//------------------------------//
// New Friends and Old Enemies 
// Story: The Changeling War 
// by Captain Morgan 
//------------------------------//

“Alright, everyone down on the ground now!” Jacob yelled at the creatures, but it looked like they weren't that surprised to see us.

“Oh, these must be the locals. “ Twilight said as she started walking over to us.  “Good afternoon, my name is-”

“Take one more step you four-legged, multicolored freak, and I’ll blow your damn leg off!” Jacob said in a threatening way.

I slightly turned my head and looked at him with a face that said “Really?”

“Was that supposed to insult us?” whispered the creature with the rainbow mane.

“Listen, our group is in dire need of food, now you’re going to hand over any food you have or we will be forced to hurt you”. Jacob said, showing off his weapon.

“Uh, you do know that you're holding scrap metal, right?” Twilight said.

There was a long silence that lasted almost ten seconds till Jacob started to chuckle, then he burst into laughter. The creatures laughed as well, but in a nervous way. As for me, I just stood there with an expressionless face, as this was a stupid idea. The laughter lasted for about a minute until Jacob started to catch his breath.

“Yo-You really think that this is just scrap metal?” Jacob asked them, still trying to catch his breath. He then looked at me. “Morgan? Show them”. I rolled my eyes under my aviators, turned around and fired a full magazine into the crates that Jacob and I were hiding behind, showing that we weren't messing around.

“Now listen up! These here are called ‘guns’, they can fire small metal projectiles that are capable of penetrating through iron, so if you don’t want to be our new target dummies, I’d suggest you give us all the food you have, now!” Jacob said, aiming his gun at them.

The tall white creature stepped forward. “You don’t have to do this child.  We only come here to look for somepony. “ She said.

“Oh yeah?  Well, that’s a little bit impossible with the entire country being destroyed and all!” Jacob said. “Now we’re not going to ask again, hand over the food, or else.”

“I told you we should have stayed in Ponyville, Twilight!” The rainbow creature said. “Equestria is better off without Chrysalis trying to destroy it.”

Jacob and I were both shocked; did these creatures actually know Chrysalis? “You’re friends with the mutant fly?” I asked.

“Friends?  With her?  Not in a thousand years, that’s fer sure!” The orange creature said.

“You know Chrysalis?” the tall white creature questioned.

“Well yeah, she….” I paused, wondering if this could be a trick to lower our guard. “How do we know that this isn’t a trick? How do we know that you aren't allied with Chrysalis, or better yet, Changelings in disguise?”

“We just told you. We aren't friends with her!” Twilight said.

“The 60s called, sweetheart, and they want their bullcrap back!” I retorted.

“Uh, Morgan?” Jacob asked.

“Not now, Jacob!” I said in a stern voice.

“We’re telling the truth, young one,” The tall white creature said. “Where we come from, Chrysalis is our enemy and has tried to take over our land multiple times.”

“Well if your enemies with her, why didn’t you stop her from coming here in the first place? Our people have been living in a world of torture because of her and you did nothing to stop her?” I yelled back.

“Morgan?” Jacob asked again.

“Not, Now, Jacob!” I replied, a bit annoyed.

“Morgan, is it?” The purple creature with horn and wings spoke up. “We’re not lying. Chrysalis has almost destroyed our country and tried to take my brother away from me. What we’re saying is true. We are not friends with her.”

“Morgan?” Jacob said yet again.

“WHAT THE HELL IS IT JACOB?” I said, now pissed off at him now.

“I think we’ve got bigger problems,” Jacob said, pointing to the hole in the stadium’s ceiling.

Coming through the hole were about thirty Changelings pouring into the stadium, including one who looked to be in charge of the group.

“SEIZE THEM!” the leader said and upon hearing this, the Changelings started flying toward us.

“Aww crap, RUN!” I yelled as Jacob and I made for the nearest exit, we thought we were safe as we got to the stadium tunnel, but when I looked back, I saw that the Changelings weren't interested in us, they had surrounded the creatures, and it looked like they weren't happy to see them.

Jacob turned around and saw that I had stopped running. “Morgan, what are you doing?” Jacob asked.

“What if they’re telling the truth, what if they aren't allied with Chrysalis,” I said to myself, but Jacob knew what I was planning and he did not like it.

