When is Treachery a Fig Newton?
Dan's Comments
DISCLAIMER: My Little Pony is the property of Hasbro, Inc., Harry Dresden is the property of Jim Butcher, Carl Kolchak is the property of ABC/Universal Television, Ranma Saotome is the property of Rumiko Takahashi, Sailor Jupiter is the property of Naoko Takeuchi.

The sunrise had been a little shaky, but the day had begun for most ponies, and continued unabated for one careworn dragon. Spike facepalmed as these new bronicorns continued to verbally tear up Harry and each other, but were the soul of gentlemen to him. "This is driving me stark raving smurfy," he muttered then facepalmed again as one of their phrases crept into his lexicon.

"The Filipinos make a good revolver in 5.56 mil," the soldier said after disparaging Harry's choice of weapons, "Just sayin'."

They had also had fun describing, in glorious detail, all his future adventures. Spike still smiled at Harry's 'I rode a zombie WHAT?!' when told about his magnificent cavalry charge to save the world. Patrick had arrived, commented that it was an eminently logical decision, then went to bed. He'd taken the profusion of bronicorns by flipping open his wallet and ordering `Scotty` to 'implement General Order 24, my coordinates, immediately', which despite being a death threat, seemed to please this bunch no end.

I have to accept that these people are all crazy, Spike thought as he belched out the message from Makoto that these bronicorns should be brought to the castle immediately.

"We got the answer from Makoto, and she wants us at the castle - now," Spike said and looked around the throne room. Patrick sat up in his sleeping bag and looked around.

Spike looked around too as guards surrounded the group. Like Celestia, Makoto took their arrival in stride, smiling as if the entire world and everyone in it were wonderful. Considering the open space and all the guard, Spike thought, She probably expected them to do exactly that.

Makoto wasn't sitting in Celestia's throne, out of respect or comfort he didn't know, but he did see her hair was more disheveled than Twilight's mane was just before she'd eat the chalk and pronounce a mad plan finished. Ranma who stood beside her had the facial expression Twilight usually wore on those same occasions. Spike glanced around for a fire extinguisher or a solid wall to hide behind, two absolutely necessary items when Twilight was in that state. He'd always 'misfiled' those notes for her to find and discard a few days later when the madness place was far behind her. He relaxed at bit when Patrick started grinning at the scene. Then he considered more deeply and when back to looking for a fire extinguisher and a good, stout wall.

"Somebody rode a wild stallion into the ground," one of the bronicorns commented with a mixture of wistfulness and respect.

"As you can see, Celestia is otherwise indisposed," Makoto said, "We do need your help, and so I will remand you to Captain Armor's custody."

"Have you discovered Cadence is actually Chrysalis?" one of the bronicorns blurted out.

"We've swept the entire palace clean of Chrysalis' partisans," Makoto told them.

"So any left are on her or Celestia's side," Spike heard soto voce from the Scholar.

"Just like Afghanistan," the soldier said equally quietly, then more loudly, "We're cool with getting drafted into the army, as long as we can teach as well as learn, I always wanted to be a DI."

"Captain Armor?" Makoto asked.

Shining nodded and gestured for them to follow.

"Spike will you remain please?" Makoto asked.

Spike sighed and remained behind with the court. Patrick approached with a sheaf of reports.
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"Now THIS is what I was mothefuckin' talkin' about. Come to Equestria, break some heads, down some booze and kick back," the Soldier said, then turned to Harry, "Say, you've been able to hear Shiney's talk while we're around?"

Harry considered, then nodded. "Yes, it seems a property of bronicorns."

"Sweet!" the soldier said, "A whole army of changelings out there and 30 of us to take them on! That is gonna be an asskicking of Biblical proportions!"

Harry didn't have the heart to ask if they were going to be the receivers or the givers, or both.

"I just hope we can hang around until Sombra shows up," the Scholar said.

"Oh fuck yeah," the soldier said, "Crystalssss - BOOM, headshot - nope." They all laughed at the exchange.
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Makoto looked at the collection of 'reports', 'advisories' and hints that she'd received. She'd provided them to Armor, and his good mood about the new crop of bronicorns had evaporated.

"I thought I knew these ponies," Armor said as he checked the warnings against the canary traps.

"Well, at least most of them are the politically unreliable side," she offered to buck up the distraught stallion, and to quell her desire to march over and hug the stuffings out of him.

"Only because there were three times as many of them as there were of the loyalists. By percentage, the treacherous were more loyal than the loyalists."

"Or they're waiting for the opportune time. Remember, if I `fall` the throne is wide open, that may also have been the motivating factor of the loyalists. Better me than any of the other claimants."

Shining sighed, "I suppose." He straightened up. "At least Fancy Pants and Eagle Belle are loyal, although Blueblood may be because he knows this is a temporary arrangement."

