Author's Note
Please keep in mind that this is my first attempt at writing. Please excuse any mistakes, or inform me of them. PM me any suggestions for future chapters. Thanks for reading!
I do not claim any ownership of Hasbro or any of the many great things it owns - namely, My Little Pony. I also do not own any music which may be linked within this story. This applies to all current and future chapters.
It was a beautiful, normal day. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, the high towers of Canterlot shined, ponies went about their day, and the giant purple bubble around the city shimmered as a constant reminder about the threat looming over the city. Perhaps it wasn't exactly a normal day, but at least it was beautiful. A wedding was taking place, and the city was bustling about it.
A lone, pale brown Pegasus stallion with a slightly faded brown mane and tail walked down the road, eyes closed, humming a familiar tune, wings partially covering his cutie mark, which depicted a hammer with a quill crossed over it in an X. He was so busy humming, in fact, that he failed to notice that the usual noise of chatter and clopping had vanished. He continued humming and walking, even as the great purple barrier broke and shattered into millions of tiny pieces as hundreds of black pony-like insects swarmed the city.
Screams, the sounds of running, and the occasional crying filly and colt were drowned out by his humming. He was in his own little world. It was only when he bumped into one of these black creatures that he stopped to open his eyes. In his face was a snarling, angry changeling with a glowing horn, ready to attack. The stallion didn't flinch.
Instead, the stallion spoke casually. "Hi, Reflect! Fancy meeting you here. I thought that the invasion wasn't for another week?"
The changeling continued to snarl for a second, but then his face went blank as his mind processed what was just said. The changeling dubbed Reflect sniffed the air for a second before responding. "Dense wind? You realize that the invasion was TODAY, right?"
The stallion blinked. "Today? Oh please. I remember the Queen saying it was in two weeks!"
The changeling sighed. "That was two weeks ago, Windy. Now get helping in this thing! The Royal Guard will be here any second to help evacuate, and seeing a Pegasus chatting casually with a changeling isn't exactly a good impression."
Dense Wind sighed as a green flame quickly engulfed his body, fading almost as soon as it appeared, leaving behind another one of those black insects. "Fine. But what can I do? I was told to infiltrate, and wait for the invasion, Reflect, not what to do afterwards."
Reflect repressed a second sigh before replying. "If you didn't zone out half way through the order, you might've heard what our Queen said. Now get your flank out there and help!"
Dense Wind glared at Reflect. "I have a right to be lazy! Do I need to remind you of that time when you met that red stallion and fell head over hooves and begged him to-" Dense Wind would have continued, but his mouth was full of Reflect's hoof.
"I told you never to mention that again. Turning into a mare does things to you, you know?" Reflect pulled his hoof from Dense Wind's mouth. As the once Pegasus stallion opened his mouth to respond, he stopped, then turned around and flew away as fast as he could. Reflect turned around just in time to get hit in the muzzle with a wave of purple, rather painfully I might add, and flung off into the distance.
Before Dense Wind could escape the city, he felt something hit his rear. Hard. Very hard, actually. The expanding shield had reached him, and he was flung off into the distance. Blinking, the changeling groaned. Wherever he landed, it was probably going to hurt, badly. He took some time to think about his situation.
This is going to hurt, he thought. Well, judging from how I don't seem to be flying off back to the Badlands, I'm probably going to land near a settlement. At that thought, he turned back into the faded Pegasus stallion that he was in Canterlot. At least the scenery is pretty. Is that a forest? Huh. Well, it looks like I'm landing in a forest. Better than some place like Trottingham or something. Actually, I kind of miss Trottingham. Those accents, they're much more awesome than regular pony accents.
As he thought those words, he failed to notice a rather friendly tree in front of him. The tree decided to greet the changeling by cushioning his fall out of the kindness of it's heart. The tree's kindness was unwanted, however, as the bark managed to hurt the changeling's face. A lot.
After falling to the ground, the changeling promptly screamed in pain, covering his face with his hooves.
---- Meanwhile ----
A minty green unicorn mare with a white highlight through her mane and tail walked through the Everfree Forest, a cream colored mare with a curled dark blue and pink mane following close by.
The cream colored mare spoke. "Lyra, are you SURE that these herbs you're looking for will help the taste of my candies, and has nothing to do with some bizarre human summoning ritual sort of thing?"
The green mare flinched before replying. "Of course! Don't worry, Bon Bon, we'll see if you like them, and then we can throw them out if you don't! I'm not planning any ritual, especially not one in which you make a small hard candy out of them, put it up on an altar, and then chant or anything!" The lie was painfully obvious.
Bon Bon just smiled, shaking her head. "Anything for you, Lyra."
"Thanks, Bon Bon."
The two mares trudged on quietly. Only the sound of crunching leaves, and the occasional twig snapping underneath their hooves, broke the silence. The silence seemed to last forever. Well, more like 5 minutes, before it was broken by a shrill scream of pain.
Lyra quickly turned to the noise. "Bon Bon, I think somepony's hurt! Come on, we gotta help them!"
"It could be a trap or something, I heard rumors of some sort of forest sprite that screams to attract unsuspecting ponies!" Bon Bon turned to her partner, only to find that the space she once occupied was empty, and saw her running of to help the pony in need.
