The sun was rising in the sky and the group of humans and changelings left the small sleepy town of Coltsdale, the farm they had sheltered in the night before receding slowly behind them. They had left in the early morning, Boland and Nigel deciding that the risk of traveling by day was less than staying at the farm. Reflection’s condition had stabilised, her wounds having stopped bleeding and the bandages covering them were fresh, although she hadn’t awoken at all since that night. The group had quickly stopped for a meal, the humans having the nutrients pumped into their bloodstream thanks to their armour and the changelings were rejuvenating themselves with some chemical love, Nigel having brought along enough vials to last ten Changelings for a week.

“Mister Chalmers, Sir” inquired Nestor, half-consumed vial of love held between two hooves, turning towards the Commander who was currently sitting down on a rock examining the holo-map

“Yes Nestor” Responded Nigel, diverting his attention from a supposedly abandoned pony town on the map towards the Changeling “What is it?”

“I was just thinking, what’s stopping that family of ponies from telling the guard about us, they could be alerting the garrison right now”

“Don’t you worry Nestor” reassured the Commander “I took care of that problem, they won’t be leaving that house for a while…”

“Mommy, Daddy, can I go back to bed now, I’m really tired”

“No Righteous, don’t move, that monster said that if we left this room before nightfall the bomb will explode!”

“Oh, the looks on their faces, priceless” Chuckled Nigel, and Nestor decided that it would be wise to drop the issue.

The group, having finished with their sustenance continued westward, the abandoned town known as “Saddleburg” their destination. The town was an old mining town and while small the buildings would no doubt provide adequate protection from the elements as well as from the prying eyes of any pony guard patrols. If the group were discovered the town would most likely feature some mineshafts, Nigel reasoning that these would make a good defensive fall-back, the ponies most likely not being used to subterranean warfare. The town however was still half-a-days walk from the group’s current location so Nigel decided to use the time to talk to their changeling companions about the planet they were on.

“So Nestor” Nigel began, turning towards the Changeling walking beside him, the one that had been a reliable source of information so far, the Changeling in question turning its head to face him “tell me about the other races that inhabit the planet…”

Canterlot Castle – Royal Meeting Hall

“I thank you all for your swift response to our request, your willingness to attend this emergency meeting is much appreciated” Celestia spoke, looking across the large rectangular towards the group of foreign diplomats looking back at her, Councillor Swiftbeak of Griffonia, General Stronghorn of the Minotaur Empire and Chieftain Mustasable of the United Zebra Tribes. The ambassador of the Diamond Dogs had declined the invitation to the meeting, despite having lost a citizen to the bipeds.

“We would not hesitate for a chance for retaliation against these Monsters, Princess” Stronghorn replied “the unprovoked death of one of our people has the entire Empire calling for action; I understand that you lost two of your ponies as well?”

“We lost far more than two, General,” Celestia give a long sigh “I’m sure you all have noticed the increased guard presence around the castle?”

The ambassadors all nodded, the castle was swarming with Guards, thirty fully armed and armoured Solar Guard were currently in the room with them, all of the Guards keeping a close eye on the large windows dotted around the room.

“Yesterday, whilst Day Court was in progress, a force of black, metal bipedal creatures stormed the castle, killing many guards with strange projectile weapons before freeing a number of changelings we had captured. We were able to retrieve information regarding the location of their hive, however during the attack my Captain was wounded, he was the only one with the information and it will be another three days before he is able to speak.”

“So Princess” began Swiftbeak, the griffon pruning his golden feathers as he spoke “Do you believe that these ‘Bipeds’ are allied with a hive of… Changelings” the Griffon spat the word Changeling with disgust, the foul creatures being exterminated on sight within the Griffon Empire.

“There is strong evidence to support that Chancellor; the bipeds’ main target appeared to be the retrieval of the Changelings, although from the accounts of a few nobles present at the time of the attack, the apparent leader of the bipeds stole my Royal tiara and was wearing it when it left the castle. My tiara is enchanted with a locator spell, however due to injuries I sustained during the attack,” Celestia turned her head, the Ambassadors collectively winching at the sight of the Princesses face, a huge black bruise covering the majority of the left side “I am unable to cast the spell, however my Sister, Luna, is returning from her visit to the Capitol of the Bat-ponies and she will be here by tomorrow night.”

