The Visitors

Chapters

Launch
Landing
Mike's story
The Prince
The Ponies

Launch

The system Equis Major. 37 light years from the nearest Imperial colony. The perimeter of the system.

Sector ZZ1-PLURAL-Z-ALPHA

TISS Primo Victoria

"Launch all aft communication drones! All guns, fire on the heavy Cruiser!" The shout emanated over the com link from the Bridge of the damaged vessel to the cockpit of the fighter-bomber in the hanger. "All pilots prepare to launch. 30 seconds!" Shouted the deck officer.

"15 seconds!" The ship's artificial gravity flickered for a moment before regaining power.

"10 seconds!" The hanger doors started to open.

"5 seconds!" The engines on the boomarang shaped fighter-bombers ignited.

"Godspeed Viper squadron." Came the Captain's voice.

The pilot of the small craft winced as he was catapulted out of the bay at 1 kilometer per second. He relaxed as the internal compensators kicked in and the gravity returned to normal. "Alright Alpha flight, we got a mission straight from the top." Came the voice of flight lead over his com link. "Our primary goal is to cover the heavy cruiser with the prince on it until they stop going after it. After that we just finish these guys off and then sit tight for our new orders."

"Incoming fighters and bombers! Viper, Falcon , and Yankee are clear to engage. The rest of you hold back and takeout the stragglers."

"Hell yeah! Viper, form up on me!" Shouted the pilot into his helmet mike. "Alright, primary targets are the bombers. The fighters can't damage anything bigger then a corvette, so their secondary."

"Copy that lead.""Copy.""Right, targeting the bombers." Came the replays over his helmet speakers.

The two groups of fighters neared each other and opened fire with their energy weapons. Beams of plasma collided with the hardened armor of the fighters and bombers as the organized initial clash turned into an melee of plasma and lasers. Explosions marked, if only momentarily, where someone had been unlucky or unskilled enough to occupy the same space as shot from a gun.

Viper lead wove through the incoming fire and fired some shots of his own. He sighted in on a bomber which was outlined in red on his HUD. The bomber pilot, releasing just how desperate his situation was, started diving and weaving this way and that in a desperate attempt to evade his pursuer, but it was in vain. Viper lead outclassed his opponent by many orders of magnitude, and after the first few shots, the bomber was hit. It started to destabilize and entered an out of control spiral. Viper lead pulled up and narrowly avoided the explosion which consumed the bomber.

As the two groups collided (figuratively, except for one unfortunate incident) the voice of the Admiral came over Viper leads comm.

"Viper lead, you have new orders. There is a heavy cruiser inbound in sector 3-54-89, heading straight for the weakest point in the line. It's shields are down, but nothing can reach it before it hits the supply ships except for you. Get over there and hit that thing. Stop it at all costs, Viper lead."

"Copy, Admiral, Viper, you heard the man. Form up on me and move towards that cruiser."

As Viper formed up in a tetrahedron formation, they broke away from the still raging battle behind them. They dove toward the smooth rectangular shape of the heavy cruiser, which was engaging two of the stingray shaped corvettes escorting the supply ships.

"Escorts one and two, this is Viper lead. Open a corridor to the cruiser and we'll do the rest. Copy?"

"Copy that, Viper lead. Go straight down the middle. We disabled most of their anti-fighter emplacements on the bow, so you have a better chance to take them out."

"Alright Viper. Line up on me and let's go."

"Copy." Came the four replies.

The fighter-bombers lined up and dove towards the heavy cruiser. It's massive bulk filled up the forward view screens of the tiny craft as they started taking flak.

There was a flash of light and a brief scream on the coms before a shout came from Viper four. "Shit! Fives gone!"

"Ten seconds until we're in range, Viper."

The range closed quickly and soon the order was heard, "Fire at my target!"

The four short range nuclear bombs carried by the fighter-bombers deployed and raced towards the surface of the cruiser. Viper squadron peeled away from the sight, and soon four miniature suns formed for an instant.

"Can anyone see the effect?" Asked Viper two.

"Aw hell...." Said Viper lead, a note of sorrow in his voice.

"Sir?"

"Their still going, their reactor is overloading, hell, you can see it through that hole we made, but their still going."

"So what do we do now, sir?"

Viper lead looked at the cruiser, and then at a picture taped to the upper right side of his cockpit, and then sighed loudly.

"You guys get out of here. Get to the minimum safe distance." As soon as he said this, he switched frequencies to the channel he shared with the Admiral.

"Sir, I regret to inform you that the cruiser is still mobile. It will be dealt with momentarily."

"Good, wait....if you launched your bombs, how are you going to............Viper lead, don't do this! Come on, Mike, don't do this!"

"Sorry sir, I made a promise to Sally. You know I can't break that promise." He responded as he turned his fighter towards the now exposed reactor of the cruiser.

"Dammit, Mike. Please."

"Goodbye, John." Said Viper lead, Mike, as he steered his fighter into the gaping hole in the cruiser.

And, with one last look at the picture, and in a bright flash of light, fire and plasma, Viper one's battle was over.

"Viper one? Come in, Viper one? Damn it, somebody answer me!" Shouted Admiral Donaldson.

"Sir, this is Viper two. One and five are down. We just finished the last of the small craft, what are your orders?"

"*sigh* return to the ship. Donaldson out." He paused and looked at the holographic battlefield being projected in the center of the bridge. "What's the status of the enemy fleet?"

"Sir, primary enemy threats have been neutralized. The few surviving vessels are withdrawing, and our ships are regrouping."

"Good. Captain, you have the Conn."

"Aye sir."

His majesty, De Hyacintho Sanguis (or Prince De[pronounced Day]), of the house Augustiorisque, third in line to the Imperial Throne, and commander of the 3rd Royal Guard Battalion, 1st Royal Guard Regiment, 1st Terran Defense Division, 1st Imperial Army, and the highest ranking member of the Royal family in the Seventh Imperial Fleet, looked at the Admirial with a suspicous gaze.

"What now?" Inquired the prince.

"Well, your highness, we still have to dodge the main fleet, but so far we've given them a run for their money." The Admiral sighed sadly, thinking of his lost friend.

'No time for that now' he thought.

"Your highness, the time has come for us to part ways."

"WHAT!?!

"Hear me out. The main pirate fleet has at least one battlecruiser, and the heaviest ship we have left is a heavy cruiser. Our top priority is your safety, and the fleet is currently unable to provide it. We're in the middle of uncharted space, the main pirate fleet is between us and Imperial territory, and we are the biggest target in three sub-sectors. Your no longer safe with the fleet. I'm ordering the transfer of you and your battalion to the supply ships that have room, as well as the one or two spare light frigates we have."

"But what will that do? It's not like we can set down on a planet and hide on........ You found a inhabitable planet, didn't you?"

