The years after the fall

Chapters

Prologue
Just Another Day
The Nightmare
Free At a Cost
The Daylight
The Ambush
The Surprise

Prologue

The wind was cold, and the snow colder. The mountain was said to hold an ancient key, a key to unlock the secrets of Equestria... But they were decieved....

"Hey Preacher give me an update on the mining progress"

"At once Tribute!" Preacher galloped to her side and immediately started informing her. "Our mine carts can only go so deep in the mines, but we have almost succeeded in our task of bringing out the key. By the end of the day we shall have it."

"Good job Preacher, and if you can get it out sooner, you and your crew will get an extra raise."

Tribute seemed very anxious to get her hooves on the key thought Preacher, although he said nothing. "Thank you Tribute" he replied.

"No" Tribute looked into his eyes for a moment. "Thank YOU. You and your fellow miners have done this kingdom a great service today."

Preacher looked away and tried not to blush. Tribute WAS a very beautiful mare, even if she was a royal speaker he could help but to stare sometimes.

He shook the feeling off. This was official business only. There was no time for such petty things like love to get in the way of progress.

"We will bring you the key by nightfall" Preacher stated, not meeting Tributes gaze.

"I certainly hope so Preacher. The kingdom depends on it"

Preacher's ears perked up and suddenly he looked startled

"What do you mean, 'the kingdom depends on it'?"

"There are some things that you should leave to your betters Preacher. And it is none of your concern" Tribute replied, narrowing her eyes as she spoke.

"Oh well if you say so..." Preacher didn't look convinced

"Just do what you are being paid to do, and everything will be fine" Tribute's mood had lightened a little bit, Preacher thought. She certainly didn't look as mad as before when Preacher had asked why the kingdom depended on the key being used. But he couldn't help but wonder what it was, regardless of what Tribute told him. He also had an odd feeling that she was somehow not telling them everything, deceiving them if you will, about what the key contained. She had told them that the key was an artifact built by an ancient race called "humans" and they built it as a key to their refuge after the ponies came into Equestria. Now they are all mixed in with the changelings and diamond dogs, sentenced to an eternity of nothingness. Preacher thought she might of been correct on those things, but was lying about her motives to acquire the key.

As they both walked farther down in the cave, it got warmer, and Preacher caught many miners sneaking glances over at Tribute, but he said nothing. How could he when he, himself did the same thing? Besides, Tribute didn't notice, or she just didn't say anything about it either. They stopped in front of a mine cart full of miners just getting off to go to the mess hall.

"How is it going Preacher? You got a new girlfriend?" The pony working the mine cart controls laughed.

He regretted it after Preacher kicked him hard in the ribs

"Shut the fuck up" Preacher said to him "And if I EVER hear you call a high official, and not only that but our EMPLOYER my girlfriend ever again, I will throw your worthless plot out of this cave so quick you won't even know what happened!"

"It's fine" Tribute looked amused after the incident, "Now lets get back to business shall we?"

"Yes, of course ma'am" Preacher said. "Control, request to dock at section one-oh-three-two."

"Permission..... Granted...." gasped the control pony, who had just gotten the wind knocked out of him from Preacher.

Tribute stepped into the mine cart, as did Preacher, and soon the two of them were of on their way to the center of the mountain.

"So uh Tribute, you didn't take offense to the comment back there right?" Preacher asked, begging for an answer.

"Well if you have to ask, not really no." Tribute responded, blinking.

Preached looked up in surprise. "Really? I mean uh.... Why didn't you feel offended?"

"Because a mare can never get too many compliments" Tribute said with a tone that dissuaded any further conversation.

What does that mean? Preacher thought to himself, does that mean she thinks I'm good looking? 'No Preacher' a voice in the back of his head said, 'She doesn't. She just doesn't want to offend you.' But does that mean that she thinks being my girlfriend is a compliment? Preacher asked himself. Any further thoughts were interrupted by the screech of the brakes, as the cart neared the platform. "Approaching destination number one-oh-three-two" a monotoned robot mare's voice blared over the loudspeaker and workers were standing in line, waiting to go back to the barracks.

"We don't get many ponies coming out at this time of day" the Control pony said after assisting Tribute out of the cart. "Right this way" and he showed them the way out. It was a narrow path, leading basically up the trail where the mine cart should have gone, if it had kept on going. "Good luck down there" the Control pony said as they were leaving "It's pretty busy, and the stallions aren't exactly friendly to mares, no matter what your social status is." The last part was directed at Tribute, who in reply said "Oh I know how to deal with ruffians." They both continued down the path, and left the crazy mine cart station behind them.

The noises of the workers in the mine was almost unbearable. Clashes as miners dug with their special digging pick axes, and the grinding of machines smelting valuable rocks were the loudest of the noises. Tribute looked disdainfully at the crowd of untidy ponies, who all looked like they hadn't showered in weeks. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the lovely princess we've all been waiting for to save us from this place" a miner said in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Goddam-" Preacher was cut off by a Tribute, who covered up his mouth with her hoof. "Don't worry" she told him, "I will handle this".

She turned to the miner "I AM THE ROYAL GUARDIAN OF PRINCESS CELESTIA, AND PROTECTOR OF EQUESTRIA. IT WOUlD BE WISE OF YOU TO WATCH YOUR MOUTH IN MY PRESENCE." She shouted in the royal Canterlot voice. Preacher looked startled and looked up at the beautiful white Unicorn is awe. He had never heard her use this tone of voice on anypony, and with her small form, he didn't even know she had it in her.

"Lets, erm, continue to the vault shall we?" Preacher suggested to Tribute, who by now had the attention of everypony in room (which in fact, was pretty big)

Tribute nodded her head and followed him, the eyes of all the miners still trained on her. They continued down a tunnel off the main room and eventually got to the 'vault'. In reality it was just a steel door busted open by a locksmith. The steel door hung to one side, and was completely rusted over. Inside the room it smelled like something crawled in and died, and besides Tribute and Preacher, there was only one other pony in the room. Nopony knew his name, but everypony called him "the Seeker" because he was always looking for something. And it always was the same. The key.

The Seeker was hunched over a control panel and his back was to them. "Hmm" muttered Seeker"it must be here somewhere" he had a voice that sounded like a creature that had been nearly starved to death, and could barely speak. "Sorry to bother you Seeker, but I brought a guest for you." Preacher said as Seeker turned in surprise. "This is Tribute, and she is looking for the key, same as you. Perhaps you two can work together on this one?" The last one was a suggestion to Tribute saying that Seeker was the best pony of his class.

"Certainly Preacher." Tribute seemed fascinated in the fact that somepony besides her wanted the key. "How far are you to finding it?"

"Oh not far, not far" Seeker replied. "Only a few more minutes and the stars will have aligned correctly to give away the position of the key. Until then we wait."

"I see" Tribute look annoyed that it would be longer than she hoped.

Suddenly, a bright light shined through a crack in the ceiling that Preacher didn't notice before. It shown down at a spot where sand covered the floor, instead of rust.

Seeker seemed to get more agitated the longer he stared at the sand, Preacher thought, and Tribute seems excited to get the key.

"Time to dig I guess" Preacher said with a sigh as he started to dig up the sand. The longer he dug though, he noticed that while Tribute seemed only mildly excited, Seeker was going crazy, almost throwing things around.

Thud.

Preacher's shovel hit something hard. He quickly shoveled up the rest of the sand, and unburied a chest. "Ahahahahaha" Seeker cackled," it's time to pay a visit to the Princess"

"Seeker what are you talking about?" Asked Preacher as he began to open the chest.

Tribute had been silently watching the entire time.

"No!" Shouted Seeker, "It must be me who opens the chest, ME! Ahahahaha" and he jumped around some more.

"Seeker what the hell are you talking about?"

Then Seeker rushed Preacher at an alarming rate and pushed him over. Then he flung open the lid. As soon as Seeker opened the chest a bluish glow came from the bottom. Then the wind started up. It was a cold, harsh wind, and a voice came out of the chest in an unknown language to Preacher. As he picked himself up, he looked over at Tribute. "What the hell is going on?" Preacher asked. Tribute suddenly looked fearful, and turned to Preacher, who was shouting to be heard over the wind.

"Run!" Tribute shouted over the wind "Run now if you want to live!" And she ran out of the vault. Preacher glanced over at Seeker, whose gaze was locked with the contents of the chest. The control panel he had been working on was now sparking and ruined, wires everywhere. Preacher fled the vault, dashing after Tribute. By now, the wind had picked up, even more then what was normal. All the miners were freaking out and there was chaos in the mine.

"What the hell is going on?" A miner asked Preacher, as he came to a stop in front of him. Preacher's eyes quickly scanned the room for Tribute, who he saw was running up the corridor to get back to the mine cart. "If you want to live, get to the mine carts".