“When you find these monsters Princess” spoke Stronghorn, thumping a fist to his blue chest “you have my assurance that the Empire will assist your forces in hunting down these beasts”

“You have the Griffon Empire by you side as well” declared Swiftbeak “any creature that is willing to align itself with those rotten insects is an obvious threat, and their swift destruction should be a high priority”

The group turned towards the diplomat for the Zebras, Mustasable, the Zebra having have not said a single word during the discussion. The Zebra appeared to be deep in thought, her eyes closed and her head tilted back

“While the United Tribes have no Quarrel, with the ones both black and horrible, we feel that their existence, is a problem that requires great persistence, because of their crimes so terribly cruel, not standing with you against them, will make us fools.”

“Then it’s agreed then” said Celestia “as soon as my Sister returns we will cast the locater spell and track down these monsters so that they will never be able to harm any of our subjects again” Celestia turned and gazed at one of the paintings on the wall, depicting the Elements of Harmonys’ victory against Nightmare Moon

“I’ve already summoned the Elements to Canterlot; I just hope that they, combined with the might of our conjoined forces will be enough.”

Celestia turned back towards the Diplomats “I can’t shake the feeling that this will not end well”

‘The leader of these Bipeds must be a tactical genius to be able to thwart our finest guards’ thought Celesta.

“So then the vampire spits out the wine, turns to the priest and says “What the hell are you talking about, this swill isn’t blood at all!” The Commander finished, throwing his hands up to empathise the punch line of the joke.

Nestor was confused, why would a priest, a being dedicated to religion, lie to someone about wine being blood, it just didn’t make sense. The Changelings had little to do with religion with many only going so far as to believe in an afterlife but these humans seemed to have so many! Nestor had found out that the most popular religion in the human’s empire was something called ‘Mortisum’ a religion firmly focused around their Emperor and death, the religion promoting that everyone was entitled to an afterlife as long as they lived their lives for the good of the Empire. Nestor himself thought that the idolization of death was a little strange, but after spending a few days in the company of a group of alien killers he could see why they would want a religion telling them that what they were doing was right.

“Commander!”

Nestor was pulled from his thoughts by the voice of one of the human ‘Wraiths’, the soldier belonging to the group of three sent to investigate the old mining town.

“What is it Roberts?” replied the Commander

“The town shows no signs of recent occupation sir, and a Saloon in the middle of it looks suitable for our needs”
“Good work Corporal, lead the way”

Corporal Roberts lead the group towards the town, the ramshackle wooden buildings having seen better days. The plain colours of the houses and stores blended in with the dusty landscape, their aged wooden walls covered with the signs of abandonment. The group approached the largest building in the town, a large saloon, the sign with its name having fallen down long ago. As the assorted humans and changelings filed into the building the two wraiths already present in it moved away from the bundle of cloth they had found in one of the surrounding houses, Corporal Jacobs lowering the Changeling in his arms onto the make-shift bed.

The Changelings all made themselves comfortable on the floor surrounding their comrade, the humans instead opting to sit on the many stools located around the bar, the bipeds’ size nearly causing the pony-intended furniture to break. The stout stools held, however and the bipeds and changelings settled down into their own conversations, the Changelings discussing the events of the previous days whilst the humans were reminiscing over the time Corporal Stevens was accidentally set alight during another operation a few years ago.

This state of relaxation continued for many hours, night having fallen upon the land barely an hour before. Corporal Jacobs was currently telling the enthralled group, the Changelings having joined the bipeds in conversation previously when Reflection had awoken, about his time spent as an Orbital Special Forces Trooper and his many dangerous planetary assaults when a distant wail echoed through the town.

The Wraiths immediately readied their guns and jumped up, all of them taking up positions around the saloon, peering out of windows and doors. The Commander strode over to main doorway, drawing his two handguns, making him look like a Bandito, “Boland and Jacobs, stay here, Roberts, Watts and Smith with me, let’s find out what’s going down in Funky Town”

“Wait! Take me with you!” the wraiths about to leave through the door stopped and turned around, Mirror having gotten up and running after them

“No” replied Sargeant Boland “There may be Hostiles present; you should remain here with your fellows”

“Let her come if she wants to Boland” Nigel said, turning towards Mirror “You know that there is a high chance that you can die out there and I also don’t want you questioning what I say, if you agree this then I’ll let you come, you understand?”

“Yes, I just feel useless; all we’ve done so far is slow you down while you humans have to do all the fighting”

“I don’t mind Mirror” responded Nigel “I enjoy fighting,” the commander turned back towards the door, raising his head and making exaggerated sniffing sounds through his helmet

“Thar be trouble brewing in this her’ town,” the western accent filled the air and Mirror swore she heard banjos playing, the Commander exiting through the swinging doors.

