that be possible?!' She thought to herself, before stand back up on all fours and looking up at the bi-ped.
"W-whats your name then, Mr. Monkey? Mines Princess Nymph Roachanov" She squeaks out, trying to be polite.
The bi-ped lets out a chuckle. "First off young lady, I am not a monkey. Me and my Kind are Humans, or simply 'men', second off my name is Captain Wilson Fitzgerald of the United States Navy."
"United States?" She asks tilting her head in confusion, having never heard about that country in her lessons on the various nations of the world.
"Ah, we're uh. A bit new around here you see, I'm not currently at liberty to explain it, but if you could tell me where your mommy is so I could go talk to her that'd be greatly appreciated." The man would ask taking a seat on the ground next to her.
"Oh! If you wanted to know where mommy is you should've just asked earlier! She's really close by in the hive!" She says a bright smile adorning her face. "Here, I could show you if you have a map!"
"We do indeed have a map, and I'd be extremely grateful if you could show us where your 'hive' is," The man would say, taking out a weird looking metal slab and tapping on it for a moments before to her shock a large image of the surrounding desert appears on it.
"W-Wow, you hoo-mans must have some really good magic to make stuff like that! I'll show you where mommy's hive is now, it's right...about..here," She says while pointing to what seems to be a large cliff with a cave entrance on the map. "It's right in there! I know it seems kinda creepy at first, but mommy's really nice I promise so, don't be scared please!" She says while giving a large smile.
He'd grin and ruffle her mane a bit, like her older sister used to do before she went to a 'better place' to. She sure hopes all the other changelings are having fun where ever they went. As she thinks back on recent events she'd let out a gasp. "Oh no! I forgot about Commander Chitin! He's probably super worried about me after I ran off, last I saw he was in the bushes watching you hoo-mans!" She would shout, worry engulfing her features.
The mans face would substantially darken as he hears this news worry engulfing his features as he takes out his radio. "Attention, someone saw us take the kid in. They most likely have no idea of our intentions and by the military rank they were given suggests they mostly likely have reported to their peoples leader. Be prepared for contact, though lethal's are prohibited unless your life or the life of another is DIRECTLY threatened. This camp is now on HIGH alert," He'd rapidly say into the radio, getting several responses of 'Rodger that' and 'Over' from the NCOS in the base.
Changeling Lands, Chrysalis's Hive. 1003 ALR
The doors to the throne room would slam open, as a changeling rushes inside bearing the armor and insignia of a Commander he gets no resistance from the Royal guard. After a moment he rushes to the feet of the throne, throwing himself to the ground in a bow and catching his breath.
Queen Chrysalis would raise a metaphorical eyebrow recognizing the changeling as the one who accompanied her last surviving daughter on her walk outside. "Yes, Chitin? What is it that has you so frazzled?"
He'd let out several more pants before saying the three words that Chrysalis feared the most. "P-princess, Nymph. Foal napped" he'd rapidly pant before collapsing onto his side, exhaustion and undernourishment having consumed most of his energy in his mad dash back to the hive.
Chrysalis's face would almost turn bone white as she shoots straight up on her throne, ignoring the pain that shoots up through her body from her broken bones. "Rally everyling that is healthy enough to fight! I will not let some wretched pony or any creature think it can MY BABY and get away from it!" She'd shriek in a voice filled with panic and grief as the mobilization process begins.
Queen Chrysalis stands above the changelings that'd managed to be gathered for the operation of saving her daughter. Only a meager 1400 healthy volunteers had been scraped together, the others either too injured or too fearful to go back into a potentially dangerous combat situation after the failed invasion of Equestria. Chrysalis wanted to feel angry, or spiteful towards her subjects that refused to fight, but in the end she couldn't blame them for not wanting to be spent back into a potentially bloody meat grinder once more. She sighs, looking over the small sea of black chitin and blue eyes as her subjects stare up at her, waiting for her to begin her speech.
