Chapter 56: Commander Auraria

Commander Auraria of the Imperial Changeling Army called for her nearly fourteen thousand changeling soldiers to halt, repeating the command given by Captain Skydart of the Equestrian Royal Guard. This was the second rest stop since they had begun marching this morning. She didn’t think it could be more than an hour past noon. Surely the soldiers of the Equestrian Royal Guard couldn’t be that undisciplined? That out of shape? Granted, changeling soldiers were the most disciplined and well trained in the world, so maybe she was expecting too much out of these ponies. But two rest stops before early afternoon? None of Skydart’s own guards had questioned him on it, at least not that she had seen. Not that any of them probably would. The highest ranking among them was a PFC. Rank and file soldiers didn’t question the orders of their commanding officer—especially not when that officer was the acting Supreme Commander of all of Equestria’s forces.

She shook herself briefly, snow tumbling off her hard carapace. An owl hooted above her from one of the nearby trees. For the past two days, they’d been traveling through dense thickets of pine forest. At least the heavy tree canopy blocked some of the Dorylini-cursed wind and made the snow less deep here than in the open grasslands, although the cold air plunging down from the Mountains of Disharmony less than three days march to the east probably negated the windbreak effect of the trees.

That was another thing she found strange. They had been heading east instead of north, despite Captain Skydart’s admonishment that they needed to reach the northern barrier as soon as possible. That was something else none of Skydart’s own soldiers brought up, although she wasn’t entirely sure any of them would have known what direction they were going. Changeling officers knew the geography of Equestria better than most ponies did. She herself knew the location of every landmark, every road, every river, lake, forest, and city. She knew the topography like the holes in her own legs. Knowledge of topography often meant the difference between winning and losing a battle. Last night, after they’d stopped for camp, she had asked him why they were traveling east instead of north, and he’d told her he wanted to avoid roads and populated areas, lest they have a repeat of the troubles in Trottingham. Ponies were unlikely to react kindly to more than ten thousand changelings passing near their cities he had said. Add the griffon army into the mix and you had a recipe for panic.

Auraria herself wasn’t so sure. True, traveling directly north would have meant they had to cross the busiest road in Equestria. The one that connected Canterlot to the sprawling metropolis cities of Manehattan, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia. But it wouldn’t have taken them very close to any of the cities. And given the bitter cold and near constant blizzards, she doubted any pony would be foolish enough to try traveling the distance between the cities. The inns along the road were probably abandoned by now, the ponies who owned them and worked in them likely having fled to the cities once they realized the sun wasn’t going to rise. Besides, the ponies were soft. Used to having their weather controlled and custom made to order. The fact that the weather was completely unpredictable now made it even less likely that any would have attempted the journey between cities. In any case, they could have sent scouts ahead to check the road. The road was bordered on the south by thick forest. That, along with the darkness, meant they could have stayed hidden as long as they needed to, waiting for an opportunity to move across the road. Even if they’d had to wait hours, or an entire day, it would have been faster than taking the long detour east and then turning north to skirt along the Mountains of Disharmony. Not only that, but dragons were known to make their homes in those mountains and to hunt in the woods surrounding them.

She shook her head in bewilderment regarding the Captain’s decisions. Technically, he outranked her, being the acting Supreme Commander of all of Equestria’s forces. He probably also had ten years of age seniority on her. But despite her young age of twenty, she had no doubt that she was the more qualified leader, and likely had more experience than he did. Changelings who showed any military aptitude at all began officer training as soon as that ability became apparent. She had been six when she’d begun her training. Military strategy classes, strategy games and exercises, and martial arts combat training had occupied most of her time as a filly. She was what the ponies called a prodigy. By the age of ten she was sparring with opponents twice her age. By eleven she was usually winning. At seventeen she’d been the youngest changeling ever to be promoted to officer. At twenty the youngest to ever be given their own command. On more than one occasion her martial arts Roshi had commented to her that he thought she must be the reincarnation of Dorylini the Great.

Now that, of course, was absurd. She had been born more than forty years after Chrysalis had been made Queen, and only fillies born in the timeframe between the death of the previous monarch and the revealing of the new one could be considered as the reincarnation of the Great God-Queen, and thus, the only rightful successor to the throne. So there was simply no way she could be the reincarnation of Dorylini.

Unless … Unless … the high priestesses had made a mistake. What her martial arts Roshi had told her was not the kind of thing you said unless you wanted to find yourself in a dungeon charged with treason and blasphemy. So it certainly wasn’t something he would have risked saying in jest. A mistake had only happened once in the entire history of the Changeling Empire. But it had happened. And given the average Queen ruled for eight hundred years, there had only been five queens in the Empire’s history, including Dorylini, and the current Queen, Chrysalis. Missing one in five was far from flawless. That mistake had only been discovered when the queen in question died of natural causes at the age of ninety-six, which was around the life expectancy of a normal changeling. True Queens who were the reincarnation of Dorylini the Great lived eight hundred and fifty years or longer.

