WARNING: The top section of this chapter contains some more raunchy material than usual, it does NOT go into full on stuff, but still I know that can be a bit off putting to some people. If that's not your bag, you can go ahead and skip over it to the next '[♦]' mark, you won't really miss much, just some dialogue and character stuff.

Jen let out a quiet sigh as she awoke to the sound of marching soldiers, undoubtedly it meant that the changelings were leaving. The morning light shined through the open window across the bed, she could feel Johnny’s hand around her waist still, as well as something else pressing up against her. She didn’t move, just enjoying the grip as it was, she didn’t want to wake up Johnny yet, considering how much physical work he’d done the day before.

Instead she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds outside, the soft banging of metal against the ground, occasional shouts from officers, it all reminded her of life before the outbreak. Slowly she turned so that the front of her body was facing Johnny’s and put her arms around him, just as he’d put his around her. The woman snuggled up closer to him, letting out a slight moan of contentment.

A few minutes passed before she felt Johnny stir from his slumber, he blearily opened his eyes and looked at her with a tired smile.

“Hey…” He said in a groggy voice.

“Hey.” She replied, she leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek. “How’d you sleep?” The man smiled and gave her a tender squeeze.

“I slept pretty good…” He replied, Jen smiled at that and started to lay her head back on the pillow. She felt his hands move down her body, stopping at her rear and giving it a slight squeeze. She let out a slight yelp of surprise, not expecting such an act quite so early on, not that she minded. “You’re really soft, kind of like a big sexy teddy bear, really helped me relax.”

“Are you saying I’m fat?” Jen asked in a joking tone, Johnny shook his head and gave her rear another squeeze.

“Nah… You’re just perfectly squeezable.” The man leaned down and gave her a kiss on the lips, the two of them held it for a moment before he pulled away. Jen giggled as her eyes took on a sultry look, her hand slipped down between the two of them and she gave a little squeeze to the thing that had been poking her earlier, eliciting a slight groan from Johnny.

“You’re pretty squeezable yourself.” She said with a smirk, then she gave another squeeze. “So, mister squeezable, want to have a bit of fun before we get out of bed?” Johnny answered that by bringing his lips to hers once again, holding the kiss for as long as he could. Their tongues battled for dominance, but as usual, Jen’s won out. Beneath all her bubbliness was a dominant woman, Johnny couldn’t help but respect that, in fact, he found it quite attractive.

He rolled over on top of her, trying to pin her to the bed, it was all part of the game they played. Jen continued kissing him as she rolled him back to his side of the bed, coming out on top of him. When she pulled back her dark hair was even more of a mess than it had been when she woke up, John brought his hand towards the bottom of her tank top but she put a hand up to stop him.

“Ah ah ah…” Her tone was dominant, just past the point of playful. So this was how it would be, Johnny couldn’t help but admit he liked when she took the reigns for a change. “You made me flustered last night… You know I can’t let that go.”

“I suppose you can’t.” Johnny replied, Jen was about to begin speaking, but there was a knock on the door downstairs.

“God damn it!” She yelled louder than she meant to, Johnny appeared rather annoyed himself. The knocking came again and Jen begrudgingly got out of the bed. She pulled on her freshest pair of fatigue pants before trudging down the steps, muttering to herself as she did so, leaving Johnny in bed with a slight frown. When Jen got downstairs she spotted a familiar looking thestral at the door, the star on the collar of his fatigues made it clear. General Bulwark wore a pair of aviator sunglasses and a mahogany pipe hung from his lips on top of his normal fatigues, it appeared that he’d settled into his role as general with ease. Jen opened the door and looked at him, not sure what to say, as she hadn’t expected that it was him that had interrupted.

“Mornin’, ma’am.” Bulwark said as he removed his pipe from his mouth in a fashion that would’ve made MacArthur proud. “The President has sent me to check in on you, he’s received some reports that you were accosted yesterday.”

“Oh, no, I’m fine, really.” Jen said quickly, occasionally glancing back over her shoulder towards the stairs. “I was actually just doing something with my boyfriend, is all, so…” The general slowly pulled his sunglasses down over his eyes and looked at her for a moment, then chuckled, then put his pipe back in his mouth and pushed the glasses back up.

“Alrighty then…” The general gave a salute and turned to walk away, as Jen was closing the door she heard him say something over his shoulder. “Just remember we ain’t gotten around to soundproofing’ the houses yet.” Jen blushed furiously at that and closed the door before she turned on her heel and ran back up the stairs.

Johnny was standing up and was starting to get dressed when he saw her, still blushing redder than a tomato. She sat down on a chair and put her head in her hands.

“Oh my gosh…” She said with a groan, Johnny raised an eyebrow and finished pulling on his pants before walking over.

“What? What’s wrong?” He asked, Jen just groaned again as she pulled her hands down her face.