The miner nodded and shouted "EVERYPONY GET TO THE CARTS!"

Fortunately there were not many ponies still down there, Preacher thought, or getting to the surface would be a challenge. He ran down the corridor and shortly arrived at the station. He saw that Tribute already had gone a decent way up the line to get to the carts. He pushed his way to her. The poor controls pony was working had to keep things under control, but to no avail. "Sorry sir, your cart is waiting" he said as he recognized Preacher and Tribute. "Thanks" Preacher replied, as the wind picked up even more. They both got on, and the control pony sent them on their way. The metallic mare's voice at this point could no longer be be heard over the wind. As they whisked away on the tracks, Preacher turned to look at Tribute. "What. The. Fuck. Was. That?"

Tribute looked very, very scared for some reason. "Well?" Preacher snarled, "What was it?" It was a few minutes before she replied, the wind now blocking out the noises of the cart on the rails. "It was a changeling" Tribute finally said, not meeting Preacher's glare. "I wanted the chest because it would secure the kingdom's guaranteed victory against the humans and changeling army." But Preacher still was confused "So who, or what was in the chest?"

"The changeling leader, Queen Chrysalis. After the battle, Shining Armor and Cadence banished the changeling army to the far reaches of Equestria." She continued, "As the Queen was dying, they placed her in the chest, hoping to preserve her. But they had to leave after the Equestrian Army came and attacked their cave. This was their base. This is why we wanted the key so badly. Queen Chrysalis had the power to open the portal again, and if she does, the changeling army will march again upon all of Equestria, and all will be lost. We can't allow her to leave this cave." Preacher nodded "I understand." He suddenly realized what needed to happen. The company was now ruined. "We have explosives used for mining by the entrance, once everypony is through we will seal the doors." He thought back to the controls pony, who had helped them escape. He wondered if he was still alive, but he kind of doubted it.

"We need to get out of here" he said to the control pony at the final station. The pony looked startled. "Whats going on?" He said " I just heard a loud noise, and then all this wind came."

"No time to explain" Preacher looked at him square in the face, " We need to get everypony out of here NOW!"

The controls pony nodded his head and rushed back to the controls, and unloaded the next cart. "There are two more carts coming sir" the first pony off the cart informed Preacher. "Good" Preacher replied, "Get the miners to the entrance, and prepare the explosives to collapse the cave."

"Yes sir" the miner replied and he turned to his buddies and said, "All right boys, you heard the pony, move your ass to the entrance, and prepare to seal it shut. Grab all the TNT you can find!" As the miners headed off to rig the cave, Preacher glanced at Tribute. She hadn't spoken since they got off the cart, and she looked like she might go into shock. "You feel ok Tribute?" Preacher asked. "Yes... I'm... Fine" she replied, still staring off into the distance, not meeting Preacher's gaze. "Look Tribute, this isn't your fault. Nopony could have stopped this from happening. Seeker deceived us all."

Tribute just blinked at him. Something felt off, Preacher thought to himself.

The wind was still loud, and everypony besides them and the control pony was gone. "Last cart, coming in!" the control pony shouted over the wind. The cart came to a stop, and Preacher looked up in surprise as the other control pony stepped off. "We need to move. The cave is rigged to blow up in 5 minutes."

The controls pony nodded and the cave shook from a voice that bellowed from the deep in the mine shaft. "Who daresss...."

"Aw shit." The control pony who wasn't from the vault sector said. "Dale we better get the hell out of here". Dale, who apparently was the control pony from the vault, replied "Yes, I agree" and they took off.

"Well" Preacher looked at Tribute again, "We better get out of here too. Everypony is out except us."

Tribute nodded and they began to rush to the exit.

Suddenly the cave erupted with rocks flying everywhere, dirt covering everything. The miners must have set off the TNT early!

Wait, but if they did, then Preacher and Tribute would be dead. Whatever caused that explosion was not TNT. It had to be something huge. Something like a portal? That had to be it. Preacher dusted himself off and continued on, seeing that Tribute wasn't even fazed that the explosion had happened. Preacher poured out all his energy, as the cave continued to explode around him.

Daylight

Finally

They got to the entrance and the miners pulled the plug on the explosives.

BOOM!

The cave collapsed, and the explosion gave many miners concussions. "All right is everypony ok?" Preacher inquired. There had to be at least 200 hundred miners here, and he never really thought about how many worked for him. And thankfully most of the ponies were sleeping in the barracks, which was located close to the entrance, which made evacuation easier. Everypony looked at him and said "yes" in unison. He noticed that Dale had moved far away from the group, and was starting to change. A changeling! But how? Well however it happened, a good chunk of the group was doing the same thing. They had escaped! They pretended to be miners and fled the scene with them! It all made sense now! Tribute had noticed now but it was too late. Dale had already flown away, now in the form of a changeling, going to find a source of happiness to feed on. Shit! And the others had done the same. Preacher had two thoughts. He thought that Dale the changeling looked a little bit like a demented Seeker, maybe it was, but he had and even bigger worry.

"Celestia is going to be PISSED...."

"Shes going to be more than pissed, because this means war, and war means suffering for everpony" Tribute looked over at him. " You have failed the kingdom, and you failed me."

Those words hurt Preacher more than any physical blows could. He staggered back, and the events that had just happened finally caught up to him.

"There is nothing that can stop them now, is there...." Preacher looked up at Tribute, wondering why she had chosen his crew to work on such a high stakes mission. They were simple miners, used to simple work. Not this kind of stuff, but hey, at least the Queen was still trapped but Preacher doubted it would take long for the changelings to free her. The explosion had just covered the exit, and nothing more. A few ponies with picks could easily clear it in 5 minutes. It wasn't a permanent solution, but there were more pressing matters at hand. The kingdom must be warned of this new threat. The way to the portal was not a very high priority.

"No, there is not" Tribute had a grave facial expression, "The best thing to do is find someplace underground and try to let the Equestrian Army do it's thing"

"The Equestrian Army hasn't been around for 500 years!" Preacher couldn't believe that Tribute ACTUALLY thought they were still around. "They are around still, even though Shinning Armor isn't their leader anymore, they have a new leader.... Sergeant Snow."

Just Another Day

That was the day Equestria died. We all know the stories, know about how the Equestrian Army was destroyed by the changelings. Sergeant Snow was an inexperience leader, who had never seen a real battle in his life. The fall of Equestria was inevitable...

"Hey Tup" my friend and roommate Jet Stream said, "Can you get me a candy bar from the machine?"

The room was dark, we hadn't seen light in a while since the changelings took over the surface. We lived in an underground world, much like moles, but instead the walls were made of steel, and the tunnels were larger and also had different sectors.

"Why can't you get it yourself?" I asked irritably

"Because I ain't the one standing up. You are" Jet replied from the couch, watching the TV.

"Grr. Fine" I said, and I moved to go get him some snacks.

We were in our dorms, because there were no houses underground, we are forced to live in smaller dormitories. But hey, at least they were a decent size.

As I moved back to hand it to him, the news came on.

"Attention, we have a missing persons alert. If anypony has seen or heard from Daisy Blue or Tuxedo Changer, please report to authorities."

Well damn I thought. I knew Daisy, she was a nurse from the hospital. She didn't seem to be the kind of pony who would run away without good reason though. She was a pink pony, with greenish hair that covered half of her face, similar to Fluttershy, except curlier. I definitely had never heard the name of Tuxedo though, maybe he was new to this sector.

"Hey maybe we should go talk to them" I suggested to Jet after the rest of the news was over. "We knew her, maybe we could help find her"

"Ya man, I know she would do the same for us" Jet's purple hair shifted slightly as he turned to look at me. "Why do you think she ran?" He asked. "Dunno" I replied, "But I do know she wouldn't leave without a good reason to." The rest of the morning was spent trying to figure out what we would say to the officials. Finally, by lunchtime, we had it. "Alright so we tell them that she wouldn't leave here without a good cause and then we go" Jet said, "I have to go down to the gym for tryouts for the new pony basketball team."

"Agreed"

As we were walking down the office, we overheard some ponies talking in hushed voices

"Hey, did you hear that they are trying to bring back the Army?"

"No" said an orange mare, "And I don't want to join. Every time that somepony tries to bring it back everypony thats in it dies"

That didn't sound to reassuring

We couldn't hear any other part of the conversation, because they had moved around the corner, past the office.

"What was that all about?" I wondered aloud.

"Dunno, but there was something about the Army coming back" Jet's eyes lit up. " All I know is that I want to join up!" He said enthusiastically.