"My loyal subjects, just a few hours ago I was informed that a band of creatures had stolen my only surviving daughter right out from under her protections noses. They have dared to setup a meager encampment so close to the entrance of our hive, most likely seeking to prey on perceived weakness after the... setback in Equestria. I cannot blame those of you who do not wish to join the assault on their encampment, we have lost so much in the past few months that we had to abandon most of our lands to retreat to this main hive, but I implore those of you who can fight, to help me get my daughter and your beloved princess back. Let us show to these creatures, and by extent the rest of the world that the Changeling Kingdom will not simply roll over and quietly die."
She was met by silence for a few moments, her nervousness building up as the anxiety that her only remaining subjects may deny her and set out on their own, before the sound of one changeling stamping their hooves on their ground became two, and from two became many. Her subjects at the very least still stood with her, against her better judgement she let out a small genuine smile. One she hadn't worn on her muzzle for a very, very long time.
She steps down from the makeshift podium that had been hastily assembled noticing that the soldiers that had been gathered were already starting to mobilize into formations and beginning to setup into a marching order. After a quick count she estimated there were at least seven-hundred actual soldiers that had mobilized and surprisingly around one thousand other drones of various castes who had volunteered to take the place of dead, or extremely injured soldiers.
As she trots to the main entrance of the hive she notices her small remaining troop of around twelve royal guards fall into formation behind her, only the most veteran of them having survived the slaughter in Canterlot. Another small smile graces her muzzle as she spots a familiar face fall into formation. A grizzled old changeling by the name of Colonel Trimmel who had served in her royal guard for around three dozen years. Though he was getting extremely long in his years, it warned her heart to see him, out of all the changelings in her hive, retain loyalty to her.
The old changeling would look up at her, noticing her staring. "My queen," he'd utter, bowing to her.
Chrysalis would gesture for him to rise, smiling softly at him. "You know you do not need to bow to me old friend, you have earned that right ten times over in your service,"
He'd smirk at her and rise saying "I know my queen, but I am a changeling of habit, and habits are extremely hard to break,"
The rest of the walk continued in silence, until she arrives at the main entrance of the hive. The small army she had gathered having already arrived and were simply awaiting her order. "Let us go defend our territory my subjects," she announces, trotting out of the entrance and heading towards the creatures encampment, followed by her army.
Badlands, Marine Expeditionary Force's Encampment
Sergeant Stuart yawns, staring out across the empty forty yard stretch of beach to the front of the encampment, he'd been standing on watch with the rest of his squad for the past hour after the small bug-horse thing had been found and taken to the Captain's tent. In the back of his mind he'd been wondering about the small thing, but in the end it faded to the back of his thoughts and his duty took up at the forefront of his mind.
"Hey 'Sarge, sorry it took my so long, after I dropped the little tyke off at the Captain's tent the LT had me run a few errands for him," Hartman says, approaching the Stuart and the rest of the squad from the rear.
"It's alright son, there's a lot that needs to be done to get this place fully up and running as a FOB," Stuart would respond, sparing a glance at the man before returning to his watch.
"Sergeant, movement up front!" one of the other men on watch shouts, instantly drawing Stuart's and Hartman's attention as several of the insectoid looking equines start coming out of the brush at the edge of the beach.
"Mother of god how many of them are there?!" One man shouts, as more and more of the bug-horses seem to emerge from the brush creating a miniature sea of black and blue as they slowly surround the entire encampment.
"Shit, Hartman go tell the Captain Fitz what's going on, I'll try to keep things from going hot as long as possible here, though I'm not sure if that'll work so well!" Stuart shouts, gesturing the younger man towards the Captain's tent, as several dozen marines start rushing towards the makeshift sandbag barricades that'd be set up.
Eight men manned the four mounted M2HB heavy machine guns that'd been setup on the makeshift wooden towers. Four men manned the two M252 Mortars that'd been setup towards the middle of the encampment. After a few minutes, no more of the insectoid equines seemed to be coming out of the brush, though there were still too many to count properly. Over three hundred marines had manned the barricades with the fleet starting to send reinforcements after they received several distressed radio calls, the reinforcements included the availability of naval bombardment from the Missile Cruiser and Destroyers in the fleet.
