Author's Note: Writer's block edition!
hooray.wav

Two. Nine. Six.

That number has been reported to me as of two days ago. And with each passing moment I ponder on the who, what, when, where, why, and how of things, that number continues to rise. It's not a number to be taken lightly. If anything, this number has been etched into my brain for the past two days, depriving me of sleep, spoiling my appetite, and ceaselessly whispering into my ear about how it wants to get bigger, how it's going to get bigger, and how I can do nothing to stop it.

As for what that number is exactly, it's merely the reflection of how many have been reported missing: two-hundred ninety-six.

So while I was making my preparations, giving demonstrations, dealing with relationship issues, et cetera, that number has done nothing but grow. At this point, I'm more than certain that the number has climbed well above three-hundred. A fault that falls on me now that I have been placed in charge of a nation's security. No excuses, no bullshit.

And there was nothing that I could do to stop it... until now.

At my disposal, I have some of the best weapons ever made, each with their own legacy and mark written across history. They may not be those enchanted weapons of legend, but they can slay just as many with little to no effort. Mankind's pride and joy, pain and sorrow, our blood and nightmares have been grafted into these weapons, our seething words injected into each bullet. Our hatred and our desires form the trigger, and just one squeeze could incur the wrath of mankind being funneled into an object the size of a pebble.

Yet the enemy would only have so many resources at their disposal. In large numbers they can overwhelm the ponies that they war against. They outnumber, use their abilities to con their enemies, they infiltrate and destroy infrastructures from the inside out. But what do they have to defend against a species who's history has been forged in nothing but the flames of war, whose weapons have cut deep, whose past sins have been far too terrible to imagine.

In this land, there are rules of engagement. You meet with your opposition center-field, each offers their terms, if they should agree then both parties walk away (with one side losing of course), otherwise they travel back to their respective armies and command from a distance. There are few rules in this case. There is only one basic principle: Search and Rescue. As far as details are concerned, eliminate all opposition to our objective. Save little-Miss-Madame-Deficit and her butler. Rescue who we can, and get some details on the enemy's layout.

Inside of the Main Lobby...

Cadance patiently waited beside the front entrance while a orange pegasus stallion clad in golden armor descended from the sky. As he landed, he panted heavily as the pink princess walked over to him. He looked up to her for one brief second and bowed before her. She bowed back in gratitude as the stallion continued to struggle for air.

"Your highness..." He tried to say without pause. "I came as quick as I could... You summoned?"

"Flash, thank you for coming through for me. Though you could've gotten a chariot."

The guard shook his head. "No thanks... I can manage... I've got my wings and I can fly pretty fast... It was just a quick flight."

"All the way from Canterlot?" She mused.

"Your highness," He began to recover from his fatigue and proceeded to speak normally. "Is there a problem?"

"Not really. But it's just that Shining is going to go on a little scouting trip through the Everfree Forest. And with the travel advisory in place-"

"You'd want me to accompany him for his security." Flash finished.

The pink princess pointed her hoof to the inside of the castle as she held the door ajar. "Please."

Flash and Cadance entered into the lobby as she started to walk down the hall towards the library. "I take it that you still don't trust him going alone on scouting missions?"

"Not since that one time where he was deployed to the outskirts of Griffonstone. Shining hasn't exactly been alcohol-free since then."

"Isn't that the one where he almost died?"

"No, Zebrabwe is where he almost died. It was during a hostility between the local tribes. I was with him on that one." Cadance answered quietly, thinking about how she had to constantly tend for her former boyfriend and current husband. "And that one happened much further down the line from the Griffonstone incident."

"I know where that's going. I've heard the stories, and I pity the survivors."

"Thus you will be going with him for his safety. After you get into the forest, you'll be updated on your objectives."

Flash hummed to himself as he questioned the princess. "So is there any further information on this objective?"

"I can't tell you everything. Classified information by order of both Captain Nondis and Prince Shining Armor. You'll just have to escort him along the way. I would feel so much better if you were to guide him along so that he doesn't go running into changelings on his own."

Flash nodded proudly. "Your highness, this is one task I will not fail."

Cadance smiled at the guard as she opened the door to the library. "Thank you. Now about the terms of confidentiality. You two will also be carrying a wagon full of precious cargo. This package that's being delivered is something that should not be revealed to anypony outside of Nondis and Shining Armor. So if any guards asks for your clearance, regardless of rank, you are to tell them that it's Classified: SECRET."

"That important, huh?" Flash questioned.

"Nondis made it very clear that news of this would cause quite a ruckus that could ultimately compromise the operation. This is why there are few granted clearance for this mission."

"Got it."

"And also, I would like to have you know that anything you see is to be kept classified. No excuses."

"Yes, your highness." The stallion answered.

Cadance closed the door behind the stallion as he entered into the library, looking down the hall, she made sure that there were no others that followed her. After confirming, she quietly closed the door and continued to debrief Flash on his mission.

"Alright," Cadance began. "This is the whole scheme of it..."

"Move quickly, act as silently as possible, and let's get this finished before dusk. Celestia is giving us two hours of extra light before the sun starts to set. Everfree Forest isn't too kind to nightly travelers, so we'll be moving quickly."

While we were sorting through the equipment, every royal with the exception of Shining watched from a distance. Rickey was busy loading the components to the flash grenades. Cliff was also at work, installing the grenade launchers for the tear gas we were going to use. Meanwhile, I was taking inventory of what we would be needing along the way. Twilight had already given me an earful of complaints about how she didn't want too much damage inflicted upon the castle ruins, as the place was a crumbling mess already. So there wasn't any room for lethal explosives, but it did leave us enough room for an array of diversionary devices.

It was also to my advantage that Cliff and Rickey asked to come along. At first I had reservations of getting them involved, being that I couldn't afford for them to get hurt. But considering that I had about forty minutes of travel time on each trip as well as several changelings to plow through, it would provide me with a major tactical advantage if there were three humans rather than one using firearms. Easier to cover each other as well. Shining wasn't having any of the 'you're a prince so you can't go' talk either. Whether or not the parliament objected to it, he was adamant on leaving with us to provide magical support. And in turn, his bodyguard Flash Sentry would have to accompany by orders of Princess Cadance.

To state the obvious, Flash is currently being briefed on his assignments while the preparations between the rest of us are made.

So we're working with a five-member squad with three wildcards. Rickey, Cliff, and I will be armed with M16's with grenade launchers, three magazines per user, two tear gas grenades and three flashes per person, suppressed MP9's for both Cliff and Rickey, one suppressed Beretta 92fs and a sword for me. We're all packing three magazines per person in our secondaries, each filled with subsonic ammunition. Shining and Flash will be equipped with their usual arsenal consisting of swords, while Shining would be equipped with the TAC-15 crossbow and a few smoke grenades.

You can bet your ass that Shining's looking forward to this.

Meanwhile, we've finished with the majority of our load-outs, our bodies became a bit heavier counting the additional forty-to-fifty pounds of equipment. By the time we fully loaded up, we were on our way to a large wooden wagon. Cliff, Rickey, and I laid flat on the wagon as Shining and Cadance covered us with a white tarp. We had to make a few holes in the tarp to see what was going on ahead. And while we waited, we also exchanged last-minute code phrases with Shining Armor.

Basically, it was an exchange that they would have in their conversations while the three of us were going to go along for the ride. Thankfully, we were to be covered long before Twilight gave Cadance the go-ahead to have Flash rendezvous with us just outside of the castle.

I can only hope that Flash is somewhat level-headed so that he won't freak when he sees two other humans.

The sky was beginning to turn a bright gold while the sun sat tiresomely in the twilight. Though my view was only limited to a small slit in the tarp that covered Rickey, Cliff, and I. It didn't take Shining and Flash very long to get to the boarders of Everfree Forest. Just outside of the entrance was two armor-clad guards that stood guard. While they watched the two stallions approached, they met with them halfway.

"Good evening, gentlecolts." One of the guards saluted.

"Same to you, boys." Shining replied. "Whatcha got going on here?"

"There's been a foal reported missing just earlier today. Also, she was with a butler who appeared quite elderly. Unfortunately, we're expanding our resources within the forest to find the young filly and the butler, and to no avail as of yet."

"Have you found any clues?" Flash questioned.

"Not much, but it seems that there is an unusually high sighting of changelings within the forest. We believe that they are stragglers who had deserted since the battle for Ponyville a week back. Our boys are too few in number to deal with so many changeling sightings."

Little do they know that those guys aren't stragglers. Shining nodded quietly after acknowledging the information obtained. "So how do you intend to go about encountering these changelings 'stragglers?' Is there some method of engagement?"

"We've been advised to avoid the areas with the heaviest concentrations, as they seem rather... aggressive."

"Aggressive?" Flash inquired.

"As in they don't seem to mind taking our guards on one-on-one. It could be said that they have been feasting on unwary travelers. So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to take your leave, sir prince." The guard said to Shining.

Shining smirked as he walked up to the guard. "Actually, I'm here for a nice stroll through the forest. I can handle my own as well as weak-kneed Flash here."

As the alabaster prince grabbed the pegasus beside him, Flash's cheeks began to turn pink from embarrassment. "Sir, I can fight too."

"And besides..." Shining continued. "This wagon here is full of cargo that needs shipment."

"What's the cargo?" The guard questioned.

"Classified." Flash quickly answered.

The guard rolled his eyes as he knew that hearing that meant that he could no longer delve into the matter any further. I suppose that he was just being a bit nosy, as many of the guards tend to be at times... speaking from personal experience. With a nod, Shining and Flash were given permission to move forward.

