//------------------------------// // The love and wrath of a mother // Story: Changing Fates // by Ulthor //------------------------------// Chapter 07 *At the Badlands, in a hive hidden away from all to see* Chrysalis' Changelings were preparing for something major, something they had been planning ever since the previous invasion had ended as it did, she would have kept her vengeance to just Celestia and Luna if it had worked, but they had done something unforgivable in Chrysalis' eyes, they had fooled both her and her daughter, herself into thinking that her daughter was dead, and her daughter that she was on their side and had turned her against the Changelings, but all that would soon end, cause this time, she would bring her entire army. Chrysalis walked into the main cavern where her army had started to gather and felt the need to start singing a song, and so did her hive, since the time had come for their plans to unfurl. Verse 1 My darling dears your mother's here My love protect you there's no need to fear I'm so sorry it all went wrong Let me sing you a little song We took the bride I took her form And all of you prepared a mighty swarm But our efforts were brought down low. Tears of joy turned to tears of woe. Chorus 1 But worry not your mother has a plan We will return and will take back the land Strength in numbers we have on staff So we will have the final laugh. Now listen close to what I have to say Prepare to fly and we will win the day If your patient we'll carry on And our foes will all soon be gone. Verse 2 We must be smart we must be wise We must be quick if we're to claim the prize Their dear princess controls the sun And she's worshipped by ev'ryone Her protégé's so called friends Must be dealt with before the story ends Careful planning is what we need This is what mother has decreed. Bridge We the hivemind we the swarm have faith in our mother She inspires us and teaches us and calms us during storms If only others knew her love they wouldn't see a bad girl For it's her love that keeps us safe out there in a cruel world Verse 3 I can hear your song ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We can hear your song It makes me proud to know you all are strong ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~ It makes us proud to make you strong Stretch your wings and prepare for flight ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Stretch our wings and prepare for flight Bare your teeth and prepare to bite ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ Bare our teeth and prepare to bite Now rise and sing and call my name ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ Now rise and sing and call your name Equestria will never be the same ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ Equestria will never be the same We must act now the time is soon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ We must act now the time is soon To take down both the sun and moon ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ To take down both the sun and moon Chorus 2 And then we'll feast at any time of day And we will rule in ev'ry single way No more hiding we will be free When the ponies look up to see A might swarm consuming the whole world A Changeling army with it's fangs unfurled Food aplenty for all our kin Over others we all shall win. Aria 1 We the swarm will take whatever lands upon our plates ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sing my darlings, sing! We don't care what price we must pay! And in any kind of weather we all have to stick together, And we don't want it any other way! Let's FEED! Aria 2 Yes I do so love my brood It's me heart that feeds them food. I won't let harm come to what is mine! Verse 4 Hurry now we must take care We must be ready and we can't fight fair With the buzzing of countless wings Gather all your most precious things And follow me as we take flight We can't stop now because the time is right Raise your voices and fill the air Hidden monsters; we're ev'rywhere. Chorus 3 The ponies' time is coming to an end An age of Changelings will begin again We will conquer and we will rule And the ponies will be our fools. They all will fall for our grand masquerade And they won't doubt the faces on parade Let's make haste so we can proceed This is what mother has decreed! As the song slowly ends Chrysalis looks over her army once more. "Yes my darlings, we shall prevail! The time for Changelings is nigh, go my precious things, go forth and conquer everyone!" She then laughs "Ah, it's so good to be queen." Morale soared as the song resonated inside the minds of all the Changelings in the hive, over the last millennium they had prepared for vengeance and all of them were ready for war even then, but now they were even more motivated, for this time they wouldn't just fight in order to teach them how it felt to lose all hope like they had once felt, no, this time they would fight to take back what they had lost, they would get their princess back and show them just how fearsome Changelings could be if they had hope once more, they didn't care if they would have lost their lives before and that's already a dangerous thing, but now they would surely keep getting back up even if they were dying, they would fight beyond the point of death in order to get the princess back. Chrysalis knew they all felt like this, but she couldn't help but feel saddened slightly at this aswell, cause even if she agreed with them and would do the same for her daughter as the rest of the hive would, she also couldn't help but think of all of them as her own, and what mother would want to lose their children for any reason? However, she also knew that if she were to tell them, there would be doubt through the hivemind, and that could cause more casualties then not saying anything in the end, but that didn't mean she couldn't say anything. Chrysalis looked over her Changelings once more as she talked through the hivemind. "My children, today we will invade Canterlot once more, but this time there won't be any nasty surprises like last time, our kin that stayed behind have already infiltrated their ranks and have taken care of most of their army, they haven't even realized that all but a few dozen have been replaced, and this time we won't be giving them any warning either… This does not mean however that you should just throw your own lives away, yes we will do everything we must to get my daughter back from them, but it will truly be our victory if we have no casualties at all, so even though there are so few of them left, fight smart and group up to take them down, use anything we have available to us… If possible take them all alive, but if it's impossible without losses on our own side, don't hesitate and just take them down instead." Chrysalis checked the hivemind for any unrest but felt none, and continued. "Our spies have told us that princess Luna has abandoned her post for some time now, and my daughter has not been seen during that time either, so I assume she is holding her captive somewhere, this will be their downfall however, as we will take their capital before they even know what happened, and we will find out where she is being held soon after, I am certain that princess Celestia will try to send word to her sister the moment we invade afterall, but she doesn't realize that all of her close guard has already been replaced by our own, once she does we will capture her with the magic repressors that she so gracefully has provided for them herself, she will tell us all we need to know and be captured before she even realizes the full extend of our plans, soon after we will do the same for princess Luna and save my daughter, no Changeling blood will have to be spilled on my watch, so stay wary till the very end." The Changelings were touched by her words and the morale raised even higher, they knew that they had all the right cards in hoof to make this happen, there were no holes in their plans, they knew that the elements of harmony couldn't be used without all the wielders either, and they had already replaced one that had come back to Canterlot just a few days ago, it was the white one that was called Rarity. And they also wouldn't have to deal with the pesky shield for two reasons, one this was going to be a surprise attack without any warning, and two Shining Armor, the one that had put up the shield in the first place, still had a control spell casted over him, but in order to make sure it wouldn't be detected and removed, it was a single command that would only activate if he heard a single word, it would cause him to fell into a deep sleep for a full day, and they had made sure one of their infiltrators would always be near him, they would say the word the moment the attack would start and prevent him from being able to do anything. With all this planned out, there were no