Her Frontier

by FromTheMoon

Baptism Under Fire

Chapter 13: Baptism Under Fire

"Wait what did you say that thing is?" Top Notch looked over to Rainbow Dash but she wasn't giving any answer. "Rainbow Dash!? Hey snap out of it!" He began to shake her a little in an attempt to snap her out of her daze.

Rainbow Dash finally snapped back into reality. "I s-said it was a changeling but somethings not right. This one isn't like the ones I saw in Canterlot a long time ago." She looked over the creature and noticed there definitely was a difference. "The ones that attacked Canterlot were black and had blue eyes. This one is dark green with red eyes and besides this one seems a bit smaller than the ones I fought back then."

"How's that possible? From what I heard about them changelings all have the same basic drone shape. Why is this one different?" Top Notch and Rainbow Dash exchanged glances at one another. Neither seemed to have the answer.

"Isn't it obvious? That one's different because its a different species of changeling." A voice said from above.

Both Rainbow Dash and Top Notch looked up in time to see a white pegasus swoop in and land in front of them kicking up dust. Once the dirt had settled they saw Sheriff Silver Point standing in front of them. Before either had to a chance to talk to him he made his way over to the changeling on the ground and gave it a good look. "No doubt about it. That right there is a Wildling."

"Uh Wildling sir?" Top Notch asked.

"Did you hear me stutter boy? Yes I said Wildling. I didn't expect you to know the difference seeing as you've never seen a changeling in you life. Her on the other hand." He turned his attention to Rainbow Dash. "For one that brags about fighting off an army of them I thought that she would of at least known. about these too."

"Oh yeah? Well how do you know about these ones? I thought you said you didn't know about the changeling attack on Canterlot?"

Sheriff Silver Point walked up and gave Rainbow Dash a long hard stare. "Here I thought I would be the one will the crap memory due to my old age. I never said I didn't know about the attack, I said that didn't care about it. To be more specific I didn't care about whatever minor role you had in saving the city." With that said the sheriff walked back over to the changeling.

"MINOR ROLE!?" Rainbow Dash moved towards the old pegasus with a fire raging in her eyes and mind.

She was stopped by Top Notch sticking a foreleg out in front of her. "Let it go Rainbow Dash."

"But.."

"I said let it go." Top Notch said sternly.

For a moment their eyes met and in that moment each saw what was on the others mind. Top Notch saw the raging wildfire that was present in Rainbow Dash's eyes while she just saw a calm cloudy sky in his. "Please? For me?" After that the flame that had built up inside of her was extinguished. She closed her eyes and nodded her head. When she opened her eyes again she saw Top Notch smiling at her.

"Ugh." Sheriff Silver Point muttered under his breath witnessing the scene play out. "Guess those rumors about the two of them were true. The boy's a dang fool. Doesn't know what he's got himself into with her."

"Hey sheriff? What are you going to do with it?" Out of the corner of his eye the Sheriff could see that Top Notch was now next to him.

It was actually a valid question. In all the years that Sheriff Silver Point had worn the badge he never had encountered a changeling. Only one option made itself apparent in his mind. "I'll take it back to the station and lock it up in cell for now. When it's locked away then I'll think of what to do with it." He hoisted the creature onto his back and then opened his wings. "Do me a favor Top Notch and make sure that stallion on the ground there gets proper help will ya?" After Top Notch nodded the pegasus took off into the air in the direction of the Sheriff's station.

Once he was gone Rainbow Dash and Top Notch made their way to the pony couple on the ground. The mare was crying over the stallion and it had taken Rainbow Dash a few minutes to calm her down. Top Notch, with help from Rainbow Dash, lifted the unconscious stallion onto his back and then the group of four made their way out of the alley towards the doctors office.

---

Rainbow Dash and Top Notch headed over to the Sheriff's station after dropping off the couple at the towns medical center. The doctor had assured them that the stallion was going to be fine seeing as he had just taken a heavy blow to the back of the skull. The mare had begun tearing up from the good news and thanked both of her saviors for what they had done. Top Notch had asked the mare to keep quiet about what she had seen and heard about the changeling in the alley. She quickly nodded her head before hastily going back to her coltfriend's side.

