The offices of the Stomp had been swamped since Shutter's first article of the Changeling Civil War opened the floodgates to thousands of letters asking what exactly was going on in the land of the changelings, what sides the war had, and if their families were safe from the buzzing menace.

Several interns swarmed around the office, sorting mail, a task that consisted of pushing around wheelbarrows full of letters into a giant pile in the middle of the main office. Just to the side of Mt. Postage was a small light pink unicorn pony with white hair, an appearance sharply contrasted by the sharp sword and quill that was her cutie mark. She wore small rectangular spectacles as she typed away on her keyboard, thinking of the appropriate words for her newest article.

“-And a no matter what king or queen or whatever these bugs serve, they'll still be the same communist terrorists that invaded our home and attacked our dear princess! It's time that we show those changelings that crimes against Equestria will not go unpunished, so we should...”

Saber Rattler stared at that last word, unsure exactly what to suggest. Before the whole Nightmare Moon Crisis, she had been a rather small-time writer, only finding publication in the most reactionary of the country's newspapers.

After the Mare in the Moon had been subdued, she saw the opportunity of a lifetime and began ranting about the supposed 'night cultists' that still operated in the Everfree Forest. It was complete nonsense, of course, but her words resonated with the more than a few concerned ponies and suddenly every newspaper within miles was willing to pay top bit for one of her articles. 'Discordgate' and the Changeling Incident only served to increase demand of her particular brand of journalism.

The unicorn yawned and scooted away from her desk. With the hustle and bustle around the office, it was hard to concentrate anyway since that meddlesome Shutter Shot had that article published.

“Shutter Shot,” she mumbled as she walked away from her desk, not caring in the least when she tripped one of the interns carting mail.

Shutter Shot was nothing but trouble. While she articulated what the normal colt or mare who cared for their family could not, her associate could not claim the same. He kept demanding things like 'facts', and 'objectivity', and other meaningless drivel.

She passed by the editor's room, and peeked her head inside. “I'm taking the rest of the day off,” she said rather matter-of-factly before heading toward the elevator. The editor didn't even hear her, too busy sorting mail that was flying into her office from the window via a funnel system that slowly drained from the big pile in the main office.

Saber walked out of the elevator as it reached the ground floor, her nose held high. As she walked out into the street, she approached a local newsstand, and surveyed all the various papers and tabloids. All of them had some variation of the changeling war, most of them featuring an “exclusive” of the article Shutter wrote.

The snobby unicorn sighed and purchased one copy of Red Sun, one of the most radical tabloids in the country. She flipped through the pages and located one of the many opinion pieces, this one by a Left Hoof. It expressed solidarity with the soldiers of the rebel army and confidence that this revolution would spread throughout the entire world, and all sentient beings would soon throw off the shackles of monarchy. She sneered and threw the magazine down into the gutter. As she did, inspiration came to her, as it often did when she was disgusted or angry.

She ran back inside the offices of Stomp and returned to her work, intent on giving the ponies what they wanted.

~

Queen Chrysalis paced around her council chambers, a circular black room adorned with spikes. She was located at the head of a vaguely square-shaped table, with all of her closest advisers sitting silently.

The dark queen had been pacing for the past two hours, and would have done so for two more if not for one of the braver of her ministers raising a hoof.

“Your supreme excellence,” he said, “an infinite amount of pardons, but did you call us here for counsel?”

The queen hastily turned toward the rest of the table and blinked a few times, before shaking her head. “Ah, yes,” she muttered before sitting upon the large chair at the head, an intimidating piece of furniture made of obsidian and encrusted with green jewels.

“All of you have proven to be of some worth administration of my kingdom, and your non-negligible input is the only reason you are not instantly slain upon entering these chambers.”

The various ministers and generals looked at each other nervously before she continued,

“That is why I have gathered you all here, for the most important purpose any of you will ever have. As of today, this room is designated the Room of Restoration, and you are my war council.”

Some of the ministers whispered, but the high commanders simply nodded.

She went on, “Commanders Corruption, Exo, Claw, and Locus: you are all hereby granted full rights to use any subject for your armies as you see fit.”

She turned to the right side of the table, “Ministers Mandib, Grub, Frank, and Metamorph: you are granted full permission to combat the rebel lies, and crush any drone who does not love his beloved queen!”

“Now,” Chrysalis said as she jumped up on the table, further exaggerating her size compared to the council, “How will we deal with the traitors?”

“Kill them, my queen!” Mandib said, instantly earning a slap across the face.

“Yes, you idiot! But how!?” she screamed, and Commander Claw cleared his throat.

“As it stands,” he said as his horn glowed green with magic and a large map floated out from under the table, “this is the military situation.”

Commander Claw also levitated a pen and began drawing on the map. “This,” he said as he circled a large portion of the land that made up the Changeling Kingdom, “is what we control. The rest is rebel-”

“Traitor,” Chrysalis hissed.