holes in their plans that could make this invasion fail, so they took to the skies and headed for Canterlot, their vast amount blackening the very sky itself, and Chrysalis herself led them from the front, this was going to be a glorious day, the day they would take over Equestria and get their princess back. =====+++===== The invasion had gone as easily as they had expected, the few guards and soldiers left were almost instantly taken care of by those they thought had been their allies but had in fact been Changelings themselves, Shining Armor had fallen into a deep sleep the moment they started, princess Cadance was quickly taken care of with some magic repressors and some chains, she didn't even have the chance to react to what was happening, and Celestia, she had tried to send a guard to Ponyville in order to warn her sister before she was taken care of by the Changelings that she though had been her own personal guard, everything had gone as planned and there wasn't even the slightest hitch, they remained weary however and placed the whole town under lockdown, till they would have their princess back, they wouldn't let down their guard in the slightest. Queen Chrysalis was now standing in front of the cell they had put Celestia in after reinforcing it, there was no reason they couldn't use these cells afterall, they just had to make certain it was foolproof. "Well, well, well, how the tables have turned, the first time you beat me I was but a mother in distress with a army made of Changelings without any experience in combat, and the second time you used a trick to prevent me from doing what I had to, but now, now your out of tricks and my army has long since defeated yours without you even realizing it." Celestia glared at Chrysalis, she would have walked closer or stood up in order to look her in the eyes from the same point of view, but her chains made her unable to move anything other then her head, and even that was slightly restricted. "Chrysalis, what are you planning this time? Why did you keep me alive? You already took the capital and it's clear that nopony will even realize it happened for quite some time." Chrysalis laughed. "What am I planning? Isn't it obvious? I'm planning to capture both you and Luna, so I can save my daughter and undo what you have done to her mind! And once I have done so, only then will I take care of both you and your sister!" Celestia gasped. "Y-you can't! What about the sun and moon? Without us they won't move and the lands will be ruined!" Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you really think I haven't thought of that already? Your not the only ones that can move heavenly bodies you know, we've already found the statue of one that can do the same." Celestia blinked for a moment. "A statue? …! You mustn't! If you release Discord, he'll cause chaos all over the land!" "Better to live in a land filled with chaos, then one ruled by your kind that take away all that we love! And it matters little to us Changelings in the first place, his magic has little control over us, our hivemind prevents his mental tricks and our bodies can simply change back from whatever he might try to do with them, if anything it would likely aid us in the long run, as ponies will come to us on their own for protection, not that we'll really need their love to survive now that we also have a constant supply in the form of a princess of love that is, but it will be a nice addition." Chrysalis said with a smile. "You… You…" Celestia knew she would be unable to change Chrysalis' mind, what she told her certainly sounded like it might work, and once more she knew that none of this would have happened had she just listen to Luna in the first place, or perhaps it could have been solved millennia ago if she hadn't reacted as violently the moment Chrysalis had showed up, this was all her fault and she knew it. "… Please, at least… At least spare Luna, she never meant any harm to start with, she tried to save Twilight in fact, it was me that caused all this, I'm the only one that's at fault here!" She then pleaded, she knew she messed up big time, but perhaps she could make up for it with her own life in the end. Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Begging me to save your sister? My, you have changed, haven't you? Or perhaps this is all just another ruse to have me let down my guard once more! I won't listen to your lies anymore Celestia, you have lost and we have won, just accept it already!" She then turned around and walked away as she took up the guise of Celestia so they could act like nothing had happened in the capital, Celestia shouted after her as she left, begging her to listen and not harm her sister, but she would have none of it. After getting to the throne room and sitting down on the throne of Celestia as she was disguised like her, Celestia's words rung through her head once more, before she shook her head and thought to herself. "No, it's just another one of her lies, it's all she knows how to do, I can't have it poison my thoughts, I must ensure a swift and complete victory, and I can't have any interfere with our plans, not even my own mind." One of her guards then entered the room. "Your highness." He said as he bowed before her. "Ah, Nightwatch, how goes it?" Chrysalis asked him. Nightwatch got up and looked her in the eyes. "I've been told that it's slowly progressing your highness, the amount of chaos energy he must have absorbed over the ages the first time, in order to escape seems to be more then we had expected, but our scientists are certain it won't take that much longer then we had originally planned for." Chrysalis nodded. "Good, it's a shame we can go to the next stage right away, but this is no time to get unrestful and rush things, we can wait a bit longer if it ensures the safety of everyling… And what about the other thing?" "Fastfoot and his squad should be arriving in Ponyville at any moment now, they will take care of the other element wielders before we head out in order to rescue the princess, he'll also try to gather as much information about Luna's current location and where she might be keeping the princess locked away, if they find a chance they'll attempt to rescue her, but if it seems to be impossible right away, they'll simply wait for the rest of us as ordered." Nightwatch stated. Chrysalis nodded again and looked to one of the stained windows that held the image of her daughter in pony form. "Don't worry Twilight, mommy's coming." *Ponyville* Fastfoot and his squad had only just arrived at the edge of the village and kept themselves hidden, he then looked at one of his men. "Right, Rock Crusher, your target is the one called Applejack, I heard she has quite a large family, so take plenty of men with you, their also supposed to be really strong so be sure to move in fast and hard, don't give them the time to react and be vigilant in case you missed one." Rock Crusher saluted. "Yes sir!" He then said and picked a few tough looking Changelings before heading for the farm. Fastfoot then looked at another one. "Cherrydrop, your on the one living closer to the forest called Fluttershy, intel says she isn't dangerous on her own and will likely submit quickly so your on your own, but she seems to have a few tricks up her sleeve and the animals seem to protect her with their lives, she also seems capable of some kind of paralyzing stare, so it's best to stick to the shadows and wait till she's alone, that way you can take her out before she can employ her stare or call for her animals." Cherrydrop saluted aswell. "I will be swift and silent sir!" As she said so she then quickly headed out. Fastfoot then talked to himself. "Hmm, that only leaves the one called Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, I'm likely the only one here that can keep up with the speedster, but I heard the pink one can be quite a hoofful… She seems capable of defying reason, all the reports just said she was 'random' and has some kind of odd sense to notice all sorts of things, we can't be certain she doesn't have a way to notice us or that she's being stalked… How to take care of her?" One of his men then spoke up. "Sir, can I give it a crack?" Fastfoot looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You Sour Shield? That's surprising, you never ask for a specific job." Sour Shield saluted. "It's because till this time I never felt like my special innate skill would be of much use, but this mare might just be the right one to use it on." "Ah! Right, I forgot that you can turn random events into normal ones, but how will you get around the odd sense she has about things?" Fastfoot asked. "To be honest sir, I don't think I'll have to, she would have likely have told Celestia last time during the wedding if she could really sense us, I think that as long as I don't do anything special like stalk her or try to harm her till she can't escape normally, it'll all turn out alright." Sour Shield replied. Fastfoot thought for a moment and then nodded. "Alright, I'll leave this to you Sour Shield, be careful though, we can't risk any of them notifying any of these ponies and especially not Luna, the rest of you try and just find out where Luna is for now, once we're all done we'll meet up back here and let the queen know what happened." All of them then saluted and spoke in unison. "Yes sir!" As they all went their own way and putting up their own disguises, Fastfoot looked to the sky and spotted his own target. "Good, this should be easy enough." He then took on the disguise of a brown pegasus with a red mane and tail, aswell as a bolt of lightning going sideways for a cutiemark. "Let's see just how competitive and fast you really are." He then said as he took to the skies. Rainbow Dash herself was resting on one of the clouds, though to be fair she had earned it for once, she had been going all over Equestria lately to try and find her friend, Luna may have told her and her friends that Twilight was safe and sound, but she really didn't tell them anything else, including why she just up and vanished, the fact that it had happened exactly on the same day of the wedding had made things worse aswell, they even considered the option that perhaps Luna had been replaced aswell, as such one of the others would keep their eye on her at all times while Dash scoured the land and searched for Twilight without letting Luna know she was doing so, and a few days ago they had decided to let Celestia in on all this, so Rarity had set out to tell her, but she had yet to return, causing even more worries amongst them. In fact Dash had actually wanted to go and see if she could find her, but Applejack had told her that she needed the rest before she would wear herself out, and after a slightly heated discussion she had given in to AJ's demands for some rest, it didn't keep her from feeling grumpy about it however… But as she was about to rant to herself out loud once more, a sudden pegasus zoomed past her and caused her cloud to dissipate, making her have to quickly take flight before she'd fall. "Hey! What's the big idea!?" The brown pegasus stopped and looked back at her. "Huh? Oh sorry, didn't see you there." He then flew towards her. "Your not hurt, are you?" Dash let out a phft sound. "From a weak little gust of wind like that? Heck no, but it could have hurt somepony that isn't able to regain themselves as quickly as I can!" The pegasus had a apologetic look on his face. "Sorry, I've always had some trouble noticing other ponies while I fly, I'm really only good at flying really fast and racing, but I can't seem to ever win a race since I keep hitting others since I don't see them, I actually came here for that very same reason, I heard there was a pony that might be able to help me with my problem." Dash raised an eyebrow out of interest. "So your fast huh? Well whatever you say, there's no flyer faster then me." The pegasus rolled his eyes. "Sure you are, all racers say the same thing you know, so excuse me for not trusting you straight away, plus racing isn't just about speed." Dash glared at him. "I bet I can race circles around you at least." The pegasus smirked. "I'll have to see that to believe it… Though right now that might not be a good idea, like I said, I have trouble seeing others as I speed up, so I tend to hurt them while flying, perhaps once I find who I'm looking for and she can teach me how to notice others while flying, alright?" "… I guess, who are you looking for anyway? And what's your name?" Dash then asked. "I'm Sidestrike, and I'm looking for a mare called Rainbow Dash, I was told she lives over here, so I came looking for her, she's supposed to be one of the fastest fliers in all of Equestria and never hit anypony by accident… Now that I think about it, I should have asked what she looks like, perhaps you can help me miss." Sidestrike then said slyly. Dash let out a small laugh. "Your in luck then, cause you already found her." She stuck out her hoof in order to shake. "Name's Rainbow Dash, pleased to meet you Sidestrike." Sidestrike smile and returned the hoofshake, inwardly he was smiling in a different way though. "Same, I hope you can help me." "Ah!" Dash let out an apologetic smile. "Actually, I promised a friend I would take it slow today, is it alright if I get a raincheck on that?" Well now, this just wouldn't do, he had planned to take her somewhere separate and take care of her there by challenging her once they'd be alone, so she would then let down her guard, but it would surely seem strange if somepony she never saw before would try to pressure her into doing so, and then another thought came to him, she was the element of loyalty, surely she wouldn't let anypony do something that sounded dangerous without at least somepony else there to ensure they'd stay safe, and then he let out a small sigh as he started his new plan. "Alright, I get it, times of rest are important for a racer afterall, I'll just go and do some practice runs at that gorge in the forest, at least without anypony around I won't hurt them." He said as he turned around. "The gorge in the forest? Wait you mean the Ghastly Gorge? Stop!" Dash suddenly shouted, but he had already taken off. "Argh! Dammit! He's gonna get himself killed!" She then quickly set of to catch up to him and stop him. Dash found it odd, but she had been unable to catch up to him before he got there, how did he fly so fast? There shouldn't be anypony faster then her she thought to herself, and as she got to the gorge she looked around in order to find him, she then spotted him as he flew through the gorge and zoomed past the sharp corners and dangerous obstacles quicker then she had seen anypony do it before, excluding herself that is… Though he was doing something she was unable to do so far, he didn't slow down with the sharp corners, Dash was able to go through them with allot of speed, but even she slowed down slightly, yet he wasn't. "How in Equestria is he doing that?" Her interest now piqued, Dash decided to try and catch up to him, luckily she wasn't planning to follow the course in the normal manner and was going to just fly ahead, but he was still faster then she thought he would be, or was he somehow speeding up? Frustrated she decided to use her ace in the hole, as a cone was starting to form around her. "No way I'm going to let myself get beaten when it comes to speed!" She exclaimed to herself and a sonic boom was heard as a rainbow ring erupted from her cone. Sidestrike watched as it happened and smirked as he talked to himself. "Interesting, that's quite the technique, I'll be sure to make it my own and improve it… Hmm, let's see, it seems to go a bit like this huh?" He positioned himself properly and tried to replicate it, he was able to create the cone, but was unable to go to the next step and let out a tsk sound. "Figures it's not as easy, but I'll master it soon enough, I just need more data." Dash had pulled ahead of him and stopped on his path, expecting to be able to stop him once he'd get there, she was sure she could dodge him and grab onto him at the speed he had been flying aswell, but as she turned around to look at his direction, she quickly regretted this as he was heading faster then she had expected, she could even see a cone slightly forming around him as he went towards her, in fact he was going straight for her and didn't seem to slow down. "Horsefeathers!" Was all she could shout before she was hit with the full brunt of his speed, and soon she found herself on the ground, luckily for her she was used to crash landings and knew how to prevent any real damage even when in mid collision with somepony else from all of her training. Sidestrike quickly landed next to her with a worried look as she laid on the floor. "Oh no! Are you alright!?" Dash coughed slightly as she was trying to catch her breath. "Yeah… Just a bit beat up, your pretty good you know… Could you help me?" Sidestrike suddenly had a wide smile. "But of course, I'll help you alright~" He then said as he brought his hoof towards her. At first Dash found the way he said it a bit strange, but she soon felt a bit of fear as his hoof suddenly came down quickly with allot of force and she heard a loud snap, the fear and adrenaline made it so she didn't feel anything for a moment, but as she looked to her side to see what made the snap, she could see his hoof on top of her wing, that was now bend in an impossible direction, and then it hit her, the fear and pain came at the same time and she shouted. Sidestrike had a wicked smile. "Whoops, silly me… I only got the one!" Dash then quickly looked back at him with even more fear as she saw his other hoof coming down, she wanted to quickly escape or dodge it, but