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Stardust Frost sprinted through the streets of Canterlot, her pegasine form dodging left and right as she wove a complicated path around the falling balls of green energy. All around her was chaos; guardsponies and citizens alike falling victim to the invading enemies. But not her.

In front of her, the road suddenly cratered, and she skidded to a halt, bits of stone bouncing off her armor as the creature rose up. Chitinous hide, translucent, insectoid wings, wicked-looking eyes, vicious fangs and legs that were decayed-looking.

The creature cackled, and with a flash of green energy, assumed a different appearance - Frost’s. Frost found herself staring down herself, exactly as she would look without her guardspony armor. Midnight-blue coat, and a mane a stellar white, every detail was spot-on, right down to her doppelganger’s flank, where a single bright star shone.

Frost didn’t hesitate -- she wasn’t one of Celestia’s Royal Guard for nothing. With a graceful flare of wings and a spin, her hooves lashed out, and the changeling got a double-dose of sturdy right hoof and uncaring pavement.

Frost landed, flashed a winning grin at a cowering family nearby, and looked at the street ahead. Filled with more of the same, each one assuming a more equine form in the hope that it would fool the winged, midnight avenger.

Frost wasn’t easily fooled. She ran forward, and-

“Frost!”

Someone called her name. She turned, and saw nothing, frowning. The distraction didn’t impede her, a hoof lashing out and cold-cocking a changeling almost reflexively.

“Frost!”

Frost stumbled to the side, shaken by an earthquake that was hers alone. She snorted, and shook her head -- a dirty changeling tactic! A poison!

“Frost! Wake up!”

“Frost!” Frost snorted as she sneezed, head rolling as she was shaken. She yawned, and opened her eyes.

There were no changelings, just a large, empty hall lit by the early-morning sun shining through stained-glass windows, and a fine, red carpet that ran the length of it. Black and white tiles covered the ground, and the room was spotlessly clean, thanks to the daily cleaning by castle staff and the fact that nopony ever came here save for the two sentries guarding Celestia’s vault, one on each side. One of which was Stardust Frost.

To her left, a much larger earth pony had a hoof on her shoulder, the cause of her rocking. A brown face poked out from under the golden helmet, thanks to the uniform illusion cast by guardspony armor.

“Mgnh. Bubble Wrap? What’s going on?”

“You were sleeping on duty again!” Wrap said, concerned. “What if somepony important like Princess Celestia, or a Bearer of Harmony comes along? We’ll lose our jobs!”

Frost snorted, shrugging her companion’s hoof off her shoulder. “No fear, nothing’s gonna sneak up on me! I’m a pegasus, I’ll feel them coming!”

“You’ll feel who coming, Private?” a voice asked, pointedly. To her credit, Frost only screamed a little bit, and didn’t jump into Bubble Wrap’s hooves.

Standing right behind her, a dark grey unicorn stood, golden armor crested with a plume of blue and white. Most members of the Royal Guard looked identical, but every pony had little clues as to who was really under the uniform illusion. In this commanding officer’s case, it was a perpetual frown, as if the world was never good enough for him.

“Captain Shield!” Wrap stammered. “We, uh...” all too late, the earth pony remembered his salute, throwing one. “Sir!”

Riot Shield looked at Frost, who quickly followed her partner’s lead, and sighed. “You two... there’s a meeting in five minutes, or did you two forget about that? All guardsponies are to attend.”

“Ah,” Frost nodded. “Right. We were just... leaving it until the last minute, to protect the Elements of Harmony as best as we can! Can’t leave the door unguarded, right?” Frost patted the large door behind them, the sun design vast and tall, flashing what she hoped was a winning smile.

Riot Shield snorted. “Right. Never mind the door that only Celestia herself can unlock.” The brief moment of mild amusement quickly died back off to a disapproving frown. “And you certainly defended it during the Royal Wedding, didn’t you?”

“Oh, um,” Wrap looked down. “We... uh...”

“Six untrained mares,” Shield said, looking at the two with a deadpan stare. “Six civilian mares did better than you two against the changelings. Every single one of them took care of more changelings than the both of you combined! What the hay happened to your training?!”

“We’re sorry!” Wrap squeaked, sounding ridiculous given his size.

“In our defense,” Frost retorted, “Those were the Bearers of Harmony.”

