(Radio Music A)

As the crimson motorbike rode down the unknown dirt road, Alex decided to turn on the radio that came with his new ride, and thankfully, but surprisingly, one of his favorite songs came on as he and his new "friend", the term of which is used loosely, Trixie were listening to as they enjoyed the ride.

...Well, mostly.

"What kind of music is this?!" Trixie once again had to shout over the loud engine.

"Country Rock, I think!" Alex shouted back.

"Trixie isn't a fan of Country anything, but this sounds pretty good!"

"Glad you think so!"

Only the sound of the bike, rushing winds, and radio music filled the air around them now. Then Trixie spoke again.

"By the way, your skills with this 'motorcycle' thing were incredible! But how did you know when to dodge that last manticore?!"

"I..." Alex tried to think of what to say, "don't exactly know how, all I said was 'Unique Skill [Seer]', then one thing led to another; it was like I could glimpse into the immediate future!"

"See into the future?!" Trixie was shocked, "I thought humans didn't HAVE magic!"

"I know! It was a shock for me, too!"

As the two travelers cruised down the road, they were completely unaware that they were being watching by one of the scouts sent by one Emperor Jason Wright...and even HE was unaware of this specific scout's intentions. He was the same as the other Changelings, except he had dark yellow spines along his back and light grey eyes, which were glaring at the human driving the "mechanical monstrosity" as he called it. He kept his mind clear as not to alert the hive mind to his plan and slowly, but surely, began his descent towards the front of the duo...into a powerful divebomb.

"Hey! Do you hear something?!" Trixie asked-shouted.

"Hear what?!" Alex inquired back.

"A whistling sound!"

Alex focused his ears around the area and indeed hear the aforementioned whistling sound, "Yeah, I do! And it sounds like it's...getting...closer..." his eyes widened when he realized what that sound was: the sound of a dropping bomb, "LOOK OUT!!!" Alex swerved into a hard right to avoid—

BOOM!!

—The impact of something rather strong.

Luckily for them, it wasn't a bomb, but unluckily, it was something else. Or rather, someone else. Alex and Trixie turned to see a Changeling stepping out of the smoldering crater, gritting its teeth as it just missed it's target.

"STEP ON IT!!" Trixie screeched.

"Don't gotta tell me twice!!" Alex gunned the engine, desperately trying to get the both of them out of dodge as the Changeling gave chase.

(Danger!)

Since they were no longer in the forest, they had no cover, no trees to try and put distance between them and their pursuer, all they could do was drive and hope their motorcycle was faster than Changeling wings.

"Can't this hunk of metal go any faster?!" Trixie demanded.

"I'm trying, but we're at maximum speed!" Alex pointed out.

Just then, a beam of yellow-ish green energy flew past their right side, making Alex swerve to the left out of instinct. Alex risked a look back, and saw the Changeling charging another magic blast, but also noticed something else important: the Changeling wasn't gaining on them, in fact, it was matching their speed, Alex figured that it's trying to slow them down by blasting them in order to catch up.

"That guy's readying another blast!" Alex informed Trixie.

"Any OTHER bad news you'd like to point out?!" Trixie sarcastically asked.

"Yeah, actually! He can't catch up to us, so that guy's trying to slow us down!"

"So now what?!"

"Uhhh..." Alex was trying to brainstorm, but only came up with one thing, Voice, whoever you are, tell me, how do we get outta this mess?! Alex asked in his head, not wanting Trixie to think he's a crazy person.

//Request confirmed. Answer: there are no skills that you currently possess that can help you escape the Changeling assailant.//

Well, ain't that some shit! What about that [Seer] Unique Skill thing?

//Answer: using the Unique Skill [Seer] will only buy you additional time, it cannot help you escape the threat.//

Perfect! "Unique Skill [Seer]!" Alex's eyes glowed as he began to see into the future again: the Changeling fired its attack on the rear tire of the bike, blowing up the whole wheel and sending him and Trixie flying off their ride.

With that info in mind, just as the Changeling was about to attack, Alex swiftly swerved to the right, avoiding the blast of deadly magical energy.

