Our party went still as the strange figures emerged from a hole in the ship. Instead of a hatch or an airlock, their silhouettes were emerging from an open rend right across the side of the ship. It was like an open scar, matted in debris and upended vegetation. This was it, it was time to see who we would be attempting to welcome into this bizarre ponyland.

Cresting the rim of the ship’s tear, I could finally see the shapes of the spaceborne pioneers as they moved outside and sunlight illuminated their forms. To my dismay, I immediately recognised the black armour and purple bodies of the first creatures I’d met coming into Equestira, the ones that had threatened the little orange filly and then attacked Luna. An even dozen had stepped outside and were roughly gesticulating in our direction, while I could see even more behind those in the shadows beyond. Unconsciously, I’d clicked my tongue in an angered ‘tch’ sound.

“What, what’s the matter?” One of our parties unicorns, an orange mare, asked, having noticed my reaction.

“I know these things, they’re hostile.” I responded, not looking away from the aliens, watching for one of them to try and pull out a weapon. The ponies with me looked from me to the distant brutish purple aliens. From their pursed lips and sceptical glances to each other, I could tell what they thought of my assessment.

“Look, I don’t know about the history between you and these-,” the same orange unicorn started to say, before I cut them off.

“They attacked princess Luna.” That shut them up real quick. Apparently attempted regicide wasn’t high up on their ‘things that can easily be brushed off’ list. Slowing down, the loose party regrouped into a tighter, more orderly cluster of guardsponies. Just like that, their movement towards the ship seemed more tactical, more cautious even. The human in me wanted to call the behaviour herd-like, as if they were grouping together at the threat of a predator.

Ultimately, it seemed that the word of the princesses was still dominant and that we were obligated to attempt to parlay. I wasn’t optimistic, my previous two interactions with this group still fresh in my mind. However, they hadn’t already started firing at us with their laser guns, so maybe miracles could happen. We were approaching the ship from the side of its impact, about a football field’s worth of space between us being nothing more than brown soil, torn up in the violent touch-down. From the ship’s breach, a string of the purple aliens continued to trail out, pointing and talking amongst themselves, but making no hostile overtures yet. Eventually, it seemed like their entire party had stepped outside into the light. About twenty five in all, their group was nearly double the size of our own.

As we neared the ship, the tall purple bipeds started to make their way down the side of their own ship, towards us. Staring at the aliens, I absentmindedly started to think about my lost human form. These things were close to human, but had just enough differences to trigger dissonance in my head. They were far too tall, far too muscular, and they had tusks poking out of their mouths. They could almost be described as humans, but only almost. I was still alone.

As I watched the alien’s descent to us, I found myself perplexed at their gait. It seemed, and I had no other way of describing it, off. Their steps were wide and uneven, like a toddler trying to balance themselves. They lacked coordination, or any sort of the physical acumen that their bulging muscles might have suggested. I frowned more the longer I stared at them. I supposed that I hadn’t seen them moving much the last two encounters of ours. Their focus seemed to be on firing those laser guns of theirs instead.

Finally, we’d reached the beginning of the vast metal spaceship. Great twisted steel girders scattered around us. We were at the intersection of three microbiomes. The metal husk of the downed spacecraft, the forest that it was currently pressed up against, and the desolate plain it had carved out of the earth. Hopefully, with their ship most assuredly totalled, these creatures would recognize the severity of their situation and be more amenable to talks. I wasn’t in much a mood for fighting right now.

As our two parties came within talking distance of one another, we came to a natural enough stop. Taking the lead, a helmetless grey pegasus stallion with a blue and white mane that reminded me of colgate more than anything stepped forward. From the little heart emblem on his chest, to the deference the other guards seemed to show him, I’d come to the conclusion that he had authority over the small guard troop here. Putting a hoof to his breastplate, he gave a shallow diplomatic bow.

“We are the Canterlot Royal Guards, operating under the orders of Her Majesty, Princess Celestia. Our orders are to investigate this area and perform some minor, non-destructive magical tests. We also have been asked to render aid to any outsiders to our lands, if they will receive us.”

“Ah, we wouldn’t want to get in the way of the Royal Guard.” The alien at the head of their group commented. Smiling stiffly, they testified, “This was our hot air balloon, you see. Its cables snapped and we landed here.” Levelling an arm to their crashed ship, they pointed with a balled up hand, instead of a finger. “We are diplomats. The rest of our delegation is searching for berries in the forest. We would like to be taken to meet the Pony Princesses when the rest of our crew arrives back.”

