The only good changeling is a dead changeling!

Hearts Of Steel, Bones Of Clay

10:30 pm. An hour before battle

Trixie and the rest of the platoon sat inside the enormous airship, a powerful silence had overtaken the atmosphere as their officers explained the plan yet once again.

"Alright troopers! Mission's easy, after they drop us off at the shore, we make our way inland and form a battle line! The oilhooves will move in to cover the sides while the navy and Spits up there shower the colony with cannon fire! You get me?"

"We get you sir!" The troopers shouted in reply and readied themselves mentally for what was about to come.

A dark mood had fallen over the unicorns, the rumbling of the airship's engine almost deafening against their ears, the thick scent of sweat and burning coal flooded their nostrils.

It would be only a matter of time now, all the platoons were ready, the battleships were on the move, nopony runs, everypony fights, down to the last bolt of magic, down to the last soldier, to death or glory...

Their pledge to fight until the end, to give their lives if need be, it was stuck in each trooper's head, it was their prayer, their air, their very existence, and not a single one of them thought otherwise.

It had been a long wait for this, hours upon hours of training, readying themselves, mastering the arts of warfare, and now it would all pay off.

"Thirty minutes everypony! Get set!" One of the officers shouted at the unicorns, they stood up and faced forward, aligning themselves into a five rank and ten line formation, all fifty troopers of the platoon at the ready.

The commander entered the room, the air of leadership he carried made the troops stand tall, they were proud of their commander, never one to stand and watch as they shed their sweat on the training grounds, not him, he always ran the laps, did the push ups, and shot the rounds all of them had.

He was as much a part of the platoon as the next unicorn.

"Alright troopers! We've made it! We're less than an hour away from no pony's land, the ground will be crawling with changelings!" The chubby unicorn grinned and started to move through the lines of soldiers, nodding at them and offering advice. "Just remember your training, keep together, and shoot anything that isn't wearing a uniform!"

"Yes sir!" The soldier's reply was strong and proud, worthy of only the strongest.

"Prepare for deployment!" The commander took his place at the front of the platoon, the banner carrier beside him swelled with pride at being both the bearer of the princess's standard, and having the honor to fight side by side with his commander.

Trixie stood firm beside her comrades, Zak, Benny, and Lightning all steeled themselves as Trixie checked her weapon one last time and made sure her magic flowed freely between the helmet and the cylinder.

Thoughts of home and family were what passed through their minds at that moment, although not all were happy memories, they all served the same purpose, to lead them forward and into battle, to sacrifice all and everything for a moment of glory.

Trixie Lulamoon...

"This is it, time to prove the world who I am, no more hiding behind lies, no more facades, time for truth..."

Zakaria Cheskov...

"...time fer honor, my family vill hear of me and they vill ve proud, I vill return home vith my Lightning, ve shall marry..."

Lightning Cloud...

"...and we'll live happy, in a farm outside Trottingham, just my Zak and I, with our foals and my family..."

Benny Sharphorn...

"...will hear what Ah have ta say, them ponies always thinking Ah was only good fer drinking, they will respect me more after this..."

"Get ready everypony! We're deploying in ten!" A pegasus from the ship's crew shouted into the pod, then disappeared back to deck, leaving the infantry to wait and prepare for their moment of truth.

10:50 pm.

On the deck of the admiral's flagship, Spitfire looked from side to side, the airships had lined up and were ready for battle, the cannons shining as the sunlight reflected upon their metal bodies.

She didn't like having to play a supportive role in battle, as far as she was concerned, the U.I. were simple meat shields, their only purpose being to put on a show for the masses to enjoy, just so more meat shields would join.

She grimaced and cast an expert eye over her crew and ship, making sure everything was in order.

Although she respected the trooper's bravery and dedication, she held little appreciation for them, the meat shields thought too highly of themselves as far as she was concerned.

"Alright everypony! To your stations! Halve the speed, get ready to drop the troopers!" Spitfire flew around the deck of her ship, making sure everypony was ready.

The admiral's flagship began to slow down as less carbon was fed to the furnace, the two other ships followed suit and the air fleet started to descend to an altitude were it would be safe to deploy the U.I. troopers.

As Spitfire made her way to the bow of the ship, one of her lieutenants stood at attention before her.

"Admiral Spitfire! Permission to speak freely." The pegasus saluted and waited for his admiral to reply.