“I basically just told Bulwark what we were doing…” She said, obviously very embarrassed. Johnny raised an eyebrow at that, thinking it certainly wasn’t something to get totally upset about, but then again, Johnny could be an idiot at times. “If he mentions it to anyone they’re gonna know and then I’ll have a helluva time trying to train troops…”

“Don’t worry about it… Bulwark’s a general, after all, he probably knows to keep that sort of stuff to himself.” Johnny walked over to the stove and grabbed a can of spam, followed by a frying pan. “I know what’ll cheer you up, I’ll make breakfast.” Jen just sighed and leaned on the table, still groaning quietly. “Do you spam and eggs? Spam, spam, spam and eggs?”

“Go away, Monty Python.” Jen said, sounding more upset with herself than anything else. Certainly not angry, just upset. Johnny chuckled slightly as he began making the spam, humming as he thought of something else to do.

“You know, if we had some eggs we could have eggs and ham if we had any ham.” He said, doing his best impression of Laurel and Hardy. Jen groaned again and banged her head on the table. “Come on, I’m trying here, not even a giggle?”

“No.”

“Tough room.” Johnny tugged at his shirt collar for a moment. “Well, maybe a story? How about some Shakespeare? Green eggs and Hamlet?”

“Boooo.” Jen said, lifting her head off the table, Johnny giggled to himself as he continued cooking the spam in the pan.

“Come on, where’s that smile of yours, you know I can’t start my day without it.” Johnny flipped one of the slices of spam over, pausing to listen to it sizzle. “Alright…” Johnny pursed his lips in thought, then he smirked as a joke came to mind. “Hey, Jen?”

“No.” The woman said.

“Jeeeeen.” Johnny pushed again, the woman groaned in response. “Jen!”

“What?” The woman finally snapped back.

“Why shouldn’t you play Uno with mexicans?” Johnny asked, his rather crude sense of humor coming up with one of his favorite off color jokes, better yet, it was one that Jen hadn’t heard yet. The woman sighed as she looked at him, before finally speaking.

“I don’t know…”

“Because they take all the green cards.” Johnny said, chuckling loudly and eventually laughing heartily. Jen smirked and began to giggle herself, though she tried to hide it. “Come on, you wanna laugh, I can tell.”

“That’s awful.” She said in between snorts and snickers. “Funny, but awful.” Johnny just waved her off as he finished cooking the spam slices, he quickly grabbed them out of the pan, cursing as he did so without the aid of a spatula. He set them out on a pair of plates before setting the pan aside to be washed, he walked back over to the table and set the plates down. Jen had a smile on her face once again, even if it was smaller than usual. “Thanks, chuckles.”

Johnny just gave a shrug and a goofy grin before he picked up a fork from the table and began eating his meal. The two of them ate in comfortable silence, occasionally shooting each other amorous glances.

“Tarantino was right…” Johnny finally commented, Jen raised an eyebrow. “In Pulp Fiction, Uma Thurman and John Travolta are sitting down like this and Uma starts talkin’ about comfortable silences.” The man ate another bite of his spam, then cleared his throat.

“No, no Uma Thurman imitations at the breakfast table.” Jen stated, Johnny deflated for a moment before shrugging. The comfortable silence settled in again, the two people just enjoying their meal. “You know… I like this. Just you and me, sitting like this, kinda what I was used to back when the world wasn’t shit.”

“Well, enjoy it while you can, because I’m sure we won’t get a lot of time like this once we start work on that task force thing…” Johnny looked down at his almost finished plate, the silence that followed was uncomfortable, and Johnny noticed a little twinge in Jen’s eye. “I’m sorry… I just… I know that it’s important to you, but…”

“You’re scared?” Jen said, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. It wasn’t an angry look, more of a curious one. Johnny would’ve normally sworn up and down that nothing scared him, hell, he’d been willing to get captured in order for Jen to escape. Jen wasn’t a normal person though, she was Jen, someone he loved and trusted.

“Yeah…” Johnny looked at the table, feeling a bit ashamed. “I shouldn’t be, it’s the right thing to do, the elmo’s right…” The man felt a soft hand clasp his own, prompting him to look up into the eyes of the woman he loved. “I’m scared, Jen…”

“I’d be worried if you weren’t, John… It’s like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, it’s not a rational act.” She said in a soothing tone. “You’re a good man, that’s why you said yes, even if you’re scared… No matter how much you try to play that ex con card, you’re still good in here.” Jen tapped his chest before sitting back down, and once again the comfortable silence settled again.

“Thanks, Jen…” The man stood up after the meal had been completed and went to wash the dishes, when he was done he turned and walked over to Jen, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m gonna go see about putting my plans to action, be back soon.”

“Alright, I might go chat with some of the other ponies.” Jen said, Johnny nodded and started to pull on his boots. When he’d finished he started down the steps, leaving Jen to sit alone in the one room living space. After a few moments she sighed and stood up, walking towards the window to look down at the world.

[♦]

Chrysalis and Mizu marched over the sandy plains, their destination was just in sight. Thirty miles South of New Liberty, they had walked for several hours and occasionally flew when possible. The changelings that had remained loyal to the hive marched behind them in their armor, still painted with the green stripes. Behind those changelings were the Prisoners of War, they were being escorted by their own group of American’s. While the changelings were content to march in silence, the American’s weren’t.

