"It was one of the most hideous military misconducts in history... 15 years ago, in the land far south from here..."

--Lance Corporal Flame Journal entire #41--

Day 87/0400 hours/Monday/23rd of March.

Celestia forgive me. I have failed you this day.

The day began, like every other day did. To the sweltering heat and the sounds of early birds and night owls alike; groaning at the hour. I prepared myself and lined up my squad, 4 ponies. All dirty and unkempt due to the desert-like conditions.

The first was Forge Glow, a dark colored stallion with broad shoulders. He lacked respect, but made up for it in brute strength. A strength he barely used due to the ridiculous amount of unjust morals his socialite parents had drilled into him, he often refused to do missions because they were 'wrong'. A real waist of talent really, but he still pulled his weight, he wielded a hammer the size of an anvil, able to crush any bone unfortunate enough to be placed under it. That bone was usually the cranium. Lets just say, when his morals didn't get in his way, he was nothing short of brutal.

The second was Dawn Skies, a stunning contrast from Forge, she was a light-looking pegasis, a light pink coloration and a spark of hatred in her eye that I have yet to see in anypony else. She was a sweetheart, she was. We used to talk from time to time, outside of our uniforms. But when she hit her switch, her 'on duty' switch, she changed into a monster I could only describe as primal, terrifying, animalistic... and beautifully graceful in conduct. Only to turn straight back, once the job was done. She would weave from troop to troop, knocking heads and slicing throats as she went, then offer to meet up later for a glass of iced tea. She reminded me of a better version of myself, she never let her military side show outside of her time on duty, I did. She used a strange weapon, she called it 'Ellie'. It was a short blade on a long handle, on the other end was a small hammer-like ballast. She would wield it in her teeth or in her wings or balanced on her hooves... sometimes it almost looked like the thing simply glided around her, she was incredibly practiced with it. Even going so far as to throw it into the air, beat her wings, catch it on its way down and use the power of gravity to skewer any target below her. I had seen her do that. A very talented fighter.

The third was a Unicorn. Eyeglass. She was a newbie, a mage that could likely take down any grade of Ursa there was out there and she knew it. We knew that she knew it because she reminded us of it every day with one of her snarky, back-hoofed, half-compliments. She was a valuable member of the team, yes, very powerful, but she lacked the control to fire magic with any accuracy. She spent her time learning more powerful spells, not practicing or perfecting the ones she already knew. She could take down an army, I'm sure. But she couldn't hit a lone pony from 5ft. So she tended to go for tight groups the others could not get at.

The last was another earth pony. He was a dark tan color and honestly scared me a bit. He had no feeling. No emotion. Other than utter joy. And that feeling only exposed itself when he was tearing through his enemies. After every mission, we have to force him to wash. Since whenever we didn't, he would go back home, wearing his enemy's blood like a prize. He used what he called a 'double sword'. He had basically taken two swords and attached them at the handle, the blades facing in opposite directions. He became a propeller-like blur when using it. But he had a preferred weapon, which he only got to use on quiet missions, his daggers. He once said something once about 'how much he loves using his little babies'. I don't know what he does with them, because I refuse to watch... or hear the famous stories. He was not an honorable fighter, exploiting any and all weaknesses of his enemies, and even faking death.

I repeated the orders we all had already heard ten thousand times over.

"Section! Listen up! I've told you these orders before, but I'm sure one of your thick-skulled idiots will screw it up somehow if I don't beat you fillies up-side the head with it! So I will say it again! We, as in, You, My Section, will be advancing on a small changeling outpost due south of here. We have reason to believe these changeling will be heavily armed and dangerous. Some of their best mages, I hear. For that reason, Corporal Tornado will be joining us for this mission."

The mare straightened at her mention, then took my place in front of my troops. Corporal Tornado, Tornado Spin, was a childhood friend of mine, practically a sister. She always seemed to be better than me though, advancing through the ranks as I tagged behind. I enjoyed working with her, she was a good leader, much... well... BETTER than I was.

"Lance Corporal Flame." She nodded to me. Her short mane, sticking in clumps of grease and muck, smacked against her neck. I responded with a nod of my own, my mane, a lot longer than hers, did the same. But we had grown used to it. She turned to address the troops. "And that mission- LISTEN UP FORGE, OR I WILL REMOVE YOUR FUR WITH A VEGETABLE SKINNER!" The stallion in question turned back towards her, ignoring the attractive mare he had been staring at as she walked by the entrance of the tent. He straightened up and looked in Corporal's eyes. She gave him a glare. "And that mission will be to approach the outpost and eliminate any and all targets. We do not have any other information other than its location, it could be anything, so EXPECT anything. Remember, these are changelings, deceivers, liars. Do not be fooled by anything you see there, our sources are solid. MUST I REPEAT MYSELF?"

"NO, MA'AM" The four said in unison.