No, no this was wrong. Every fibre of my being was screaming out to me that this situation was off, and I was inclined to agree with my intuition. They were patently the same armoured purple species that I had encountered during my first sighting of a pony and my battle with Luna. But they behaved nothing like the ones I saw, with none of the disposition, movement, coordination, aggressiveness, or advanced tool use. Hell, I didn’t think these ones had a clue what they were holding in one of their hands. With their head towards us, as if to make sure we were watching, one of the aliens had what I was fairly sure was a blowtorch in one hand and was using it as a hammer to pound against what appeared to be some sort of remote into the metal wreckage of their ship. Another had taken some sort of computer console outside and was loudly vocalising the eating of leaves off of it like a folding table. It was like the caricature of activity, without any of the sense or purpose of it. And somehow, none of this seemed to have tipped off my pony compatriots that something was wrong.

Case in point, the grey pegasus in charge just smiled carelessly and nodded at the alien’s words.

“Well, these are unusual circumstances,”–he affirmed, looking up to the enormous metal wreck–“but I can say that the Princesses are always happy to receive friendly delegations. Once our work here is done, I’ll personally-”

“No,” I interjected, cutting off the pony mid sentence. I wasn’t sure what this farce was, but I wasn’t going to let it continue. For the first time, the aliens seemed to regard me as a person, instead of a pet or pack beast. Again, it was strange, since I was far closer to their own biologies than the ponies, even in this warped form of mine.

I glanced at the spaceship the aliens had emerged from. The massive engines to the rear, the hatches that sat unused, the lingering scent of chemical fires and seared plastic. Lies, all that they had said so far were lies.

“That’s not a hot air balloon and you’re not diplomats,” I asserted, wholly unconvinced by whatever scheme this was. In the corner of my eye, I could see my company dismaying over the wrench I was throwing into their cut and dry diplomacy.

“We came from across the sea to-” the lead alien tried clarifying before I snarled dismissively.

“Who are you really and what are you planning?” I demanded in a scratching growl, hoping to get something from the aliens, even if it was just their species name and an admission that they came here in a spaceship.

Instead of making the purple space orcs open up, they all froze, fixating on me. There was a moment of silence, before the one who had been speaking to me actually hissed. Like a switch had been flipped, all of the aliens dropped whatever they’d held in their hands and they joined the lead alien in hissing territorially. Caught off guard, I didn’t even know how to respond to the sudden shift in tone until the alien at the head of their group combusted in a brilliant flash of green flame. I stepped back, eyes wide at the sudden combustion, wondering if one of our unicorns had initiated an attack without my knowledge. But, just as quickly as the flames appeared, a black hoof pushed out of the green fire and the inferno dissipated.

Standing in the spot the purple biped used to be was a jet-black equine. But, instead of fur covering it, matte chitin clung to its surface, like a bug. On its head was a crooked horn, shaped differently to the spiralling point that accented the unicorns. Thin, almost gossamer like wings flittered on the bug pony’s back. A lizard-like frill accented its head, just above the deep, pupilless orbs that served as its eyes. And, strangest of all, golf ball sized pockmarked holes accented its legs and tail, giving it the appearance of something that had been drilled right through. Though it shared the shape of a pony, it barely looked like a functioning organic organism at all.

Credit: Jewellier

These concerns all became secondary as, with an aggressively high pitched ‘scree,’ the bug rushed directly at me, fangs bared. Low to the ground, its wings buzzed menacingly as it shot like a wasp. Breaking out of my stupor, I pulled together just enough awareness to try and swat the bug out of my way with a backhand.

Locking its sharp jaw around my arm, the feral shapeshifter tried to cling onto my arm and immobilise me with its sudden strike. Instead, the sheer force I put into the swatting backhand caused it to fly off me, tumbling roughly back into the dirt. Like a bug, it was lacking in the way of mass, though it seemed to be made out of a very hard exoskeleton.

Unfortunately, as I watched the bug pony roughly skid back and tumble over the dirt, my eyes were inevitably drawn back to its colleagues, which had also been replaced by black insectoids. All of which appeared markedly more comfortable in these forms. Not five metres of dirt separated our groups, golden armoured ponies up against insectoid bugs.

“Celestia above, what are those things?” The lead pegasus with their blue-white hair asked, alarmed. My mouth twitched in the brief direction of a frown. If even the ponies didn’t know what these were, the chances of learning anything useful about my opponents looked sparse.

As the question went unanswered, there was silence in the air for a moment. Neither side looked like it wanted to initiate, until the nervous twitch of a pegasus’ wings caused a bolt of green magic to fly from the horn of one of the bug ponies towards the Royal Guards.

