By the time Nigel returned to the saloon, sleeping colt in arms the sun had risen, the bright light of morning glittering off the spots of shattered glass that were distributed around the town. As he entered the building he received curious looks from all within, the majority of them directed at the bundle of fur held against his chest. None of the Changelings had been informed of the intricate details, Mirror not being present for the majority of the incident and the wraiths who were a part of the team provided a mere “There shall be one more joining us on the trip back to base.”

The sleeping colt was still covered in a thick crust of dried blood, and with the help of Boland and two of the Changelings Nigel managed to procure an old wooden tub and soap powder from one of the buildings in town. As the colt was lowered into the warm soapy water it awoke, his eyes darting open in alarm, scanning its surrounds rapidly. When it spotted the changelings standing in a group, with the exception of Reflection, watching the proceedings it flinched back and as it did so the back of its head was halted by Nigel’s armoured hand. The colt turned its head and faced Nigel, its frantic look of fear receding and its features morphing into an expression of calmness as it allowed Boland to wash it.

Nigel was confused, why did this colt not fear him? He knew that the Changelings, with the possible exception of Nestor feared him greatly, no doubt because of that whole thing back at the castle. Nigel’s thoughts returned to the tiara atop his head,

‘Ah, fond memories.’

Turning his attention back to the colt in the tub, the colt currently grasping Nigel’s arm with its forelegs as the Sergeant began to clean the blood out of its tail, Nigel was hoping that it didn’t see him as a replacement father figure. As one could guess he wasn’t very good with children, especially alien pony children.

Boland reached for a one of the bundles of linen that they had found the night before, his task of cleaning the child complete. The water in the wooden tub had turned a dark shade of red, the amount of blood in the water testament to the colt’s ordeal. Nigel lifted the small unicorn out of the water and Boland wrapped the linen around it like a towel, the fabric absorbing the pinkish water rapidly. The foal had fallen asleep again and Nigel guessed that its age was around seven to eight years old, granted he wasn’t exactly a reliable source of information regarding horses but by comparing its level of speech to a human child it gave him a fairly rough idea.

“What are you going to do with it Sir?” inquired Corporal Jacobs, lifting the awake Reflection off of the ground, the group preparing to continue on. Nigel glanced down towards the sleeping colt held in his arms, still firmly wrapped in linen

“I have no clue, Corporal, any suggestions anyone?”

“Well, it can’t stay in the Hive” provided Mirror “the queen would never allow a pony to live amongst us, their diets are just to different”

“You can’t just leave it here either Sir, it’s too young to be able to fend for itself, plus if any more dogs appear…” Jacobs pointed out, a point that Nigel agreed with

“You could kill it Sir, that way it won’t hinder us and it would have a quick death” the ever-efficient Boland suggested, drawing shocked looks from the Changelings, the wraiths not showing any signs of alarm, used to the often cold methodical thinking of their Sergeant

“No Boland, I swear, you seem to have a habit of wanting to shoot everyone we happen to meet, I mean, first Reflection then the colt?”

“Wait, What! You were going to kill me?” Reflection bolted upright in Jacob’s arms, before remembering that she wasn’t supposed to make any sudden movements, the jolt of pain shooting up her spine forcing her to settle back down, that didn’t stop her from shooting a glare at the Sergeant.

“You were a liability at the time and your injuries were a factor of concern that was affecting our mission. Your survival was not within mission parameters and due to the critical nature of your wounds a mercy killing was seen as the most effective solution to both problems; however the Commander’s intervention prevented me from carrying out said solution.”

Reflection looked over at the human Commander, the being that had so far prompted a war with the most powerful country on the planet, slaughtered a large group of Royal Guard, killed a den of Diamond Dogs and now, she had just found out, the being that was also responsible for saving her life. As she thought about this, as well as the Sergeant's explanation she realised that the Sergeant had made some good points, and while she would not do the same in his position she did understand the reasoning behind his thinking. She looked back at the Sergeant, her glare softening

“I’m willing to forgive you Sergeant, as long as you don’t intend to try to kill me again”

“I’m not going to make any promises” Replied the Sergeant in his flat tone, causing Reflection to increase her glare

“Knock it off you two, Reflection, the sergeant is not going to kill you and Boland” The commander turned towards his subordinate “If someone forgives you for trying to kill them, take it, don’t imply that you still intend to”

The Commander picked up his rifle with one hand, whilst cradling the sleeping pony colt in the other, from a nearby table making him the last of the group to be ready to depart “Now, if we’re all done with our pointless bickering let’s move out, if we’re lucky we’ll make it back to the hive by sundown.”

The changelings all let out a cheer, the prospect of returning to familiar territory a welcome one. The wraiths, true to form did not say anything, opting instead to tighten their grips on their rifles as they left the Saloon, last night’s events proving that they were not quite out of danger yet. As the group left the town it returned to the abandoned dump it was, the only changes being a few misplaced stools, a bundle of linen, a used tub with its sides stained red and a sandy hill, a lone tombstone set at its peak.

Chrysalis sat on her throne, waiting patiently for news of the Commander’s mission. The humans possessed some kind of long-range method of communicating, although she had been informed by one of the human scientists that the six humans on the rescue team would have ‘switched to an internal channel so to avoid any unnecessary interruptions whilst carrying out the operation’, whatever that meant. Chrysalis was unable to detect her changelings via the telepathic link, its range being much too short. She was beginning to worry, night had just fallen and the group was due back over four hours ago, Chrysalis starting to fear that something might have happened to the group.