The sound of drums and fifes echoed over the wide expanse, easily audible to whomever would be watching them from the Hive, which was built into a mountain that was just in front of them. The looming structure that emerged from the mountain was black and tan, built in such a way that it would be relatively difficult to spot from the air. Chrysalis would’ve reflected on how that had happened, but her musings were cut short when she heard the tune of fifes and drums change.

It was a tune that the American’s seemed to enjoy playing as much as they could, perhaps it was because it came from the lands of the thestrals. The song was starting to become engrained in the Queen’s mind, and not entirely in a good way. The American’s carried with them one of their flags which fluttered along as they marched the Prisoners forwards, every now and then Mizu could hear one of them shout an order or chastise a prisoner that had tried to step out of line.

Dominic’s insistence on sending an armed force to escort the prisoners hadn’t been what Chrysalis wanted, but she figured arguing with him would lead to a bit more hostility than she liked. The Queen quietly looked down at her heir, handling the walk with all the dignity and grace that she could. She opened her mouth to speak, but paused as she saw the stallion in charge of the American’s walking up on her right. Rolling Thunder was a familiar face, in his desert fatigues and new Major’s oak leaves he came off as an almost imposing figure. That is, if Chrysalis wasn’t taller than him.

“Looks like we’re coming up on your hive, your highness.” The stallion commented, adjusting his helmet as he did so. Chrysalis nodded and looked back to the hive, it seemed to be bustling with activity. “If you like, we can stop the column here, you can go ahead and let them know what’s what.”

“Thank you…” Chrysalis replied, looking to the sky for a moment. “But they’re already on their way here, they should land any moment now. Halt the column anyway, and no matter what happens, please show restraint.”

“I’ll do what I can, most of these boys are still on edge.” The major said before her turned towards the column and cleared his throat. “Company! Halt march!” The Americans responded by stopping, as did the POWs and other changelings. “Maintain readiness, but hold your fire unless ordered otherwise!”

“Yes, sir!” Replied the soldiers as they relaxed, the music was stopped as those playing it traded their instruments for weapons. In total it was thirty soldiers, fifteen thestrals and fifteen changeling defectors. A hush settled over the land as Chrysalis and Mizu waited for their brethren to appear. In the air there was a soft buzzing noise, but it eventually grew louder. With their eyes skywards, the soldiers could see at least thirty changelings in heavy armor coming down to land around them.

Heavy thuds and clouds of dust went up around them, the breeze quickly dispersing them to reveal the changelings that had landed. Each held a spear or a sword, eying the column warily, the American’s returned the glare with their hooves ready on their spellbows. At the front of the column there was another thud, and from the cloud of dust emerged a tall male changeling, his armor decorated with a symbol that Chrysalis didn’t recognize.

“My eyes must deceive me.” The changeling said, wiping his eyes as he spotted Chrysalis and Mizu. “Could it be that our Queen has returned to us?” Hushed mumbles went up through the changelings that surrounded the group. “Lord Gigant said you had been captured…”

“Gigant was no lord.” Chrysalis corrected sternly. “And yes, I was captured, but as you can see, I have been released.” The changeling eyed the American soldiers that held the POWs, somewhat confused by what he was seeing. “Our war with the United States has ended, Gigant’s insurrection is over.”

“Insurrection?” The changeling asked, seeming confused. “But he said that he’d been named heir when you were-”

“He lied.” Mizu cut in, the wind blowing through the fabric that still covered her eyes. “I am the heir, Gigant was a traitor.” The changeling blinked for a few moments before he quickly dropped into a deep bow.

“My Queen, I am so sorry! I had no idea I served a false king!” He said, the changelings in heavy armor quickly followed suit. Chrysalis waved her hoof as if to dismiss their cries for mercy, they had already been forgiven.

“Rise, children… I am not angry at you.” She said soothingly, slowly the changelings rose from their bows with their weapon’s lowered. “The thestrals that come with me are Americans, they escort the soldiers of Gigant’s rebellion that attacked their home as Prisoners of War. We have yet to decide what will be done with them.” The changeling in the odd armor nodded respectfully, still appearing frightened that he’d anger his mother. “Take us to the front gates, it is time we return home.” The changeling blanched nervously and tugged at the collar of his armor.

“The guards there will not like that…” He said in a shaky voice, Chrysalis and Mizu raised an eyebrow. “Gigant has guarded them with his most loyal soldiers, they will open to no one but him.”

“Let us at ‘em!” Shouted one of the Americans from the background.

“Those pricks will open up when we cut ‘em apart!”

“Stand down, that’s an order!” Rolling Thunder ordered loudly, the soldiers began to quiet down after that. Chrysalis and Mizu were shocked at how fast Gigant had been prepared his defenses, even in death he proved to be a thorn in their sides. It seemed that he’d planned for such an event in advance, but hadn’t counted on losing his head in the final stages.

“It may come to that.” Chrysalis said bleakly as she looked at the changelings around her, each of them standing at attention now, she was confident in all of their loyalty. “What is your name, child?” The changeling with the odd armor straightened up as he spoke.

“Illusion, my queen!”