"Unique Skill [Seer]!" Alex's eyes shimmered for a moment, then he dodged yet another magical beam.

//Warning: using a Unique Skill in rapid succession can greatly weaken your mental stamina. Notice: symptoms include: dizziness, lightheadedness, blurred vision, nausea, and severe exhaustion.//

At that moment, Alex felt all of the above symptoms while struggling to keep his bike balanced on the road, "Agh...now you tell me!"

"What's going on?!" Trixie shouted in concern.

"Using that—agh—Unique Skill mul—ugh—multiple times was—" Alex let out a nauseous belch, "—a bad idea. It hurts to even—murp—talk...!"

"Well, whatever you're going to do, you better do it soon...because the Changeling is gaining on us!!!"

Alex glanced back, and despite his blurred vision, he saw the Changeling catching up fast.

"Is there a—ugh—a spell to regain mental stam—murp—stamina...?"

Trixie pondered for a moment, but then looked as if she remembered something, "...Yes! There is! But, I can only cast it on another being, and it'll take time to take full effect!"

"Anything will do—" Alex gave another belch, ready to blow chunks, "—HURRY!!"

Trixie closed her eyes and concentrated on the spell and her target for it as the Changeling was getting closer...

"Agent Y! Agent Y! Disengage! That's an order!!"

Back in the Changeling Hive, the commander was currently trying, and failing, to rein his agent in, but to no avail. The second Agent Y crashed into the ground and missed the human and pony duo, his intentions became known to the entire hive mind, making them panic with the thought, "What if the Emperor found out that one of his own attacked his fellow human?" The one to recover quickly was the Commander in charge of Agent Y as he ordered him to stop attacking the human, but he was dead-set on going after him for some ungodly reason.

"Son of a whorse! What's gotten into that idiot?!"

"I'd like to know that as well, Commander Hornet."

The Commander, now named Hornet, froze, then slowly turned around to see the intimidating, masked face of his Emperor, Jason Wright. Despite his scarred face being hidden, he could tell that the Emperor was barely trying to contain his rage.

"M-My Emperor...I was just—" Hornet tried to stammer out.

"I'm in no mood for formalities nor excuses." Jason responded curtly, "Now tell me, WHY is one of YOUR troops attacking someone of great significant value to me. HMM??"

"I-I have no idea. Agent Y was ordered to keep watch and NOT engage the target."

"And yet here we are, watching your Agent engage that boy."

"I've tried ordering him to disengage, but he won't listen!"

"...Curious." Jason was silent for a brief moment, "Patch me into the hive mind."

"Sir?! Are you absolutely—"

"Do it!"

Hornet was stunned silent, but regained his voice, "A-Alright." then lit his horn and pressed it against his Emperor's forehead...

As this was happening, Alex couldn't keep his grip on the bike anymore and drifted too far to the point that he and Trixie fell over and off the motorcycle, just a short distance away from it. The Changeling slowed to a stop and began approaching the two as they were regaining their bearings. The Changeling pulled out a musket-like gun from his back and began loading it with his eyes solely on Trixie.

(Battle with Changelings - Yellowjacket)

"W-W-What do you want from us?!" she asked.

"Oh, just two things. One: the boy, alive. And two: you, DEAD."

"Why me?! What did I ever do to you?!" Trixie demanded to know, losing her 3rd Person shtick.

"You're a PONY, obviously! And him," he pointed at Alex, "My Emperor has a certain...interest in his fellow human."

"Urgh..." Alex groaned, "So I was right. I've heard of Jason from Trixie, but not the whole story. I don't know what happened or why he attacked Ponyville, but right now, I'm inclined to steer clear of him if this is how he orders his Changelings around to attack other beings."

Jason was watching and listening to this whole exchange through the hive mind without Agent Y's knowledge, and grit his teeth under his mask after hearing what the new human said, courtesy of Agent Y's intervention, "Son of a bitch..."

"Well, sorry about your luck," The Changeling continued, "but I never said you had a choice." he then leveled his musket at Trixie's head, making her cower.

"NO!" Alex yelled as he charged at him, grabbing the barrel of the gun and redirecting it.