She glanced over into the room that the humans had occupied, spotting a glimpse of one of the scientists, Klaus she believed his name was, working on some kind of metal device, the human having removed his helmet. Chrysalis and the rest of the changelings in hive had been surprised earlier when one the humans, Doctor Zarkrof, had removed his helmet, the Changelings at first believing that the biped was tearing off its own head. This proved to not be the case and the alien’s face had proved to not be that… alien. Whilst certainly different to a changeling’s, the extra-terrestrial visitors possessed a nose, a normal mouth filled with teeth, the shape of some proving them to be carnivorous, although the Doctor assured the changelings that they were omnivores and were not going to start consuming the nymphs in order to feed an never-ending hunger for flesh, Chrysalis having a very firm talk with the Changeling that had started that rumour.
They did not possess any tentacles or stalk-eyes, all-in-all they looked fairly normal.

Due to some of the rumours circling the Hive Doctor Zarkrof had suggested to Chrysalis that they begin cultural exchanges, the Doctor apparently a ‘Xenobiologist’, which he explained to Chrysalis as a scientist who focuses on the study of alien life-forms and their cultures. Chrysalis had already given her approval for the suggestion and already it was bearing fruit, and she was happy to note that the humans and her changelings had been getting on well with each other, any fear the changelings had of the bipeds disappearing. Chrysalis was pleased with the way things were working out, now if only all of her changelings could be-

“My Queen!” Chrysalis jolted out of her thoughts, a messenger drone bursting through the Throne Room doors “the humans have returned, and all six of the scouting party were rescued alive!”

“Excellent, inform the humans that their comr-“

“That shall not be necessary”

Chrysalis turned in her throne, one of the human wraiths having somehow approached without her noticing. Despite her acceptance of the humans, she still felt uncomfortable around the black-clad soldiers, none of them having removed their helmets, unlike the scientists. It also didn’t help the fact that she had overheard one of the scientists making a joke about the wraiths not being human at all.

“We have been informed of the mission success” the wraith continued, and Chrysalis recognized him as being the Sergeant that was left in charge by the Commander, the slightly different emblems on his shoulders indicating his higher rank “although there were some… complications”

“Complications?” Questioned Chrysalis, before the Throne Room doors opened once more.

Nigel strode into the Throne room, Bleak Horizon still in his arms, followed by four of the wraiths and five of the changelings that had made up the group, Corporal Jacobs having taken Reflection to the Hive’s medical section. Nigel saw the sergeant he had left in command, Sergeant Rommel, standing beside Queen Chrysalis, the Queen’s vision focused on the bundle in his arms. The colt had awoken during the walk but it had refused to leave its position in Nigel’s arms, prompting Corporal Jacobs to joke that it was probably the first thing the Commander had held that hadn’t voided it’s bowels in fright. A bullet passing a mere inch from the Corporal’s groin had shut him up, and during the rest of trip no more was said regarding the Colt’s resting place.

“Commander Chalmers” the Queen began “What is that?”

“Oh this, this here is Bleak Horizon Chrissy” the colt in question upon hearing his name poked his head up to look at the Queen, his right foreleg giving a little wave at the Queen. The colt had become more comfortable during the previous day around the changelings, with Nestor in particular showing a particular interest in the young colt, the two having spent the better part of an hour asking each other questions, Nestor’s seemingly unsatisfiable curiosity proving to be broad in its target subjects.

“He-hello Miss Chrissy” spoke Horizon, still uneasy about the new changeling; this one was much bigger than the others.

Nigel noticed that the Queen looked like she was about to launch into a tirade, presumably about being called ‘Miss Chrissy’ by a pony foal.

“Horizon, she’s Queen Chrysalis, so I’d recommend treating her like such, now, would you like to try again?”

“Sorry Mister Nigel, and I’m sorry as well” the foal waved once again at the Queen, not a trace of malice in his voice “Queen Chrissy”

‘Ha, I like this kid already’ thought Nigel, before realising that the Queen did not appreciate the humour of the situation, her face turning green with anger (‘he he, green instead of red, makes her look ill’ thought Nigel’)

“Why you little-“ The Queen began, before her eyes caught sight of the shining tiara sitting on the Commander’s head, Chrysalis stopping to rub her eyes before looking once again at the Commander’s helmet

“Is that Princess Celestia’s tiara you’re wearing, how did you get it?!”

“My God” responded Nigel with audible shock, one of his hands shooting up to tear the Tiara of his helmet, bringing it up to his helmet optics “That horse was a bloody Princess?”

Canterlot Castle
Royal throne Room

“Are you ready sister?”

Luna nodded in response to Celestia’s query, her horn aglow with blue magics, a map of Equestria between the two alicorns. Celestia’s horn also was aglow; however her magic field was much weaker, the biped’s assault taking a toll on her mental capabilities. The glows from both horns intensified, until two shafts of light erupted from them, combining to shine upon a single point on the map, the spot at the base of a mountain only four miles away from the settlement of Appaloosa. The glow suddenly cut out, both of the Princesses staring at the spot on the map, Luna marking it with an ink covered Quill.

“So the fiends have made that thou location their lair”

“It seems so Sister” Celestia replied, turning towards the large window, the former stained glass that was the first victim in the attack on the castle replaced by a plain sheet of clear glass, this one magically reinforced to prevent any further intrusions. Outside was the Royal Guard parade grounds, the fields packed with Equestrians, Griffons, Minotaurs and Zebras, all soldiers from the different nations forming the alliance against the bipeds. Weapons were being loaded onto supply carts and yet more flashes of gold and grey were visible outside the main gate, the combined force numbering four-thousand strong.

Luna joined her sister at the window, looking down eagerly at the bustling soldiers “with a force as fine as this, no enemy, no matter how Monstrous shall prevail!”

What Luna did not know was that they were facing no ordinary monsters, oh no, they were going to be fighting humans, and if there’s one thing that humans are universally good at…

Its Fighting.