“Illusion… My son… We will march on the gates, and if they refuse to open for us, we will open them ourselves. Gigant’s betrayal ends today.” Chrysalis’ tone was dark, darker than Mizu had ever heard. She could sense the anger welling up in her mother, it was almost blinding, almost. “Major Thunder.”

“Yes, your highness?” Asked the thestral, already readying his spell bow.

“I know I am not your commanding officer, I request your help anyway.” Chrysalis requested, Mizu could sense that the anger her mother felt was much greater than the calm contempt she displayed to the rest of the world.

“The President thought something like this would happen, that’s why he sent us along.” Rolling Thunder admitted before he turned towards his group of soldiers. “You heard the lady, let’s move! Alpha one and alpha two, you’re on recon! The rest of you stick with me!” The group set out over the sand, leaving the POWs to be guarded by the rest of the changelings. Chrysalis sighed, part of her anger turning to sadness. Another sign of her failure as a leader and a mother was glaring her in the eyes now. When she felt a hoof on her side she looked to see Mizu was looking at her and shaking her head.

“Don’t feel that way.” The changeling said simply, she looked to Illusion and the other heavily armored changeling soldiers. They were all putting off a sense of worry, not just for themselves, but now for their hive and their mother. Chrysalis sat down and looked out towards the group of Americans advancing on her home. She couldn’t let what was happening stand any longer.

“I will go to aid them.” She said firmly, standing up straight as her wings opened wide. She lacked armor and physical weaponry, but she didn’t care. It was more than her kingdom, it was her children’s kingdom. Mizu began to protest, but she by the time she opened her mouth Chrysalis had taken to the air with her wings buzzing like mad.

Up ahead of her the American’s were flying rapidly towards the hive’s entrance, the element of surprise was lost, so this would be a definite fire fight. Rolling Thunder straightened his helmet before coming in for a landing behind a sand dune just outside the imposing gates of the hive. The gothic structure reminded him somewhat of Thestral architecture, tall and imposing with two guard towers and walls off to the side that ran into the mountain.

The others took up similar positions, save for two thestrals that flew closer to the gate at a high altitude. Bolts of energy flew past them, missing by a few feet, the thestrals continued flying until they had gotten a good head count of the guards at the gate. Forty in all, the were outnumbered. The thestrals quickly circled back to Rolling Thunder and landed to give their report, the major sighed and cleared his throat before yelling over the sand dune at the gate.

“This is Major Rolling Thunder of the United State’s Army, surrender yourselves and open the gates or we will open fire!” He shouted.

“You and what army!” Shouted a voice from the battlements.

“I just fucking told you!” Rolling Thunder shouted back, to this the changelings responded by firing a volley of spells at the americans that had taken quick cover behind the knolls and rocks that surrounded the gates. “Alright boys, waste the motherfuckers!” The major peeked his sniper spellbow over the sandy dune and took aim at the battlements, firing a bolt at one of the Gigant supporters and painting his comrade’s head with green goo.

“Medic!” Shouted one of the thestrals off to his right, he was behind a rock that had been overgrown by shrubs. To Rolling’s left he saw one of the two medics begin to emerge behind his own cover.

“Suppressing fire!” Rolling ordered, the soldiers complied and began firing at the enemy with much more ferocity. The medic quickly sprinted across the open ground, dodging enemy fire until he slid across the sand and behind the overgrown rock. “Runner!”

“Yo!” Shouted a changeling defector to his left, hidden behind the same cover that the medic had come from.

“Head back to the column, see if you can get any of those big motherfuckers to contribute! We need heavy weapons if we wanna blast through that gate!” Rolling ordered, the runner nodded for a moment before a bolt of magic impacted near Rolling’s head. “HEY! SHOOT THAT MOTHER FUCKER!”

“Bounding!” Shouted the runner before the thestrals began pounding the enemy position again, the runner took off in the air and back towards the column, only to drop to the ground as he saw a glow forming in the sky. “INCOMING! INCOMING! GET DOWN!”

“Wha-” Rolling began to say, moments later a beam of energy impacted the gate. There was an immense boom and the gates buckled inwards. “HOLY SHIT!” Chrysalis flew over head, wings buzzing furiously as smoke wafted off of her horn. Fully charged from the meal she’d had the night before, she was absolutely furious and not about to let anyone else get between her and her children, even her own children. The Queen circled around, getting a good look at the shocked faces of the Gigant supporters before coming to land next to Rolling Thunder.

The Major just about had a heart attack as he saw her, but calmed down when she took cover behind the knoll.

“Hell of a show, ma’am!” He shouted over the noise of the intense fire between the two forces. “Would it hurt to warn us next time, or better yet, we could tell you where to hit!” Chrysalis only nodded before ducking as more bolts of magic flew over her head. “That son of a bitch in the left tower, someone fuck him up!”

“Wounded!” Shouted another voice. “I need a medic!” This time the second medic, another changeling, popped his head up. The call had come from a rock just a few feet right of his position.