“They didn’t even have the Elements!” Shield countered. “That doesn’t even count! Face it -- you two dropped the ball!” Shield ran a hoof down his face, groaning. “Look, we’ve been over this. For now, just... get your flanks in gear before I decide that giving you a second chance was a bad idea.”

“Yes, sir,” the pair quickly said, before trotting off at a brisk pace, Shield not far behind them.

Shining Armor cleared his throat, tapping the microphone as he leaned on the podium in front of him. “Is everyone listening?” Armor paused as everyone nodded. “Great. I’ll dispense with formalities, and cut to the chase.”

A screen dropped down with a rattle, and a click echoed through the quiet meeting hall as a projector activated, showing a picture of Canterlot during the wedding. Suffice to say, with changelings all over photos from that time, and most visible Guardsponies encased in translucent green resin, they weren’t flattering photos, and this one was no exception.

“Two months ago, Canterlot was attacked during the royal wedding,” Armor said. If it felt wierd to be talking about his own wedding like that, he wasn’t showing it. “Since then, the changelings were repelled back towards the badlands, and we’ve heard little of them since. Most ponies are happy to consider the problem dealt with.

“However, the reason we’re here is that some ponies,” Armor paused to hack a cough out that sounded awfully like Blueblood, “some ponies aren’t satisfied with that, and they want to send a Guard squad out to go and finish the job properly, and destroy their hive. As much as I hate to admit it, the stuck up twit has a point -- while the changelings are in any part of Equestria, they pose a real threat.

“So,” Armor said. “We’ve decided to go ahead with Prince Blueblood’s wishes, and send a small Guard squad. However, there are two points I want to make absolutely clear.” Armor held up one hoof. “One, this is primarily a scouting mission. Destruction of the hive is not required. If the changelings are still within Equestrian territory, if they are able, the Guard squad is free to move them however they please, as long as they aren’t on Equestrian soil by the end of the mission.” A second hoof came up, as the first returned to the podium to provide balance. “Two, this is a volunteer mission. None of you are being made to do this, because there is not going to be any immediate support if the squad gets in over their head, and seeing as the changelings made foals of most of us during the wedding, myself included, the squad is very likely to have a hard time of it. They may not come back at all. Any other questions?”

The room murmured, shaking heads, and Armor nodded.

“Great. Do we have any volunteers?”

The crowd went silent. Guardsponies looked at each other awkwardly, others shook slightly as they recalled what they’d seen or gone through as a prisoner of the changelings, no matter how long the duration.

“Hay,” a mare’s voice rang out, and a pegasus stood up in the audience. “I’ll do it. Gotta show you fillies how it’s done.”

“Thank you, Sergeant Ridgeback,” Armor nodded. “We need three more. At least one unicorn capable of destruction magic.”

“That sounds like me,” a unicorn piped up, mimicking Ridgeback’s own rise.

“Corporal Light,” Armor acknowledged the volunteer. “Anyone else?

The room remained silent, except for a soft rumbling. A few ponies turned to look at the culprit, Frost; she’d fallen asleep standing up, and Wrap was doing his best to shrink in shame as he caught disapproval directed at him by proxy.

“Frost! Wake up!” he hissed.

“Wha?” Frost snapped awake, straightening in a panic. “I’m awake! Me and Wrap are on the job!”

“W-what?” Wrap blurted out, stunned.

“What?” the guardsponies around them exclaimed.

Towards the back of the crowd, Riot Shield, who’d been surreptitiously imbibing something from a flask concealed in his armor, sprayed his mouthful of drink all over the back of the nearest guardspony’s head.

Even Shining Armor looked surprised. "Uh... Private Frost. This is... you want to go? Are you sure?"

"Hay yeah, I'm sure!" Frost bellowed, still half-asleep. "I told you, I'm on it!"

"O-kay," Armor made a note. "Private Frost, thank you for your... delayed enthusiasm."

"Ooh..." Bubble Wrap looked at his friend, and back at the crowd. Frost was going on a suicide mission! The large earth pony danced on the spot, biting his lip anxiously, before closing his eyes, and thrusting a hoof into the air.

"Is that... Private Wrap?" Armor's brow creased in recollection. "You're volunteering, or asking a question?"

"Voulunteering!" Wrap blurted. "I... uh, think this mission would be an excellent way to... um, prove myself?"