Meanwhile in the back of the cart, the three of us humans were lying quietly, waiting for the moment to pop up from this tarp over our heads. Thankfully, we wouldn't have to do so for the first ten minutes of the journey. Cliff quietly voiced a complaint about how the wagon ride was a bit bumpy and caused him to bump his head against the bedding. Rickey was too busy trying to hold on to whatever so he wouldn't move around as much. And due to the not-so-forgiving terrain that the forest path provided, going slower than our established pace wasn't going to make things any easier. We were already on a strict time limit.

For many of the times I was caught up with the pointless banter of Shining and Flash, I managed to quietly inform Cliff and Rickey of what I was looking out for and how to tell which was friend or foe. And being that these changelings would be willing to disguise themselves as anyone, including guards, I would have to give them hints and tips on how changelings would act around unsuspecting prey. I shared a bit of my knowledge with the other two while instructing them to keep quiet. Throughout that whole process, I'd have to say that Flash only looked back about once or twice to see if he wasn't hearing voices.

Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't just popped the tarp off of this thing already.

"Halt!"

As we started to feel the wagon come to a stall, I looked ahead through one of the holes we carved in. Directly ahead of us were two guards dressed in armor, yet they resembled the two guards that we passed by almost twelve minutes back. Even on hoof, this wasn't any trek that they could manage to make without running past us and jumping ahead. And there was only one road that lead in this direction.

Those are definitely not our guys.

"Halt, in the name of Princess Celestia."

Shining and Flash stood for a moment. Already, Shining was pulling off the bits and bridles that kept the two affixed to the front of the wagon. Flash was the first to speak. "Sir, we're on a tight schedule. I'm afraid that we can't stop here."

"There's been a travel advisory, didn't you know that?" The faux guard questioned.

Flash pointed back to the wagon as he spoke. "You see this? This is classified stuff we're carrying in the name of Princess Celestia. You're going to have to step aside."

"And we're going to have to see some documentation." The other 'guard' stated as he held his hoof out.

Three mistakes here. The first was that they disguised themselves as the guards we passed on the way in. The second was the guards' insistence to know what was in this wagon, despite being told that this was classified transport. And the third is that the guards asked for documentation, not realizing that most paperwork that pertains to classified goods or operations would be withheld from transport for not only security reasons but confidentiality. These guys are a mess.

Rick tugged at my shirt lightly as he whispered. "Do we shoot?"

"No. Save your ammo. We got bigger things to run through later. Besides, the two stallions carting us around, they're top-notch."

"Are you sure-"

Before he could finish, we heard the sounds of grunts and silenced screeches. When we looked back ahead, the two guards changed back to their original forms as they drew their last breaths. Shining had plunged a sword into the first changeling's neck. Flash was quick to run his speak through the maw of the second. Both withdrew their weapons and the two changelings fell to the ground with a lifeless thud. They were quick to move the bodies out of the forest path before we moved on.

"Damn, those niggas on some Assassin's Creed-type shit." Cliff noted.

"I said they were top-notch." I commented before bracing myself for the wagon to start moving again.

Meanwhile, Shining and Flash continued to trot ahead. "Dammit, I didn't think they'd be this far out." Shining muttered.

"Maybe those were scouts?" Flash suggested.

"In that case, we need to get moving."

I agreed with Shining. The last thing we need to do is kill a few scouts and stay close-by. We don't even know what their patrol shifts were like. Either way, they wouldn't be too much of an issue.

We carried on, moving deeper into the forest to where the green canopy began to thicken and the light from the sun was all but snuffed. We were heading into the mass of the forest, where it could be assumed that Diamond Tiara could've disappeared from. For a minute, I could see form within the tarp a small ledge that overlooked the path. And along it's front was evidence that something had slid down from it, not to mention the few broken limbs that rested at the bottom.

...I just realized. If Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were following the girls into the forest, then how did they managed to get so far ahead of them? We took the straightest─and the only─path that would lead us through the forest. And judging from the damaged ledge and wet terrain, they had to have come around while it was raining, far earlier than what I had been told. This means that they weren't following the girls, but rather were exploring the forest on their own accord. They probably took notice of the CMC on the way back from the venture.

Something tells me that I'm going to get a better story out of Diamond than I would from Silver.

I wanted to investigate it a little more, but the drag marks that Shining and Flash were examining seemed to be a better pickup. Obviously, the trails varied in size, one was smaller than the wide trail beside it. That definitely means that they were dragged off, and that's not a good thing to start with.

"It looks like there were two dragged away from here. Travelers?" Flash inquired.

"More like a filly and her butler." Shining answered. "This matches up with the description."

"What description?"

"To quickly sum it up, we're out here trying to quietly rescue a foal and her butler. Any others we see would also be taken back, hence why we brought the wagon."

"But wouldn't we need reinforcements for this kind of thing?"

"No need, we got it already. We have to hurry."

Thankfully, Shining saw the importance of our timing and cut the viewing short. Both stallions went from a trot to a slow gallop, keeping in mind of the three passengers. Flash didn't like the pace they were going at and vied for the alabaster prince to hasten their pace. Shining refused to do so under the excuse that their galloping would give them away quicker, especially with cargo on hoof.

But just a minute or two down the line, we heard something that resembled... laughter. And it wasn't a pony's voice. Instead, it sounded crackly and very nasally. Those were definitely changelings ahead of us. Just before a turn in the path, we began to hear another voice separate from theirs.

"Ugh... leave... me be, I will not go through... with being dragged around... by the likes of you."

That accent, that rhyme scheme, that's Zecora they got a hold to.

"Ah, shut it! You clocked out seven of our fellow changelings! You don't get a say!"

"It is my right to voice my disdain... from me, how much do you plan to drain?"

"To our hearts' content."

As I heard those words, I began to feel anger welling up within me. I reached back for my MP9 and began to prepare myself from popping from out of this tarp. I looked back to both Cliff and Rickey while I turned off the safety. "Okay, we're boarding off early. Don't hit the zebra."

"Zebra?" The two questioned as they looked to one another.

"Yeah, the zebra's name is Zecora. Try not to hit her, but do aim for the other bastards you see." I whispered before pulling the tarp up a bit to reveal my face to the stallions up front. "Yo, Shining."

Flash looked back with surprise while the prince nodded. "Yeah, I know. Twily would not like it if she were to be taken in by those guys."

"What's our approach?" I questioned.

"First thing, how many is it over there?"

Flash quietly removed his bits and peeked around the corner. As he was counting, I quietly crept out the back of the wagon by slipping under the tarp. By the time I had finished getting out, Flash had finished counting and began to quietly creep back over to me. "About nine of them. We can't clear them all out at once, we'll have to abandon stealth if we do. Maybe we could just let them pass and lead us to where they've taken the filly and her butler?"

"We already know where they're headed." Shining stated. "The Castle of the Two Sisters is currently being used as their base of operations."

"It sounds like they've made it to where it's heavily fortified, considering their numbers."

"Not at all." Shining answered. "We'll be back home before dark."

It took me a minute, but I decided that it would be best to play as a distraction while causing a smaller squad detaching from the total group. Not only will it cut down on noise, it will give us a chance to rescue Zecora with less problems. I looked on the forest path and found a few rocks to throw that would cause them to follow the noise to us. Then, we'd finish them off once they get close enough.

"Shining, Flash, I need you two to get behind the wagon. After I lure a few of them back here, we'll pick them off quietly. Any stragglers would give us away so we need to drop them quickly. You two will be on body patrol."

Flash looked at me with uncertainty while Shining gave me the go-ahead.

"Okay boys, suppressed weapons only." I said to Cliff and Rick, who were still hiding under the tarp.

I walked off and quietly snuck around the corner. As they were still talking with Zecora, I threw one of the rocks into a nearby bush. About two of them slowly veered towards the bush. One of them suggested that it was a squirrel and advised that they'd get back to assisting with Zecora's apprehension. I decided to up the stakes by heavily rustling a nearby bush by hand. That time, I managed to get their attention. Four were then sent towards my direction, granting me the chance to fall back towards the wagon.

I leaned against the front end, appearing as if I was tired from travel. With one eye closed and the other partially open, I feigned sleep. It didn't take them long to discover me sitting there while 'exhausted'. They began to smirk and snicker amongst each other as they approached. One of them took the liberty of getting close to identify whether or not I was asleep. "This one's out cold. It looks like that creature that attacked us in Ponyville last week."

"It is." One of the other changelings verified. "It got hit by one of our magic bolts, got up, got angry, and it just grabbed a brick and started swinging at us."

"But that same brick-wielding creature did wipe the floor with Yadrogg's platoon." A third noted.

"Well if it's here, then we can get revenge for our fallen comrades. Commander Guto would love to see this one in a pod." The forth said with enthusiasm. "Bite him and lets drag this hairless ape into the castle."

You know for a scouting group, they sure do talk a lot. "Nnnngh..." I moaned, still feigning sleep. "Nnnnn... drop 'em."

"What?" The changeling closest to me asked before the tarp fell back to reveal two more humans. Within the fraction of a second, three of them fell dead to the ground while the one that looked at me turned around to see the others laying motionless. Before he could say anything, I pulled out my weapon and planted one in the back of his head.

As soon as he fell down, my ears caught a brief shriek coming from behind the wagon. When I turned back around, I saw Shining cuffing his muzzle shut. I looked back with frustration and shook my head while Shining shrugged. "I'm guessing he wasn't expecting this at all."

Shit... So much for stealth.

"Gee, you think?" Rickey mumbled as he facepalmed. "Whatever happened to that 'stealth option' you were talking about?"
Before I could answer, another two changelings began to run down the road. As soon as they turned the corner, Cliff and I picked them off quickly. The one I hit had gotten one to the ear and began to scream. I quickly put an end to it's screaming and unloaded a bullet into it's skull. The other three changelings came running down the road and started shouting their commands to one another. At this point, I had no other choice but to step out and eliminate all three.

It went without saying I was swearing up a storm in my brain.