I opened the metal door to the office, and it opened like an air lock. Jet stepped inside and as I followed, I noticed a poster that proved the rumor about the Army true. The poster was the only bright thing in the room, the rest was all the same color as steel. The poster hung above a desk, and seated in it was the recruiter. It showed of a rearing white stallion, with light shinning in the background, and across the bottom it said in bold letters " THE E.A. WANTS YOU!"

The recruiter just stared at us in an uncomfortable way.

We took a seat along the wall, waiting for our turn to talk with the O.C.

"Do you think they'll find her?" Jet whispered as some ponies came out of the questioning room.

"I hope so."

Daisy was a very cute pony who had never done anything wrong. She was a pretty good nurse as well. When my leg broke a few years ago, she was my nurse and doctor, because the official doc was out visiting his relative in sector 6. She was very nice about it, and did the best she could, which fortunately for my leg, was more than enough to help heal it. She wasn't even a Unicorn!

My thoughts were interrupted by a pony who accidentally bumped my hoof upon exiting the questioning room. Our turn was next. We stood up, and moved to the door. The recruiter still had been staring at us for the whole time.

The room was dark, almost like an interrogation room. There was one officer in the room, standing to the side. There was a table in the center and a pony scribbling down notes as we took our seats.

"Good morning boys, I am detective Snip" the pony said, "today I will be asking you a little about your friend Daisy"

"Ok" we replied in unison.

"So, let us begin, question one, did you personally know Miss Blue?"

"Kind of..."

"What do you mean 'kind of'?"

"Well she was my nurse and doctor, as well as an acquaintance." I replied, staring into the form of Snip. "She didn't have any reason to do this, I am sure something bigger happened that nopony knows about"

"Anything else Mr String?" The pony sure was impatient

"No"

"Then that will be all, Mr String. Have a good day." And with that, he led us to the door and quickly closed it behind us. Jet was looking confused "Why did they kick us out so quickly?" He asked.

"Hey" I replied, "It doesn't matter, what matters is that we gave them the information they needed".

"Hey did you notice that the recruiter was looking at us funny?" Jet asked

"Yeah man, I am going to ask her what she was doing"

"Hello sir" I said to the recruiter as we stopped a foot away from her desk. "Would you mind telling us what you were doing?"

"Oh I was sent here to get the attention of potential new recruits, and apparently I succeeded." she replied "So are you boys up for the challenge?"

"I don't know"I admitted and then I turned to Jet. "Are you?"

"A chance to join up with the Equestrian Army? Don't mind if I do" he said with a grin. "Especially if the mares look like this...." The recruiter laughed, and then handed the signup papers to Jet. She turned to look at me. "You sure you don't want to sign up? We could help you find your friend."

"What?" I was confused "But I thought that the Army was only for military uses, not to go on petty rescue missions"

"Ha" the recruiter laughed again, "I was talking about Tux, because he is a very important asset to our military research. I am assuming Daisy is with him because they both disappeared around the same time"

Ok well this was weird. I felt my hoof stamp the paper, and gave it back to the recruiter. "Here" I said, "I want in"

"I thought you might say that" The recruiter looked amused.

"Hey I never caught your name girl" Jet was being Jet. No big deal.

But this was weird. It was like an employer being hit on by an employee and it just seemed wrong. Much like the reason Equestria fell.... Because of Preacher and Tribute.....

The recruiters voice brought me back to reality "Show up to boot camp and I MIGHT give it to you." She looked amused, and Jet seemed to suddenly enjoy the idea of joining even more. "Oh, I am sure you will see me there." He replied.

Well he WAS pretty hard to miss. He was beet red, with huge wings, and a curly purple flow. It would take a miracle for the recruiter mare not to see him.

"Boot camp starts tomorrow" the recruiter informed us, "So you better get ready for it"

Ready.... Yes of course Jet would be ready, but would I? I didn't want to sign up for something that could get me killed, as much as I wanted to find Daisy. I wondered if it would be too late to find her by the time I was a soldier, or if she would have been found already. I pushed the thought from my mind. No. I had to believe that she was ok, and that she wasn't going to be found until I found her and nopony else was going to stop me.

We returned to our dorms, Jet pumped and excited for the next day, me not so much. I had a lot of things to think over tonight and I needed sleep. "Goodnight Jeb, see you tomorrow"

"See ya buddy" Jeb seemed to have calmed down a little. Maybe it was the fact that it was already late at night - the walk to the office took up most of our day. I fell into a deep sleep, and dreamed of what tomorrow would bring......

The Nightmare

A scream woke me up. Where was I? I wondered, as I groggily got to my feet. A battlefield scene was in front of me, dead and dying ponies everywhere, some being dragged away by changelings. I was on a hill, overlooking a bombed out valley.

"Help me....." I heard a dying pony close by on the hill whisper to me. "Water.... Need... Water"

As I crouched beside him, I saw many bullet holes in his hind legs, and he was crippled. All he wanted was a little water so I gave him some. The battle raged all around me, but none of it mattered anymore. The stallion's once proud blue coat was now covered in blood, and more seeped from his wounds. More ponies cried out as they were hit by machine gun fire from the other hill, and fell around me. What a nightmare. At least I hoped it was. The smell of blood and death filled the air. I noticed that the stallion's eyes were bleeding, and he couldn't see. "You are going to be all right"

Never had I doubted my words more in my life. This pony needed serious medical attention if he was going to live. Suddenly my gaze was torn from the stallion as I heard a changeling charge out of no where. I raised my rifle and shot him, by this time he was right in front of me, and the bullet torn his head clean off. His body fell awkwardly to the ground. I was silent for a good 5 minutes, as the battle raged around me, and the stallion struggling to find where I was. "Snow? Snow! Where are you man? Don't leave me here! Please don't let me bleed out! Snow!" His pitiful cries were ignored as I continued to stare at the headless changeling lying on the ground, not a foot from me. Then a mortar fell near me and woke me up. I covered the pony from the debris, and told him, "I'm still here brother. Don't be afraid" I looked over my shoulder and called, "Medic! We need a medic over here!" The jungle around me was thick, and so fortunately I could awkwardly drag the pony to safety under a fallen tree. The medics arrived shortly, and told me that they would try their best, but no guarantees. Also, I was informed that they would be leaving the battlefield, so they could properly treat his eyes and hind legs. As they spoke, a pony trotting towards us suddenly changed into a changeling. I spun, and shot him between the eyes before he could kill anypony. "Yes" I shouted, "Get him out of here" then I turned to the stallion. "It's going to be ok" I told him. "I have to go now, but I will be back soon Dex"

"Ok" the Dex replied and I left him to the medics. I ran to the next tree, and then slid down into a trench. All the while I heard explosions all around me as more mortars fell, and ponies fell as well, screaming in pain. I peeped over the trench top, and I saw a suicide bomber charging the trench! He jumped into the trench, screamed in the weird changeling language, and even though I shot off is fore hooves, he still somehow detonated the bomb. I was flung backwards, and I felt shrapnel pierce my flesh. Damn it was HOT. My skin literally melted around it. I couldn't move anymore. I must have laid there for a while, because soon soldiers with the Army symbol where swarming the trench. My vision was blurry, and I even though I knew the battle was won, I couldn't hear anything. The blast must have concussed me. I was finally getting some life back, but as I staggered to my feet, I looked up in the sky, and suddenly the swarm was everywhere, filling the sky with their darkness."Where the FUCK did they come from?" A soldier near me asked. They had just appeared over the hill. I knew we had not won the battle. Not by far. The changelings we fought had just been the tip of the iceberg. There would be no salvation for any of us. My last thought before the sun was completely blotted out was of my wife, a pretty mare back home in Canterlot.

I woke up in my bed, in a cold sweat. What had I just witnessed? A memory? Or was it just a bad dream? I looked over at Jet, who was still sound asleep.

I turned to look at the clock. It was almost 6 o'clock in the morning. We needed to be at boot camp at 8. I looked down from my top bunk at Jet again. "Psst" I said in a loud voice," Hey! Jet! Wake up!"

"Wha-" Jet muttered as he groggily woke up.

"Bro, it's the first day of bootcamp. You wouldn't want to be late for the recruiter right?" I said, and immediately Jet flew around the room, and in a matter of seconds he was fully dressed, had eaten and had taken a shower. "I'm up" he said with a grin.

"Now lets go to bootcamp"

After I got finished eating and getting dressed, Jet flew us out the door. Couldn't wait to impress the recruiter girl I guess. Jet flew so fast we almost collided with the checkpoint officer. There was a chain link gate in front of us, but the rest of the building looked the same as anywhere else in the underground. Steel color, smell and feel. The officer approached us and said "So, you are the new recruits eh? The Strawberry was talking about you two yesterday...."

"Oh, really?" I replied. "Then you must know not to let Jet here waiting." Jet nodded enthusiastically and the guard turned the pony behind the gate controls. "Open the gate" he spoke into a com link on his throat, pushing the button with his left hoof. The control pony nodded in response and pulled a lever.

