Commander Chalmers, Queen Chrysalis, Transfusion and Sergeant Murray Boland -leader of wraith team 3- were gathered around Thrax’s machine as he mumbled and cursed, his hands a flurry of movement as he added chemicals and compounds from a bright orange case sitting on the floor to the multiple orifices on his device. The sack of apples that had been retrieved earlier was resting against the side of the machine, ready to be added at the final stage. It took a while but eventually with a relived sigh Thrax stepped away from the synthesiser, his labours complete.

“Sergeant, if you wouldn’t mind” Thrax asked Sergeant Boland as he gestured towards the sack containing the apples, the final ingredient needed. The Sergeant nodded, and proceeded to walk over towards Thrax, his primary weapon, a Mobius-pattern Fusion Gun, swinging from a strap attached to his armour as he did so.

Thrax and Boland picked up the apple sack and emptied into the bowels of the machine, all sixty-six, cores and all. When the sack was empty they tossed it towards the back of the room and Boland resumed his position at the Commanders side. Boland and the Commander had worked together before and the Commander had specifically chosen Boland’s squad to accompany them on this mission as he believed him to be a competent leader who had earned the respect of his squad as well as the respect of his commanders through impressive operational results.

The room was filled with a soft ‘hum’ as Thrax increased the output from the portable fusion generator connected to his machine.

“Alright, the first batch should be finished in approximately an hour, and after three days we should have enough of the drug to last your people a month your Majesty, provided your population does not grow any larger.”

“Thankyou Doctor, Commander, you don’t know how much this means to our race" Awnsered Chrysalis.

“Don’t worry about it Chrissy” replied the Commander “the amount of science data the boffins have collected more than makes up for it."

It was true; the other scientists have been busy analysing various objects such as the material making up the hive to the Changelings themselves, the Queen ‘volunteering’ some drones to assist them in their studies. All-in-all the experience had added a vast amount of knowledge to the coffers of the UIP and it was even rumoured that Klaus had begun to draw up schematics for Changeling-mounted weapon systems, but the Commander doubted that the Weapons Engineer was THAT insane.

Chrysalis let out an annoyed huff, not a fan of the Commander’s new nickname.

“Still Commander, I do legitimately appreciate the lengths that you have gone to save our lives.”

“As I said before, don’t worry too much about it” the Commander said, turning around to wave at the wraith that Chrysalis knew as Corporal Stevens. The wraith, still wearing his pilfered sombrero noticed this and in return raised his right fist, middle finger sticking firmly up in the air, the meaning of the gesture lost on Chrysalis.

“Ah, they grow up so fast” the Commander said, chuckling as Sergeant Boland raced off to educate the Corporal in regards to meaning of the term ‘insubordination’, the Corporal quickly returning his hand to his side, but it was too late and the damage was done.

The next day, two days since UIP arrival
Canterlot Castle, Equestria
Royal Celestial Hospital, East Wing

Celestia looked down upon the two blank white sheets placed separately on the table with sorrow in her eyes, the vaguely pony shaped forms lying beneath them motionless. Struggling to keep her emotionless mask intact, she turned towards Doctor Vascular, the beige coated stallion standing beside her.

“How did they die?” She asked, the violent deaths of two of her subjects weighing upon her mind.

“We are not too sure of the cause, my Princess, but what we do know is that whatever it was it completely destroyed the majority of the head, almost as if it just… exploded” the doctor replied “we also believe that death was instantaneous, if that is any consolation” the Doctors tone was clear and clinical, no doubt used to having to deliver bad news.

“I see” Celestia sighed, trying to remember any other instances of sudden skull explosions during her long reign, but was unable to. She turned towards her left and addressed the only other figure in the room “Captain Bulwark, where were the bodies found?”

Unyielding Bulwark, the newest Captain of the Solar Guard glanced at the covered bodies before replying. “In the Desert surrounding the Settlement known as Appleoosa, your Highness, the remains of a Diamond dog as well as a Minotaur were also found, their manner of death the same, with the exception of the Minotaur who had an additional hole in its torso” the captain could still remember the reactions of the guards sent to examine the reports of a strange, black biped seen fleeing Appleoosa, having been spotted by the local sheriff. The guards had been searching for clues when they had found the bodies. Three privates and a sergeant had gone into shock and the entire thirty-strong group of guards had all since requested Personal Leave, leave that had been approved immediately by the Princess once she had been informed of the situation, the two non-Equestrian bodies having been returned to their respective peoples as soon as they had been recovered.

“And what of the reports of this unknown biped in the area, could it have contributed to the tragedy?”

“Unlikely” snorted Bulwark “we found no evidence of ‘Apple-Abducting Aliens’, as the sheriff described it, your Highness, in my opinion those settlers have been living in the desert for too long” the Captain’s expression changed to one of disgust “There are reports of Changelings in the area Your Highness, I have no doubt that they were responsible and we do know that sentries have stated that survivors of the invasion had been scouting around frontier towns.”