"Ah, we'll I see the past three years have given you a better understanding of the way I think. Yes, to answer your question we found a habitable world in this system. We just ordered the royal transport to jump to a nearby point, and then meet us in a few days. The main fleet is going to leave now, and the hyper footprint should be enough to draw their attention away from the system long enough for the transports to offload your battalion and some support staff onto the the planet, in addition to a few essentials, and then leave the system. We're going to split the fleet into multiple elements and move them towards the border. With any luck one of the fleet elements or FTL drones will make it to Imperial territory and relay the coordinates."

"So, let me guess, we're going to drop into a jungle hell with giant, fire breathing turtles with razor sharp teeth? Or a world where it always rains an acidic compound that melts through power armor in a matter of hours? Or how about a desert where the sandstorms have made formations of razor sharp rocks that can slice through a shield without any effort?"

"I think for once you'll be pleasantly surprised. The planet has all indications of being a Terran class world. Yes I said Terran." Donaldson smirked at the expression the prince was giving him. "And get this. All our readings indicate an oxygen environment." The look of disbelief on the Princes face was to much for Donaldson, who promptly burst out laughing. This would be the first habitable planet they had found in months that wasn't actively trying to kill them.

"Well, knowing you, you already have Major Heinreich's support with this plan, and nothing I can say will talk you out of it."

"Indeed, you have learned these past few years. But yes, to answer your question, we talked and we agreed that this is best."

"*sigh* fine, damn it. I know that trying to convince you two is a lost cause. But your primary goal is to survive. You can drop me off here, but if it comes down to covering for me and getting back to the Empire, you are to get to the Empire and tell them what's happening out here. These pirates are too well armed, and they seem to be moving towards the border. So those are your Orders, and you, of all people, don't disobey orders, do you?"

"No, your highness, you know me better then that."

"Good. So I take it my battalion is already transferred?"

"If their not done yet then they will be soon, yes. The trip in system should take no more then a a day on the transports.. More then enough time for you to prepare for the landing."

"Any sign of natives?"

"We can't tell this far out. If there are you might want to stay clear, based on our prior experiences in this sector."

"You don't say? While, who am I to question the wisdom of the great negotiator?"

They both laughed at the nickname given to Donaldson by the Imperial Diplomatic Corp. The Admiral had earned the name when he discovered evidence of an assassination plot by a diplomatic group aboard his ship sent from a rival Empire. He had acquired (after three hours of rather questionable and very bloody interrogation) a confession, and then thrown them out of the airlock. The Empire responsible promptly invaded, and was then destroyed by the Imperial fleet in retaliation.

"Very well. At least the Major trusts my judgement." Replayed the Admiral. This caused another laugh, as their disagreements lead to arguments which had become legendary over the past three years of the campaign.

"Alright then. I guess I better insure that the slackers in my battalion aren't messing around again." They laughed again. the Royal Guard was one of the most disciplined units in the Imperium, for obvious reasons. soon, however, they grew sober.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye for sometime. Farewell, my friend. And remember your orders"

"Of course, your highness. And your highness." Said Donaldson quietly. "Your father would be proud if he could see you today."

"We'll then, you'll just have to tell him of my changes personally, won't you?"

"Yes sir." Replayed the Admiral. The two saluted, then the prince left the briefing room. Donaldson watched the door close, then reached up and tapped this comm link once.

"I need the location of 1st recon."

One day later....

"Hey! Twilight! Whatcha doin up there anyway!" Shouted Applejack. "You've been up there all day! What's the big deal about a meteor shower?"

"Well, first of all its unscheduled. It's not a normal shower. Second, it looked like it just appeared last night" replied Twilight from her balcony.

"This is a completely new phenomenon. It might mean something big! Like......umm.....aliens, or something." She said with a sheepish expression.

"Aliens? Really? Like from a comic book? Isn't that sort of Spikes thing?"

"Yeah, I know it sounds odd, but think about it! The first time a new event occurs! And I get to document it! isn't it exciting?" Asked Twilight.

"Well, I guess.........just be careful, ok? I don't want you to be disappointed if it turns out this is some sorta mixup or somethin. Ok?"

"Fine. I have to return to my observations now. It's important I monitor every step of this process so I can document it correctly." Twi said, turning to look back into her telescope.

"Alright, I guess. See you Twilight!" Shouted Applejack as she trotted off.

Twilight looked at her friend go before looking back through her telescope.

Had she looked sooner, she might have seen a smaller dot detach from one of the 'meteors', and head towards the surface.

The gunships in the upper atmosphere...........

"So they found WHAT!" Shouted Specialist Jackson. "There are indigs (sentient indigenous life forms/population) on this mud hole? How did we not know about this until now! Don't they think this may be important?"

"Dammit Jackson, shut the hell up!" Shouted Sargent Bondarek. "Command didn't know about this because their tech level is to low. From what we could gather in the past few hours, they could be anywhere from the Stone Age to the advent of the nuke, and we won't know until we get there, so quit your bitching and load up! Our squad drew the short straw and we're goin in first to find a Forward Operating Base (FOB)! Lock and load, we drop in 5 minutes."

Jackson turned away from the main bay and went to the materializer in the rear of the bay. If they were gonna drop into another hellhole then he was gonna be prepared. Lets see, he thought. I bet that if this is anything like the last planet, it's gonna get real hairy real quick. Better grab an extra knife. Maybe a flame thrower would work to. Jackson quickly grabbed the extra knife and wrist mounted flamethrower, and made five cartridges of super condensed fuel. Each canister was rated for five minutes of continuous fire, but Jackson knew from experience that that wasn't much time in pitch combat.

As he did this, he examined his armor load out. It was pretty much standard for the first recon. Assault rifle, sensor beacon, and grenades were included in all of the squads load outs. But Jackson also had his S1W7 Black Widow. It had variable fire, burst or semi. He also had two demo packs, a flame thrower, and an extra knife.

"Really Jackson? A flamethrower? Do you have any idea what we're going up against?" Asked a shadow in the corner seat of the gunship's hold.

"Do you?" Retorted Jackson.

"No, but I bet it can't stop a 50 cal through it's skull." Replied the shadow, who leaned forward and revealed himself to be the team's sniper, Cpl. O'Neal. In addition to his standard load out, he had a MOR-94 hammer, a sniper rifle (for obvious reasons), and a rangefinder build into his armor, which could double as a laser designator in a pinch.

"What if it doesn't have a head? What if their, like, amorphous blobs! Yeah! That devour all they touch! And can't be burned! And are bullet proof! And that can melt through arm-"

"For the last time, shut up! Your scaring the women."

"Sarge, it's not his ranting that scares me, it's his pick up lines." Said 'Big' Barbra, the teams machine gunner, said around the lollipop that never seemed to leave her mouth. Her girlish freckles and long blond hair hid her love of violence. She had a modified R-KMG7A Ripsaw, a mortar, and a beacon launcher with three beacons.