“Morgan listen, you're right okay, there’s always another day of finding food, I shouldn't have kept complaining about it and my idea of trying to rob those... ‘things’ of their food, it was a screwed up choice. So how about we go find a grocery store, see if there's food and….” He then realized that I had started running back the crashed Globemaster to help these new creatures.

“MORGAN!” He yelled, but I had ignored him, still running toward the plane. “Ggghhhaaaa!  God help us!” Jacob screamed as he started running after me, trying to catch up.


*******


We had made our way back to the Globemaster and hid to the cockpit, some of the glass was still intact, counting some cracks here and there, but we got a good view on the left and from the look of things, it didn’t look like it was going well with the Changelings and these creatures. The thirty Changelings, including the leader, had surrounded them, but neither of them looked surprised to see each other.

“Her Highness has foretold you're coming foolish ponies, but she didn’t know that it would take you this long to get here.” The leader of the squad of Changelings said.

“These creatures that we just tried to hold-up are ponies?” Jacob asked himself.

“Shut up!” I hushed him.

“What do you mean “Took us this long”?” the tall white pony asked.

“Heh!  It doesn’t matter now, but what does matter is that our queen doesn’t want anypony or anybody messing with her plans, you see.  Queen Chrysalis still holds a grudge against Starlight Glimmer after she turned our own kind against her, and she doesn’t want that to happen again. But seeing how that accursed pony isn't with you, I suppose you will suffice for the Queen’s *ahem* Revenge plot. It took us so long to take control of this pathetic country and its citizens, and we don’t want anyone to screw it up for us, it’s nothing personal, but all good things must come to an end, Queen Chrysalis says hel-”.

He never finished his sentence as a single bullet to his head ended his life. The Changelings were speechless as they watched their leader’s lifeless body fall to the ground.  The ponies were just as surprised. They all looked to where the shot came from, but there standing in the doorway of the Globemaster with an AK-47 in one hand and a Desert Eagle in the other, pointing at where the Changeling was standing, was the man who shot him.  That man was me.

“You owe me a bullet for that,” I said bluntly to the ponies who were still shocked. But, the Changelings, on the other hand, had changed their expressions to pure anger.

“KILL HIM!” One of the Changelings screamed as two of them started charging toward me baring their fangs.

Jacob came up next to me shot the two of them with his FAL. I then held up my AK and fired on full auto, killing three other Changelings, but the rest had dispersed into the air. I then looked over to the ponies that had no idea what to do.

“Well don’t just stand there, move your asses!” I yelled as Jacob and I started running over to one of the dugouts with the ponies trying to catch us with us.

We were bobbing and weaving as the Changelings fired their magic upon us, I fired back only to kill two more Changelings. We took shelter inside the stadium dugout and to our luck, we made a good choice, the dugout was just a large cage with some sheet metal inside and outside the cage, enough to provide us some cover.

“Thank you!” the tall white pony said.

“You can thank us when we make it out of here alive!” I said as I started firing blindly from cover.

Seven of the Changelings that were in mid-air landed on the ground.  They then used their magic to conjure up shields and started moving toward us. Jacob fired a few shots at a Changeling, but once the bullets made contact with the shield they instantly disintegrated.

“Magical shields. Now ain’t that just lovely!” Jacob sarcastically said to himself.

“How much ammo do you have left?” I asked him

“Not enough to penetrate through Changeling shields if that's what you're asking!” Jacob yelled back.

“So what do we do now besides sitting here?” Twilight said.

“That’s what we're trying figure out!” Jacob yelled while reloading.

“Morgan is it? Is anything in yer bag we can use?” The orange pony asked.

I started to rummage through our scavenging bag, “some bottled water, the shotgun shells, THE C-4!”  I said pulling out the explosive.

“Oh good idea Morgan, let's kill ourselves with a high explosive. That’ll give us the upper hand on them!” Jacob said sarcastically.

“Jacob, when we were in the Globemaster I saw there were twenty missiles still intact, I’ll lure the Changelings over to the plane, place the C-4 and boom! We all get out of here in one piece.” I said, but Jacob just gave me a blank, unamused stare.

“You do know that’s suicide, right?”

“You got a better plan?” I asked him but he just sighed.

“God damn it! If you die, Morgan, I’m gonna kill you!” He said I put the bomb back in the bag, but Twilight stopped me.