"So what are you thinking about Rainbow Dash?" Top Notch asked as casually as he could.

"I dunno. I'm mostly just confused. To be completely honest I never thought I'd have to fight another changeling in my life."

"How come? Was it a tough fight last time?"

"Yeah I guess you could say that. Th fight itself was just really weird. Nothing like fighting an army that are clones of yourself and your best friends. It leaves you with a weird look of yourself." Rainbow Dash continued to muse when the two finally arrived at the Sheriff's station. Top Notch took the lead and opened the door for Rainbow Dash. "Ladies first."

"Ladies? Where?" Rainbow Dash let out a small quick laugh as she made her way into the building.

"Girl this is no laughing matter so try to keep a serious tone will you?" The Sheriff was in front of a closed cell looking inside at its new occupant.

Rainbow Dash wanted to say something in return but stopped herself when she felt Top Notch's presence enter the room. Both ponies made their way over to the cell the Sheriff was standing in front of and looked inside. The small changeling was pacing back and forth in its enclosure. When Rainbow Dash had come into view it added a deathly stare to its routine. Rainbow noticed that part of it's right wing was bent probably from being slammed back in the alley.

"Has it tried to talk to you Sheriff?" Top Notch had broken the silence that fell on the station. "I mean from what I've heard from Rainbow Dash I thought they could talk."

"That's because the ones your little mare friend fought were..."

"SHE'S NOT MY MARE FRIEND!"

"I'M NOT HIS MARE FRIEND!"

A pony could cut the tension in the air with a knife. " As I was saying the ones she fought were Hivelings. Those are the more intelligent sophisticated species usually led by a queen or king. These Wildlings usually travel alone or in small packs led by a single matriarch."

With Top Notch being the first to regain his composure he made to speak. "So have you ever dealt with any of these before Sheriff?"

"No but some of my predecessors have. They left me their reports of when ever a changeling would show up in town. I've read through all of them and usually one of these things would impersonate a colt or a mare in town and try to leech off love from the significant other."

"So how did the other Sheriffs get rid of the changeling problem?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well the first step would be discovering that their was a changeling in EverGlade. The town usually found out through one of two ways. The first being that the significant other the changeling was trying to leech off of would notice something off about the other and report it to the Sheriff. A lynch mob would usually then form and then drive the creature out of town."

"And the second way?" Top Notch interrupted.

The Sheriff gave both ponies next to him a glum look. "The second way the town would find out would be when some pony discovered the body of the victim the changeling was leeching off of. By the time any pony realized what had happened the changeling would usually be long gone with the town usually mourning the loss of a life."

Rainbow Dash wanted to speak but didn't get a chance to. The Sheriff now seemed confused and deep in thought. "One thing about this whole attack on the couple doesn't add up though. Wildlings never attack a pony couple. Even more so in broad day light. If they do attack they target those that are by themselves and those incidents are usually at night. So what caused this one to act differently?"

Once again Rainbow Dash tired to speak but this time Top Notch beat her to it. "There's something else that's bothering you isn't there Sheriff?"

"Folks around here always said you were good at reading ponies like a book. Normally I would dismiss this attack as just some random occurrence but something else I saw today bothered me. I was out patrolling the scrub land west of the town when I noticed that a good amount of the train tracks leading into town were missing. Almost as if something was trying to cut the town off from the rest of the..."

The three ponies jumped back startled when the changeling launched itself at the cells iron bars wildly. It emitted a loud screeching noise as it began to bang violently against its prison. Rainbow Dash figured now was as good as any to get her chance to speak. "What's it doing?" The changeling's erratic behavior caused her to forget the other thing she wanted to say.

The changelings screech was getting louder as it banged against the cell harder. Top Notch was forced to bring his head to the ground and cover his ears. "Sheriff can't you make it stop?"

