(16)
Charcoal skies slumped over what was suppose to be a gorgeous, Summer’s day. Fast rolling clouds tumbled above Ponyville, being pushed along by a chill gale that sang through the valleys and hugged the buildings when they approached. An uncanny jumble of warm air and cold winds had set the mood for stormy weather. The world was darkened; bleak hues and creeping darks crept across the land. Not a single drop of precipitation had been felt all day though; just a lingering, virgin squall with the electric eerie presence of a grand thunder-battle on the rise.
It never came however–all that Tuesday, it never set in. Time, (to the ponies) was set off motion by the lack of a sun; Celestia’s star was taken all too much for granted it seemed. Villagers were hardly seen outdoors that day, for they were on the constant watch for the massive thunderstorm. The end of the day was soon approaching, however, no sign of afternoon rays or changes in the hues of the cumuli above could give way the sign of night arriving. Twilight Sparkle witnessed this, and knew something wasn’t right.
She had returned from running some errands around town, making sure she was quick on her hooves about it and not wanting to be caught in the middle of a powerful storm. Before entering the Ponyville Library, she took one last, long look at the atmosphere. Reports from Weather Pegasi a few days earlier had broadcasted that the weather in town was going to be beautiful, not a spot of cloud in the sky; she figured this had to be some grandeur of an incident that was taking place in Cloudsdale to withhold the Weather Pegasis’ duties. If only she had a clear way of knowing what was going on.
The unicorn tried to visit Rainbow Dash, hoping she would be home later today after her visit to the D.W.A., however, Twilight discovered that her cloud home was still locked and thought that she still must be away. The purple pony played this off as just an accident on Cloudsdale’s part–it wouldn’t be the first time. She came to the conclusion that Rainbow Dash was probably doing some work up there to help out with the weather calamity that had taken place, and by tomorrow morning, everything would be just fine. She magicked her home’s door ajar and closed it behind her, retiring for the evening.
After a few hours of making some vegetable soup for both her and Spike, feeding Owlowiscious, bathing Spike and sending him to bed early, she found herself cuddled up beneath the blankets of her own bed reading onward into the night. She peered out the window and yet still the storm had not followed through, but the gusts of wind continually howled across Ponyville. She didn’t mind this as she continued reading her newest novel of choice.
In the candlelight of her bedroom, she softly giggled and blushed with each turn of the page. The cover of the novel read, ‘Fifty Shades of Hay’ and she was enjoying it thoroughly. Twilight had lost track of time during her ventures through the ‘captivating’ novel and had no plans of stopping. She had been deeply entranced by many books before, reading them well beyond night and into the morning hours–so this was quite common for the mare.
Something–however–unsettled the pony as she heard a bump downstairs. Even through her wild imagination, and even through the wailing gales from the ghastly weather outside, she knew what she heard was something from in her house. She finished the paragraph she was on, slid a leaflet into her book and placed it by her bedside. Twilight then levitated the candle off of the tea table next to her and made her way downstairs, having the feeling that Owlowiscious was sleep-flying again.
The shadows of the darkened library loomed before her as she walked down the stairs to the main floor. The arboreal home was much more blackened than any other night due to the stormy canopy of clouds; the cold quarters of her house sent shivers of uneasiness down her spine. Another soft bump came from the kitchen, and she began to make her way towards where she heard it. Before she had passed into the next room, her eyes caught sight of her pet. She turned towards the window where her owl usually perched and discovered that he was there all along. With this disturbing discovery, she was beginning to fear that some pony or some thing was intruding. Her eye’s grew with concern as she slowly stepped back from the sleeping Owlowiscious.
As she turned, she was met by a pair of frigid, blue eyes that stared far through the cloak of darkness. Before she could react, the eyes blurred quickly through the shadows at an astounding speed. When they reached Twilight, the creature sunk its fangs into the purple neck of the unicorn. Twilight gasped, trying to scream, but couldn’t as the being sunk its fangs further into her neck. The unicorn began to lose consciousness and soon fell to the floor as the monster let go of her. The magic that enveloped the candle faded as it dropped to the floor and extinguished itself.