Claw sighed, “Traitor-controlled land. It appears they are operating out of Gray Nest. We have reason to believe that is where your sist-”

Claw looked up from the map to see Chrysalis trembling, her left eye twitching.

“Uh, the traitor leader is located.”

Chrysalis snorted. “Hmph. I never did like Gray Nest. I'll make a note to burn it to the ground when this annoyance is dealt with.”

“Also,” Exo butted as he took the pen from Claw and circled a tiny region on the edge of the map, “my scouts report that the, er, traitors have taken control of this area as of two days ago.”

Chrysalis walked up to the map, squinting at the small circle Claw had drawn. “There is no nest here, you imbecile.”

“My queen, that region was once an Equestrian settlement, but was abandoned many years ago. I believe it was called Rolling Hooves.”

Chrysalis stared at the map a moment longer before smiling. “Hah! For all my sister's guff, all she can muster to take is a worthless ghost town! This war will be over before I know it!”

Chrysalis took to the air, laughing maniacally, “I WILL crush this insurrection, I WILL restore order, and when my swarms are united again, the world WILL tremble under the Grand Swarm of Mutavolu! Hahahahaha!”

A thunderstorm suddenly gathered outside and flashes of lightning soon joined Chrysalis' laughter while her advisers could only sit there and wait until she calmed down.

~

The loyalist army had been routed at Rolling Hooves, but by the time the last hostile changeling was driven back, the rebels that had rescued Shutter Shot were exhausted, and it was apparent they were going nowhere for a few days until they received rest and reinforcements.

Shutter Shot was busy taking shots of the aftermath as he walked around Rolling Hooves, now in even worse shape than before. One of the most striking things he witnessed was the flag of Chrysalis that had been dropped during the battle, now covered in dirt and full of holes. It possessed a similar color scheme, but differed from the rebel flag by having a large dark green circle instead of an 'X', and in the center of this circle was the silhouette of a stylized crown.

Shutter Shot realized where all the missing pieces of the flag went when a changeling that happened to be buzzing by hocked and spit on the flag which dissolved the fabric, creating another hole. Shutter took a picture of the desecrated banner before every rebel changeling got a turn with it.

While he trotted around looking for more photo opportunities, his skull was pierced by a high screech. He whipped around toward its source and saw the lookout on top of the water tower pointing to a small speck in the distance, which was rapidly gaining size.

The swarm in town gave their undivided attention to the lookout. After another moment, the lookout gave two small shrieks, and the changelings around the old town returned to their duties. The speck had become visible now, and it was apparent that it was the same changeling that the commander changeling had sent to deliver Shutter's story and photos, still disguised as a pegasus pony.

The returning changeling circled the town once and landed in front of the hotel and the commander, who had just stepped outside. It gave a salute and the changeling leader nodded. The disguised changeling then reverted back to his normal form and joined the activity around town.

Shutter had run up and captured the entire exchange, and after the drone had left he walked up to the general,“He seems useful!”

“He is our best mimic.” the general replied as he looked over the town, surveying the swarm's activity. They were in the process of digging mounds and disassembling some buildings for their lumber. What wood they did salvage was added to the hotel, which was rapidly becoming a makeshift fort.

Shutter nodded in appreciation, “That seems real useful!”

The commander made a noise that sounded like a laugh, “More useful than you know. You would be dead if not for him.”

The leader's words took a second to process, and when they did Shutter did a double-take, “I'm sorry?”

“That tumbleweed that followed you. That was not a tumbleweed. I sent him to spy on you. He came back telling me that you were headed here, and that you were probably being followed by the Usurper's slaves.”

Shutter tapped a hoof on his chin, thinking.

“Well, that's real neighborly of you. Guess I owe you my thanks!”

The leader retained the same stoic expression.

“By the way,” the unicorn pony began, “I never did get to properly introduce myself. I'm Shutter Shot!”

An actual tumbleweed rolled by during the awkward silence between them.

“Brood,” the commander stated, “My name is Brood.”

Shutter Shot took looked around the town. “Well, Brood, is there anything I can help with? I don't wanna just follow you and take pictures when stuff happens. I get really mean letters when I do that.”

Brood retreated in thought for a moment before looking down upon the unicorn. “Yes,” he declared, pointing toward the inside of the hotel, “my swarm discovered a great many letters inside this building, inside the desk in one of the rooms. We can speak the pony language, but we cannot read it. Look at them and see if they say anything important about this town.”

Shutter gave Brood a half-flanked salute, “Yes, sir!” he exclaimed and went inside the hotel.

The letters were not hard to find. Some changelings had collected and laid them out on a table. The drones were currently in the process of trying to decipher them. They all possessed varying degrees of confusion, and some were very clearly developing a headache trying to understand the characters on the paper.

Shutter said nothing to the changelings at the table and picked one of the letters up magically, reading the first few lines.

My dearest Iron Pick,

You are my light.