Unlike Equestria’s God-Princesses, Changeling God-Queens weren’t immortal. It was written in the religious texts that Dorylini herself had decreed it to be so. At the age of eight hundred and ninety four, she had decided it was time for her to go to the next life, and to wake the spirits of all of the changelings who had died up until that time and take them with her to live for all eternity in the glorious afterlife. When she died, she broke her spirit into two halves. One half was to remain with her in the afterlife for all eternity. The other half was to be reincarnated into a first-born filly of her choosing. The chosen filly would thus have a spirit that was half her own, and half the reincarnation of Dorylini the Great. Again, Dorylini herself had declared it to be such so that the new queens would bring their own blood and fresh ideas to the throne, but at the same time, they would have the wisdom and true leadership ability of Dorylini, the Eternal Goddess. That meant each Changeling Queen was a true living Goddess. And only by following and submitting to the will of the Queen could anyone achieve true happiness and purpose in life.

“Move out!”

The loud command from Captain Skydart echoed off the trees, pulling her out of her thoughts. Again, she repeated the order to her own soldiers, and they quickly fell back into formation. They were ready to march again before either the royal guards or the griffon soldiers had finished forming up she noted to herself with satisfaction and pride. Yes, Changeling soldiers were the best trained and most disciplined in the world.

Snow continued to fall as she resumed leading her soldiers through the dark forest, and she said a quick prayer of thanks to Dorylini that the tree canopy kept the wind from creating deep drifts. It was small gifts like that that could make the difference between winning a battle or losing it because of marching fatigue. As she marched, she let her mind wander again.

Dorylini had died after dictating her intention to be reincarnated to one of the high priestesses and leaving them with instructions for choosing her successor. After her death, a one week period of mourning had been decreed by the priestesses, and a very elaborate state funeral had been held. Celestia herself had attended the funeral, and it was said that when she approached the body of Dorylini lying in state in the throne room, she bowed so low that her muzzle touched the floor. In giving Dorylini the highest form of respect it was possible to give in Changeling culture, she had shown the changelings that she accepted their Queen as her equal. Accepted her as a fellow Goddess. Of course, the bow she had given briefly became a scandal in Equestria, but Celestia had silenced all critics by simply stating that she had no doubt Dorylini would have done the same for her. Auraria had no doubt Celestia had spoken truth. According to the history books, it would be a stretch to say that Dorylini and Celestia had been good friends. But they definitely were not enemies, and they most certainly had an enormous degree of respect for each other. Relations between Equestria and the Changeling Empire hadn’t really turned sour until Chrysalis came along. It was also said in the history books that Celestia had wept at the funeral. Good friends or not, it must have been hard on her to lose someone she had known for more than eight hundred years.

When the one week period of mourning had finished, the thirteen high priestesses decreed that every first-born female changeling who had been born after the death of Dorylini must be registered and brought to the sanctuary for testing to see if she had the spirit of Dorylini, and thus, was the one she had chosen as her successor. It had been that way ever since. Each time the Queen passed, all first-born female changelings born after the passing were required by law to be brought to the sanctuary and tested until Dorylini’s chosen successor was found. When the successor was found, and the ritual of succession had been performed, the chosen one began to take on the physical appearance of a changeling queen.

Most changelings thought their system was superior to Equestria’s immortal God-Princess system, specifically because the changeling system brought fresh blood and new ideas to the throne, combined with the knowledge, wisdom, and skill of the Everlasting Goddess, Dorylini herself.

The system was not without its flaws, however. In the months and early years following the passing of a queen, the nurseries always ended up overflowing with eggs and newly hatched larvae. Being the Queen Mother carried an enormous amount of prestige, and every changeling female of egg laying age who hadn’t yet had any offspring wanted to get pregnant in the hopes that their larva would be the chosen one—the reincarnation of a Goddess. That meant one of the first problems a new changeling queen invariably had to deal with was a population explosion, of which the new queen herself was a part of. That usually meant temporary one larva per female restrictions had to be put in place. Fortunately, because the search for a new queen was a ritual that was carried out only once every eight hundred years on average, the temporary population explosions never became population crises.

In the interim between the passing of the old queen and the discovery of the chosen successor, the high priestesses ruled by majority consensus, as Dorylini herself had decreed. That was another flaw in the system, Auraria thought. If the search for the true successor took too long, changelings began to suspect the high priestesses were intentionally delaying the search in order to maintain power for themselves. Protests and rallies condemning the institution of the priestesses and demanding that they find the new queen invariably followed. That put enormous pressure on the priestesses to choose some changeling—any changeling—just to prevent a full scale revolt and descent into anarchy. That was probably how the one mistake had been made. How the only false queen in changeling history had been placed on the throne.

But was it possible that Chrysalis was a false queen? There were some incidents that definitely raised the question. True successors to Dorylini ruled with the best interests of the changelings in heart and mind at all times. Chrysalis’ invasion of Equestria could hardly be said to be for the good of the changelings. It was more like a personal quest for glory. Chrysalis had wanted to make Celestia kneel before her, and she still did. That was really the extent of it. Equestria was not, and never had been, a threat to the Changeling Empire. Furthermore, although Chrysalis liked to brag that she had instilled fear in the hearts of every ruler, and that although they mocked her in public, they whispered in fear of her behind close doors, that simply wasn’t true. They said the same things about her behind closed doors that they did in public. Chrysalis’ folly, they called it. They didn’t fear her. They thought her a fool for thinking she could defeat Equestria in their own capital city. Sure, she might have come close. But the plan was doomed to fail from the start. Auraria had known that even then. But that wasn’t the kind of thing that a fourteen year old up-and-coming military student who every changeling knew would be an officer in a few years said out loud regarding plans made by the Queen. Not unless they wanted a very short career.

Chrysalis also liked to claim to those who she thought wouldn’t know any better, that she had conquered the Southern Griffon Empire and brought it under Changeling rule. That wasn’t true either. It had been her predecessor, Queen Vespidae, who had done that—nearly one hundred years before Chrysalis had even been born. Chrysalis’ ill-fated attempt at conquering Equestria had as much to do with that as anything else. A desire to prove herself a more powerful queen than her predecessor. True Queens didn’t engage in that kind of petty one-upmanship. These were facts that every changeling military officer knew, but the general public did not. And they were things you kept to yourself, unless you wanted to be stripped of your rank and locked away in a dungeon. You don’t question The Queen. It was that simple.

And besides, even if Chrysalis was a false queen, what was there to be done about it? No changeling who valued their head would ever dare accuse a sitting queen of being a false queen. To do so would be the highest order of blasphemy. The one time there actually had been a false queen, the high priestesses never would have said a word, even if they had discovered their mistake. Had they done so, they would have almost certainly been immediately stripped of all their power on the grounds that they had turned against the Goddess, charged with blasphemy, and never seen anything again other than the four walls of a dungeon cell.

Anyway, even if Chrysalis were false, Auraria wasn’t nearly presumptuous enough—or egotistical enough for that matter—to assume that her Roshi was correct and she was the reincarnation of Dorylini. That she herself was a living Goddess. Her parents were simple laborers, not of noble blood. Her mother was a nursemaid in one of the hatcheries, and her father dug tunnels for expansions of the hives. Not that one had to be of noble blood to be the Chosen One. Dorylini chose who she wanted, for whatever reasons she wanted. True, she was her parent’s first-born filly. Their only filly, in fact. But still, even if Chrysalis wasn’t the True Queen, Auraria wasn’t nearly so arrogant to assume that she was. She was just some changeling who happened to have a strong aptitude for military strategy and combat tactics. That was all.

Even when lost in thought, Auraria was very perceptive—always watching, always listening, always vigilant. It might have been a subtle shift in the way the wind blew against her chitin. It might have been a slight change in the pattern of the snow falling around her. Or it might have been a faint, wind-carried scent reaching her nose that warned her.

“Defensive formations! We’re under air attack!” she shouted, loud enough to ensure all changelings, ponies, and griffons would hear.

She glanced behind her, making sure all her soldiers were forming up properly, although she already knew they would be. The sounds of clattering armor rang out from ahead of her and to her left as the ponies and griffons got into formation. Then, there was silence except for the howling of wind, the creaking and groaning of the trees as they swayed back and forth in the heavy breeze. But she knew that wouldn’t last long. She waited three seconds … five, then called out again in a loud commanding voice, completely in her natural element.

“Air units, to the sky! Protect the ground forces!”

The buzzing of wings erupted behind her, like a million killer bees swarming out of their hive to fend off an invader, as the changeling air units launched themselves into the sky in perfect formation, taking off in groups of four and rushing over her head. In front of her, Captain Skydart barked similar orders, mirrored by Commander Velos of the griffons to her left. Then, the pegasus guards were airborne, along with the Griffon Air Force.

Again, she looked behind her, checking the formation of her forces. Everything was perfect. Just as she had trained them. The seconds ticked by.

And then the sky exploded in flame, the forest around them lighting up in orange tinted light. The shrill cry of dragons pierced the air like a banshee call. Trees burst into flames with an ear shattering roar a few hundred meters to her right. The dragon had gambled and lost. It was a mistake that would prove fatal for the beast, she knew.

The forest lit up again, this time in a brilliant green glow as Auraria’s ground forces instantly targeted the source of the flame. Hundreds of green plasma bolts cut the night, zipping over her head from behind, like fingers of green lightning slicing through the air. A green burst of light flooded the sky as the bolts found their target, bathing the dragon in green discharges. An explosion and shock wave radiated out where the bolts had struck, and another shrill cry pierced the night. But this one was cut short as the large wings seized up and the beast fell from the sky. Dozens of loud cracking and splitting sounds rang through the night as the huge body plunged into the trees, snapping branches as if they were toothpicks. She had no more time to think about that, though. There were other dragons up there. She was certain she’d heard multiple battle cries.