While this was happening Hartman had just managed to reach Captain Fitzgeralds tent, bursting in and startling both the Captain and the young Princess Nymph the later of which let out a startled yelp and bolted underneath the map table in the center of the tent.
"What is the meaning of this interruption Corporal?!" the Captain would shout, annoyance plastered across his face.
"Apologies Captain, but we have a small army of unknowns approaching the FOB and Sergeant Stuart sent me to inform you," Hartman would say after snapping to attention.
Fitz would ponder the information he had received for a moment, before his posture relaxed and he salutes the man back. "Alright then son, at ease. You did the right thing informing me of this, now get back to Stuart I have a feeling he'll need every man at his disposal,"
"Aye Sir!" Hartman would shout, before scrambling out of the tent and back towards the barricades.
Fitzgerald would call out to the changeling filly that had during their conversation come out from under the map table, recognizing the man who had given her the candy earlier. "Hey sweetie, if you could come with me for a minute I think I may need your help if the people Hartman were talkin' about are who I think they are,"
Nymph would slowly nod at the man, understanding what he was referring to following him as he exited the tent and started walking towards the barricades. She'd shy away from the other soldiers who would glance at her for a moment before returning to their duties, practically stuck to Fitzgerald's leg the entire trip.
As the Captain arrives at the barricades he'd let out a low impressed whistle at the small army of changelings that he saw arrayed in front of him, though he'd let out a startled gasp and a shout of
"Shit, WAIT!" as Nymph bolts in front of the barricades with an excited cry of 'Mommy,' rushing towards a much larger changeling, that unlike the others had a green mane like the princess. Chrysalis would let out a small gasp as she spots the tiny ecstatic nymph rushing towards her, a large sigh of relief escaping her muzzle as she starts running towards her daughter.
BANG!
"Mommy? MOMMY?! MOMMY!"
Queen Chrysalis stops mid step, confused. She tries to move her body further forwards, but for some reason it doesn't seem to want to respond. The queen starts to notice that she's actually starting to feel really tired, which was strange as she was full of energy just a few moments ago. She looks down at her chest, feeling a strange tingling sensation and lets out a small gasp as she spots the massive hole in her chitin that was heavily leaking out her green blood. She stands, confused for a moment not able to understand how she hadn't noticed such an injury before. Chrysalis opens her mouth, trying to say something, but all that comes out is a small gurgle before she falls over onto her side losing consciousness.
Fitz would stare in horror as he hears the gunshot and watches the young Nymphs mother fall to the ground after pausing for several moments. He'd glance to his left seeing the young trembling man who had shot her. He'd dropped his M16 and was staring in horror looking at his hands.
"I-I, I-it was an accident, I-I didn't see...O-Oh god..." the young man would mutter while the soldiers to his side would start muttering amoungst themselves, instantly able to see heavy movement in the changeling ranks.
At the same time
Trimmel would stare for a moment, shocked as he watches his queen pause for a moment, before dropping to the ground bleeding heavily. He'd be in a state of confusion for a moment, before a sheer feeling of rage flows through him watching the mare he'd watched grow from when she was just a nymph under the previous queen drop to the ground, seemingly dead.
He'd push his way through the ranks of changelings, drawing his scimitar. "THOSE MONSTERS HAVE MURDERED OUR QUEEN! ATTACK THEM, KILL THEM ALL! AVENGE YOUR QUEENS DEATH!" he'd shout in pure rage, before rushing towards the bipeds, his sword held in his magic. After a moment he'd hear the sound of his battle cry being taken up by the rest of the changelings the sound of a thousand weapons being drawn and over four thousand charging hoof beats overpowering his own.
