Commander Twilight Sparkle laid prone on a hilltop about five hundred yards away from a small cave slightly hidden by some rocks that lead down under the ground. Celestia’s sun was high above and scorching the Badlands where the mare currently was. She had her human binoculars out as Equestria had yet to make a pare that worked as well but the Equestrian Military Science Division was working on it, along with other fun things that either Twilight came up with or they had.

The EMSD was relatively new, it was only about three months old, formed shortly after Twilight had breakfast with her friends and they learned of her eating habits, sadly in that time they had more or less gotten used to it, or at least able to ignore it, much to the disappointment of Twilight as now she didn’t get to enjoy them squirming.

The EMSD was formed do to a rift that was forming within the research facility as some ponies wanted to dedicate all their time to this new avenue of research while others thought scientists should experiments in more than just one area. As such there was a fight over resources that was getting out of hand so Celestia had decided to create a sub-division of the EDF that would do research only for the EDF and Luna had come up with the name.

Thus the EMSD was created and currently based 28 miles north of Dodge Junction inside of a plateau that was slowly being dug out to form the research facility, even though it wasn’t complete minor research was being conducted in the facility but Twilight wouldn’t allow any major experiments till she could get a proper garrison of soldiers in place, though she was having to divide which forces wen to the facility and which went to the EDF’s new base Fort Zandar. Camp Mendez was fully staffed and had a relatively steady stream of new recruits who had given the Camp the unofficial name of Tartarus.

The issue was the EMSD facility as top secret so clearing soldier to guard it was hard to do as they needed to be able to keep their mouths shut about what went on there. Which was why Fort Zandar was rabidly getting staffed and, much to the unicorns surprise, civilians had begun to build homes and shops around the place rabidly forming a town with the name of Zandar after the base there. Canterlot now had a new small town to the north of it by a few miles.

Of course Canterlot wasn’t without its own troops with an old warehouse being seized and converted to a garrison while Twilight made a point of planting bunkers where the city connected to the mountain. In her younger days she used to marvel at the structural engineer and magic that had gone into creating the city suspended from the side of a mountain. Now Twilight looked at it and cringed at the glaring weak point, it wouldn’t take much to send the entire city plummeting to its doom at the base of the mountain with all lives lost. Which was why Twilight made it a priority to set up the defense bunkers all along the mountain to keep any attacks away from the weak point.

Twilight was drawn back to the present as she hear the crack of DMRs and saw two Pegasi Sharpshooters take to the air, one of them carrying a terrified earth pony while the second fired behind them at the perusing swarm of black chitin. Seems the Changelings attacked the ambassador and his two escorts.

The crack of the Pegasi Sharpshooters DMRs faded as they retreated to their fall back point. The EMSD had managed to create working semi-auto rifles and saddles that can be worn by both earth bound ponies and pegasi and have all the guns being mass produced mounted on for anyone to use.

Twilight watched as most of the Swarm broke off their pursuit and returned to the hive while a handful still went after the delegate and his guards. Twilight would have to leave it up to the two soldiers to get to safety as Celestia had refused to let her send a large escort as she did not want them to appear hostile to the Changelings.

IT had been a couple of weeks since the scouts Twilight had sent out came back with a confirmed location of the Changeling Hive and once that was done things had moved quickly resulting in an envoy being sent for a chance for peace while Twilight hat gotten her army ready in case things went bad which Celestia had agreed would be prudent but did ask for her to stay a good distance from the actual negotiations which she had agreed to, which was why she was five hundred yards out hiding behind a hill with her forces, close enough to keep an eye on things, but far enough to avoid easy detection, which was a good thing.

Twilight lowered the binoculars and turned to the stallion stood a little ways down the hill from her. “Negotiations have broken down, now we do it our way.” She said tossing her binoculars into her Storage locker and unslinging her SMG as she stood up. She turned fully to face the stallion in the gas mask. “Burn them.”

“Heh….yes Commander.” Came the muffled reply as the stallion turned and made his way down the hill. He was an earth pony wrapped head to hoof in a slightly bulky black suit with a gas mask and helmet that had a head lamp mounted on the forehead, the entire suit was sealed tight against the air for safety reason.

On the Stallion’s back was a tank who’s contents sloshed with each step he took, the tank was attached by hoses to nozzles mounted on either side of his saddle. Twilight watched as he approached 4 dozen other ponies dressed exactly the same as him. “Alright stallions and mares, we just got the order to burn them! Let’s show these bugs what we Flame Troopers can do!” Came the muffled voice of the stallion as he addressed the soldiers under his command.