"Spit it out soldier, we're in the middle of a battlefield." Spitfire stopped her flight and landed in front of her subordinate, the pegasus looked distressed, despite having permission to speak his mind, he spoke softly, making sure nopony heard him.

"Admiral, it's just that, well... Is it a smart thing to just fly there? I mean, without fighters for support?"

Spitfire simply nodded and gave the officer a reassuring smile, she had been asked the same question over and over again, but she was sure of her decision.

"Relax lieutenant, the changelings aren't smart, the meat shields will keep them busy while we blast them away with our guns, bringing in the fighter corps would only increase the bill at the end of the day."

"But admiral, shouldn't we at least form the battleships in a loose formation? They're too slow to dodge any concentrated fire from-"

"From whom? Changelings? Don't make me laugh lieutenant, those bugs know as much about aerial warfare as the navy knows about hygiene, they won't give us problems."

The officer nodded and Spitfire dismissed him to return to his duties, while she continued her inspection of the battleship.

10:51

Down below, in the waters before the changeling beach, the royal navy sailed fast and strong towards the shore, below their decks were the earth pony artillery and armored vehicle divisions, all ready for war.

Standing on the deck of her own flagship, was captain Steel Corvette, commander in chief of the navy fleet attacking the beach.

Four battle ships were commissioned to bombard the colony and transport the artillery and armored vehicle divisions, three of the vessels were equipped with two heavy mortars on deck, making them perfect for bombardment, but slow and lacking in broadside cannons.

The remaining ship was Steel Corvette's flagship, a swift and agile two decked vessel, twenty cannons on each broadside and two hundred ponies as a crew.

The captain smiled proudly at her fleet, she had personally selected which vessels and captains were to accompany her in battle, it would be a walk in the park as far as she was concerned.

No fortifications had been set on the landing spot, either the changelings had no idea of the attack, or they were too stupid to defend themselves.

The beach itself was a desolate desert of black sand, nothing lived on it, no plants and no animals, the large colony of changelings made sure of it, annihilating everything that could have grown near it.

The colony was a fortress, resembling an over sized anthill, the citadel stood several miles high into the air, the shapes of thousands of changelings could be seen crawling outside it.

Steel Corvette smirked, deciding to get an early start on the invasion, she decided to send the tanks early and nodded for her officers to prepare the landing boats and the earth ponies for battle, it would be a matter of minutes now, and her fleet would be the first to drop off its cargo, ensuring a medal for her.

Admiral's flagship, 21st platoon. 10:59:25

"Alright everypony! It's just like in training, lay down on the floor and run the belt over your backs, then secure it in place with the lock beside you, once we land you press the button on it to unlock it, and don't do anything stupid until the pod hits the ground, you got me? Last thing I need is a metal box full of corpses!"

"Yes sir!" The soldiers got on their stomachs and did as instructed, securing their weapons next to them and making sure their saddlebags were closed tightly.

"Get ready! Thirty seconds till the drop!" Their commander shouted and all troopers clenched their jaws. "Just remember your training!"

One final "Yes sir!" Left the mouths of the soldiers before silent prayers replaced any sort of noise in the pod.

Unbeknownst to them, the navy had gotten ahead of schedule, sending the tanks and artillery forward ten minutes earlier, they were already at the beach, making progress towards their position.

11:00 The drop.

"Deploy!" Spitfire shouted at the top of her lungs, the order was heard throughout the deck of the battleship and the crew rushed to comply.

"Kill them all!" The unicorns shouted inside their landing pods as the distinctive sound of hooves on deck told them it was time.

"For the princess! For our homes! For Equestria!" The earth ponies shouted their war cry to the skies as they moved through the sand, tanks ready to rain fire down on their enemies.

21st, heroes of the sand.

A terrifying metallic clank was heard as the landing pod separated itself from the airship, the troopers felt their stomachs churn and their fur stand as gravity took a hold of them and pulled with all its strength to smash them against the ground.

They fell for several seconds in complete silence, seconds which were being carefully counted by a designated trooper, he had his eyes closed, sweat running down his brow as he muttered to himself the passing numbers.

Several soldiers looked at him pleadingly, none were afraid to risk their lives, but throwing it away without seeing combat seemed like a waste, the unicorn didn't notice them, he simply kept on counting.

"Three... Four..." The distance lessened...

"Five..." Not much space between them and the sand...

"Six... Seven..." His eyes shot open and he pulled a lever on the wall next to him.

Nothing happened, every soldier felt their stomach drop as they felt their lives coming to an end.

