"Sunspot"

LORE: A Changeling is a creature that has blue eyes, black skin, a twisted horn, and holed wings in its original insect-like form. Can shapeshift into any form it desires. Responsible for invasion on Canterlot in 2 ARL.

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The six ponies collided into each other as they ran up the stairs to castle upper deck finding themselves in front of changeling army. Their wings and legs were holed and their horns were crooked.

"Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way!" Rainbow Dash shouted and charged at the first changeling in her sight.

Instantly, the changeling morphed itself into a copy of Dash.  Dash paused in her run, surprised that now she was facing an exact copy of herself. This gave the copy and chance to strike out at Dash, Sending her skidding back to her friends. Dash raised her head weakly to get a glimpse at her foe "How did..?"

Pretty soon, the other changeling took on their alternate forms forms, becoming copies of the six only with angered eyes and the smirks yearning for a skirmish.

"They're changelings, remember?" Twilight alerted quickly to Rainbow Dash.

"They're changelings, remember?" Repeated five Twilight-copy Changelings, grinning evilly.

"Don't let them distract you; we have to get to the Elements of Harmony; they are our only hope!" Twilight Sparkle order to her team of six.

Then chaos broke lose; Coats were bruised, teeth punched out, and several changeling who were knocked out returned into their insect-like forms, unconscious.

Fluttershy was paralyzed by all the fighting. Then she filched when she saw three other Fluttershy-copies converging towards her. In hasty attempt to fool them, she threw on an angered face and started swing punches randomly.

Luckily, The three disguised changelings walked right by Fluttershy. After they left, Fluttershy sped off in one direction only to be surrounded by four copies of growling Rainbow Dashes.

However, one of them was proven to be the real Rainbow Dash after she punched other three copies.

Applejack was having trouble. She thought that within the chaos that Twilight was right behind when all this time it was changeling, now pouncing on her.  It got worse as more changelings followed.

The real Twilight pinned down a copy of herself, using her magic to put the changeling into unconsciousness.

Twilight spun around and found Applejack copies piling upon the real Applejack.  Twilight transformed her magic into bolts of magenta energy locking onto each of the Applejack copies.

Soon there was only one Applejack left and Twilight levitated it in front of her, charging up a magical blast

"Real me! Real me!" Applejack panicked. When Twilight set her down she mouthed out a thank you.  

Pinkie was just smiling at the shape sifting changeling in front of her.

"Hehehe, do me, do me!" Pinkie bounced.

The changeling rolled its eyes, but it transformed into a copy of pinkie, mimicking her smile.

"Nah, I've seen better." Pinkie judged.  Then she snatched Twilight and held the unicorn like gun at the changelings...

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"Excuse me?"

I Jump at the sound of the new live voice; the only ones that I have been hearing were the ones of Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and my narrating of a 2500 year old adventure. In short, the story was of a royal wedding, family issues, and an invasion of shape-shifting bugs. I could never completely describe Cogneto's taste in literature, except that there weren't any boring tea-parties.

But back to reality. Two ponies stand before me at the front desk.  One was blue unicorn with saddle, a purple mane tied back in buns, and a pretty pink sunhat filled with flowers. Her ice blue eyes reminded me of crystal statues. The other was a grey stallion with green eyes and brown crew cut.

"You look nice." I say.  They both thank me at the same time.

"I'm Destiny! What are you doing here? The library is closed." I inform them.  Anypony who anypony here knew the Library was closed on Sundays.

The mare with sun hat answered "We're just tourists passing through and I thought I wanted to get a glimpse of the Ponyville Library. It's quite beautiful. Isn't it, Corncob?"

The stallion beside the mare blushed and straightened up. "Yes, dear...it kinda reminds me of...uh, home." If had my mind reading powers back, I could clearly tell what he was thinking. Because I couldn't, I could only assume he was nervous or that he was trying to hide something.

I smile. Sorta. "Thank you miss and mister..."

"Sparkle. Halsey Sparkle. And this is my coltfriend, Corncob. We're on our anniversary." She mentioned. Corncob turned away and trotted around at the treehouse library's interior. I bet he was embarrassed.

"Oh, my gosh! You're related to Twilight Sparkle!?" I yelped happily pointing to the statue of the pony and her assistant. I was just reading about one of her adventures and now I meet the mare who is her great-great-great-great-great grandchild? This was the next best day ever!

Halsey Sparkle nodded, giving a little smile. A little one. "That's right dear. But I'm afraid that my family didn't have an interest in keeping this place much longer. So they gave it to yours."

"You're not jealous are you?" I asked, showing my big adorable eyes. They are irresistibly cute - and quite the thing you need when your persuasion skills fail.