"Let...GO... you stupid...MONKEY!!"

The two began struggling over the gun, trying to take it from each other with Alex actively avoiding it being pointed at him. Soon, Alex felt his mental strength come back to him in massive amounts, making him more focused and less dizzy.

"Bingo!" Alex declared, making the Changeling halt in confusion, and that brief moment was all it took, "Unique Skill [Hijack]!!"

Just then, the musket turned into green scan lines as it began to transform.

"W-WHAT THE HELL?!?" The Changeling shouted in surprise.

As fast as the Unique skill was used, it was done; what was once an old-fashioned musket rifle has now become a modernized, custom-made shotgun, which bears a striking resemblance to Rufus Shinra's gun from Final Fantasy VII Remake. Alex, shaking off his surprise at another reference to the remake of FF7, raised his shoe-clad foot and kicked the Changeling off of his former gun, taking it for himself.

//Successful. The weapon has been modified to suit the user's needs. Notice: through subconscious use of the Unique Skill [Hijack], the user can change any small object into ammunition without the mental strain through use.//

"Why you...!" The Changeling began to charge, until Alex pointed the barrel of the gun at him.

Jason continued to watch as the rifle was transformed and the foolish agent tried to attack the boy again. He had seen enough.

"Agent Y." Jason began his strict order, "Return to base."

//What?! My Emperor, you can't be—//

"AGENT Y." his patience was running ever thinner with this idiot, "That's an order."

Alex watched as the Changeling seemed to have a mental debate in his head until he growled lowly, "...Count yourselves lucky this time." with that, he flew off, and Alex realized he never got his name, making him sigh.

(stop music)

"Should we...?" Trixie started to suggest.

"Better not push our luck." Alex lowered his new gun.

Trixie breathed a silent sigh of relief, then smirked, "Well! It is a good thing for that bug that The Great and Powerful TRRRRRRIXIE decided not to fight him with her grand magical prowess!" she then began to laugh arrogantly.

Alex just facepalmed and shook his head at her false bravado.

Back at the Changeling Hive, Agent Y was being led to the throne room by Commander Hornet and four lieutenants, two on each side of the former to prevent any sort of escape. Agent Y knew he was in hot water, but he had an excuse planned out.

"When we get there," Hornet began talking to Agent Y, "You'd BETTER have a good explanation for disobeying orders."

They reached the double doors and slammed them open, letting their Emperor and Duchess know they had arrived. The lieutenants broke off their formation from Agent Y as the Commander spoke to him once more.

"I already talked with the Emperor; he's willing to let you speak first before saying his own piece. Now speak."

Agent Y prepped up and gave his excuse, "My liege, I know I was only supposed to watch him, but not only was a pony with him," he uttered the word pony in disgust, "but I wanted to gauge whatever magical potential he had, and he has TWO of those Unique Skill things, but if he uses them too much, his mind starts to shut down. This could give us an edge."

There was silence in the throne room, then Jason took off his mask and addressed his subordinate, "Agent Yellowjacket...do NOT disobey my orders ever AGAIN." he then stood as Yellowjacket grit his teeth, "No one else is to engage this boy, only observe. That is a direct order from your Emperor. And that goes double for YOU, Yellowjacket. Consider yourself on probation. Disobey again, though, and you're dead. Did I make myself clear enough this time?"

"...Crystal clear, sir." Yellowjacket agreed, although reluctantly.

(stop music)

In the skies of Equestria...

All while this was going down, Princess Celestia and her pegasus chariot escorts were on their way to the general direction of the magical surge several hours ago. Celestia noticed that the sun was lowering itself down close to the horizon, meaning it will soon be time to lower it down entirely to make way for her sister's moon and nightfall. Her thoughts had been flooded with "what ifs" about who or what caused that surge and their intentions, but after so many questions and no answers, her thoughts wandered back to a certain group of former friends and their destroyed town.

I wonder how Twilight and the other Elements are faring right now...? she pondered as the chariot pressed forward to their destination.

Author's Note

//Next time: Ponyville Ruins.//

This is gun that Alex now wields, minus the coin: