//------------------------------// // Defending the Hive // Story: The Alien Warriors: Journey to Equestria // by Texas Style Brony //------------------------------// Twilight's Castle, morning The guys had waken up earlier and had breakfast and were ready to move. They were supposed to go to the changeling hive with Twilight and Starlight to prepare defenses against Queen Chrysalis and her forces. Starlight soon came out of the castle. "Hey guys, I'm sorry to tell you this, but Twilight said that she had just remembered that she had some important princess business to do and she can't come," Starlight told the humans. "Oh well. Twilight told us that you're a pretty strong unicorn Starlight. I'm sure everything will be fine." Ramirez said. Starlight giggled and blushed at this statement. Ramirez then turned around and whispered to the team. "Looks like Twilight is sending off others to do her dirty work like Celestia did with her." The guys snickered at this. "Hey, I've never seen that weapon before, what is that?" Starlight spoke up. During the nerf war back in Texas, Ramirez, without informing his own men, had brought a Thunderblast rocket launcher. He kept it in his backpack up until today. He now wore it strapped across his back. "Oh, this is our secret weapon. We tried to deal with Chrysalis one time, but her magic was too strong for our normal weapons. This one is much more powerful than the others. That bug shouldn't be able to stand up to this!" Ramirez said proudly. "Yeah Sarge, when were you gonna tell us that you had an rpg?" Smith asked sarcastically. "I decided that it would be best to keep it as a secret weapon just in case." "Makes sense. We just brought our own secret weapons too," Smith said as he and Parker turned around to reveal that they both were wearing Strikeblade swords ninja-style on their backs. They both had a sword club back in Texas and they were frequent sparing partners. "Of course y'all would bring those!" Ramirez exclaimed as the guys began laughing. "Ok guys! Try to stand in a huddle while I teleport us!" Starlight said as she lit her horn and a magic field surrounded the pony and human, and then disappeared. Friendly changeling hive The local changelings were doing the same business that they had been doing since Chrysalis was ousted: cleaning up the mess from the magic explosion. Unlike Chrysalis and her loyalists, these changelings were very brightly colored with wing casings covering their sparkling wings. Suddenly, a magical field began forming in the middle of the hive. The changelings ran up to meet Starlight when she trotted out. "Hi everypony!" Starlight waved in a friendly manner. She was just as famous among these changelings as Spike was famous in the Crystal Empire. However, the changelings started screaming and running for cover when they saw the humans walk out of the magic field in full combat gear. "Wait! What's the matter? Why are you afraid?" Starlight called out to the fleeing changelings. "We've heard the stories! Those creatures! They're called humans or ex-terminators! They kill changelings without remorse!" one changeling called out from behind a rock. "Guys! They fight EVIL changelings! You guys are GOOD changelings! You're ok! They won't hurt you!" Starlight responded. "She's right!" one changeling called out. He trotted forward to meet the humans. The humans were confused as to how one changeling was unafraid of them while the rest trembled in fear. Suddenly, Ramirez noticed a deep scar on it's yellow leg and immediately put two and two together. "Mandible?" "Hi Daniel! Thank you so much for giving me a second chance! I have been so happy here! I no longer have to scour and attack other creatures to feed off their love! You saved me!" The changeling actually flew up and hugged him, with Ramirez grinning nervously while awkwardly returning the hug. Smith just turned and awkwardly looked at the ground, due to his exchange with the exact same changeling in Canterlot. Soon, the other changelings started coming out to meet the humans, including a taller one with antlers. "Thorax!" "Starlight!" Starlight and the tall changeling ran up and hugged each other. "Oh man! It's been so long since the party!" Starlight told the changeling. "I know! Maybe we could throw the gourd fest while you're here! Who are your new friends?" Thorax responded. "That's kind of why we're here. We think that Chrysalis and her loyalist forces are going to attack this hive," Starlight uneasily told him. The changelings in the room gasped in shock. "Oh no! She intends to start a changeling civil war! What should we do?" Thorax exclaimed. "These humans here have fought her loyalists from the Everfree Forest to Canterlot to Los Pegasus. They are, as the stories say, excellent warriors. They will help you prepare for the attack which, according to Equestrian intelligence, is supposed to occur tomorrow." Starlight told the changeling king. Thorax looked at the tall, bipedal creatures and studied their strange, alien weaponry. "Can you help us?" he asked. "That's what we're here for!" Ramirez said. The changelings started cheering for their new human allies. Soon, Shining Armor also arrived with royal guard reinforcements. "Looks like tomorrow will be one hell of a turkey shoot!" Smith said upon seeing the fresh troops arrive. Soon, Ramirez, Thorax, and Shining Armor began to formulate their plan. A few hours later, about five hundred feet outside