Sheriff Silver Point looked around the room for anything that would silence the creature. He saw a broom leaning against a window and ran to get it. The Sheriff took a quick glance out the window and froze. Rainbow Dash ran next to him and looked out the window as well. Her heart dropped into her stomach. "Holy crap."

---

"Clover Leaf are you sure there's no other way around this? Maybe today isn't a good day to try..."

"Shut it Whisky. It's going to be either now or never."

"Never is sounding pretty good right now."

The couple was just exiting Whisky's restaurant after spending the better part of the morning arguing over the days plan. Once the couple had returned from Top Notch's farm Clover had insisted that Whisky comb his mane back just for the day. The stallion had refused at first claiming that his mane was off limits. Clover Leaf tried giving him the puppy dog eyes but when that failed she threatened more physical methods of negotiating.

Both Whisky and Clover Leaf started walking down the street in the direction of Clover's home. "Clover, what if he doesn't accept me? You know how your father can be."

"Will you give my old man a chance Whisky? I'm sure he's going to like you. What makes you think that he won't?"

Whisky began to recall the first day he had arrived in EverGlade. "Oh I don't know. A good example might be that he refused my offer to open a restaurant in this town. He said that EverGlade didn't need a big city pony like myself trying to extort the townsfolk with mediocre food."

In reality Clover had forgotten about that. She recalled to herself that the reason why she had starting working at Whisky's restaurant was to spite her father. "Hey but he eventually let you open the place right? That means he may have started to like you."

The stallion couldn't help but smirk at that. "Clover look, you know I love you and one of the things I love most about you is how simple you think the world is." Clover Leaf raised her hoof as if her intent was to strike Whisky in the face again. "Not the face! Not the face!" She moved her hoof with the intent to strike him in a lower region of his body. "OKAY THE FACE THE FACE!"

Clover put her hoof back on the ground and laughed. "One of the things I love about you is how defensive you can be when something you love is put in harms way."

"Right now can I finish what I was saying before without any threat to my stallion hood or my future children?" Clover playfully nodded her head. "Your father only let me open my restaurant after my fifteenth attempt at asking him and under the condition that he set the prices at my restaurant for the first year and..." Whisky suddenly stopped and turned his head. "Clover did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"I don't know sounded like a mare was yelling for help." Whisky turned his entire body in the direction of the yell.

"Oh no, don't think that you can get out of meeting my father that easily." She pushed Whisky back in the direction of her home.

"But but but..." Was all Whisky was able to stammer.

"Nuh uh. No buts, ifs, or whats. Now come on we don't wan't to keep daddy waiting."

---

The Sheriff ran outside to get a better look at the oncoming threat. Rainbow Dash and Top Notch ran out behind them and turned their eyes to the sky. Little dots could be seen moving towards the town from all directions. The Sheriff took to the sky with Rainbow Dash behind him.

The peagsus mare squinted her eyes to try and make out the shapes dots in the distance better. There was no doubt about it. All the figures in the distance were changelings. "Uh Sheriff you wouldn't happen to have any plans on how to deal with this would you?

"What, you mean one of the Elements of Harmony who help defend the royal city of Canterlot doesn't know what to do against what I'm guessing is five dozen changelings? I guess your role really was minor."

Despite the threat looming over the town Rainbow Dash wasn't about to let the insult slide. "Hey! At least I have some experience with fighting these things! I didn't just sit around like a lazy old pony reading reports about what others before me did! I have field experience when it comes to a full on changeling attack."

"Alright well what does your field experience tell you we should do first then!?"

"Uh well the first thing we should do is...um...you wouldn't happen to have a unicorn around here that's good with shield spells would you?" The Sheriff stared back at her with a dismal look on his face. "I take it that's a no then?"

"I knew it! You don't know what you're doing do you? All you're good for is trying to be a hero even if it means getting in the way of others. The reason why you're here is probably cause you got kicked out of the last town you were in! I swear I knew you were nothing but trouble since the first time I laid eyes on you. To make matters even worse you're trying to drag down Top Notch with you! You're nothing but a phony, a liar, and a pathetic mare that turns everything she touches to dust! I swear that..." The Sheriff found himself being tackled through the air by a changeling.