Metal clanged against metal somewhere in front of her, combined with shouts and the pounding of hooves. “For the glory of Equestria!” a loud voice called out. The sounds of melee combat. It wasn’t just dragons they had to worry about, then.

Another eruption of flame, low on the horizon, announced the presence of another dragon. The trees blocked her view of where this one hit. They also blocked the line of fire of her soldiers, preventing them from targeting the source of the flame. Another roar split the air as the trees near the blast erupted in fire.

“Air defense units, stay back! Melee units, charge!” she commanded.

And then she burst forward, her buzzing wings carrying her just above the ground, skimming over the snow, deftly avoiding the trees with sharp banks to the left and right, thousands of her soldiers following her. Hive life made changelings experts in close quarters maneuvering. She was completely in her element, nimbly banking left and right, dodging each trunk with ease. The sound of metal against metal grew louder. In the dark, she couldn’t see the battle yet, but her ears told her they would be there soon enough. She didn’t like rushing blindly into a melee battle without having some advance knowledge of just what they were charging into. But at the same time, if they hung back, it wouldn’t be long before the dragons pinpointed their location and began to rain fire down on them at will. Once that happened, they wouldn’t survive long. At least the melee combat offered protection from the dragon attacks. The lumbering reptiles were unlikely to target the close quarters ground battles. Their flame attacks would kill their own ground friendlies just as easily as they’d kill the opposing forces. At the same time, the dragons wouldn’t attempt to directly target her air defense units. To do so was suicidal, as the dragon who had fired first had learned. Or would have learned if not for the fact that he were now lying dead in a heap somewhere among the trees.

“What in the name of Celestia is that?!” she heard one of the ponies exclaim from somewhere ahead. She angled her wings, putting the flat sides directly in the wind, her wings now acting as a spoiler and slowing her quickly, calling behind her at the same time for her soldiers to do the same. She didn’t stop her advance, but they moved more slowly now.

And then, she saw what had caused the pony’s exclamation. Floating in the air, standing nearly ten feet tall and illuminated by an unnatural pale gray light, was a dark robed figure. It appeared almost bipedal, like the human that had been with them earlier, except no legs or feet were visible at the bottom of the robe. Where the hands should be at the ends of the sleeves, there was nothing. Inside the hood, there was no face. Only two glowing red eyes. The inside of the hood was like … staring into a void. Like staring at the complete absence of everything. Furthermore, the creature was almost semi-transparent, as if you could see through the robe. Yet, on the other side, it was like staring into the absence of everything. The creature raised one sleeve. Where the hand should have been there was only the opening. A blue-white bolt of lightning suddenly shot from the end of the sleeve and one of the unicorn guards fell where he stood. The bolt had made no sound. Neither had the guard before he fell.

In a rage, three earth pony guards hurled spears, sending them sailing towards whatever the being was that had just killed one of their own. The apparition gave an ear-splitting screech as the spears hit home, brilliant flashes of light bursting out where their razor points plunged into the robe. As the spears struck, the ghostly being instantly solidified, twisted, deformed hands and feet forming where before there had been nothing. Inside the hood, a face formed, dry, cracked, and brittle, as if it were dead flesh stretched thin over a skeleton. Then, the light surrounding the creature went out, and it fell to the ground, dead just as if it had been a normal, physical being all along, albeit a grotesquely deformed one that appeared older than time itself.

A lesser officer might have frozen up, been unnerved, or at least, taken time to recover. But not Auraria. Instantly, she surveyed the situation. There were more of those ghostly apparitions ahead. But they could be struck with weapons. And when they were, they died just like any normal physical being. That’s all that mattered right now. There’d be time for figuring out what they were later.

“Resume charge!” she commanded loudly, her wings beating rapidly and propelling her forward again. She flew straight at one of the strange, robed creatures. It quickly raised its sleeve to fire at her. It was fast. Auraria was faster. Green plasma arced from her horn, striking the creature square in the center. The pale gray aura surrounding the creature suddenly became the same green color as the plasma bolt. The strange being gave a choked off scream, then solidified and crumpled to the ground. They were vulnerable to magical attacks as well as physical attacks, then.

She angled her wings, cognizant of any dragons that might be nearby—although they were probably keeping their mouths shut by now since any flames they launched would reveal their location to the airborne Changeling and Pegasus Guard interceptors—and pitched herself skyward, darting straight up for several seconds before just as quickly reversing her angle so she was pointing down. With a practiced eye, she quickly took in the battlefield below. The unearthly glow of the strange creatures, combined with the constant lightning-like flashes of magical discharges from the changelings and unicorn guards made it easy to see. Ponies, griffons, and changelings were engaging the strange beings in both magical and physical combat. It was clear the enemy was vastly outnumbered, perhaps a hundred to one. There was no doubt who would be victorious in this battle.