he was still pinning her down with her broken wing and then she heard another snap, once more she shouted out in pain and then she looked at him with a look that seemed to shout out why. Sidestrike took a deep breath. "Terribly sorry, really, I would have actually have liked to race you, but orders are orders… Also, my name's not really Sidestrike, it's Fastfoot." He then undid his disguise. "And your too dangerous to leave unattended." He quickly dodged her blow. "Still got some fight in you huh?" Now free from his grasp, Dash got back onto her hooves and looked at him with disgust. "I should have known your disgusting kind was involved! What did you do with Twilight!?" This actually made Fastfoot flinch a little. "How would we know? Your the ones keeping her imprisoned! We're here to save her!" Dash winched slightly from the pain her broken wings were giving her, but that didn't keep her from glaring at him as she kept her guard up. "Yeah right! Why would we imprison our friend? And why would some dirty bugs want to save her anyhay?" Fastfoot took on a military pose meant to subdue your opponent quickly. "Because she's our princess!" "Your p..!?" She started as she was surprised by it, but couldn't finish as she quickly found herself in his grasp and thrown through the sky, before suddenly get blasted by some kind of sticky goo, before she could even react she was completely covered in it. Fastfoot then walked up to her. "Now don't worry, this won't take long, and it'll mend your broken wings in a few days as long as you don't struggle." He then said as he kept encasing her with the stuff, soon he was finished and Dash found herself in a sort of chrysalis, if she knew what that was that is, Fastfoot then levitated her into a small cave. "Now just stay here till I come get you, once we save the princess, we'll have her decide on what to do with you." He then said before he closed the entrance with a large boulder. =====+++===== Meanwhile, another Changeling had managed to find his target as he was getting closer to a certain farm. Rock Crusher looked at his subordinates. "Alright, you know the plan, spread out and do some recon, I want to know exactly how many ponies are on the farm and their exact locations, stay hidden and leave no stone unturned, then report to me and prepare for the unexpected, move out!" The other Changelings quickly spread out to do as they were told, meanwhile Rock kept his eyes on Applejack, she didn't look all that special, but the reports on her strength certainly did sound impressive, perhaps one day he would see just how strong she truly was, but right now he needed to ensure the mission was a success and not chase his own ambitions to spar with strong opponents. A little bit later his troops had returned, he had been surprised when they reported their findings however. "So let me get this straight, your telling me that after all this time and searching over the entire farm, that besides our target, all you found was one elderly mare that looks like she could croak just from being frightened, three little fillies playing make believe in a treehouse and one burly stallion?" Rock then asked and got a 'yes sir' in return, he then facehooved. "This is what I took the most elite of the troops with me for?" He asked out loud and grumbled. But then Rock suddenly realized something. "Hold on a moment here, from what you told me this farm is massive and requires daily harvesting with how the trees are set up, I doubt the elderly mare and the fillies could really help out much, so that just leaves our target and the stallion… It should be impossible for just the two of them, but I have heard that some earth ponies can do it by simply bucking a tree… But still, for all these trees? That requires quite allot of strength and skill." A sudden smile then appeared on his face and a plan formed. Rock looked at his subordinates as he started to hand out his new orders. "Alright, listen up you louts! This is what we're going to do, you three are going to capture the fillies, you'll each target one of them and strike at the same time with a chrysalis spell, don't miss and be quick. You two are going to take care of the elderly, same tactic here, but 'm sending two of you just in case she's stronger then she looks, the rest is with me, we'll take care of the stallion first, after that we'll meet back here and then we're going after our main target. Now spread out!" The fillies and the elderly mare were quickly taken care of, they hadn't even realized what was going on before they found themselves in chrysalises and were taken away to be hidden, Rock had expected the stallion to put up quite a fight with how he looked, so he prepared to hold him off once they were about to strike, but he was disappointed in how quickly he went down after the first wad of goop hit him and he had been unable to break free from it, he looked at the stallion once they had put a reinforced chrysalis around him and wondered if it was truly necessary, if he couldn't even tear off a single piece of goo, then Rock seriously doubted he would be able to break free from a normal chrysalis, this just felt like wasting resources. Once they stashed away the stallion and met back up with the rest of his troops, Rock sighed as he looked at them. "This is going too easily, at this point I could have just have left it to all of you…" He sighed once more and then steeled his expression. "No, we mustn't become overconfident, we still have one more to take care of, our main target, who knows what surprises she may hide, we'll do this with all we have, for the swarm!" He then shouted, as the others did the same and they headed for their last target. Meanwhile Applejack was looking around the house. "Granny Smith? Big Mac? Where are ya'll? If this is sum joke, then I ain't laughin'… Where did ya'll go?" She then suddenly heard the door open as somepony heavy seemed to get in, judging from the creak of the boards. "Big Mac? Where did ya go? Ah've been calling out to ya for a while now, Ah can't find granny, did ya see her by any…" She started saying as she headed for the door but instead found a large Changeling that was bigger then Big Mac stand in the doorway, aswell as a few others. "Changelings! What did ya'll do to mah family!?" Rock sighed and looked to the Changeling next to him. "I thought I told you to check everything and let me know, the boards making a sound is something I would have liked to know." The Changeling looked back at him and saluted. "Sorry sir, we kept to the ceiling to prevent any of them from noticing us in time." Applejack growled. "Ah said, where is mah family!?" Rock now looked at AJ. "Their safe, we're not here to harm any of you if we can help it, so what'll it be? Will you surrender to us peacefully?" "Peacefully this!" AJ then shouted as she bucked the nearest chair towards him. Rock responded by raising his hoof to block it and glared once he shattered it, only to find her gone. "Heh, clever mare, but not clever enough." AJ had tried to run out of the house, she was by no accounts dumb, she knew she could win against several Changelings at once, so she had to warn the villagers, perhaps her friends could even help rescue her family, but on her own she was helpless, so she ran for the door and... "Oof! What in tarnation?" She then said as it wouldn't budge, it wasn't locked though, in fact it didn't even had a lock, she quickly looked around to find another way out, but noticed some kind of goop on the windows. Rock then walked in. "Give up, we have the place surrounded and sealed, noling or nopony goes in or out without my permission." AJ looked at him and growled. "Ah should have known all of ya'll can only fight unfairly, Ah'm not givin' up so easily ya hear me!?" Rock shook his head slightly. "It's not like I want to fight like this, I'd much rather just face you all one on one, but desperate times call for desperate measures." AJ was suddenly hit from behind her by a wad of goo and she reached around to rip it off. "What the!?" This made Rock smile, she might just be able to put up a fight, but the smile quickly faded a he remembered the goal for now and that there was a better way of doing this, so he took a deep breath and steeled his expression. "I hate to do this, but give up, or we'll be forced to hurt your family." AJ's resistance fell right away, as a fearful look replaced her previous expression. "M-Mah family? Ya can't! Please! Ah'll… Ah'll… Ah'll surrender." Rock sighed sadly. "Yeah, I expected you would… Your like me in that manner." "Huh?" Was all AJ let out as wads of goo then started to hit her from all around. "Our family comes first, I would have done the same if my wife and kids were held hostage… I'm sorry." Rock said before she was completely encased and the reinforced chrysalis started to form, she had felt the honesty in his words however. Once done Rock looked at his subordinates. "Stash her with the others, make sure to leave at least three guards to keep watch over them at all times and reinforce their chrysalises every hour, you hear me? We're not letting our queen or princess down." The Changelings saluted and began to take her to the others. "And get that goo off of the house, we can't risk any of those ponies from seeing it at a distance and warning any of the villagers or Luna for that matter." He finally ordered before heading back to the spot they would all meet up once more. =====+++===== Meanwhile in Ponyville itself, near the local bakery, one single Changeling disguised as a red unicorn with a green mane and tail, and a cutiemark that was a map with a magnifying glass on it, who looked through the window at the treats. "They sure do look good, that's for sure." He then said, knowing that not that much further next to him stood a pink mare who then noticed him. Pinkie hopped towards him and looked at the cupcakes he was looking at. "Oh! Banana surprise huh? Yeah, their great, I like the chocolate ones more myself though." She grinned at him and shook his hoof. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, but my friends just call me Pinkie, your new in town huh? I know because I know everypony here and I've never seen you before, normally I would throw you big surprise party, but I'm currently busy with finding a friend of mine, so what about instead I just give you…" She then reached into her mane and pulled out… Nothing. "Huh, that's odd, that normally works, one second." She reached into her mane once more, but again was unable to pull out anything, she then grumbled and rubbed her head. "I wonder if it was something I ate." The disguised Changeling however raised an eyebrow and thought to himself. "I see that my innate ability seems to work on her at least, well then, here comes the hard part." He then swallowed and appeared a bit nervous. "Urm… R-right, I'll uh… Just be on my way now." He then turned around and walked away slightly. "Wait, I'm not crazy!" Pinkie shouted after him. He suddenly made a dash for it, and she followed him, he smiled slightly at this. "Good, she's taken the bait." He then thought to himself before putting on the expression of fear as he looked at her and shouted. "Stop following me!" "Not until you let me explain!" Pinkie shouted back at him, it was odd though, she had tried to appear in front of him, but somehow she found herself unable to do so and instead could only run after him like anypony else would, this just made her want to catch up to him even more, there was something off about this pony and she would find out what it was… Aswell as explain herself to him, yes, that was the reason she started to run after him afterall. As they reached the edge of town, he suddenly ducked behind some trees and Pinkie tried to follow him, she then saw a large branch swing towards her and barely managed to duck. "Drat, I missed." He thought to himself. "Are you crazy!? That could have seriously hurt!" Pinkie yelled as she got up. Not wanting to make too big a scene and attract unwanted attention, he decided to keep up the act. "Then stop chasing after me like that! What do you even want from me!? I'm warning you, I have no bits on me, so I make a poor target for a mugging." "A… I'm not trying to rob you!" Pinkie then shouted defensively. He had a weary look on his face as he checked her out, but kept the branch next to him as if for protection. "Then why are you chasing after me?" "I just wanted to give you a cupcake as a present for being new to town but when I reached into my mane I was unable to but normally I can and I wanted to let you know but then you ran away and I chased after you but you still wouldn't stop and I was unable to pop up in front of you like I can with others so then I got interested in finding out what was going on and why I can't seem to do so with you around and I… I…" Feeling a bit lightheaded she suddenly took a big breath, and after a few more she looked back at him. "See? I can't even talk as much as I normally can, and I think it has to do with you, do you know what's going on?" He looked at her as if staring at a crazy pony. "Uh…" "I'm not crazy!" She blurted out once more. For a moment he thought that he may have made a judgmental error into letting it go on like this, as somepony would surely come to inspect what was going on now, but to his surprise, nopony showed up at all, it was like they were ignoring her, he almost let out a gin as he realized, but managed to repress it and instead swallowed as if he was a bit scared. "I-I don't know what your talking about, b-but it could be something I found at the edge of the forest." "Really? Could you show me?" Pinkie then asked, interested in knowing what could have such an effect on her. "I-I don't know… Y-your not going to just attack me as we get out of sight, are you?" He wondered if he was taking this too far, but somepony that was afraid wouldn't just suddenly switch from one thing to the other, now would they? Pinkie sighed. "I'm really not going to do anything bad, what can I do to make you realize? … Wait, I know, you can tie my hooves together, I can just hop till we get there, and that we I couldn't do anything without you untying me first." This was… This was better then he had planned, he had thought he would just have to say something like that he'd show her as long as she'd stay ahead of him, but here she was actually offering to be tied up. "I… Suppose that could work…" "Great! Now all we need is some rope and we're ready." Pinkie then said as she looked around. "That won't be necessary." He replied as he focused his magic into the branch and the fibers separated till there were hundreds of long thin strands which he then wove together till a rope was made. Pinkie looked at this in awe. "Wow, you must be some kind of rope maker." He sighed. "Not really, it's just something I learned during my travels, now let's tie you up." "Yeah, let's tie me up!" Pinkie said, as she then thought for a moment. "Somehow that sounded allot more ominous then I thought it would." He just stared at her. "Yes, yes it did." He then tied up her hooves as she had told him to do so. "Now follow me." After a few minutes as they ad gotten far enough from the village to not be seen or heard anymore, Pinkie looked around. "Are we there yet? Do you want to play a game of I spy?" For a moment he contemplated if he should just indulge her for a bit, he did feel slightly bad for tricking her as he did afterall, but no, the hive came first afterall, so he coldly replied. "Hmm, we might aswell stop now, this is far enough anyway." The sudden change of tone and atmosphere made Pinkie realize something was wrong, and the twitch she suddenly got wasn't exactly a good one either, so she tried to get out of the ropes, but found she couldn't and realized this had been a really dumb idea right now, normally she might have been able to escape, but whatever was going on was preventing her from doing so, this made her gulp. "W-what are you planning to do?" He realized she now seemed slightly fearful. "Ah, so that's where your special innate ability to sense things activates is it? That's good to know." He then turned around to face her and smiled as he let his magic wrap around her. "But you don't have to worry, I won't hurt you, your just going to have a nice long nap till we accomplish our goals." "W-we? Who's we?" Pinkie asked as she tried to move backwards a bit, but with her hooves tied together and her now in the grasp of his magic, that seemed impossible. "How rude of me." He said as flames burst around him and revealed his true self. "My name is Sour Shield, and with we I mean our hive, we'll take back our princess from you ponies and you can't stop us." Before Pinkie could respond, Sour Shield hit her mouth with some sticky goo. "Now, now, we can't have you going around and warn anypony now, now can we? Just accept that your powerless and fall asleep in the chrysalis." He then started to goop her up and form a chrysalis around her. After he was done he looked at his handiwork and smiled. "Well now, that went allot easier then expected, I wonder how it went for the others…" A thought then came to him and he frowned. "Wait, what if her random power comes back after I leave? Could she escape then?" =====+++===== After some time had passed, Rock Crusher and Fastfoot had met back up, but the others had yet too show up. Fastfoot was getting worried by now. "It's been too long now, they should have gotten back here already by now… Perhaps we should send out some scouts." Rock thought for a moment. "I think I heard some of the townsponies say that they saw Pinkie leave town with some stallion, we could start there, the cottage is a fixed location afterall, but if something happened to Sour Shield, then we