The Changelings and humans had fled the castle hours ago, their speed diminished due to the Changelings’ poor physical condition resulting from their captivity. There appeared to be no pursuers and the group was currently sheltering in a dank cave located near the outskirts of a verdant-looking forest. Three of the wraiths had left the cave and journeyed to the forest, searching for a water source to refill their stores. The humans had a large amount of water left in their suits but they also needed excess water to help treat the wounds of the party, as well as sanitization reasons, with all of the Changelings covered in their own blood while the Humans were covered in the blood of numerous Solar Guards. This left the six Changelings, Nigel, Boland and Jacobs in the cave, Jacobs having laid Reflection down on a makeshift bed made from the team’s Camo Sheets which had turned a dull, dusty brown due to their chameleonic nature.

Reflecting had passed out an hour before, allowing Jacobs to treat her wounds as much as he was able to, the Changelings’ biology not being too alien with the most varied difference being the colour of their blood and the flesh that was hidden under the chitin was coloured green as well. Her back legs had been bound with splints, the humans having used wood retrieved from the nearby forest. The other five Changelings were sitting around the makeshift triage area resting, not possessing the endurance that the humans’ suits provided. Corporal Jacobs was currently keeping watch at the cave mouth fifty meters away, his silhouette just visible from the main cavern where Nigel and Boland were crouching around a holo projection originating from a projector located in the Commander’s armour, the Changelings that were awake were gazing at the immaterial 3D map of the surrounding area in amazement, having never seen a hologram before. The humans had comprised the small map whist heading to the Equine Capitol.

“We still have at least two days of traveling if we continue at this current rate” said Nigel as he gestured towards the map “the current status of our companions is a grave cause for concern, and I’m not sure how much longer that one will hold out for without proper shelter and treatment” Nigel inclined his head towards Reflection’s form, the Changeling occasionally trembling in her slumber “I studied battlefield aid and surgery, but we need a clean space and more medical supplies if I’m going to be able to help her at all” Boland cocked his head, he had learned a lot about Chalmers during this operation and had already known from previous experiences working with him that he was not as stupid as he often appeared, but advanced medical knowledge? He knew for a fact the one last people he wanted rummaging around in his insides was the Commander, beaten only by Corporal Stevens, but he had to admit that if he was wounded on this planet it did bring a small amount of comfort knowing that at least one of the team members was versed in the medicinal arts. Boland revised the mission objectives within his head before activating his internal communications

“*Sir, our mission was to secure the captives to prevent the Equestrians from gaining intelligence regarding the location of our base and we have achieved that. This Changeling is a burden and is a danger to the continued success of the mission, I recommend that we put it out of its misery for the sake of the mission.*”

“*Whilst you raise some good points Sergeant*” Radioed back Nigel “*sometimes you have to take risks in life for the sake of security. These Changelings are willing to co-operate with the UIP and I intend to insure that no incidents jeopardize the relationship that we have fostered. I value your insight and straightforwardness but I don’t want this topic to surface again, understand?*”

“*Yes Sir*”

“*Good*” replied Nigel, turning back to the holo-map

“Now you see this village here” Nigel continued, switching back to external speech and pointing at the indicated village “whilst I imagine that it would contain at least a local police presence it is rather isolated and it lies directly on the route heading back to the Hive. If we were to somehow-“

“Excuse me, um, Sirs?”

Nigel and Boland looked up, one of the Changelings having walked over from its fellows to stand beside the map “I’m sorry for the interruption, it’s just that I overheard you talking and a few months ago I was assigned to watch that village” the Changeling gestured with a hoof towards the map, eyeing it warily “it’s called Coltsdale and there’s a small farm on the outskirts that’s hidden from the town by wheat fields.”

“That’s certainly helpful, what was your name?” Nigel replied, not recalling having been told its name, in fact he only knew that the leader was named Reflection.

“It’s Nestor Sir”

“Well Nestor, thank you for the information, can you tell us anything about the local garrison or any police in the village?”

“They don’t have a garrison but that was long time ago, they might have put one in there after the… failed attack on Canterlot.”

Nigel noticed that whenever the failed invasion was mentioned the Changelings seemed to become depressed, the Queen hadn’t provided any details and the humans hadn’t asked so the circumstances surrounding the situation were largely unknown, with Nigel only interpreting that the Changelings had attacked out of desperation, and the Equestrians had beaten them back with strength-of-arms. He made a mental note to subtly enquire about the failed attack when they returned to the hive.

“It’s all right, the information you gave us is appreciated Nestor, I’ll be sure to inform Chrissy to commend you on your attention to detail.”

Nestor nodded happily and began to walk back towards the other Changelings before the human Commander’s words caught up with him

‘Hang on; did he just refer to the Queen as Chrissy?’

Canterlot Castle
Throne room – seven hours since the biped assault

Celestia surveyed the damage to the Throne Room, the floor littered with glass and multiple pools of blood. The bodies of her fallen guards had been removed and the nobles that were in the room at the time of the attack were currently in Canterlot hospital being treated for shock. Her Captain was also in hospital, having received a viscous blow to the head, his muzzle ending up fractured and the doctors estimated that it would be at least a week before he was able to speak again. Celestia bowed her head in sorrow as she glimpsed two unicorn guards moving past the main doors, a body concealed by a white sheet levitating between them.