Turning her head, she frowned as she also saw griffons fighting against ponies and changelings. Hopefully, they were just dissenters. If the whole of the griffon forces—all eight thousand of them—had betrayed them … Choosing her next target, she dove towards one of the robed creatures. It never saw the blast of green plasma from her horn that killed it.

She was about to shout orders to her soldiers based on her quick aerial survey of the battle, but then it became obvious the enemy was retreating rapidly. Several griffons were already fleeing the battle as fast as their wings could carry them. The remaining robed creatures retreated in the direction they had come from, then floated into the sky until they were about twenty feet above the trees. Some of them climbed onto the backs of waiting griffons, while others were actually scooped up in the talons of dragons. And then, they began to fly higher, before turning east and disappearing toward the Mountains of Disharmony.

“Disengage!” she commanded her forces. She descended, flaring her wings before landing, then folding them at her sides. Automatically, she switched from battle mode to survey mode, quickly scanning the area. To her left, and further away to her front-left, orange glows flickered in the sky, marking the area where trees that had been struck by dragon fire were burning. Fortunately the wind was carrying the smoke away from them. The fires wouldn’t be a threat, she decided. With the snow on the ground they were likely to burn themselves out fairly soon since there was no dry underbrush to catch fire. And if they didn’t, the wind would carry any spreading flames away from them.

Turning her head to her right, she narrowed her eyes, spotting Commander Velos of the Griffon Army.

“Friends of yours?” she snarled at him.

“At least eight of my soldiers are dead, Commander Auraria,” he responded with malice. “The griffons who ambushed us are no friends of mine.”

A fair enough statement, she decided with a nod.

“Report!” She ordered loudly, ensuring all of her own soldiers, as well as all of the Equestrian royal guards and the griffon soldiers could hear her.

“Four changelings dead, Ma’am,” one of her soldiers responded quickly. “Three air interceptors, one hoof soldier.”

“Five royal guards dead,” one of the pegasus guards followed. “Three pegasus guards, two unicorn guards. And Captain Skydart missing. Presumed captured and taken POW.”

No griffons responded. Not that she needed them to. Velos had already told her they had taken at least eight.

“Gather the dead, and load them into carts,” she ordered, again making sure everyone could hear. “Search the area and make sure everyone who can be accounted for is. We march north in one hour, even if we have to cross a road. No more rest stops until we make camp tonight.”

“And what is it that makes you think you can issue orders now?” a gruff voice said from behind her. She rounded, confronted by one of the pegasus guards. A private first class according to his rank insignia. His ears laid back on his head, and his stance was aggressive.

“With Captain Skydart gone, I’m the highest ranking officer here, and the most qualified to lead,” she responded firmly but calmly, taking a defensive stance. Was the pony whelp actually planning to attack her?

“Commander Velos could probably make the same claim,” the pegasus responded with a quick flick of his head towards the griffon commander before returning his full attention to her.

“I claim no right to leadership,” Velos replied. “The Griffon Kingdom is officially at war with Equestria, and we are a band of renegades. It would not be appropriate for me to claim command here.” At least the griffons wouldn’t give her any trouble then.

“Nevertheless,” the pegasus responded with a stomp of his hoof, “we do not take orders from a changeling. Especially not on Equestrian soil.” He had spat the word changeling as if he were spitting out something poisonous.

Auraria felt anger well up inside her at his disrespect, but she kept it firmly in check. She did narrow her eyes, however, and tense her stance slightly before responding.

“And just who do you propose to lead this mission then, Private? Your Captain is missing, presumed taken POW. And the highest ranking pony among you is a private first class. None of you have any leadership qualifications.”

“The highest ranking royal guard here will lead and will give the orders. We will not take orders from a cockroach! Not on our own land!” the pegasus shot back at her, stomping his forehoof aggressively.

She narrowed her eyes further at the speciesist insult. Calling a changeling a cockroach was pretty much the most denigrating term you could use for one of her species. Her anger became a volcano, threatening to erupt at any moment. But she was far too disciplined to lose her cool. Far too in control of herself. A number of royal guards were standing behind their loose-mouthed private, she noticed. But they mostly glanced at each other nervously, seeming unsure of themselves, or what they should do. Behind her, several of her own soldiers had gathered. They most certainly were sure of themselves. She stared down the disrespectful pony in front of her, responding in a very firm tone of voice.

“First of all, I am a changeling, not a cockroach, and I better never hear you use that term again referring to me or any of my soldiers. Second, this is a joint Equestrian and Changeling operation, Private. We are allies in this war. As such, you will obey the orders of an officer, changeling or otherwise. And you will show me the proper respect due my rank!” She narrowed her eyes further, tensing herself, ready to spring into action at the slightest move on the part of the foul-mouthed private who was daring to challenge her.