Twilight had to admit, the Lieutenant really seemed to enjoy his work, sometime a little too much but who was Twilight to judge taking pride in ones work? She loved every action she took that inflicted pain on another so she had no right to say a word.

She watched as the column of Flame Troopers began to march around the hill and towards the Hive leaving just Twilight and a Rifle Team behind. Twilight looked from the column of black armor to the eight ponies that made up the Rifle Team they wore dark green armor similar to Twilight though in much better shape and clearly of a design actually meant to be on ponies rather than human armor modified for a pony. While Twilight had been offered her own set of armor and helmet she had refused, she didn’t want to give up the armor Liston had made for her as it was one of only two items she had to remember the Pinkie like man with and it was the only one she could have out in the open without issue.

She watched as the Rifle Team stood straighter as she scrutinized them, they were very disciplined and from what she could tell eager to prove themselves as they were all relatively fresh soldier only having graduated from Camp Mendez a week ago, and that was why Twilight chose them to come with her, so they’d get some field experience. All across Equestria the EDF was proving its worth as they repelled monster attack that over whelmed the Royal Guard.

As such a rivalry had formed between the EDF and the Royal Guard, one Twilight had no intention of stamping out as it drive both groups to improve to try and one up and rarely did she step in on it, as long as it remained just mixed words and the occasional bar fight she had no issues, how could she, her own brother was the Captain of the Royal guard, if she joined in she’d never hear the end of it and would be far to tempted to remove his tongue, something she’d rather not be tempted to do.

Twilight returned to the matter at hand and looked towards the column of Flame troopers as they neared the entrance to the Hive. She watched as some Changeling came out to stop them and she saw as the wall of blue flames erupted from the ponies leading the column and consumed the Changelings. The flames from the nozzles was blue do to the magical fuel that powered them though the flames would turn to normal orange when something was set ablaze by it.

Once the guards around the entrance were thoroughly cooked the Flame Troopers advanced into the Hive and once the last one entered Twilight couldn’t help pulling out her Datapad and accessing the music file, she had a song that just seemed appropriate to the situation.

From her Datapad came start of the SONG she had chosen and she set it on a loop while she sat on the hill watching the entrance to the Hive, even with the loud music she would still be able to hear the Radio in her helmet if the Flame Troopers contacted her, the EMSD had been very fascinated by her radio and it didn’t take much to convince them to make a version for their own forces, the main issue had been getting it to work with Twilight’s radio as it wasn’t magical base, thought that did mean that humans wouldn’t be able to easily tap into EDF communications. She just hoped they figured out how to boost their range as right now they only worked a few miles before the signal broke up and that worked fine for troops in the field, it did nothing for soldiers in the field to communicate with their home bases.

The song looped about a dozen time till her radio squawked and she shut off the music. “Go for Commander Sparkle.” She said into the mic.

“Ma’am we have secured the throne room and while our forces are still meeting resistance in the hive the Queen wishes to speak to you. Over” Came the voice of the Lieutenant’s voice.

“Roger, I’m on my way. Over. ” Twilight replied before turning to the Rifle Team. “Let’s move out.” She said before starting to make her way towards the hive entrance. The trip to the hive was uneventful, it wasn’t till they reached the entrance that things got interesting as the air was filled with the scent of burnt Changeling and she heard several of the Rifle ponies, Twilight took advantage of the fact they were behind her to let a smile grace her muzzle at the scent as she walked into the hive, hands clasped behind her back.

Inside was much cooler then the surface and it was a nice respite from the heat though it was much darker inside but Twilight did not remove her sunglasses, she didn’t want it to be easy to tell where she was looking both in meeting the Queen or while walking through the tunnels. Inside of the tunnel the smell of burnt Changeling was much stronger and only grew as they went deeper and deeper do to the number of bodies on the ground do to the fact the unicorn had never given any order to spare workers so the troopers burned any Changeling they came across. There was a reason Flame Troopers were issued gas masks.

It wasn’t hard to find the throne room as it was the tunnels with the most dead in them as they tried to keep the advancing EDF away from the Queen. Soon enough twilight and the Rifle Team entered the throne room. In the middle of the room atop her throne sat Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings and around her stood four Flame Troopers, their flamethrowers trained on her while she glared at them.