“I can smell it”
__________________________________________________________________________________

The group of four humans and one changeling stealthy made their way through the town, the wraiths scanning every alley and possible hiding place with their rifles whilst the Commander and Mirror followed in the rear, the Commander swinging one of his pistols in his hand, the other safely snug in its holster at his hip. Mirror kept on nervously checking over her shoulder, this situation being eerily similar to when she was originally captured by the Equestrians. The wails had increased in frequency and volume as the group neared a mineshaft dug into the side of a mountain at the back of the town. The group stopped at the mouth of the shaft, the tunnel descending into inky blackness.

“Roberts, stay out here and keep watch for any hostiles, Mirror, Smith and Watts back me up, let’s see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

With these words Nigel descended into the dark, handgun held outstretched in front of him, Smith and Watts followed him without hesitation while Mirror nervously trailed behind, starting to regret her choice to join the search team.
After five minutes of walking a glow could be seen up ahead, and multiple cries could be heard as well as the sound of mining.

“*Roberts, we seem to have found the source of the disturbance, how are things topside?*”

“*All clear Commander,*” Roberts replied “I’ve established a sniping position on the upper rock face, I have a clear view of the entrance*”

“*Roger, hold your position and let us know if you see anything, lethal force is authorized, fire at your discretion*”

“*Confirmed Sir, happy hunting*” Nigel started moving towards the glow after the signal was cut, the tunnel mouth widening out into a carven, the light from wooden torches dancing across the stone walls. He crept up towards the edge of the cavern, making sure that his form was cloaked in shadow, the two wraiths edging along the walls of the tunnel. Mirror remained at the tunnel mouth, choosing to stay and wait until the humans needed her. Nigel reached the edge of the drop and looked down, studying the situation.

Down below, accessible by walkways carved in the rock, were around ten Equestrian ponies, eight earth ponies and two unicorns. The majority of the earth ponies were attached to mining carts with the two unicorns wielding pick-axes, working upon on of the rock faces, a vein of diamonds visible in the rock. Also present in the cavern were a large group of bipedal dogs that Nigel recognised from Corporal Stevens’ account from the apple incident, wearing what appeared to be crude metal armour and wielding spears. Judging from the whips wielded by some of the dogs, the lash marks on the crying ponies and the earth pony chained up to a pole in a growing pool of blood with a small foal crying into its mane Nigel came to the conclusion that the ponies weren’t here role-playing a relaxing game of LEGO Rock Raiders.

“*Slavers*” Watts muttered, pointing his rifle at the head of a Guard dog standing on a walkway “*permission to execute Sir?*”

Slavery was viewed in the UIP as a barbaric practice, with the punishment carrying a death sentence. All UIP military and policing personnel had the authority to execute slavers on sight, although since slavery was viewed with such distaste, often death did not come quickly for slavers that had the misfortune of being captured by UIP forces. The UIP was even known for declaring war on other empires that used slave labour and as a Dewbeccian Comedian once joked

“Those crazy UIP bastards, you can be a megalomaniacal Warlord responsible for the deaths of billions and they’ll walk up to you, shake whatever you call a hand and invite you over for tea, or you can be a slave owner with two slaves and they’ll tie you to a table and cut off all your limbs while your family watches.”

Needless to say, the UIP had a reputation for extreme cruelty when it came to the matter of slaves.

“*Permission denied, Corporal*” came the response from Nigel, the Commander eyeing a large dog that was walking over towards the pony chained to the pole, the amount of blood certainly meaning it was dead. The foal, a grey unicorn that was sobbing into what Nigel assumed was its parent’s corpse, lifted its head to look fearfully up at the approaching dog, its large aqua eyes framed by a dirty midnight blue mane.

“*I think this situation calls for a personal touch,*” Nigel shifted his pistol to his left hand, a large sword –like blade springing from his right wrist gauntlet, the blade buzzing with electricity, casting a menacing glow upon his helmet, bathing the pale skull in blue light.

Bleak Horizon pulled his head away from the grass-green mane of his mother to look at the Diamond Dog approaching him. It was Yella, the Alpha of the pack that had taken him and his parents prisoner while they were travelling to Canterlot. That had been three weeks ago, his father having died within the first week down the mineshaft and now his mother was dead as well. Horizon knew that this was true as she had stopped breathing yesterday, the blood loose from the spear wound proving too great. It was Yella’s fault that his mother was dead, the Alpha having speared her in the chest as an example to the other captives. As he remembered that day a fresh wave of tears flowed from his eyes and the Alpha saw this, his many yellow teeth forming into a rotten smile

“Awww, is the little pony sad? What a shame, would you like to see your mother again?”

