An Extended Holiday

by Commander_Pensword

Mane Event

Extended Holiday
Chp 6: Mane Event
Act 1

---

“With all due respect, please tell the nobility that I will be keeping myself armed during the rehearsal and the ceremony regardless of how they feel.” Taze told the pony who was holding his nose high. he attempted to speak but Taze slammed the door in his face.

Matthew just stood off to the side, acting as part of the crowd for the rehearsal. He sighed and blinked a little to clear the floaters from his vision. It seemed they got worse whenever he was near either Twilight or Cadence. He had taken to calling her by that in his head after hearing Twilight calling her that.

“You okay?” Taze asked approaching after he had dealt with the pony. “You need coffee or something?” he asked.

“Me? Nah, I’m fine I just had some floaters cross my vision they can be annoying, and you should know I don’t drink coffee, my docs were a little concern with my caffeine intake, in fact last time I was in the hospital they banned me from chocolate cake even.” he laughed a little. “chocolate is fine, but Coffee is still… rather not risk it.”

“Just offering.” Taze said “This kinda stuff takes hours don’t want you collapsing from exhaustion on the 4th hour or something.”

“Thank you for your concern, this is nothing, besides back when I had some of my ROTC training, I had to walk about the same tent for an hour for guard duty. When it comes to the repeating stuff, I can handle it. I actually thrive on this a little.” He grinned a little before it faded a little. “I miss my folks.” He muttered. “My Niece would have been…” He was cut off as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza entered the room commanding silence by her presence.

Taze eye’d Cadenza, there was something off, something he was missing right in front of his face, every instinct was telling him to be on edge, be ready. there had to be some detail he was missing.

Shawn only watched from his location, he felt his attention just be pulled to her. He knew, knew, something was wrong, but he could do nothing. He followed instructions as asked, and dealt with the others that seemed to notice his more sour mood, of course he kinda pushed them off, saying he just had a bad morning.

Matthew looked at the bride to be and blinked. he shook his head, did he just see a tiny nod between, before he could finish his thought Twilight rounded on Cadence and began to shout about how evil she was and she was mind controlling her brother. Matthew moved a little bit so as to be better able to move where he needed. Looking more at Cadence then at Twilight. Somehow Matthew knew now that this rehearsal was going to end in flames the first try.

Tazes hand clenched to keep him from reaching for his blades. Something was wrong, he could feel something was wrong and it wasn’t only Cadence that was setting him off, something about Twilight bothered him.

Shawn only watched from the sideline as the two argued, he wasn’t that far from them in the first place. He watched as a small bit of magic flared in what he could assume was anger, but something was off about it, even as faint as it was Twilights aura seemed a bit off.

Shining moved in on Twilight suddenly angrily growling at her as he chastised her for her actions while explaining Cadence was merely curing his headache. Before walking away to find the bride who had seemingly left suddenly he invited his sister and seemingly implied she was unwelcome near him ever again. her friends wordlessly followed her brother well celestia left with a scolding remark.

Taze looked as Twilight stood abandoned, and he burned inside, this wasn’t right someone had to say something. Angrily he stormed after the mane 6, his body visibly quaking.

Matthew stood there and blinked as Twilight looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Are you going to leave me as well? I am so sorry, I guess I got jealous.”

Matthew remained silent and looked at Twilight something seemed off about her, the dang floaters were back making her coat look black in some places but still he shook his head and then shook it again to make a point. “No, a friend, at least I hope I am a friend, stays by their friend and walks through where he can.” he sighed and looked at where the group left. “I think Taze left to find your friends and give them a piece of his mind.”

Twilight blinked in horror, “Oh, I better to calm him down and tell him it was my fault really… uh, can you stay here so I know someplace to return to that accepts me?”

Matthew only nodded his head and she raced off. He looked at Shawn but saw only his backside as he raced after Twilight. “Well… this was an eventful morning.” he sighed and moved to the steps to sit down. “Might as well rest while I wait, A promise is a Promise.” he muttered moving to sit down on the steps leading up to the pedestal where the wedding party would stand to exchange their vows. “I hope tomorrow is nicer than today.”

---

Shawn had caught on.

Something was wrong, and he was finally going to question it.

“Twilight! Wait up!” He yelled as he ran to keep up with her.

“Go away freak!” Twilight screamed as she went. The look on her face seemed to be slightly worried.

In that moment, around twenty red flags went up in his mind. “Now I know somethings wrong about this...” He muttered in between breaths, increasing his speed to a near sprint. “Hold on now! I just want to talk!”

Two Royal Guards attempted to block his path. Crossing there halberds in his path. Within a moments notice Shawn took in every detail he could of what was happening. Her running, the guards, the halberds they had up, and the reflection of the polished floor, still seemingly slick. With a grin he did something that he could only hope would work, he dropped, sliding underneath their halberds before pushing himself onto his feet again.

He was breathing heavily at the time, having to sprint in order to keep up with her. “Twilight! Jeeze, slow down! Why are you running!?” He shouted.

As he entered a set of doors they slammed shut behind him as Twilight stood in the center of the room.

“I told you to leave!” She yelled back to Shawn her tone dark and angry.

“And I would have if you answered my two or three questions.” Shawn said back, standing tall as he looked at her.

There was the sound of hooves as Royal Guards surrounded him quite suddenly.

“You couldn’t leave well enough alone could you?” a familiar voice asked from behind him.

“What?” He said turning on the spot, still attempting to keep his eyes on the threats surrounding him, the Guard’s spears.

Cadence stood across from him smiling smugly as her eyes glowed a sickly green.

Twilight bowed suddenly “I am sorry my queen I could not deter him, forgive me.”

“It is of little Consequence.” Cadence gestured with her hoof. “By the time anyone finds him it will be too late to stop our plans.”

“Wait a minute. Queen? What the hell do you mean Queen?” Shawn yelled out.

The room erupted in green flames as the guards around him and Twilight were consumed. When the flames dissipated standing in there place where pony like insectoid creatures with large blue compound eye’s sharp jagged chitinous armor and transparent bee like wings. Their hooves seemed to have holes through them.

Cadence herself was then swallowed by flames revealing a much larger insectoid. unlike her subjects the queen had a mane of green hair which somehow had holes in it. A crown adorned her mane. Her forehead possessed a horn at first seemingly like an alicorns horn but on a second glance Shawn could see it was twisted upward and sharp as a razor. her eye’s were not compound like the rest but large black pupils rimmed with green, they stared sinister and soulless at him. Her wings where larger and seemingly more powerful. the middle of her thorax had a band of what seemed to be green chitin.

“You have the honor of addressing Queen Chrysalis of the changeling hive.” she said. “Soon to be ruler of Equestria!”

“Yeah?” Shawn shot back. “Then you have a whole lot of things standing in your way.” Shawn said, drawing his sword and taking a defensive stance. “And you’ll be damned if you think you can win so easily.”

Chrysalis laughed confidently as she bared her fangs. “But that's the joke, I have already won, I have everything right where I want it.”

“Before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you can survive the odds beating you.” Shawn said as his eyes focused on the area around him, taking in every detail he could in a moments notice.

“I’ve already beaten them.” Chrysalis laughed. “Tomorrow is going to be just perfect.” She almost purred out the word perfect. “And there is nothing Celestia, nothing the elements of harmony, nothing you and your little friends can do to stop me.”

“We’ll see about that, as long as I am still breathing, your plan will come out…” Shawn said, fully prepared to try his best.

“A problem that can be easily remedied” Chrysalis laughed signaling the praetorians to attack. Two of the guards thrusted their spears forward only to have them knocked away by Shawn, having only done so because of swinging the sword.

There was a shooting pain in his side as the changeling that had been Twilight charged forward from behind and stabbed him with her horn.

Responding more on impulse he slammed his elbow into the offending changeling, the process only making the wound worse as the blow knocked the changeling back at an odd angle, making the hole more jagged. He gasped in pain, still standing with his left arm holding against his side as he pulled his sword up with his right hand slowly, staggering slightly.

Chrysalis removed the sword from his hand, for her taking less effort than to swat a fly, but the force to Shawn was incredibly strong. Then she telekinetically blasted him, sending him flying. With a cackle her horn flared and green fire traced around Shawn, his body begins to sink slowly.

With one last ounce of energy in him, he raised his right hand, his middle digit high in the air, directed towards the Changeling Queen.

As Shawn’s form vanished crysalis looked around. “Clean up this mess and everypony back to your disguises the last thing we need is to be found out right now” Chrysalis said not at all noticing the doors were opened just a hair.

---

Twenty minutes prior, Taze had caught up to the leaving group quickly enough. “Hey!” He shouted not noticing the guards stagger a bit as he walked passed them. “All of you, Stop! We got to clear something up here!”

The group turned to him with mixed looks of confusion and anger and fear in Fluttershy’s case. “What the hell was that!?”

“I know right! Twilight’s totally lost it” Rainbow said “You don’t have to go off the deep end though.”

“Twilight totally lost it?” He growled. “And where was the Element of Loyalty when a broken pony lay needing her friend?” Taze looked her in the face Rainbow found herself having trouble keeping the eye contact.

“Now hold on there pardner, now Twi was in the wrong.” Applejack shot back pushing her stetson like hat back a bit.