At the mention of Equestria’s most recent enemy, Celestia’s face had morphed into one of distaste.
“Very good Captain, dispatch guard teams to the area in an effort to spot any of these Changelings, if your Guards find any detain them and return them to the palace for questioning.”

“Yes, Your Majesty” the Captain saluted “I’ll send some of our finest Guards right away” and with that he turned and left the room, leaving the Princess alone with the Doctor as the medical pony began discussing with Celestia his theories regarding the deaths of her beloved subjects, the atmosphere no less melancholy than before.

Nigel was walking towards the Changeling scientist Transfusion; he believed his name was, with the intent of finding out exactly why he still seemed so petrified around the humans. All of the Changelings in the Hive had been terrified of the imposing bipeds at first, but after learning that they had reacted to the Changeling’s nature respectfully as opposed to outright rejecting them the humans had become accepted around the hive. After the announcement made by their Queen that the new visitors would be staying for the time being many Changelings had been attempting to sneak peeks at the mysterious figures, the humans preferring to stay in their own designated area. The revelation that the newcomers were also assisting with the food shortages had brought with it appreciation and even adoration, some of the Changelings viewing them as saviours sent by the Heavens to aid them in their time of need. Any humans upon meeting any of these Changelings would attempt to halt this ideal, claiming that they were only doing what was morally right and that the majority of the Empires that they competed with would do the same.

“Excuse me Doctor Transfusion” Nigel began, the small Changeling turning to face him, fright quickly ascending to its features “there’s no need to worry” Nigel continued “I only want to talk about your attitude towards me as I happen to have noticed that you seem, well, to put it bluntly, positively terrified of me. If I have done anything in particular to scare you I would like you to talk to me about it, as I fear that we may be stuck with the possibility of us never coming to speaking terms.”

Transfusion was shocked, could the Commander really not recall how he had treated Transfusion when they had first met, scaring the life out of him with his threatening under tones and menacing actions? Transfusion struggled to form a reply.

“What about when you first arrived, you threatened to kill me!”

“OH that” dismissed the Commander with a wave of his hand “that was just a joke, I threaten to kill people all of the time, it’s kind of what I do, well, that and actually killing people, but you get the point.”

“WHAT!” yelled Transfusion, his fright giving way to anger “THAT WAS A JOKE? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW CLOSE I WAS FROM DYING OF FRIGHT ALONE!?”

“I don’t know” replied the Commander as he started to turn away from the furious Changeling “but i do know one thing”

“What?” answered Transfusion, confused as to what the biped was referring to.

“At least you’re not scared of me anymore”

Transfusion’s shocked spluttering was interrupted by the sudden entrance of a lone soldier drone, its cyan coloured fly-like wings beating furiously as it propelled itself through the throne room’s main entranceway.

“My Queen!” it panted, coming to a stop in front of Chrysalis throne, Chrysalis having being enraptured by the conversation between the Commander and Transfusion. The soldier bowed before continuing “Equestrian Royal Guard have abducted six of our soldiers whilst they were preforming reconnaissance outside the Hive, and they appear to taking them back to the Equestrian Capitol!”

“What, how could this have happened!” shouted Chrysalis, dismayed that the Equestrians had captured some of her soldiers, just when things appeared to have been improving for the struggling Hive “If they question them, they could discover the location of the Hive and after the invasion…” Chrysalis trailed off, knowing fully well that Celestia was determined to end the Changelings’ threat towards her little ponies and would not be against the eradication of the Hive. She turned towards Commander Chalmers, a pleading look in her eyes.
“Please Commander, we need your help once again, if the Equestrians find out about our location…” her breathe caught in her throat, afraid of the possibility of her precious changelings facing annihilation again.

“There’s nothing to fear Your Majesty” the Commander dropping the Queen’s informal nickname, his tone turning serious

“We’re the aliens in this situation and I’ll be damned if anyone else tries to abduct others, that’s our bloody job” he stated angrily, retrieving a rifle from the arms stockpile located in the middle of the human camp, cocking the receiver dramatically.

“Sergeant Boland, select four troopers of your choosing and bring them to attention” the Sergeant nodded, pointing at various wraiths and voicing commands over the comms system. The Commander turned towards them, the four chosen wraiths as well as Sergeant Boland stepping up and saluting, filling the Commander with rabid anticipation.

“Gear up gents; it’s time to pay the neighbours a special ISA-branded diplomatic visit”

As the assembled team of wraiths dashed off to prepare for the upcoming festivities, Nigel caressed the rifle, polishing It with a handkerchief he had pulled from a storage compartment located in his armour.

“Soon my pretty, soooooooon…” he cooed as he walked out of the main entrance of the throne room, the Changeling guards standing on either side of the doors outside shooting each other nervous looks.

“Soon…”