The Alpha raised his spear, the dried blood of Horizon’s mother still on the tip. Yella began to advance upon the foal, his vile tongue lolling out as he licked his lips

“You know” he said, stopping three meters away from Horizon, spear raised in the air “I love it when my dinner cries, the sadness makes the meat very tender” this prompted chuckles from the thirty other dogs in the room while the other ponies watched the scene in horror, unable to look away. Yella brought his spear do-

‘CRASH!’

The Alpha whirled around, the rest of the pack following the noise, Horizon and the other ponies turning to look as well.

Horizon had never seen anything so terrifying in his life, and he was just almost on the receiving end of a spear in the midst of a den of Diamond Dogs.

Pulling itself up from the wreckage of a wooden cart was a tall two-legged black monster. The monster’s head was a skull with two glowing red eyes and a picture of another skull with three eyes was attached to its large metal chest.

“I’m incredibly sorry for the interruption” said the biped in Equestrian, its voice sounding clear despite its mouth not moving. Horizon thought from the sound of the monster’s voice that it was everything but sorry “but I was just taking a nice evening stroll around the town when I smelt the disgusting stench of cowardly dogs and guess what, it led me to you fine chaps” the monster had a bulky black object in its metal claw that it was tapping against the side of its head.

“You can’t speak to Alpha like that, Monkey!” Growled one of the guard dogs, its paws clenched around the shaft of a spear

“Oh, I do apologize” the monster responded “would Itty bitty rover prefer it if I talked like this, would ya boy? Where’s the ball, go get the ball, good dog!”

“You Mongrel!” roared Yella, charging towards the monster, spear ready to slay the vile fei-

‘BLAM!’

A tongue of fire roared from the object held in the Monster’s left claw as Yella’s charge was halted, his right hind leg coming off at the knee in a spray of crimson.

“Lie down boy, that’s a good dog!” Praised the monster over Yella’s agonized howls, the monster walking over to the injured Alpha and kicking away the spear from his outstretched paws. The rest of the dogs backed away from the Monster, the rear most guards beginning to circle it, until the monster was surrounded by dogs. The other ponies had all run to the opposite side of the cave, cowering in fear in a huddle. Horizon had not moved from his spot next to his mother in the pool of her blood, he was too busy staring at the fallen Alpha, the dog whimpering on the ground.

“We got you surrounded Monster, you going to die now” Spoke the second-in-command, a heavyset grey-furred dog by the name of Scruffy. Horizon looked away from the fallen Alpha and looked behind the monster; the two Guard dogs on the walkway above it aimed their crossbows at the monster’s back.

“Is that so?” the monster questioned, before it raised its free claw and brought it down, two loud bangs echoing around the mine as the two Guard dogs fell of the walkway, their heads exploding into red mist before their lifeless bodies came crashing down behind the monster. The monster flicked its right arm, a long glowing blade sliding out with a snick.

“Let’s get this party started!” It bellowed, dashing towards Scruffy with speed that seemed impossible for something its size. The monster lashed out with its blade, Scruffy raising his spear to block but the glowing sword cut through the shaft of the spear effortlessly before catching Scruffy in the gut, leaving a long gash as it swung away again.

The disembowelled dog dropped to the ground, howling and trying to hold its entrails in as they spilled upon the dusty ground amidst a torrent of blood. The monster then raised its other claw, the object held within barking thrice, dropping a further three dogs the ground, their metal armour doing nothing to stop whatever was flying from the barrel of the object.

“Play dead!” the monster yelled before decapitating another guard with the glowing blade. The remaining dogs, around twenty, rushed forwards together hoping to overwhelm the monster with weight of numbers.

Their plan may of succeeded if two other monsters, smaller than the first hadn’t slid down the wall off the cavern, the black objects held in their claws roaring, yellow flame erupting from the ends, scything down the remaining dogs, their blood filling the air as great holes were rent in their bodies. The two new monsters rolled as they reached the bottom of the drop before coming up in a crouch, scanning the surrounding cavern with their weapons. Horizon stared at the first monster in shock, the creature in question re-sheathing its blade before walking over towards the wounded Alpha, Yella being the only Diamond Dog still breathing.

“Corporals, head over there and free those captives, they may be our enemies but nothing deserves this fate” the two smaller monsters approached the other ponies, attempting to re-assure them that they would not be harmed. While this was happening the leader of the monsters pointed its loud weapon at the wounded Alpha’s head.

“Right Mister… I’m sorry; I didn’t quite catch your name”

The Diamond Dog gazed fearfully at the weapon being pointed at it, already well aware of what it could do “My name is Yella, Demon” spat the Alpha.