After all nine were confirmed for dead, we made our way towards Zecora, who was holding the back of her neck. As she looked at me, I could see that she was in a large amount of pain. I knelt down and tended to her. "Sorry about the wait, did they do anything to you?"

Zecora woozily tried to sit up to face me. "One bit me, his venom in motion... But earlier I brewed a resistance potion... NGH!" She yelped out in pain as she held her neck. "A filly and her escort, did I see. But off were they carried, by a huge changeling."

"How big?" As Shining and the others approached, I asked Flash to administer medical aid.

"His size was great, the strength of four. It even rivaled that of a manticore."

"Well that sounds fun." Shining dryly responded. "But what are you doing way out here? Your hut's back in the shallows of the forest, isn't it?"

"Indeed it is, but I could not sit by. Watching them go while I not bat an eye." She winced from the pain in her neck once again before she continued. "Ahead is a fork, where we had our encounter. A wagon lies there, but what you'll see will be quite the downer. When I saw inside, my tears flowed like water..." Her tone shifted from her usual uplifting rhyme scheme to a more grave, straight-forward one. "They lead those ponies to an inevitable slaughter."

We all looked at each other as we continued to let the words from her mouth weigh heavy in our minds. Obviously what we were going to see was not pretty in the slightest. Our hearts sank into the pits of our stomachs, causing many of us to become somewhat nauseous. Cliff and Rickey were beginning to wander for a bit, contemplating whether they should go any further. I already had an answer for them.

"Rick, Cliff, you stick around Zecora and make sure that she stays safe."

They both sighed in relief as I turned my attention to the two stallions. "Shining, Flash, we'll scout ahead and find this wagon."

The two stallions gave a nod before making a cautious trot further down the road. Before I followed in their hoofsteps, Cliff stopped me to ask me a question. "Bruh, you sure you wanna do this? I mean those ponies could be... I... I don't wanna say it-"

"He thinks they could be already on their way out." Rickey finished. "Personally, I feel the same way from hearing 'Cora's testimony."

"I know." I answered anxiously. "But this is my job. This is my responsibility, and I have to face the music when I finish, no matter what the end result may be. If they're dead or dying, then I'll get them back so that their families will have a proper chance to say their goodbyes."

"That's a lot on the mind." Rickey whispered.

"Yeah, but it's even worse when all you can do is write fucking letters to families, telling them that they'll be having a vigil and an empty coffin to represent their son, or their daughter, or their mother, father, husband, wife, and so on. If I could bring bring back something, anything, then I will knock on Hell's door to get it. The only thing I can't guarantee at this point is lives. So let me bring them something they can mourn for."

Cliff shook his head while brushing his hand through his dreads. "I'ma say this, then I'ma shut the fuck up. You more a man than my ass. I can't do what you do, run around and kill shit, let the fam know that they lost someone, all that other bullshit. I couldn't play the role you got. I'll fuck up and get some nigga killed... and I wouldn't be able to take it."

"You think I don't make the same mistakes?" I asked bluntly. "I do. Often. I question why the hell I even got this job, and then I remember what I'm fighting for, what I'm trying to prevent. It's not a matter of what I do, but what I don't do. Doing absolutely nothing is the worst choice to make."

Rickey stepped beside Cliff, giving him a pat on the back. "Well, we already made our choice. We're already here... and we don't know the way back, so... yeah."

Cliff looked at the ground with shame as he clenched his fists. Rick continued to pat him on the back while I offered him some encouraging words. "You know, I don't know any guards that would say the same things you do. Hell, I'm under a microscope because I'm different. My superior officers look at me with skepticism, it just so happens that the ones that truly matter are rooting me on. But either way, I'm still new to this. I just got out of basic training not even three weeks ago."

"Captain Nondis!" Flash called from up ahead.

"You two stay here." I reiterated before leaving them both to guard over Zecora.

I quickly ran along the path and kept moving ahead until I could see both Flash and Shining standing at the back of a unusually large transport vehicle, shaped almost like a huge cage wrapped in a black shroud. When I had gotten closer, I smelled something horrendously foul. For a second, I stumbled because of it and cringed even more when I was next to it. I reached down to my neck and grabbed my shirt and placed it over my mouth and nose while clasping against it tightly. Approaching the back of the wagon, the look on Shining's face had already told me that I was not going to like what I was going to see.

Stepping up to the back of the wagon and moving the covering to the side, my eyes were met with a sight most unwelcoming.

"Dear Mother of God..." was all I could say.

There was little room to move, or rather none at all, so walking inside was out of the question. Almost to the height of the roof, several dozens of bodies were stacked up, chained together as I could hear the haunting sounds of those captured moaning, coughing, and wailing very weakly. All of them looked malnourished, their coats were paler and matted with clumps of unshaven fur. I could see entire skeletal structures underneath them, and their hooves were cracked and unclean. Quite a few looked to me with empty eyes, their light completely snuffed out. The sound of chains rattling filled my ears as many hooves slowly reached out to grasp at me. The nightmarish sight was enough to cause me to back away in fear, the hand clasped around my mouth trembled uncontrollably. But the one thing that shook me the most was that I watched as one pair of hooves just simply drop... lifelessly.

My stomach turned and urged me to run to a nearby bush. Leaning against one of the trees, I let myself expel whatever sickness was inside of me. For several seconds, I was left coughing and gagging, succumbing to my body's reaction to what I had saw. Flash walked up behind me and spoke. "You okay?"

I spat out whatever bile was left in my mouth and wiped myself. Standing back up, I faced him with a sickened expression. "Hmmn..." Words failed me at that moment and the only thing I could do was shake my head while I felt myself beginning to heave again.

I was not ready for today.

The past forty-five minutes was spent on waiting. Shining, Zecora, and Flash made their way towards the town with the transport Zecora stayed in town to help with the medical effort while being treated herself. Cliff and Rickey, who caught a whiff of the transport that ran on by were busy keeping their shirts firmly covered over half of their faces. The smell lingered for a while before dissipating into the forest air. Meanwhile, I sat on the ground and kept myself busy by endlessly tapping my sword against the ground. When Shining and Flash returned, they brought back our own wagon, to which I looked at in complete disgust.

"We told the guards we saw on the way in to take them to the hospital. As far as I know, they'd probably still have possession of Diamond Tiara. They wouldn't have her shipped out as soon as they got her-"

"I know." I answered quietly while standing to my feet. I began to feel a mix of emotions, ultimately rage because I knew that they were doing this all over again. Even as we're sitting here discussing it. We've already wasted over an hour of gifted sunlight just trying to get this far, and we haven't even laid eyes on the castle ruins. All of it just made me angry.

So... fucking angry... and sad.

I began to feel my eyes well up with tears before I blindly ran towards the crossroads. From there on, I didn't know which way to go. The wagon was turned sideways so I couldn't have known what direction was where. Meanwhile, Cliff and Rickey continued to ride inside of the wagon we brought along. Shining advised that I get back in, but I made it clear that I was not going to be caught dead riding in that thing throughout the remainder of the mission.

After being informed that the path on the right would lead straight out to the Rambling Rock Ridge, we took the left path, leading us directly to the glade where the castle ruins lied. Along the way I was chewed out for my running ahead, and Shining had clarified what we were doing here. He emphasized that what we were doing was not a revenge mission, but a rescue effort. Diamond Tiara and her butler was our primary objective, but any others would be a welcome addition. Shining also made the decision that whoever we'd find that were on the verge of death or dead already were to be collected later.

I understood the reason behind it, we didn't have time to collect both dead and living victims. But it still made me angry.

When we arrived at the edge of the opening, we saw a large spikey wooden wall that surrounded the other side of the ravine. Along with the wall, we saw a massive amount of tree stumps that made our stealth approach all the more difficult. Shining had also taken notice that there was a large wooden truss bridge spanning the length of the ravine. He also stated that there was a suspended bridge that used to hang in place of the one that was here. As far as I'm concerned, they built that as a means to get their transports across. A suspended walkway bridge wouldn't be very convenient when it comes to heavy transport. And they used the wood from the trees leading up to the walkway to build everything, from the wall to the bridge leading up to it. So it us to work with an open field.

I have to admit, whoever was in charge sure knew what the hell they were doing.

The wall wasn't that big, but it was enough to make for a decent outpost boarder. And it wasn't like we couldn't find a way around it, our only way into the castle was directly across that bridge and through that checkpoint. Plus I didn't bring my sniper rifle, so it wasn't like we could just hang around and pick off whatever was in front of us.

But then again, the stealth option was never really intended for the changelings. We're deep enough into the forest where gunfire won't alarm Ponyville residents. I guess we can start on phase two.

Piece by piece, the plan in my brain began to slowly reveal itself. "Shining, toss a few smokes at that checkpoint. The changelings will be blinded from there and will be forced to take to the sky. Rickey, Cliff, you help me drop those fuckers as soon as you see them. After clearing out their sky detail, Flash and Shining will scout ahead and clear through the smoke. If it's clear, Shining will light up his horn, giving us the signal to go ahead. The rest of us will run in and I'll take point until we reach the front entrance. From there, it's on Shining."

Everyone nodded while Shining began to look into his saddlebags for the smoke grenades. Flash was keeping watch while we humans were trying to hide ourselves within the shade of the trees. Pulling out my M-16 and setting it to semi-automatic, I was already thinking of everything that could possibly go wrong, but I also acknowledged that we still held a significant advantage. In comparison to the fight in Ponyville, this would be significantly one-sided.

Shining pulled out two M-18 smoke grenades─one marked red, the other marked yellow─and pulled the pins before tossing them to the foot of the checkpoint. It took a few seconds before the smoke began to cloud over the entrance. The two colors began to violently flood the area, producing a plume that started to match the twilight sky. We only waited for about fifteen seconds before the first changeling popped up from behind the wall and flew into the air. But it didn't take nearly as long for Rickey to send it back onto the ground for a permanent stay. A few more flew up in response to their fallen brethren, they too were met with an abrupt landing. Some were even sent falling into the ravine below.