‘Six bipeds, six bipeds killed over fifty-nine of my guards, fifty-nine of my little ponies’

Celestia’s mind wondered back to the image of a side corridor where the remains of ten guards had been found, the walls, floor and even ceiling covered in their blood, their lifeless bodies scattered around the bloodstained walkway like discarded children’s toys. She could remember being woken by a frantic guard, his face filled with fear. She could still picture the formless black blob she had spotted as she had raised her head, a head which had a swelling on the side which still hadn’t gone down. She remembered the bodies of the guards that had been found in the dungeon, their heads destroyed and the Changelings they were guarding gone. She thought back to the massive hole in the exterior castle wall and she shuddered to dwell upon what had caused it.

Celestia recalled all of these images and came to one conclusion

‘We can’t do this alone, we need to contact the Griffons, the Zebras and the Minotaurs, only with their help can we win, as I doubt the elements will be enough to fight this new threat.’

Outskirts of Coltsdale – Hoofull Farm

Generous Hoofull sighed with content as he leaned back on the living room’s blue sofa and basked in the warmth of the roaring fire located in the brick fireplace, the bright flames reflections flickering off the clean wooden walls. It had been a good harvest and the crops were plentiful, the family barn filled with carts loaded with corn, wheat, flowers and vegetables. The Moon had risen some time ago and his three children Harvest, Plentiful, and Righteous had fallen asleep in their beds upstairs. His wife, a beautiful mare by the name of Daisy Bloom was busy in the kitchen, bottling some of her renowned daisy jam. Hoofull rested his head on his grass green forelegs, utterly relaxed after a hard days labour working the fields.

‘KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK’

Hoofull jolted off the couch, his straw yellow tail getting caught between the two cushions as he righted himself beside it. Who could be knocking on the door at this time of night and why? Hoofull moved out of the living room and towards the front door, the hallway littered with children’s toys. Hoofull wrapped his mouth and opened the door, the heavy oaken barrier swinging open with a loud squeak, its hinges in need of some oil. Hoofull removed his mouth from the door knob and looked to see which pony had disturbed his rest.

The bipedal figure standing in the doorway had him frozen in shock, its monstrous form freezing the blood in his veins.

“Good evening” said the monster, its voice flowing from its immobile skeletal mouth “I’m Pastor Chalmers from the Later Day Church of Gratuitous Violence, and my colleagues and I would like a moment of your time to talk to you about the good word of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

At this sentence two other bipeds emerged from either side of the outside doorway, levelling two black objects at Hoofull’s head. The first biped stepped forward, and Hoofull could see behind him three other bipeds, one carrying what looked like a pony as well as five other pony sized shapes, their forms obscured by the darkness.

“The first thing we would like to discuss with you” the lead biped continued, moving ever closer to Hoofull “is how the good Lord helps those who help themselves…”

The Hoofull family were huddled in the corner of the living room, the remainder of the room occupied by six of the bipedal monsters as well as what Glorious now recognized as six Changelings. One of the bipeds was currently holding a sleeping Changeling in its metal arms, the Changeling covered in cuts covered in green fluid, yellow crust starting to form around some of the larger lacerations. The Changeling was shivering as if it had a fever, the biped holding it petting it on the head.

The monsters had worked fast, entering the home swiftly and rounding up the five members of the family, shoving them into the living room where two of the monsters sat down and watched them. The other bipedal terrors had left the room, the sounds of shutters and blinds closing filling the air with noise. Hoofull reasoned the monsters and changelings where fleeing from something and that they were planning on staying a while.

The largest monster, the leader Hoofull thought, judging from the fact that it’s skin seemed to be more ornately decorated then it’s fellows had walked into the dining room where it had carefully cleared the large, solid oak table before heading upstairs, re-emerging minutes later with a bundle of linen in its arms. The biped had then proceeded to cut the pilfered linen into long strips with a long knife, placing the strips on the side of the dining table. The tiara perched on the biped’s head looked grossly out of place and Hoofull could swear that he had seen it before somewhere.

That had been five minutes ago, and bipeds were currently sitting around the room while the changelings were grouped around the monster holding the gravely injured Changeling, seemingly at ease in the midst of such horrible creatures. Hoofull looked towards his children, his youngest, Harvest, a strawberry-maned golden-coated filly of six years of age was sobbing into her mother’s tan coat, traumatised by the monsters. His Eldest filly at fifteen years of age, Plentiful, was shielding her ten year old brother Righteous from the Monsters with her light brown body. The young colt was the only one of the ponies not completely terrified, his large teal eyes staring in awe at the monsters, their appearance and weapons so… alien.

Hoofull, having seen the state of terror that his family was in, turned to the leader of the invaders, summoning up the courage to speak

“Please… Ple-please just take what you want and leave my f-f-family alone”

The Monster’s leader turned to face Hoofull before striding over and crouching down, causing the family of captive ponies to scrunch themselves against the wall, except for Righteous, who was fixated with the object attached to the Monster’s hip, a large black box much one the ones carried by the other Bipeds. The leader removed this object from his hip and tapped Hoofull on the muzzle with one end.

