Chapters Brave New World, Attack of the Changlings
Brave New World
Attack of the Changelings
"Professor, I need you now more than ever."
Princess Twilight Sparkle was sitting at a desk writing a letter. She was sitting in a blast-proof room, with two armed guards at her door... Several hundred meters underground.
"You see, Professor, 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."
"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, levelled off by the constant use of Rainbow Lasers. "
"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."
"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."
"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."
"This is why we need you back, Professor. You're the only one who can help us. You're the only one with the imagination, bravery, optimism, dedication and leadership to save all of Equestria."
"We have begun work on a few of the blueprints that they 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."
"I know you won't fail us."
"Your love, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight signed the letter and placed it into an envelope. She sealed it shut with her wax sealer. She walked out of her bunker and into an office. The two ponies in the office, a small, arrogant unicorn and a tall, intelligent Earth-pony, stood to attention as their Princess entered the room.
"I need you to use the Portal to get this to the Professor."
The two nodded and flicked a switch, concealed within a book on a shelf. An idea Twilight had stolen out of one of the Professor's earth books.
The switch opened a door to a small room, no bigger than a garage. There in the center of the room, was the badly damaged Portal. Twilight pushed a few buttons and pulled a lever. The ancient machine whirred to life and a sphere formed in the middle. After a few moments, the sphere turned mauve. It buzzed and crackled with electricity.
Twilight put the letter in a small, jewel encrusted chest. She handed it to the tall Earth-pony and saluted him.
"I wish thee well on your journey."
Both ponies didn't hesitate, they both just took off into the swirling portal, sending them to a new and unfamiliar terrain.
Twilight stood there, looking blankly into the mauve portal.
"C'mon Owen, I need you."
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.
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?"
Brave New World, Attack of the Changlings
Twilight and Owen found Fluttershy tending to a soldiers wounds in the medical ward with the help of Zecora. Her pink hair was everywhere and the timid pony looked like she hadn't slept for days. She smiled at Twilight when she saw her friend approach. Fluttershy nodded at the wounded infantryman, telling him that he could leave.
The ward itself was a brilliant white with potions lining dustless shelfs. There were implements for operations lying on tables and there were several ponies getting ready to be fixed. Fluttershy was wearing a white shirt, stained with tiny droplets of blood. Her hoofs, however were clean.
"Goodness, hello Twilight. What brings you here Princess?" She asked politely.
Fluttershy's eyes widened with fear when she saw the Professor. Owen figured that this may be because he had hurt her friend, Discord.
"Hi there Fluttershy, how are you?" Twilight said.
"I'm fine thank you, Zecora's been teaching me to how to brew healing potions for all these poor ponies."
Zecora looked grateful for this compliment, and she trotted off in search of more herbs for a potions she was currently creating.
"Me and the Professor are going to ask you a few questions, if that's alright with you."
Fluttershy seemed uncomfortable and she looked nervously at Owen, who was staring at her with a kind smile. Owen continued.
"We need to know the location of your friend, Discord."
Fluttershy's eyes opened wide and her mouth parted slightly. After a few brief seconds, she closed her mouth again. She looked at the ground in shame.
"Please." Owen said.
"I- I can't tell you..."
Twilight seemed confused. So she did know where he was? Then why not tell us?
Owen was thinking the same thing and he exhaled in annoyance.
"Please Fluttershy." Owen pleaded. "We need to know where he is, otherwise more ponies are going to get badly hurt. We need him."
The Professor had hit a raw nerve, just as he had planned to. Be cruel to be kind as his grandmother had always said. Fluttershy started to cry.
"Okay! I'll tell you... I can't bear the thought of anymore innocent, little creatures being hurt for no good reason! But he told me never to tell anypony where he was..."
"Where is he Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.
Fluttershy pointed to a pony sitting by himself playing with a bat and ball on a large brown barrel. He had the same twisty beard as Discord. This pony seemed totally oblivious to anyone and anything around him as did everyone to him, in fact it was like he was totally invisible to rest of the world. Owen smiled happily and turned back to Fluttershy.