The reports of our rifles became synonymous to a quick death for many of those that flew into the sky, so they sent a small squadron to run through the checkpoint. But they soon found out that their decision would prove costly. It gave Cliff and Shining an opportunity to snipe them off as they were still on the bridge. One of Shining's victims fell to the ground with a shriek as an arrow landed into it's upper torso. One that Cliff took down was hit and sent tumbling off the side of the bridge. Meanwhile, they could only spectate where we were hitting them from.

After we cleared off the bridge, it appeared that no others were willing to come out. While Rick and I kept our eyes to the sky, Shining and Flash continued to look forward. The two stallions galloped for the checkpoint with swords drawn. As they carried on, we waited for several seconds. The smoke grenades even started to lose most of their life and flicker out. All that was left was a large fiery-toned plume rising into the sky. Suddenly, Shining came running back and ignited his horn, indicating that we were clear to make our entrance.

The three of us quickly made our way over and past the dead smokes to reach the castle ruins. Upon our approach, we failed to run into any other changelings. Of course we all had our suspicions, ultimately assuming that they had taken to the inside of the castle. The only thing it meant for us was that we could save our bullets. But bullets are a small price for saving whoever else was trapped here.

Shining cracked open the front door and slowly peeked inside. Looking to every side and bit of the craggy ceiling, he waved us in and instructed us to stay away from the walls. The very room we stepped in was a large hall with half-a-dozen smaller halls leading from it. And just ahead was two staircases feeding into a balcony. There were also some rather large banners marked with a green x along with the following words:

Well... that's not a cause for concern.

"Keep your eyes peeled. Changelings tend to surprise you if you latch onto the walls. Not only that, but there are plenty of booby traps around the castle. Many of them are triggered by switches on the walls. If you don't want to find yourself in some random part of the castle, it's best to stay towards the center." Shining whispered.

"Why the hell would they have traps on the walls?" Cliff asked.

"Because Luna and Celestia had used them to amuse one another when they were younger, or something like that. Twilight told me that she read it in an ancient diary the two used to share." I answered.

"Wow, that purple pony is nosy as hell." Rick stated.

"Who are you telling?" Shining cosigned with a sigh. "She'd ask me all kinds of things like: 'Brother, who's this? Brother, why does this girl come over to our house? Why do you like her and not Cadance? What were you doing sneaking x-mare into your room last night while mom and dad were sleeping?' She used to hide in my closet just to pop out and scream every time I was close to getting intimate with another mare."

"You stayed a virgin, didn't you, sir?" Flash questioned, causing the rest of us to snicker quietly.

Shining's cheeks turned a rosy pink as he cleared his throat. "It was by choice, for your information. Now shut up and eyes open."

As he took point, we all fell back into silence and kept our eyes on every nook and cranny of our surroundings. Changelings have been known to crawl down from ceilings and walls to surprise their prey. There have even been accounts of them just dropping from the ceiling and landing on unsuspecting victims. However, we're more than equipped to prevent that from happening. But it doesn't mean that they won't try those tactics against us. And we're in the thick of the nest right now, meaning that they would opt for more ambush tactics. I have a funny feeling that we'll be busy shooting up the place before we end up finding the victims.

...But before we can find the victims, we need to find out which way to go first.

Okay, now I'm completely convinced that this wasn't nearly as big of a mission as what I had in mind. I'm more-so convinced that their commander had just taken their entire operation and moved elsewhere, because we've only ran across twelve changelings so far. And all of the ones we ran into were low-level drones. The ones we came across were the ones we had to euthanize after asking them for questions.

Fortunately, this does make our job easier. Based off of the information we received from one of the changelings we ran across, the 'feeding room' should be located in the dungeon halls below the castle. Unfortunately he couldn't make the trip with us, he bled out a while back. But he did tell us enough to where we could carry on from there. Shining had a general idea of the castle's layout, but there were still some things that he wasn't too informed of.

"Aaah!"

We all turned around to see Flash hovering over a pit while Rickey's back was firmly planted against the wall. Looking ahead, I could see Shining's hoof pressing on a button hidden underneath the moldy red rug. "Oh... sorry." He said as he lifted his hoof quickly, causing the hole in the floor to collapse.

Rickey looked up to the orange pegasus and kissed his teeth. "Man, how come you get to fly? I would to keep myself suspended in mid-air when some shit like this happens."

Flash just shrugged. "I was born this way. Can't help it. Now Princess Twilight on the other hoof-"

"Shh!" I called out to the stallion, noticing that Shining's ears had flicked and turned for a distinctive reason. And it didn't take me very long to catch up to what was grabbing his attention. Further on ahead, we could hear the sounds of some more changelings making their way down the hall. Quietly, we ran to the side of the hall where neither of them could see us as they passed. As we waited for our chance to strike, we watched and listened while they carried out their conversation.

"Sir, it seems that there's an attack on the castle. We need to get you out of here now."

"What's the status of our scouts?"

"That's the problem sir, none of them have returned yet."

"Grrrr... Derog and his insistence on hosting military exercises. He just had to rehearse one last attack on Ponyville, as if our previous failure wasn't enough to convince him that we're understaffed for a full-scale invasion."

As they stepped into the intersection, we could see that both of them wore heavy armor. But it seemed that one was far more decorated than the other. The first changeling was dressed in the usual dark blue armor that their captains were often seen wearing, while the other was in a dark-green armor with lime-green adornments and larger-than-usual pauldrons. He also wore a strange helmet that bore it's own fangs to match.

You've got to be shitting me... SERIOUSLY?

"What's the status of our transport? Has it reached the southern checkpoint?"

"I cannot say, sir."

"Well the queen would be more than interested in the status of her hive's next meal. Be sure to get the ponies to her before too many of them die again, I have had it up to my neck in her complaints of how she can't harvest from the dead."

"I'm just saying sir, why-"

"And I've already explained it to you. We're on the front lines, we're risking life and limb, why not reward ourselves? Why reward them with the first fruits, a bunch of lazy-ass workers sitting around the queen, trying to chew up and see who would be next for mating season, or even better, succession? Ha! Pure drivel, that's what it is."

"I'll never understand how this is for the good of the hive, sir commander." The changeling subjugate muttered as they walked out of sight.

"The queen will see what I'm doing, and eventually she will join with us. We will have our war."

"Not like we haven't started one already."

...Yeah, it's him. For once, the stars decided to align WITH ME for a change.

"So, do we take them out?" Flash asked.

"No." I answered quickly. "I got this one. You guys can cover me."

"The fuck you doin'?" Cliff whispered to me while I quietly stepped out and walked towards the two changelings that passed.

Without a moment's notice, I pulled a flash grenade from my waist, pulled the pin, and tossed the grenade in their direction. While Shining were trying to motion me to come back, Cliff was busy trying to pull him back, urging him to stay away. I plugged my ears and waited for the grenade to go off.

I ran out from behind the pillar to see the two armored changelings on their knees, squirming as they lied concussed on the ground. Running up to them, I removed the helmet of the changeling in the green armor and grabbed the other pieces of his armor. Taking out a knife, I sliced through the bindings that kept the armor on him and pried him free of his armor. Afterwards, I dragged him along to the hall we had just came from.

"What the hell are you doing?" Rickey questioned with disbelief.

I breathed heavily as I looked back at him. "Do you remember how Seal Team Six managed to bag Bin Laden back in '11?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Cliff asked.

"Meet changeling Bin Laden."

"Forgive me for asking, but who the hell is that?" Shining asked with confusion.

"Shining, I feel pretty fucking confident that I just bagged Commander Guto." I stated proudly while holding the dazed changeling.

Flash tilted his head with bewilderment. "Commander who?"

"Guto was the one calling the shots during the invasion of both Ponyville and Canterlot within the past two weeks. Those politicians said I wouldn't catch this fucker in two weeks. 'It couldn't be done' they said. 'You're being irrational' they goaded. And now-"

"You're going to shove it in their faces, aren't you." Shining said with a devilish smirk.

"Wanna join me?"

"Um, guys." Flash interrupted. "I thought we were here for something else, something in the realm of rescuing a foal."

"Flash, we got the guy who did it all. That's a pretty big fucking takeaway, don't you think?" Shining asked flatly while he started looking through his bag for some rope to detain the changeling commander.

"But how do you know this is the guy?" Rickey questioned. "Wouldn't they put up some sort of decoy for things like this?"

"A decoy, here at what's assumed to be the safest, most-secured location while their armies carry out their marching orders? Please." Shining answered. "You'd be better off saying that the commander of the entire army decided to fight on the front line."

"Ssssssoooo... Let me say this..." Cliff began. "To argue your point, this was far from the most secure location. And there were plenty of tribe leaders leading their armies into battle personally. And you being a prince here on a mission like this, plus Nondis, who is the captain of your guard, the two of you 'high-ranking officers' are currently behind enemy lines."

"See, there's the more to it." I rebutted. "That part, yeah I'll give it to you. But here's the big thing: the politicians sent me here under special orders of an 'investigation'. This 'investigation' was supposed to get me killed. Heh, and you won't even believe why."

"Different species?" Cliff guessed.

"Power struggle?" Rick suggested.

With a simple drop of my head, I gave them the answer. "Both plus one. The first reason is because I'm currently engaged with a princess of this land, in which our marriage would result in me being reclassified as a prince. The second reason is because I became Captain of the Royal Guard within a week of leaving basic training. And the third is because those fuckers are inherently xenophobic."

"They bringin' you down, bruh?" Cliff asked while giving me a nudge.

"Nah. I got it."