"Or his smell!" Chimed a small, black haired woman. She was Raven, the squads engineer. She had a shotgun, a repair tool, and a custom hacking tool, which could convert any enemy turrets encountered.

"Or his- "

"Yeah, yeah, I get the hint. I'll be good." Said Jackson, glaring at the two women who shared the bay with him. He soon leaned back and smiled. "Y'all are just angry I'm the only one who try's to pick you up. Everyone else is to scared!"

The rest of the bay started laughing at the jib. Jackson's attempts to get a date were notorious as they were half hearted. It had been a running joke that whenever they dropped, Jackson would try to get a date with one of the girls. Needless to say, he failed every time. But the squad got a laugh from it and so Jackson did it to provide a moment of joy to his unit.

'Especially sense we could die today, like-'. He tore his train of thought away from that subject and laughed anyway.

"Alright you apes, the drop zone is in sight. Our goal, and the goal of the other two teams, is to find a suitable site for a FOB. Our area of operations is a heavily forested area by what appears to be a small town. We will start in a clearing towards the center of the zone and look for any threats in the area. We have twenty-four hours until we need to call in the base, or evac. Oohrah, jump troopers?"

"Oohrah!!" Came the five responses.

"Sixty seconds until drop zone one." Came the pilots voice over the intercom.

"Thirty seconds!" Jackson strapped into the seat.

"Fifteen seconds!" The seats in the bay for squad that was about to launch inverted 180 degrees backwards.

"Ten......nine.....eight......seven......six......five.........four.......three.....two.......one........launch"

The five members of the 1st recon squad, 1st platoon, Easy company, 3rd Royal Guard Battalion, were launched at the planet at just below the speed of sound.

And Jackson smiled.

Landing

Ben smiled as he fell towards the planets surface. He had been the last one to launch, and he could see his squad mates hurdling through the sky below him, like meteorites.

"Alright squad, here's the deal. There's an indig settlement to the south, at the head of a valley which goes east to west. Our LZ is in a forest to the North of this town, and east of the northern edge of the valley. There's a clearing with some obstacles in it. Orbital scans indicate that there are under ground caves. Those should be hidden well enough from orbit so that detection should be impossable. If we confirm this we are to call in the rest of the battalion, and then holdout until they arrive. If we haven't done this in twenty four hours, the battalion will land anyway. If that happens, we will be susceptible to orbital assault, because they'll just set down everything in the clearing, and we won't be able to get the heavy stuff under cover before the next batch of pirates arrive. Clear?"

"Yes sir." Came the replies.

"Good. This should be the last cloud layer. Impact in ten."

As they broke through the cloud layer, Jackson couldn't help but gasp. The planet was beautiful. There was a green forest, there were rolling grasslands, there was even a-

"Is that a castle built into a cliff? How did they even do that? The load bearing pillars are to small and-"

"Sense when have you been an architect O'Neal?"

He heard O'Neal growl over the comm. "I'm not an architect, I just have an eye for detail. Idiot. I am a sniper, after all."

Jackson stopped ribbing him as he hit the ground. They had decided to goin for a hard landing. That is, no braking. A soft landing would have used the jetpacks on their suits to keep them from hitting hard enough to give the suit pause.

As the squad recovered the looked around. Jackson's jaw, unseen beneath his helmet, dropped.

"This is a castle! Or, it was at one point! It looks like the ones on earth! That's awesome! But it looks like-"

"Jackson, can it. Anyone have any useful information?"

"Actually, Sarge, that could mean that the entrance to those catacombs is in the ruins.

"Alright squad, lets move! Barb, use the sensors to see if there are any entrances to the caverns under us. Everyone else, form a perimeter. Move!"

The squad rapidly took up positions around the ruins. There was a ravine on one side with a rope bridge, and a hall and tower which were mostly intact. O'Neal took up an overwatch position in the tower, and the rest of the squad went to the corners of the main hall.

"Sir, sensors are reading a massive cavern, and there's an entrance big enough for a drop ship carrying an outpost to enter in that canyon over there."

"Good. Jackson, contact the Prince and the Major Heinreich and tell them we found a location for a base which is unnoticeable from orbit. Barb, plant a beacon for the battalion. Then we're gonna go and insure that these caverns are clear. O'Neal, stay here and direct the reinforcements."

"Yes sir." "Yes sir." "On it, sir."

They rushed to do what they were ordered to, and Sarge looked at the tower. The sensors said that there was a stairwell leading into the cavern there. That's how they would go in.

"Alright squad," he yelled as they accomplished their tasks, "we have one hour before the Battalion arrives in force. Lets go clear the caves before they get here."

"Yes sir!" Came the replies form the three who would accompany him into the caves.

"Jackson, you brought a flame thrower?"

"Uh, yes sir?"

"Good, take point."

"Dammit." Said Jackson, drawing snickers from his squad mates. They moved into the tower and proceeded down a flight of stairs. The stairs continued downward for about 100 meters before stoping at a dark opening. Jackson activate his night vision mode and gasped.

The cavern was huge, was open to the ravine on one side, and it had a massive skeleton in it. The skeleton looked like it was once a great, winged beast, with four limbs. It looked like it had been dead for decades, if not centuries, but the idea that such a large creature could exist was worrying.

"Is that a dragon? Cause it looks like a dragon." Asked Raven. "Cause if it is, that could be very bad, right?"

"Very bad. But we have a job to do." Sarge responded.

They moved deeper into the cave. There were signs of habitation, but none of them were recent. The large cave had three tunnels leading away from it. One led to a series of smaller caves coming of to the tunnel. One led down, and ended in what looked like a mine, and one led to yet another large cave. This one, however, only had one other tunnel. This one led to a cave on the surface. It had a narrow opening, but it was large enough to fit a tank through. The inside was large enough to fir several vehicles.

Several hours later...............

The setup had gone smoothly. The cave which opened to the ravin (hanger) now held four drop ships, the others having left for the transports, which were now making the jump to the rendezvous point. The smaller caves were being converted into barrack, the large central cave had been filled with the mobile base elements which were carried in by the drop ships. There was an outpost module serving as a command post, a resource processing center with several mining drones, which even now were at work with several troopers getting the old mine operational. There were also three materializers. They could produce anything, given enough materials or energy. They would ,singly be used to produce a nutritious paste until the base was operational, but even then they would have difficulty producing anything larger then a turret or a suit of heavy armor. The newly installed fusion reactor was at half capacity, but would be operational within a week. And the surface cave (garage) had been filled with four tanks, four suits of heavy armor, four bikes, and eight transports. The door had a squad stationed on it at all times so that anything local couldn't just wonder in. Four more suits were in the hanger and the large hall on the surface. The tower was maned by a sensor station and a squad, and there were two more squads patrolling the surrounding area for threats. All in all, the base would be self sustaining in less then two weeks. Until then, the Third had to be on their guard.