"He does love his auntie as well," Makoto said, "Don't underestimate that, even an 'inbred, streak of piss' can remember what his ancestors wanted and meant. We encountered it occasionally as the Senshi."

Armor sighed again. Makoto had enough. "You sigh like that again and I'm going to treat you as a puppy: hug you, scratch your ears, give you a belly rub, a blanket and a bowl of soup. You're a soldier, your nation is in jeopardy, don't tell me what he's going to do to you, think about what you're going to do to him."

Armor started another sigh but froze when Makoto took a step. "Okay, these bronicorns all seem to have a handle on discipline, tactics, some are even competent in weapons, so it's been mainly teaching them the jargon used by the Equestrian military. Frankly, our trainers are learning more from them than they are from us. But the reports from Patrick, Ranma and Bruce about the Changeling force arrayed against us are disheartening. We need to bring in additional forces from other areas."

"And when those other areas are attacked instead of Canterlot?" Makoto asked, "Part of the strategy is to keep the other areas strong and keep the bait, Chrysalis, here. They'll attack here in preference to anywhere else. I know it stinks, but it's the only way. Concentrate your enemies and hit them all at once. That said, send out feelers about getting some troops ready to move once the attack is underway. Better to catch them in a vice, the more hammer blows against our anvil we can land, the better."

Shining shook his head, hiding and suppressing a sigh.

"Relax, it is supposed to look dire, and the spies within are supposed to have reported it is dire," Makoto assured him, "Dawn tomorrow, it'll be all over."

"One way or the other," Shining said and froze as Makoto took another step towards him, "I mean for you. You'll either be a hero, or a prisoner."

"That's Celestia's problem. Don't forget, I don't have to be banished into the moon, I can fly there under my own power and set up my own kingdom. If Dumpling Head did it, anyone can do it."

Armor walked over to her. "Leave off the belly rub, blanket and soup; and this never leaves the room."

"Agreed, you miss Cadence that much?"

Armor nodded. "And you need it, you need to be who you are as well." He sighed.

Makoto enjoyed his fuzzy warmth and the nuzzles and back rub she got.
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Zecora led the small group of bronicorns towards the parade ground. "These four came to my house, polite and quiet as any mouse. When to the castle we returned, pardon for the others had been earned. So per our agreement I must say, authority over them with you shall stay."

Armor looked at the four 'lost lambs' and considered them.

"Sir," Soldier said and managed a proper Equestrian salute instead of the travesty he'd started with, "I can vouch for them, sir."

"Why were you delayed?" Armor asked.

"We ran into a problem getting to Zecora, the Everfree isn't safe and we didn't want to risk simply killing any of Fluttershy's friends," the leader of the four said, and managed a fair approximation of Soldier's salute.

Armor nodded. "Soldier, get them up to speed on our jargon and a few basics of pony culture, pull in a couple sergeants to help you."

"Yes, sir," Soldier said and saluted.

Once Armor had moved off, Soldier asked the other bronicorns, "Tirek?"

All four of them smiled at Soldier, who nodded in reply. "This is turning into a very useful trip," their leader said.

"Yeah well, it wasn't us, he was gone when we got there," the leader of the four said.

"Shit, I just mentioned it to Harry and that Patrick guy," Scholar said, "Just a warning."

"Let's not get any `just warnings` about us," Soldier told the others, "Scholar, pass the word, quiet like."

Scholar nodded and headed off.
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Don opened the door to Posey's room and saw she was awake. "Good to see you up, if not around."

"Please tell me you brought something," Posey said and mated her hooves in prayer.

"Sorry, they searched my bags before I came in," Don said. He fished through his mane, and passed over a large, metal test tube. "Sip it," Don warned.

Posey uncorked it and took a sip. Her joy at seeing him was eclipsed by her rapture at the taste. She smiled, then read the label. "Urine sample?" she asked and wasn't smiling.

"Why do you think they let me keep it?" he said, "I do wish I could see them tasting the thermos of 'coffee' I brought."

Posey giggled at that. "They say I'll be ready for light duty soon, and about two weeks before I'm back to scratch. There were a lot of ponies who died."

Don cut off that line of thinking, "You have nothing to be guilty about. You did your best. Everyone was taken by surprise, even the princesses. If you have to make it up to the fallen, do so by being the best Posey you can be."

"Thank you," she said, "I heard there's stirrings of a battle."

"Some of the aliens identified an army of changelings camped outside Canterlot. Since Shining Armor and Sailor Jupiter have their queen, it's pretty obvious where they are going to strike. Although it may be a ruse to strike somewhere else to get hostages to exchange, so no one is going anywhere, yet."

"What a time to be laid up," Posey said.

"Better idea, you're supposed to be on light duty. If you were trying to get the hostages with the most leverage, where would you hit? A hospital. And where within the hospital?"

Posey paled slightly, then her eyes grew hard. "The maternity ward."

"Let's talk to the doctors about letting you get some light exercise," Don said.