(Line)
The battle if it could even be called that was over in minutes the US Marines noticing a charging force with obviously hostile intent immediately opened fire years of experience and training taking over any guilt they have felt about the situation. The front line of the changeling collapsed into chaos within the first twenty seconds the sounds of screaming wounded and dying quickly filling the air when it wasn't overpowered by the thundering of gunshots.
"SON OF A - CEASE FIRE GOD DAMMIT! CEASE FUCKING FIRE!" Fitz would scream slapping the helmets of the men nearest to him. After a few more seconds of screaming the gunfire slowly stopped to a trickle and then ceased to exist at all, but by then several hundred changelings lie dead or dying on the forty yard stretch of beach in front of the FOB. The ones that had survived the deadly hail of lead either stood immobile, terrified or had thrown their weapons on the ground in surrender.
Out of the roughly fourteen hundred changelings that had charged the FOB only around 550 got out of it unharmed. 346 of them were confirmed deceased or so injured they were unsavable. The others were either wounded or had deserted and ran into the forest. US forces suffered no casualties or injuries. Private McClain, the one who had fired the shot that had sparked the conflict was found by his bunk three hours later having hung himself with his bed sheets out of guilt.
The reinforcements that had been sent from the fleet arrived to a camp with it's moral nearly nonexistent, the vibrant attitude that had been among everyone just hours before was now gone replaced by empty husks of men that just mindlessly did their duties.
"Lieutenant Lund reporting for duty, Sir," says the young man who was in charge of the platoon that had arrived to act as reinforcements.
"You're late, doesn't matter. Battles already 'won' if it could even be called that. Get your men to the front and help with the wounded we need every extra set of hands we can get and medical supplies are running out, fast," Captain Fitz would say, pointing towards the location of the main barricades before returning to his tent to try to calm down the screaming Nymph that had been pulled away from her mother.
The only good news was that Chrysalis's injury seemed like it would be none-lethal, but they couldn't know for sure until a day or two had passed. As he approached the entrance to the tent he hesitated for a moment, not quite sure of the emotional state of the Nymph inside. He'd let out a sigh and mutter "Now or never..." before pushing the flap open and walking inside. Fitz would spot the young princess in the back corner of the tent, whimpering and crying softly not having noticed him enter.
He'd slowly approach, standing quietly behind her before he'd reach out with a hand and rest it on her back, hoping to at least provide some comfort. Her reaction was almost expected in a way, but it still shocked him when she whipped around and bit him before running under the map table and hissing.
Fitz lets out a light wince of pain, but in the end the bite wasn't that deep or painful. She barely even managed to penetrate the material of the gloves he wore. He grabs a nearby chair and pulls it up to the edge of the table, a few feet away from the Princess who had gone back to crying. Fitz would reach over the top of the table, grabbing a small locked case and entering the code, popping it open and taking out a small flask of whiskey. He takes a long swig of it and then places it onto the table, letting out a sigh.
"Listen kid, I know you probably hate me, hell you probably hate all of us right now. I just want to let you know that your mom is going to be okay, we took her back to our ship and our doctors are takin' care of her. I-I just want to let you know that I'm sorry for what happened, I know it probably doesn't mean anything to you right now, but that never should have happened. I'll do the best I can to make it up to you and your people, I swear on that,"
"M-Mom's gonna b-b-be okay?"
"Yeah kid, she'll be fine..." Fitz would say looking down to see Nymph's small head poking out from under the table. "I can take you to see her if you want to, like I said I'm going to do whatever I can to fix this,"
A small smile would spread across Nymph's muzzle. "I-I'd like to see her very much, a-and I'm sorry for biting and hissing at you, mom says I shouldn't do that, b-but I was just so upset..."