In the woods near the citadel, as the great hall was coming to be called, there was a burst of fire, causing all the troopers who heard it to brace for an attack. Then there was a radio report.

"Hostile down. All units, be advised, there are hostile...um.....creatures, in the woods."

Jackson looked at the corpse of the creature he had just killed. It only took one burst from his rifle to kill it, but what the hell had the body of a lion, the tail of a scorpion, and the wings of a bat?

"Any ideas as to what that was?" He asked Raven.

"No fucking clue." She responded, rubbing the spot where the tail had hit her. It had gone right through her shield, but her armor had stopped it. It would still bruise, though.

Suddenly they heard a buzzing from ahead of them.

"That sounds like a-" they both said at the same time, stoping as the black, insect like thing burst through the underbrush. It stopped, took one look at them, and turned around and flew off.

"Changeling!" They both yelled, running after the little winged and horned insect like creature.

"So you were on New Belfast too?" Shouted Raven as they ran through the woods.

"Let's not talk about it right now. We have a bug to burn!" Shouted Jackson. The anger burned through him as he remembered the hated insect like enemy.

Suddenly they heard a pain shriek from up ahead. They ran into a clearing to see the changeling pined to a tree by a knife through its leg. It was pinned in such a way so that its rear legs could reach the ground. It had stopped screaming and was staring with an open mouth at the three armored figures already standing in the clearing.

"Thanks for leading him into the trap." Says Sarge, as he walks up to the changeling. "Now, lets find out why our little friend is here."

He turned to the changeling.

"Didn't we kill all you bastards when we Nuked New Belfast? No, don't answer that, it was rhetorical. Why are you here?" He asked.

When the changeling didn't respond, he grabbed the knife and twisted. It hissed in pain.

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll let you die quickly. Or don't, and I give you to Jackson here. He has a real soft spot for your kind."

The rest of the squad, except for Sarge, looked at Jackson. It was obvious, even with his armor, that he was barely keeping himself from ripping the thing to shreds with his power armored hands.

The changeling swallowed.

"Do your worst, scum." It hissed.

"Jackson, that's your cue." Said Sarge, stepping back. Turning to the creature, he said. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

He walked away as Jackson drew his first knife. He then lit up his flame thrower. Using the flame thrower, he superheated the knife. He then proceeded to cut of the changelings horn.

The screaming was heard by the patrols around the citadel, which was two and a half kilometers away.

"There, it's coming to. The drugs must be working."

The changeling awoke in a small stone room in a panic. It recognized the two beings who had caused it pain before, as well as a new being. This one seemed to radiate an aura of command. The changeling tried to detect his emotions, but it could not.

"I bet your wondering why you can't drain us dry, huh?" Asked the one who had been addressed as Jackson. "Trying to turn us into uncaring, unfeeling husks, huh? So we can-"

"Jackson, shut it. We have what we need from it, so end it quickly." Said the unknown figure.

"Yes your highness." Replied Jackson, as the two others turned and left. "Quickly, huh? Alright, how about some fire?!?" He yelled, as he turned toward the changeling, his flamethrower already warming up.

The changeling screamed in pain and terror as the flames engulfed him and he was cooked within his exoskeleton.

Five minutes later....

Ben walked into the briefing room and looked around. He had just restocked his supplies, and he was ready to go. The rest of the squad gave him the odd glance, but aside from that, everything was fine.

"Bout time, Jackson." Observed Sarge from the front of the room. "Now we can start. The information which was, um, obtained, by Jackson, has alerted us to the fact that the local royalty has been infiltrated. The changelings have replaced one of their leaders with one of there own, and this represents a threat to the stability of the region."

He paused dramatically, causing the squad to roll their eyes. "We have discovered a wedding is to be held in one weeks time. In the interest of our continued security, first recon is to drop into the palace of the local leaders, infiltrate the wedding of the replaced leader, and terminate the changeling which is disguised there. Our orders are clear. No unnecessary local casualties. We're gong in with sleeper rounds. The only live ammo we have will be used on the target. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Good. Now restock and rearm, we'll use a drop ship to enter the castle grounds. Intel indicates that there is a force field, but our shields will allow us to get through it. Stay alert, and stay alive. Oohrah?"

"Oohrah!"

And with that, they exited, determined to get some R&R before getting into the thick of the fighting again.

One week later........

The four drop ships were all loaded with drop troops. The ships could only fit ten troopers each in addition to, so there were three normal squads of ten, and two recon squads. First recon would go in first, and the others would wait at a high altitude so as not to alert anyone of there presence. Their shields would hide their presence by blocking sound and any detection by means other then natural. In the event that the changelings ended up getting into the city, the reinforcements would deploy across the city, each with a suit of heavy armor. They would then proceed to kill any changelings that they came across.

"We're over the drop zone, first recon. Prepare for Low Altitude Drop." Came the pilots voice.

First recon would drop form just above the first cloud layer. Sense it was early morning, and the sun hadn't risen yet, they would find an isolated room and hide. The changeling had given them information regarding the locals, but the squad was still skeptical. Sentient ponies, unicorns, and pegasi? That was a bit much for the squad to except. But they weren't taking any chances. They would use nonlethal methods to take out anything not confirmed as a changeling. They could confirm the species of the creatures encountered by a special visor mode. It detected the energies used by the changelings when they were transformed. This would allow them to locate the imposter, who was disguised as the bride.

First recon launched face first through the cloud cover and into the city. They raced towards the ground, the force field below them humming with energy as they passed through, and braked above the main hall of the castle.

They took a moment to get their bearings after landing on the roof of the hall, and located a suitable site for a hiding spot.

"Alright squad, follow me!" Shouted Sarge as he jumped to the ground and ran towards a storm drain in the wall of the garden he was in. The rest of the squad rushed after him they ran through the garden, scaring several smaller creatures, until they reached the drain.

"Raven, get us an opening." Ordered Sarge. Raven quickly complied, managing to open the grate covering the drain by cutting the bar holing it to the wall.

"Alright, everybody in." Whispered Sarge. The squad moved into the drain hastily, and closed it just as a pair of unicorns in golden armor walked around the corner.

"Holy shit, the changeling was telling the truth!?" Exclaimed Jackson. "Why the hell would it do that? And why they hell were those unicorns.......man that sounds crazy, even coming from me.......wearing armor?"

"Maybe their guards? This is a palace, after all. They could be the local equivalent of us, right?" Said Barb.

"Right." Agreed O'Neal. "We would be trying to protect the wedding from all sorts of crazies and paparazzi if one of the royal were getting married, right? Remember the last wedding. They arrested like, twenty people for sneaking onto the palace grounds before it even started."

The squad turned and moved into the sewers.

"Thank god for air filtration." Said Barb after a few minutes of walking through the sewers the storm drain connected to.