Armor grimaced. "I suppose so. Thank you. Is there anypony else who wants in?"

The room was silent, and Armor sighed. "That's our squad, then." He turned to address the four volunteers. "You are now a squad of four, callsign Bishop. Head over to the armory, equip field armor, draw rations and prepare to leave soonest." He turned back to the room at large. "Dismissed."

Frost rubbed her eyes, yawned, and nudged Bubble Wrap, who was staring into space like he'd just condemned himself to death.

"So, what are we doing?"

The door sentries finally made their way to the armory. It was a location neither of them were intimately familiar with, given that their one and only previous visit was during orientation, during which they had their golden armor thrust into their hooves by the quartermaster, then were promptly told to get out before they broke anything else.

"I hate field armor," Wrap whined. "It's big and unusual, you can't hide while wearing it!"

"You ain't supposed to hide in it, rookie," a condescending female voice called out from inside a locker. "You're supposed to harden the buck up and take the fight to the enemy!"

The two sentries winced at the harsh words, as a charcoal-black pegasus with a teal mane pulled her head out of the locker, looking at them over a steel-clad shoulder. Behind her, a light-blue unicorn walked around the corner, already wearing his own armor as he adjusted his saddlebags and a bandolier of pouches across his chest with magic, and looked at the two newcomers.

The unicorn, for his part, didn’t seem to care overmuch about them. “Get a move on, you two. Lose the gold ornamentals, grab some plate, grab your gear, and let’s go.”

The pegasus snorted, a stark contrast. “You two look greener than grass. Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“We’re going to go and scout out a changeling hive, aren’t we?” Frost asked, pulling open a locker containing pegasus-build field armor - unadorned grey steel plates, designed to cover as much as possible without slowing a pegasus down. Unlike the gold armor they wore around town, it bore no filigree, and no enchantments that concealed the wearer’s identity.

“We ain’t just scouting,” the pegasus said. “We’re gonna take it down, send a message. The changelings are never gonna bother us ever again if they know what’s good for ‘em.”

“W-with just four of us?” Bubble Wrap asked, the pale-green earth pony shrugging on his own earth-pony-build field armor, much more heavily plated than the unicorn or pegasus designs, but sharing the same utilitarian aesthetic.

“You ever seen what fire can do to a building?” the unicorn asked, quietly. “Takes a bit of time, but everything burns eventually.” The unicorn patted the bandolier, small tubes jostling slightly. “I don’t imagine the hive’ll be any different. The flames will be beautiful as they are deadly, I’m sure.”

“Right,” Frost nodded. “I’m Stardust Frost, and this is Bubble Wrap. What are your names?”

“We know who you are,” the pegasus snorted. “We were paying attention during that meeting, you know. Ridgeback’s the name.”

“Pilot Light,” the unicorn nodded. “We aren’t gonna worry about rank, here. But if we did, you’d answer to Ridgeback, here. In any case, I think she’s calling the shots, unless you two have a solid plan?”

Wrap looked at the irritable pegasus, and back at Pilot Light. “Can’t you be the leader?”

Pilot Light just shrugged. “I’m just the firelighter, here. I’ll leave decision making and actual searching to the pegasi.”

“I’ll lead, then,” Frost said. “Easy.”

Ridgeback just laughed. “You? Lead? I did some reading up on you, Frost -- the summary was “a pegasus with high ambitions, poor impulse control and minimal talent”. And never mind that your one and only battle report says you got cold-cocked by a changeling ten seconds after the fight started, and you didn’t so much as give a single one pause! You’re not leading us.”

“Oh?” Frost bristled irritably. “Like you did better?”

There was a loud clang in front of Frost, and she looked down to see a golden cuirass resting in front of her -- Ridgeback’s. Along one side of the breastplate, a series of nicks in the otherwise spotless gold finish numbered one and nineteen more.

“I beat a score of the buggers in single combat,” Ridgeback elaborated. “While defending a gaggle of foals. When the changelings were blown away, I was still standing and not one foal had been taken, despite the efforts of the Changelings. I’d say I’m a wee bit more qualified than you are to run this show.”

Frost kicked the armor back over to the other pegasus, who flicked it into the air with a hoof, and pushed it into the locker, closing it.

“Fine,” she snorted. “You lead.”

Next Chapter: Change Is Bad Estimated time remaining: 19 Minutes