"Not all." Halsey stated "But before we leave, I would like to give you something. If you are lucky."

I widened my eyes. OH BOY, GIFTS! "What is it? What is it?" I bounce on the desk

Using a fore hoof, Halsey pulled out a coin.  It was in a reflective yellow color with its rim party shaved.

"A GOLD COIN! I AM THE RICHEST GIRL IN THE WORLD!" I shout at the top of my lungs. All the windows in the library fragment.

Halsey shakes her head "No, not exactly," (Me thinking: What? A fake?)  ", But this is what money looked like two-thousand years ago when Equestria was the only planet that everyone and everypony settled on."

"It looked like bunch of fake gold coins? Then I'm not interested." I object. A little rudely. A little. I didn't mean it though.

"No? But this is an artifact from ancient times. You could sell it and get a mountain of credits." Halsey replied.

"But then I need my sister's help with that; her credit card is with her. But she isn't here at the moment so she'll have to take a message. And I can never remember messages with all the ruckus that goes on in my head." I reply

"What kind of ruckus?" Halsey asked. Uh-oh. I couldn't let out my telepathy secret, even if it was gone.

"I'm...being an assistant manager," I lie quickly "...Of this library."

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Halsey could see subject-117 was quick to excite and sadden.  Than again she was only a filly; what would you expect?  And oddly she wasn't into money or shiny things that much. And to think that somepony like her could have survived lightning bolt was preposterous. But Halsey still had to test the subject's other abilities since her mind-reading was gone. PONI reported that it was damaged to the point where it was nothing.

"It must be hard work for such a young filly." The doctor replied.

"I can do it." 117 huffed.

"With your sister of course. Do you have any other family?" Halsey wondered, even though she knew everyone who was related to filly, including schoolmates and neighbors.

"My sister, Raysin, is with her boyfriend. I never saw my mom or dad. My brother, Cogneto..." I start to tear up. "...he's gone. He was in army."

He was in the marines Halsey corrected.

"How about if you and I play a game with this coin.  If you win, you decide what you want." Halsey thought of quickly, as to not upset the little filly.

"Anything?" subject 117 grinned, changing her mood

Oh Goddess, what did I get myself into? Halsey worried.  Subject 117's was due for recruitment in at midnight.  And now the doctor couldn't believe she was taking requests from an adorable little test subject. She hopped that Keyeswould somehow help him out of this. But the Stallion was now busy looking though books. But Halsey had to test her, no matter what.

"Deal. Name your game Mrs.Sparkle!" 117 accepted the challenge

Halsey pulled out a pen from her dress pocket. Then she marked one side of the coin with a blue "X".  "Now, I will flip it. If it lands on the X, You win." Halsey explained

"I always win!" Subject 117 chanted. Over Confidence, but not a bragger. Eager and enthusiastic The doctor analyzed.

"Let the games begin then."

Halsey flipped the coin in the air. On its way down, Subject 117 caught it in her hoof. Her smile on her lemon-colored face was priceless

"X marks the spot!" She shouted.

Halsey then she realized that she should stop playing. Subject 117 may love her now, but in the end she would come back to haunt her as one of 303 fillies and colts who would become part of the GREEHORN-II project.

"It appears I have to go now, Destiny." Halsey hastily concluded, glancing to Keyes. Keyes nodded in and trotted beside her to the door.

"But don't get I gift?" Destiny asked.

"Is it alright if I came back with gift?" Halsey replied.  She had ventured too far with this and now she wanted to retreat to her freezing lab back on Sigma Clopodia.

"But we made a deal that if I win I get to choose what I want," Destiny protested "And now I know what I what!"

Damn me...What's in for me next? Halsey couldn't take much more of this filly.

Destiny leapt on to the desk yelling "Mister Corncob! No smoking!"

Halsey could see Keyes had put his great-great-grandfather's pipe in his mouth. But Keyes never smoked; he only chewed on its end to assist his thinking.

Yet Keyes just smiled at the seemingly-harmless filly "Excuse me my dear but-"

"I am Destiny and will not allow anyone to smoke in MY LIBRARY!" Destiny reached out from under the desk clutching the brightest and reddest fire extinguisher in her hooves.

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"Good bye Ms. Sparkle and Mr. Corncob! Thanks for the hat!" Destiny waved, wearing Halsey's sun hat. It was what she had decided on wearing after she had won the coin toss, despite being a little ill-fitting.

Halsey had to admit while the filly was adorable and enlightening, she was the one who would hold her position no matter what. Just one of the characters she needed need for an Element. She may fit loyalty or laughter best...if she is a destined bearer

"Why did you need me again?" Keyes sneered. His clothing was now breached in white. Destiny had fired the wave of powder with his eyes open. Now they were bloodshot in pain, with his brown mane and grey coat in white.  Halsey and Destiny laughed, saying he looked like an ghost pony.