Meanwhile, Shining had finished tying up the changeling commander while binding his muzzle shut and sealing off his horn with a sodium compound that he rubbed on the changeling's horn. "Alright, he's good and tied up. Let's take him with us. We'll bring the survivors and this bastard with us."

"What about the other one on the ground?" Flash did bring up a good point. We can't really let him live. Perhaps we could take them both so that way we'd have two accounts to live by.

"Disarm him, strip him down, time him up, and take him with us. Blind them both while you're at it. The more officers we capture, the better."

After capturing both of the changeling officers, we continued to make our way through the halls and towards the dungeon area. But oddly enough, it was just a hall full of disembodied pony legs holding torches. And even further on down the hall was a massive corridor with two large doors leading into what we assumed was another room. Shining relieved the front and allowed me to take charge of the breach. Cliff and Rickey were busy lugging both the changeling commander as well as his subordinate. Flash guarded the rear as Shining and I took to both sides of the door. With his magic, Shining slowly cracked the door to see if there would be any changelings coming out. After a few seconds, we quickly raided the room and found a large web of green goo hanging from the ceiling to the floor.

Rickey groaned as he stepped in a puddle of goop and lifted his foot in disgust. "Okay, my gut's telling me we're in the right place."

Cliff reluctantly stood in the doorway as I drew my sword and started to cut my way through. "Bruh, this shit looks like somethin' straight outta Goosebumps."

"Yeah, that sounds about right." I said as I continued to carve our way ahead.

After hacking away at some of the icky webbing, Shining and I began to trek through the sludge. Flash followed closely behind, trailed by the disgusted duo of humans. Thankfully, our way through the slimy webs would be short, and we were then shown the rest of the humongous room. Shining, Flash, and I looked all around with disbelief as we saw multiple pods of varying sizes lined up against the wall, on the ceiling, and leaning against the corners of the room. Many of which were brightly lit and transparent, a few, translucent others gave off a dim green light, while the remaining ones gave no light at all and only showed a shadow of who was trapped within.

"What's up with this gak shit?" Cliff questioned as he poked at one of the darkened pods. "It feels like some thick-ass jello smothered in lube... And it smells like that shit you put dead things in."

As he continued to prod at the dark pod, he managed to inadvertently poke a hole into it. At first was a small popping sound with the drainage of some thick liquid. But soon after, the entire pod produced a sickly ripping noise akin to tearing a piece of chicken apart from it's limb. The massive amount of liquid spilled all over the floor and puddled just below the ruptured pod, along with an elder powder-blue pony with gray bushy eyebrows. As he fell onto the ground, Shining took notice of his still-open eyes.

"Dammit... this one's gone."

Meanwhile, I took notice of the large bruises around his abdomen and lower chest. "This guy looks like he took a nasty-ass hit. And judging from his wounds, it looks like it might have helped in doing him in."

Cliff was busy trying to wipe himself off as he spoke. "Fuck, man! I ain't tryin' to get myself covered in dead people. Shit, had I known that nigga was dead, I wouldn't even touch that shit, forreal."

Despite the brashness of his statement, his words did carry some observational wisdom. This guy came falling out of one of the darker pods, which could only mean one thing. "Guys, I think the darker these things get, the less they're likely to live."

Shining started looking through some of the brighter pods and saw that those individuals were still lively, despite their lack of movement. "Yeah, this guy was just recently brought in."

Rickey went over to a corner where there were several other pods stacked almost in a honeycomb formation. "Damn, they even went after the kids. Poor little girl."

"Wait, girl?" I asked, walking quickly to where he stood.

"Yeah, and a few others too. Some of them look like they pretty dark, but this one on top is like bright as hell."

I looked into the pod and saw a pink young filly with a lavender and white mane. On her flank was a tiara with jewels adorning the peaks. "Shit, it's her."

"Who?" Flash questioned as he flew above.

"Diamond Tiara. This is our girl here." I said while pulling out a knife to cut the pod open. After slicing the membrane, a waterfall of fluid came rushing out and spilling all over the other pods. I ripped the front apart and quickly pulled the young filly out from her cell. Shortly after pulling her out, she let out a exasperated groan followed by a series of coughs.

"Woah there, little miss. You good?" Cliff asked quietly.

With a nod, she cleared her throat and spat out whatever liquid was left inside of her body.

"She seems oddly responsive for a captive." Flash stated.

"It doesn't look like she was bit." Shining clarified. "I think they just stuffed her in because of her size."

Cliff shook his head with disgust. "That's some bitch-ass shit, bruh. Gon' fuck with the kids and stuff they ass in a feeding tube. This shit got me so messed up in the head."

If he thinks this is fucked up, which it is, then he would've lost his shit at the wagon from earlier.

"...Ran...dolph?"

Each one of our heads turned to the direction of the small voice that cried out. As we met with the source, we saw the freed young filly stagger towards the corpse on the ground. After giving him a few shoves, she began to sniffle, then openly weep into the elder stallions chest. Her soft cries sounded through the now-silenced room, echoing off of the stony walls. Both Flash and Shining closed his eyes and bowed his head in reverence. I stood and watched with gritted teeth and a fist clenched in anger, Rickey just quietly walked towards her and offered her comfort.

Cliff placed a hand over his face as his head sank. "I was wrong. That shit got me so messed up in the head."

Diamond Tiara shoved away the hand that reached out to her and continued to bury herself into the stallion's chest, nuzzling him as she wept.

"I guess that's the butler." Rick pointed out.

I felt my knuckles crack around the handle of the knife in my left hand. Without hesitation, I decided to act. "Guys, she's not the only one we're here for, we need to focus. We got our girl, we got the guy responsible, we need to save as many as we can."

"But what about our time limit?" Flash questioned. "We're working with little time as it is. We'd probably be back in the Everfree shallows when the sun sets."

"I don't care, we need to save as many as we can. Start with the kinda-dark green pods and work your way on up. Anything that's practically black, leave it be. We need to take accountability for the ones that are still alive."

Rick looked back to the weeping filly and sighed. "What about the others?"

"We'll have to come back later for them. The living takes priority, especially those that seem to be malnourished. We need to get them to a hospital as soon as possible. The able-bodied will be given time to recuperate, then they'll join us in our efforts. I intend to get these ponies back to their families as soon as possible."

"Are we really just gonna leave the dead!?"

"And let them fester while we walk back towards town? No, I won't let that shit happen twice in one day with two separate groups of ponies. I'm not going to risk the healthy getting sick and the sick becoming sicker. We come back later, collect, and leave. No other options."

Rickey walked up to me and grabbed my arm. "So when's later? Two days from now?"

"Actually, this magically-enhanced changeling goop they put the ponies in is known to be a type of stasis compound used regularly to resupply the nutrients into the bodies. Degradation is slowed, even for those exposed to the elements shortly after, but still happens. However, it doesn't stop things like rigor mortis from setting in." Shining explained as he looked at one of the blackened pods. "There are some setbacks, such as the natural requirements of food and water. So while there inside, they slowly starve or dehydrate."

Well if that isn't the most hospitable thing to offer your captives. "How long does it give us?" I inquired.

"Three days in confinement. One for exposure."

"We come back at dawn and finish up. Now lets get these guys out of these pods. Start from the foals and work up to the stallions."

While Rick reluctantly released my arm, Shining and the others began to cut open the pods and rescue the ponies trapped within. But for some odd reason, my attention was locked onto the young filly that was crying on the chest of her dearly-departed butler.

Again I'll say it, I was not ready for today.

We tried our best to quickly remove the captives from their pods. Unfortunately, there were already some who were beyond saving. Out of the seventy some-odd pods we cut open, only about thirteen were at prime health. Another twenty-one were very much in need of medical attention, water, and food. Sadly, the remaining ones had whispered their final breaths as they sought a much more colorful pasture. Stallions, mares, and foals alike, they all suffered. The majority of our time was tending to the departing souls, making sure that their final moments was within the company of those who sought to care for them rather than prey on them.

We were split into three teams throughout the dungeon, Rickey and Cliff both took care of the lively ones. Flash took care of the sickly. Shining and I took care of the ones who were ready to go. I also managed to keep our two prisoners nice and tied up while we did what we could. But it didn't make our lives any easier, he and his subordinate kept whispering out about how delicious their love tasted. Shining suggested that we gagged them to keep them somewhat quiet. Had it not been for him, personally I would've shot them both.

Over the course of forty minutes, Diamond Tiara finally let us move Randolph, quietly laying his still form in the 'passing' room down the hall. Afterwards, we made a confirmation of the final number of survivors. We moved everyone upstairs and into the greeting hall for evacuation. Cliff and Rick didn't say much as they ran alongside me, opening the doors to show the dying light in the sky...

Among something else.

"Shining..." I questioned with a feeling that resembled a cold punch in the gut. "Where did we leave the wagon?"

"It should be hidden within the trees just beside the forest path. I put a cloaking spell on it-"

"No it's not." I answered quietly, pointing to the mess of wood and wheels that ceremoniously welcomed us to the outside. "It's right here."

As Shining walked up, his eyes expanded as he saw the wreckage himself. "Well, there goes our transport."

"That ain't why we sittin' here tho." Cliff explained as he pointed to the gate ahead.

What stood directly in front of us was a large changeling that stood about the size of a Shire horse with the bulk to go along with it. It sported a jagged horn about the length of a ruler as well as some black armor with dark-green adornments. With a sinister smile, it looked at us as it threw down the tarp that covered the wagon. As he threw it down, several changelings started to rise from the other side of the wall... hundreds of them.

"I'm gonna ask a dumb question real quick, do we shoot it?" Rickey asked while pointing the muzzle of his M16 at the massive changeling.

Slowly, I pulled out mine. "I'm gonna give you a dumb answer, yes."