Rainbow Dash tracked the two with with her eyes and smiled. "Sometimes the universe just gives you a freebe." She winked at the sky and then flew off in the direction of the changeling and the Sheriff.

---

"You are Whiskylifa, the one my daughter is apparently infatuated with?"

"Yes sir."

"Forgive me for forgetting but aren't you also the owner of the restaurant that she works at?"

"Right again sir."

"The same restaurant owner who arrived three years ago from Manehatten and pestered me for the longest time to approve the construction of that restaurant?"

"Yeah that would me be me...uh sir!" Even with Clover Leaf standing next to him Whisky was having trouble keeping a smile on for the elder unicorn stallion in front of him. "Excuse me Mr. ..."

"Allium Bouvardia, Mayor Allium Bouvardia. I thought with how long you were dating my daughter you'd know my name by now." It was apparent that Clover's father was not at all amused with the situation. Clover had interrupted her father's work session in his office and insisted that he meet Whisky right then and there. He was an older pony with a brown coat and long tidy white mane who had definitely seen better days.

"Right excuse me Mayor Bouvardia but perhaps we could sit and talk about this. Its just that it was sort of a long walk here so perhaps we could sit while we have our conversation?" Whisky's face was practically hurting now from how long he had been smiling.

"Hmm I suppose that would be customary wouldn't it? Very well come along with me and lets continue this little 'Meet and Greet' in the common room shall we?" Mayor Bouvardia made his way out of his office leaving Whisky and Clover a moment to themselves.

"See Whisky! I told you he'd like you!" Clover gave him a smile as she led the way to the next room.

"Clover you must have a different definition of the word 'Like' from the rest of the world." He followed his marefriend into the next room realizing that it was going to be a long day.

---

"You know it's going to be a long day if you keep getting your ass kicked like this old man." Rainbow Dash wrapped her forelegs around a changeling that had pounced on the Sheriff. She then lifted the bug into the air and brought it down hard with suplex. "Ha, Rarity said I was wasting me time going to those wrestling matches!" The celebration was cut short as the pegasus mare was jumped by another changeling from behind.

"Nope! Not going to be that easy bug breath!" She flipped her attacker over her so to get it into position. The bug quickly turned around and attempted to deliver a punch but Rainbow Dash blocked it and in another second delivered a quick kick to its stomach. She followed that up with a snap DDT and the changeling was knocked out instantly. "That's makes three changelings compared to your one Sheriff Silver Point."

"Girl if you would shut the buck up for a moment and let me concentrate I would be able to fight better. But no you got to keep running your darn mouth off!" He wrestled with a changeling and was visibly locked in a grapple stalemate with the bug.

Rainbow Dash rolled hr eyes and focused on another changeling flying straight at her. "Oh I've been dying to try this move out for the longest time!" She waited for her attacker to get closer and then at the last possible moment she sidestepped. As the changeling was passing her she wrapped one of her forelegs around its neck and then spun horizontally with it. Both slammed hard into the ground and were laid out on their backs with the only difference between the pony and the bug being that Rainbow Dash was able to stand. "I've been trying to do that neck breaker for the longest time now. How you holding up old man?"

"Me? Oh I'm in between joyful and peachy right about now." An opening finally appeared for Sheriff Silver Point. He socked the changeling hard in the chin and followed it up by turning around and bucking the creature hard in the chest knocking it against the wall. Both pony fighters got a few seconds of reprieve. "Girl you mind telling me where you learned to fight like that?"

"Me and my friends Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie would always go to wrestling matches when the EEW visited our town."

"All those fancy moves just to knock a pony out? No thanks I think I just sticking to bucking my opponents in the chest. Works just as well in my opinion."

For the first time since Rainbow Dash had arrived in EverGlade she shared a laugh with the Sheriff. "You didn't take any brain damage when that changeling tackled you into that building did you? Never thought I'd see the day when you and me would see eye to eye."

"That makes two of us then. Don't get to used it since I'm probably not thinking straight right now." The Sheriff looked above Rainbow Dash and saw another wave of attackers approaching them. "We'll these old bones of mine still have some fight in them."