The shields burned anything that got close, so their armor remained scent free, but the smell could, and did, penetrate the shield.

"How much Longer, Barb?" Asked Raven. Barbra had been using her sensors to track where the squad was, and they were getting close to where the hallway outside of the great hall was supposed to be.

"Twenty meters ahead, and we're at the door. Perhaps here would be a good place, Sarge?"

"Alright, according to the time we have, the wedding is in fifteen minutes. Give another five so that the 'bride' is in position, and then we breach and enter the hall. Then we kill the thing. That should earn us the locals trust. Jackson, plant the charges. The timer is set, and the rest of you, get to minimum safe distance."

"Yes sir."

The charges were set without a hitch, and the squad spent the twenty minutes preparing their equipment and themselves for the coming battle.

"Jackson, do it." Came Sarges voice as the twenty minutes expired.

Jackson hit the detonator.

Celestia stopped talking and looked at the door. "What was that noise?" She asked.

"Go! Move, move!" Shouted Sarge as the charges detonated.

The squad activated their jump jets and rose thought the hole in the floor. They landed and moved towards the large double doors which were flanked by a pair of, now unconscious, guards. O'Neal took a second to realize that these two didn't have any extra extremities, they were just normal ponies.

Jackson reached the door first and kicked it. The boot of power armor is very powerful. It has to be, to allow the suits wearer to jump anything, let alone to the top of a one story building. So where the boot itself impacted the door fractured. The result was a small mist of dust from the remains of the impacted area clouding the now open doorway as the squad ran through. The effect was lost to all involved once they got into the room.

In the room was a crowd of ponies, all three primary races being represented. In front of them were three unicorns, two pegasi, and two normal ponies. There were also two beings resembling a large changeling, one seeming to have an ethereal mane. She was white, with a rainbow mane which wove through the air, despite the lack of a breeze, and had a sun on her rear flank. Her horn was glowing a golden color. The other was pink with a multicolored mane, and a crystal heart on her flank. She was dressed in a bridal gown, and the readings from the visor were indicating that she was the changeling. But that wasn't the oddest thing.

The oddest thing was the man in the light power armor of an Imperial pilot. The patch on his shoulder resembled a cobra about to strike, and he was floating three feet above the ground, a pistol in his grip, enveloped in the same color of gold as the aura around the big changelings horn was. As the troopers took up positions in the room, he looked per his shoulder. O'Neal heard Jackson gasp.

"Holy, shit. Mike?"

"Hello Ben. It's been a long time sense New Belfast."

Mike's story

Mike awoke in the soft glow of his cockpit's display. He looked around and tried his radio.

"This is Viper one, calling any Imperial vessels. Any Imperial-"

He was cut off by a shower of sparks from the side of his helmet.

"God damn piece of shit!" He swore loudly as he tore to broken piece of equipment from his head and trough it into the console in front of him. He looked up and saw a thin layer of snow covering the top of his cockpit. He then looked at the picture in the upper right side of his cockpit.

"Well, Sally, looks like I won't be joining you after all." He said, smiling sadly. "Oh well, maybe next time....." His voice trailed off.

He could have sworn he heard something.

"I think it hit over here!" Came the shout again.

'Well that's because I did hear something,' he thought, quickly undoing his restraints.

"What the hay is that thing?" Now they could see him? Great.

"I don't know, let's find out!" Shouted another voice. Mike grabbed his sidearm, a standard issue pistol, and grabbed the emergence release for the cockpit when he heard scratching. He looked up.

There was an odd creature looking through the glass at him, and he felt his anger rise as a thought occurred to him.

"God Damn Changeling Sack of Shit!" He screamed, causing the odd creature to jump off of his cockpit, which then exploded upwards as the emergence release was hit.

The odd creature yelled something, but Mike paid no heed as he brought his weapon to bear.

'Wait,' he suddenly thought. 'Theres something off about.......' Mike felt his jaw drop.

There were five.........not Changeling.........things, standing around, in armor, looking at him with terror and fascination in their eyes.

"Hello.......can you understand me?" Asked one of them in perfect Standard English.

"What the fuck are you? How did I get here? And more importantly, how can you speak Standard?" He yelled, pointing the gun from thing to thing.

"He speaks Equestrian? How remarkable. I guess that joke about Equestrian being the universal trade language was right after all." Said one of them, who looked younger then the others and who, if his armory condition was an indicator, was a lower rank.

"Can it, Night Light." Said one of the others, reaching for a spear.

"I wouldn't do that, If I were you." Said Mike, aiming the gun at the moving thing.

"Stop antagonizing this thing, Snow Flurry, and lets take it back to camp with us." Said a slightly higher pitched voice.

"Remeber who's in charge here."

"Well stop messing with the noob."

Mike checked his HUD. The radio, which he had torn out, was the only thing damaged. He still had a shield, basic jump pack capabilities, overdrive, and internal heating and cooling. He turned to the not changelings, who were all occupied arguing, and shrugged.

'Their all incompetent anyway, why waste the ammo. Besides, I can out run them, and the fighters no use without a pilots implants.' He turned and started running.

"Hey, he's getting away!"

"Come back!"

He smiled as he looked over his shoulder. The things couldn't catchup to him, and he was safe from any of their weird powers within his shield.

He turned his head back to his front and smiled. He was safe, for now.

"Should we report this to the princesses?" Asked Night Light worriedly.

"No." Replied Snow Flurry. "That thing can't survive out here without food or water, and the nearest town is weeks away. It'll freeze before it reaches the train tracks. Now lets get back to base."

With one look at the now distant figure, the five soldiers turned around and headed towards their base, the crashed object forgotten.

Exactly one week, a few hours, and five minutes later.

Mike looked up from the trench where he had been hiding. He had run across the train tracks several days ago, and had started heading south. The dual tracks appeared to be in disuse, and he guessed they only existed to service the encampment those soldiers who found him had come from. He had heard the rumbling of a train from the North earlier, and had hidden to try to hitch a ride on it. He waited until it came into view, and then hit the ground. He was now waiting for it to get close. In overdrive he could run fast, and thanks to the cold, he could run longer then normal without his armor overheating. But the train would still be faster over long distances.

The train began to pass him, and he saw a car he could use. It was a cargo car that had one door, the one facing him, opened.

'Perfect.' He thought, as he jumped up and ran to the car. He jumped in and felt the car lurch a bit at the added weight.

'Well, at least now I can relax for a bit, he thought, sitting in a dark corner and going to sleep.

He awoke to the sound of a commotion out side.

"Why the hay are you stopping us, buddy? I got a schedule to keep, and this isn't on it."

"By order of the Princesses, all incoming traffic is to be searched for intruders or contraband. Or you can be arrested and your train and its contents confiscated. Ether way, I get payed and I follow my orders."