"I just wanted to show you how real PONI scientists do their tests." The doctor stated as they neared the pegasus wagon station. "It's the least I could do for a close colleague." Keyes swore she saw Halsey smirking.

"And what did you test?" Keyes said, placing his pipe back into his mouth. He took it out a spat into the ground, with some powder still stuck in there.

"Her reflexes, perception, alertness, personality, and luck, lieutenant." Halsey explained

Keyes gave dumbfounded look to the doctor's reasoning. "Luck? You're kidding right?"

While Haley waved for a Pegasus to bring a taxi wagon to come by and pick them up, she hissed to Keyes "If soldiers have discipline and guns, heroes have luck."

"What does her luck make you so interested in revoking the Elements of Harmony?" Keyes knew about the doctor's classified plan.

Halsey pulled Keyes close to her, signaling Keyes to keep extra quiet "The Elements only arise when there is conflict that could change Equestria forever. Since then, they remain with their bearers, until his or her life ends. Tradition states they are to be locked up where they were last used. In this case, they are hidden at Canterlot Castle until new bearer arise."

"So how does making an army of soldiers consisting of fillies and colts have to do with -"

Halsey gently put hoof on Keyes snout, silencing him.

"The Elements are always bestowed on those who have unique and amazing personalities that sometimes are contradicting each other.  By bringing ponies with those different personalities together, then The Elements may awaken again. And if they don't, at least we have an army to ensure another New Manebassa doesn't happen." Halsey didn't want to call them 'Elements of Harmony'; that name was judged inaccurate to her and many others.

It took Keyes few moments to understand what the striking and devoted doctor was saying. "Well, you'll get Loyalty and Honesty out of a good soldier.  But Laughter, Generosity, Kindness, and - if by Celestia's grace if you need it - Magic?  Odds are slim to nothing with soldiers, Doctor. Besides, will I see them in action?"

Instead of auguring further, Doctor Halsey Sparkle gave small smile "Oh you just won't see them in action...you'll start to believe in them even after they are dead."

Keyes cocked an eyebrow "Despite such an enlightening evening...I don't want to run into more of this."

"You'll be steering away from the worst of it, Corncob." Halsey replied, looking staring at Equestrian's setting sun.  She knew that this system was the only one where Celestia and Luna controlled the sun and moon. Every other system worked by itself.

In the end, Halsey briefly wonder if what she was doing was the exact same thing the insurrectionist and the suns of other systems were doing; defiance against Celestia's power.

Halsey pushed her thoughts away as she tried to focus on what to tell Princess Celestia when she reached Canterlot.  Princess Celestia loathed Halsey for not standing up to Twilight Sparkle's obsession with pleasing her, or continuing the sparkle family's tradition of studying friendship.  Yet both seemed to hold both a grudge and a respect for each other.  In fact, Halsey needed to talk to Celestia about the project's funding.

After that she would have to take a shuttle to Sigma Clopodia. That's where it would all begin

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MIDNIGHT

PLANET: SIGMA CLOPODIA

CLASSIFIED MILITARY COMPLEX

"Celestia doesn't approve of your plans doctor; but she understands the risks we must take if this will stop the insurrection and somehow rekindle the elements." Lyra, an AI represented as a holographic representation of a mini cyan mare sitting on holo-projector, informed.

Carrying her lab coat on her back, Halsey Sparkle paced around the amphitheater stage under a calming night time sky filled the sky with Turvus, Sigma Clopodia's ringed moon, constellations named after famous figures, and a swirl of stars.  But Halsey felt even more uneasy.

The complex included barracks, a thousand acres full of woods, Halsey's underground lab, and several buildings that all could see. Somewhere, she knew there was a motor pool, vehicle depot and full sized airpad. She just couldn't find them because this entire place could have been mistaken for a fenced and unsaturated town in the mountains.

"Doctor, Princess Celestia wonders if there are alternatives." Lyra wondered

Halsey asked her self this hundreds of times. "There are none.  The dragons will only make things worse like in Everfree Forest Wars.  Changelings are too genetically weak to use as frontline fighters. Griffons and Zebras are just recovering from that drop in their economies. And every other species won't join our cause or assimilate with us. We're on our own."

Lyra interrupted. "She meant why use foals."

Felling mortified, Halsey held her anger. "Their minds are more adaptable to augmentation and indoctrination.  We can alter their bodies to become super soldiers stronger and faster than normal marines."