“Morgan? Please, be careful” She said with a look of worry.

“I’ll be ok!  I’ve survived worse than this!” I said, reassuring her

“No, you haven't!” Jacob said with an exasperated look.

“Will you let me have my goddamn moment?” I yelled but he just rolled his eyes.

I then dug into my bag and pulled out a radio. “If anything happens to me, I’ll let you know,”  I said as I tossed it to him.

“And don’t worry. I’ll be fine” was the last thing I said as I ran out from the dugout, trying the get the Changeling’s attention.

HEY, ASSHOLES!  Over here!” I yelled as I started firing potshots which got a few to look at me “Your mama’s so ugly, even the cracks in the universe couldn’t erase her face from someone's mind!”

A lot of the Changelings hissed at me upon hearing this.  Changelings never did have a sense of humor when it came to people making fun of their Queen. I turned tail and ran towards the Globemaster with the Changelings right behind me.

“Holy crap it's working!” Jacob said to himself as he saw that the first part of my plan had worked. “Alright, everyone, follow me, now!” Jacob announced as the ponies followed him up through bleachers.


*******


I made it inside the plane and saw that the missiles, just as I’d expected. I placed the C-4 on one of the crates and armed it.  Just as I turned around to escape, there were three changelings blocking the exit.

“You’re a fool for trying to help these ponies, human,” One of them said. “And for that, you and your friend are going to die here.”

I knew that I was cornered, but I wasn’t gonna give up just yet. “I don’t know what type of beef you have with these ‘ponies’ but I can officially tell you that whatever you have planned with them, it’s not going to happen,” I said as I drew my machete from its sheath on my back with my right hand. “And if you think you can take them to Chrysalis, just so that they can be tortured and have their bodies dumped in the middle of nowhere, then you gonna have to get through me!”
I finished as I pulled my pocket knife from my pocket in the other hand.

“So be it. Kill him.” He calmly ordered as two of the Changelings lunged at me.
I quickly dodge both their attacks. I stabbed the first Changeling in the back of his head with my knife and cut off the other one’s horn off with my machete, but he kicked me to the ground with his back hoof. He then jumped on top of me and seeing how he couldn’t use his horn, he bared his fangs, trying to rip my face off. I looked to my left and saw my knife, just within arm’s reach.  I grabbed it and without hesitation, I thrust it into the Changeling’s upper jaw, killing him instantly.

I moved the Changeling’s body off of me and stood up, just to be met with the tip of my machete to my neck which was held by the last Changeling with his magic. “You just don’t know when to quit, do you, Boy?”

“I’ll quit when I die!” I replied with a look full of hate.

“Let me make you an offer kid, how are the ponies going to repay you after you help them?  By making you their ’lifelong friend’? I suggest that should become a Queen’s Guard. From the way you fight, I think you might make a great soldier for Queen Chrysalis. Maybe, if you're lucky enough, she can give you your own city to run and its own people that you can treat however the hell want. So what do you say? Do it for your country?”

For a human, having their own city to run was a very big deal, but I wasn’t sure what to choose. I thought it over for a short time till I moved my hand to lower the machete, smiling. The Changeling kept grinning, thinking that I had made the right choice. “Thank you for the offer,” I said before my smile turned into a scowl. “But my country is dead because of you!” I then lunged at him and slashed at his left eye with my knife.

He cried out in pain as he fell to the floor, holding his hoof across the large gash that used to be his eye. He looked up at me in terror as I gave him a blank stare.

“And I don't what to make it any worse.” I continued as I kicked him in the face, knocking him out cold.

I then started toward the hole in the plane, until I remembered something. There were still more Changelings, and if I walk out, they’ll know that I killed the ones that came in here. I started looking around, trying to find something to help me escape. Then I noticed that behind the crates of missiles was a wheel sticking out from under some camo netting. I walked over and removed the netting to find something that gave me an idea. An idea that would make Jacob question my sanity.


*******


Jacob and the others had taken shelter in one of the gift shops that was far enough away from the field and the Changelings. I was gone for ten minutes now, and Jacob was getting worried about me. “He’s been gone too long, I’m going back for him!”  He said as he started making his way to the door, but only to be stopped by the Midnight manned pony.

“He said that he would be fine, did he not?” She reminded him.