'Oh shit, their going to search the car' Mike thought, sneaking to the open door. He was on a raised platform, on the side of a mountain. Looking to his left, there were train tracks built into the mountain. Looking to his right, there was......a whole fucking city built into the mountain.

'I could kill everyone there with one bomb. That's a major weakness.' Was his first thought. 'Is that what I think it is?' Was a close second.

Standing on one of the towers was one of the things. But this one looked like a Changeling. It was white, and it's horn was glowing a golden color. She had a sun on her flank, and a mane that looked like pure sunlight.

'Shit, if I'm gonna get to the bottom of this, I need to get to that thing. And fast. The suns coming up.'

He put a tracer on it so that he could ID it if he saw it again, and then looked around frantically.

'There has to be a way into......' He looked up. There was a drain just above the height of the car he was in, and it didn't have a grate on it.

'Bingo.' He thought, activating his jump pack and ascended to the height of the pipe, turning of the jets keeping him aloft and dropping to the bottom of the scum covered pipe. It looked like it hadn't been used for anything in centuries, but it had to lead somewhere, and he had time to explore.

As he wandered deeper in to the pipelines, he noticed that he was headed straight for the tower he had seen in the city. He started running, eager to see what would be at the end of the tunnel. He stopped when he saw a light. He moved forward courteously, drawing his sidearm.

He entered a room with three abnormalities.

One, a crystal in the center which was emitting light, and had a beam of light from a hole in the roof to the room.

Two, a small stairway to the right of where Mike had entered the room from.

And finally three, a massive window in the wall opposite the opening he had used to gain entrance to the room.

He walked over to the window and looked through.

He jumped back as he raised his pistol.

There was a Changeling walking between two groups of the not changelings. It was disguised, had a pink coat and a crystal heart on its flank, and was dressed like......

'Is that a fucking bridal train?' He asked, looking through the window again. It was. 'Holy crap, it's marrying one of those, wait, a horned thing?'

He looked at the crowd. There were some of the ones he had seen up north, that looked like a Changeling without the horn or wings, and then there were ones with the only the horn, and ones with only the wings. The white one from earlier, with both horns and wings, was standing in front of the crowd, on a platform.

'That thing.......that level of power......it's her........it's the Bitch.......the bitch who killed......' He backed up to the opening he had entered from and ran through the far window.

The glass shattered as he flew through, sending a million shards the size of a grain of sand falling to the floor below.

The shouts of surprise and fear went unnoticed by the pilot, who hit the ground, rolled, and stood up. He whirled around and cast a glance at his shield strength. It was down to half from the landing and the shards of glass which it vaporized, but it was holding.

He pointed the gun at the changeling as he stopped his about face, and retracted his helmet.

"Remember Me, Bitch? Cause I Remember You!" He screamed, pulling the trigger. The rounds fired by his pistol were solid shell, molten core rounds. They were the standard ammo type for all weapons used by Imperial forces in ground based combat. The gun had fired three times, and the rounds flew straight towards their target.

They then hit a barrier which had been erected by the white not changeling thing, which sent a blast of energy at Mike in retaliation.

The things superior expression went to one of shock as Mike simple stood there, aiming his pistol at the strange creatures, and said loudly, "Shields are a new trick, right? We took the lessons you taught us to heart. Shields are standard on all Imperial armor, now."

The Changeling looked at him with a shocked expression on its face, but regained its composure and turned to the other one.

"How is it still standing? That was a sleeping spell!" The white one said, shocked. She turned to the other. They both nodded, and turned towards Mike, who was nervous all of a sudden. That last blast was more powerful then anything the changelings had ever been recorded using, and his shields were at ten percent. He looked around for anything that could give him an advantage, then dove as two beams of light raced toward him. One, the one from the changeling, hit his shield, and dropped it. The other hit him, and he felt himself lifting off of the ground, his pistol torn from his grip. He glared at the white one, who's horn was glowing golden.

"Now then, what manner of creature are you?" Asked the white one, as it and the changeling stopped talking and turned towards him, apparently having come to some sort of an agreement.

"Ask the Bitch of New Belfast." Said Mike angrily, nodding his unrestrained head at the pink thing which the changeling had hidden itself as. "She knows me, even if she's gotten I new look. Don't you, you changeling bitch."

The white one turned to the changeling.

"What does he mean by-"

*BOOOOOM*

The white one stopped talking and looked at the door. "What was that noise?" She asked

Mike smiled.

'That sounded like one of Jackson's creations.' He thought, remembering the demo man who had saved his life.

He heard the door shatter and looked over his shoulder in time to see five power armored figures run into the room.

'Ah, it was Jackson.' Thought the pilot, as he saw the demo mans armor, with 'born to burn' stenciled on the front.

"Holy, shit. Mike?"

"Hello Ben. It's been a long time sense New Belfast." Said Mike, smiling at his old friend.

The Prince

Prince De Hyacintho Sanguis stepped into the makeshift interrogation room. He looked at the green blood which was prevalent on the floor and walls, and then at Sgt. Bondarek.

"I think I won't get Jackson pissed off anytime soon." He said to the grizzled veteran, who let out a small chuckle.

"Just don't grow a horn, two wings, and sprout front legs where your arms should be, and we'll get you out of his presence alive, your highness." Said the Sargent, who had insured the man in question was out of the room when he said it.

The prince nodded, and looked at the remains of a creature sitting before him. It was tied to a chair, and had had its horn cut off. But the worst part was its legs. They had been cut off with a knife, and it had taken several minutes for each leg. The stumps which had once been limbs twitched as the prince spoke, as though the thing was acknowledging the princes' presence.

It had been several hours sense first recon had returned to base with the creature, which had a gaping hole in its leg and a stump where it's horn had been cut off. All of the members of the squad, save for Sgt. Bondarek and Raven, had been giving Jackson more space then usual. Jackson had been covered in the green blood of the insect, but there seemed to be another reason for the extra space being given to the specialist.

Upon arrival at the base, Jackson had immediately gone to one of the still empty rooms by the barracks, and there had been screams which woke the entire base shortly after. Finally, after about thirty minutes, Jackson had walked out of the room and allowed the prince and the Sargent in. They had entered and balked at the sight before them. Only the wings and horn hd been removed, but there was evidence that the Changeling had been conscious the entire time.

They had then left, and allowed the few actual interrogators who were with the battalion their chance to break the insect. It had taken another hour, but they had finally gotten some worth while information.

"Alright, Jackson. You can come in now." Said Sgt. Bondarek to the specialist, who had been waiting outside the chamber.

He entered and cast a questioning glance at his prince, who nodded back to him.

"Do it."

Jackson reluctantly stepped forward and removed the syringe from his belt. It contained a nanobot solution, nicknamed morphine, which could heal even normally fatal wounds if applied fast enough and in a large enough amount. Unfortunately, it required the subject to be awake the entire time, and took longer for larger wounds. The amount in the syringe was only enough to wake the changeling up, however, and Ben extended his arm and injected the solution intro one of the wounds on the neck.