The gate swung open and behind it was the biggest room I had ever seen. I know I could behind the fence, but room didn't even close to how big it actually was. It had many large aircraft aboard, and there was a huge open spot where many cadets were stretching. There were some senior officers off to one side, silently judging us. I didn't see the recruiter (I assume her name was Strawberry) in the crowd. We approached the group of other cadets, and Jet whispered anxiously "Where is Strawberry? I don't see her anywhere."

I looked at him " Really?You signed up for the most dangerous task force in all of Equestria and you think of a potential girlfriend? She is our senior officer now stupid, she can't have relations with you" Jet looked saddened, but perked up when he realized something "But that's only if they are in command of your unit. If they are not a part of your squad, then those rules do not apply"

Damn. This guy knew his stuff.

Before I could respond with a witty reply the DI interrupted me.

"Commander on deck!" One of the cadets shouted and we all quickly formed a line, stood at attention, and saluted. The DI was a bigger pony, much bigger than me or Jet, but not by much. He had a grey coat, like dritzy doo, and a mane that was like spitfire's, only white. He had an officer hat on, as well as the uniform, and he also had on aviator sun glasses. The uniform was grey, like the surrounding walls. The DI walked up and down the line, picking out the weakest from the strongest in his mind. "You there!" He shouted at me, "Do you think you have what it takes to join the Equestrian Army?"

"AYE AYE SIR!" I bellowed, not knowing what else to do

"Well I am here to tell you that you are not going to join unless you make some serious changes!" The DI was starting to embarrass me. "I bet you can't even lift fifty pounds" he snarled in my face, almost spitting on it.

I said nothing.

The DI moved on to his next victim, and did a similar thing. I felt bad for the guy, he didn't sign up to get downtrodden on by a DI. He signed up to fight changelings. I stepped forward.

"Sir permission to speak" I said looking straight ahead.

The DI turned slowly, as if he hadn't expected this to happen. "Permission granted cadet."

"Sir, with all due respect, we didn't sign up to have somepony yell at us. We signed up to fight changelings, and that's what I plan on doing." I said as calmly as I could. The DI had been slowly walking towards me as I had been speaking, and now he was nose to nose with me, staring me down with a fury that even the changeling Queen couldn't match. "You do what you are ordered to do cadet." He said in a very angry yet calm tone, "And I order you to GET THE FUCK BACK IN LINE" the last part he spat out at me, and I was quick to back up in line. "Now" he said in a more civilized tone, "We will be done for today. Tomorrow we will be doing physical labor so be ready to be tired." Everypony said "Aye aye sir" in unison and some gave me sympathetic looks. The DI turned his attention to me. "I have my eyes on you cadet" his tone of voice chilled my blood. His eyes were narrowed, and he looked ready to fight. "Hey guys" a familiar voice called across the huge room, and we looked up. I didn't even notice that there was a balcony above us. And yet there it was, with the Jets soon to be girlfriend (Trust me, I know Jet). Her mane was blond, and her hair fell lazily on her head, but not sloppily.Her coat was a yellow color, and it was soothing to look at. It made me forget about where I was, and about the DI. She just was so beautiful, and for a second I saw what Jet saw in her. But the moment passed when Jet yelled back " Hey, why don't you come down here so we can talk?" In response she turned around and headed for the stairs. "Are you serious bro?" I asked Jet. The DI and the other cadets had already walked away. "Yeah Tup. I'm serious" He replied. By this time Strawberry had already gone down the stairs, and was now walking towards us. "So what are you boys up to?" She asked in a slightly suggestive tone. I raised an eyebrow. Really? Her now too? Jeez where was the values of this army going? "I heard your incident with the DI... Is it Tup?"

"Yeah" I responded, as a flood of embarrassment washed over me again. I wondered how many ponies saw that. I hoped not a whole lot. "Hey Tup, don't worry about it, Dirk is ALWAYS mean to the new cadets, it's nothing personal"

We walked underneath a ship. "Well" I said, "I am excited to meet our new squad mates. I guess I will see you two later then?" All this stuff between Jet and Strawberry was still kind of weird in my opinion. I walked over to where the cadets were. Some of them turned to greet me, but most just continued what they were doing. "Hello" a cheerful black mare with a blue mane said, "What's your name?"

"I am Tup" I replied, "Who are you?"

"I am the squad leader, Corporal Sugar" she replied with a grin, and instantly I realized she was not like the other officers. She seemed to actually care about the troops under her command, and didn't just treat us as expendables. "This is Dasher, our eye in the sky."

Dasher just grunted in reply.

He was a green pegasi, and I could tell him and Jet would become great friends. "And this is Kicker, our medic" Kicker was a smaller red pony, wearing the medic symbol on his helmet. "Hello" he squeaked, and then got back to work. "So I hear that we have new newbies joining us" she said to me, in a light tone. "Yeah" I replied, "its me and Jet." I glanced over to look for Jet, but they had either left the training facility, or had gone somewhere more.... private..... I shuddered at the thought. "Jet is a pegasi as well." Dasher perked up, and looked at me. "Where is he now?"

"Ummmm..... To be honest I don't really know at the moment" I looked around some more, but to no avail. "I saw what Dirk did to you" Sugar said "And what you did was brave, but foolish."

"Now you tell me" I didn't really feel like talking about it.

"Its ok though, because it's the first day" Sugar suddenly looked concerned "But just don't make the same mistake again"

"I don't plan to ma'am"

"Good" She turned to the rest of the squad. "All right boys get some rest, we've had a hard day today and tomorrow we hit the trials"

Dasher rolled his eyes and walked away and Kicker looked shaken and startled. "The trials?" I asked. "The trials are simulated war games" was the reply. "You better make sure your friend is going off to bed, because tomorrow is going to be one hell of a day if he's not"

"Will do ma'am"

"And another thing cadet, you are going to be treated equally with the others, and as I have given permission for them to call me by my name, I will do the same for you, but don't think it's anything special or that right will be revoked"

"Aye aye Sugar" I said with a stone face.

"Now get off to bed, we can't afford to be a man short this time"

As I walked off, I saw Jet coming back from somewhere but no Strawberry. "Where's your friend?" I asked, "Did she have to go or something?"

"No" Jet replied, "But I will be spending the night in the officer's den"

Well that escalated quickly.

"It's fine" I replied, "I don't mind sleeping in a bunk with the other cadets. There was a pegasi though and I think he wants to meet you"

"Yeah bro, I hope I can find somepony for you too, I bet I can by the end of the night" Jet seemed too preoccupied to care much.

"Nah man its fine, I didn't join up for a relationship. I joined to help find Daisy, if she is still alive. Also you should be getting off to bed, the squad leader told me tomorrow was going to be brutal"

"We will see about that" was the reply.

"Suit yourself" I said in a careless attitude "It's your plot being shot with paintballs, not mine. Tomorrow we have war games" and before he could say anything I walked away, headed to the gate where we had entered from. I slipped my ID through the machine, and it opened. I walked to the barracks that were immediately to my left. As I got in I saw that everypony was asleep. I noticed that ponies were actually taking this very seriously. I crawled into my bunk and fell asleep.

Free At a Cost

Another nightmare. It must have been before the last one, because the white pony was head of me. We were in a village, on the northern border of Equestria. Dex had his rifle aimed at the door to one of the huts, looking down the sights. "Hey Snow" he whispered out of the corner of his mouth "I saw a changeling run in there"

"How can you be sure?" I replied, "was he IAF?"

"No" he said, "What changeling would go in his actual form while in a battle zone?"

I looked around.

The other soldiers looked at me for orders.

"Move into the house" I ordered, and several ponies nodded their approval. They moved to to door. "Breaching in 3....2.....1.. Go!" The lead pony said, and pressed a button on his uniform, which sent a flash bang out of a compartment, and into the room. The lead pony rushed in the door, weapon raised. Then fell to small arms fire from inside. Apparently the flash bang had failed, because even more fire erupted from the room. "Goddamnit we got a man down!" The next pony behind the leader yelled. The lead pony was somehow still alive. "Go..." He whispered. "I have some C4 in the bag, throw it in. I'll detonate it"

I had to admire his bravery. Even though he knew he was injured, he still wanted to assist his comrades. We did what he asked and took off running down the hill. The explosion was humungous, and I looked over at Dex. "One hell of a day right?"

"Yeah man" Dex looked shocked over the recent death of his squad mate, "They train you to fight, not how to cope with death."

The blast had leveled the building, and several other nearby structures as well. I wonder how many ponies were hiding in them, trying to stay alive. I pushed the thought away though. No time to dwell on the things of the past. We moved to clear the next village.