Cliff pulled his out and pointed towards the changeling. "Shit sounds dumb enough to work."

Without any further hesitation, we unloaded several bullets at the changeling. Shining and Flash covered their ears as they watched us continue firing at the overly-large parasite. But to much of our surprise, the large beast just stood quietly, staring back at us. We just stopped firing after a while and stared blankly at the changeling brute before us. The large changeling sat on it's haunches and tapped it's foreleg against the ground while it looked at us with what seemed to be disinterest.

"So, we're shooting that thing and it ain't dying." Rickey said as he kept his sights locked onto the changeling brute.

"Gas it." I quickly responded, hoping to buy ourselves some time.

Cliff quickly pulled out a shell and loaded it into the grenade launcher and aimed for the spot just in front of the huge changeling. He then launched the tear gas grenade and landed the shot just a few yards away from it. After one inhale of the air, the changeling coughed and backed off, urging the smaller ones to charge at us. But they too fell victim to the troublesome smoke, blinding and asphyxiating several others that tried to run through. The ones that flew above it were more fortunate than their ground-based brethren. And they came flying in at full-speed.

"They're coming for us! Back inside!"

As we ran back inside, Cliff pulled out a stun grenade and tossed it just before we closed the door. We waited for a quick second before the grenade sounded. Afterwards, we cracked open the door and initiated suppressing fire to ward off any incoming changelings. But as we continued to fire outside of the door, Shining shouted at the top of his lungs.

"CHANGELINGS COMING FROM TOP SIDE! HEADS UP!"

Both Rick and I looked up behind us and saw a few changelings flying in from the large hole in the ceiling. Immediately, we turned the muzzles of our rifles to the opening and fired at whatever crawled or flew through. After downing about nine of them, a few of them fell back to regroup.

"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Rick questioned with a panicked breath.

"Just a little." I answered. "Shining, you and Flash need to take everyone back downstairs. Take Guto and his friend with you, we can't let them know that we have their guy. It's bad enough we already took their food source, we don't need to give them anymore incentive to overrun us."

"Copy! Flash, grab the two bugs and let's get them to the dungeon."

"Yes sir!"

The two stallions ran off as we offered

After Cliff finished firing at the changelings outside, he closed the door and grabbed an old golden banner rod to bar the door. I ran over to help him as he grabbed the other side and helped bar the door shut. He then turned back to both me and Rickey. "Stupid question, why did they just now attack us when they could've ambushed us?"

"Judging from 'Bane' over there, I say it's more of a display of power. You know, a means of intimidation. But to know that he's just standing there after we shot at him a few dozen times means that we're probably gonna have to get close to kill him. Not exactly an easy thing." Rick answered while looking at the opening for anymore unexpected visitors.

Meanwhile, I was looking at the opening for a different reason. "Fuck, and they would show up just as we're about to leave. The sun just went down so we're in the dark here."

Cliff pulled out a red stick that appeared to be a road flare. "I brought about three of these just in case. Best to be prepared for anything."

"I know that shit lasts forever in video games, but how long does it actually lasts?" I questioned.

"Usually up to an hour, ten minutes at the very least." He answered.

"You're awesome. Now give us some light to work with."

After he pulled the cap off and struck it against the ignition pad, a bright red flame erupted from it as he quickly placed it at the center of the room. At the very least we would have some light for the next ten minutes, I had already figured that an hour would be stretching it. But making sure that we could see was the least of our worries.

The three of us looked at each other as we mouthed the words 'Oh shit' quietly while we slowly turned towards the door. By then we heard yet a second roar, only it sounded much closer to the door. Shortly after, we just heard a loud bang against the door. As the impact sounded throughout the room, we saw that the doors buckled inward and fell back into place.

"So, you think that will give us enough time to plan on how we can take this guy down?" Rickey asked while we watched the door.

"Bruh, I think it's time to go." Cliff stated as he checked how much ammo he had left in his magazine.

"Where? The front door is our only option out and we still have to buy the others some time." Rick argued.

The door continued to buckle from the battering, the rod continued to hold it's strength at the cost of being bent. I also noticed that the wooden locks were starting to crack, meaning it was only a matter of time. "And judging from the big guy, he must be eager to to see what we're made of. I don't see anything more than us charging towards a rampaging bull with knives in hand. We have to come up with a means to minimize our damage while maximizing his. If getting close is our only option, the I would be the best fit to go running in."

"You think you got it?" Cliff questioned with concern as he turned to the besieged door.

"I should be alright. I was trained for shit like this."

The three of us jumped as we all pulled up our weapons and aimed for the door. But we had saw that it was only a strong hit. And then for a while, it seemed that the changeling brute had stopped. We didn't dare walk towards the door but we maintained a distance from it so we could avoid any attacks. We also took cover behind several of the broken pillars across the room, the last thing we needed to do was to let ourselves get out in the open.

For several more seconds, we heard nothing but our own breaths. Rickey shook nervously as he slowly peered out from behind the pillar and kept his muzzle on the door. Cliff was already taking out another tear gas grenade to load. But I had started to think that there was something wrong with all of this. If this guy was close to breaking down the door and leading the charge to our front porch, then why wasn't he taking the initiative? As the seconds ticked by, I started to see what he was doing.

"He's toying with us." I whispered.

The sounds of a few pebbles landing on the ground sent shivers up my spine as I jerked around and looked towards the opening. Nothing was in the sky, but more and more pieces of the ceiling came pebbling down. That was not a good thing for us... "Clever girl."

The other two humans looked at me with a panicked expression, knowing exactly what that phrase pertained to.

"So... we're in trouble, aren't we?" Rick reiterated.

"Oh yeah."

By the time I finished my sentence, the large changeling came darting from the ceiling and landing in the center of the room. The impact it made kicked up a sizable plume of dust, shook much of the room causing more of the weakening structure to crumble towards the ground, and even sent the flare Cliff set off flying towards the back end of the room. With a deep breath, the changeling brute unleashed a powerful scream that cleared the smoke from in front of it's muzzle and assaulted all of our ears. We closed our ears as we watched the large changeling squinting back at us, seemingly in pain from the gas we launched at it earlier.

And following his scream, we heard the door being assaulted once more, making it sound like a percussive drum that sounded out the impending battle of the beasts. With a snarl, the changeling scrapped it's forehoof against the stony floor and lower it's head to charge at us, all while it's horn started to glow a rich bright green. Sharpened teeth slowly revealed themselves as the brute growled, leaking saliva and changeling venom. It's armor glowed brightly along with it's horn while it tried to look towards Cliff, causing him to tremble while aiming the gun at him.

"Yeah, he mad at me."

Meanwhile, back in the dungeons...

Throughout the room, there were soft shrieks and gasps emanating from the freed ponies as they heard the rumbles and roars from upstairs. The perpetual sound of gunfire caused many of them to quietly contemplate on what would happen next. Shining stood by the door while Flash stood by the captive pair of changelings. As they waited, a few ponies began to panic at the thought that they would be recaptured.

"It sounds like those three are really having it up there." Shining muttered as he clenched his jaw.

As another loud rumbling sound came from above, Flash tapped his foreleg against the ground impatiently. "You think it could be the big one making it's way in?"

A single roar followed by a few more gunshots confirmed the pegasus guard's theory. "That seems to be it."

One mare who was pacing back and forth, stopped to hide her head in her hooves. "This is terrible, we'll never get back home."

"Yes you will, and those three will be doing everything in their power to stop that beast from getting in our way." Flash reassured, walking over to the mare and giving her a pat on the back. "You just gotta believe in us. Okay?"

"In speaking of which..." Shining quickly walked over to the two captives and removed the gags from their muzzles so that they could speak. "What do you two know about the big guy upstairs?"

They both laughed in response to the stallion's question. "Heh... Commander, they say that the three ponies they left up there will defeat Grommel. Isn't that amusing?" The changeling general stated.

"Indeed. Laughable circumstances, especially considering that they'll be going at our finest and best-fed grunt." Guto cosigned.

"Best fed?" Shining and Flash asked in unison.

The changeling general snickered to himself as he spoke. "He was often challenging the other drones for their feeding sessions, won over a lot of them too. It's a shame that those ponies would meet their maker in such a fashion, as he does like to take his time playing with his food."

"Those three aren't ponies." One of the victims corrected. "They're humans. They came here to rescue us, and they will bring us back home!"

While the others nodded in their firm belief of the three upstairs fighting, "Oh how positively cliché of you to say something like that. My dear, in this world it doesn't matter what or who you are. If you're not strong enough to survive, then you are nothing more than a weak larva squirming around, crying for your queen's milk. And besides, what good will these so-called 'humans' do?"

Flash tapped his chin as he started to think aloud. "Well, they aren't that fast, and their strength varies from one another. But the captain should be able to handle that guy."

"Nondis is strong enough to crack my horn from a punch and countered my magic with dental floss, I think he's top-notch strategist material. The only thing he can't do is run as fast as us thanks to our having four legs to his two."

"...His two?" The changeling general questioned with confusion.

"He's a biped." Flash answered.

"But he does kinda look like a hairless monkey." Diamond Tiara added, earning some rather displeased looks from both Shining and Flash. "What, what did I say?"

The changeling general jumped at the mention of the human's resemblance. He quickly turned to the direction of his superior. "Sir!"

"The furless primate... IT'S HERE!?" Guto screamed with disbelief.

"Furless primate?" Shining parroted with confusion.

"I thought that tall weakling was a misfire!" Guto continued. "There's no way that thing is still alive!"

"Apparently so, the Equestrians must have gotten to it after we did. It seems that they've bred it into a soldier of sort." The general exchanged with his superior.

Shining was left bewildered as he heard the conversation take place. "What are you two going on about?"