“So if Apple Bloom made a big mistake you’d abandon her like yesterday's trash too?” This comment seemed to make the farm pony stop cold.

“Your friend just got disowned by her brother, the brother who was her best friend for years, and your first inkling was to get up and abandon her?”

“Well she was obviously Loco in the Coco” Pinkie said.

“Oh you mean like she was with Nightmare Moon?” Taze asked “Or how she was so crazy she was the only one who didn’t get fooled by Discord” Taze spat on the ground. “How many times? How many times has Twilight’s danger sense literally saved all your flanks?” he asked

“You're the Elements of Harmony! The embodiments of friendship, I would die for my friends if they're right or wrong, I would throw myself in front of a train for them because I know they would do the same for me! That mare has at times worked herself to the bone to help all of you and this is your repayment? With friends like you, I’d prefer my enemies.”

Taze turned to Celestia “And you, i really don’t care if you’re immortal, the suns avatar, a goddess, whatever, this is why your sister turned evil!”

Celestia kinda staggered backward “YOU DARE!”

“Oh I dare! Your sister was alone, immortality with no one, nothing, cause YOU had to have the praise YOU had to have the attention. you could sit down with her and talk for five bloody minutes. and now? Your faithful student, the mare who looks up to you with a hell of alot more reverence than her own freaking mother, you couldn’t listen to her concerns, you couldn’t check if any of her suspicions held water? You just dropped her.” He spat again. turning his gaze around the room.

“A friend who leaves you when things look bad is worth nothing, I wash my hands of you. all of you!” Taze said turning and storming away from the group. After a few minutes of storming, he stopped took some deep breaths about to wonder what he should do when he heard the muffled sound of voices. Moving towards the sound he came to a set of doors where the voice seemed to have been coming from. Hearing a commotion he leaned in and looked through the door in time to see Shawn clutching his side with blood covering his hand as he seemed to be falling into a ring of green flames.

The large black bug creature gave orders to clean up to several smaller black bug creatures, one by one they were covered by green flames which left to reveal several Royal Guards and Twilight. The larger creatures body erupting to reveal none other than princess cadenza.

Taze backed away from the door, he needed to find Matthew fast.

---

Matthew sat on the steps and just hummed as he looked down and twiddled his thumbs. “Kind of wish I brought my book to write in, or a book to have read… this would be an interesting event to write, a wedding where the groom is mind controlled the sister to the prince sees the evil behind the mask of love, and… slowly sees her friends turned against her by the honeyed words… this sounds like a fairytale more and more… and I am seeing it live.” he closed his eyes as he gave a small prayer. “May this be Disney and not Hans Christian Anderson.”

It was about here that he saw something interesting a Night Guard, in fact, well to him anyway it looked like it was the same Night Guard from last night wonder through the room holding a bat wing over her muzzle to stifle a yawn. “Morning Human.” She muttered through the yawn.

“Morning Thestral.” Matthew replied with a grin and slight chuckle, yep same guard from last night, in the last thirty minutes this was the only movement he had seen coming through the doors he hoped Twilight had reconciled with her friends with how long it was taking. He heard a door close behind him as the Night Guard left the room, or was she a Lunar Guard? He asked himself when suddenly a side door burst open with a bang and Taze was already racing into the room.

Matthew jumped at the sound and the first words out of his mouth was something his mother would yell at him if things were slammed. “Save the Pieces.” However he blinked when he was hauled up by Taze in a rough and yet urgent manner he could see it in his eyes for once. “What’s wrong? You, you look like you’ve seen the boogyman.”

“How’s your Greek Mythology?” Taze asked looking around carefully.

“Well, I am no expert, let alone a knowledge trove, but let’s see how I do.” He admitted. “Sorry, while a jack of all trades in knowledge I am not too current on Greek Mythology.”

“Canterlots been infiltrated and Shawn might be dead.” Taze whispered. “I’m positive there is gonna be an attack during the wedding tomorrow.”

“What?!” He yelled in shock but Taze shushed him and looked around in fear, and Matthew realized that this was a little more serious than normal. “What?” he whispered. “We got to tell Shining Armor, Celestia, Luna?” He asked Luna in a whimper as each time Taze just shook his head no. Even to Luna. “Why?” he cried out. “We have to inform the guards, security, somepony about this, we can’t fight an invasion on our own, we are not video game heroes.”

“Matthew, they’re shapeshifters, Princesses Cadenza is one, Twilight was one, half a dozen royal guards, we can’t trust anyone.”

Matthew looked hard at Taze. “Which Royal Guards? Normal City? The Solar? or Lunar?” he asked with concern, “I am marking off the Cadenza Guard units as gone… but the others, what did you see of them?” He was looking a little different at the moment, head bowed and eyes shut as he tried to think at the moment. “Frankly, none the less, we must gain our armor from the armor stores, and weapons, more than what we have. I will see if I can smuggle out my crossbow tonight.”

“The uniforms were mixed but I don’t think there was any Lunar Guards, wouldn’t make sense, they only come out at night unless it’s an emergency” Taze felt something in his hand looking down he realised he had ripped off both of their translation necklaces. “Listen i’m not going to the ceremony tomorrow, i think you should stay back too.”

“Right, let us send a message to the Lunar Guard first, they need to know what is happening, Luna might pull strings to get a few guards out on the streets?” He sighed, “Alright I think you can feign me being sick? Otherwise I am somewhat beholden to be there… this story of me being a diplomat for my nation just got me a royal invite, rather hard to not accept one… what with all that is going on here.” He held up a hand. “Yes I saw the spat, and even then…” his face furrowed. “I was invited on behalf of good relations being built… so having me call in sick is the only logical manner.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Taze nodded “Let’s hope lucks on our side, if they are already inside the shield and they can be anyone we may be facing thousands here”

“Well, I might be able to add a third. We just need to find one Lunar Guard.” he replied with a slight look back towards a door that was used right before Taze entered the room.

---

“Your sure these could cut through chitin?” Taze asked examining the blades carefully.

“I stand by my work” Stormhammer said “You still haven’t told me why you are asking for handleless knife blades.” She said.

Placing a blade in his hand between his pointer and index finger he snapped his hand in the direction of a wooden blank pillar. the blade buried itself into the pillar in a snap. “Perfect” he said collecting them up as well as bolts for Matthew.

---

Matthew stood nervously while looking back at the Thestral who he had only meet three times before back at the door a little nervous. “You, you had to wake up Luna for this?”

The Night Guard shrugged with her bat wings. “Well, you said it was a threat to the entire city, of course I had to, and do you know how hard it was to convince those above me to allow this?” She whispered back.

All conversation stopped as the Night Princess walked out of the doorway, which was frankly leading to her private quarters the room they were in was decorated with a night theme and it was the private receiving chambers for the guests of Princess Luna. “Now,” She began and sat down on her private small throne to remind those that she was still a Princess in this setting. “What has gotten one of my guards rallied up?”

“Well,” Matthew began a little bit nervous. “We have belief that Princess Cadence has been compromised by a shapeshifter.” He gulped at the raised eyebrow of Luna.

“Go on my lit…” She paused and cleared her throat. “Go on Matthew Conner of United States.”

“Well, she has also taken the Guards around Cadence, and some of the normal day guards… however from what my source informed me of, none of the Night Guard.”

“Ha,” Luna laughed a little bit, and did Matthew hear a touch of bitterness. “She thinks us of no importance during the day. However, I take it you will not be at the wedding?” Before Matthew could speak she spoke again. “I shall not be there, I shall be guarding the protected wing of the archives.” She looked at the Guard next to Matthew. “Moonshade please attend with Matthew Conner of United States, he may need some Guard influence, also I shall place two flights out on patrols during the wedding, doubling the number originally planned but, that is all I can give without drawing too much attention, I am sorry I cannot do more.”

Matthew sighed a little in relief at the news before blinking a little at a problem he thought of, “They will be hidden?”

“Of course, as per our normal operations.. we do our best work hidden.” Moonshade replied. “As for you human, I am not letting you out of my sight… well except for certain moments to yourself.” She finished with a chuckle.

Luna walked over to a case at the end of the room opening it with magic to reveal a large war hammer made of some kind of dark blue metal. “It has been too long since we have wielded Meteor Impact in battle.” Her grin was almost unsettling. “Time to wake up old friend,” She said.

She floated the hammer over in front of Matthew “As a reward for you service we shall let you hold our most prized weapon.”

Matthew blinked and snapped to attention and gave a small bow. “I am honored by your offer.” He was not going to decline the offer, on manner different fronts. He reached out to take hold of the hammer with both hands as to his eyes it looked heavy, he also set his feet apart so as to give him a better stance, and also so if it was too heavy for him, it would not land on any of his toes. He gulped as he gripped tightened a little waiting for the magic to drop and he had full control over the hammer.

At first it felt as though it was going to pull his arms off his body, but instantly the weight seemed to recede and before he knew it the hammer was light much lighter then such a weapon should be.

Luna smiled noting the hammers effect. “Forgive me Matthew, this was a test, had you been lying the hammer would have been too much for you to lift.” She explained.

Matthew nodded his head as Luna took the hammer from his hand with her magic. “I understand. You have to know if what I say is the truth and your kingdom comes first. But I have the feeling that is not just a lie detector but an actual weapon as well?”