“Now you see that there is a great idea” it spoke, its voice sending shivers down Hoofull’s spine “however one of our group is a little injured, so we’ll need the use of your dining room table, which reminds me,” the leader stood up and started walking into the Dining Room “Corporal Jacobs, bring Reflection into the dining room and set her down on the table, Watts and Boland, come in and help me with the procedure. Smith and Roberts keep an eye on the Equestrians, if they cause any trouble” The leader turned to face Hoofull “shoot them.”

“Yes Sir” replied the two biped guards, who Hoofull assumed were these ‘Smith’ and ‘Roberts’. The monster identified as ‘Corporal Jacobs’ moved into the dining room, the injured Changeling, whom Hoofull guessed was ‘Reflection’ in its arms. The rest of the Changelings were looking worriedly through the doorway with two of them, one of which he saw was whatever the Changeling version of a mare was, Hoofull being provided with some… ‘Evidence’ when the Changeling picked itself off the floor, its back towards him.

For five minutes the dining room was quite aside from some muttering along the lines of “we need to clear the infected build up out of the wounds" and "hold her down, if she wakes up she’ll thrash around and probably open them up again”.

Commander Chalmers and his assistants worked quickly, cleaning out the Changeling’s wounds and re-splinting her broken rear legs.

‘It’s going well’ thought the Commander as he cleaned a particularly gunky cut in the Changelings face ‘if we’re lucky she’ll sleep through the entire thing.’

Just as he thought this one of the Changeling’s eyes opened

“… Fuck you too, Universe” sighed Nigel out loud, right before the agonised screaming began.

It had been an hour after the screaming had stopped and Hoofull hugged his family closer as the leader of the bipeds emerged, his black metal skin covered in splotches of green gore. Behind him followed another biped, the Changeling in its arms having to appeared to have been bandaged with the destroyed linen, once white strips of cloth slowly turning a dull green. The other bipeds left the dining room soon after, Hoofull unable to tell them apart, the only monster with a different appearance was the leader; all the others looked the same to him. The biped carrying the Changeling set her down on the sofa, the rest of the changelings rushing over to it, crowding around the once-again slumbering Changeling, obviously concerned for her wellbeing.

The bipedal leader settled down next to the sofa, resting it’s head against the wall with the remaining bipeds taking up positions around the room, all of them settling in for the night. The leader turned towards the changelings gathered around their injured companion, with two clambering onto the sofa to join it.

“I suggest you get some rest while you can, we’ll be leaving at dawn.”

“Yes Commander Sir” replied one of the changelings, lowering itself to the ground beside the couch before looking at the only other two Changelings that were still awake, the two on the sofa having dozed off already. One of the Changelings quickly brushed the injured one’s head with a hoof before it joined the first Changeling on the floor. The first changeling looked up at remaining Changeling, the one which Hoofull knew was female.

“Come on, Mirror, there’s nothing you can do for her right know, the humans already did what they could” the Changeling said in a male voice.

‘So those monsters are called Humans then’ thought Hoofull

“It was my fault Splitting, I was supposed to be guarding the rear, but I got distracted” replied the Changeling known as Mirror “If it wasn’t for me we wouldn’t have ended up in the dungeon” the Changeling bowed her head, ashamed of her mistake.

“You can’t change the past, Changeling” Hoofull recognised the voice of the bipedal leader, the Changeling looking over towards the owner of the voice, the biped shining an emblem of a three-eyed skull located on the left side of its chest, with ‘ISA’ below it. “We all make mistakes, and the only thing you can do is learn from them, cause once something happens it’s happened, you can’t go back and change it, sometimes you have to deal with the hand life deals you.”

Mirror sniffled before replying “That didn’t make things better, Reflections still injured and it was my fault, no speech is going to change that fact”

“And beating yourself up over it doesn’t do anyone else any good either,” responded the biped, now polishing the tiara it had removed from its head “but what is important is the fact that you haven’t slept in two days, it’s easily noticeable and I cannot afford to have anyone slowing us down anymore. I am in charge of this operation, that makes me your superior and as the highest ranking officer here I order you to lie down and get some rest” the biped finished, returning the tiara to the top of its head.

The Changeling named Mirror hesitantly nestled down next to the one called Splitting, tucking its tail underneath it and curling up its hooves. The biped turned towards Hoofull, red eyes glowing menacingly “You, ponies, just keep sitting there quietly like that and by dawn we’ll be out of here and you’ll still be alive” the biped leaned back against the Changeling-occupied Sofa, one of the Changelings on it rolling over in its sleep and resting its head against the back of the biped’s large shoulder, the biped turning its head towards the dozing Changeling before facing the farming family again

“So remember, you misbehave and I’ll kill you myself, slowly” the biped threatened, Hoofull detecting a hint of joy in its voice

“sweet dreams.”

Never in his life had Hoofull wished so badly for morning to arrive.