wouldn't know till it's too late." "Yeah, perhaps… Alright, send some scouts to find him." Fastfoot then replied. After the scouts were sent, they took the opportunity to discus some strategies aswell as talk a bit about the ones they captured already. Rock looked at him with a slightly shocked yet respectful expression. "Dahm captain, you just up and broke her wings like that? I mean I've heard the tales, but I never thought you were really that hardcore, especially since I also heard you like to race fast opponents at times." Fastfoot looked slightly annoyed. "You know I don't like it when someling uses my rank either, it's not even the proper name for it, that’s the one for the regular army, the runner variant is called speedstar afterall." "Pft, come on now cap, we all know the queen gave you that one simply because you wouldn't accept an official rank, but that doesn't mean your anything else for us or anyling else, just accept it already cap, it's not like you can go back to just being a regular runner anymore anyway, you have all of us now." Rock replied with a grin. Fastfoot smirked. "Careful now Rock, or others might think a lowly sergeant is acting like their better then their commanding officer." Rock put his hooves in the air and pretended badly to be scared. "Oh no, whatever shall I do? They might force me to stop being friends with you and actually have me focus on my career." They then laughed for a bit before Fastfoot spoke up. "But yeah, I didn't really like doing what I did, and I hope she doesn't resist too much while her bones are being mended in the chrysalis, I would love to one day actually find out just who's really faster… I did learn a little trick from her though, though I haven't quite mastered it yet, but once I do, I'll be even faster." He then grinned as he remembered the cone that had started to form, he was close, he just knew it. "And what about you then? You really decided to force her to stand down by using her family?" Rock sighed. "Yeah, I really wanted to fight her aswell, she seemed strong, at the very least stronger then that red stallion that was there, but we just can't risk it right now, too much relies on us doing this as smoothly as possible." Fastfoot nodded. "We all have to make some sacrifices today it seems, but I'm always surprised by just how strategic you can be for a berserker Rock, especially one who loves to fight as much as you do." Rock chuckled. "Yeah, well, it comes with the job, the higher up you are, the more easily it is to pick the fights you want, and the easier it is to challenge strong opponents as they all want to take down the big guy in the army and claim the glory that comes with it, the moment I learned that was the day I started to realize I needed to learn strategies… But at times like this it can be both a curse and a blessing I suppose." He then sighs. "At least in the past all I had to worry about was who to punch next, now I have to resort to having them surrender without even throwing a single punch… But well, anything for the hive." Fastfoot agreed and then let out a laugh. "Speaking of, I hear you used your old catchphrase again, how did it go again? 'For the swarm' was it? I remember when I first heard you yell that. Ha! I miss those days." Rock laughed. "So do I old friend, so do I, you being the fastest and flying or running circles around the enemies to confuse them, while I just let down my old Warhammer and smashed them too a pulp, ah~ Those were the days." "Speaking off, I heard your oldest is training to wield it these days, you think she wants to pick up your old tittle by any chance?" Fastfoot asked. Rock thought for a moment. "I certainly don't hope so, she should make her own legacy, not cling to an old one like that, but I'll gladly give her the hammer if she manages to wield it properly, that thing saved my life more times then I can count." Fastfoot smiled. "And mine, and the lives of many other Changelings, that's why you were called the charging bloodwall afterall." "Heh, I'll settle for it just saving her life though, those enchantments won't last forever afterall." Rock replied. At this point the scouts came back, and one of them saluted. "Sir, we found Sour Shield." Fastfoot regained his posture and nodded. "Report then, why has he yet to return? Did something go wrong?" The scout shook his head. "No sir, in fact from his report, it went smoother then he had originally planned, but after he put her in a chrysalis, he wondered if she might be able to use her random powers again if he left, and he couldn't secure a safe route back here while hauling her along with him, so he opted for staying behind with her to prevent any issues from occurring." "Hmm, that makes sense, a loose cannon like her could pose more issues then we can handle, it seems he made the right decision in the end, I should have sent another with him so he could have let us know though… I should have done the same with Cherrydrop aswell in fact, I'll be sure to keep that in mind for another time." Fastfoot said as he looked at Rock. "For now though, let's all head out and see what's keeping her, I've got a bad feeling about this." Rock nodded and looked at the others. "Alright, you heard the captain, prepare to move out everyling, and be sure to keep your presence concealed as much as possible, we're on the final stretch here, so we don't want to make any rookie mistakes!" After he said so all the Changelings there saluted and made their preparations, soon they would head out for the cottage and see just what the problem was. =====+++===== A few minutes later at the cottage, they found out just what was the issue. Fastfoot narrowed his eyes as he looked at the cottage from a distance. "Is that… What is she doing here?" "I don't know cap, but it would explain why Cherrydrop has been unable to return so far, she's stuck waiting in those shadows till she leaves." Rock replied as he looked at the situation through some binoculars, before he pointed at something. "This isn't good cap, if the sun keeps up with it's current rotation, then she'll soon run out of shadows to hide in, she may be one of the few that can imitate shadows, but even she has a limit to how far she can stretch herself, they'll find out soon enough if we don't do something." Fastfoot scratched his head. "I know Rock, I know, but that's Luna we're talking about, we can't risk her finding us before we capture them all and let the queen know… Cherrydrop knew the risks when she took the job." Rock looked shocked from what he was hearing. "Your just going to let them find her and have her take her own life so they can't find out our plans!? Cap, that's Cherry we're talking about here!" Fastfoot looked back at rock with a pained yet determined expression. "You think I don't know Rock!? I'm the one who sent her out there! It should have been the simplest of all the assignments!" He then grumbled an held placed his hooves in front of his face, mostly to prevent any of the other soldiers to see the tears. "How… How did it turn out like this? Why did it have to happen to her?" Rock felt sorry for his friend, Cherrydrop had asked to be assigned to Fastfoot's command for the same reason he had, to be as close to Fastfoot as they could be, but even though that was the same, it was different for the two of them at least… Rock then steeled his expression and stood up. "I'll solve this, you just worry about treating her, she's bound to have gone past her limit a while ago now, so she might be hurt internally already. Fastfoot looked at Rock as he stood up. "Rock? What are you… Rock! No!" He shouted as the burly Changeling rushed towards the cottage, but he was too late to stop him now, Rock was already at the door. "That dahm fool! He better keep himself safe after all this." Rock changed his appearances to that of a raging Manticore and kicked in the door, causing both Fluttershy and Luna to look in it's direction with a shocked expression, Fluttershy the quickly went to the beast in order to find out what had caused the beast to come from the forest and lash out like that, but he lashed out at her before she could react, slashing at her face, which made Luna leap at the Manticore as she feared the worse, but it dodged out of the way and seemed ready to fight, Luna quickly looked at Fluttershy and saw she was still breathing, but she decided that the creature would likely attack her again if she didn't take it down, so she chased after it, it then ran to the forest, kiting her away from the cottage without her knowledge. Once Luna and Rock had vanished past the trees, the Changelings went into the cottage, Fastfoot was the first to enter as he looked at a specific shadow. "It's alright Cherrydrop, you can come out now." As he said that, she slowly came out of it as her body didn't look good, she had forced herself to stay in that form for too long and