Luna only grinned and nodded her head. “You seem knowledgeable over such a weapon’s working. Tell me does your world have any stories like this?” Matthew could see a little curiosity.

“After this is over, remind me to tell you about a story from the Norse culture of a being called Thor and his hammer.” Matthew replied softly, it was here that Luna dismissed them all and then moved to start gearing up for the battle, while it appeared Matthew did not know what was happening, she did, her mind going back to the meeting with Queen Chrysalis.

---

Taze laid everything he had out in front of him on his bed. rather than the dress armor he had gotten he decided to stick with the dragon scale armor he had been given, it was lighter and better made for combat, if Spike was any inclination few things could get past the scales of a dragon.

He checked each throwing blade carefully and oiled the blades of his swords. checking his knife carefully. going over the contents of his belt he decided to stash everything not directly of use under his bed for safe keeping.

“We’ll get through this Matthew.” He said not sure if he was trying to convince Matthew or himself. He wasn’t actually a warrior or some great hunter, and he was far from in shape for something like this, Shawn’s possible death was also starting to sink in and putting him in an even more unsure state.

Matthew nodded his head towards Taze and looked over where Moonshade was watching. “Yeah, I just… Shawn, I cannot, he cannot be dead.” He looked over at his own bed with supplies, from the crossbow and the bolts to his armor. “If,” he shook his head. “Taze, we’ll get through this but if I don’t, look just keep my stuff in order and keep my documents preserved.” He sighed again and began to load up his crossbow, he was going to keep it loaded tonight, he also began to tie together bolts into small bundles in hopes of saving time. “I do not know why but the gut says that the attack will happen at the wedding.” He looked at Moonshade. “No more ponies or guests shall be permitted entry to this room… anyone tries to force their way in… I give you permission to use all the force you need.” He closed his eyes and looked to the window in the room. “I just gave the shoot to kill order.” he whispered to himself, “I do not know if I should really be feeling but I know I am cold and shivering from what might happen.” He sighed and looked to Taze. “Get some shuteye… we, we should sleep a little before tomorrow.”

Taze held something out to Matthew something from his pocket “I figured it might be difficult with the way things are so I stopped by the apothecary/pharmacist, this should let us sleep but not make us sleep deeply.” He handed him a small glass vial, holding an identical one to himself, the liquid inside was a honey brown semi-transparent liquid.

Matthew only nodded his head. “Well, I guess bottoms up, see you when we wake up.” he spoke to Taze with a small grin, before uncorking the vial and drinking the contents in ten minutes he was zonked out on the bed with his gear ready to be put on and used next to him on top of a crate he commandeered with Moonshade’s help.

Taze turned to Moonshade. “Tomorrow is likely to have long periods of fighting with a low chance of rest stops, I have a condition and if my blood sugar gets low bad things could happen, is there any chance you can get me some candy and I’ll keep an eye on things here until you get back?” Taze asked

Moonshade blinked and looked like she was debating what to do, but after another reassurance from Taze, she left to find some candy, and raid some pantries of the candy he needed. She just hope he liked the candy, after all she felt that the pallets of the two species might be different.

Taze opened up his pouch pulling out several small bottles. He had seen the pharmacist but he had gotten help at the library first and had found out the name of their enemy, with the help of the Librarian reading from the book. Changeling were their name and apparently they fed off of love, therefore attacking Equestria made sense, however there was apparently several chemicals that there biology reacted badly too ranging from temporary paralysis to death within moments. the book had listed the chemicals but not which did what so he had gotten a little of each and carefully began to tip Matthews bolts and his blades in random substances.

Chemical warfare seemed dirty and he doubted Matthew would have liked it but the odds where still easily 30 to one and they needed every advantage they could get.

Next Taze pulled out a bag of powder hoping that the smoke bomb recipe he had found online held any water, he began to work on them quickly and carefully.

By the time Moonshade returned he had packed everything up and carefully rearranged everything as it had been. After checking it was actually Moonshade by asking her very carefully where her and William met he thanked her for the candy which he placed in his belt.

“You won’t need to sleep? Chances are you’ll be up all day tomorrow.” He asked.

Moonshade shook her head. “We Thestrals actually have a potion in the guard that will let us operate for thirty hours, I took it while getting your candy, however we crash for a good twelve hours afterwards, do not worry about me good sir, I can and will fight tomorrow with all my strength.” She turned as her ears swiveled a little. “Another of my patrols just passed by the hallway, we need not worry till the morning.”

Taze uncorked the vial but stopped for a moment “One more thing, if it should come down to it that you have to pick one of us to help, help him ok? I’m strong enough I can handle myself but he’s had a very bad couple of years and he deserves more time then one more day, just make sure you protect him ok?”

Moonshade only nodded her head saying no words. She smiled a little. “May that not have to come to being, It would be lonely if he became the only human in Equestria, he has relied on you and Shawn for support these past few days.” She looked at the sleeping form of Matthew.

As Taze looked at the bed, he noticed something under his pillow, well a manila envelope and a parchment of some type. With confusion upon seeing his name on the parchment he reached over and pulled the two items out, the first thing he noticed was that the parchment was inked and looked like time had been put into it. He moved the parchment, which turned into three sheets, was the front of the envelope. On the front in pencil was his handwriting a little more sloppy. Geneva Convention. Taze shook his head a little at just what his friend seemed to have brought with him. He turned back to the parchment and almost dropped the bundle.

The top read in fancy letters Last Will and Testament of Matthew Washington Conner. Matthew it seemed had written his will, and also gave instructions on his burial, at least that was what the bulleted section said before the meat of the words started but Taze did not go any further, he just placed the documents safely on the desk, and sat back down on his bed.

Picking up the vial he uncorked it again. nodded respectfully at Moonshade. “Bottoms up” He said before drinking it down in a single gulp. With a sigh he laid back in his bed with any luck the pharmacist was right and this should wake him up in the morning on its own. His last thoughts before fading to sleep gave him a dry chuckle as he mentally named the track to their upcoming battle in his head.

---

“You can inform her Royal Sunbutt that Matthew is ill and I have lost my taste for Equestrian ‘friendship’, and do the air quotes be sure to do the air quotes, god help you if I find out they haven’t been done.” Taze told the messenger who was too his credit only slightly intimidated by the human currently shaving his face with a knife.

The messenger was gone quite quickly as Taze shut the door. “Uh, thanks for helping me with the whole shaving thing earlier.” He said to William quickly moving the knife away from his neck. “Couldn’t even use a non-electric razor at home I was afraid I’d slit my own throat”

“Not a problem.” Matthew replied. “I just wish I could shave like that again, I miss doing that, but with my meds I can’t risk cutting myself shaving.” He smiled softly as he dressed in his armor. “Well… time to show that while the US loves peace… these arrows are not forgotten. Time for the Americans to join the fight.” His face was for once missing the usual smile in either his eyes or his mouth. “May lady liberty smile upon my deeds this day.” He softly spoke as he checked his crossbow.. Matthew looked at Taze as he moved from the restroom, with Moonshade hanging from the ceiling ready to pounce on any attackers.

“Okay so lets go over this one last time.” Taze said. “We know today is the day the invasion starts, the imposter has somehow hidden Twilight and the real Princess Cadenza, Shining Armor is possibly being mind controlled and who knows how many guards have been replaced meaning we cannot expect help from any of the royal guards, civilian guards, solar guards or the militia right?

Matthew nodded his head. “Correct, and Luna cannot field any more than two patrols during the day without drawing suspicion. At least till the attack happens, she is however holding the guards on standby so we might have a cavalry charge later on… but I will not count on it either, the first priority of the Changelings would be to prevent reinforcements… I can imagine them doing something to prevent that. As for the actual attack… it will have to come sometime during the wedding itself, or right afterwards when the entire party is moving.” Matthew had moved to the desk and a rough drawing Moonshade did of the castle. “As for the dome, if Shining Armor has been compromised, then we cannot bank on the dome holding for very long and then the Changelings will have reinforcements.” Matthew was very glad for the old Battlefield 1942 games he played, along with the Star Wars battlefront game. He looked at Taze as he thought that for once all the war games he played or watched documentaries was coming into very good use at the moment. “Anything else to add? Either of you?”

“We know changelings get stronger the more love they absorb.” Taze noted. “This means they’ll be trying to secure great sources of love while there in the city, schools, maternity wings at the hospital, family homes.” Taze said. “This is gonna get real bad real fast”

Matthew nodded his head. “We cannot focus on the city.” He spoke as if swallowing a very bitter pill. “We cannot be helping everywhere.” He shook his head and blinked back tears. “However, as I can see, if you have Hate, that might work in protecting you, however… That leaves you Taze as our only source. I… I cannot hate for long, it just is not in my system, I get annoyed, and mad, but rarely do I, “hate” Something.” He sighed again. “We just, we have to focus on the castle, and helping where we can…” He looked at Moonshade. “We need you to help in that regard… you know the hallways, we do not… we cannot get into a dead end and we have to keep moving,” He looked to Taze. “We also need to be willing to bring in those that wish to fight with us, if you would allow that.”

“If the Elements of Harmony work or not isn’t my choice Matthew, if it comes to it I’ll help get them there, I don’t have to talk to them.” Taze said. “We should be ready, without a doubt the changelings noticed our absence…” Taze noted. “We’re a wild card so, us not being in the ceremony room at the start is going to clash with their plans”

“You’re a gentle person Matthew so I’m going to say this now, while they're on their feet they’re a threat, if you need to kill them to stop them don’t think about it just act” Taze said.

