Brave New World, Attack of the Changlings

Atop a small grassy ridge overlooking the remains of Ponyville, a lone rabbit hopped through the undergrowth. He stopped and sniffed at the smokey air. His face wrinkled in disgust. He turned to see a great metal structure being built in a dense forest nearby. Chimneys towered over the tops of the trees and the smoke choked the sky. The massive gears groaned and creaked as they turned huge pistons. It sounded just like a wounded animal, begging to be put out of its misery.

The rabbit turned away from the loud machine and bounded away from it, frightened by the terrible din it was creating. It heard another noise, a soft whirring and crackling. He stood up as straight as a statue and looked around to see what had caught his attention.

There was a blinding flash of light and the rabbit was thrust backwards by some form of energy. It gasped and lept away. The light rounded off and became a glowing sphere. After a few moments, the sphere turned bright purple. Raw energy was still leaking out, leaking onto the green ground. It was a portal.

A shadow appeared from inside the portal and a figure stepped out. He shook his head and repositioned the monochrome tie he was wearing. His eyes were a deep hazel brown and his mane was an earthy umber, streaked with crimson. His coat was beige and his horn protruded out of his hair like a gleaming spire. He wore a short green jacket with cuffed sleeves. In one of the pockets in the coat, there was his trusty silver revolver. In the other was a strangely designed pocket watch.

His hair flew in the wind and he looked around the landscape. After a few seconds he looked back at the portal. More figures were coming through.

A blue pegasus with ginger hair emerged. He was looking at the floor, almost in shame. A grey mare with bright yellow hair followed him, her wings beating as she hovered behind him. Her eyes were odd and they seemed to be looking in different directions..

Two more pegusi walked through the portal. These two were hugging each other tightly, as if they were surgically attached to each other. They looked around nervously as their hooves touched the grass as they left the portal.

Three more ponies wandered through the glowing sphere. The first was black, and his white mane hung in bangs above his eyes, obscurring his vision slightly. The second and third held each other, not as tightly as the other couple but still quite firmly. They were both pegusi.

The first pony looked around at these newcomers. Finally he spoke.

"You destroyed Florida!" He yelled, pointing at the ginger haired pony.

"Look, it wasn't my fault. I just can't stand that place..." Jake replied.

"You overloaded their nuclear reactor." Owen mused.

"Look, it's alright now. We're safe, aren't we?" Sam interjected.

"Hey! It wasn't Jake's fault, don't be a jerk to him!" Derpy shouted.

Hurricane and Aimee were quick to take sides.

"You destroyed your home planet!" Hurricane accused.

"He didn't mean to, babe." Aimee said, running her hoof down Hurricane's back.

"Look! We're back here now. Which isn't so bad. I'm sure we can take on Celestia again." Owen yelled.

The group nodded in agreement. The Professor sighed happily and looked around. Something seemed amiss. Why was there a giant factory where the Everfree Forest was meant to be? Why was the ground littered with pollution? And most importantly... Where was Ponyville?

The Professor's eyes widened as the crux of the matter dawned on him. There had been a war... Had he started it? Had Twilight attacked Celestia for trying to imprison him? He turned to his friends.

"Guys.... I think we might have a problem."

His friends saw for the first time what he meant... The ruins of Ponyville.

Almost all the buildings had been destroyed. Timber, stone and debris littered the ground. Sugar Cube Corner was simply a blazing mess. The Carousel Boutique was a mere hole in the earth. The Golden Oaks Library was little more than a few twigs and rotten leaves. All was quiet. All was dead.

The Professor gulped in a lungful of air. He was shivering. Jake wasn't speaking, which usually meant bad things. Aimee and Hurricane weren't either. Derpy was sobbing quietly into Jake. Ebony and Tom were gritting their teeth. After a few minutes of silence, one of them spoke.

"Who... Who could have done this?" Derpy cried.

Jake looked up. "Um... maybe... Them?"

Everyone looked skyward. A huge airship was looming in the clouds. It was darkly coloured and had a sticky, honeycomb like substance glued to it. The colour of the strange chemical was a sickly toxic green. The blimp turned towards them. It's rainbow laser began to charge up.

"How the hell did we miss that?" Jake said.

"Run!" Owen yelled.

The beam fired, it appeared to be a silenced version of the Professor's original design, as it did not create the almighty roar as it fired. The rainbow streaked blast hit the earth a few seconds after Owen and his friends had lept into a ditch. The raw shock wave of energy passed harmlessly over them, but the neighbouring trees were completely ravaged.

Owen looked up over the top of the ditch. The grass had died and had rotted away. Anything left was slowly turning to dust. The Professor narrowed his eyes as he took a closer inspection of the zeppelin. He whipped out his trusty revolver and fire two shots at the airship. The first hit the barrel of the rainbow laser and seemed to disappear inside of it. The second pierced the balloon.

After a few unnervingly quiet moments, the great airship caught fire and exploded, raining debris everywhere. A few shapes and figures also fell from the wreck. Owen walked over to the nearest one, his revolver still in hoof. The figure stared up at him, eyes wide with terror and uncertainty. The Professor recognised what this was immediately.

It was a changeling.

The poor creature barely had time to scream before it's brains had littered the ground. Owen turned to his companions, who were just poking their heads over the hill, like moles sniffing for worms.

"What... The hell was that?" Sam questioned.

"Changelings. Nasty buggers..." Owen replied, whilst re-pocketing his revolver.

"Wait... As in, actual changeling?" Jake asked.

"As in 'Take over Canterlot' changelings? Yes. Those ones."

"Professor..." Derpy asked. "Wh- Why did they have your airship?"

Owen looked as though he was thinking deeply. Eventually, he spoke.

"I don't know... But I intend to find out!" He strode off towards the mess that was once Ponyville. The others quickly followed.

***

Twilight Sparkle sat at her desk, looking at a well-designed map of Equestria. She had black and red figurines on top of the map. The red ones represented the Rebellion, while the black ones represented the Changeling Army. She put her hoof to her chin and thought carefully. She lifted her hoof slightly, and moved one of the red figures a little further forward.

A messenger burst through the door. He was a small, grey, slightly flustered unicorn. He was panting heavily. After he regained his breath, he bowed low to Twilight.

"Princess, there is news of a temporal phenomenon just outside of Ponyville."

Twilight's eyes widened. This meant that Owen had returned. She could now win this blasted war and rule over her subjects without much worry or bother. The suffering of her friends and allies were at an end. But this was pushed to the back of her mind. Her Professor had returned.

He had come home.

"Ready the warriors... And insure that the entrance is locked. We're getting a visitor."

Twilight stood up and re-positioned the crown on her head. They were finally going to win this war.