“I know, but this isn’t the first time he’s done something this crazy and stupid at the same time. Those Changelings could’ve captured him, or worse!” He said, knowing that I was probably in danger.

“But he said that he would contact you with that device that he gave you,” Twilight said.

“Listen, I know you're all new here, but those Changelings out there, they're not like the ones you faced where you come from.  They are cold-hearted killers that will do anything to keep this country under their control, for all I know, they’ve probably turned Morgan against me and everyone he loves by now.”

Just then, a voice came over the radio that Jacob was given “Jacob, you there?”

Jacob then pulled out the two-way radio and started talking to it. “Morgan?”

“I told you I’d be fine.” Everyone in the room was relieved that I was still alive, including Jacob.

“God, Morgan, you had me scared for a second. Where the hell are you anyway?” He asked.

“I’m still at the field, but you need to get your butt over here!”

“Why, what happened?” He asked.

“Just get over here, you’re gonna love this!” Was the only reply he got before the call was disconnected.

“What did he mean by that?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know, but only one way to find out!” He said as he started running back toward the field with the ponies running after him.


*******


The field was still in chaos. Smoking pits from where we were being fired at, and Changelings hovering over the cargo ship, waiting for the ones that went in there to finish me off and to show off my corpse like it was a trophy. Jacob and the others had made it back and were hiding behind some kiosks.

“Ok, Morgan” Jacob said to the walkie. “We’re here, now where are you?”

Just then, a strange noise filled the air.  The starting of an engine, and from what Jacob could tell, it sounded like it was coming from the plane. Then, out of the blue, someone riding a KLR650 dirt bike drove out of the hole in the Globemaster. A voice then came over the radio and Jacob knew that it was me, but couldn't make out what I said.

“What?” Jacob said over the radio but got three words as a reply.

“BLOW IT, NOW!”

Jacob then remembered the plan, he pulled out the detonator to the C-4 and as he pulled the trigger, all hell broke loose. The entire field lit up like the fourth of July as the Globemaster exploded, flying debris from the plane hit multiple Changelings in the air, killing them. The ceiling above then started to collapse from the explosion.  I didn’t have time to act as I noticed that some shrapnel from the plane had landed on the sideline bench making a perfect ramp out of the field and into the bleachers. Knowing that I had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving this, I made a beeline toward my escape route and ramped off the bench, just in time as part of the ceiling crushed it.

I then started driving up the stairs in the bleachers, avoiding falling debris in the process. Looking up, I saw a large piece of the ceiling falling towards my exit. Without hesitation, I turned the throttle as far as I possibly could and with luck by my side, I made it out the field, just before the ceiling collapsed behind me, destroyed all access to the field and crushing all the Changelings that were still in there.

My heart was still pounding from all the excitement that just happened as I stepped off the bike. I was then immediately surrounded by the ponies whose lives I had just saved. As they thanked me, I was then met with the tall white pony, she gave me a warm smile and held out her hoof to shake my hand, which I accepted. “Morgan, thank you for saving us.  Without you, we wouldn't be here right now.  We are in your debt.” She said.

"It was nothing really," I replied, still shaking her hoof.

I then noticed that Jacob wasn’t in the crowd, but I saw him next to a kiosk with a look of surprise on his face.

“So, Jacob?” I said walking toward him. “How’d you like that for an entrance?” As I motioned toward the now destroyed stadium. The only answer I got from Jacob was a sucker punch to the face that knocked me to the floor. “What the Hell was that for?” I asked, holding my cheek from where he punched me.

“That’s for scaring the ever living shit out me!” He yelled, but then held out his hand, offering to help me up. “And this is for not dying.” He said, grinning wildly.

I grabbed his hand as he helped me off the floor and I then turned to look and the ponies. “So, now that’s out of the way,” I said looking at the fallen debris. “I think we should introduce ourselves, as you may have heard, I’m Morgan Grey and this here, is Jacob Stross. Who, or what, exactly are you?”  I asked as the tall white pony stepped forward.

“I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Luna.  We are ponies that come from a land called Equestria.” Celestia replied.

“Ok, you’re Princesses from another country, but what about them?” Jacob asked, pointing to the other ponies.

“This here is Princess Twilight Sparkle, her friends, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy,” Celestia replied, introducing the others to us.