“I know, I, I was going to get my concealed carry permit. I know what it means to act in self defense, I just, I just hope I can handle myself and not break down or freeze up.” He took a deep breath. “I trained for a reality like this in hopes of not needing it.” He closed his eyes before opening them. “I, I think I am ready… it is, this is not a war game, it is reality.” It was at that moment that Moonshade made a shush and she pointed to the door. “Look’s like something heading our way.” Matthew whispered as he moved to lay prone on the ground with the crossbow out in front of him. “Planning is over.”

---

In the darkened caves, deep below Canterlot, something shifted, stirred. Twilight and Cadenza had been reunited, but they weren’t the only ones coming to.

Shawn shifted on the rocky floor beneath him, in a pool of thick liquid.

Slowly he began to regain consciousness, bit by bit he slowly opened his eyes to reveal the darkness around himself. The only light that he could make out was the steady glow of crystals surrounding him. He placed his head on the ground sideways, the front of his body facing the rocky floor, and took a few breaths.

A moment later he put his hands on the ground beneath him, slowly pushing himself up. The entire time he tried his body felt stiff, weak even. He slowly got to his knees, but something felt off. He shook his head, he needed to focus. After a second he planted his foot on the ground and began to stand.

The second both of his feet met the floor, he soon after he almost met the floor once again, losing his balance he fell off to his left, thankfully grabbing onto one of the many crystals jutting out of the area.

He became aware of a dull pain in his side, reaching for his side he touched his left side only to reel back with a flare of pain.

“Oooh, man…” He grunted, his left eye clenched shut in pain. He clenched his right hand a couple of times only to become aware of something wet on his hand. Raising his hand into the light of the crystal, it revealed a crimson liquid on his hand.

He exhaled in shock, before looking to his side again to realise the crystal he was leaning on seemed to be gaining a new paint job from his left side.

He pushed himself back a bit to see what happened, all he could see in the dim light was a jagged, somewhat circular cut through his coat.

Thinking back on it, he couldn’t figure out where he was, nor how he got there. He collected his thoughts, keeping himself calm. “Alright… Injured… Need to get out.” He exhaled, his own breath working against him.

He pushed himself away from the crystal, looking around at what he could, he noticed the lights bounced off from certain locations, perhaps an opening?

He started his walk around the area, looking for the source of light that seemed to scatter across the caverns. He pushed onward, tracing what he could with his eyes, and trying to remember what happened.

He was… At the wedding rehearsal, something happened, something dark… He sighed, thinking.

Others seemed disappointed...

What happened again?

He shook his head, still walking. “I… I can’t remember…” He mumbled to himself.

Whilst looking around he seemed to catch faint colors in the background, very, very faint.

He blinked, looking at the light, was it light pink? Orange? Red?

He lifted his hand into sight, even looking at his hand he had a tough time making out the color of the blood on his fingers. He knew it was red, but it seemed to dull to him.

‘How much have I been bleeding?’

He turned his gaze behind him only to see a dark trail behind him, His eyes opened slightly in alarm.

“Oh…” He muttered to himself.

‘Gotta keep moving...’

He turned forward once more, his eyes following the dull moving light. There might be another down here…

A search party perhaps?

‘Then… How long have I been gone?’

He shook his head, ‘No, that can’t be it… someone else is down here…’

The light was getting closer, he could see shadows now.

He blinked a couple of times, the light was… Moving towards him?

‘They’re... Heading this way.’

He coughed a bit, his lungs giving him troubles.

Every step felt, tiring…

Every thought…

He fell forward onto his knee.

Kneeling on the spot, he tried to regain his breath, it was, tiresome to say the least. The thought of just taking a nap felt amazing. He shook his head, disagreeing with the thought, he had friends he needed to find.

Friends.

Where was Matthew and Peter? Are they stuck down here, somewhere?

For some reason he doubted that idea, something about that struck him wrong, they couldn’t be down here, he felt sure of it for some reason.

With a grunt he pushed himself onto his feet once more, his vision blurred, but he could make out the faint light ahead of him, and the echo of dull, muffled, voices.

“Th… ...ay!...-eard… thing….”

He blinked, the voice sounded… In all honesty, only somewhat familiar…

His mind was sluggish, like he had been awake for days, his body felt the same way too, sluggish…

He stopped moving, not because he wanted to, he just couldn’t. He dropped once again to his knees, perhaps sleep would do him well…

His glazed eyes drifted forward once more, the light seemed so close…

The voices… So dull…

He fell forward onto the rocky floor beneath him, but he was still awake, why?

“...ere!.... -oble…. distan…. -nds…” The voice said again.

His eyes didn’t move, but the light did for him.

“...n?... Sir….” The light moved across to his left.

“...jured!...elp!”

His eyes started to close, his own mind starting to run itself to a wall, stopping in its tracks and leaving his mind dull.

He exhaled, his own body couldn’t find the strength to hold his breath anymore.

And silence fell.

---

There was a loud knock at the door. “The princess demands your presence in the throne room, the wedding has just been made mandatory attendance.” A voice said through the door.

“Matthew, you and Moonshade try to take one alive, we need information.” Taze said in a hushed tone.

Matthew nodded his head before speaking aloud and quickly making it sound like he was not feeling well, it was rather good in fact. “Can you please not bang so loudly… I got a migraine and…” He moaned loudly, “I am not feeling well, I, I don’t want to get any ponies sick or take away the specialness of the ceremony.” While he spoke loudly Moonshade moved to be able to drop down on them.

“Open this door right now or we will enter by force!” The voice shouted.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your tail in a knot, I’m coming.” Taze said in an annoyed tone as he moved to the door with his katana in hand. He looked at Matthew and nodded then to Moonshade. with one motion he opened the door and sweeped downward with his sword. while not a warrior in reality twelve years of chopping wood for the stove during winter had given him a powerful chop and the stallion stood there, stunned look plastered to his face as the two helmet halves fell to the ground. a thin red line tracing down his skull to where Taze’s katana halted just above the muzzle. there was a green flash and the pony at the end of the sword reverted into a changeling. With a sneer taze kicked the corpse off his blade.

There out in the hallway, behind the lead pony were five more stallion guards and with an almost blinding flare the five reverted into changelings still wearing the armor of the guards and hissing. Matthew looked at Taze’s back. “I am suddenly reminded of the old black and white movie about Pod People.” From behind Taze, Matthew rolled to his side and a twang was heard as the crossbow let loose a bolt and it appeared to Taze’s eyes that the Changeling nearest him in the hallway had a bolt just appear in one of it’s legs. He actually heard Matthew swore a little using a word that started with an s to describe scat, it seemed Matthew missed the spot he was aiming for. He was already working on reloading when the Changeling’s face relaxed and it fell over on its side.

“What?” Matthew replied as he looked up. “Did I hit a vital area?” He didn’t have time to wait as the surprise moves were wearing off and the other four were slowly moving in to close in on Taze. “Maybe you should fall back?”

Taze drew his second blade carefully. “I get hurt it clots in a few minutes, you get hurt and who knows when we can get you help, just keep me covered.” Taze growled charging at the nearest changeling. the bug charged at him as well it’s horn impacting his chest in what would normally by a killing blow. Taze gaped a bit winded from the impact but the dragon scales held firm as he brought his shorter blade down on the back of the changelings neck.

There was a blur and the Changeling that was in the back, was knocked down to the ground, as the two tussled a little, this caused a distraction on the final Changeling to seem as if he was hesitating when another bolt appeared in his side as he turned. Taze looked down to see Matthew had moved to fire the shot from between his legs. Which he had spread to take the impact from the charging Changeling. Matthew smiled as he rolled to his back to look up a little at Taze as he smiled. “Well first battle over.”

Moonshade was dragging an unconscious Changeling back towards the room. “Agreed and as you asked one Changeling ready for whatever you want to do with it.” She looked at Taze and the hallway. “We better remove the bodies before we are discovered.”

Matthew nodded as he was unloading the Crossbow to reload the two spend bolts. “Agreed, their is rather little blood from these things… very interesting in how they look rather bug like.”

Taze handed Matthew a rope he fished from his belt. “Care to tie him to a chair while we clean up the bodies?”

“Not at all, will let me try out some of the knots from the survival book I was reading, and try to remember the knots I learned as both a scout and from a friend who owned a sailboat.” He moved to where they placed the creature on the chair and by the time the other bodies were dragged into the room as well… it was a rather comical look while the ropes were draped around like a child ran around the creature one could see knots as well. Matthew only smiled a little. “Sorry I guess I wanted to try all the different knots.”

Taze excused himself to the bathroom locking the door he washed his face and tried to avoid hyperventilating, he had just killed something sentient and the shock was starting to set in. Taze tried to breath deep struggling at first he began to manage to shorten his breaths stealing his resolve, this was war there was no other options here, which made what he was about to do slightly easier to stomach. Returning to the main room he retrieved a jar of a rather sickly green viscous fluid.

Matthew looked back at Taze as he exited the bathroom. “Hey,” he voice soft. “Can… can you come over here for a second?” He shook his head and took a deep breath in and out. “I think I figured one thing out.”