As the Rifle Team spread out around the room to cover the entrance and the queen Twilight approached the throne. “Long time no see Chrysalis, how you been?” She asked as if greeting and old friend once she stood before the throne.

The Queens glare shifted from the Troopers to their Commander. “YOU! You are the one leading this slaughter?” She demanded.

Twilight nodded. “Yup, Commander Twilight Sparkle of the Equestrian Defense Force at your service.” She said with a smile.

The Queen’s eyes narrowed. “Do you mock me while your forces burn my hive alive?” She asked anger clear in her voice.

Twilight shrugged. “You started this, we tried peaceful negotiations and you answered with violence, so I responded in kind. This is on your head not mine.” Twilight said calmly, she could see the sweat on the Queen’s brown, no doubt through the Hivemind she could feel ever single death caused by the Flame Troopers and that included the pain.

The Queen growled at her baring her teeth but the sweat on her brow only grew and the EDF spread through the hive, destroying all in their path. The entire time Twilight just stood there calmly facing her. Finally after ten minutes of the impromptu staring contest the queen blinked and let out her breath as she looked down and mumbled. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” Twilight said. “Speak up.”

The Queen looked back up at her and glared. “I said I surrender, call off your forces!” She said.

Twilight nodded and stood there watching the Queen. After a few minutes the Queen Spoke again. “What are you doing? I gave up! Call off your forces!” She yelled. Twilight remained silent. A few more minutes passed and the sweat on the Queen brow only grew more and more. “What are you doing?! I gave up! There is no reason to continue to advance!” She screamed at the Commander. “Stop this!” She said and her shoulders slumped. “Please….stop this….” She whispered looking at the ground as she felt her Changelings burning alive through the link

Twilight waited for a single minute fore activating her radio. “This is Commander Sparkle, cease firing. Round up any Changelings you find and bring them to the surface. Over. “She ordered.

“Roger Commander, stopping the barbeque.” Came the voice of the Lieutenant, while he had been one of the first to find the Throne room he hadn’t stuck around to guard the Queen, not when there were things to burn. “Restrain her.” Twilight said gesturing with her hand before clasping them behind her back again.

The Rifle team moved in and shortly all four of her legs where shackled and she had a chain around her body to keep her wings pressed to her body while three inhibitor rings were placed on her horn. Once she was secure Twilight turned and headed for the surface while the Rifle Team formed up around the Queen and lead her to the surface behind their commanding officer.

Once they reached the surface Twilight signaled for the transports to pick them up. As they waited Twilight looked at the Queen who had yet to raise her head from where it hung facing the ground. “Why….”the Queen asked quietly.

“What?” Twilight asked raising an eyebrow.

“Why did you call them off….half my Hive is now dead because you didn’t call them off when I surrender, even though the Swarm wasn’t fighting anymore….” The Queen said raising her head enough to look at Twilight.

Twilight nodded. “I had to be sure you were actually surrendering and not just lying so you could ambush my forces. Once I was sure I called them off. “Twilight told a half truth, the other half was she had been enjoying watching the Queen.

The queen merely nodded and looked back at the ground. “Yes….I….can see your point…..”She whispered just barely loud enough for Twilight to hear.

Shortly after that the sky chariots arrived and landed as the last of the Hive was lead to the surface by the flame Troopers and the Queen was loaded into one as Twilight turned to the lieutenant. “IF they try anything burn them.” She said loud enough for the Queen to hear.

The Lieutenant nodded. “With pleasure ma’am.” And with that Twilight turned to the sky chariot behind the Queens, sparing a glance at the transport with the defeated queen within. This would never be a day the Queen of the Changelings would ever forget, the day her arrogance got half her hive burned alive.

Just as Twilight had planned it. She boarded her transport and they lifted off heading for Canterlot.

“What do you mean you want us to let her go?!” Demanded one of the nobles in the Throne Room. It had been about an hour since Twilight had returned from the badlands with her prisoner, she personally over saw the Queens transfer to the Canterlot dungeons before making her way to the throne room to inform the Princess.

And that was how Twilight found herself the center of attention for some very angry nobles. “

“You can’t seriously to expect us to let the Queen of the Changelings go after capturing her!” the same noble continued.

“I am not asking her to be let go, I am asking she be transferred to my custody.” Twilight said facing the Princess as if she were addressing her superior officer, which she was, Celestia was far more superior to most of the nobles of Canterlot with a few exceptions, those exceptions were the only ones she would actually look at when being spoken to. It infuriated the others to no end though Twilight did not care, she was not here to make friends, and she was here to run the EDF.