Again, I awoke with a cold sweat, and I nervously looked around. Nopony had noticed though, and it looked as if everypony was just getting up. I looked over atDasher, who groggily rose to his feet. "You awake?" I asked, knowing the answer. "No" he replied, looking at me sleepily. "Well the war games are today so I hope you are"

I turned to Kicker, who was already suited up. "What exactly ARE the war games?" I wondered.

"The war games are basically a way to test out the cadets, we treat it like a real battle only with non-lethal bullets and no explosives" Kicker seemed informed on the subject. "The battles typically last a couple hours, so use the bathroom before you go, because you don't want to have to go out on the field, the toilets there are just holes in the ground"

"Ok I will keep that in mind"

I turned to looked at the door of the dorm. Standing in it was Jet, looking a particular way that do not wish to describe. Nor could I. He looked wasted I guess.......

"Hey, well if it isn't my bro Tup." He said. "You would never guess what happened to me last night."

"Jet, I don't want to hear about your sex life" I replied, feeling the gaze of the other two ponies in the room fall upon me. "Ahg lighten up" Jet said in a slurred voice, " There's no reason to get angry, Strawberry seemed to like it"

Ok THAT was enough.

"Jet" I replied with a smile "We are all getting REAL sick of your shit"

Fortunately even in his drunken state he took the joke in the right way and didn't misinterpret it. "Sick of my shit ay?" He said, "Well we'll see about that in the war games. If you can even get a kill that is."

I felt Kicker and Dasher's eyes fall upon me to see how I would take this challenge. "Kill? What do you mean only one? Hell, you'll be lucky to even have a shot at a kill after I'm done with them." Kicker looked timid as always, but Dasher cracked a smile. "Arrogance isn't a smart thing to have around here" he said, "But you will learn that soon enough."

"We better get going" Kicker looked at the clock, "wouldn't want to keep the sergeant waiting for us"

We all nodded and headed out for the war games, Kicker and Dasher leading. The hallways were very small, and I assumed that we were maybe 20 feet down from the surface. If the air above leaked into one of the oxygen pipes below, it would mean bad news for all the ponies in this sector. The hallways were narrow and only 2 ponies side by side could fit through the hallway easily. If a breach happened, all the air would be sucked out into the surface, instantly killing everypony in a 5 foot radius of the breach. Anypony else within 15 feet would have their lungs collapse before the breach would be sealed by the sealant inside the walls. The walls were made of steel, and had big thick cables trailing the corners. We finally made it to the war games when suddenly there was an announcement over the sector's loudspeaker. "Attention" a monotone mare's calm voice called out, "We have a security breach in area 521 in sector 10. Request all armed personnel to be rerouted to dock 522 for further orders."

"Do you think we should go?" I asked Jet.

"What do you guys think? After all, you have been here the longest" Jet looked nervously over at Dasher and Kicker, who looked like they had been through something similar before.

"We need to get to the armory, NOW" Dasher looked scared. That wasn't a good sign. "Why?" I asked, wondering what was so bad it could scare Dasher. "The changelings have found another way in"

"Shit!" I replied, and followed them as they fled to the armory. We saw ponies rush in all directions, down each corridor. The way the underground was set up was that there were many corridors, much like a maze, and in between the corridors was always a large room or dorm. As we fled down the corridor, we saw two ponies dart out from a corridor to our left, only to be struck by gunfire from the right. Kicker, who was in the lead, stopped in his tracks, picked up one of the machine guns, turned around, and ran to the left. He didn't get far. Gunfire from the right again ripped through his armor and he fell to the ground, looking very much dead. I thought I saw his body twitch, and he disappeared from view. "Cmon!" Dasher said, "We don't have time to morn, we need to leave NOW". We heard something heavy moving in the corridor to the right, and we ran back the way we came. "Where the hell should we go?" Jet yelled. By now there was a very loud alarm going off, and the water pipes on the walls were cracked and were shooting water everywhere. "We need to go to the evac site" Dasher yelled as we ran, "The Controler should tell us soon, but for now, we run in the direction and hope for the best"

The Controler's monotone voice rang out over the alarms, "Attention military staff! Breach status, unconfined. We are shutting down power and cutting off the sector now" Well great I though as the lights flickered out and the water stopped flowing from the pipes. As we ran on, the voice continued, "Casualties unknown. Evac site, Disci Bay."

"That's really close!" Dasher shouted over the alarms, "It's about five meters to our left". We rushed into the room, and I could see why they called it 'Disco Bay'. It was the coolest spot ever. The room had anything from fog machines to lasers. It was the ULTIMATE party place. Vinyl and Pinkie would have loved it here. As I gazed around the room, I noticed about 5 dozen ponies there, the DI from earlier was there. So was Sugar and Strawberry. I could tell even without glancing sideways at Jet that he was releasing a quick breath of relief, that Strawberry was safe. He didn't care that she was his senior officer. "What now?" I asked Dasher.

"Well, for one thing, we need to report our causalities. Then, we wait for evac to come."

As we walked over to Sugar, I looked up at the ceiling. It was made like something could land, like the room used to be a hidden airfield or something. "Who did we lose Dasher?" Sugar looked wary, "Please don't say Kicker."

"I'm sorry ma'am" Dasher replied, not meeting Sugar's gaze, "There was nothing we could do."

"There's no time to dwell on that." Sugar replied, "Because if we don't get this gate open we are all dead." I assumed she meant the closed 'gate' up on the ceiling. As more ponies tricked in, so did the stories of the casualties. Everypony was checked to make sure they weren't a changeling, and then somepony opened the gate. Bright sunlight came down from it, as well as dust. The ground above is seemed to be a jungle, but had a lot of dust on the ground. As the gate was being lowered, I noticed it was more of a platform, which we would stand on to get off. Well, it was my first time on the surface, might as well find out what it was like. Sure beats getting torn to pieces by gunfire. I could tell that Jet was anxious to get up, but Dasher and Sugar were a little wary, almost scared. I was almost anout ready to ask them what was wrong, when Strawberry trotted up to us. "Glad to see you made it" she said sweetly, "And I'm sorry about what happened to Kicker." She appeared saddened, and looked at the ground, placing one hoof in front of the other. "Don't be" Dasher replied, "There was nothing anypony could do."

Strawberry turned to me and Jet. "Have you two been to the surface?" She asked in her sexy female military voice, "It's pretty rough. Hell, I lost troops up there while we were still in the district."

"Um....."Me and Jet just looked at her. "And you are just telling us this now... Why?"

"I thought you could use the knowledge to your advantage" was her reply, using the same tone of voice. Damn, she was good. Jet had good taste, too bad she liked him instead of me..... Goddamnit Tup, there's no time for that kind of thinking. By this time, the platform had reached the ground, and the doors to the Disco Bay were sealed. As we were boarding, Strawberry gave Jet a quick kiss on the cheek and said, "I'll catch you later, I need to find my DI buddies."

I looked behind me and saw Dirk looking at us with a scowl on his face, but he didn't say anything. "Bro I think you got competition."

"Really?" He asked, "Who?"

"The DI" I replied, "Dirk."

"Hahahah oh that asshole? Nah man, he's cool. He can be a dickwad though" Jet contemplated that for a minute. "He doesn't even like Strawberry, he hates her. Maybe an ex or something?"

"Maybe" I replied, then we fell silent as we finally started our ascent from the Disco Bay. Sugar and Dasher had been somewhere else, we had lost them in the crowd. We were blinded by the sudden sunlight that appeared on the horizon. Wow the sun was brighter then what it looked from in the Disco Bay. This was going to be one long-ass day.

The Daylight

Wow the sun was bright. When the ponies in my home sector 54 told me about it, I never thought it would be as bright as it was. How could I after living in the Underground for so long? I looked around, and saw the other ponies step off the platform onto the muddy ground. Jet followed and so did I. "What now?" Jet whispered. That's what I wanted to know. We had no way back into the Underground, there was no controls up on the surface. Damn. But at least we had a shot at looking for Daisy I thought. We approached Strawberry, who was busy directing troops into defensive formations, to prepare for an unexpected attack. "What are your orders ma'am?" I asked politely. She turned to look at us and smiled. "Boy am I glad to see you two here. We need some ponies to scout out the hill up ahead, and I have a feeling you guys are the right ponies for the job." She pointed to our left, to a giant hill. It was a break in the jungle. Maybe the edge? Jet smiled in return and said, " I'm up for the challenge" he turned to me. "And I'm sure Tup is too."

"Great!" Strawberry replied, "I'll be back here if need anything. You should take your squad mates as well."

"Will do" we said in unison and we walked over to where Sugar and Dasher were. They were working on a making a new control panel on the surface. As we approached, Sugar turned to greet us. "Orders are to take the hill." Jet pointed with his hoof, "For recon." Sugar nodded and told Dasher. He looked up at the hill, then back at us. "You have to be kidding me right?"