Bon Bon sighed. We could either both die violently, or we could help somepony in need. Well, at least I'll know I died with someone I love. She ran off to help Lyra.
A minty green and a cream colored mare stood near each other, a smoking wreck in front of them.
The green mare broke the silence. "Is.. Is it alive?"
It was then that the cream colored mare went from nervously anticipating death from a vengeful fae sprite to agitated. "Yes, it is alive. It's breathing, see?" She motioned to the steady rise and fall of what most would call a chest. "And 'it' is not an 'it', 'it' is a colt, Lyra."
Lyra ignored her marefriend's comments. Walking towards the unconscious colt, she paused and looked back. "Come on Bon Bon, it looks hurt!"
Bon Bon resisted an urge to smack her own face with a hoof before approaching. "It's a he, Lyra." Lyra didn't so much as blink in response. Sighing, the cream mare got to the colt's right side. "Okay, Lyra, we need to get him to a hospital; We don't know he broke anything, but from the looks of the tree, it's probably safe to say that he hit it."
Lyra glared at Bon Bon. "Do I need to remind you why Nurse Redheart won't see anyone we bring?"
Bon Bon flinched as her cheeks slowly turned a bright red. "No, no no no no. It's perfectly fine. Let's just get someone else to help him." Bon Bon began to walk away. She didn't get far, however, before she stopped. ".. Lyra, the forest is a dark place, are you really going to leave me to walk home alone?" She turned around, only to be met with a face full of a minty green.
"Nope! I got him on my back, let's go home and get him onto a couch and get him something to drink." Bon Bon angled her head to see that her marefriend had, in fact, managed to pick up the colt.
"... Lyra, isn't he heavy?"
"I thought he'd be heavy too, but I think he might actually be lighter than me. Weird, huh?" Lyra smiled, and began walking back to the path.
Bon Bon blinked, before attempting to catch up. Must be a pegasus thing, or Lyra's been working out.
---- Meanwhile, within an abandoned mine deep beneath Canterlot ----
Three cowered before an angry, abnormally large changeling, who was standing in front of a green chalkboard. Minutes passed, but to three changelings, each minute felt like an eternity.
Finally, the large changeling cleared his throat, startling the three others. "Okay, who can tell me where you three went wrong?"
The one furthest to the left (facing the chalkboard), a small, almost newborn changeling, raised his hoof.
"Fickle Pickle, what is your answer?"
Fickle Pickle, his voice a much higher pitch than a full grown changeling, spoke. "Was it when we attended the wedding party, Mr. Horn?"
Glinting Horn, the large changeling, glared angrily at the three others, before shouting. "You did WHAT?!" Fickle Pickle cowered, eyes beginning to wet. Glinting Horn let out a long, exasperated sigh. In a much calmer voice, he said, "I'm sorry, Fickle, I shouldn't have exploded at you. But the two of you!" Glinting Horn glared at the other two changelings, both of them full grown, and shook his right hoof at them. "You two should be ashamed for going to that party. Just because the blast didn't reach the caves, does not mean that you can surface and take part in a victory party against your own race!"
The center changeling spoke, her voice a feminine one. "But sir, it wasn't so much a victory party as it was a standard after-wedding party!"
As a response, Glinting Horn scowled. "After-wedding party or not, Fading Light," he said, "it could still be counted as a victory party." He shook his head, before pointing to the third, slightly smaller than average changeling. "Flickering Cinder, can you tell me where you went wrong?"
Flickering Cinder was silent for about three minutes. Suddenly, he said, "Nope."
Glinting Horn buzzed his rings in irritation. "All right," he said, "I'm going to draw this out for you." He turned to the chalkboard, picked up a piece of chalk in his teeth, and drew a crude stick figure drawing of a unicorn with two lines protruding from the base of it's neck. "Can anyone tell me who this is?"
Fickle Pickle's eyes grew and shined, a smile spreading across the young changeling's face. "It's Mare Do Well!" The other two changelings nodded in agreement.
"But.. where's her hat?" said Fading Light.
Glinting Horn reared his hind legs and bucked the chalkboard into a nearby chasm. "It's our Queen, you idiots! Now, who can tell me what orders she gave you three?" Fading Light blinked, the realization dawning on her. She raised her hoof; No need to delay the inevitable, after all. "Yes, Fading Light?"
"To be the best bridesmaids we could be for our Queen."
"And..?"
Sighing, Fading Light said "To keep the alicorn, as well as any new prisoners, contained."
"Now, how did they escape?"
"They threw the bouquet, and we went after it."
"Why did you go after it, instead of following orders and keeping them contained?"
Fading Light paused for a moment, then grinned. "We were following orders, sir."
"Exactly, you weren't thinki-" Glinting Horn paused as his brain processed the words. "How were you following orders? They escaped, and almost killed our Queen!"
"We were following the original orders to be the best bridesmaids we could be. We wouldn't be the best bridesmaids we could be if we let the bouquet get damaged, could we?" Fading Light's smile threatened to split her face in two.
Glinting Horn paused, and stayed silent for a minute, as he tried to think up a response. Finally, he said, "Fine. Well, don't think you two are getting off that easily." The three other changelings stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "We're not strong enough to get that alicorn, much less capture Canterlot for our queen." Glinting Horn grinned evilly. "We'll capture that purple unicorn that she was with."