Then the sound of something unfolding was heard, followed by a strong pull of the landing pod as their fall was slowed down by the parachutes brought them back to reality, loud cheers left the troopers as they celebrated being alive for the time being.

Benny looked over at Trixie and lightly tapped her shoulder.

"Ta foreigner can't hold his breakfast!" The large country unicorn laughed heartily and pointed a hoof at Zak, Trixie smiled and stole a quick glance at her comrade.

The red stallion's face was a mix of green from nausea and a pale white from fright, his legs were trembling slightly and sweat was pouring down from his brow.

A worried Lightning Cloud was fussing over him from her spot next to the Stalliongrad unicorn, ignoring the protests of her fiance and the muffled laughter from the soldiers closest to them.

The mood had lightened up a little after the chutes had stopped the fall, the soldiers were eager for combat, and now that it was only a few moments away from them, they were basically overflowing with excitement.

"Alright troopers! Remember, the door opens, we rush outside and secure the shoreline! The oilhooves will join us a bit after and we form a battle line! No mistakes ponies, you ain't in Ponyville anymore!" The commander shouted from the front, all voices quieting down immediately.

"Hey Trix, watcha think? Two tha first ten or twenty minutes?" Benny looked back at Trixie and gave her his yellow toothed smile.

Trixie looked at him with a dubious look in her eyes, and shook her head.

"I doubt it, intel said it would be a walk in the park, we shouldn't lose more than four or five during the entire run."

"Yeah, guess ya're right on that one, but still, that Green Grass fellow ain't gonna last too long." Benny nodded towards a scrawny looking unicorn, how he got into the U.I. nopony knew.

The room was alive with chit chat once more, most of them having relaxed a little, due to some of Benny's jokes, the commander didn't mind, some of the unicorns that were sharing a joke at the moment might never get another chance to do so.

All chatter died down however, as a loud thud and a strong tremor ran through the metallic walls of the landing pod.

They were on land.

"Alright! Everypony on the ready! Follow me, shoot all that is in front of us, and stay close to each other." The commander swiftly unlocked his belt and stood up, channeling magic to his horn.

His weapon levitated beside him, the blue aura surrounding it looked menacing, but nothing compared to his scowl.

The usually cheerful commander, who had always taken a liking to a good meal and some beer among comrades, now had a bloodthirsty shade in his eyes, his gritted teeth accentuating the battle lust in his soul.

"Tear em to pieces!" He shouted and with a single kick from his rear legs, brought the front wall of the landing pod crashing down.

Moonlight flooded the trooper's faces, and each one of them took a good look at the beach that might become their final resting place.

Sand dunes, stretching all the way to the feet of the changeling's citadel, black sand, dark clouds and an eerie, green glow emanated from large rivers of slime that ran down from the top of the enemy fortress and into the sea.

The descent to shore took about a minute, the parachutes on the pods were large and the wind was blowing from the sea, making them move forward and land several meters in front of their intended landing spots.

The soldiers quickly freed themselves from both the hypnotic scenery and the security belts that bind them, and rushed out of the pod, following their commander and the banner carrier.

"For Equestria!" The carrier shouted, the platoon replied to the cry with one of their own, and they all charged forward.

Trixie looked around her as she ran, it was dark, but not too much so she was still able to see what was going on.

Their landing pod had landed in front of a dune, so her view of the battle was pretty good since she was on high ground.

She was no strategist, but she recognized a grave mistake when she saw one.

"Hold the charge! Hold it! Form a line soldiers! A line!" The commander stopped running and looked around.

They were alone, the tank divisions were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are the Celestia damned oilhooves!" The commander directed his eyes to the shoreline, the landing boats were there, right beside his landing pod, and there were track trails on the ground, but no earth pony divisions.

"Sir! Look!"

A terrifying roar erupted from the darkness ahead of them, the gut churning scream of a pony followed, and then a large explosion illuminated the shadows.

The glimpse they got was small, almost nothing, but it filled them with dread.

The carcasses of many tanks lay scattered throughout the sand, fire engulfing several of them, while others simply lay destroyed and abandoned, the corpses of the crews littered the fields around their respective tanks.

No sign of the enemy though, the only traces of combat where the remains of the defeated and several hoofprints that led to the feet of the dune the 21st was standing on, but then disappeared, as if the changelings had taken to the skies.

"Those idiots went in without us!" The commander cursed under his breath. "Follow me soldiers! Let's show em what a true soldier looks like!"