"Remind me why we're doing this again, Sargent?" Asked the prince.

"We need an unfiltered trace on its mental activity," replied Bondarek. "and the nanobots will keep it from regaining consciousness until we can get a read on its species. The brain patterns, the pheromones it produces, and the energy pattern that the species uses to transform. That will let us kill that.........target.....we were discussing earlier."

"Alright."

The three men waited in science, and then the pile of blood and armor in front of them began to move.

"There, it's coming to. The morphine must be working." Said Bondarek.

"I bet your wondering why you can't drain us dry, huh?" Asked Jackson, his voice laced with anger. "Trying to turn us into uncaring, unfeeling husks, huh? So we can-"

"Jackson, shut it. We have what we need from it, so end it quickly." Said the Prince, turning to walk out of the room with Bondarek.

"Yes your highness." Replied Jackson, as the two others left the room. "Quickly, huh? Alright-"

The rest of the sentence was cut off, but the screams which followed a second later almost caused the prince to turn around.

"Well, he seems to have recovered admirably." Said Bondarek, shaking his head.

The prince turned and stared at him.

"You can't mean that he was worse at one point? He seemed to take an unhealthy joy in touring that thing."

"And why wouldn't he?" Asked the Sargent, who was careful to keep the hate from his voice. "Those things did kill his family."

The prince stopped short, as if he had been hit.

"What does that mean? I haven't even heard of those things, and I'm a fucking prince. How does Jackson know what they are?"

The Sargent sighed.

"That's a story for another time, if that's alright, your highness. I think we need to focus on the task at hand."

"Right. Lets get to work."

One week later............

The prince sat in the Outpost module which was serving as a command center, and watched the feeds from the helmet cameras and the recon drones which were spread around the city and, for the most part, hidden on the mountainside.

It had been decided to send, in addition to first and second recon, first through third squads from third platoon and four suits of heavy armor. The remainder of the platoon had been sent to the base of the mountain the city was built on, to hide in the nearby woods. They, and the other members of the company sized attack force (made up of the remainder of easy company, which consisted of the remaining two squads from first platoon, ten men, and the two squads from third platoon, twenty men, in addition to three more infantry platoons, made up of fifty men each) were poised to strike at the city if and when the shield fell. In the event that first recon managed to eliminate the infiltrator and could get out of the city in one piece, they would withdraw to the Citadel and try to stay unnoticed while they did it.

"First recon is launching......now." Came the voice of the drop ship flight leader, who was carrying the two recon squads.

The prince switched the view on his monitor and watched the squad fall through the shield in the gathering dawn.

"Beautiful morning, your highness." Came a voice, heavy with the Germanic accent of a Heller, from behind the prince.

"Yeah, but nothing beats home." Responded the prince, as he turned and greeted the Battalion commander, Major Heinreich.

The Heller smiled. "What I wouldn't give to view the lava fields of my home world again." Said the large man.

The planet Hell had twenty thousand square miles of stable ground. The rest of the world was a tectonically unstable lava field. Hence the name. It produced, despite a small population, about 15% of all Royal Guardsmen who became officers, and 12% of the total Royal Guard.

"Or the city ships that float on the oceans of Terra."

The two men looked at each other and chuckled. They had long sense grown used to their wildly different perceptions of home, and it had become a running challenge to see who could provide a memory of home that the other found oddest.

"Sir, I think you should see this." Said one of the technicians hesitantly.

"Yes?" Said the prince inquisitively, as he stood and walked across the crowded control module.

"I think that that confirms that the changelings look like the locals." Said Heinreich, looking over the techs shoulder.

"Their like little horses in armor...." Commented the prince.

"Those are ponies." Said the tech sheepishly.

The two men gave him questioning stares, and he shrugged.

"I grew up on New Anatolia, a farming world, and my family raised horses. Ponies are smaller and proportioned differently. From what I can see, those are ponies."

"An what's your name?" Asked the Major.

"Call me Arty, Sir. You probably couldn't pronounce my name anyway." Said the tech, smiling at his own little joke.

"Alright Arty, you just volunteered to be our lesion with these things, assuming their not hostile."

Arty's smile turned to a frown, and the two officers turned and walked away.

"Son of a bitch. I just want to get some R&R. Is that to much to ask?" He said, looking up towards the ceiling.

"Sucks for you, man. But it could be worse." Said the tech next to home. "Hey, did I ever tell you about the time when....."

"So then He says, 'that's not a law mower , that's my-"

The techs looked at the display, startled, as it emitted a loud, 'Beep.'

"Shit." Said the technician, looking at the screen which had been counting down the time until first recon began their attack. "Your highness, it's time."

"Lets see what happens next." Said the prince to the major, as they both turned to the screen projecting the helmet view from first recon.

'Jackson, do it.' Came the voice of Sgt. Bondarek over the comm.

The personnel in the command center watched as the squad broke through the floor and rushed the door to the great hall.

'This is it.' Thought the prince.

The squad broke through the door.

'Holy, shit. Mike?'

"Hello Ben. It's been a long time sense New Belfast."

The Ponies

Princess Celestia had been having a rather bad week.

First there was the report of strange activity in the Everfree which is never a good sign, but with the threat against Canterlot by an unknown party there were no royal guard or army units available to investigate.

Then there was the accident last night in the hall they were originally going to use for the wedding, so they had to modify another hall, overnight, and then use that instead, which had tested everyones patience (Cadance especially, as she was planing the entire thing).

And, of course, Twilight had to pick this week to go crazy and accuse her former foalsitter of being evil.

But they had been nothing compared to what had just happened.

A strange biped had dove through a very old and expensive window, which depicted the victory of her and her sister over Discord, and tried to kill the bride. Celestia had shielded her niece, who was just starting to ascend to the alter. She then retaliated with the strongest sedation spell she knew, but a shimmering field, vaguely reminiscent of the shield spells used in combat (or now covering the city, although that was slightly different), had intercepted the ball of energy about two hoofs (a hoof is the equivalent of a hand, or four inches) away from his metallic skin, and he had simply stood, there, before shouting at the princesses in perfect Equish.

"Shields are a new trick, right? We took the lessons you taught us to heart. Shields are standard on all Imperial armor, now."

'What is this thing talking about? What lessons? Imperial armor?' She thought, turning to Cadance. They locked eyes, and Celestia mouthed, 'together' in such a way so that the creature couldn't see. She received a nod, and nodded in return as she turned towards the creature.

It began to dive to its right, but was hit in a glancing blow by the green blast and received the golden blast to its torso, allowing Celestia full control of its movements. Celestia raised the creature several hoofs above the ground, while ripping the weapon from its grasp.

She turned to Cadence, who asked, "What do you make of this creature?"

Celestia shrugged as she glanced at it. "I've never before witnessed such a being."