"What's the matter Dasher?" I asked, "You and Jet can just fly over it, then we can rush up after you give us the all clear."

"The changelings will know we are above the surface then, and they will attack. They will see our shadows on the ground. It's not up for debate. We are NOT flying."

Well ok then, we could just do it the old fashioned way too. Creeping up, inch by inch, hoping nopony would see us. Or in our case, nochangeling. I looked around to where ponies were working hard to get their tasks done, and I came to a conclusion. "We won't be flying, but we WILL be walking." I said in a very serious tone. Sugar and Jet nodded their approval, but Dasher looked unconvinced. "We can't go running around without first scouting the area." I told Dasher.

The crawl up the slope was difficult, as the jungle had many trees we had to avoid. We kept leapfrogging along, and slowly we made our way up to the top of the hill. The view was amazing. We could see at least 20 miles in each direction. In front of us was a valley. It had many other mini hills in it, and low grass. The next thing I saw was the ground as Dasher shoved me and Jet quickly to the ground. Sugar was already pushed against the ground as well, and she looked annoyed that Dasher had to push us down. "Are you CRAZY?!" Dasher whispered in a angry tone, "A changeling could have seen you!"

"Um.... Sorry?" I replied, not having a better thing to say.

"Sorry won't bring back dead ponies"

I looked over at Jet, who shrugged at Dasher's statement. "No harm done, nopony is hurt or anything. What's our next move?"

"We sit and wait for the order to return to camp, when it is ready." Sugar replied, "Which shouldn't be too long. It's getting late and if we don't want to get destroyed by changelings, we need to get it ready in the next hour or so." She shifted, and I noticed her cutie mark was a paint brush. I didn't say anything though. It was finally getting dark, and we were getting tired. Finally, Sugar said it was probably ok if we left our post and returned to base. As we approached the camp however, we noticed that there were a lot more fires then what there should be. Also there were a lot more screams and a few gunshots as well. We all agreed to sneak up and see what the fuss was about. "You take right, and I'll take left." I whispered to Jet, "And you two, stay here. We'll report back ASAP."

"Got it." Dasher replied.

Sugar just nodded.

As me and Jet began even further down the hill, I whispered, "Keep low to the ground. No need to telegraph our presence to whatever is down there. Move fast, but silently."

I couldn't tell if he heard me or not, but he did what I was telling him to, so I assume he did hear me. I broke off and kept as close to the ground as possible. I saw the DI and Strawberry running away from the camp in my direction. I quickly flagged them down, dismissing the thought of them being changelings. They noticed me and changed directions to meet me. By this time, the tents that had been set up were all ablaze, and ponies were running everywhere. It was madness in the camp. "Goddamnit RUN!" The DI yelled in a powerful voice, "The changelings have attacked!"

"Our squad is waiting for your orders ma'am." I told Strawberry, "We are sitting just behind the trees about a half klik to the north. One klik was about 500 meters, I thought in my head, and we were certainly halfway there. They rushed to the treeline, where Sugar and Dasher were waiting. I turned back to the fire, only to see another pony running towards me. This was somepony I didn't know. But I could tell he wasn't a changeling because of his eyes. There was a great fear in them. No changeling can mimic fear, it's not in their nature. He ran towards me, then stop short. He quickly saluted me and said, "Sir! Corporal Muffins reporting for duty Sir!" Despite the circumstances, I had to chuckle. He mistook me for an officer. Ha, I wasn't anything more than another cadet. "Run that way if you want to live" I told him and he nodded and raced for the treeline. By this time the gunshots had stopped, and I too ran to the treeline. I met up with our group and Dirk, the DI, filled us in on what happened. Apparently the pony in charge of making sure no changelings followed us into the Disco Bay had done a bad job, because a few made it through. He also said they had shadow armor, which I had no clue what it was, but I assumed that it was important based on Dirk's facial expression. We as a group decided to make a run for the the valley, since it was a better option then the forest. As all seven of us crept along, (Dirk, Strawberry, Sugar, Dasher, Jet, Muffins, and me) we heard less and less of the fires that still raged in the background. They soon faded into the night as we made it over the first hill we were originally stationed on. Then came the next. And the next. Jeez, I didn't realize that walking was so much work. "All right everypony, lets take a break for some much needed rest." Strawberry suggested, "Dirk, would you mind putting you sleeping bag out? Also remember that there will be no fires tonight, so we will need to huddle together for warmth."

I knew where I could find Jet if I needed him. Giving 'warmth' to Strawberry. I didn't need to see his face to see how he was reacting. As a matter of fact I DIDN'T want to see his face at the moment. I was too busy rolling out my sleeping bag when a newcomer came running up the hill. It was a fairly pretty mare, with a pink coat and green mans, panting from running. "Hello..." She panted, "My name is...." She still hadn't even caught her breath yet, and that fact worried me. She was getting more pretty by the second. Even more pretty than Strawberry. I felt compelled to hear her name. "My name is.... Daisy."

I was now the one out of breath. Daisy? How could this be? How had the adorable, loving Daisy gotten out here when the only way out was through the...... Oh. It all made sense. Her and Tux both hid until the breach happened, then ran. The changelings came in shortly after. "Tux was working with the changelings."

Those words made me stop breathing entirely for a few moments. Tux betrayed us to those... Those MONSTERS? Why in Equestria would anypony do a thing like that? If you were going to do that, you might as well donate your body for a transfer. "Anyways" she continued, "I ran when I realized that Tux was intending to hand me over to the changelings. I didn't stop until I found the evac site above ground. By the time I reached it though, everypony was dead. Except you. I took my chances and took off after you."

She looked like she hadn't eaten or slept in days. "All right, get some rest. Tup?" Sugar looked at me suspiciously "If we have the nice lady sleep with you in your sleeping bag, will you promise not to...."

I felt my face get red, luckily nopony could tell because it was night. "Wouldn't dream of it ma'am." Sugar raised an eyebrow, and started to speak, but Daisy seemed fine with it. Fortunately, the sleeping bag was going to fit both of us. "I will take first watch" Dirk said. Sugar also went off to do sentry duty as well, and that just left me, Daisy, Jet, Strawberry (who was already asleep) and Muffins. Jet and Muffins crawled back into their respective sleeping bags, Jet with Strawberry, and Muffins by himself. Looks like he was the only pony not getting a girl tonight I thought as Daisy made herself comfortable next to me. Her body heat was more then enough to sooth my nerves. I feel into the deepest sleep I had ever had, not knowing what what tomorrow would bring, nor caring. I was to busy absorbing Daisy's body heat, and reflecting it back to her.

Unknown to our group, on the hill we were first stationed on, there were 2 changelings looking across the valley at our little encampment. "Tonight" The lead changeling said, and the changeling next to him nodded. "Yes, General ToxicSparky, we will gather the men for one last strike against the ponies before we report to the Queen." He said in a very menacing tone. The General looked down at the small changeling, "Thank you Seeker, your loyalty to our cause is unmatched."

"I just do what is necessary General"

"That you do, that you do."

They turned around and headed down the hill, towards the burned out camp. There were other things that needed their attention right now, such as the survivors. The General doubted there were any, because nopony surrendered, but that didn't mean there wasn't wounded ponies who were left behind. Oh the plans he had for them he thought mischievously. If the night went well, they would recapture their former prisoner, and have maybe some new changelings. It was going to be a good night.

The Ambush

I awoke to a bunch of footsteps, over a dozen of them I think, a good way away. Their voices carried across the valley and everypony was awake now. Dirk and Sugar had rushed back, and had set up a machine gun on a nearby hill. How did that get there? I wondered. I didn't think anypony had grabbed any weapons, not that I was complaining. Strawberry saw I was awake , and tossed a pack to me. "Come on, open the pack!" She yelled, "You got sniper detail!"

Oh, so they thought I was a good shot eh? I hope I wouldn't disappoint them. But where was the sniper? When I opened the pack, my question was answered. The COOLEST break-down sniper rifle was inside the pack. I had no idea how it got there, but I didn't care. I grabbed it and the 2 extra mags, each with 6 shots. As I rushed up the hill behind us to set up, Muffins and Jet ran to go set up another machine gun next to Sugar and Dirk. Strawberry was still busy getting her weapon out, and from the looks of it, her weapon was an automatic assault rifle. Daisy was still wandering in a daze, because she hadn't had any real sleep, and after Strawberry was done assembling the gun she started making a shelter. I completed setting up my sniper just as the changelings ran up the second hill. Two more hills lay between me and them. One more between Sugar Dirk etc. I looked down the scope and zoomed in on one of them. Damn the night-vision on this weapon was SWEET!