"Good, now. Let's get moving."

We moved into the sandy waists. Walking for hours. Even Tornado herself seemed exhausted by the time we got there. What we saw didn't surprise most of us, a small pony village. We sat behind a sand dune and Skies flew off to get a better look. We waited, quickly she came back. Reporting nothing out of the ordinary in the town. Tornado readied her signature spear, held in her magic. "Their disguise is good then. That means they must be expecting us. The best plan as of right now is to simply attack head-on. Give no mercy and expect none in return." We all raised our weapons, or rather, four of the six did, me and the newbie just lit our horns and prepared a variety of spells. Forge's hammer was slow to rise, not due to its size but due to hesitation. Eventually he steeled himself and nodded, hefting the handle up out of its holder-brackets located along his side.

We charged, we braced for resistance. We got none. The changelings kept their disguises and ran. "DON'T BE FOOLED! OUR SOURCES. ARE. SOLID."

The others seemed to slow, so I backed her up. "Continue the mission, that is an ORDER!" The others seemed more motivated, except Forge.

We... we killed them, all of them. Stallions, mares, foals.

We met in the center of the town. All of us exhausted by the heat and exertion. Forge's weapon was clean.

Tornado broke our silence. "They are holding their disguises, there must be one left, changing all the others or something. Search the houses again! Check for hidden doors!" She was right, the corpses remained in their disguises, something that changelings can't do. Her theory was... rushed, but plausible. We all left the center in different directions. Except the newbie, eyeglass.

"EYEGLASS. THAT WAS AN ORDER!" Tornado yelled at her, causing the rest of us to stop and look at Eyeglass, she was still in the center, staring at the floor, with a malicious smile on her face.

"Idiots..." she whispered.

Tornado basically ignited. "WHAT WAS THAT? EYEGLASS?"

Eyeglass LITERALLY ignited, bursting into green flame. Revealing dark carapace and blue, soulless eyes. We all charged towards her... but just before contact...

"HAIL TO THE QUEEN!" she yelled. Her horn glowing brighter than the sun, before she exploded.

We were all thrown backwards and I lost vision and feeling for a very long time.

I woke up on a stallion's back, being carried away. I panicked, We had been captured. I tried to move, but the pain stopped me. I fell back down, whimpering. I looked down at my body, all I saw were bandages. A pony rushed over to me.

"Feather, Feather, it's okay, your going to be fine!" She was clearly a nurse of some kind.

"What... what happened?"

"We don't know, we were hoping you could answer that question. We found you and Tornado on either side of a crater."

"Where are the others?!" I set up and instantly recoiled as the pain, that I didn't notice I had, flared up. The nurse forced me back down with a tender hoof.

"We don't know! There were tracks, but they could not have been theirs, they just led out into the desert."

I paused in thought, they wouldn't do that... "Burns?" I asked poking my covered-yet-tender skin.

"Not burns... cuts." She said. She had a disturbed look on her face.

"What do you mean... CUTS?" I asked.

"They were just... skin-deep cuts, not even entering flesh..."

"Explosions don't do that..."

"No, they don't. Plus... They were words..."

There was a long pause. "What did they say?"

She looked at me, clearly repulsed despite her years of training. "Never forgive never forget. Repeated, over and over and over..."

"Will... they scar?"

"Oh, no! Thank Celestia they were only skin-deep, as I said. They will be gone in a couple weeks. But... there is one... that will stick."

"Where is it?" I asked, painfully looking about my body. She pointed to my hoof.

I lifted it and looked to the hard underside, etched deeply into the hard material was the word 'FORGET'.

Once we got back to Canterlot, we were informed that a search party was looking for my lost squad. But I was also told something else...

"Thank you! You need to find them! They won't survive long out there!" I practically yelled from my infirmary bed, up at the pony.

"Yes..." He said, taking a dark turn. "But they noticed something strange when they were there..."

"What was it?"

"The 'changelings'..." My eyes widened, predicting his words perfectly. "Were not... Changelings..." I let my head sink back into my pillow, my eyes pooling with tears. "The information pointing to that town being Changeling-run seems to be a fake, planted by a changeling in our ranks."

"Eyeglass... she was a changeling." What had I done, what had WE done...

"Oh, well, that sorts that out." He said in a all-too-chipper voice, and simply left the room. Leaving me, alone with my guilt.

Tornado was told about what happened there...

We never spoke again...

I have not seen her since... I hope the others are okay...

End of journal entry

--Lance Corporal signing out--

Updated: 07/11/15
-Spelling corrected/Word replacements
-Little fixes here and there, little things

A very long time ago, when I was writing this: I was planning on keeping this bit a secret and slowly give evidence, then have Dan figure it out while reading about it or something. But as I was writing the last chapter this just kind of... happened.

I can't be bothered to go back on myself, since I would have to change everything I have written beyond this point, which is quite a lot.