Rainbow Dash popped the joints in her neck. "I've always wanted to perform a senton bomb on an airborn opponent before."

---

"Is it your intent to perhaps one day marry my daughter Whiksylifa?"

Whisky choked on his water. Clover had to pat him on the back to get him to stop coughing. "M-Mar-rry?"

"Hmm Clover Leaf would you be a dear and refill your coltfrie...I mean Whiskylifa's water glass please?"

"Right away daddy!" Clover got up from her seat next to Whisky and levitated his glass in front of her as she left the room.

When she was presumably out of earshot Mayor Bouvardia spoke in a more stern voice. "What intentions do you have with my daughter then Whiksylifa if you don't intend to marry her? I would hate to think that you are only using her for your own pleasure."

"What? No no no no no! It's not like that all Mayor Bouvardia! I really do love your daughter and would never take advantage of her like that no matter how persistent she is about it! I just think that marriage is thinking too far ahead right now. I mean maybe one day if I get the chance I would like to marry her but as of right now I think we're fine as it is for the time being."

"So in other words you have no clue what it is you want to do with your life. Am I correct to assume this Whiskylifa?" The old stallion didn't seem to be letting up.

"Well I wouldn't say that is correct because I do own a successful business right now and..."

"Successful business. Being a little egotistic don't you think young man?"

Whisky had heard enough. There was no dancing around the pony in front of him lightly. He took and deep and cleared his mind before he spoke. "Look Mayor Bouvardia. I don't wan't to waste any more time so can you please just tell me what it is that you want from me?"

"At the moment I just want whats best for my daughter. That's all I've ever wanted for her ever since my wife left me when Clover Leaf was still just a filly. Nothing that you've brought to the table so far has convinced me that you are what's best for her. She needs a stallion that can keep her safe, support her, and at the moment I just don't think that's you. I'm sorry if Clover Leaf had you waste your time coming here on this fruitless mission. You may finish your glass of water and then leave my daughter alone for the remainder of your days." As if on cue Clover Leaf walked back in with a full glass of water held in her magics aura.

As she was about to hand Whisky his drink she suddenly dropped the glass and pointed her hoof at the rooms window. "LOOK OUT!"

Before the stallions in the room had time to react a changeling smashed through the glass and slammed hard into Whisky knocking him into onto the hardwood floor. Clover moved towards Whisky but her father pushed her into a corner of the room and then shielded her with his body. "Close your eyes Clover and don't open them no matter what!"

The changeling lunged at the elder stallion and young mare. The rest happened as if in slow motion as Whisky quickly got off the ground and ran towards Clover and her father jumping in front of them. "No you don't!" He caught the bug in open hooves and they rolled on the floor. Finally Whisky found himself on top and began to deliver quick punches to the bug's head until it stopped struggling.

Whisky got off of the changeling and made his way to the Mayor and Clover. The latter burst from behind her father and wrapped her hooves around his neck. They shared a kiss that was interrupted by a cough from the Mayor who was now slouching against the wall. "Well Whiskylifa, that was certainly unexpected wasn't it?"

"Sure was and for the record you can just call me Whisky."

Clover Leaf made her way to the broken window and looked outside. "Daddy I think the whole towns under attack!"

Mayor Bouvardia thought for a moment before speaking. "We better get to the Sheriff's office. I'm sure we'll be safe there!"

Whisky moved to help the Mayor onto his hooves. Suddenly the downed changeling sprung back into life and charged at the two stallions. It never had to chance to harm it's victims as it was bashed in the head multiple times by one of the chairs in the room. The chair was encased in Clover's magic aura and she continued bringing the chair down on the bugs head until the weapon itself broke and by that time the changeling had been knocked out cold.

Both Whisky and Mayor Bouvardia looked at her with confusion on their faces. "What?" Clover asked. "Mom always used to take me to see The Stalliongrad War Machine at the Equestrian Entertainment Wrestling fights when ever I went to visit her in Baltimare."