"You're going to hate me for this...but before we get to me breaking down the oak doors of the Palace, I should tell you how I got stitched up," I lift my shirt, revealing ten scars descending from my right shoulder to my left hip, "It took five hours of surgery to do, but somehow Doc got 'em out for me."

"Curse you..." Luna gently whispered, running her hand across my chest, "Just make sure it's either quick or full of explosions!", the Princess of the night cheers.

This was more recent...about a year prior to being discharged, to be precise. My squad, along with a few RGA soldiers, were given the task of collecting intel on a specific target... You should know him as Saddle Hoofsein. Three weeks... three fucking weeks, and we got nothing on the guy. No insurgents, no suspicious activity; nothing. Not that we were complaining at the time, it was like we were on leave. The Demon Sarge let us breathe for once; and didn't wake us up at dawn. It was amazing... Or so we thought.

It was Monday, the first day of the fourth week, that we were hit. It wasn't Al Flighta... No, it was something much, much worse. Who attacked? Changelings. We found out the hard way that the surge that knocked the fuckers outta Canterlot didn't send them back to their wasteland of a home. Instead, blasted them straight into Griffon territory. As I recall, it was 0300 hours, right before sunrise, when they hit us. I woke up to two dead squadmates and one griffon; blasts of magic were flying everywhere. Ironic...such an old form of weaponry and tactics was sticking it to us. We wore bulletproof vests, Kevlar lined helmets, and fuckin' gas masks; but nothing that could stop such obsolete tech.

Upon opening my eyes, I reached down for the P3A1 that lay in the hands of the RGA soldier, stripped him of all his clips, and pulled the slide; revealing a fully loaded magazine. I was grateful that I found this gun; my standard issue M16 had been jamming and misfiring for a while. The only downside was that instead of my green/red dot sight, this P3 had regular iron sights; not as accurate, but the heavier caliber made up for what it lacked. By the time I was fully awake and with the rest of my squad; only four of us remained. We had taken cover behind upturned tables, sparing no time firing off rounds where ever we could.

"Fuck! Ain't any good, can't see where the fuck to shoot!", Private Pile yelled after his first mag.

"I hear that!", Corporal Static shouted back.

"Heh, reminds me of being back in the jungles of sector Victor!", First Sergeant Path chimed in, "'Cept this time it ain't the P.C. that's after us, and y'all ain't no peace lovin' hip-", Path was cut off by a blast of magic. The early morning moon shone upon his body, revealing a large gap in his gut; all of his organs had been charred, and spilled out onto the floor.

"Shit! They got the Demon Sarge! Take it ya ass hats, take it back to your damn bitchuva moth-", Pile was cut off by a direct hit in his chest. I glanced over, and saw blood cascading from his mouth; he'd been hit dead in the middle of his chest. He had clenched his sternum, and within seconds collapsed forward. The biggest stallion in our squad had been lost with one shot.

"Just you and m-", In a flash of light, Static had disintegrated, leaving nothing but a red mist.

I was far enough into the war to be mentally unstable, but not as far as to being all the way gone. I remembered my training; what they told us to do in these situations. I reached into one of my pockets, and withdrew a small, capped syringe; within seconds it was injected into my right arm. It was euphoric, to say the least. I felt no fear, no pain; I felt invincible. I don't remember too much after I injected myself; everything in my head just went black.

When I returned to conscientious, I was laying in the middle of our camp. The sun had risen by that point, revealing fifty or so of insectoid beings. Each one of them oozed green from multiple holes, and in my left hand lay Pile's M249 SAW. In the other was my G3, and at my side was Static's LAW. I remember feeling hungover; a raging migraine, and blurry vision. What happened? What the fuck are these things? Why did they attack? So many thoughts ran through my head, which just made it ache even worse.

