A small town is sighted. A number of changelings go to infiltrate while the force gets into position. The spies are welcomed into the town with open hooves. The town calls itself "Sindhoof" and is comprised of hardly a thousand ponies, mostly earth ponies. The buildings are similar to places like that of Ponyville. It's also very undeveloped and they have little of the technology they should have.

The question of what's wrong the sun came up and was given a less than helpful answer. All the ponies know little of what the problem is. All that the spies could gather was that some unworldly power shook the world, that it was as if the sun itself smashed the world. The most knowledgeable said that cities were turned into fattened wastelands, forests were uprooted, and metal burned than melted. So much was lost with great bright explosions. The ponies theorised that the sisters themselves perished and now the sun is stuck in its current position and there's not enough unicorns cooperating to move it. They say that they're a group of survivors who only wish to live independently. That is however, not what the changelings have in mind, no they have their own to worry about.

In a few hours the spies leave with as much gathered love they could and brought it back to the army. The army also ran into a little discovery of its own. The army stumbled upon a group of earth ponies. The army sent a few delegates, disguised of course, to not bring attention upon itself. The ponies resemble zebras in culture and accent. The ponies say that they are scouts looking for new land. They are part of a civilization that they formed to recreate the now dead Equestria. They also gave nothing new on what happened to the princesses or the rest of Equestria.

What concerned the changelings was the ponies said that they planned to expand and forge a empire. The hardest part was to divert their eyes from Sindhoof but, they eventually left in a southwesterly direction. Albeit a little suspicious. The army also took note that they came from the northeast. They may find a new food source.

In the mean time, the army positions itself north, east, and south of Sindhoof. From the spies, they know that the town has little defenses if any however, it's unlikely the population will just back down and by subjugated by the changelings easily. So they constructed catapults to hopefully they demoralize the ponies to keep casualties low, especially to Sindhoof. What would be the point to come all this way for nothing, they're looking for food after all. So spears are then holstered, catapults are primed, and spies are sent to sabotage what little defences Sindhoof might have. Attack is intimate.