Three more pairs of eyes walked out of the shadows to examine the fallen Element of Harmony. The changeling who made the attack used its corrupted magic and began to encase Twilight in a cocoon of glowing, green webbing. The other changelings easily captured Owlowiscious and Spike without even waking them. They suspended the three in magic shells, placing them into a paralyzed, sleeping stasis without their knowledge. The four changelings looked over them with jagged grins of satisfaction.
One spoke to another changeling, “Is this the last Element in the village, General Defer?”
Defer replied, “Precisely... The pony village is taken. The Elements are captured and our assimilation was successful. They had no suspicion of our arrival. This operation was flawless.”
Another changeling spoke up, “Hexarch said there were six Elements... our sources say we have only captured five... One is missing, sir.”
“This is no worry, as long as the Element of Magic is subdued, we have nothing to fear. The rest are weak without their leader.” He commanded the changeling scout next to him saying, “Send word to Hexarch that Ponyville is ours. The Elements will be useless as we take Canterlot.”
The one changeling saluted his higher-ranked kin and made his way out into the night. As he flew, he looked back behind him and smiled at what he saw. Hundreds of changelings walked the streets of Ponyville. Green magical blasts brightly flashed one by one in the windows of many homes below. The ponies were taken hostage without their knowing, still quietly sleeping in cocoons which slowly fed off their love and happiness. The town was silently taken in under an hour, and now nothing but Canterlot and Cloudsdale stood in their path.
Her vision was blurred as she came out of the darkness. All she remembered after that was a lone hoof reaching through the cloud coverage and pulling her out firmly. Rainbow Dash emerged through the debris of thick cumuli cloud with the help of Spitfire.
Spitfire expressed her gratitude, “Thanks... That was a little too close for comfort.”
“No problem,” the cyan mare replied.
“No, really. Thank Celestia you pushed me away from the building itself. If that would have fell on any of us, we would have been goners. But luckily we were only caught in the stratus rubble.” Spitfire and Rainbow watched as dark green volleys of acid matter continually flew into the city from the outside.
Urgency returned to the mares as Spitfire ordered, “We need to act fast! You need to make your way to the Emergency Escape and lead the pegasi to the Rainbow Factory. I’ll try and make our word known to the rest of the city with the help of any soldiers that can lend me a hoof and begin to start escorting ponies to the factory. We don’t have much time!”
Dash clopped her hooves together and responded, “Right! On it!” She took off immediately through the city, leaving behind her hallmark rainbow trail.
Both began their duties as Spitfire started calling out to the other ponies from above the city to head towards the Rainbow Factory for safety. The pegasi knew of Spitfire and had no quarrel with following her orders as they began to hastily fly towards the factory. In no time, Spitfire had a mass exodus in her wake as she speedily flapped towards the Rainbow Factory. When she reached the plant, it was entirely deserted. The employees had abandoned it only minutes after the Thunder Bell sounded.
The gates to the factory were wide open and raw rainbows still flowed continually outward into overflowing pools. Spitfire reached the massive and thick cumuli doors and pushed them open as far as they could. Pegasi began to swarm into factory; shoulder to shoulder, they pressed themselves through the narrow doorways and deep into the farthest reaches of the plant. Before long, Spitfire spotted Rainbow approaching with another multitude of pegasus ponies. They too squeezed themselves into the factory as stragglers constantly followed behind.
As Rainbow held one of the large doors to the factory open, she asked Spitfire, “How can we be sure that these are all the ponies in the city?”
She responded while holding the door across from Rainbow Dash, speaking loudly over the rush of denizens between them, “I’ve sent a few soldiers to sweep through the neighborhoods and districts to see if they can find anypony else.” She looked away and continued, “If we can’t find anymore pegasi soon, we’ll have to lock the doors while locking them out too.”
Rainbow protested, “Absolutely not! We have to let everypony in! Even if they are late!”
“There’s no choice! If the changelings breach the city, they can take form of our citizens and soldiers. If we let a pony in and it happens to be a changeling, then we’ll have a bigger crisis on our hooves. We either risk locking a few ponies out... or risk losing the entire city.” The blue pegasus had a hard time copping with what Spitfire had said, but she knew she was right. With a heavy heart, she made eye contact with the yellow mare and silently nodded in agreement.