“Is that so,” the pegasus guard stated flatly. Then he launched at her, pushing off with his hind legs and trying to plow straight into her. His attack had been fast, but she’d been expecting it and was more than ready for it, sidestepping it easily. He landed in the snow and she quickly spun to face him again, buzzing her wings to help her spin quickly and avoid getting bogged down in the snow.

“Stand down, Private!” she ordered with a snarl. Instead, he turned and lunged at her again. This time, she braced herself and met his attack, her forelegs entangling around his. He pulled to one side, trying to toss her to the ground. She resisted, pulling the other direction before pushing in the same direction he was, catching him off balance and tumbling him into the snow on his side. She let her wings carry her backwards quickly, landing a few paces away from him.

“I said stand down, Private!” she commanded again as he rose to his hooves, turning to face her once more. Again, he launched himself at her, and again, she met his charge, her forelegs entangling with his. A slow learner, this one. But she was a patient teacher, and this arrogant, racist pony desperately needed a lesson.

This time, she took the initiative, pulling him sharply to one side. He countered by quickly pulling opposite, throwing all of his strength in it, exactly as she’d expected him to do. The fool thought he could win by raw strength alone—a mistake that caused him to overcorrect and pull too hard. She capitalized on it before he had a chance to realize it, suddenly reversing her own momentum and pushing him in the same direction he was trying to pull her. At the same time, she used her left hind leg to hook one of his, sweeping it out from under him and tossing him to the ground again on his side.

This time, she didn’t jump backwards, instead, spinning a quarter turn and straddling him before he had a chance to try to get back to his hooves. He tried to turn onto his stomach to get some leverage, but she quickly countered by simply dropping her haunches, sitting on his side now, pinning one of his wings underneath her against his own body, his other wing pinned to the ground by the other side of his own body.

“Yield, pony,” she commanded once she had him securely pinned beneath her. He responded by kicking his hind legs, struggling furiously, as if he were a mouse caught by a cat. But trapped on his side as he was, he could find nothing to push against, and she knew the only thing he was accomplishing at this point was wearing himself out. Well, she could help him do that a bit faster she decided, squeezing her hind legs on either side of him as she remained seated on top of him, compressing him downward to the ground now, as well as from two sides with her legs. He grunted in response, breathing obviously an effort for him now.

“Yield, Private,” she ordered again.

Again, he tried to kick himself free, but she maintained her position, holding him firmly to the ground. She knew there was no way he was going to escape, and he would realize it soon enough as well. Having him secured, she turned half her thoughts to another potential problem, looking up from the royal guard trapped beneath her and glancing around. The commotion had attracted a fairly large crowd of ponies and changelings. The changelings vastly outnumbered the ponies, though, and none of the royal guards seemed willing to risk helping the pegasus guard out of the situation. Not with a line of changeling soldiers several rows deep keeping them at bay. And especially not when the arrogant private had no one to blame but himself for the situation he was in now. She returned her attention to the struggling pony beneath her, her pin still completely secure.

Finally, he stopped struggling, apparently realizing that none of his companions were going to come to his aid.

“I… yield,” he said reluctantly, as if he had to force the words out.

She stopped squeezing with her legs as soon as he yielded, and he gasped deeply as she allowed him to take in full breaths again. For the time being, though, she continued to keep him pinned. She looked directly down at his face, speaking in a tone that allowed for no argument.

“I’m willing to forget this little incident occurred, provided I have no future problems with you, Private.”

“Yes … Ma’am,” he responded, although again, it was obvious from the tone and delay that it required effort for him to say.

“Good,” was all she said in response before finally standing up and stepping off of him. She offered one of her forehooves to help him back up. He didn’t accept it, instead pushing himself to his own hooves, and backing into the crowd of royal guards that had gathered, looking as if he were trying to disappear into it.

She looked around again. The royal guards all looked uneasy, shifting their eyes nervously towards each other, or sometimes to the ground, as if unsure what they should do next, although none of them seemed willing to raise any more objections to her claim of leadership. The griffons just stood there, expressions unreadable as if none of this affected them at all. Given their own commander had already relinquished any claim to leadership, they probably couldn’t care less whether they were lead by a pony or a changeling, as long as whoever lead them was competent and not likely to get them all killed. Her own soldiers, of course, were the picture of confidence. None of them would show their emotions. They were far too well trained for that. But changelings had the ability to sense emotions, and she could feel the pride flowing from them. Pride in her. Pride in their commander and their leader. Well, it was time to see how the ponies would respond to her orders. She turned towards the gathered pegasus guards.

“Which two of you are the fastest flyers?”

“That would be us, Sir … pardon me, I mean Ma’am,” a young looking pegasus answered as he and a companion stepped forward slightly, both of them privates according to their rank insignias. She let his gender slip slide, knowing it was an honest mistake. Females didn’t serve in the Royal Guard, she knew, and the ponies would be unused to referring to anyone as “Ma’am.” None of the other pegasi challenged the private’s claim to being the fastest flyer, so she accepted it at face value.