the hive All around the hive, ponies, changelings, and Parker and McLaughn were digging a network of trenches as part of the plan. inside the hive Smith along with a few unicorn guards and Starlight Glimmer were training the changelings in marksmanship skills with their magic horn blasts. Nearby, Summers was helping some changelings dig and prepare traps and hiding spots while teaching them important guerilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics. Later that night Ramirez and his men were gathered around a campfire outside of the hive. Many changelings and guardsponies were nearby around their own campfires and were talking, having fun, or going to sleep. The guys were eating boar meat from the surrounding badlands after Smith successfully bagged one earlier. "How long has it been since we got here?" McLaughn asked. "This morning?" Parker replied. "No, since we came to this world." McLaughn said. "I think it's been about eleven days." Ramirez spoke up. "Dang, we've only been here for about two weeks and we've gotten ourselves involved in an alien war." Smith said. "Because of us, I think this war will be over within a few days rather than a few months!" Summers noted. The others on the team agreed. "Well, after this fight is over, what will we do out here?" Ramirez asked. The guys started to become concerned. "Twilight, the princesses, and even Discord all said that they have no idea how we got here. We might be stuck here for a while, if not permanently," Parker said. "Well, at least we won't have to do more engineering homework or put up with the political insanity in our world." Summers said. Everyone laughed at this. Yet on the inside, they all knew that they would miss their families and homes. Soon there was an awkward silence. "Well guys, let's get some rest. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow," Ramirez told his men. They soon dumped water on the fire and went to sleep. The next morning There were a lot of signs of put-out campfires around the changeling hive while the guardsponies, changelings, and humans were nowhere to be seen. About an hour before sunrise, a large buzzing sound along with the beat of marching hooves could be heard approaching. Soon, a massive black loyalist changeling force paused about a mile in front of the hive. As the intel noted, these changelings were indeed wearing the dark armor, sharpened fangs, and swords that identified them as Chrysalis' own personal elite guards. After observing the apparent inactivity around the hive, the changeling in command spoke up. "We did it! We've caught them by surprise! All changelings! Attaaackk!!! For the Queen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Soon, the large black cloud began drawing out swords, flying towards the hive. However, as soon as it got to about fifty yards from the hive, a loud voice rang out. "EVERYONE! FIRE NOW!" numerous ponies and allied changelings popped up from out of the ground and started hurling magic and spears at the oncoming loyalist onslaught. Among those shooting from the trenches were Starlight, Shining Armor, Ramirez, McLaughn, and Parker. Parker's Rapidstrike in particular was a very deadly weapon, mowing down oncoming changelings at a very high rate. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! CRY SOM MOAR!!!!!!!!" Parker yelled at the loyalist changelings while firing his weapon. He was using the one hundred round magazines that Princess Luna had made for him. Nearby to the left, Ramirez, Starlight, and Mandible were using magic blasts and rifle shots to hold a position against the changeling onslaught. To the right, McLaughn fired burst shots from the Stryfe smg. Everywhere else along the line was being held by guardsponies and allied changelings. However, the loyalist changelings kept charging while firing their own magic back at the defenders, and despite the heavy casualties they were suffering, they kept gaining ground. When they got within ten feet of the trench, Ramirez gave the order to retreat into the hive. "FALL BACK! EVERYONE INTO THE HIVE!" Soon, the guardsponies and allied changelings began falling back into the hive while the humans covered their retreat. However, their weapons were quickly running out of ammunition, and they would need to get to their supplies inside of the hive. As soon as the last pony got in, the humans turned and jumped into the hive as the trenches were overrun. Soon, the loyalist changelings took off into the tunnels after them. They knew the area (they once lived in it after all), and were very confident that they would be able to surround the remaining forces within the hive. However, what they didn't expect was the new holes dug out by the allied changelings where they would pop out and ambush the enemy from behind. They would let the loyalist changelings pass by them and then ambush them from behind using spears and magic. Summers was in one of these ambush hideouts and he would frequently jump out and unleash multiple shotgun blasts on the enemy. This caused much confusion among the loyalist changeling ranks and severely depleted their numbers. However, a good number of loyalist changelings were still able to make it through the booby trapped labyrinth to a large open space in the hive. There, they found Smith, Ramirez, and Parker reloading their weapons while Mandible showed his teeth at them. They soon tried to charge and attack them when a dart from an undisclosed