Guto groaned as he bumped his head against the wall out of frustration. "Dammit, damn it all... The queen's summon. Months ago, we tried to summon a foul beast capable of killing whatever stood in it's way. And we even had to study multidimensional magic for several months, just to land the candidate that was best suited for the task. It took all of our magic─or rather the rest of it─to summon one of what was assumed to be the most efficient and lethal killing breeds known or unknown to equine kind. But we assumed that our spell backfired when that ugly, furless ape manifested in the middle of our circle."

The general continued from where his superior left off. "A sopping-wet and irrational mess it was, rolling around the ground and hugging the leaves. After realizing that we had made a terrible mistake, we abandoned him in the Everfree forest, never to be mentioned or heard from again. It was an embarrassment, the remainder of our magic used to summon such a useless monkey-thing. We starved for months, completely unfed all because of that thing! It was because of that... that FAILURE, we had to do this! But... I suppose it's your burden now, not that it would bring up any good."

Shining leaned forward and briefly pulled the blindfold from Guto's eyes as he whispered directly into his face. "Actually the jokes on you guys. You left him for dead, and now he's returning the favor en masse."

"How so?" Guto questioned.

Shining wore a grin as he whispered to the changeling commander, making sure that his words sank in.

"That 'failure' happened to kill a bunch of your guys in Ponyville with just only a sword and a brick."

Meanwhile upstairs...

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" Cliff screamed as he ran behind another pillar to avoid the rampaging changeling brute. Meanwhile, Rick and I were trying our best to offer support in light of several changelings shooting magical bolts right back at us. The three of us were left with far fewer bullets while they were left with significantly less changelings. But they were doing well enough to get us on the run. There were several other changelings crawling down the walls as we tried our best to pick them off while Cliff was running back towards us. After hopping over the fallen pillar, he laid down and took cover from more of the changelings' magic bolts.

But as we did, we noticed something that could have a noticable effect on our bullets. As a brick-sized piece of the stone ceiling came crashing down on the brute, the armor glowed once more and decimated the rock before it could even get within a foot of distance from him. Finally, it dawned on us.

"You think that armor's enchanted?" Rickey questioned as he peeked over the pylon and shot back.

"Looks like it, we can't even throw rocks at the guy without that shit glowing." I answered while scanning the wall behind us for any changelings.

"So he got bullet-resistant armor, that's some bullshit." Cliff said as he reached for his belt to reload his MP9.

"Aim for the eyes then." Rick suggested. "That armor can only protect what it's covering, right?"

With a groan, I snuck back over the pylon, only to see a large green bolt headed my way. "Dude, you're asking us to hit a tiny-ass target, in a small window, while it's moving at full speed, while it and it's friends are busy shooting glowing green shit at us from multiple sides. I may be trained, but I don't think it's that fucking easy!"

"I see your point. And this shit ain't got a respawn system. You die then that's it, you're dead." One changeling flew over to us, trying to ambush us from above. Rickey didn't take any time from neutralizing the changeling.

"Exactly!" I confirmed. "This shit is real!"

Cliff came back up from behind the pillar and shot at three other changelings, instantly killing two and wounding three. "How many you think we got by now?"

As I tried to make a mental note of the ones we took down, I added the five Cliff had managed to subdue. "I wanna say about ninety. A third of those are dead for sure, I'm pretty sure that some of those who got hit would bleed out... eventually."

As I finished talking, Rick jumped up to his feet and grabbed my attention. As he started to run off, he screamed to the two of us. "BIG ONE'S MAKING A RUN FOR US! SPLIT!"

I instinctively grabbed Cliff by the collar and pulled him out of the way as the large changeling ran straight towards us with his horn ignited, pulsating with a significant amount of magic. As soon as he came close to the downed pillar, he shot a large green beam that shattered the entire stone column into rocks and dust. Cliff and I just escaped, the changeling's armor just scraping the topmost layer of skin of Cliff's left arm. "Shit, he almost got me─"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Rick hollered as the changeling brute changed it's direction towards us. Immediately, I shoved Cliff elsewhere while the brute ran up. Suddenly the next thing I knew was that I was being knocked back, or rather carried into another pillar that stood up to the ceiling. Upon impact, I could hear the sound of the ceramic plate in my armor cracking and shattering while my back pressed against the stone. The wind quickly evacuated my lungs while my head trashed back from the force and hit the stone pillar. For a few seconds, my entire body felt numb and unresponsive as I fell to the ground.

For a brief moment, I could hear the world sound as if I had gone underwater, the sounds drowned out completely then gradually fading into the clear. The first thing I head was my name being called out. "NONDIS!"

I coughed for a bit as I struggled to breathe. Afterwards, I finally found the ability to breathe, the dusty air choking me up a little. While the air started to fill my body once more, I started to feel something painful at the right side of my chest. With every moment I took in air, the pain would resurface. As I winced in pain, I tried to get up on my own willpower, but found myself standing a little higher than usual. Instead of my own legs supporting my weight, it was the large changeling that held me with it's magic as it wore a sinister smile on it's face. As my arms were compressed to my sides by the green aura, I watched as the changeling bore it's fangs at me and hissed ferociously.

At that moment, I could only close my eyes and wait for the inevitable pain to set in.

"Ooh shit, what was that?" Rick blurted out.

But instead of feeling the pain of a changeling bite, I only felt the pain of my body collapsing onto the ground. Once more, the pain in my chest throbbed immensely. Looking back up to see what had happened, I was merely stunned by what I saw.

The changeling brute's face was knocked aside by a golden-clad hoof attached to an alabaster foreleg. Celestia stood on her hind legs as she placed all of her force into the hit, sending the changeling brute flying into a nearby wall. Landing back on her forelegs, the sun princess unfurled her wings as she stood before me. I couldn't see much of her face as her mane was flowing quite fiercely, obstructing my view. But I had already assumed that there was a very unfriendly scowl she wore. Her head as well as the front of her body dropped a bit as her foreleg scraped the ground, signifying that she was going to charge at the brute.

"Bruh, ain't that ol girl?" Cliff questioned.

"Yeah." Rickey confirmed as they watched.

While Celestia stood firm, many of the other changelings started to flee from the scene. The only ones that failed to do so were the ones that were wounded from earlier. The high princess then scraped the the ground with enough strength to cause sparks to form from her slippers as she watched the body of the large changeling move. The brute stood from it's crater and stood back on all fours and roared at her. Not even a second later, the brute galloped at full speed towards her.

"C'MON!" She screamed loudly, her voice shaking the very foundations of the castle.

The changeling and the princess met with one another, the brute grabbing at her in an attempt to force it's fangs into the princess' neck. But Celestia countered by using all of her strength to push him back. As she fell back down, she swung her body around and used both hind legs to land a blow into the brute's chest. After it was sent flying a second time, the changeling flapped it's wings and hovered in mid-air to prevent itself from hitting the wall. Celestia filled her horn with magic and shot at the changeling, who dodged the incoming bolts as it barreled towards her.

Upon landing, it caused a shockwave that threw her somewhat off balance. In response, she flapped her wings to catch herself and continued with her assault. Levitating a large chunk of the pillar he destroyed just a moment earlier, Celestia threw it towards him. However, she could only watch as the massive slab disintegrated before her very eyes. The changeling's horn fizzled out and smoked as it finished launching a bolt at the massive piece of stone she hurled.

It galloped towards her once more, only this time levitating it's own ordinance to use against her. Brick after brick, the changeling brute hurled everything that wasn't bound to the mortar. Celestia placed over herself a large golden shield that circled her entire body. The changeling then made contact with her once she let her shield down, grabbing at her neck and shoving her into the ground. Using it's magic, the brute then shoved her face into the ground repeatedly before Celestia used her physical will to break through the changeling's magical push. Slowly but surely, she rose to face the changeling, only to receive a devastating blow to the upper chest that sent her tumbling into a lone-standing pillar.

As the damaged pillar fell, much of it's load fell upon the princess, causing her to cry out loudly. Celestia, wounded and battered, stood from the wreckage with a slight limp as well as a wing that appeared to have folded backwards, causing me and the others to grimace.

"Ohhh... that looks broke." Cliff stated.

"Yeah, definitely broke." I confirmed as Celestia looked back at her misshaped wing, she cringed in pain as she looked at the damage. With a strained expression, she started to use her magic to gently move it back into place. And by gently, I mean just outright forcing it back into it's folded position, which yielded into...

"OOOHHH!!" Rick, Cliff, and I moaned in unison.

"I was not ready for today." Rick muttered from behind his hand, as he covered his mouth in disgust.

"I don't think any of us were." I responded tiredly.

The changeling brute began to chuckle at the wounded princess, who finally spoke since the beginning of their physical exchange. "Well, you actually fought better than your Queen. But apparently, I'm sure that 'mommy dearest' hasn't taught you never to play with anything hot."

In the blink of an eye, she disappeared, causing the changeling to look around the room. But the brute was unable to see where she had showed up next as she ported behind it, wielding a large golden spear. Before it could turn around, She embeded the spear through the changeling's left hind leg into the ground. As it buckled over from the pain, it tried to squirm itself free.

Meanwhile, Celestia had teleported back into place and started charging up her magic. As she did, we all could feel the temperature of the room beginning to increase. A strange whirring sound filled the room as Celestia's horn became even brighter, until it was too much to look at. Shielding my eyes, I could barely see the princess partially kneel down and unleashing a magical beam large enough to cut out a small tunnel. But as she was unleashing, she took a deep breath as she reared her body back a bit. And with a loud grunt, she doubled the beam's size and strength.

The three of us merely stared as we watched. The changeling brute unearthed a bloodcurdling scream before it finally dried out into the light. And when Celestia and finally withdrew her power, it took some adjusting for our eyes to get back into seeing in the moonlit hall. But once we had finally regained our vision, we saw the brute standing with the charred bones of it's foreleg shielding it's face. As it's body sizzled and crackled, it fell into a pile of ash and molten metal. The battle-weary princess slowly walked towards the remains of the brute, watching as the armor cooled.