Spitfire spoke up, “I’m sorry. I feel your pain, but it has to be done.”
As the last remaining stragglers ran in, Rainbow noticed a familiar face approaching the factory’s gateway. The mare stepped in front of the doorway and blocked his arrival. Mayor Hurricane came to a halt before Rainbow Dash and landed before her–Spitfire didn’t stop Dash from what she was doing. The overweight stallion huffed and wheezed, trying to catch his breath. It was difficult carrying his larger body with his older and smaller wings, especially since he was use to never leaving his office or getting any real exercise. The two met face to face, Rainbow hadn’t forgotten what the Mayor had called her as she stared him down, giving him the most disgusted look. For a moment, he began to believe he was truly going to be locked out of the Factory for what he had said before to both Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. He grew fearful and shuddered, waiting for what seemed like hours in front of those two mares.
She could have easily locked the doors behind her and kept him out, but the look of pity and despair in his eyes reminded her of who she was. She was an Element of Harmony, she knew she had to be better than this scumbag before her. She stepped aside, leaving the door to the factory wide open. Hurricane was a tad shocked at her choice and gave a faint smile towards the mare. She retained her emotions as she watched the mayor adjust the hat on his head and enter with a lively strut.
Spitfire smiled and warmly stated, “You did the right thing.” Her hoof then rested on the the cyan pony’s shoulder. Dash turned to look her friend in the eyes and gave a light gesture of satisfaction back.
Her momentary happiness subsided as she wondered aloud, “I hope so... I’ve been beginning to question my choices recently.”
Near the bottom of the cloud city, two large cumuli parted to reveal a hidden flight deck. The cumuli clouds moved slowly due to their incredible density and flickered with the same electrically current that was around the city. The deck was occupied by a squadron of a mere two-hundred pegasi warriors, a dismal number compared to the thousands of changelings that swarmed around the city skies. Each was adorned in silver and purple armor from head to hoof. The plating of the armor was very flexible, especially around the the wings where it was most desired. Each ariel solider held spears in their hooves, while on their left sides rested their crossbows. Both Generals, Valiant and Marestorm, stood before their troops, facing away from them at the moment and observing the changeling activity.
Valiant looked over at Marestorm and softly asked, “Are you ready?” She appeared very frightened, still transfixed on the scope of her enemy before her. The mass dark clouds of changelings was overwhelming; at that moment, she wished she had never dreamt of partaking in any military service. She felt so distant from her talent and gift that her cutie mark defined her to be, which appeared as two crossed spears with pegasi wings on the edges. Avoiding the question, she instead spoke of something else; but talked quietly enough for only Valiant to her.
“My mother,” she began, “told me we would never see another war in these lands again–that this kingdom was protected.” Her head rose back up from looking over the edge of the flight deck. Marestorm’s vision seemed lost outlooking over the sky before her. She then proceeded to turn towards the stallion next to her and smile halfheartedly.
She chuckled, “I guess that old ‘firecracker’ my mother is was wrong...” She turned back to look over the edge. “How will we survive after this? This will change us forever. Not just the pegasi, but everyone.”
Valiant responded, “We’ll make it. Just remember who you are... Show them you aren’t afraid.”
“But aren’t you just a little afraid of what’s happening around us?”
“...Terrified...”
After that word, he galloped off of the deck and into the air. Marestorm followed and behind her the rest of the Cloudsdale military. They circled in front of the city where the swarm populated and where the skyapults were located. The soldiers formed in lines in the skyways before the city. Even though they had never been in battle before, the countless drills they had undertaken had given them the knowledge to know what to do in warfare.
From afar, the leading changeling general spotted their formations and halted the bombardment of the city. The skyapults ceased, as did the lightning ballistas from Cloudsdale’s walls, seeing that their military had formed along its borders. The warrior pegasi awaited commands as Valiant and Marestorm flew before them overlooking the gathering swarm. The changelings began to accumulate into a larger mass, deserting their posts from around the city. Several thousand buzzed before them as a dark cloud. Their presence loomed over the city itself, blocking out the last of the sun’s light as it dipped under the horizon to began the long night ahead. Valiant turned towards Cloudsdale’s military, showing no signs of physical fear. He scanned the faces of the soldiers in front. Each was quivering, holding back their emotions in front of their higher ranking General.