location took down one. Smith was perched somewhere nearby using his sniper Retaliator to provide cover. He kept on firing his rifle, putting down multiple changelings as the rest of the humans reloaded and resumed firing. At one point, the changelings charged them and tried to engage them in hoof to hand combat when Smith jumped down from his hiding spot and he and Parker pulled out their own nerf swords and charged straight for them, yelling out the motto on their team badges. "LUNA NOS CUSTODIT!!!!!!" They began slicing through the loyalists in a similar manner to the Spartans against the Persians in 300. For the changelings, the only thing scarier than a human with a gun was a human with a sword that were bigger than theirs, charging and yelling at the same time. At the same time, McLaughn, Mandible, and Ramirez kept shooting at other loyalist changelings who tried using magic from a distance. Soon, royal guard and allied changeling reinforcements arrived with Summers and forced the remaining loyalist changelings to surrender. A few minutes later After rounding up all of the loyalist prisoners, reloading their guns, and searching the bodies, the Lunar Nightwatch, Thorax, Shining Armor, and Starlight all realized that they had one big problem: Queen Chrysalis wasn't here. The team needed answers, and they needed them now. Suddenly, Summers had an idea, and when he told it to Ramirez, he agreed. "Give me that one." Ramirez said, pointing to a loyalist changeling officer. Two guardsponies immediately brought him over. Ramirez then backed up as Summers drew his Cycloneshock and pointed it to the changeling's head. "I know what you're thinkin," he began to speak to the bughorse. "'Is he just bluffing me or will he pull that trigger?' Well to tell you the truth, after all of this excitement, I am kind of debating that decision myself," he kept going. "But being that this is a Nerf Mega, the most powerful handgun in the world, one that would blow your head clean off, you gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'" The changeling stared down the barrel of the revolver. It definitely packed a bigger dart than what the other blasters used. "Well do ya punk?" The changeling hesitated, and then spoke. "Her highness sent us here mainly as a distraction. While taking Thorax or killing you humans would have been preferable, she knew that we wouldn't be able to defeat you. Therefore, she left behind evidence for this attack on purpose while secretly planning her final attempt at strengthening the 'true' changelings," the bug said with disgust as he looked toward Thorax and Mandible nearby. "Where. is. she?" Summers leaned in while cocking the slide on the nerf hand cannon. "She took the rest of her army from all of the remaining hives along with her powerful anti-magic stone and marched toward the Crystal Empire to steal the love from the crystal ponies, from the princess and her filly, and from the crystal heart itself," Shining Armor was nearby and turned around in horror from what he just heard. "WHAT DID YOU SAY SHE WAS GOING TO DO TO MY FAMILY?!" He yelled as he jumped on the changeling angrily and was about to punch him. "SHE SAID SHE WAS INVADING THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE WITH EVERYTHING SHE'S GOT!" "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! THE CRYSTAL HEART'S PROTECTIVE FIELD WOULD PREVENT ANY INVADERS FROM REACHING THE CITY!" "NOT IF WE USED WHAT REMAINED OF HER MAGIC NULLIFYING STONE! THEN THE CRYSTAL HEART WOULD BE USELESS AGAINST US!" Upon hearing this, Shining Armor began beating up the changeling. After about ten seconds of this, Ramirez tried to pull Shining off, but to no avail. Even when Parker tried to help Ramirez pull him off of the now bruised, bleeding changeling, he wasn't budging. Suddenly, Summers went on a hunch and started scratching behind the pony's ear. "S-STOP IT!!" Shining yelled at the humans, but after five seconds of scratching, Shining calmed down and fell flat on his belly, blissfully enjoying the scratch until Summers pulled his hand away. After a few seconds without scratches, Shining regained his senses and began getting back up. "Sorry guys, I was very unprofessional over there." Shining told the humans soon after getting up. The changeling was now unconscious and was being dragged away by guardsponies. Ramirez then turned around to see Starlight looking up at him. She had listened in on the whole conversation and saw what Shining did. "Need some teleportation magic?" She asked voluntarily, worried not just about the princesses and crystal ponies, but also for her friend Sunburst who lived in the Crystal Empire. "Yeah, but can you really get the whole pony army to the Crystal Empire?" Ramirez asked skeptically. "No, but I can get you guys, Shining Armor, about ten of his troops and me over there," she responded. "Wait for a few minutes, I'll be back," Shining told her as he began gathering ten of his best guardsponies. The humans went and collected extra ammunition from their supplies nearby. After five minutes, every one was ready. "Be careful out there," Thorax told them as he, Mandible, and the rest of the allied changelings and guardsponies looked at the small group. "Do it," Shining said as he, his troops, and the humans were standing by. "Ok, here it goes..." Starlight's horn lit up, and soon the humans and ponies were consumed in a magic field which vanished a few seconds later.