Blam! The bullet flew out the barrel and took the changeling's head right off. His body fell down the hill, and the changeling next to him turned his head in surprise. A second later his body followed, minus 2/3 of his head. By this time the rest had ducked behind the next hill, and were in range of the machine guns. I only focused on looking through my sniper scope, and nothing else. The first changeling appeared over the hill. Bang! His chest erupted with purple blood, and fell back on his comrades. By this time there was only around 10 left, I counted in my scope. At least, 10 had made it over the hill. I shot another and he fell screaming, mortally wounded by a shot to the chest. Jeez, my aim was getting waaay off. I adjusted my aim as Sugar and Jet open fired on the changelings. They were completely taken by surprise, and 3 of them fell to the onslaught. 4 more fell while they turned and ran. I decided to save ammo and not shoot them while they ran. Plus it was also a moral thing to do. By not shooting enemies who were retreating. I glanced over to where Sugar and Dirk where, and as Dirk was getting up from feeding the gun ammo, a bullet came out of nowhere and hit him in the shoulder. "Arg Goddamnit!" He cried out, which was good, because that meant he wasn't dead. He fell down the slope, Sugar chasing after him, looking worried. I looked down my scope, and saw a sniper in the trees, about a whole klik in the direction the changelings came from. I pulled the trigger, and saw the sniper's head disappear in a cloud of red mist. I yelled over to Jet and Muffins, "I got him!" Jet just turned his head slightly, not taking his eyes off the jungle, and nodded. "Good kill!" Muffins yelled back, appreciative of the fact that I alerted them there wasn't a sniper problem anymore. I looked down my scope to make sure that there wasn't another changeling trying his luck out as a sniper, then checked in on Sugar and Dirk. Dirk was hit badly in the shoulder, but the wound wasn't anything near fatal. I heard Daisy say that when she rested up, she could fix it, but at the moment a bandage would have to do because she feared she would screw up his shoulder if she tried anything in her drowsy state. At least she could think enough to know that. Dirk nodded and Sugar led him over to the sleeping bags, gently laying him down so he could rest. She rushed back up the hill with an automatic long-range.... Shotgun? Daisy staid with Dirk as I looked down my scope again to look for hostiles. Instead I saw 4 changelings pushing a struggling figure into a chair that just had appeared out of nowhere. The pony's coat was orange, and they had a very green mane. One of the changelings had a modified sledgehammer in his hooves, and brought it over his head. I wanted to see what would happen next. The changeling brought it down on one of the pony's legs! Even from far away, I could hear the bone snap, and the pony screamed. Then yelled "I can still kick your ass with my other leg!"

As the changeling raised the hammer again, I realized what I had to do.

I aimed down the sights, and pressed to button on the side to shoot. The bullet tore off the changelings arms, and he fell, screaming louder than the pony, blood spewing from the stumps that used to be his fore-hooves. A second shot killed him. The pony looked around for me, just as another changeling charged him. Bang! I took him down, after I reloaded, and he fell just inches from the captured pony. Another changeling had finally made it to the chair, but a bullet stopped him. His body fell on the chair, causing it and the pony to start rolling down the hill. The pony screamed again as his leg got twisted. Fuck! I thought as the last changeling fled. This was a set up! They meant for us to do this, they wanted us to see this happen. The pony strapped to the chair had not moved since he fell down the slope. By this time, the rest of the group had noticed what was going on. Muffins called out, "I'll get him! Keep me covered!" But as he ran towards the fallen pony, not a hill away, the crack of a sniper ran out, and Muffin's head exploded in a red mist. His body sunk to the ground. This was the first up close death that I had witnessed since Kicker. It was a shock to us all. I know because I looked around and saw the faces of my friends. The second shot went zipping by Sugar, who had set up shop again on the machine gun. Shit! I thought as I aimed down my sights. I looked for the sniper, and found him in a clump of bushes. Blam! The bullet tore off his left fore-hoof. He rolled out of the bushes, screaming, then disappeared. So that's how I didn't see him at first. He must be using Shadow Armor! But only General Toxicsparky's men used Shadow Armor I thought, remembering seeing that in one of the cadet handbooks. And if Toxicsparky's army was here..... Then he must be here as well! As I looked around for more snipers, I noticed a tree rustle. And out stepped a changeling with hair like a mohawk, but it was braided..... Shit.... General Toxicsparky looked across the valley to where we were set up, and a bugler came to his side. How many of them were there? I wondered, as I got ready to snipe the General. The shot missed, and his head turned to where I was hiding. Damn! I just gave away our position! His hoof pointed to where I was, and a swarm of changelings ran out of the trees. There had to be 10 of them halfway flying, halfway walking. I wasted the rest of my clips, getting 4, 2 in a collateral shot, and 2 with the other 2 bullets. Again, the changelings began to retreat, but this time Jet wasn't being so lenient on the retreating foes. The bullets from his machine gun ripped them to shreds. None of them made it back to the tree line. I looked again after I reloaded for the General, but he had disappeared. I looked around at our group, and we were all exhausted. I decided to take first watch with Sugar while Jet, Strawberry, Dirk, and Daisy slept. Muffins was dead for sure, his head was missing. Our mission before everypony went to sleep was to decide whether or not to see if the pony in the chair was alright. I had 1 more clip left in the sniper, but Sugar handed me an assault rifle with 5 mags. We approached quietly, watching for any more attacks. There were none, apparently the changelings had decided we weren't worth their time. As we got nearer, the pony moved slightly. At this point, Sugar gave up the silent approach and rushed to the pony. "Goddamnit Sugar, you know it's not smart to do that!" I whispered in a harsh voice. "Sorry" she replied, "I have to help him though" and she went back to work cutting the pony's hoof cuffs off. He was knocked out from the pain still, and his left leg was bleeding badly. We scurried back to camp, this time it took longer because we had this new pony. "Hey" I said to Sugar, "let's let him sleep tonight, and question him tomorrow."

"Agreed"

We then changed the guards, as getting the pony back to camp took up a lot of our time. I slipped back inside my sleeping bag, Daisy had already warmed it up. She was still sleeping however, and I tried to be careful not to wake her up. She was our only medic now, after all. I forgot about everything that happened that night, and feel asleep

The Surprise

I awoke hearing Daisy wrapping up Dirk's leg in a bandage, and Sugar speaking to the newcomer. "What is your name, and where are you from?" Sugar asked nicely.

"I am from sector 6" the pony replied, "My name is Tuxedo Changer." Everything stopped.

Daisy looked over at Tux from where she was addressing Dirk's wounds and gave him a mean scowl. He looked hurt, and said "it wasn't like you think, the changelings have had me imprisoned for over a month. They took my form and infiltrated the system."

I glanced back at Daisy, who had neared the sleeping back still containing the sleeping Strawberry and Jet. She looked wary now, and was slowly getting closer. Tux's green mane was rustled now, and he started looking scared. "I swear!" He shouted, "It wasn't me!"

Sugar stepped in front of Daisy, and led her away before she could get at him. "Now dear, we can't kill him if he's one of us. Even if they have taken advantage of him." Daisy looked regretful, and shot another glare at Tux.

"Ok everypony, we need to find a way back into the Underground, because the surface is too dangerous." At this point, everypony was awake, and Jet trotted over to where I was, and asked, "What's going on?"

"We are trying to find our way back inside"

"Ha" Sugar said, "Good luck with that. The doors are sealed shut to prevent another breach"

"Well, there must have been a way in for the changelings to attack us" I replied, looking over at Tux. He nodded and said "Yes, yes there is, it's about 2 miles from here, up on the mountain. I believe your friend Dasher is already exploring the area."

This was the first time he really had an accent. He sounded kinda like a human Russian, based on the audiobooks I had heard. Also, I kinda was wondering where Dasher had gone, especially after the battle. I hadn't seen him in two days. Well, better look for him I guess.

I turned to Sugar. "Me, Jet and Strawberry will scout out the area and meet up with Dasher, you guys stay here."

Sugar nodded and beckoned for Strawberry to join us. "Godspeed Tup." She said in response.

We headed off in the general direction of where we believed Dasher to be.

Jeez these hills got really hard to climb up. We didn't risk flying because of the changelings who might be patrolling overhead. "Hey Tup, when are we going to get there?" Jet shouted over the cold wind. "I don't know," I yelled back, "We should be getting close!" I glanced up to the mountain, which was looking a lot larger now that we are up closer to it. Now the wind had picked up, and snow was billowing around us. "Where's Dasher?" Jet shouted, "He should be around here". "Dunno" I replied, "Tux said he should be around here somewhere." As we got to the top of the hill, we noticed four figures below. One of them was clearly Dasher, and the other three looked like changelings. "Get down!" I whispered harshly to Jet and Strawberry, not wanting to attract the attention of the figures below us. As we ducked down, I brought out my scope to see what was going on easier. I looked down the scope, and I noticed that one of the figures I assumed to be a changeling was...... Wait...... Kicker? No way, he was supposed to be dead! Kicker grinned evilly at Dasher, and then turned and retreated into a snow-covered door, an underground bunker. The other two changelings followed him and the door shut behind them. Whatever they were talking about must have irritated Dasher, because he turned away grumbling. I motioned to my comrades to stay put as I approached Dasher, who I no longer believed was a pony. Dasher looked up, and looked fearful of something.