was likely injured internally. "Come, we'll get you healed up." It was then that another voice suddenly spoke up. "H-hello? Is somepony there?" The Changelings all looked at the direction it came from and saw Fluttershy, but something was wrong, she was covering her eyes. "Y-you said something about healing, c-could you help me? I-I can't see anymore." She then removed her hooves to show that a large gash now went sideways over her face, as it went over both eyes. "P-please, I c-can't help the animals if I c-can't see." Fastfoot looked at the forest as he didn't know when Luna would return, but he knew that if they'd take her with them, even if they left one of their own to pretend to be her, they would likely not be able to fool the lunar princess since they didn't know how to act as this mare yet, and since she had heard them, he couldn't just leave her here alone either. "Perhaps I should kill her to prevent the mission to fail, a simple extra cut to the throat would make it seem like she had just bled out from the previous attack, it wouldn't lead back to us at all." He thought to himself as he altered one of his hooves into some claws and motioned for the others to take Cherrydrop away. After the others had left and as he was about to slash her, Fluttershy felt the sudden increase of malice and spoke up. "A-are you going to h-hurt me? I-if you have to, t-then c-could you at least spare my animal friends?" Fastfoot just couldn't do it, this mare… If she could feel his malice so much, then why wasn't she asking for her own life? Why was she so concerned by mere animals that were but a source? He the reluctantly changed the claw back into a hoof as he glared at her. "We were never here, got that? If you care so much for these animals, then you won't tell anypony we were here, if you do… Then your not the only one to get hurt." He then quickly thought of something as he continued. "And if you ever want to see your friends again, you'll come to the meadow just outside of town tonight, and make sure to come alone." Fluttershy had been relieved slightly when she had felt the malice fade away and he said they'd spare her and her animals, but as he said that last part, her ears stood up straight. "M-my friends? W-what do you mean? W-what did you do to them?" She then asked, but got no response, after feeling around a bit, she realized that whoever had been there had left already. Fastfoot wondered if he had made a big mistake when they saw Luna head back to the cottage a little later, perhaps the mare would tell her about them afterall, but when she came back out while holding Fluttershy in her magic, the pastel mare was trying all she could to stay behind though, even if Luna insisted she'd go to a hospital to get her cut checked out, he then wondered if she was so reluctant because of what he had told her. Eventually Luna managed to wrest her away however and flew towards the village, giving them the chance to take care of Cherrydrop and wait for Rock, who luckily came from the forest a bit later, it seemed like he had been hit quite hard by something as his leg seemed broken, it was a good thing he was so tough, Fastfoot did not want to lose anyling, especially since Cherrydrop's injuries had been allot worse then they thought and were forced to put her in one of the healing chrysalises. Fastfoot sighed as he looked at his soldiers. "We'll need to be even more careful starting now, we only have one healing chrysalis left, there are only normal ones after that, and we can't just waste them with how hard their to produce… Sorry Rock, that means you'll have to tough it out." Rock laughed. "Heh, as if I'd let you use that on me for a minor thing like this, I'll just have it fixed when we get back to the hive… But I won't be able to help much if a fight is to happen like this." "That's fine with me, you just take Cherry with you and head to the coordinates I'm going to give you, you'll find Rainbow Dash at those locations, your to stay hidden with them in that cave till I come get you, and take some of the others with you, your in no condition to do this on your own." Fastfoot then said. Rock wanted to tell him he didn't want to, but as he saw Fastfoot's determined face that looked to say that if he had to, he would pull rank over him, Rock just sighed and agreed, soon after heading for the coordinates with Cherry in her chrysalis and a few other Changelings to aid them, as Fastfoot himself headed elsewhere. =====+++===== Later that day, Luna raised the moon and lowered the sun, since Celestia didn't lower it herself, something she would surely ask her about next time they'd see each other. In the field however, Fastfoot was waiting by himself, he had told his soldiers to stay away just in case and if anything would happen, they were to instantly tell the queen everything that had happened. After waiting for some time however, Fastfoot sighed as he thought to himself. "Guess she's not showing up afterall, either her friends didn't mean as much as we'd been told, or she couldn't leave after being admitted… I should have expected that option though, her injury was quite big afterall… In fact, she might be completely blind, could she even find this place like that if she did manage to get away from them?" Just as he was about to leave however, he could see a pastel color in the distance and as he waited just a bit longer, he could see it was Fluttershy, once she got nearby she raised her ears as if to listen. "H-hello? Are you there?" For a moment Fastfoot considered not saying anything as he was trying to figure out how she managed to do all this, but then he heard a certain sound he had heard once before while in a specific form. "Now there's a surprise, I didn't think ponies could use echolocation." Fluttershy jumped back slightly as he suddenly spoke up. "Eep! I-I'm sorry it took so long to get here… Y-you can hear that?" "I can, but I'm more surprised that your able to use it, it's not a skill ponies tend to have." Fastfoot admitted. "W-what do you mean?" Fluttershy gulped as she raised her hoof to her mane and pulled out a little bat. "I-I just had one of my animal friends show me the way, that's all… But… Does that mean that y-your…" She gulped once more. "Not a… Pony?" Fastfoot sighed, of course, he should have guessed that was what was going on… Though talking to animals like that certainly was quite a special skill on it's own. "That's correct, I'm not a pony, I'm a Changeling." "O-oh… A-are my friends alright?" Fluttershy asked as her worry for them was stronger then her fear for the situation right now. Fastfoot smiled, he knew she couldn't see it, but he did feel somehow… Comfortable around her, and it wasn't as if he had to be cruel to her since she was complying. "Their fine, a bit beat up and some broken bones perhaps, but their lives are in no danger, plus we're currently treating their wounds, as I will yours if you come along quietly… Though I must admit, eyes are quite a bit harder to treat then some simple bones, I can't fully say that they'll be completely healed, you may require something like glasses afterwards." Fluttershy felt her heart fall slightly, not because of what he told her about her eyesight, but because her friends had seemed to gotten hurt. "B-but my friends, they will be fine, right?" "Hmm, they should, I told the one with the broken ones to not resist it too much if she wanted them to be fully healed though, so in the end it'll depend on if she'll listen to what I told her…" Fastfoot looked at the moon. "But time is short right now, so I'll put you in a chrysalis to heal up while we initiate the next step of our plans." Fluttershy swallowed once more. "O-one more question before you do so… W-why are you doing this to us?" Fastfoot was getting suspicious as he looked around. "Your not trying to lull me into a false set of security, are you?" He then asked as Fluttershy shook her head. "Hmm… Well, no matter, at this point it matters little what happens to me, I've already told the others to initiate the next step… Also, you should know that you ponies brought this upon yourselves when you kidnapped our princess! And we will do whatever we must to get her back." Fluttershy gasped. "Y-your princess? B-but we don't know anything about a Changeling princess!" Fastfoot was done with the lies and growled. "Stop lying to us! You've kept her nearby for several years now, pretending to be her friend! But it's too late now, we'll take her back and undo whatever brainwashing you ponies did to her!" Fluttershy started to shy away from the sudden rage. "F-friends? Y-years? Y-you can't m…" She was interrupted by some goo that latched onto her mouth. Fastfoot was now pelting her with the goo needed to form a chrysalis. "I won't listen to your lies anymore, you should be honored that I'm even building a healing chrysalis around you in he first place, as