"Yes sir!"

The 21st charged forward, weapons at the ready, hearts of steel and nerves of iron.

But their resolve would be threatened, that roar they heard...

Normal changelings didn't sound like that.

Royal flight, fire in the skies.

"Aim the cannons! Get ready to blast the monsters to tartarus!" Spitfire roared at her officers, the pegasi flew to the lower decks at full speed, delivering the admiral's orders to the gunners.

Spitfire smiled as the cannons were aligned to aim at the citadel, the large metallic war machines ready to fire at her command.

"Admiral! The earth pony divisions disembarked ten minutes early!" One of her officers shouted from across the deck. "The U.I. barely did!"

"Damn fools! Whatever, it doesn't matter, they won't find much resistance anyway." Spitfire knew it was a mistake to send the light tank divisions to take on an entire army by themselves.

Changelings had acidic saliva that could easily eat through the armor of a solitary tank, and the crews were not armed with anything stronger than their own hooves.

Without the infantry to back them up, tanks could be nothing more than a snack to a swarm of the beasts.

"Resistance will be minimal, no need to worry, the earth ponies won't lose more than a couple tanks at worst."

The admiral returned to her own concerns, she had a fleet to command.

And the dark clouds surrounding them weren't helping.

They had formed out of nowhere, covering the skies and forcing the fleet to fly blindly.

Good thing Spitfire had the coordinates of the citadel memorized, the cannons would still be able to fire accurately.

"Alright everypony! Give them fire!"

The thunderous explosions from the dozens of cannons on each broadside filled the air, the fire that spew from them illuminated the clouds around them for a little while, and splattered something across the deck.

Spitfire noticed the green liquid shoot out from the nearby clouds, the cannon fire probably hit a bird or something, but no bird she had ever heard of had green blood...

"What the hay...?" She poked the liquid with a hoof, several of her crew mates were gathering around it as well.

"What is it Admiral?"

"I don't-"

A scream pierced through the silence, all ponies turned to look at the bow of the ship.

A trooper had been pierced through the chest by a large forked tongue, about the size of a pony's leg, and behind him, perched up on the edge of the bow, stood the hideous beast responsible for his death.

Its body was scaled and black, much like any changeling's, except that it was four times as large, much longer too.

With a size that would shadow that of Princess Celestia's, the beast supported itself on six long legs, it's head was like a changeling's as well, except for the four extra eyes, and the long spider like jaws.

The monster tossed the carcass aside and roared, it's forked tongue swaying from side to side, taunting the ponies to approach.

Spitfire noticed the lack of wings on the monster and realized, a bit too late.

"They're boarding us!"

The crew panicked, they had never seen beasts like that one, most of them had spent more time tending to the airship's machinery and keeping it on the air than in combat.

Three unicorns on board opened fire at the monster, a steady stream of magic bolts flying towards the beast.

The creature gave a howl of pain as the projectiles shattered its shell and pierced the flesh beneath it, green blood spilling onto the deck.

The troopers grew bold and advanced, still showering the beast in front of them, it howled and lunged towards the soldiers in a desperate attempt to kill them.

But the creature's legs betrayed it, they collapsed under the weight of it's body and sent the beast tumbling forward, leaving it defenseless.

The soldiers saw their chance and concentrated their fire on the monster's head, the magic bolts smashed through the skull and made a mess out of the beast's brain.

The creature convulsed and thrashed wildly, but then grew still, the glow from it's eyes vanishing.

The crew of the ship stomped their hooves in celebration and the soldiers smiled proudly.

Spitfire wasn't buying it.

"Battle posts! Get ready for battle! All hooves on deck!" She looked to the skies and saw several shades moving stealthily through the clouds above them, they were large and winged. "You two! Wipe the smirks off your faces and get the rest of your unit up here, now!"

The soldiers nodded and rushed to the lower decks, the rest of the crew darted from board to starboard, getting into position behind the smaller cannons on deck.

Spitfire got behind the wheel of the airship and turned to starboard, intent on getting away from the large monsters that flew overhead.

"Full speed ahead! Get us more altitude! Where the hay are those meat shields!?" Spitfire's hollers reached far and wide through the darkness of the clouds.

Unbeknownst to Spitfire, her airship had been the last one to be boarded, and if it weren't for the clouds surrounding her ship, she would have seen that one of the vessels that flew beside her was no longer there, but rocketing at full speed towards the ground, engulfed in flames.