“Suppressing fire!” Rolling ordered again, once again the changelings and thestrals began working together to suppress the enemy as the medic made his way to the wounded thestral. Chrysalis blinked at how organized everything seemed, despite the chaos of battle. “I got a target for you. The left tower, they got some crack shots in there, I need ‘em eighty-sixed!”

“I’ll do my best.” Chrysalis said as her horn began to glow brightly again, she had never felt so charged with energy before, perhaps human emotion was more potent than she thought. Rolling popped up and snapped off another round at the targeted tower before dropping to cover.

“Incoming heavy weapons! Take cover!” He bellowed, the American forces dropped to the ground as Chrysalis’ horn flared and an arc of energy flew towards the tower. A tower she had once helped build many years ago to defend her hive, it was a shame to destroy it, especially since it was doing its job so well. Heavy stone and dust rained down on the surrounding area as the tower was reduced to rubble, screams of fear and agony rang from the collapsing structure and a cloud of dust washed over the American positions.

When it had passed they could see that the tower, as well as a portion of the wall, had been absolutely leveled, razed to the ground, limbs of the dead defenders could be seen, some still twitching under the rubble.

“Moon above…” Rolling Thunder said in shock before shaking his head and taking aim at the other tower. The fire from the building stopped even as the American’s continued firing away, screams could be heard behind the battlements, until finally, a white strip of fabric tied to a stick began waving from the tower.

“Cease fire!” Rolling ordered loudly, gradually the firing began to taper off. “Cease fire on the firing line!” The last bolts were fired, and after a few tense moments, Rolling risked poking his head up over the dune. A few moments later a bolt flew down and landed inches from his nose, causing him to duck back behind cover. “Son of a bitch! Light ‘em up!” The fighting began once again, much to Chrysalis’ horror and dismay. “Alpha squad!”

“Sir!” Responded the group of thestrals closest to the hole in the wall.

“Advance through the hole on my mark!” Rolling shouted before looking back at Chrysalis with a dire expression. “Your highness, point your horn towards the tower.” Chrysalis blinked in confusion but did so. “Alright, give it a bit of juice.” The Queen complied once again, Rolling rubbed his hooves together and moved behind her, grabbing her tail. “I saw this tried out with unicorns back in the Canterlot battle, hope it works…”

“Alpha squad ready!” Shouted the squad near the hole.

“GO! GO! GO!” Rolling shouted before he started to turn Chrysalis' tail like a crank, her eyes widened as her horn glowed brighter. To her surprise a continuing stream of bolts flew from her horn, peppering the tower with rapid fire, the noise of the bursts was immense. “GET SOME! COME ON AND GET SOME!” Rolling tore into the tower like a stallion possessed, using the queen’s horn as a makeshift gatling gun and forcing the defenders to take cover.

“Set!” He heard the leader of Alpha squad yell, prompting him to let go of Chrysalis’ tail and fall back in cover behind the dune. The Queen sat down and rubbed at her horn, which was smoking once again, as her ears rang. She sat for several moments while Rolling and his remaining forces kept up the fire.

Beyond the wall, the squad of thestrals moved carefully over the rubble with their spellbows at the ready, thankfully it seemed that no reinforcements were being called, and so they would only have to deal with the remaining tower. The distant spell shots echoed behind the wall, as well as the screams from the wounded still trapped beneath the debris. It seemed no one had spotted the five thestrals as they entered the hole in the wall, as all focus seemed to be on the American’s outside.

Slowly they made their way up a stone staircase that lead to the right tower and remaining wall battlements. They made a tactical advance up the steps, careful to avoid the dead bodies that littered the wall, until finally they reached the top. The squad leader halted the group as he peeked over the last step, watching the defenders carefully. There were ten of them, all had their horns fixed towards the outside of the wall. One of them suddenly screamed as a bolt of magic struck him in the chest, he fell forwards out of the wall and to the ground outside.

“Keep fighting! No surrender!” Shouted the changeling that seemed in charge. “For the glory of the father-hive!” The Squad leader looked to his five compatriots and nodded, then slowly they advanced up the steps with their weapons raised. Each of them fired once, each hit their mark. Three killed, two wounded. The changeling commander turned in shock to see he’d been outflanked.

“DROP YOUR WEAPONS!” The squad leader yelled loudly, one of the changelings turned but was promptly shot. “I SAID DROP ‘EM!”

“FORWARD!” Ordered the changeling commander, reaching for his sword.

“WASTE ‘EM!” Shouted the squad leader, in a hail of magic bolts the last of the Gigant defenders fell. The squad leader rushed to the ledge and waved his spellbow towards Rolling Thunder. “Clear!”

“Roger that!” Rolling shouted back, he stood up and looked at Chrysalis. She shook her head for a couple seconds as she contemplated what had just happened before she too stood up, the American’s carefully advanced on the gates. They had been so damaged that they easily were forced inwards, Chrysalis sensed that the rest of her children were close. Soon the column appeared, the heavily armored Changeling guards leading the way. In shock, the changeling known as Illusion approached the ruins of the formidable defenses, now reduced to a shambles.

