Brave New World, Attack of the Changlings

Ponyville was in a mess, to put it bluntly. There were barely any buildings remaining and those that still stood had seen better days. Glass, brick and wood littered the ground. Owen and his friends wandered through this wasteland, still trying to figure out what had caused all this destruction. He kicked a broken tin can on the ground as he strolled up to it. It rang pathetically as it rolled along the cracked earth.

They came to the ruins of the Golden Oaks Library. The tree itself had been uprooted and the ground beneath it was blackened with soot and ash. Owen's face was strickened with grief as he carefully stepped towards the tree. Derpy was breathing heavily and her wall eyes with flooded with tears. Jake had his wing around her, trying to comfort her. Owen used his hoof to uncover the secret opening mechanism.

The Professor flicked the lever on the ground, which was still surprisingly there. The gears groaned and the secret floor-way opened up, dust falling into it as it did so. Owen's eyes widened.

The original stone stairway that he had built had been replaced with a metal spiral staircase with railings. The Professor scratched his head with his hoof. Had Twilight built this?

Cautiously, he stepped down into the darkness. After checking that the stairs were stable and weren't going to give in to any amount of weight, Owen motioned for his friends to follow him down. Eventually, after seemed like ten minutes, they came to a metal door that had been riveted to a wall.

"This definitely wasn't here last time..." The Professor remarked.

He put his hoof on the door and rapped on it. To his great surprise, the door began to open. It slid sideways and seemed to be swallowed up by the wall. Behind the wall, was something even Owen didn't expect...

***

Twilight Sparkle stood by the door leading to the outside. No-pony had seen the outside world for two whole weeks now, as they had been safely tucked away in their bunker, led by their Princess. Twilight had her most trusted generals by her side: Captain Shining Armour of the Royal Guard, and Admiral Rainbow Dash, leader of the Pegusi Royal Air force.

When she had heard someone set off the alarm, she had immediately dropped everything to see for herself if the Professor had returned. She looked at the door. She had designed it herself, along with Canterlot's greatest modern scientist, Quatermane or Q for short. It was reinforced with lead lined steel and magic. Virtually unbreakable, but there was one way to open it...and she doubted that anyone could break the combination.

The door gears began to grind and the door slid open.

He was here.

***

Twilight Sparkle stood in the center of a metal room. Something was, however amiss to the Professor.

Twilight had wings.

"Twilight Sparkle..." Owen murmured.

"Professor Lambert." Twilight replied.

The two launched themselves at each other at thrust their forehooves around each others neck. Twilight began to sob quietly into his neck, while Owen stroked her mane and told her that everything was ok. Owen looked around.

They were in some kind of metal room, a bunker perhaps. There were soldiers from all different races: Unicorn, Earth and Pegusi. Each one held a long metal spear, and was cloaked in shiny armour bearing a crest in the shape of the moon. Owen guessed that this was some kind of army belonging to Princess Luna.

As Twilight and Owen continued to kiss each other, Rainbow Dash launched herself at Sam and the two began to passionately kiss.

"Rainbow..." Sam smiled.

"Oh Sam..." Rainbow Dash murmured, her eyes half closed.

Quite a large gathering of ponies had appeared around the newcomers to see what was happening. Almost immediately, the ponies began to cheer as they saw the Professor and his friends. Owen cut his kiss with Twilight short. He smiled.

"Now, Please explain to me what the hell's going on?" The Professor asked.

***

They were all sat in Twilight's war room. She had a puzzled look on her face.

"So, you didn't receive my letter?" She asked.

"A letter? Hmm, not that I found..." Owen replied.

"It explained what was happening and why we needed you back here, Professor."

Owen shook his head.

"You see, Equestria has changed. Ever since you left, chaos has erupted across the land."

"Two days after you returned to your home planet, a group of changelings broke into your underground hanger and stole most of the blueprints you had created."

"Well, that explains why we saw a group of Changelings with one of your airships." Jake remarked.

Twilight continued "At first, we didn't suspect anything and Princess Celestia told us to remain calm, as she hadn't seen any of your blueprints. But then, exactly one week after you left, they came."