“Yeah?” Taze asked as he approached rubbing the fluid onto the steel of his knife.

“You know history? How we have names that carry over? Like how the Germans were called Jerries in World War Two? Or… what we called the Japanese?” he shivered remembering the lecture he got after using the slang his grandfather and a buddy used while talking war stories. “I think… it was used to help the men cope with what… we just did.” He looked back at the changeling. “I, I already started calling them bugs in my head, and that is scaring me.”

Taze gestured to the fluid. “This is a special balm made by one of the apothecaries around here, it encourages creatures to tell the truth.” He explained. “When they lie with it in the it gives an unpleasant reminder not to do that”

Matthew looked at the fluid and blinked. “That… is amazing, a working truth serum.” He blinked as they all heard the hiss from the now awake Changeling as it struggled in the bonds it found itself in.

Walking up, Taze gently nicked the changelings neck with his knife. “Give it a few moments to get into the bloodstream.” Taze said. “Then, we ask our questions”

Taze turned to Moonshade. “You’re the military pers… pon… uh being here, I take it you probably have been trained interrogating prisoners?”

She looked a little nervous. “Just a little, I was not really trained to interrogate in the field but to capture and turn them over to our police or those who would ask the questions.” She shivered. “I would also, I cannot be part of this, Our military has made agreements not to use this type of interrogations if done poorly it can kill the pony or creature who was injected with it.”

Matthew blinked and turned to Taze, “What? You, did you know that?” He looked right at the Changeling who looked, fear? Did he see a bit of fear? He looked back at Taze. “Can I try a little?”

Tazes face was the portrait of grim shame. “You think we were gonna keep a prisoner with us the whole time Vulpix?” He asked looking at the changeling. “When’s the attack?” he asked as he looked at the Changeling.

“When my queen wishes, we don’t know when it will be.” the changeling said, his face twinged a little but other then that there seemed to be no real reaction.

Matthew actually seemed to fly into a little bit of a fury. “You, I… I am not the,” He actually seemed to catch what he was saying and spoke again, “I am not the Japanese, Nor am I the SS. I am a holder of the Geneva Convention, something that the Pokke don’t seem to have.” He looked at the Changeling. “Do you want to live? Or do you want him.” He pointed at Taze with a finger. “To get the answers and do… I don’t know what will happen to you.”

“The attack will happen when the vows are said.” The changeling’s face fell as he answered the question.

Matthew smiled and it seemed that the anger in the room that was hurting the Changeling dropped a little. “Thank you.” Matthew replied with a sigh. “Are… you are similiar to creatures in my location I come from… are you all linked as a hive or do you communicate with scents and magic?”

“Our Queen uses scents at close range and for long range she gives us commands through an emotional link, the messages are linked to the sequences sent through the link that’s how we know what she’s saying.”

“Thank you,” Matthew replied and looked at the others. “I, I want to tell you that as an American, if you formally surrender to me, I will do all in my power to make sure you are alive. The US, the nation I come from, is known to treat POWs with respect and kindness.” He looked at the other two. “I cannot say what your fate will be with these two.” He moved a little to keep looking at the Changeling. He looked, tired now, and as if these past hour to his mind was already a full day. “I don’t want any lives hurt that can be helped, on both sides.”

The Changeling looked at Matthew. “Then why attack us if you don’t want to hurt lives?”

“Self defense,” He looked at the Changeling. “I am protecting my life, and I plan on doing so, does who wish to bring me no harm, I leave alone, those that go after my life or my freedoms… I will stand up against them.”

Further conversation was stopped both by the changelings body suddenly stiffening up from some unseen source and from the three being distracted by a loud metallic scraping sound, several loud crashes, and then the sound of rapidly approaching hooves. Tazes blades where back in his hands instantly.

Matthew turned and picked up the Crossbow. “Killing their own kind… what kind of respect do they have of life?” Matthew spat. “Battlestations.”

The group readied themselves just as the door were flung open revealing….

---

The silence that fell for Shawn seemed to last ages… The darkness seemed to seep into his being. But soon, soon the darkness lifted to light, blurs flew by his now opened eye, muffled voices echoing through his mind as it slowly pieced together coherent sentences.

“..old on!”

His open eye could only watch as a shape moved around him, the light following it.

‘Hold on?’ He thought to himself.

‘To what…?’

His eyelid was being held open, that much he knew for sure, but what else? His thoughts were shifted as pain flooded into his system from his left side, something pulsed through his very being as something was being done to it. After a moment his mind sped up, and his thoughts began to make more and more sense to him. His eyes snapped open and he clearly saw the two near him. Twilight and Cadenza, that’s who it was.

“Oh good grief!” He said, closing up lightly as his mind tried to ignore the pain in his side. He began to lean up only to be halted by a hoof on his chest. He trailed up the appendage to meet Twilights worried expression.

“Would you hold still? You’ll only make it worse.” She shook her head in worry. “How old is this wound? Also where did you learn Magic? I can detect a major amount acting like a pressure wound over the site.” She was speaking and looking like she was trying to wrap the wound at the same time.

Cadence shook her head. “That’s not on purpose Twilight the magic is concentrating on it’s own.”

Shawn only shook his head to clear his thoughts. “I’ll answer any of the other questions like when this happened when I actually figure out the time.” He started to push himself up, against Twilights wishes. “Gotta get moving, we don’t have a lot of time. Chrysalis is going to start her plan tomorrow during the wedding.” He stood up, giving his back a light turn, trying not to upset the wound at his side. “I’ll patch that up later…” He mumbled to himself.

With a slight clap he turned to the two ponies before. “Now, Twilight shall we get moving, and also, a pleasure to meet the real, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” He said with a low nod of his head, giving a light bow.

“So you're the visitor Twilight mentioned.” Cadence said “I’ve never seen anything quite like you before.”

Shawn gave a slight pause. “You’ve been gone awhile haven’t you?” He questioned.

“There was some sort of commotion in the courtyard, that’s the last thing I remember before they took me.” She said

Shawn opened his mouth for a second before closing it again. Shaking his head he looked back at her. “That was, around a week ago or around that.”

“Oh my I have been here a long time.” She shook her head. “I’ve got to get back to the surface now.” She said

Shawn looked around the area, or at least, what he could see. “I’m kinda useless here… I don’t even know where we are in the first place, besides it being a cave.” Shawn said, shrugging slightly.

“Well, I believe we should head this way,” Twilight replied before smiling. “I got a detection spell to find an entrance to the caves from the surface, using air currents, and…” Twilight was interrupted by Cadence whispering in her ear. “Sorry, no time for explanations we have to get going, come on everypony, lets save my foal sitter’s wedding.”

---

After escaping the confines of the crystal caverns below, they were able to determine their location, which happened to be a old cavern opening off to the side of the castle, which seemed to have been forgotten when a small rock slide had sealed the entrance.

“That was something.” Cadence said, panting. “The unicorns that built this mine really had no idea what they were doing”

“Shawn, you go to see one of the docs and get that looked at, Cadence and I have a wedding to stop.” With that the two ponies raced away leaving Shawn in the hallways of the castle.

“Yeah… I’ll do, that.” He mumbled to himself, looking around the hallways, recognising where he was.

“Wait a minute.” He looked around, making sure of his location. “I know where to go first…”

He jogged down one of the many directions, following his memory. He also made sure to check around corners for any guards, just in case, but found a disturbingly low number, next to none. After a few minutes of going down hallways he came across the room he was after.

“Hope it’s at least almost done…” He said, opening the door to the smith, only to find the smith off work. With a shrug he looked around the room, determining if it was really empty or not. He walked in, closing the door behind himself softly before leaning against one of the walls, taking deep breaths.

“Oh boy…” He said looking at his side again, the small wrap Twilight had put seemed to be rushed, and was already sagging. Looking around the room he scanned for some material to make a new patch, anything cloth based. His eyes settled on a thick white cloth that seemed to be put off to the side, not in use.

Muttering an apology he took the cloth and with one of the many sharp edges near him, cut off enough to cover the wound. He looked around again, for something to help hold it in place, rather than a knot. His armor was off to the side, the helmet still not done, but the rest seemed to be stable enough, noticing the straps all around it, it gave him a clever idea.

Holding the wrap in place he began to strap what pieces of armor he could on, holding it in place. He smiled at it, freeing his hands and still applying pressure on the wound. With a frown he shrugged and began work on placing the rest of the full body armor on.

After several minutes he stood up, rolling his shoulders he adjusted to the new weight he had put on, while big, the armor didn’t seem to weigh him down that much, reaching for the sword at his hip, he realised something important.

“She… Took, my sword…” He mumbled to himself. “Welp, in a smithery, shouldn’t be that hard to get a new one. Albeit, temporarily.”

He looked around and saw the sword he had been messing with when he had first put in the request for the armor, surprisingly, it was in its sheath, it was meant for the back of a pony, but after tightening it, it worked fine for his hip.

He placed his arm on the wall one last time, taking calming breaths to help his balance. “Alright, got to be ready for anything…” He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, and with a nod of satisfaction he opened the door and began to follow the path back to the room he shared.

‘Got to make sure they are safe...’

He was suddenly blocked as five changelings assembled in front of him. He noted these changelings were smaller than the group that attacked him and seemingly lacked wings. They all growled at him menacingly, eye’s locked waiting for who would make the first move.