“Are there any other Gigant loyalists that will oppose us, Illusion?” Chrysalis asked, the changeling rapidly turned and shook her head quickly, in awe of the destruction his mother had inflicted. The Americans were in their own state of shock, as they realized just how lucky they had been in the battle with Chrysalis. If she’d been at full power they would’ve been screwed. With a regal flip of her mane, she turned to walk into the hive. Mizu was soon at her side, she could sense that her mother was calm now, at peace with what had just happened.

“Major Thunder.” The Queen said, looking to Rolling with a neutral expression. “I would appreciate if you and your soldiers accompanied us, in case there are more surprises inside.” Rolling nodded and turned to his soldiers.

“Status report!”

“Looks like we were lucky, no KIAs sir.” Said one of his squad leaders. “Only a couple wounded, we can leave a doc to tend to them while we head inside.” Rolling Thunder nodded again.

“Alright, one doc stay here with the wounded, the rest of you on me. Let’s move ‘em out!” He ordered, the soldiers readied their weapons and began pressing on into the caves of the hive. A dim green light made itself known, the glow of odd green crystals growing out of the walls. The thestrals had more than enough light to see with their night vision, and the changelings knew the hive like the back of their hooves.

The light of the outside world gradually disappeared as the column moved in relative silence, occasionally one of the thestrals would take aim at a noise, but it would always turn out to be nothing. Eventually the group made it to the center of the hive, much larger than any of the thestrals had suspected. It was there that they saw a large mass of changelings, civilians and soldiers alike, nervously eying the force that had invaded the hive.

“I don’t like this…” Rolling heard one of his soldiers comment. “They could have snipers in here, it’s so big…”

“We’d have more problems than snipers, sonny.” Rolling replied, noting that they were hilariously outnumbered. “Company halt.” He ordered, the group came to a stop. Mizu and Chrysalis walked past them towards the changelings that had assembled, in one wave they all bowed deeply.

“Children, I have returned!” Chrysalis said loudly, the assembled changelings gradually began to stand up and view their Queen once again. “Be not afraid, the war has ended, Gigant’s insurrection is at an end.” Gradually the group began to cheer, this put Rolling and his troops at ease. “Behold, the true heir to the throne!” Chrysalis stepped aside and pointed to Mizu. “Mizu!” There was another cheer, this one echoing through the chambers of the hive so that all could hear it. “And these are our allies, the soldiers of the United States, who have just now purged the last of Gigant’s treachery from our home!” There was another cheer.

“An event like this calls for a celebration!” The Queen decreed, yet another cheer. Rolling Thunder and his troops became a bit uncertain of what was going to happen, the Queen turned and looked at him. “You and your soldiers are invited of course, we can provide better aid to your wounded soldiers as well.”

“What’a ya say, Major? Can we stay a bit? Huh? Huh? Can we?” Asked one of the thestrals.

“I’d like to see my family, sir!” Added one of the changeling defectors, Rolling thunder sighed and rolled his shoulders.

“What the hell, we can stay a bit, you colts have earned it, we were set to stay the night anyway.” The major relented, Chrysalis nodded happily and looked to Illusion and his soldiers.

“Please, help bring their wounded to the infirmary.” She said, the changeling nodded and turned to walk out. Rolling nodded to a couple of his soldiers to accompany them, just so the wounded knew that it wasn’t some sort of trick. From then on the celebration continued, it was a bit odd and impromptu, but it was a nice change of pace considering all that had happened in the passed couple days.

[♦]

Jen wandered through the town, this was the first time she’d actually gone exploring, and so far New Liberty reminded her of a normal town, only with defensive lines and a POW camp. It was quite refreshing, truth be told. Most of the stores were still closed for mourning families, but occasionally she’d see one or two of them open. The American’s on patrol were generally cordial with her when they walked passed, another thing that Jen liked. She stopped just outside the field hospital, noting that a couple of the wounded were on their way out.

Jen just shrugged, somewhat happy that they were being released. She continued her walk through the town, her boots sending up little puffs of dust as she went. Occasionally she’d think about Johnny, what he’d said earlier about Bulwark keeping quiet seemed to be true, she hadn’t heard any comments or laughter. She somewhat wondered why she couldn’t think as rationally as he could some time, then paused. If she’d said that outloud in front of Johnny she was sure there would be some sort of joking response.

Undoubtedly he was probably off trying to haggle for the supplies he’d put down on his list the other night, she’d taken the liberty of peeking at it when she was at the breakfast table earlier. The thought of him trading with ponies made her giggle, she was sure he’d find it a lot more challenging since ponies were relatively naive when it came shady business dealings. By now Jen was walking past a couple buildings that had been damaged in the battle, wood and glass littered the alleys outside of them.

Slowly she approached them, feeling an odd bit of uneasiness in her stomach. They reminded her of the bombed out buildings she would see in documentaries about Hiroshima, or more recently, the buildings that littered the Colorado landscape. Jen slowly approached the building, stopping just outside the front door to peer inside. Splintered wood and rubble littered the inside, she could see the remains of a few tables, vases were shattered on the floor with other bits of porcelain. Upon closer inspection it seemed that the damage wasn’t recent, the building had just been sitting like this since before the American’s had arrived.

