The next morning, Rainbow stood on one side of the bridge, just outside of Ponyville. On the hill behind her, her regiment waited to advance, Scorpions at the ready to fire on the Changelings that had started to funnel out of the hive. Vexillum stood next to her, and two of her troops behind her. On the other side of the bridge, the Changeling commander stood, with two of the armored changelings behind him. Both of the commanders stepped onto the bridge, meeting in the middle.

"You got my message?", the Commander, apparently named Pharynx, said.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, yeah. One of your bugs snuck over to our side, gave a message to some royal guard lieutenant, blah, blah, blah. What do you want?"

"Simple", he said, drawing his sword. Behind her, Vexillum did the same, and her men raised their shields and lances. Rainbow herself laid her wing over one of the sword hilts, at the ready in case he made a move. He then turned it around in his magical aura, sinking the blade up to the pommel in the old wood of the bridge. "I'm here to surrender."

Her troops entered Ponyville proper after this, securing the buildings and taking the weapons from the Changelings. Like Pharynx said, they offered no resistance, and the town was theirs in a matter of minutes. Standard procedure ensued; the Night Guard and Royal Guard began to watch the Equestrians, while the rest of them began to secure a perimeter and prepare for a potential counter-attack. However, due to the unique circumstances, the officers were all assembled in Rainbows command tent, listening to Commander Pharynx.

He explained his reason for his 'defection'. Apparently, the Queen of the Changelings, Chrysalis, wasn't the most traditional when it came to Changeling customs. All of what she did, the invasion, the occupation, the pods, all of it wasn't according to Changeling tradition. They were supposed to be subtle, sneaky; get what they needed, and leave. It got to the point where he could no longer follow her, even if he was having to ignore another Changeling custom of absolute loyalty to the queen.

"So", Luna said. "What exactly do you want? I mean, you can be granted special immunity from prosecution following the reconquest, but, what else do you desire?"

He seemed to consider her offer. "I don't know. I just couldn't stand it anymore. Her blatant disregard for tradition.." He then made multiple angry chittering noises, before he composed himself. "Perhaps I can give you some information."

Gallus laughed. "We were gonna dig for it anyway! This is just making our job easier."

Shooting the griffon a dirty look, he said, "Well, first things first would be the Queen's double agent." That got everyone's attention.

"What are you talking about?"

"Double agent? Impossible!"

"We've scanned for Changelings! We've found nothing!"

Rainbow groaned, and yelled, "Shut up and let the 'Ling speak!"

After they all quieted down, Pharynx said, "Yeah. You are right, about there being no Changeling in your forces. You've become quite though at that. But we have a spell for special circumstances. It allows the caster to take over the mind of another sentient creature; see through their eyes, and control their actions, if they hear a special phrase."

"Who?"

"Shining Armor. I don't know when and how she got control of him, or if there are any others, but this is the one I know." Again, it set off a firestorm of protests and accusations.

Finally, Rainbow and Luna managed to reign them in again, then turned back to Pharynx. "Have you any proof? If you do, then we might be more willing to hear you out."

"Bring him here, and I can show you", he said.

Rainbow turned to two of her troops, saying, "Bring Shining Armor here." The soldiers nodded and walked off, and she turned back to Pharynx. "What other information can you give us?"

"Lots", he said. "Numbers of defenders in Canterlot. Potential hardpoints. Where the ponies are being stored. I can even have some of my troops help in the offensive."

"You would be willing to raise arms against your own race?", Luna asked with her eyebrow raised.

Pharynx said, "Some of them, anyway. Myself included. The Queen has gone against anything and everything that our species stood for, and I can't just stand by and let our species turn to degeneracy and away from our tradition."

At that moment, Shining and the two Pedes returned. Shining said, "What's going on?" When he saw Pharynx, his eyes narrowed. "What's that bug doing here?"

Pharynx hissed in anger, but Luna stood, flying down in between them. "Enough. Commander Pharynx now is your opportunity to provide proof to your claim."

The Changeling still scowled, but nodded and faced him. "Emerge from your shell, Servant of the Hive."

Shining Armors gripped his head, rubbing the base of his horn. Suddenly, he stiffened and stood perfectly straight. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing green. He looked squarely at Pharynx; a look that reminded Rainbow of a sentry waiting for orders.

Those in the tent recoiled in shock. The other officers stood up, eyes wide and drew swords. The soldiers lowered weapons at him. The two Pedes who escorted him in shoved him to his knees, one of them putting a knife to his throat. He still stared solely at Pharynx the whole time.

Luna stood in stunned silence, staring into his glowing green eyes. Shutting her own, she said, "Take him away. Lock him in a shed. Somewhere that he can't do any harm." As he was dragged away by the Pryhans, she said to Pharynx, "Is there any way to reverse this spell?"

"I can't do anything", he said. "Only the caster of the spell can do that. Others like myself who have had a similar spell cast on them can activate the spell, but I can't do anything."

"Who is the caster?", Captain Stratosphere asked.

"Likely the queen. Again, I don't know when or how she got control of him, but I do know that she did get control of him. He was used to gain intel on your troop movements, and even, when he still had rank, manipulated him to make a strategic move that threatened the campaign. Of course, none of the commanders knew about the dragons."

Gallus said, "The Royals leaving the artillery position. That wasn't him? That was you?"

"Not me specifically, of course. That was Commander Web. He was killed in the battle."

While all of the others talked with Pharynx, Rainbow was sitting in the back, thinking. She considered what Pharynx said, and how to make things work. Suddenly, she came to a plan; one that would either work really well or really poorly. It was a gamble, but it could end the war quickly. Luna saw her expression, and said, "Is something wrong?"

"No, no", she said. "I just had a plan to end the war."

Next Chapter: 99~Bickering Estimated time remaining: 52 Minutes