Moving as quickly as he could, he swung the sword in a wide arc, making sure he would at least hit one, and depending on how it worked, possibly more.

His arc took the head of the first changeling right off while removing a front leg of another, growling another charged him.

Shawn feinted to avoid the charge only to be hit in the side as another changeling grazed him. His armor held and somehow he managed to keep from reopening his wound as he turned slashing in a diagonal arc. The slash narrowly missed it’s target only leaving a gash on the changelings body. Shawn’s body screamed in protest as he turned and stabbed running the changeling in front of him through.

Standing across from Shawn the last changeling held something all too familiar in it’s telekinetic grip. Shawn’s blade was held in the air in a sloppy formation.

“Oh, you are next.” Shawn said squinting at the changeling that dared to wield his blade, noting what he could.

The changeling swung the blade in a large awkward arc, Shawn seeing the opening, sheathed the pony broadsword and backed out of the swings range before moving in and grabbing the handle and wrestling it from his grip.

Once the blade was in his hands and not being telekinetically controlled he smiled, swapping the sword to his left hand he pulled out the pony broadsword and held them both in his hands, giving his shoulders one last quick roll, he stood in an offensive stance, and jumped at his opportunity.

The changeling stood shocked, at least Shawn was sure it was shock, it was hard to read it’s face when it’s eye’s had no real way to reveal emotion, although they were now a lime green.

Capitalizing on this, Shawn dashed forward, some part of his mind laughed at how easily the pony broadsword was to his one hand. With a fluid motion he placed the blades crossed with one tip ending behind either end of the changelings head and with a fluid motion he scissored the blades together. The changelings eye’s went black as it’s head rolled followed by it’s body slumping to the ground a moment later.

After making sure there were no more changelings in the area around him, he flicked the blades to remove excess blood off his blades before giving them a quick twirl and sheathing them. With one last glance he continued down his path, headed for the room he shared.

Upon arriving to the same hallway as the room, he spotted what looked like a changeling, well at least it looked like it was one at some point. It’s body was covered by bony plates rather than chitin. It’s eye’s where red and seemed to be covered by naturally formed lenses. It had no visible wings but stood much taller and sturdier than anything Shawn had seen yet. It had it’s head lowered and seemed to be preparing to charge the door.

Givin he didn’t have the most amount of time, his mind went into overdrive, scanning every single part of the changeling that he could before he even attempted to make a first move.

Shawn noticed that the plates seemed to thin out on the underside of the changeling, likely they were weakest directly under it. Also it hadn’t noticed him hinting it’s peripheral vision and senses may be quite dull. After a few moments Shawn charged forward gaining as much momentum as possible, by the time the changeling noticed him he was very close. Dropping backwards, he let his momentum pull him in the changelings body slicing upwards with his sword. Shawn misjudged his momentum however and crashed into the wall knocking over a sword sitting on the wall, it crashed too the ground knocking over a bust and several other suits of armor in succession.

With a bellow of pain the changeling turned to him charging forwards to attempt to destroy it’s attacker. Even as it charged it was losing so much blood and other fluids it staggered then proceeded to collapse, it’s body stopping just in front of Shawn.

“Well then…” Shawn mumbled to himself. Standing up he placed his hand on his back for a moment, stretching lightly, then approached the door. Giving one last glance around him, he sheathed his blade and grabbed the door handle and pulled it open to reveal…

“Woah! Looks like you guys prepared…” He said, looking at Taze and Matthew, both seemingly ready to attack him. With a small glance up he also noticed a pony on the ceiling. “Really prepared…”

Dropping the blades Taze ran up to his friend, with no real caring for how either of them appeared he hugged him. “You’re alive!”

The momentum in the action caused Shawn’s foot to slide back, nearly knocking him off his feet. “Woah! What do you mean I’m alive? I’ve only been gone a couple hours or something.”

“Shawn, you’ve been away since early yesterday evening, and you lost like a cup of blood beforehand.” Taze said. “You should be dead.”

Shawn could only respond by opening his mouth and closing it again, after a moment he opening it again. “Well, I’m here now, and I don’t feel dead...” He said shrugging slightly.

Taze got up, letting Shawn go he retrieved his blades.

Matthew just stood there stunned. “How, what happened? Where did you… how did you get out? I thought, She said that the legends say it is a maze down there, how did you get out?” He was pointed to Moonshade who had landed on all fours to look at Shawn better. “Her name is Moonshade.”

“Uh… It really didn’t seem that much of a maze… I was near the exit when I came to…” He replied, thinking about it. “It also helps that I had Twilight and the real Princess Cadenza with me.” He said, nodding to Moonshade in a quick greeting.

“Wait Twilight and Cadence escaped?” Taze asked. “That’s great.” He smiled his body relieving instantly. “Now Celestia knows about the changelings , she’ll get them out of canterlot, we made it Matthew.”

“Yeah Twilight and Cadenza are…. On their way… to what would have been the rehearsal but we didn’t know it was today!” He said in a slightly rushed manor near the end. “We need to get moving!”

“Okay, before we go, I say we use code names… just in case, will confuse the changelings at least.” He looked at Taze. “Okay, Lizard,” He looked at Shawn. “Brony.” He pointed to himself. “Vulpix.” He looked at Moonshade. “Sunbeam.” He grinned a little. “Got it?”

Shawn’s jaw lowered slightly before he shook his head. “You cheeky bugger...”

Moonshade stared at them. “Is that really necessary?” She asked exasperated

“Uh? What?” Matthew asked with a confused look at Shawn before turning his gaze towards Moonshade, smiling a little at the question and what he was about to say. “It will confuse the Changelings, if we can slow them down, and make it look like we have more numbers, it might buy us time, remember we have only four on our side and an unknown number on the other side.” He sighed and shook his head. “I hate these scenarios in the war games.”

“Plus it’s fun.” Taze grinned.

“Wars not supposed to be fun” Moonshade said with a look of concern at Taze.

“He’s a warrior.” Shawn cut in. “He literally grew up and trained for this.”

“Impossible odds, less than zero chance of victory, whole world depending on us, eat your heart out Leonidas!” Taze said reaching in a fluid motion into his belt and putting on a pair of insanely pointed orange sunglasses. “Just who the hell, do you think I am?” Taze asked before charging out the door.

Matthew or as code named Vulpix now just looked at Shawn, who at the time was facepalming, and Moonshade or Sunbeam. “What just happened? Did I miss something.” he paused. “He just went out or in there! We got to follow him!” Matthew shouted in worry before he followed in pursuit with his crossbow at the ready incase he had attack at a quick notice.

“Planned on it!” Shawn said alright starting his jog to where he was needed. “Come on!”

“Taze! Right! Not left!” Shawn yelled forward at one of the hallway intersections.

Taze dropped onto one arm, letting the momentum turn him around before running the other way. “I knew that!”

Matthew looked back at Shawn. “Did, did I just see a cartoon turn like, like those ninja’s from those…” He paused as he tried to keep up with the speedster. “Oh, Anime! That is the word I was looking for.” He paused and blinked. “Thank you Jared.” he choked out a little as a small wave of homesickness swept over him.

“Don’t question it.” Shawn mumbled to himself as he continued running.

“But that is what Americans do, we question everything, it’s what makes us both good and annoying to the world.” Matthew replied with a chuckle trying to avoid the sad feelings.

“Alright then, try not to question it right now then.” Shawn said. “It’s best to work things out when not in important scenarios.”

“Alright, but I want to know what I just saw.” Matthew yelled out as he found himself falling behind Shawn and Moonshade. “Brony, Sunbeam, I’ll cover your backs, okay?” he asked the two of them as he realized he was slowing down and, realizing that while he looked good, he just hoped he was out of shape and nothing more. It didn’t help that he could hear the clicking of his valves a little louder in his ears. “Well at least I am still pumping blood.” he whispered to himself.

“Moonshade.” Shawn started to say to the pony following them. “I need you to stick with Matthew, or Vulpix, back there, don’t push him too hard.”

Moonshade only nodded her head flaring her wings and fell back towards Matthew. She spoke before Matthew could respond. “Now, Those two can handle themselves, I am here just so that you have a little more hoof to hoof support, seeing as.” She paused a little. “Actually when this is done, I am so going to teach you some self defense moves, you can’t rely on that thing all the time, it takes a lot of time to even reload.”

Matthew did now get to respond as there progress was stopped short when they saw Taze looking up stunned through a skylight. “Buck me.” He said as the pink energy bubble shattered and a big cloud of black descended on Canterlot.

Shawn seeing this only blinked in terror and gave Taze a little shake. “Lets get going! We don’t have time! I do not want to see this kingdom fall to the likes of those changelings!” Shawn yelled out, his anger flaring slightly.

Matthew was frozen as he saw out the side window and not out the skylight. “It’s raining zergs.” He muttered in terror as he remembered another war game he played at home. Starcraft, he sighed at least he always played at the terrans. However something clicked and turned to Shawn. “You said… real Cadence was heading to the wedding, that means, the Cadence that is fake, what about Celestia? She was there.” he gulped and looked ill. “We need to move!” His voice trying to hide his worry and fear. “Celestia… the attack is going ahead, what’s the fate of the rulers?”