Jen walked inside, her boots leaving marks in the dried mud that had formed on the floor. The wind howled through the old structure, causing the shredded curtains in the windows that ran along the sides of the building to flutter. Jen stopped just short of a hole in the roof, staring up into the sky through it for a few moments. She closed her eyes as she felt a breeze across her cheeks, in that breeze she could hear the sound of helicopter blades.

”Move! Move! Move!”

“It’s an executive order.”

“Whiskey Five Five. Whiskey Five Five.”

Jen shook her head rapidly, the memories were dispelled just as quickly, after a few moments of silently standing there she heard a creak of wood behind her, she jumped and turned around rapidly. Dominic was standing in the doorway, a cigar hanging from his lips. His jacket was open, revealing he was wearing a t shirt and jeans. Atop his head was the West German cap he’d acquired recently. His expression didn’t change when Jen turned around, he silently straightened up and crossed his arms.

“You alright?” He finally asked, Jen blinked for a few moments in confusion before nodding quickly.

“Yeah! Yeah, just… Exploring, I guess.” She replied, the man nodded slowly and walked into the destroyed building, looking around quietly as he puffed on his cigar. “You scared me.”

“Sorry… I guess an elmo like me just pops out of nowhere.” The tone he used veiled a bit of annoyance, obviously he’d had a run in with Johnny recently. Jen sighed and shook her head. “That boyfriend of yours is certainly a charmer…”

“Johnny’s just a little rough around the edges, but once you get to know him he’s sweet.” Jen replied, the Dominic just grunted as he walked towards one of the chairs that still survived in the destroyed building.

“Translated… He’s an asshole but you get used to it.” He put his foot up on the chair, causing it to groan, before he knelt down and began tying his shoe. Jen frowned, she was certain that Dominic and Johnny were going to be at odds for a while. “That’s alright, I’m an asshole too…” He finished tying off his boot and then sat down in the chair, Jen watched him for a few more moments, wondering what to say next. A pained look crossed his face, it was clear from the way he rubbed his leg that it was still quite sore, but Jen could see more to it than that. “You said you met Maria… I’ve just been… Something’s been eating at me for a bit.”

“What’s wrong?” Jen asked, she turned and walked a bit closer to the man, then leaned against one of the fallen rafters.

“Does she hate me, for… What I did?” His tone was quiet, almost like that of a child. “I saw she was still alive, the mulchers were nearly on top of us, I didn’t want her to suffer… But I missed.”

“She doesn’t hate you, in fact as I said she speaks fondly of you.” Jen watched the man take another puff of his cigar, it was clear that there was a lot of something going on inside. “There’s something else, isn’t there…?”

“Before it happened… I had her in my arms, trying to keep her awake, and she said…” Dominic trailed off as his voice caught in his throat, after a moment he continued. “She said that she loved me…” Jen’s eyes widened for a moment. “I… I thought she was dead, and now I know she isn’t… I care about her a lot, but… There’s someone else I care about too, and I know they care about me.”

“Luna?” Jen asked, Dominic nodded quietly. “I see…”

“I don’t know what to do, Jen… And I know I don’t know you well, but, you’re the only other human that I can really talk to about this.” The man sighed and leaned back in his seat, letting his cigar hang from his lips once again. Jen looked at him for a few moments, then took a deep breath.

“It may come as a comfort to know you’re not alone in that regard.” Jen said, Dominic looked at her with a bit of surprise. “Back on earth it’s actually happened a lot, someone thinks they’ve lost their wife or their husband, moves on and finds another, and out of the wastes their lover comes strolling in.” Jen pulled up her own chair and sat down in front of Dominic so she could better look him in the eye. “It’s lead to some pretty weird scenarios, but, generally people are easy going about it. Pretty hard to be mad over that stuff when the world’s come to an end.”

Dominic continued looking at her, a bit surprised by what she seemed to be implying.

“Look, from what I heard from Maria about you, you’re a pretty old fashioned guy. In all honesty you sound a bit more like my father than I care to admit.” Jen continued, she hoped that she was making it a bit easier for Dominic. “It’s not a bad thing to feel conflicted, it’s actually kind of sweet, but with changing times, you may find it’s not necessary. Be concerned, but don’t keep yourself up over it, let the chips fall where they may.”

“You think so?” Dominic asked, Jen nodded with a slight smile. “Alright… I’ll try.” The man stood up and adjusted the cap on his head. “Thanks for the talk…”

“Wait, you’re just gonna go?” Jen asked, the man tilted his head in a bit of surprise. “You don’t wanna talk about your thing with Luna?” Dominic scratched his head at that.

“What thing? Why is it your business?” He asked.

“You know what thing, and you just made it my business! Come on, gimme details!” Jen stood up and poked him a couple times, he looked more surprised than anything. Jen hoped that acting a little silly would put a smile on his face, and it seemed to work after a few more prods.

“Alright… Well, I didn’t really know how she felt until recently, when I had my little chat with Discord.” Dominic began, he sat back in his chair and Jen did the same. Occasionally a gust of wind would put a bit of chill on Jen’s bare arms, but the desert heat still made her glad to have chosen just her tank top. The ruins of the building occasionally creaked, but it didn’t really seem dangerous. “That was the same time I heard there was a chance I could help Maria and the rest of mankind.”