"We never expected them to use your own inventions, nor on such a mass-produced scale, against us. On that day, the sun was blotted out with the number of balloons, airships and zeppelins in the sky. Within two days of their arrival, Canterlot fell to their armies and Princess Celestia was killed. We sent some of our operatives to salvage anything they could find from Canterlot. All they told us was that the city had been flattened, leveled off by the constant use of Rainbow Lasers. "

Everyone sat there in a stunned silence. Celestia had been murdered and Canterlot had been completely wiped out. Owen had a hard expression on his face. His weapon, a defensive weapon, used for mass destruction? This simply would not do.

"I see... So tell me, how many Alicorns are left?"

"Luna, Cadence and I are now the only Alicorns left in existence. That was, until Cadence was kidnapped. She's now being held in a prison in the Changeling capital by Queen Chrysalis."

"Right..."

"Wait, Twilight, what was that giant factory we saw in the Everfree Forest?" Derpy asked.

"I'm glad you asked, four days ago the Changelings opened up a huge factory in the Everfree forest. We don't know what they're making, but we think it's one of your missing blueprints. We need to break into that factory and stop them."

Owen stood up and started pacing.

"Tell me, who's left?"

"Me and Luna are leading the Rebellion, a group of Earth-ponies, Pegusi and Unicorns fighting for our freedom. Both sides have tried to gain extra allies, but the Griffins refuse to join in our wars, and the dragons see no benefit so they keep out too."

"I see... So we're in this alone?"

"Yes." Twilight replied.

She led them into another room. It had brilliant white coloured walls and flooring. The room was covered in desks, tables and bookshelf's. These shelfs contains artifacts of curiosity and bottles of labelled potions. Unicorns sat at desks writing down notes, while others tried to fix things. The Professor assumed that it was some form of scientific laboratory. There was another room that led off from this science lab. It was the Professor's old hanger. Earth ponies and Pegusi were working on a huge ship under the command of Roid Rage, who was barking orders at them. The noise of drilling and hammering was deafening.

"We have begun work on a few of the blueprints that the changelings left behind, mainly putting all of our efforts on 'Project Executor', but we desperately need you to help us complete it, as we cannot understand some of the sketches." Twilight shouted over the noise.

An older pony clad in a white scientist's work uniform trotted up to them. He was a unicorn with a dark grey mane. His scientist coat flowed behind him. It contained many pocket, each holding something different. He also wore some form of rounded spectacles. He also had a large protruding mustache. He had small, intelligent eyes.

"Our top scientist along with myself have personally worked on this project. Professor, meet Quatermane, Quatermane, meet Professor Owen Lambert."

"Charmed to meet you, Professor." He held out his hoof.

Owen took it by brohoofing it. He smiled, this pony could be useful to him. He seemed to be quite an intelligent stallion. The older pony smiled and led them to yet another room. Owen wondered how much more had been dug out.

"Behold! The executor Mark IV!"

Owen half gasped and half grinned. There in front of him was one of his blueprints turned into a reality. A huge metal structure was being welded and hammers by several ponies. It was nearly twice the size of a zeppelin, complete already with three fully functioning rainbow lasers and nearly twenty rainbow laser anti-air cannons. It's wings were as large as a fully grown dragons.

Owen squealed in delight. He jumped up and down, repeatedly. He turned back to Q, giving him a rather large hug. After his brief moment of joy was over, he cleared his throat and turned to Twilight.

"Where's our favorite draconeques?"

Twilight looked at him, puzzled.

"Discord...? To be truthful I do not know. You see, earlier in the year Princess Celestia tasked us with reforming him... To which we succeeded with the kindness of Fluttershy... But after the fall of Canterlot... He simply disappeared."

"Take me to Fluttershy. She may know something." Owen asked.

Owen turned to the others.

"See what you can do to help, there will be jobs that need filling."

Twilight nodded.

"Yes, go and talk to Admiral Rainbow Dash, she'll sort you all out with something."

The rest of the Professor's friends left the hanger. Owen followed Twilight as she trotted towards another room labeled: "Medical Ward"

"You think she'll know something?" Twilight questioned.

"Oui, I do. She's good with animals is he not?"