Taze nodded and they sprinted forward again this time was a bit slower, do to needing to catch his breath after the speed he kept before. As they were approaching the hall where the wedding was taking place the doors burst open as the Elements of Harmony fled towards them.

“Woah! The fire is that way isn’t it?!” Shawn questioned as he came to an abrupt stop, the others following suit.

“The Changeling Queen was too powerful, she absorbed so much of Shining Armors love for Cadence that she was able to defeat princess Celestia.” Twilight informed them, not seeing as her friends shied away from eye contact with Taze. “We need to get to the Elements.”

“Will those help?” Shawn questioned immediately. “I don’t think we have a lot of time, so if they are you need to rush. We…” He looked to the group, receiving a nod in return he looked back to them. “We can provide additional support should you need it, and with the amount of changelings we saw headed in, you might need it.”

Getting out of the main castle and into the courtyard was easy enough, the courtyard itself was another story.

“It’s a battlefield out here...” Taze noted as night guards fought changelings. A changeling sailed past them and into the wall inside the castle. Luna stood stood in full armor with meteor impact in her magical grip. Charging forward into another squad of changelings she quickly dispatched them in short order.

Matthew looked at the others. “I’ll cover you all from the doorway. I might be able to clear a path.” He looked to the sky and pointed his cross bow at some Changelings and to all present it seemed crazy, at least to the two friends that of the five bolts he fired, five Changelings fell to the ground with bolts sticking out of them. He blinked and looked at the others. “Don’t gape, Just Go, Run you Fools!” he shouted before falling back a little to reload while Moonshade covered him.

“Wait we need a plan.” Twilight said looking around.

Shawn looked towards Taze, and as both their eyes met, they both gave a quick nod, understanding each others thoughts.

Before Twilight could even blink, Shawn had pulled out his two swords, and in that moment the two charged forwards, Shawn starting the war cry.

“Leeeroooy!”

“Jeennnkkkkiiiiiiinnnnsss!” Taze followed putting much more emphasis on the last name. What happened next left mixed reactions on the Elements of Harmony, but they ranged from mild disgust to sickly green complexion as the two humans battled forward like a battering ram. Even with cuts and bruises appearing on their bodies as they fought, the two seemed to fight like men possessed. Blades flashed, red and green blood splashed, and changeling parts littered the ground around them.

The two stood moments later panting, their wild charge earning a temporary reprieve as the changelings backed off.

“Get moving, now!” Taze shouted to the elements.

The Elements of Harmony charged ahead trying to ignore the grisly trail as they followed.

“What ho friends!” Luna called to them as her hammer sent one changeling hurtling through the air. Her backswing impaling another. “Tis been too long since we proved our honor on the field of battle”

The Mane six as their human friends kept on calling them raced forward only to become blocked on a landing, and behind them Changelings slammed down from the air. Without a moments hesitation Pinkie charge forward pulling her Party Cannon out of her mane and promptly sent three changelings flying with confetti.

A moment later the six ponies were surrounded by other copies of themselves. “Remember they’re Changelings.” Twilight replied with a yell. Only to have ten more of her repeat the same line towards her.

What followed was pure mayhem, and yet Fluttershy was able to avoid attacks by pretending to be a Changeling. It worked somehow. Then came Pinkie Pie using her Party Cannon. However after ten shots she got an idea, and grabbed Twilight and promptly invented a Pony Magic Machine gun that just seemed… well, crazy.

Applejack was using her own methods of bucking the Ponies after making sure they were not her friends, as well as using her rope and a few Changeling just went sailing over the railing after getting a powerful buck from her rear hoofs. The Changelings soon were trying to get her on the side only to be hit by fast punches and kicks from a blur of rainbows.

Rainbow Dash was using her speed to attack and distract any Changelings that got or were about to get the drop on her friends. She was just a blur, and even the Changelings in the sky were finding it hard to hit or attack Rainbow Dash, many times it seemed they would get her, only to have Rainbow Dash, well dash out of the way and Changelings would collide into one another.

As for Rarity, She was using her skills as a seamstress and using any materials around her to pretty much create a curtain or ball of floating pins, needles, and other items she pulled from the street. At one point she even threw a piece of rubble smashing a clear window. Only to pick up the glass shards to scare off the Changelings as they tried to surround a Fluttershy. Still the fighting was intense and they were slowly beginning to use more intense attacks that were leaving more than just bruised heads.

Seeing the 6 ponies fight on, Luna looked back. “Squads Waxing Crescent, Waning Crescent, and Harvest follow the Elements of Harmony!” She ordered, turning back to the battle.

Three squads of night guards fought there way to the mane 6, working through the hordes of changelings until they and the two humans found themselves standing on steps of the Hall of History.

“Everyone still alive?” Taze panted, eagerly eating candy from his stores to replace lost blood sugar.

From behind him, a Crossbow bolt sailed right over his head and hit a Changeling that was diving right to his head. The force knocked the Changeling away and it sailed right by Taze and to the ground before missing the platform and continued down to the street level. Around him was not just Moonshade, but three more Night Guards as they helped push through the Changelings who were thinning.

“Well,” Rarity replied with relief. “Shall we get the Elements?” She looked to the door. “I do say that we might have beat them rather well.”

“No,” A Night Guard replied beside her. “They are just falling back to regroup, right now they are most likely closing off and stopping other pockets of resistance so they can bring to bear more troops.”

Matthew finally reached the top of the stairs with a few heavy pants. “Okay… out of shape, really, hope I am.” He looked at the doors. “Shall we go now? When we have room to breath?” He looked around. “I’ll hold off the steps for as long as I can.” He looked at his bag. “I already used up half of my supply of bolts. So, maybe ten minutes of constant fighting? Not counting reloads.”

“Look around guys they’re exhausted, we’re exhausted...” Taze said. “We’re never gonna make it with such low morale.”

Matthew looked at Taze and smiled a little, a strange look on his face and smile. “Looks like we will be this World’s Spartans then… hold the line and fight in the shade.” He muttered as he looked out over the Canterlot City. However even Taze could see his hands shook from what was going on, from the adrenaline to just the scenes of war and invasion.

The assembled guards were murmuring in the crowd, muttering about the endless numbers of their foes and some of them weeping that they might never see their families again. A couple near the back seemed ready to flee.

Shawn seeing this did something that he would never have done before, nor would did he think he would ever. Jumping onto one of the broken bases of a pillar, he took a breath in and stood tall. “Hold your ground!” He shouted. “Hold your ground!” He yelled pointing to the guards that seemed ready to flee at any moment.

The shouts seemed to gain the attention of most of the troops below him as they slowly hushed down to a quiet rumble.

“Knights of Canterlot! Of towns near and far!” He shouted out, then looked down to Taze and Matthew. “My friends.”

Looking towards the crowd again he gained a look of determination. “I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of the guard fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship.” He paused.

When that line was spoken and rang out over the crowd, five ponies looked at Twilight from behind then at Taze, they seemed to fidget uncomfortably.

“But it is not this day!” He called out. “An hour of lies and shattered trust, when the age of the guard comes crashing down…”

“But it is not this day!”

He raised his fist parallel to his chest. “This day we fight!”

Placing his hand on the sword sheath to his right he looked towards the guard once more. “By all that you hold dear on this good planet, I bid you stand, Knights of Canterlot!” He yelled thrusting his sword into the air above him.

Taze echoed his actions roaring out “Eullliiiiiaaaaaaaa!!!!” at the top of his lungs with his blades in the air.

Matthew also echoed the action by roaring out his own battlecry. He had reloaded his crossbow during the speech so he could be ready at a moments notice. “Steeeeel Raaaainnnn!” It was primal yell, raw and loud.

The effect on the guard was instantaneous the fear that had controlled them before was covered by courage and a loud echoing roar of many voices. Hooves stomped loudly as the fired up guardsmen. They waited anxiously for Shawn’s order.

Within a second he charged the double doors that was locked or blocked in front of them as they lead to the chamber and resting place of the Elements of Harmony.

When he reached the door, before anyone could blink, he raised his foot, slamming it onto the center of the double doors, bursting them open to reveal a large room, full of changelings.

“Chaaarge!” He yelled furiously, pointing into the room with his blade.

“Mooonnnkeeeyyyy!!!” Taze shouted charging ahead, the room had to have thousands of changelings in it, to top things off they were bottlenecked by the doors. as they fought night guards vanished, knocked unconscious and carried off in green cocoon like things. Taze kept fighting even as his katana smashed against the armored shell of a changeling.

Shawn charged into the fray, his body screamed in fury at him as he yelled back, charging the changelings. He fought in any way he could, the two swords slowly dulling, and soon after, the swords were too dull to use, and when that happened he sheathed them, and charged in again, fists raised, and a shout of fury.

Matthew saw the battle, he looked behind him and he could see Changelings gathering behind him as well but they were not attacking, and he realized why, the bottleneck. they were letting the charge happen into fresh troops. Even he was hard pressed to attack at times but he made sure that every time the Crossbow fired it would hopefully hit something, and so far, he was having a perfect hit, even if it happened with hitting a wall and shooting up. He was not sure how he was doing it but he was not going to question it. He reached into his bag and cursed something his mother would say about excrement. “Last bundle.” he growled having given the thought of the sticky substances on his fingers to just picking up blood from the battlefield. he loaded it up, and then the changelings broke through and he fired his last bundle of five as the endless tide of Changelings poured out of the chamber or crawling out like bugs from a hole. He gulped and paused. “Last Bolt.” he whispered to his six guards. He looked at Moonshade. “It’s been an honor to battle with you.”