Fitz would let out a small sad smile and stand up. "It's alright kiddo, it was my fault for startling you, now let's go see your mom,"
Admiral Philip Sawyer of the US 7th Fleet was not having a good week. It all started when he had spilled his coffee all over his freshly cleaned dress uniform after an extremely loud explosion had startled him out of his seat. It got even worse when he and his men realized that they were no longer docked in Japan, in fact Japan seemed to just be gone. There was mass hysteria in the next few hours afterwords as officers slowly, but surely re-established discipline aboard the numerous ships in the now mobile and anchored fleet. Since GPS didn't seem to be working he had just ended up picking a direction and informing his Captains to set sail. When asked why he had merely responded he had a 'good feeling' which was a lie of course, in reality the man just didn't see anything else to do in that situation, leaving a fleet of over seventy ships of various classes just sitting in the middle of the ocean seemed rather pointless so he had picked the next best option.
Things were finally seeming to look up for him and his men though, they had spotted what seems to be a small land mass about the size of Australia if a bit smaller and even better, there seemed to be a small strike force of US ships anchored off the shore of it. His men had even managed to establish radio contact with them, what he had learned over the past few hours was that it wasn't only Japan that seemingly disappeared, it was the entire world though by some act of god the States themselves managed to stay where they were, supposedly anyways. Just a few minutes prior he had spoken with the Captain of that fleet one Fitzgerald who was apparently in a slight state of shock after having had some sort of child thrusted onto him while he was attempting to deal with the logistics and stress of not only finding out other sapient races aside from Humanity exist, but also that his men were just responsible for massacring a few hundred of them.
Philip felt genuine sympathy for the man and had added suggesting him for a commendation or promotion onto his mental checklist of things he probably should be accomplishing instead of pondering the existence of insect like equines. Apparently the 'changeling' as they were called that been originally shot sparking the entire conflict was their queen. Philip actually face palmed when he had heard that, just because of the fact out of ALL the others that were there, the one that ended up being shot just HAD to be the one in charge of the entire nation. He silently added 'Make up huge mistake to foreign power' onto his list of things he'd really rather not be doing right now, but must anyways. He straightens his posture and quickly swipes some crumbs from the bland bread ration he had just finished eating off of his pant leg, before standing up and stepping off of the helicopter he had been on for the past fifteen-minutes and onto the main deck of the USS Saipan Captain Fitzgerald's flag ship, he'd take a moment to salute and dismiss a group of passing service men who had halted and saluted him.
He walks across the main deck towards the Bridge an almost aura like feeling of confidence and authority surrounding him as he enters into the open bulkhead door and descends down the stairs into the depths ship, his target being the on board Medical Bay where he heard the 'changelings' and the Captain were currently located and waiting for him.
Fitz would cough into his hand, the situation getting more awkward by the second. First he had arrived at the medical bay to find out that Nymph's mother had in fact NOT woken up yet causing him to spend thirty minutes attempting to stall for time all the while praying to any higher power that would answer him that the Queen would in fact wake up soon. Thankfully at least some deity decided to throw him a bone in this one situation and he received a report that she had woken up, though understandably she was quite aggressive and had managed to destroy half of her room before she had been convinced to calm down by the promise of seeing her daughter and she was now 'supposedly' sitting on her bed and waiting for the Captain. After that as he was just about to enter the medical ward proper he had gotten a call on his radio that a bloody ADMIRAL had shown up bringing a fleet of seventy plus ships with him and was now demanding to see and speak with the Queen to quote 'Rectify any incidents that the over-enthusiasm of the 22nd Marines had caused with an unknown foreign power of a potentially alien species and to put the icing on the cake the Admiral was bringing the small strike force of seven ships into his fold basically taking most of Fitz's command authority.
The sound of the heavy valve of the bulkhead twisting open distracted him out of his musings, he himself having stayed at the entrance to the medical ward while Nymph ran off to be reunited with her mother. When the door was finally opened he got his first real look at Admiral Philip a clearly older man, seemingly in his 50's with bright blue eyes and graying brown hair, though he still carried himself with the posture of a man who had seen and survived through many years of conflict and politics. Philips snaps his fingers in front of Fitz's face, looking concerned for a moment.
"You alright son? You seemed to have spaced out on me there for a second," Philip would say causing Fitz to stammer out a rapid apology before leading the Admiral to the room where the two changelings were being kept.