“The entities we encountered in battle clearly came from The Beyond. The fact that at least some of them managed to slip through the barrier guards and travel this far south means they could be in a position to threaten any city, even Canterlot. It’s vital that Lady Twilight be informed of this.

“Return to Canterlot. But the ones who attacked us might expect us to try to send a message back to Canterlot and have interceptors waiting. So both of you take a different route, neither one direct. Tell them exactly what happened here. Exactly. Including the fact that I’ve taken command of all Equestrian, Changeling, and Griffon forces in the area. Tell them we are heading directly north from this location to join the barrier guards at Cold Saddle Alps. Give them my name. They’ll know who I am.” She was almost certain they would. Given how fast she had risen through the ranks of the Empire’s army, she was a prime candidate to be named Supreme Commander of the entire changeling military within the next few years. Equestrian intelligence probably had a file on her nearly as thick as the one they had on Chrysalis herself.

“Yes, Ma’am,” both pegasus guards responded in unison, but then a third one spoke up.

“With all due respect, Ma’am, there are few enough of us here as it is. Why not send a changeling disguised as a pegasus guard?” That was true. There were only about three thousand royal guards with them, compared to around fourteen thousand changelings. But she shook her head slightly.

“There’s too much risk of detection, and those in Canterlot might not believe a changeling is telling the truth.” That was only part of the reason. The other part was that even disguised as a pegasus, a changeling flyer couldn’t tolerate the bitter cold nearly as well as a pegasus. Even though they had the appearance of having fur and feathered wings when taking the form of a pegasus, those features didn’t provide any of the warmth or windbreak benefits of real fur and feathers. But that was strategic information about changeling soldier limitations that she wasn’t quite willing to give to the ponies. Not yet anyway. Not until she was sure this fragile alliance was going to hold together. Although, she suspected Equestrian intelligence already knew about the limitation anyway.

“Yes, Ma’am,” the one who had raised the objection responded. She returned her attention to the other two.

“Go. And fly as fast as you can. But remember, separate and indirect routes.”

“Ma’am,” they both responded again before spreading their wings and taking to the air. When the two had cleared the trees, they banked towards Canterlot, splitting off from each other. They disappeared from sight within a few seconds, absorbed into the dark as if they had fallen into a well of black ink.

She turned her attention back to her assembled soldiers now … All of her assembled soldiers, including the royal guards and griffons. One of the pegasus guards spoke up.

“We need to find Captain Skydart … We need to rescue him … Ma’am.”

“We will search for him. I’ll send changeling scouts to look and they’ll report back to me. And if we find him, we’ll attempt a rescue if it looks feasible to do so. But our first priority needs to be getting to the northern barrier to protect against further incursions from the Beyond. Our experience today has already shown that they are slipping through the gaps in the border defenses and making their way deep into the southern parts of Equestria.”

“Why changelings? Why not pegasus guards, Ma’am?”

“As you said earlier, there are already few enough of you as it is. If there’s to be a rescue attempt, I’ll allow royal guards to participate. But for now, the changelings will do the scouting.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he responded with no further argument.

“The rest of you carry out the orders I gave earlier. Gather the dead and load them into carts. Search the area and make sure everyone who can be accounted for is accounted for. Be ready to march in one hour.”

“Yes Ma’am!” changelings, ponies, and griffons all responded in unison as they filed out to perform their assigned tasks.. She watched them go for a moment, then turned to a changeling soldier standing behind her.

“Staff Sergeant Rasahus, with me.”

“Ma’am,” he responded as the two of them walked to a quieter area away from the main activity. When they stopped, she turned her head, reaching into her saddle bag and taking out a waterproof map. Briefly, she had to fight with it to keep the wind from snatching it, but she gained control of it quickly and spread it out on the snow, using one forehoof to hold it down while Rasahus moved to stand on the other end.

“We’re approximately right here,” she said, pointing to a spot on the map with her horn not far west of the Mountains of Disharmony. “The party that attacked us fled to the east. This forest ends not far from here. Maybe four hours at a brisk walk. After that it’s open tundra until the base of the mountains.

“Take four scouts and proceed to the edge of the forest, Scout the tundra and see if you can find any sign of our attackers. The rest of us will head straight north. We’ll make camp in this clearing.” She pointed to a spot on the map about eight hours north at a fast march. “Meet up with us there tonight and report your findings.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he responded. The two of them stepped off the map and she folded it, giving it to him for reference. She had duplicates in her saddle bag. She always carried extra maps.

Then the two of them returned to the main activity, Sergeant Rasahus turning from her and going to pick out the scouts he would take with him. She didn’t have to say anything more to him, confident he would pick the right changelings. Her soldiers were well trained and knew their jobs. She only had to tell them what to do, not how to do it. She wasn’t sure she’d have that same luxury with the ponies that were now under her command.