Moonshade only nodded and the last of the guards engaged the enemy. Matthew turned and took a breath. There, he noticed something and smiled. “I got you El Capitan.” he muttered and fired the bolt at the Changeling before taking out the KA-BAR that was a present by his Uncle. “I stand for Freedom, I give all for it.” he muttered as a Changeling attacked from the front only to back away from the black blade. It hissed and Matthew knew he was being circled. He turned and picked a Random Changeling to attack and threw the knife with one final act of defiance, only to see it hit the creature on the muzzle with the handle making it go a little cross eyed. He was tackled from behind and hit the ground hard. He felt warmth all over and he blinked. “I’m bleeding.”

Only he was not, he was being cocooned up.

Taze and Shawn stood before the main six, bloody and bruised. Tazes bowie knife was buried in a changeling laying dead all too far away and his short blade lay broken by the katana. He punched and kicked hard trying to keep fighting forward. Finally, he was tackled from behind. Before he could recover his hands and feet were bound in a solution that started out like goo but hardened like cement in seconds.

Shawn on the other hand was wobbling in his spot, at this point his skin seemed sickly pale. His wound was definitely opened again, but his blood was unseeable under all his armor but the armor on the other hand was dented, scratched and covered in green blood. His swords were sheathed due to how dull they were, and all he had left were his fists.

Even as he fought the changelings his vision swam, he was staggering in place and he was losing his strength by the second. The changelings in front of him seemed to leave his vision, and soon the ceiling took their place. He was on his back, eyes blurred, and he felt weak once again.

He could faintly hear the changelings around him, but nothing came of it, their voices turned silent, and soon after he closed his eyes, falling unconscious.

Taze was unceremoniously stuffed into a cocoon. The mane six however upon seeing the other Ponies falling, with bowed heads simply surrendered and where taken away on their own power, albeit with heavy changeling guard around them. The last words Taze managed to get out echoed through the hall.

“I’ll bite your bloomin’ legs off!” He screamed before being unable to speak anymore.A few of the changelings looked at each other and while others could not read them, the other Changelings were all feeling it a little. Relief at containing these wild cards. They took casualties but they were still in acceptable levels.

They were all paraded through the streets and the six ponies spirits dropped even more as they saw others bowing their heads who were stuck in the strange green mucus. Applejack turned to Twilight softly and with some tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry we didn’t believe you Twi, I know it might be a bit late, but I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry girls.” Twilight replied with a little smile as she saw just where they were going. “I think I have a plan.” This was whispered to the others. She could tell that they were being taken back to where the wedding had started. Behind him on a makeshift stretcher just to prove who they fought they carried the unconscious, or dead, warrior noble who according to Changeling intelligence, and those carrying said stretcher. The warrior who died twice.

The Changelings in front of the stretcher shook their heads. “I still feel that the Queen does not believe us when we say we fought the creature twice, but this will prove we do not lie.”

“Let us hope this time he stays on his back. I do not see how these things can fight on their back. So vulnerable bellies.” The Changeling next to the first who spoke replied. “What scares me is how they fought like the Warriors of the Hive. What drove these creatures to fight like that? They are not native to Equestria, and..” The Changeling blinked as if receiving something. “I’ve seem to have become a Leader Class. Have we lost so many leaders?”

Meanwhile back among the unmoving black bodies of the Changelings, one slowly began to move lethargically before opening his eyes. “My Queen, why can’t I sense my Queen?” Thinking that danger had befallen her, he tried to move, but found that the legs could not move, and so with a soft thud returned to resting on its torso. “My Queen, My Queen.” He moaned slowly and sobs as the mind started to just have a break down, everything was changing and was suddenly very hard to cope or even think of what to do next.

Comments

[Sky Hooves]

An epic mass of movie quotes... and I like it

Awesome chapter. Cant wait to read more

[Seeking Dusk]

The warrior who died twice. There are many far less epic titles to earn.

[Pinklestia]

"Taze said reaching in a fluid motion into his belt and putting on a pair of insanely pointed orange sunglasses."

A bit reference heavy, don't you think?

[Biker_Dash]

Otter, my friend... this fic has earned its position within the Warrior Files. The fics there define what it means to have the pure fighting spirit inside.

[Truthseeker]

Taze told the pony who was holding his nose high. he attempted to speak but Taze slammed the door in his face.

First paragraph and already an error? And then there is THIS:

Two of the guards thrusted their spears forward only to have them knocked away by Shawn, having only done so because of swinging the sword.

That was a terrible sentence. There are so many sentences with uncapitalized words, I doubt I could ever count them. I have to go to sleep now. Try actually reading the chapters before you post them, find an editor, do something! I'm not going to say this is crap... but it's not far off. It could be so much more than it is right now.

[VcSaJen]

“So if Apple Bloom made a big mistake you’d abandon her like yesterday's trash too?”

Well, considering 'Ponyville Confidential'...

[thaecrasis]

I'm sorry, but I think this is where I stop reading.

• I feel almost no attachment to any of the characters; none of them seem to really "come to life" so to speak.
• A lot of the scenes have a tons of unnecessary detail, and I would often just skip over some paragraphs.
• There is way too many grammatical and spelling errors - I was willing to ignore a few, but errors stand out a lot to me and I end up seeing every error when I read things.
• A lot of the character interactions just seem sloppily written, with characters simply agreeing with something without a thought, or doing things that don't make sense.

I won't give this a down vote, but this story definitely seems like it isn't for me (and it's not because it's HiE either - my all time favourite story is "Diaries of a Madman")

It's too bad - I was hoping I'd be able to get into this story since it's so long.

[Amos Anon]

I can tell that this is written by multiple authors, and while the overall story is fairly solid, at this point in the story, I find that there's quite a bit of disparity between the different authors' writing styles. I remain hopeful that this will improve over future chapters as the authors learn how to write together better, so I'll continue reading. Now I know that these chapters haven't been edited yet, but I can echo many of the other commenters on here that the grammer and spelling is pretty poor. I remain optimistic that this will improve as well.

[EnderHooves]

Not bad. It's pretty good for not being re-edited yet. Something I noticed though that I want to make sure gets picked up in the process of re-editing the chapters back to front.
We never see twilight get taken. One scene she's being disowned by her friends and brother, one of the humans talks to her, then another goes off to give her friends a piece of his mind. She then follows after him to tell him that her friends are right, the next scene has one of the guys running after her and she's a changeling now.
I know you'll get here when you get here, but I just want to point it out so you can fix it when you do.

I like this story so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing the re-done chapters.

[Vital Spark]

9959136
Hey, EnderHooves. I hope you'll forgive me. I intend to put the answer to your query in spoiler to avoid causing any problems to readers that might skim over the comments. I'm the head editor for Extended Holiday.

To answer your question, the reason why we didn't show Twilight getting kidnapped, like in the show, is because by this point she already had been. There was no space between Shawn pursuing Twilight and her getting sent to the caverns by Chrysalis, like it had been in the show. We altered things. Now, if you mean you wanted us to write a scene showing when, exactly, Twilight was abducted and cast into the crystal caves in our version of events, that's something we may or may not include. The main plot of the story is meant to follow Shawn, Taze, and Matthew, not necessarily focus on the events of MLP and the mane six. As such, the writing of Twilight's kidnapping seemed unnecessary to the writers at the time. The scene confirmed that we were deviating from the show's order of events, since in this one, Twilight didn't cry to Crysalis and then get sent down in that burning ring of fire. I hope you find this helpful.

Sincerely,
Vital Spark

[Icy Creation]

Matthew was frozen as he saw out the side window and not out the skylight. “It’s raining zergs.” He muttered in terror as he remembered another war game he played at home. Starcraft, he sighed at least he always played at the terrans. However something clicked and turned to Shawn. “You said… real Cadence was heading to the wedding, that means, the Cadence that is fake, what about Celestia? She was there.” he gulped and looked ill. “We need to move!” His voice trying to hide his worry and fear. “Celestia… the attack is going ahead, what’s the fate of the rulers?”

Terrans? Fuck Terrans, Protoss are the best. En taro Tassadar.

[FoxFire Moonwall]

A moment of silence for my changeling brothers who fell in battle .
. . . . . . . . . .
For the Hive!!!!!

[Timuri]

This is a bit rough. It seems fairly well thought out, and this Equestria is different enough to be interesting. The primary issues are the protagonists. It really feels like a case of isekai-protagonist syndrome. They are improbably skilled in melee combat, something no one from Earth has really used in battle for over a century, and fight like hardened and skilled veterans in spite of having no experience whatsoever. If the battle has no lasting mental effects on them, that will cinch it.

Still I'll continue to give the story more time. Isekai syndrome doesn't have to be a bad thing, so let's see what you did with it.

[Poparakelis]

These Mcs are somewhat, well actually they are horrible, immature swearing all the damn time for no reason making questionable decisions being chunni, acting like anime protagonists, fucking around in serious situations, really, they are horrible, they don't feel real.

[Poparakelis]

And stop hyping up humanity for god's sake they aren't special in a magical world, they CAN become special, but they aren't