"I suppose she truly failed to let you in on that life lesson. A shame, really."

After performing an about-face, she galloped directly for me as Cliff and Rickey just stared at her, slack-jawed with amazement. "Okay, if y'all can do that, the fuck you need guns for!?" Rickey inquired.

"Nondis, are you alright!" She asked as she helped me get back on my feet, then promptly greeting me with a hug.

To be honest I was a little concussed and I would be certain that I would have a bad case of whiplash. But considering this world's medical magic, that's not even remotely close to an issue. "A little winded, that and some aching in my chest." A lot of aching. "But what about you? You won't be flying anytime soon."

"Alicorn magic, remember? I thought I already explained that to you." She said with a slight giggle.

"Yeah, that was the day you sneezed on me." I quietly whispered to her.

Celestia rolled her eyes as she dismissed my comment. "Well since you're okay, I would like to have a word on your lack of punctuality."

"We were heading out when this happened." I answered, already aware that she was working her way into a lecture of how we needed to complete our mission within the time allotted. "But to tell you the truth, we had some other stuff to wrap up."

"Such as?"

"You know, saving the other captives, assisting with the passing of a few others, search and rescue, clean-up, nabbing Guto and all that other shit." After that sentence, I knew that something was wrong with me. My chest felt like I was being impaled by something jagged.

Celestia pulled back away from me and held me with disbelief. "You-"

"Yeah, he's downstairs with Shining and Flash." I stressed while leaning against the pillar I was rammed into. "Fuck, my chest feels like shit since that damn changeling ran me over."

Rickey and Cliff came running over as the tried to see what was wrong. As Rick placed his hand on my armor, he felt that it was a lot softer than before. "Shit, I can see why you feel like shit. This damn thing's a sand bag."

Both of them quickly got me out of the vest and lifted my shirt to see an unusual imprint on the right side of my chest. Both cringed and looked away as they saw what it was.

"Forgive me for asking this," Celestia began. "But is that imprint a normal occurrence for humans?"

"Hell no." The both whimpered with disgust.

"I figured that would be the case."

After it was confirmed that I had three broken ribs and a concussion, I was placed to the side while the others had taken care of everything else. But Celestia did offer high praise to the armor I wore, considering that it didn't buckle in and become a pseudo-iron maiden suit. Honestly if it weren't for that armor, I'd be heaving my lungs through my trachea and sleeping soundly against that pillar. But instead I'm alive and still breathing, very painfully.

A moderate-size contingent of royal guards came swarming the castle just a few minutes after. They also managed to bring in a few large wagons to safely transfer the victims to Ponyville, as well as to collect the dead for future identification. But aside from ensuring the safety of the victims, the remaining guards were too busy gushing over the fact that there were two more humans here in Equestria. I originally wanted to prevent something like this from happening, but Cliff and Rickey seem to have roll with it rather well. I guess this makes it their official debut to pony society, though I would've preferred it under much lighter circumstances.

On the way back to town, I was placed in a wagon with the survivors. Diamond Tiara was also keeping me company. Of course, her version of keeping me company was her pulling on my shirt, screaming and crying, asking me how come we didn't show up any sooner to prevent the death of her beloved butler. But she did eventually simmer down and lay next to me, thanking me for saving her. And as soon as those words left her mouth, the other ponies in the wagon offered me hugs of gratitude, which I cautiously declined. After I had explained that I had a few broken ribs, they saw the reason for my desire to remain free of any embrace.

After all, I was tired as hell. So I closed my eyes for a short while.

When I had woke up, I found myself in a hospital bed. As I looked around, I could see a number of things. A bunch of cards sat next to the bed as well as some balloons and a stuffed teddy bear. Then there was a massive wall of flowers lying next to the window, and through it, I could see that the sun was well into the sky.

I had to make a mental note that I was still recovering from broken ribs when I had got up. But as I rose, I couldn't feel anything. And it wasn't like I was hopped-up on morphine, it was legitimately as if I had never broken my ribs in the first place. And if I had to take a guess on who was responsible, I would say that the fault would solely belong to a certain fiery-headed unicorn.

I bet she's really tired of me getting hurt all the time.

"You're finally awake, that's good to see."

I turned to my side to see Celestia standing by the bed, looking at me with a gentle smile. I smiled back, but somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered just how did she get in here... or was she in here the entire time? "Princess. Good morning... I think."

"Yes, it's morning. Going on towards eleven, but still morning."

Yeah, yesterday's operation really did take a turn for the unexpected. I guess it would be best to assume that I passed out from the pain, that and the exhaustion from all the running. I still have a slight headache, but that shouldn't be anything that a little aspirin can't fix. "So... what did I miss?"

"Well, you did miss out on a few visitors. Sunset came to heal you. Filthy Rich came by to wish you well on your recovery. Twilight and the others came around to give you flowers. Cadance and Shining came around for a visit. Luna guarded you as you slept and I watched over you out of a request by your human friends."

"In speaking of which, where are they?" I asked as I started to stretch.

"They have returned to your world. Though they have strongly suggested that you take it easy for a few days."

Well, I can take that into consideration. I'm not really in a fighting mood right now. "Okay, so what of-"

"Guto and his general have been retained. They have been discreetly transferred to the Canterlot dungeons. I will report them to the parliament when you are ready to come by. After all, I know that you wish to personally display your achievements before them."

Damn straight. Did it within a week of my saying so. "Thanks a bunch for that. I just want to see their faces when I pull the hood from their heads."

Celestia continued to smile lightly, but I could also see that there was something bothering her. She seemed to look away at times, perhaps something came up between the time I passed out to now. "So... you seem to be really nervous. You okay?"

She took a deep breath as she walked up to me. As soon as she got close, she grabbed my hands with her hooves. The white alicorn looked at me with uncertainty as she spoke. "Have you ever... felt abandoned?"

I have to admit, that was a really unusual questioned. "I'm not sure where you going with this."

She shook her head. "Oh! I'm reaching a little too far ahead, sorry. What I meant to ask was... do you feel a purpose in your being here?"

"I guess I do. How come?"

"Well... I just wanted to know if one of my subjects... I'm sorry, friends. I wanted to know if one of my friends feels as if their existence here has been due to fault."

Something tells me she's waltzing around something, more specifically my being here and the reason behind it. "Do you think I'm an inconvenience?"

"NO!" She exclaimed, her wings popping out from her back. "I don't feel─"

"Hey, your wing looks pretty good." I pointed out.

"Oh! I guess... I suppose it healed up shortly after we had gotten from the castle ruins. I'm just more focused on how you're doing rather than my wings."

"That's great. They look beautiful."

"Uh..." Celestia backed away with a slight blush as she covered her chest with her wings. After realizing her wings were in front, she retracted them back to her body as she held her hooves to them. "They're not that pretty. They used to be several years ago, but my age has sadly caught on to them."

She's flustered? Oh, I'm going to have a little fun with this. "Really, you don't look old. So I can't find any reason to believe that your wings are actually aged. I think they're─"

Celestia's smile disappeared as she looked down towards the ground with a saddened expression. "They will never be as beautiful as they once were. I've accepted that, now just leave it alone."

I suppose it must be a personal thing if she doesn't want to talk about it. "Sorry. I didn't mean to─"

"You're fine... I just need to talk with you, about... you." She confessed as she grabbed my hands once more. "About where you came from."

"Well, I know I'm from Austin, and I managed to somehow get here on a drug trip. I'm fine with that knowledge."

Celestia started to look at me with worry in her eyes. "D-drugs?"

"Not a very proud moment of my life, I'll admit. I was depressed and I started taking them because I thought that I could really be the 'life of the party'. But I didn't do anything but turn a lot of people off. So, I took more drugs and tried to drive myself to the fast-food place across the water and... I crashed my car into the gulf. Next thing up, I'm in a forest, I'm running, I meet a talking pony, I hit my head on a tree, and then I wake up to you guys. So I guess it isn't really a bad trade-off."

"...It isn't?"

"Yeah. I kinda found my purpose in life, as well as myself here. I also made pony friends, made amends with my human friends, and I'm doing something for the benefit of a nation. I couldn't be anymore happier... well, with the exception of a few things. But you get the point. So this 'do I feel abandoned' crap is far from true. I feel embraced, revitalized, the shit in this room lets me know I'm appreciated. So yeah, I would kinda like to find out that missing link of how I got here in the first place, but I think I can go without it."

I have solace in my existence. I don't need the answers to everything, that's one thing I can go without. Yeah, I'm curious as to how I got here, but do I need to know? Should I know, or should I live for what was given to me? Ignorance is bliss, and I'm already swamped with enough bullshit to last me a lifetime. I know there will be things that come up and cause me more grief and personal conflict. I'm comfortable with the load I have, thank you very much.

Celestia released my hands and wrapped her hooves around my body instead. She nuzzled me softly as she whispered. "If this is what makes you happy, then I will not change that for you."

"Thanks."

"Although, I do wish for you to know that your friends will be welcome to appear here as often as they wish. So we'll be creating portals for them."

...what?

Nuff said.

So yeah, that added onto a hectic summer filled with weddings, parties, and gatherings, it's been difficult. Musically, I've hit my stride. Writing-wise, I've kinda suffered. As it gets closer to the end, I start to get my mind back in shape. Also, this is the conclusion of the changeling assault arc, so next up will be a lighthearted chapter that advances the relations of a few characters. That's all I'm spoiling.

But in the meantime, I apologize for my lack of updates and my inconsistencies in this chapter (writer's block messes with the flow, especially if the only way to overcome it is to keep writing).

Thank you for being patient with me, and thank you followers. I will try to make the next few chapters much better than this.