Celestia sighed.

"I guess I should see what it wants." She said, receiving a nod from Cadance.

"Now then, what manner of creature are you?" Asked Celestia, turning towards the creature.

"Ask the Bitch of New Belfast." Said The being angrily, nodding its unrestrained head, which was a pale color, at the young pink Alicorn. It's voice's pitch seemed to indicate it was a male. "She knows me, even if she's gotten I new look. Don't you, you changeling bitch."

Celestia turned to her niece, her mind running through her recent behavior. There was something off about the events of the last few days, but she couldn't quite pin it down.

"What does he mean by-"

She was interrupted by a loud *BOOM* from the other side of the halls main doors.

"What was that noise?" She said to no one in particular, while focusing on the door.

Suddenly, the doors flew open, and five more metallic beings, all larger then the first one, charged though.

Two of them started talking, but the conversation was lost to her as she sent a message to her sister over their telepathic link.

'Luna, there are intruders in the wedding hall, I need help.' She thought, her apprehension and urgency conveyed in a way only possible for a telepathic being.

'What is it sister? Is it-' Luna reply was cut off by one of the new creatures, the one which had been talking, pointing what looked like a larger version of the other ones weapon at her.

'Just hurry!' She shouted over the link, before severing it and focusing on the bipeds.

Ten minutes earlier....

Luna looked up from the letter she was reading as a knock came from her chamber door.

"Yes?" She asked, knowing that it must be something important if her guards were willing to allow it to disturb her watch over the day (she had taken over so her sister could be at their nieces wedding).

The door opened and the commander of her guards, an unicorn by the name of Star Shine, stuck her head in.

"Two of the guard wish to speak to you in the gardens, your highness. They seem to have discovered something and are having trouble identifying it." She said in a deep voice which revealed her Stalliongrad heritage.

Now Luna was curious. The guard rarely found something that they needed help to identify anything, let alone something on the palace grounds.

"Very well. Show me to them, commander." She said rising from her bed and striding to the door. She walked out of her room, closing the door behind her with her magic, and followed Star as the two other guards who were stationed outside her door took up their positions flanking her. They descended the stairs and began walking down the hall, the ponies they passed bowing as they walked by.

"So what is the object they need help with, anyway?" Asked the princess, attempting to start a conversation with Star, who seemed very preoccupied with something.

"Hmm?" She said, looking back at her princess. "Oh, they said it was something to do with a noise they heard, I believe. I don't know anything beyond that."

The group continued walking until they reached the spot where the patrol of guards was waiting. As they approached the two guards turned and bowed. They wore the armor of the Solar guard, and they were both unicorns.

"Rise." Said Luna, walking over and looking at the place the guards had been examining. "What is it you required help with?" She asked, as she looked at the odd print which had been left in the sod in a flower bed.

"We saw something moving in the garden from our post in the palace." Said one, motioning to the large windows overlooking the garden. "We couldn't figure out what it was from inside, so we came out here to investigate. We heard a peculiar wine, but when we arrived there was no one here. We looked around, but couldn't discover anything aside from this print in the mud, and we can't even figure out what made the print."

His voice was noticeably frustrated by the end of his explanation.

"Well," Luna said, leaning closer to the print. "it's not a species I recognize. Not immediately. But it's certainly not a pony, whatever the culprit is."

Luna turned to Star and started to say something, but she was cut off by the sudden touch of Celestia's mind to her own.

'Luna, there are intruders in the wedding hall, I need help.' She heard Celestia think to her, her apprehension and urgency clearly conveyed by the images and emotions which accompanied the message.

'What is it sister? Is it-' Luna was cut off by Celestia's mental shout.

'Just hurry!' She heard, before the link severed. Confused, she tried to initiate the link, but was blocked by the wards which had been erected for the purpose of protecting the wedding. Those who were in the hall could contact those outside of it, but the link was impossible to form for those outside of the hall.

"You!" She said, point to one of the earth pony Lunar guards. "Go to the barracks and sound the alarm. Then bring a platoon to the wedding hall! Go!"

The guard turned and galloped off in the direction of the barrack.

Luna turned to the rest.

"Come with me." She said to the remaining guards, as she galloped to the wedding hall.

Ten minutes earlier (yet again)..............

Twilight looked at Cadance.

"Now what. The wedding should be in this hall, right? And the wedding isn't over yet, is it?" Twilight asked, be gaining to panic.

"No, the weddings not over yet. They must have moved its location. But to where?" Cadence responded, the last part said more to herself then Twilight. "Not the East hall.......not the Audience hall..............."

This went on for a minute before she exclaimed, "The Hall of Light! That's the only place that isn't in use and could still be used for a wedding. Or the place where it would take the least amount of work to allow the wedding to take place."

Twilight looked at her former foalsitter. "Alright, where is this 'Hall of Light'?"

This drew a surprised look from Cadence. "Don't you know every room in the palace. Aren't you the one who used to help me find my way around when I got lost. When you were four."

Twilight sighed. "I've never heard of the Hall of Light before. I guess it never came up. Can we just go?"

"Alright. Follow me." Replied Cadence as they trotted towards the wedding.

"You're sure we're not lost?" Asked Twilight after five minutes of fruitless searching, several wrong turns, and many confused guards.

"It should be right here!" Cadence responded. She was very frustrated by her apparent inability to remember the location of a simple room.

*BOOM*

"What was that?" Both mares shouted in unison, turning to the hallway from which the noise had come.

"Come on!" Shouted Cadence, who started running as Twilight quickly followed, struggling to keep up with her friend.

They ran down several corridors, before skidding to a stop. The sight in front of them was the strangest thing ether had ever seen.

There was a large, smoking hole in the center of the atrium leading into the Hall, and the two Solar guards who had been guarding the doors were laying by the sides, not moving. But neither noticed them enough to wonder if they were ok. Their attention was focused passed the destroyed doors and on the six large metal bipeds who stood passed them, one of whom was floating and one of whom appeared to be threatening princess Celestia.

"Cadence!? What's the problem?" Came the sound of Luna from behind them. They stood aside and allowed the Lunar princess through.

"Oh my.........." Her voice trailed off as she witnessed the destruction, pausing for a moment before entering the Hall.

"Celestia! I'm here!" She shouted as she and the four guards rushed into the Hall. This, unfortunately, caused one of the larger beings to turn and train the oddly sharpened block of metal it was holding towards her,and the others to shift so that they surrounded the one who Celestia was levitating and could watch all the other approaches. That was not, however, what stopped her.

"Cadence? But aren't you in the hall? What is going on here?" Shouted Luna, as she turned back to look at Twilight and Cadence.

The two mares looked at each other, and then charged into the room, their original goal remembered.

"She's a changeling!" Shouted Cadence.

"Finally, someone who agrees with me!" Shouted the biped who had been threatening Celestia. "Now can I shoot her?"