“Today,” Valiant shouted, making his words fill the battlefield around him, “we do not fight for our country. Today, we do not fight for our survival. On this day, we fight for our families, our friends, our lovers and protectors. We fight for the ones who gave their affection and admiration to us, the ones who made us who we are today. These monsters have come to take these things away. They strive to take our love, our affection, our friendship. They are hungry, they are weak, and they are greater in number. And we will feed them–but not with our love, but with cold steel in their throats. We will drive back these pathetic creatures, we will send them back into the holes from which they have spawned from and they will know that on this day, Equestria did not give in. On this day, they will know that Equestria is mightier than the greatest forces this world has to offer. They will know this and they will spread the word across these lands that we, today and forever onward, will fight for our kind. Because we, we are eternal because we possess the greatest weapon in this world. We possess fellowship and companionship, we possess the undying affection our kind is known for, and we shall never give these beasts this.” He rose his hoof and proclaimed, “Today we shall be victorious!” The soldiers raised their spears and shouted triumphantly, causing the swarm of changelings to silence themselves. All along the city walls, soldiers yelled in jubilation, filled with a new, passionate fire to hold their city against the enemy.
The general of the changeling forces snickered when he heard the roars from the pegasi. He hovered over to a high ranking officer and ordered, “Capture the citizens, leave no warrior alive.” The officer nodded and with a deep breath blew into a twisted, punctured horn which gave off a high-pitched blast. The swarm immediately took off towards the chanting soldiers. They were a great distance away, but they speedily flew towards them.
Valiant saw this and shouted towards the other general, “Marestorm, now!” She quickly loaded a peculiar looking arrow into her crossbow and shot it into the air. The trail of the arrow gave off a bright red signal which alerted the city forces. From the power station that maintained Cloudsdale’s electric defenses, they began to produce an array of thick storm clouds that floated off in chains into the battlefield. It would take some time for the strategy to take full effect, but it was initiated and that’s all that mattered.
“At arms, soldiers,” yelled out Marestorm as she lowered her helmet and raised her spear forward. The warriors did the same as three lines flew above one another to create a large wall of defense. Valiant and Marestorm formed into the front of the line and held their spears out facing the approaching forces. All along the city walls, soldiers primed their crossbows and lightning ballistas for the coming assault; waiting for the moment when the changelings were close enough for direct impact.
Valiant raised a hoof and hollered over the blaring and growing buzzing of the changelings, “Steady! Steady!”
As the monsters were seconds upon collision with the Cloudsdale Warriors, Marestorm blasted, “Fire!”
A high ranking brigadier stationed on the wall heard this and he too yelled to his comrades, “Fire!”
In that instant, hundreds of bolts and arrows whisked from their weapons and sailed through the air at speeds which couldn’t be followed by the eye. The projectiles struck the front lines of the changelings and many lives were claimed by the first volley as they lifelessly dropped from the air and below the cloud coverage. This, however, wasn’t enough to hold them back as they continued towards their enemy.
“Take aim...” commanded the stallion brigadier on the wall, “...Fire!” A second wave of arrows flew from their crossbows and more changelings on the frontline descended below the cloud coverage. Valiant tensed up, seeing how even the volleys of arrows were no match for the coming forces. The lightning ballistas were then turned and moved to face the coming advances of the changelings. It took four stallions to turn and crank the ballista into location, as well as to charge it up using lightning rods, which conducted the electricity that surrounded the city itself.
“Fire everything you got,” commanded the brigadier atop the wall, “burn their mongrel hides!”
The ballistas began their charging sequence as the archers on the walls fired bolt after bolt into the coming lines of attack. When the artillery was ready, they discharged the built up energy, releasing a blinding bolt of raw electricity. As the bolt instantaneously struck the front lines, the current passed through a single changeling chained through a couple dozen more. The affected beasts dropped like rocks out of the sky with a trail of thick, black smoke which was caused by their now burnt flesh. The city walls’ defenses were greatly holding back the coming forces, but still they pushed through.