Lyra sat awkwardly, thinking "Still, we can't do this to adults?"

Halsey knew the public would ask the same question if they found out. "Last time you asked me this, my answer has remained unchanged; We're only scientists, not gods. Even Celestia can't make a perfect soldier who also has the sociality of a civilian. Sometimes, it's one or the other."

Lyra pondered for a moment. "Very well Doctor, yet do you have any idea what we should tell the subjects?"

Halsey had her answer ready. "I can't lie to them, Lyra; they have to know we kidnapped them.  Ponykind and the UNSCOE will be saved, even if some have to suffer for it." Halsey stated, throwing on her lab coat. If there was anything she could confess to Celestia after this insurrection was crushed, it was that she told the truth. Or at least most of it

"Affirmative, but I strongly recommend you take my advice; they are only children today who will only be soldiers tomorrow and probably dead in a month. It won't matter if you lied to them." The holographic AI, Lyra icily replied before shutting her holographic form off.

"Your advice is noted." Halsey brushed her purple main before seeing the first of Phoenix dropship land - they were a little older than foals; how hard could this be?

One by one, several Phoenix-class Drop ships landed into the ring in front of her platform.  The doctor knew that in a total of five hours PONI had already captured all 303 candidates. Drill instructors were forcing the candidates, fillies and colts, out like cattle. They all were confused, tired, as if it were in a dream.  Those who did try to escape back into the Phoenix Dropships were zapped back into place by stun sticks in the sergeants' mouths.

I take it back - this isn't going to be easy Halsey was starting to sweat.  These kids weren't adults. They wouldn't understand what she was saying, or what would be done to them in the months to come. They all wouldn't make it.

Halsey then spotted a familiar pegasus wearing an eye-catching sunhat in the crowd.  But unlike the other fillies, her face seemed relaxed, patient, and ready.

That was enough for Halsey to get the strength to start.

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I've visited Cogneto's military base on War Horse Day.  So when I woke inside a phoenix-class dropship with a bunch of stallions shutting us up, I was only a little surprised.  I didn't want to be scared - I had to be different. I had to be tough and brave if I wanted to somehow make those innies pay.

Before I went to sleep back home, all I remembered before the lights went out was Raysin kissing me goodnight.  When she closed the door I threw on my sunhat. It was quite the best day ever.

Then I had to pee at 22:00 (I had a digital clock on my bedside table).

Right as I came back into my bedroom, two ponies - a mare and a stallion placing a filly on my bed.

I gasped. That filly looked exactly like me.

The stallion heard me and held up something that looked like a pen to his mouth.  From it, A tiny dart pierced into my hoof, making it all num.  Pretty soon my body felt all sleepy and could feel myself falling into somepony's hooves.

"Welcome to the Greenhorn-II program."  The mare on the stage addressed to us all. She used her unicorn magic to project her voice as if spoken though a microphone.

Halsey - It was her! The mare that visited me that morning and gave the sunhat! What was she doing here now? What was I doing here now?

"You have been call upon from across the galaxy to serve." Halsey continued. Her voice was gentle and her expression was neutral, maybe even little regretful.

Some of the other kids quieted down on the stage. I'm now really glad I lost my mind reading powers.  Otherwise, I would have a huge headache.

"You will be the proctors of Equestria and all her colonies. There will be great deal of hardship on the road ahead." Halsey Sparkle paused, trembling slightly.

Stage fright! I must help her! I start a soft clap with hooves being first in row. Everypony just stares at me seeing I'm the only one clapping. But Halsey catches it, yet she gives sadden smile to the crowd.

"You cannot return to your families. But you will all be a success in the end." Halsey choked again, but this time I couldn't help her.

Everyone went silent gapping their mouths wide open. Beside me, a colt started to tear up.  But somehow, that filly that I saw was a clone of me was the reason why they wouldn't allow us to return.  We probably were being replaced.  Maybe Raysin might like the clone better than me.

But were we going to become heroes of the galaxy? Like Cogneto? Like Twilight Sparkle and her friends?

Halsey Sparkle resumed her speech "This place will become your home. I, your trainers, and fellow trainees will become your family.  The instructors shall guide you to your barracks.  It's going to be long day for you tomorrow. Good luck."

That's when the stallions with those shock sticks start pushing us back into the dropship and yelling at us.

Even as they do so, I do my best to take off my sunhat and place it on the floor. I would try to tell Halsey that I'm giving it back to her but she is already off the stage and speaking with an instructor.

I just felt that if I was going to leave Ponyville, Raysin, Minnie-Apple-Los, I might as well leave everything.

The hat was just resting under the nighttime sky of galaxy in middle of an empty amphitheater for endless hours before somepony found it again.