“No, no absolutely not.” The noblepony said looking at Celestia. “Princess you can’t be listening to this mare. What she asks is simply impossible!” He turned back to twilight. “The Changeling Queen is an enemy of Equestria and as such she will be dealt with as such, you have done your duty in bringing her here to face trial which is all your Equestrian Defense Force is supposed to do.” She said, practically spitting the name of Twilight army with disgust.

“Commander, my I ask why you think she should be transferred to your custody as well as have the Hive itself in the custardy of the EDF?” Princess Celestia asked calmly.

The Noblepony’s head whipped around to face her. “Your majesty you can’t honestly be considering her request!” He said.

Celestia raised a hoof to silence the gathered Nobles. “I want to hear her reason before I decide anything.” Celestia said calmly.

“Ma’am with all due respect I am fully aware of what the Changelings did to the capital. But I have also understood her reasoning’s. Her people needed food badly and she saw our nation’s bounty. Could she have tried another approach, yes, but desperation does not make one have good judgment.” The Commander said calmly and clearly for all to hear. “And I can a sure the safety of Equestria now, the Queen is defeated by her own arrogance twice, she will never forget that lesson anytime soon if ever.” Twilight said. “In short, it is my opinion the Queen is no longer a threat to Equestria.”

The room exploded at that as the nobles voiced their opinions on Twilight’s opinion while others tried to call for her to be removed as commander of the EDF for incompetence. The entire time Princess Celestia remained calmed as she stared at the Commander of the army.

After a long while a small smile appeared on her muzzle for a moment for just a moment that only Twilight saw before she raised her hoof to silence the room. “After careful consideration Commander I have decided to grant your request.” Princess Celestia said loudly for the room to hear. “I order the prisoner Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings as well as the other Changelings currently being held to be transferred into the care of the EDF, specifically Commander Twilight Sparkles, to do with as she sees fit.”

Some Nobles tried to voice their objection but Twilight ignored them as she saluted her commanding officer. “Thank you ma’am, I shall see to the transfer immediately.” With that she turned on her heel and left the throne room. She practically skipped down the hallway leading to the dungeons; she had just the place for the Changeling Queen.

Queen Chrysalis sat staring at the floor of her cell in the Canterlot dungeons, she was still in chains with the inhibitor rings though it was all unnecessary, and she had no intention of trying to escape. She was a failure as a Queen. Not only had she failed the invasion of Equestria but her actions their lead to half her hive’s death by fire. She deserved whatever punishment Equestria had planned for her.

She was drawn from her thoughts by something metal tapping the bars of her cell and when she looked up she saw the commander of the attack on her hive Twilight Sparkle smiling at her through the bars, having used one of her strange metal hooves to knock on the bars before she put them behind her back as she had done in the Hive’s thrown room. “What do you want…come to gloat?” The Queen asked.

The mare shook her head. “No, I came here to give you the chance to leverage your assets against your lives” the Commander said.

“What do you mean?” Chrysalis asked a bit confused.

“Well currently every noble in Canterlot want your head on a plate but I am here to offer you a way that won’t happen.” The Commander said.

“Oh? Really now? So what is this offer?” Chrysalis asked.

“Simple, you and the Hive join the EDF.” The military commander said with a smile.

Chrysalis blinked at her. “What?”

“You and your Hive join the army, under my command of course.” The purple mare said.

The Queen blinked again. “Are you insane? You want an enemy in your army?”

“Eh…” The unicorn titled her arms like scales. “And I don’t think you are an enemy, least not an active one. More of a threat. But that threat is due to an issue that can be solved.”

“Oh? And how can it be solved?” Chrysalis asked.

“Simple, by the Changelings joining the army and helping defend Equestria from threats both foreign and domestic.” The Commander said. “there will be some issues at first, you did make a right mess of things with the whole Royal Wedding incident, but over time, as people see you are committed to helping protect the nation the hate will slowly recede and be replaced by respect and the whole love and tolerance shit.”

Chrysalis blinked and tilted her head, the mare was not acting how the Queen remembered from the wedding, and she was like a completely different pony. “And what position would we fill in this army of yours?”

“Well the soldiers would be soldiers of course, your diggers would, well did….long story short you’d basically be doing the same thing you normally do only with ponies and in a military setting.” The commander said. “And if you think I would allow discrimination within the ranks you’d be dead wrong, the changelings will be treated the same as the ponies and I will personally deal with anyone that causes problems.”