With one great heave from the enemy forces, they made contact with the defending lines from Cloudsdale. The warriors–including Marestorm and Valiant–thrusted their spears forward, penetrating the enemy ahead. The pegasi withdrew their spears and continued to pierce and stab changeling after changeling, letting their enemies fall below them. Each thrust and kill built upon the warriors’ confidence in victory–they truly believed their line of defense was working.
The changeling general from afar watched this and commented to the officer next to him, “I’m impressed. They are holding back the front lines...”
The officer said back, “Orders, General Defer?”
“Push harder.”
Valiant Steed started to notice that the changeling forces had begun to push back, trying their hardest to ease around the spears and attack them where they were vulnerable. It was getting gradually harder to hold them back as they piled atop one another.
Marestorm shouted over the ruckus, “Push back! Push back!”
The warriors tried to, but it seemed the greater multitude were steadily toppling their defenses. Changelings were beginning to pierce some of the pegasi with their horns, aiming between the gaps in the armor plating. When this occurred, warriors would fall back in pain and that’s when three or four changelings would pounce on a single guard and begin to slice and stab them. The first casualties of the war had set in on the pony side. With each loss of a solider, the changelings pushed back on them even harder; the bolts being fired from the city walls seemed useless to the mass of changelings.
Something broke the line in a quick movement. No one at first could tell what it was or where it came from. But then more and more streaks of white darted up from the cloud coverage below and broke the changeling lines that were attacking. In a few moments, the front lines were cleared and a large gap between Cloudsdale and the enemy forces was formed again. Everyone from all sides looked up to see what had broken the line, and when they discovered who it was, the pegasi cheered and roared with praise. The Canterlot Pegasi Royal Guards had come to aid in the battle of Cloudsdale.
General Defer raised an eyebrow and hissed, “Now it is getting to be a fair fight...” He directed his attention towards the officer next to him and ordered, “Bring me both a Canterlot and Cloudsdale soldier.”
“Yes sir! Right away, sir!” The officer jetted off with a dozen other changeling soldiers into battle. Defer continued to hover among the swarm with his forearms crossed, scanning over the battlefield from a safe distance.The changeling forces scattered amuck and broke their own line. They began to spread themselves around the borders of the city skylines with the goal to separate the two militaries.
Marestorm shouted her commands to both her own forces and Canterlots, “Scatter Zone! Scatter Zone!” She ordered an old maneuver most Equestrian militaries knew from years passed. It had become common drill and the soldiers knew exactly what to do. The tactic was to take multiple zones around a defending position, but not stray after singled enemies. Both Canterlot and Cloudsdale forces merged and broke apart to their separate zones. Both generals and a battalion of troops made their way to the front gates of the city, a most crucial point in the zone strategy.
Medic pegasi had hastily taken the field and were trying to catch as many wounded pegasi as they could before they would fall to their deaths. Medics were seen entering and exiting through the underbelly of the city where the flight deck was. It was heavily fortified with multiple guards on post at all times and lightning ballistas on both sides of the deck. Not a single changeling had successfully broke through it yet. It was a small area and the only area of the city where one could enter without being fried by the electric field. So keeping it well protected was a high priority.
Changelings maneuvered like locust through the air, striking and battering soldiers to and fro in their zones. Both sides were now taking losses, but the changeling loses outnumbered the pony’s due to the pegasi’s armor and the changeling’s lack of weapons or armor. Even though the changelings were losing more soldiers than the pegasi, they still were in greater numbers than the defending ponies, and this plan would only work if each solider held their zones.
The thick storm clouds that were being slowly pushed into the battlefields had finally drifted out enough to take effect. The clouds began to form around the zones and city, and now the entire battlefield was shrouded in dark, stormy weather. Above and below them, thunder claps and lighting bolts sparked and boomed around them all. Everyone’s vision of the battle was darkened and rain began to pour in torrents. This storm was still controlled, however, by the forces within Cloudsdale. The stallions who commanded the storm could choose who to throw a lightning bolt at or where to place a twister. This was the ultimate advantage that Cloudsdale could offer to protect its city and its soldiers.