“Okay, now that we all know each other, why was it that the Changelings were only after you,” I asked right away.

“Chrysalis has been our enemy, ever since she attacked Canterlot during Cadence’s wedding.” Princess Luna said. “Her species only feeds upon love, and with the love emitting from Cadence and Shining Armor, it would supply them for centuries.”

“And let me guess, You were able to defeat them that time?” Jacob questioned.

“She was defeated”. Twilight replied. “But, she then tried to take over Ponyville, Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. My friend, Starlight Glimmer led a group to stop her but almost failed in the process. The only way she was able to defeat her-”

“Was to show the Changelings the error of their ways and turn them against her,” I said, finishing her sentence. The ponies were confused as to how I knew how she was defeated. “We eavesdropped on the conversation you had with the Changeling’s squad leader. Speaking of which, what did that Changeling mean when he said that ‘Chrysalis foretold your coming’ and how did you all get here anyway?”  I asked.

“There were rumors across Equestria of a machine called ‘The Ark’. It was said that it could transport a pony to a land not known to ponykind.” Celestia said. “But Chrysalis and a few Changelings that didn’t turn against her had found it first, as Changelings from her old army informed us about it. We made it to where the Ark was located, only to find she and her Changelings had it working again, and just like that, they were gone. We followed after her through the Ark, but she must've known that we would be coming after her.”

“But it doesn't make sense,” Luna said. “How is it that your country is already in ruins when Chrysalis only left five minutes ago?”

Jacob and I both looked at each other in confusion. “Hold on, did you just say Chrysalis left your country only five minutes ago?” Jacob said.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Twilight asked.

We then looked at each other again and Jacob gave the ‘I’m not going to tell them’ look. I then looked back at them with an uneasy look. “Ok, how do I say this without freaking you all out?" I said, preparing for their reactions. “Chrysalis took over America five ‘years’ ago!”

Everypony was shocked upon hearing this. “But how is that possible?” Celestia asked.

“This has to do something with the Ark,” Twilight said.  “Maybe Chrysalis sabotaged it so that we would arrive 5 years late, or maybe-”

”Twilight?” Jacob interrupted “As much as I want to find out what took your sweet time getting here, I think we should talk about it somewhere else that is not a large smoking bonfire.”

They were confused with what he just said, but I knew what he meant by that. “Jacob is right, anyone within the blast radius could’ve heard that explosion, including Changelings. We’ll talk more when we get back to our place.” I said.

“You want us to come with you to your home?” Luna asked.

“Well, seeing how you’re in America, a land that I bet all of you know nothing about, you’re all gonna want a lot of answers and a lot of rest, it’s the least we can do,” I said with a friendly smile. I then looked over at Jacob, knowing that he was probably not so sure about it. “Right, Jacob?” I asked, sternly.

He looked at me and then at the ponies, forming a fake smile. “Sure, that fine with me.” He said with an unnoticeable hint of sarcasm in his voice which I was able to detect.

Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, Twilight and the others huddled together and started talking amongst themselves, probably about whether it was safe to come with us or not. I was then pulled aside by Jacob who gave me a pissed off look.

“Are you kidding me, Morgan, We’re running low on food as it is, and now you want to invite these ‘ponies’ who are on Chrysalis’ kill list into our home?”  He whispered harshly.

“They are innocent ponies from another world and we almost robbed of their food,” I whispered back. “We need to show them that we’re sorry about what we almost did and give them a place to say where they can lay low without any Changelings knowing that they're here. This is happening, Jacob, whether you like it or-”.

“Ahem”. We turned to see that Celestia and the others had stopped talking and had walked over to us. “Alright Morgan,” Celestia said. “We’ll take you up on your offer.”

“That's great,” I said, slightly glaring at Jacob. “Now I don’t know about you, but I think we should start moving before this place is surrounded by more Changelings,” I said, walking to the exit. “Oh, and before I forget” I started, turning back towards them “Welcome to America!”

“The land where people come to die.” Jacob rudely said, walking past me.

The ponies looked at me with astonishment as to Jacob’s rudeness. “Ignore him, he’s always like this,”  I reassured them. “Let’s go.”

We all started making our way to the exit, hoping that our day wouldn’t get any worse, but I didn’t know was that our lives were going to take a turn for the better.