The Queen nodded. “And where do I fit into this little plan of yours?”

At the Commander smiled wide. “Oh that’s easy, you’d be my second in command.”

To say Chrysalis’ jaw hit the floor would be an understatement. “You are insane! Why would you want me to be your second? I’m a terrible leader; I failed in my invasion of the Wedding.”

“Oh come off it Queeny you and I both know you only lost due to a total fluke.” The commander said. “I didn’t realize your plan before but I knew nothing of commanding battle before. Now I do and your plan is very clear to someone with my experience in hind sight.”

The Queen arched an eye brow. She couldn’t seriously think she knew the plan. “Oh really? So what was my plan then because the unanimous conscience of Equestria is that I was a fool.”

The Commander shrugged. “Only to one that does not understand war. Many think you screwed up by not acting like Cadence while around me there by tipping me off to you not being her. But that was all part of the plan, you had done your homework and knew the greatest weapon we had would be the Elements and we would use them on you.” The mare said as she started to pace in front of the cell. “So you needed to remove the threat and what better way than to remove the one who aims them, me. But if I disappeared people would ask questions.”

“So you needed to act just out of character enough for me to know something was up do to knowing the real Cadence for so many years but not enough that anyone else wouldn’t just chalk up to pre-wedding jitters. “The commander paused and looked at the Queen. “Which they did by the way.” She began pacing again. “Then it was a matter of getting me to confront you and fail to convince everyone. Once that happened everyone was against me so me disappearing would go unquestioned.”

“Which lead to the Crystal Caverns where you taunted me while still disguised as Cadence till I was so mad that I attacked the real Cadence when you lead me to her.” The commander paused again and looked at the Changeling Monarch. “You were going to use me as the weapon to remove her from the equation which would have devastated me and I’d be easy clean up and it almost worked too but she convinced me it was the real her.” She started pacing again.

“But just in case that plan failed you had your brainwashed bride’s maids as guards knowing we would hesitate to attack innocent ponies while they would have no hesitation.” The commander said and scratched her chin. “While I know Cadence pulled the bouquet from her pocket dimension I am still surprised it actually worked to distracted them, the fact they chanced it makes no real sense.”

The commander shrugged and continued her pacing. “Once we exposed you needed to buy time for your army to finish breaking through the shield.” The mare stopped and smirked at the Queen. “That’s where your monologue came into play. It was just enough to distract us from taking action.”

The mare started pacing. “Once they were through the shield your army descended upon the city creating panic and chaos. Me and my friends made a break for the Elements where you had a small force meet us in the street, just a large enough force to slow us down while a much large force secured the building the Elements were housed in.”

The mare faced the Queen and smirked. “After that you had us beat, Celestia was down, the only one who could make a shield to keep you out was under your control and you had the Bearers captured. A very tidy victory if I do say so myself, one I must admire.” The mare said with a nod of respect to the Queen. “You only lost by the extreme long shot of a love powered shield and over confidence.”

The mare stopped in front of the cell once more and smirked at the Queen. “How close am I?”

The Queen’s jaw worked but no words came out. It made no sense! None at all. “H-how?” She crocked out.

The Commander smiled wider and leaned closer to the bars. “Because I am used to leading troops into battle and fighting for my life.” She said simply.

Chrysalis just stared at the unicorn. This pony had figured out every single step of her master plan, right down to the finer points of it. Every single detail had been an open book to this mare.

“But…why do you want me leading by your side? I did all that to you, you should hate me.” The queen said.

The Mare shrugged. “Eh I was angry at you but I got over it and I need someone in place that in the event I am killed can take over and know what the fuck you are doing so as not to screw up royally.” The commander said then smiled at the Queen. “So what do you said? Will you join up?”

Chrysalis just stared at her for a long while, the whole time the mare just smiled back from behind her sunglasses. Chrysalis sighed and got to her hooves. “I suppose I will as I have little choice and I need to do what’s best for my hive.”

“Oh good.” The Mare said and clapped her hooves together, making a very loud clanging noise. After her clapping she reached into the pocket of her uniform and pulled out a key which she used to unlock the cell door. Pulling the door open the Commander stepped to the side. “Welcome to the EDF Major Chrysalis.”

Author's Notes:

Here have an Interlude I just wrote in three hours.

we got some information on what is going on in Equestria.