"Merci, you have done this world a great service." He kissed her on the hoof.
Fluttershy went a very deep red and began to mumble her thanks. Owen smiled and he and Twilight walked towards Discord. Fluttershy giggled and turned back to her duties.
"That." Twilight said. "Was disgraceful."
"We do what we must to get what we want." Owen shrugged.
***
The rest of the Professor's friends had been given jobs to do by Admiral Rainbow Dash. Ebony, Tom and Hurricane were working with the Pegasus Royal Air Force, trying to build tri-planes that Tom had originally used in the fight against Discord. Tom was pacing up and down as his fellow mechanics built the planes with their magic and their hoofs. Ebony painted the planes red as they came by on large conveyor belts and Hurricane was using a rivet gun to nail the wings to the body of the plane.
Aimee, Jake and Derpy were working with Quatermane trying to create new weapons to use against the changelings. Jake was messing with some form of chemical, causing the entire room to go up in smoke. Quatermane was building some form of saddle-mounted machine gun, similar to that of a Tommy Gun with the drums also attached to the rear of the saddle. He attached it to Aimee, running the saddle through her wings. He pointed at a target on the wall.
"Now, use your wings to pull the triggers." He said.
Aimee tensed her wings and pulled the triggers. The rainbow bullets shot out of the twin barrels, tearing the target to pitiful shreds. Quatermane nodded his head.
"Excellent, we shall begin work on more immediately."
Hurricane walked up to them.
"Where's Jake?" He asked.
Jake wandered around a bit until he came across a room. The room had a sign above it's entrance, telling him that this was the Archives. He pushed open the door, surprised to find that the door didn't have a lock. He put his head around the door, his eyes open and his eyebrows up and questioning. He slipped into the room like a silent assassin. He saw a single desk with a single file on it.
He opened up the file and emptied it's contents all over the desk. Most of these were Owen's blueprints, but some of them were other bits of paper. News reports and tables containing data. Jake picked up one of the newspaper cuttings and read it.
It stated that there had been some form of crystal mirror underneath the Castle in the Crystal Empire. This mirror acted at a gateway, much like the one Owen had made. He read that Twilight had made her way over to a world filled with bi-pod animals known as humans...
"This can't be right..." Jake murmured as he continued reading.
Twilight had gone to some form of human secondary school and met friends there that majorly resembled the ones back in Equestria.
"Parallel universes... My god...Then maybe there might be another home for us..." He whispered, his eyes filled with hope.
Jake replaced the paper quickly and slammed the folder shut. He left the room silently and rejoined his fellow companions.
***
Owen cleared his throat when he went up to the pony resembling Discord. The pony stopped playing with his bat and ball and simply stared at the Professor. He growled low then sat up. He bowed to Twilight.
"Your Majesty." He murmured.
"Tell me who you are?" She asked.
The pony sighed and his hoof made a sudden movement. There was a flash of bright light and the pony had disappeared. In his place stood a very tall and very distraught draconeques. His lion and chicken arms were folded and his expression was annoyed. He was looking at the Professor.
"Well. If it isn't the pony who turned me back to stone with his wondrous technology!?" Discord mocked.
Owen was in no mood to play with the King of Chaos, so he began his talk.
"Discord, I know we have had our disagreements in the past..." The Professor started.
"You shot me..." Discord moaned.
"It was an accident."
"...Six times." Discord finished.
Owen put his hoof on his head. They were getting nowhere fast.
"We need your help. Please." Owen asked.
Discord's ears picked up and he turned to the Professor. He had a grin glued to his face. He flexed his fingers.
"Oh? So you need my help, do you?"
"As your Princess, I order you to do as the Professor says!" Twilight commanded.
Discord narrowed his eyes and growled in frustration. He clicked his fingers and created a tin can, which he kicked angrily. He clicked his fingers again and was holding a pencil and paper. He sat down in a position that showed he was ready to write down anything that was said.
"Very well. What do you need me to do?"