An hour later, Commander Auraria ordered her units to fall in. Then she lead her army of changelings, ponies, and griffons north.

o.O.o

Nine hours later, Auraria sat on her haunches in her green and black tent, studying the maps on a low table in front of her. Two oil lamps near the sides of the map she was reviewing provided enough light for her to work by. Glowing coals in a brazier at the center of the tent provided warmth, the smoke venting through a small opening at the top of the conical roof. The thick nylon walls kept the arctic winds out, and it had stopped snowing. She thanked Dorylini for that as well. That would make the coming days of marching easier, as well as make it more likely her scouts might find some sign of their attackers.

Outside, the sounds of pots and pans being scrubbed as changelings, ponies, and griffons cleaned up after the evening meal. Captain Skydart had allowed them to self-segregate themselves by species into three separate camps. Not her, though. She forced them all to stay in the same camp and had ordered them to eat together. If they were going to fight together, they were also going to live together.

She’d marched them for eight hours before calling a halt for the night’s rest. They’d covered a lot of territory. More than eighty miles. An exceptional distance given the terrain and snow. The ponies had had no trouble keeping up throughout the entire eight hour march, nor had they lodged any complaints about wanting to stop. Tomorrow, she planned to march them at least twelve hours, with one forty-five minute rest stop. They’d eat while marching. She expected to cover nearly a hundred and twenty miles tomorrow. If they could maintain that rate, and the weather held, they’d reach the Cold Saddle Alps in eleven days. If they could fly, they’d be there in one day. But the unicorn and earth pony guards they’d picked up in Trottingham ruled that option out. Even between the Changeling Army and the Pegasus Guard combined, they didn’t have enough chariots to transport all of the ground forces. That and if it started to snow again, her changelings wouldn’t be able to fly for long without picking up too much ice on their wings.

The ponies had had no trouble keeping up on the march today, despite the fast pace she’d set. Nor had they protested or asked for a break … It wasn’t because the royal guards were out of shape or undisciplined, then.

“Permission to enter, Ma’am,” a voice came from outside, interrupting her thoughts.

“Enter, Staff Sergeant Rasahus,” she responded.

The changeling scout undid the tent flap and entered quickly, closing the flap and securing it before turning and saluting her, bringing a forehoof to his chest. She returned his salute.

“Sit,” she said, motioning to a spot on the other side of her map table. He walked towards her, taking the spot she indicated. “Did you find their trail?”

“Yes, Ma’am. They landed shortly after they cleared the woods and continued on foot. They also turned northeast. The dragons probably can’t fly long in this cold before they risk severe frostbite to their wings.”

“Good work, Sergeant. Can you track them?”

“Yes Ma’am. I left two of my scouts behind to continue tracking, in case it snows again and starts to cover the prints. They’ll send out emotion beacons every thirty minutes.”

She nodded in approval. She didn’t have to tell her soldiers how to do their jobs. When a changeling intentionally projected their own emotion outwards, it was possible for other changelings to sense it from a distance of several miles. The Changeling Army used this capability as a navigation aid. Even though it was pitch black, the emotion beacons would act like a homing signal, leading the other changelings right to them. That was one capability of changeling warfare she suspected Equestrian intelligence did not know about.

“Tomorrow night, we’ll stop here,” she said, pointing to a spot on the map with her hoof. “I’ll leave you with eight hundred Changeling hoof soldiers and four Equestrian unicorn guards. Find our attackers and locate Captain Skydart. Do not engage the enemy unless they spot you and things go sour. If possible, have the unicorns teleport Captain Skydart away from them without him knowing you are there. Meet us at tomorrow night’s camp. Bring Captain Skydart there. In restraints if you have to.”

“In restraints, Ma’am?” Sergeant Rasahus questioned.

The simple answer was that their attackers had started an attack before realizing they were grossly outnumbered and couldn’t win, then decided they’d at least claim a very high ranking Equestrian Royal Guard officer as a prize. Perhaps to interrogate him, or just in the hopes that taking their officer and depriving them of leadership would result in the mixed band of ponies, changelings, and griffons falling into chaos, and perhaps even fighting each other. That was the simple answer.

But the ponies had kept up just fine in her eight hour march, without so much as a protest or request to stop for a break. Why had Captain Skydart stopped twice this morning? Was he intentionally trying to delay them? Perhaps to coordinate some joint action? And why had he taken them so far east just to avoid a road that wasn’t likely to have anypony on it anyway? Especially when he knew he was leading them dangerously close to the Mountains of Disharmony and the dragons that lived there?

Yes, the simple and convenient answer was that their attackers had just seized an opportunity to capture a high ranking officer when they realized they couldn’t win the battle. But Auraria didn’t accept answers just because they were simple and convenient—especially not when so many things just didn’t add up.

“I don’t think this is a rescue mission, Sergeant,” was all she said in response.

Auraria wanted answers. And one way or another, she was going to get them.