My dearest love, you must know that your presence is like Celestia's golden warmth, banishing any darkness clenching my heart and giving my wings and heart a stronger lift than the western winds. Our love is like a-

“Yech,” Shutter grumbled as guided the letter away from his eyes, hoping the sappiness hadn't given him brain damage. He picked up another letter, hoping for something more useful.

My dearest Iron Pick,

Two dancers.

Remember when we first met? The stars were so beautiful that night at the Grand Galloping Gala, as if the cosmos itself had-

Shutter averted his eyes and picked up a third.

My dearest Iron Pick,

Our love conquers all.

It binds and shines. As long as we are together we-

“Wait a darn minute,” Shutter said as he quickly skimmed several more letters, all which were addressed to the same pony, “these are all just sappy love letters!”

Every changeling at the table looked at the unicorn as he uttered the word 'love'. One of the changelings looked back at the letter he had been staring at and gave it a hesitant lick. His eyes lit up and he took a large bite out of the letter. As he gulped, the changeling began to quiver and fell onto the floor, landing on his back. He didn't seem to mind in the slightest though, as his pupils had dilated and his wings were twitching with ecstasy.

The others around Shutter soon did the same, and the unicorn suddenly found himself as the only one actually sitting at the table, surrounded by writhing changelings.

~

Word of the edible pile of love inside the hotel got around quickly. Shutter had to retreat to the second floor as a flood of changelings poured in the main entrance to descend upon the love letters. They tore and ripped each meticulously written message, all of them experienced total love overdose as soon as they got a bite. In the span of a few minutes the floor was littered with changelings in euphoria. Shutter took out his camera, but out of respect only made one photo.

Brood walked in a few moments later, looking over his incapacitated swarm. He turned his sight towards Shutter Shot, who was standing at the top of the stairwell. Shutter had no idea what to say, and simply responded to Brood's gaze with a shrug. The changeling commander sighed, and walked back outside.

~

It took a good hour before the swarm sobered up, but slowly most of the chitinous carpet filed out of the hotel. When enough changelings had left so that Shutter could move around on the first floor, he walked down the stairwell and went outside, now wanting to apologize to the leader for leaving his army vulnerable.

As we walked outside, he jumped a bit to see Brood standing just to the left the entrance.

“Thank you,” he stated before Shutter even had time to open his mouth.

“What?” Shutter asked, tilting his head.

“My swarm has been fighting off starvation for weeks. This should stop their complaints of hunger for some time now.”

Shutter scratched his head, ruffling a few of his black hairs. “Well, glad I could help.”

Brood began to walk away, but Shutter held out a hoof, “Wait!” he called and the commander turned his head.

With his magic, he pulled out a letter he had been hiding. “I, uh, saved this one before it got eaten. It doesn't look like it's even been opened. You can have it, if you want.”

Brood seemed to consider his offer for a second before shaking his head. “Save it. I am not hungry anyway.”

While some of them were still a little wobbly, most of the changelings had returned to work. Shutter looked at the various drones and back at Brood. “So, what now?”

“I was planning to stay here,” Brood replied, “for rest and reinforcements. However, because of your discovery, I believe my swarm has the energy to attack Deep Tunnel.”

Shutter grinned, “Sounds like a dandy place!”

Brood nodded. “It was, once. Many homes burrowed into a white limestone cliff. It was once a thriving hive, but the reign of the Usurper has reduced it to little more than a strip mine.”

“Are we headed there now?” Shutter asked as he noticed the sun was beginning to set.

“Tomorrow.”

“Works for me!” Shutter replied, his typical bright expression now betrayed by fatigue. He headed back inside the hotel and went to sleep in the same bed he had been attacked in.

~

Stomp, pg. 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Hi! I stuffed this letter into one of Derpy's cupcakes when she came by store. Hope she didn't swallow it!

Anyway, I don't usually read much, but Mr. and Mrs. Cake were using a newspaper to cover a table so it wouldn't get covered in icing, and when I was licking it all off I read that article about the changelings being all mean to one another.

I don't know about Queen Vertex, but I can tell you Queen Chrysalis is bad! Super bad! Forever! She's the queen of the grumps! She may have liked my party, but that's no excuse for beating up the princess! I want the changelings with Ms. Vertex win, because they seem a lot nicer. Also I could call 'em Vexies! That's a real fun word to say! Vexies Vexies Vexies Vexies Vexies Vexies Vexies [letter edited for length]

- 'P', Ponyville

Please don't publish this. I just wanted to say that Queen Chrysalis was really, really bad. I mean, I know Mr. Shot said that Vertex seemed better, but I needed to say it too. I mean, what if Vertex is a lot worse?

I just wish they find a good leader and leave us alone.

- 'F', Ponyville

Green armbands? I know they're fighting for a righteous cause, but with fashion sense like that I'm almost convinced to side with Chrysalis.

- 'R', Ponyville