it's not up to me to decide what will happen to you, the princess will decide your true fate once we have her back." Once Fastfoot was finished with forming the chrysalis, he looked around once more, wondering if it had been a trap afterall, but as nopony showed up, he sighed and took her away, since he still wasn't certain if it was safe or not, he decided to bring her to a new hiding place however, so that even if others would show up to save her, they still wouldn't be able to save the others, and after doing so he checked in on the soldiers he had left on guard a bit away from the village. Since there was still nopony showing up to spring any sense of trap, he decided to sigh, since it was likely all still in his head, that mare might not have wanted to tell the truth about knowing about their princess, but she had felt sincere with everything else at least, that didn't stop him from remaining vigilant however. "Alright everyling, our main objectives have been dealt with, it's unfortunate that we couldn't gain any intel on where the princess might be held, but at this point it'll likely be too dangerous to do so, she's likely to be on guard after what happened earlier today, so we'll just send a message to the queen with all the intel so far and let her know our main objectives have been completed, we'll receive our next orders soon after that." The Changelings saluted as they focused their magic and sent out a signal, causing several other Changelings hiding all over the place to quickly head for Canterlot, normally it would have been enough to use the hivemind for this, but Fastfoot had decided that if they had some way of detecting it, then it would be better to do it in this way, and several heading out at once would reduce the chance of all of them being found out, but even with all of his planning and carefulness about it all, he couldn't help but feel that it still was going too easy, did these ponies have no defenses whatsoever or something? Did they underestimate Changelings so much? Or was it perhaps them who were underestimating the ponies and had they actually planned for all this? Whatever it was, he would do all he could to make the mission a success in the end, so he started to plan for any new possible threats, as they waited for their queen. *Canterlot, a few hours later* Chrysalis was sitting in Celestia's room as she looked at the moon, she used to enjoy looking at the moon and the stars so long ago, but now it just reminded her of a friendship lost, and if it hadn't been for her anger at Celestia, she would have likely have preferred the day over the night, but ever since that day, she had loathed both just out of spite, no matter what she truly thought of them… And yet, she couldn't help but look at the moon whenever it was a clear sky, she didn't quite know why herself. She was brought out of her trance and reminiscence state when she heard a knock on the door however, she realized that one of her Changelings was standing on the other side, a quick scan made her realize it was one of Fastfoot's men, so she opened the doors. "Come in, what do you have to report?" The Changeling bowed. "Your highness, I come to report that we have succeeded with our main objectives, all the wielders are now captured and won't become an issue when we initiate the next phase, unfortunately we haven't been able to gather much intel on princess Luna, we only found out where she now resides, but we have not found out where she may hold our princess… That said, captain Fastfoot thinks we should make haste because of an unfortunate event that likely has put her on edge and she'll most likely be on guard right now." "Hmm, I see… That is unfortunate, but not outside of the parameters, we'll head out right away then, the ones left behind will take care of things here." Chrysalis then replied as she got up. The Changeling looked at her. "One moment your highness, captain Fastfoot didn't want to ask as he doesn't think it's necessary for the rest of the plans to succeed, and he doesn't want you to get worried but…" Chrysalis looked at him slightly worried. "What is it?" The Changeling continued. "Sergeants Rock Crusher and Cherrydrop got hurt thanks to some complications, Sergeant Rock Crusher has a broken hoof and Sergeant Cherrydrop pushed herself too much, causing her to have internal wounds, she's currently in a healing chrysalis, but she could do with a professional if possible, could we take some healers with us?" Chrysalis gasped. "Of course! We'll take with us the very best, I believe Nurse Cannula and Doctor Nebulizer are in the castle right now, they'll be able to help them straight away." The Changeling bowed once more. "Thank you your highness." "Think nothing of it, I see you all as my children, and any mother would do whatever they can for their children, now go, tell the others to prepare while I make the final arrangements." Chrysalis then said as she reapplied her disguise. The Changeling instantly headed out to relay her command to the others. Chrysalis meanwhile headed for one of the lower areas of the castle that some of them had repurposed into a lab of some sort, she then walked up to one of them that looked a bit frazzled. "Professor Craft, how is it going? Are we nearly ready?" The frazzled Changeling looked at her. "Ah, my queen, yes, we will be ready before day breaks, it's proven quite difficult since harmony magic is not easily undone, especially a powerful one like this, but we've found that a bit of chaos seems to help quicken the pace for Discord's statue, he's likely trying to escape on his own as is, which makes it easier for us to actually break the spell… And we're getting some interesting readings from it all aswell, we believe that if he ever was to actually become an issue for us, we may have found a way to stop him." Chrysalis raised an eyebrow at this. "Oh? Now that's interesting, what is it professor?" Craft smiled. "We believe we have found an element that can block his magical powers, and that’s not even the best thing, it seems to block all magic but Changeling magic, even Alicorn magic is blocked by it, right now we still lack the means to produce a large quantity of it and what we have will likely need to make direct contact to work, but with this all magical races will be powerless to us if they attempt to attack us." Now it was time for Chrysalis to smile. "That's amazing professor, it's a shame we didn't have this already though, it would have made this whole plan allot easier." "Of course, if only we had access to Discord before now, we would have likely have had the knowledge already." Craft then motions for one of his assistants and they bring a box towards him. "Please your highness, take this with you." "What is it professor?" Chrysalis asked as she opened the box, only to reveal there to be a shackle made of some kid of black material inside, and a small device with a Changeling rune on it. "It's what we managed to process so far, it's not much, but it should prove quite useful to you in the case of an emergency, or you may want to use if for princess Luna, since the chrysalis around Celestia is already draining her magic at such a rapid speed that we may have to combine the other one to it if we're to keep her captive." Craft replied. Chrysalis nodded. "I'll take good care of it, you just release him and leave the rest to us professor." Craft bowed. "Of course your highness, we will not fail you or our princess. Chrysalis smiled as she nodded. "I know you won't professor… But what's this device for?" Craft smiled, he always showed pride when it came to his inventions. "That's the latest version of the GLM series, it's still a prototype at this point, but I used what else we learned here to improve it even further, it should work with just about any material now, so it should be able to be used in combat without any preparations… Though I must admit we haven't been able to test it out just yet, so if there are bugs in it, we don't know what they will be, but at the very least it should recognize you and the princess as it's controllers." "I see, if this works then it will indeed be a formidable addition" Said as she then left the room, to go get Cannula and Nebulizer before heading for the rest of her forces that had gathered. Once there Chrysalis smiled as her Changelings all stood to attention and looked at her expectedly. "My dear children, the time has finally arrived, we will march to Ponyville under the cloak of night and capture princess Luna, after which we'll free my daughter and our hive will be whole once more!" She then pointed in the direction of Ponyville. "Now fly, fly my pretties and claim what is rightfully ours!" And with that, all the Changelings there took to the sky and headed towards Ponyville as the mighty swarm that they are, their desire to bring back their princess only enhancing their might.