A few certain changelings quickly weaved through the lines and disarmed both a Canterlot and a Cloudsdale pegasus. They then whisked them into the greater swarm above the city where the general was located without alerting any of the other soldiers who were preoccupied with their continually advancing enemy. The changelings brought the two pegasi into the swarm and in front of General Defer.
The Cloudsdale Guard spouted, “You won’t get a word out of me!”
The General smiled and acknowledged, “Oh, I know this, but I don’t need your words.” The general began to hover around the two and with his magic, cut the armor straps from each of their plating, letting the armor fall towards the distant and indistinguishable ground. As the Canterlot pony’s armor dropped off of him, the spell that concealed his identity faded and he returned to his normal self.
General Defer, intrigued, said “My, that is interesting. I always wondered why you Canterlot Guards looked the same.”
“Please,” The Canterlot pegasus pleaded, letting his emotions get the best of him. “Let us go! I beg you!”
“...Fair enough.” The general charged up his changeling horn and sent forth a powerful spell that sliced both of the wings off of the pegasi. The two ponies fell through the swarm and dropped below the battle zone.
Defer snickered and said to his officer, “You have done well... Access the hive mind, tell our kin their weakness... and begin the Death Dive.” The officer grinned back and closed his eyes, beginning to concentrate his magic. The general turned away and towards two stray soldiers in the swarm and called them over. They immediately flew towards him and saluted their general, awaiting orders. Defer spoke, “I have a special plan for you two...”
Through the officer’s mind, he accessed every Changeling on the battlefield and informed them on what to do. In a few moments, the changelings began to retreat back into the larger swarm. Valiant knew that they wouldn’t give up so easily and wondered what they were planning.
“Victory,” shouted Marestorm with her hooves raised.
“No! Not yet,” alerted Valiant. He then shouted over the storm, “Merge! Merge! Spread the word and merge back towards the front gates!” The soldiers did so as they began to accumulate into a large sphere of pointed spears and warriors. As they finally converged into a one unit, they witnessed the much larger sphere of changelings above them begin to rapidly and violently spin.
“Steady! Brace yourselves, stallions,” yelled Marestorm as she gripped her spear with both hooves, trying to hold her weapon still as her body quaked with fear. The swarm spun faster and faster until it began to uncoil itself and turn into a massive missile of thousands of changelings. They darted through the air as one mass, then plummeted towards the feeble pegasi below.
Valiant shouted as loud as he could, “Stay afloat! Don’t let these beasts through! Do whatever it takes!” Lightning ballistas from the wall and lightning bolts from the surrounding storm clouds began their relentless assault on the coming aerial blitz. Nothing could hold them back it seemed–they never lost speed as they were bombarded with lightning attacks.
When they were about to strike, Valiant cried one last time, “Hold! Hold! Hold!”
The swarm struck the pony militaries, but the pegasi didn’t expect them to do what they did. The first rows of changelings navigated around them, aiming their horns at the gaps between the armor, slicing the plating clean off of the pegasi. As the armor fell away, the rest of the coming changelings sailed around the armor-less ponies as well, cutting and stabbing at their now bare skin and wings. The pegasi dispersed in a wild panic as they held to their spears and fought with their own lives. The swarm scattered themselves and began chasing them down in teams in a three-to-one dogfight. The militaries on both sides were flung in all directions, it was now a fight for one’s own survival. Valiant and Marestorm had lost control of their forces as they too were avoiding being taken down by changelings.
Two Cloudsdale pegasi, one holding another that was wounded, made their way towards the flight deck where the medics came in and out. “Quick,” he shouted towards the guards, “My comrade, he’s gravely injured! I need to take him to the emergency ward immediately!”
The guards noticed this and quickly parted for the two to pass. As they entered the city, the pegasi holding his wounded companion snuck away from the direction of the infirmary and into an alley way away from the hospital. They came out into a deserted street and began to frantically look around. The pegasi warrior dropped his friend, who flapped himself upward and landed next to his kin as if he had no injury at all. As they made their way through the darkened and emptied streets, they came around a corner and stopped at what they saw. They looked at one another and smiled as they calmly proceeded towards a certain building.
They passed by a gate that read, ‘Warning! Authorized Personal Only! The City Defense Power Station is off limits to any and all citizens without special criteria.’