“So you’re just like Johnny…” Jen said with a giggle, Dominic raised an eyebrow. “He was completely oblivious to everything I did to try and get him to notice me, until finally I just had to straight up kiss him for him to get the message.” Jen looked around for a moment. “Maybe it’s just something all you guys have. Like refrigerator blindness.”

“I guess?” Dominic replied, Jen could tell that he wasn’t very well versed in relationship talk, she realized that the situation he was in was probably his first relationship ever, and she couldn’t help but feel a bit bad that he was getting such a bad first time. “I always just thought we were really good friends.”

“Well, hopefully it all works out in the end.” Jen said with a bit of a cheer. “Did you and Luna kiss yet?” Dominic’s eyes widened and he quickly looked at the floor, doing his best to hide his cheeks. “Oh my gosh, you did!”

“Shut up…” He said in an annoyed tone as he crossed his arms. “It just sort of happened.”

“But it happened!” Jen beamed, she swayed back and forth in her seat with a giddy smile. “Tell me about it!”

“What? No! What are you, some sort of clopper?” Dominic said, still trying to hide his face. Jen was just about ready to break out laughing, it was certainly entertaining watching the big muscled guy reduced to some sort of blushing school boy.

“Alright alright… I’ll stop.” Jen relented, Dominic sat up a bit straighter after that. “But since you brought up the word clopper…”

“Nope. I’m not having this discussion.” Dominic said with a decisive wave of his hand.

“Come on!”

“No! I swear, you’re worse than Maria sometimes.” Dominic crossed his arms again and leaned back in his seat. “Why are you so interested in that, anyway? I can get the Luna thing, but why anything else?”

“Because I’m bored, and for all intents and purposes, you’ve made me your ‘Romance Advisor’.” Jen replied in a snarky tone. “Oh, do I get business cards?” Dominic scowled at that. “Fine, we’ll talk about it later then, but we are gonna talk about it. I’m pretty good with romance stuff.”

“Reading one novel doesn’t make you an expert.” Dominic said, a smirk crossing his face. Jen’s face flushed red as she stammered, the look she gave seemed to ask ‘How did you know!?’. “Johnny tends to let his mouth run when he's upset, you should talk to him about that, it gets annoying after a while.” Jen continued stammering as Dominic stood up and tipped his hat. “Oh, and Bulwark reminded me to put your house on the top of the list for thicker walls.”

“Th-That… That… That little fink!” Jen fumed, it was Dominic’s turn to contain his giggles. The blushing woman quickly stood up and stormed out of the destroyed building, Dominic guessed she was looking for her boyfriend and his general. Feeling a bit better than he had before, the man took a puff of his cigar and walked out of the building on his own, limping along towards the capitol building. He put in his earbuds and flipped through his songs, settling on a bit of classical.

Dominic hoped that the days would get better as time went on, at least he had some tunes to help make it bearable. It was a good trade for the hat that he’d given to Jen. The man continued walking, looking around for a few moments before he entered the capitol building. After that he’d go on to do some work, make a couple orders for different items, and try to lay a basic plan out for Operation: Terra Nova. At least the plan had a name now, that was a good start.

Dominic still didn’t know how he’d get certain things to work, like communications. He’d need radios at least, but Equestria lacked radios, and he lacked the knowledge to build them. It seemed he’d have to get his hands on one and reverse engineer it, but he hadn’t thought of how to do that yet. There was a lot of things he needed that Equestria just lacked technologically, but Dominic was resourceful, he’d figure it out one way or another. He reached his office and removed his hat, then sat down in his chair and listened to the last bit of classical music.

He was about to reach up to remove the earbuds when he heard a song come on, slowly his hand dropped to the desk. It was a song that had annoyed Dominic before the outbreak, a parody of ‘California Girls’ titled ‘Equestria Girls’. Slowly a smile began to spread across his lips, a chuckle began to rise from his throat. That chuckle began to grow into a laugh, deep and hearty, which then turned nearly maniacal. Dominic calmed himself down and straightened up in his seat, then picked up a piece of paper and began to scribble on it.

When he was younger he had spent a good portion of his free time playing Risk with his dad, that was where he’d grown to love the 1812 overture. It had been years since he’d played the game, but he still remembered the rush he would get when the perfect strategy presented itself. That same rush was running through him again, a smile crossing his lips, in his mind he’d solved a piece of the puzzle. He’d have to wait until the meeting with Johnny and Jen before he could share it with them, but at least he had more than a start.

Author's Notes:

Here's another one for you guys, they're coming out pretty fast now, but I don't know how long that's gonna last, could get writers block or something else could come up, I'll try to get as much out as I can.

Anyway, you know what to do. Comment, rate, and add it to your favorites if you haven't already and you think you want to do that. And now, to introduce a special new segment to make these ANs a little more interesting. It's The Boss' video of the week!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkKiLaxXjAA

Get's me giggling every time. Have a good one folks.