“For Equestria!” The ponies bellowed, galloping forwards. Unicorns held back in support, firing off beams of magic and conjuring up magical shields around the earth ponies and pegasi. The latter two, meanwhile, charged directly towards the enemy in a grand assault. Their hoof steps were a cascade, like the rumble of thunder.

“For the Swarm!” A chittering screech called back, drowning out the sound of Royal Guard hooves. Launching into the air, several of the bug ponies dive bombed into the Royal Guards with their horns blazing in front of them like a comet burning up on atmospheric reentry. Crashing against the golden armour, even the sturdy earth ponies were getting knocked out of formation. Other bugs were sitting back, firing off comparatively weak looking bolts of green magic from their curved horns. The frailest of their bunch just hissed menacingly towards the guardsponies, darting in and throwing punches when they thought they had an opening. I smacked one such bug aside when they thought they could get a cheap strike in at my side.

Both sides were doing a number against each other. The ponies were better equipped, better trained, and were keeping a stronger formation against the bug ponies. But the bugs were making up for their seeming frailty with savage determination and a numbers advantage. This was going to get messier the longer it continued. I had to step up, do more than hold the line with the ponies. I was strong. I was strong enough to shred through and decimate the strange insectoids; that I was certain of. But, balling my claws into fists, I reckoned that I might just be strong enough to end this one without killing anybody.

Rushing ahead of the earth ponies weathering dive bombing bug ponies, I bolted forward and started laying waste to the bugs. Predictably, the lone target outside of formation made me an immediate target for the bugs and five immediately rushed in to bring me down. With a weighty kick, I sent the first one to reach me sailing away to the far treeline, where it collapsed, unconscious.

Credit: Askbubblelee

All over my back, I could feel the beating of hooves, the blasting of magical bolts, and the scraping bites of sharp insectoid maws against my tough skin. I could hear my guardspony cohort calling out to me, shocked that I had charged directly at the bugs. But still I flailed around, shoulder checking, slapping, and kicking at anything stupid enough to get in my way. The bugs were trying to bring me to the ground, I could feel their raw desperation. But they just didn’t have the strength or force behind them to subdue me. Shaking, more and more bugs found themselves careening to the ground, more often than not being punted across the field.

What the bugs had originally seen in me as a straggler prey target was quickly becoming the anchor upon their backs, weighing them down and killing the momentum they needed to effectively break the guardsponies. With as much of their force as they needed to keep me occupied, the remaining bug ponies were finding themselves easy targets for the Royal Guards.

All across the barren dirt field, the bugs were either bruised, beaten, or unconscious. Each bug that I threw off of me found itself slammed into the ground and disoriented, but had no compatriot to take its place. The tide of battle had become overwhelmingly obvious at this point. Instead of a reckless charge into the pony lines, the remaining ambulatory bug ponies held back a cautious distance. Turning their head to the sky, one of their number let loose a distressed ‘scree’ to the sky, seemingly an order for general retreat. Some limped, some flew, some exploded into the forms of small rodents in flashes of green fire and scurried off into the woods.

Credit: MysticalPha

Stepping over the bodies of unconscious bug ponies, a trio of hardy guards made their way over to me. An earth pony, the grey pegasus in charge of this guard cadre, and a pink pegasus. For all their toughness, the earth pony seemed to be having a tough time keeping conscious, leaning on the grey pegasus’ barrel. The pink pegasus, meanwhile, seemed transfixed by the scratches and bruises matting my body. From their demeanour, the wary caution that the guards had shown me earlier had been replaced by a grudging respect. And at their centre, the commanding pegasus looked roughed up but managed to fight through it, looking up to me.

“That was reckless”–the stallion (Was he an officer? I needed to look up how the pony military worked some time.) grunted, wincing from a purple welt across their jaw–“but you saved our flanks out there. Thanks.”

“Anytime,” I rasped, nodding.

Their piece said, the trio kept trotting, looking to bandage up any of their allies that had open cuts.

At the edge of the dirt, by the forest, I saw one last conscious shapeshifter. Head turned back watching us, they seemed pensive about something. Were they worried? A number of their fallen companions were still scattered around, maybe they were leaving behind a friend? Noticing my skullen face watching them, they finally turned away, galloping into the dark treeline.

Credit: Viwrastupr

As the last bug pony slipped away, the battlefield was finally still.

Reaching a spindly arm up to my back, I hissed at the feel of bruised flesh and shallow cuts. Wearily, I sighed. It was over.

Next Chapter: Chapter 14: Simulacrum Estimated time remaining: 39 Minutes