"Why were you conversing with the enemy?"

"I..... Um...." Dasher suddenly pulled out a gun, semi-auto by the looks of it, and started shooting at me.

Bang!

Dasher's head exploded, and suddenly he changed. Into a changeling, of course.

Of course! It all makes sense now! We were being attacked from the inside! The changelings must have created a voice system so they could talk, which means.... They could be any one of us. It would explain how the camp was so quickly destroyed. They must have slipped in as "ponies" and then used the voice system to get past security.

"You ok Tup?" Strawberry's sweet voice rang out in alarm.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks, just a little shook up is all"

We looted the changeling's body and found nothing of importance, except a key which I assumed was to the bunker. I trotted up to the door, which had an obvious keyhole, and activated it. The door spiraled open, and a dark corridor with pillar like structures jutting off the walls appeared.

"Uh Tup, I hope you don't plan on going down there....." Jet sounded uneasy.

"Well it's the fastest way to get to the mainframe, Tux said so himself" I replied, and slowly walked into the corridor. Strawberry and Jet followed suit, and lights suddenly flickered on. The corridor was very long, and the lights were bright. The walls were white/grey. The door slid shut behind us. As we walked down the corridor, I noticed a big spot of graffiti to my left. It was painted in..... Blood? TURN BACK NOW! The graffiti said, and the blood was dripping down. There was hoof-prints around the letters, on the wall as well as the ground, and it looked as if the pony was dragged a good few yards before the trail of blood ended.

But there was no body.

How odd.

I looked at my companions reactions. Strawberry shuddered, and Jet just shook his head and looked away. We neared the end of the corridor, and there were steps leading down into a chamber that had a dark red glow to it. As we ascended into the darkness, we heard a voice come over an intercom. "Aha! So I see you have found my laboratory." A crazy-sounding German voice said, "Welcome! I hope you find it here most.... Hospitable...." He laughed, "Ah, who am I kidding? You will die in here, just as many others have. Your friends Dasher and Kicker found that out the hard way."

By this time we were in formation, guns ready to fire.

"What do you know of Dasher and Kicker?" I shouted.

"I know they were dead when I found them, but I have given their life new meaning! New purpose! To serve our glorious Queen!"

I noticed that in our square chamber, about 15 feet wide, there were some ventilation shafts on each of the four sides. And a gas was slowly seeping out of them. "GAS!" I yelled, and quickly covered my mouth, motioning the others to do the same. We rushed to the opposite side we came, and there another door open and led us to another corridor. "Enjoy your stay" the evil voice cackled, and the intercom went dead as we left. When the lights went up, so did an auto-turret that was previously deactivated. "Warning, this is a restricted area. Authorized ponynel only." A monotone mare's voice blared over a hidden speaker "Trespassers will be shot"

Well that was good to know. It took the auto-turret about two seconds to realize we were there, and by the time it did, we had put so many bullet holes in its shell you could hardly recognize it anymore. Sparks flew out or the broken turret as we rushed down the corridor. A door labeled D34-R opened on our left, and a very pretty looking mare almost crashed right into us. "Whaaat" she said, startled. We pushed past her into the room. There was nopony else there, and the mare looked very startled. "Who are you ponies? And why have you broken into my laboratory?"

"Sorry ma'am, we're just passing through. We're looking for a way back into the Underground"

"I'm sorry, I haven't ever heard of the 'Underground' before" her sweet voice replied. She couldn't have been much older than 17, very young to be in a civilization like this. But who am I kidding? I am 17. "Who are you though?" She wondered out loud. "I'm Tup, this is Jet and Strawberry", I pointed to my comrades, "Now who are YOU?"

"My name is Autumn" was her bashful reply.

"Well Autumn, we aren't here to hurt you or steal your things. We are here to liberate you from the changeling army, as well as get back home ourselves." I said in a non-threatening tone.

"What are changelings? What are you talking about?"

"Changelings are creatures that look like ponies, but they aren't. They mimic ponies form to enslave them."

At this point, Strawberry and Jet were looking around the room, noticing the details, such as there were multiple desks that consisted of alien technology.

"Where did you get all of this stuff?" I asked.

"Well, I found it here. I was born here you know, and today was the first day I was supposed to leave this area in 6 years."

So she didn't know about the blood signs or the apocalypse.

"Hmmm. Maybe you shouldn't go outside after all" I said, "because it's too dangerous. But maybe when we get back we'll take you with us."

"That would be nice" she replied, and went to one of the control counsels.

"You will come... Right?"

"I hope so"

We left the room and continued down the corridor. The lighting was going dark, maybe because we were trespassing, or maybe it was because the lighting system was just bad. Either way, it didn't make it any easier to navigate through the corridor. We kept bumping into each other, and it was irritating.

An alarm blared and another turret turned its guns at us. "God DAMNIT!" I exclaimed, "We don't have time for this. Strawberry, do you have anything that can take this thing out?"

"Uh... I think so...."

"Well use it!"

"Ok" she replied as she threw a flash bang-looking grenade down the corridor.

"Watch out for the blast!" she shouted, just as a shockwave passed over us.

Any lighting there might have been was gone. The turret sparked and the guns lowered. "What... What was that?" I asked Strawberry.

"That, was an EMP grenade, used to scramble signals from enemy equipment back in the war when they were using the SCW. Changelings had changing abilities but to a point. When they invented the SCW, or Special Changeling Weapons, they used it to infiltrate our defenses. Shortly afterwards, we invented these EMP grenades, but it was already too late. Looks like they still come in handy. I'm glad I kept them."

"I am too."

We walked down the corridor, and got to the next room. Inside was a massive chandelier, as well a huge dinning table. The place had to be just as big as the one in Canterlot!

Suddenly, there was a bunch of scrabbling noises coming from a door to our left. The door flung open and Kicker, minus his two body guards, walked out. "Aha" he exclaimed, in the same weird voice we heard over the speakers, "I knew I would find you here."

"You...." I snarled, and pulled out my pistol.

"What is this place, and why did you betray us?" Jet demanded.

"Hahahaha" Kicker laughed "You really don't know anything do you? This place was built on the backs of slaves, a testimony of our will to the Queen, the TRUE Queen of Equestria. As for Kicker, he didn't betray you, and neither did Dasher. They just had to be imprisoned until our work is complete."

"Don't worry," he added, looking nervously at Jet,"they are quite alright, just in a sleep-like state, in the queen's castle in Canterlot."

"We don't need you alive, scum" I said through gritted teeth and I pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Kicker in the neck, but he was still smiling for some reason.

"Ahahahahaha, you lose,Tup."

And with that, explosions were heard in the distance. And they were getting closer. "We need to get out of here!"

"No shit!" Jet replied, and we turned around leave. We ran down the corridor, with Strawberry leading, and with each explosion the walls shook, and dust and small rocks fell down. We stopped just long enough to try and pick up Autumn.

"What's going on?" She asked urgently, "I heard explosions."

"Kicker must have rigged the place to blow up! We need to leave NOW!"

"But what about the other five?" Autumn asked, "the other five in captivity? The ones we were supposed to research? In the lab?"

"We can't leave any pony behind" I told my companions, "where is the lab?" I asked Autumn.

"It's two doors down on the right. D36-R."

"You three stay here, I'll go find them." I volunteered.

"Sounds like a plan!" Jet said in response.

The explosions were getting closer now, and much louder.

I rushed out of the room, and down the hallway to the lab. The door slid open, and I saw the five ponies, four of them in cages, the other one on a table, which from the looks of it, seemed to be ready to undergo an operation. They all were mares, and they all looked scared. I decided to unlock the cages and go for the pony on the table last. They all had weird hair colors, and I glanced down at their cutie marks. One of them was three blue jewels, one was three balloons, another was three butterflies, and another was three apples. After I unlocked the cages, they quickly hurried out of the room, nodding their thanks. "Go to room D34-R" I told them, but if they heard me, they didn't acknowledge it. The last one was on the table. Her hair was of the rainbow, and it looked shaggy, her coat was blue, and her cutie mark was a rainbow mixed with a cloud.

I could see she was awake, because her eyes were wide, and staring right at me. "Are you here to get us out?" She asked.

"Yes. What is your name?" I asked in reply.

"My name is Rainbow Dash."