The monster paused, Horizon noticing that it had begun to shake. Was the monster sick-

“HAHA! HAHAHA! Your name- Your name is- Ha – Yella?” The monster laughed, its manic laughter booming around the mine “I’m sorry, it’s just- wow, that right there has just made my day, oh yeah, so back on topic” the laughter stopped, the monster re-affixing its attention towards Yella “You are a slaver, and the UIP’s policy regarding slavers states that I’m supposed to shoot you on sight, so that’s what I’m going to”

“No! Wait! I’ve got twelve pups back home, you can’t kill me!”

“Well I don’t have a conscience and I love killing slavers, so tough luck”

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! , BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Nigel holstered his pistol and glanced down at the corpse at his feet, the dog’s chest almost non-existent, the seven anti-matter rounds he put into it reducing the once-proud Alpha to a hole-ridden bloody mess. Chuckling, he kicked the lifeless corpse with an armoured boot “I’m sorry boy, but you were getting on in years, it was time to put ya’ down.”

Nigel looked over towards the two Corporals, the two wraiths having successfully calmed the Equestrians and were now removing their chains. A shuffling sound caught his attention and he glanced towards the body of the dead pony, the small grey foal attempting to hide from him behind it. Nigel began to walk over towards the foal, crouching as he neared the corpse of its parent, the foal was half-hidden, its blue mane and bloodstained tail were clearly visible against the dull colouration of the ground.

“Hi there little one, I’m not going to hurt you” Nigel said, watching and waiting as the small horse poked its head up, staring at him with moistened aqua eyes “All the nasty dogs are gone, and your pony friends are about to leave now” the foal glanced over towards the group at the same time Nigel did, just in time for the Commander to catch quite a humorous scene. One of the ponies, a mare if Nigel was correct, judging from its smaller muzzle shape was currently embracing Corporal Watts in a large hug while one of the unicorns, a stallion, had somehow grasped Corporal Smith’s hand with its two front hooves and was shaking it up and down, the ponies fear of the humans obviously disappearing once they had been freed from their chains.

The ash-grey foal looked down at the dead pony before looking back at Nigel, wet patches on its cheeks “I don’t know any of those ponies Mister Monster” Nigel was a little disheartened that the child saw him as a monster, what could have-

‘Oh, right’ thought Nigel as he recalled slaughtering the Dogs, glancing briefly at the nearby body of the Alpha ‘that’

“The onlyponies I knew was Daddy and Mommy, Daddy died two weeks ago and Yella killed Mommy yesterday” Nigel was surprised that the foal was able to speak about the death of its parents just like that, maybe the weeks in captivity had hardened the child.

“Well, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do for them now,” Nigel looked up towards the tunnel leading outside, the ponies having already made it up there and Nigel could see Watts signalling him to hurry up “we have to go now, come on” Nigel began to walk away, turning around to see that the foal had refused to move from his mother’s side.

“No, mister, I want to stay here, I can’t leave her alone”

‘Well, at least he stopped calling me a monster’ thought Nigel as he gave a large sigh, walking back over towards the foal and its dead mother

“Nothings ever easy, is it kid?”

And that was how Nigel found himself digging a hole on a sandy hill with the dead body of a mare beside him and a sobbing foal lying next to it. ‘Join the military they said, serve the Empire they said’ though Nigel as shovelled dirt out of the hole with his armoured hands, the gloves cutting through the earth easily. When the group had left the cave it was almost sunrise, and with thankful goodbyes the ex-slaves had left the town, promising that they wouldn’t alert the royal guard in return for the rescue, the three wraiths as well as Mirror, who had watched the entire fight from the mouth of the tunnel had returned to the saloon.

The only pony that refused to leave was Bleak Horizon, despite the offers from the other captives to look after him. In the end Nigel had relented, retrieving the body of the foal’s mother and taking it and the colt to a sandy hill just outside the town.

Nigel reckoned that the hole was deep enough now, allowing the colt to say a final goodbye to his mother before he laid the body in the hole and began to fill it back up with earth. With a final handful the hole was filled, and Nigel patted done the top of the grave to flatten it. His task complete, Nigel picked up a piece of stone in a shape of a tombstone that he had carved earlier with his power-blade and set it up right at the head of the grave. He picked up the young colt, who had cried himself to sleep, and walked off back towards the town, heading towards the saloon with one final thought.

‘Why does this shit always happen to me?’

Up on a sandy hill, there stood a solitary tombstone, its edges uncut by anything native to Equestria, an inscription written in an alien language upon its face.

In memory of Maple Fields,

Loving mother of Bleak Horizon,

Taken away long before her time

R.I.P