Out of my peripheral vision, I spotted movement. It was subtle, but I managed to pick it up through my hazy eyes. Slowly, I tried climbing to my feet; yet found myself unable even move my upper body. I glanced down to find a stitch pattern of ten bullets across my chest; it was a miracle I hadn't bled out. When the other being started to rise, I managed to crawl over to it before it got to its feet; a nasty, crimson streak marked where I was dragging my body. I was in luck; I lay five feet from it, and from the looks of it, she was beat up almost half as bad as me. I caught her right before she stood up completely, "Who the fuck are you?", I said dryly.

"Hmph...does my reputation not exceed me? Do you not know the power I contain!?! I am the almighty Queen Chrysalis, monarch of the changelings...", she slowly trailed off, seeing the destruction around her, "What happened?!? These were my finest soldiers! The most mindless, and strong! You... You foal, do you not know our numbers?!? We will retaliate for this atrocity! We are so many!"

"And we are more. You're quote unquote soldiers are nothing but mindless drones; all of whom dropped at my feet.", I violently pulled the queen down, pinning her to the ground beneath. I barely got my arm around her neck, but when I did; it was the game changer. I got my hand down fast enough to catch her by surprise; holding a vice grip on her pharynx. "You are weak, like your followers. It's no wonder they fell so easily. Now, you're going to tell me why you're out here, and why I should keep you alive." I pulled out my sidearm, and aimed it at Chrysalis as I allowed her to crawl away.

"Isn't it obvious? My whole colony was ejected from Equestria! After our attack on Canterlot, we were expelled to here... well the ones who didn't die from the blast, that is. We were blending in fine here in Griffon territory, until we spotted you damned ponies spying on us!"

"We weren't out here for you, Chrissy. We were out here for Saddle Hoofsein, ya know the big leader of Al Flighta, the whole fucking reason we're out in this barren wasteland! You're way too narcissistic, you've been old news for over five months."

"Oh...that would explain why you didn't attack... Still, you would have if you found us!", Chrysalis started to pout.

"No, we wouldn't. One, that'd start another unnecessary war, and two you guys aren't that big of a threat to us; I bet the Canterlot Guard could beat you guys with their hands tied behind their backs!", I let out a laugh, as I stifled her ego.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!", she screamed, plugging her ears like a child.

"How cute, her royal ass ain't getting her way and is getting a hard dose of reality. Gee, your medical bill from me is gunna be mighty high...Excuse me for a sec.", I clutched my chest, and tilted my head to the right, dropping to my knees; puking up both blood and a blue substance. I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my blouse, and stood back up. "Oh, and by the way, you're officially a P.O.W. Hope they serve good bread in Canterlot Dungeons, cause you'll be there for a while." I smirked, and crawled over to the radio.

"Command, come in command!"

"Outpost India, we read you."

"I have a person of importance hostage, request immediate dust off!"

"Before we deploy a Raven Rescue Team, answer who is it that you have captured?"

"Queen Chrysalis; changeling leader. She attacked and killed my squad, along with the RGA soldiers that were with us."

"Coordinates located; Fife team has been deployed. Over and out."

Fortunately for me, the rest of the operation went swimmingly. We were dusted out in a matter of a few minutes, and both prepped for surgery. Said surgery took five hours overall for me. I was surprised when the Doc woke me up. I didn't realize it at the time, but they had weapons. Some of them snatched what they could from our stockpile, and used our own weapons against us. I didn't think about it when I awoke in the field, but looking back I did see a few too many M16's laying around, and way too many casings were scattered around from just my weapons.

Chrysalis wasn't in as bad of condition as I was. Worst she had was a mild concussion; the rest were all bruises. That was the first time I got to speak with Celestia. She came by and chatted with me a few hours after my operation. Mostly about how I was holding up, and if I'd resume my military career. But eventually we got down to business, and came to a conclusion about what to do with Chrysalis. By we, I really mean her. I wanted that bitch executed; hanged by a tree on the border between Dragon territory and Equestria. But as always, Celestia got what she wanted; which was to try to make Chrysalis a political ally, quoting that she was a "valuable asset" to the future of Equestria.

Author's Note

Sorry, but I promise next chapter will include Drifter breaking a few appendages trying to get into the Royal courtroom...Shit, I already said too much...Too lazy to hit backspace... Oh well, enjoy!