//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 - Kidnap // Story: Further Tales From Day Court // by Blade Star //------------------------------// It was a couple weeks after the incident with Starlight, that Equestria was rocked by a sudden and violent attack. An attack that came without warning, and incredibly, went almost unnoticed. In fact, had certain parties not acted as promptly as they did, the plans of the vile changeling Queen Chrysalis may well have succeeded. The story of how Starlight realised something was amiss in Ponyville, and of how Sunburst cleverly got Thorax down to join her, alerting her that the Crystal Empire had also been compromised, is well documented. What hasn’t really been discussed however, is what happened in Canterlot on that day. Well, I was there, and I can say that I played a major part in exposing the interlopers. The events of that day would also set me on a path for an encounter with one of Equestria’s most dangerous adversaries. I wasn’t there for the actual snatch. Had I been, there probably wouldn’t have been much I could do to prevent it. I would most likely have been captured myself. I lay the blame for much of that on Captain Mareclellan, Shining’s replacement as Captain of the Royal Guard. He’d relaxed a good number of the security protocols that Shining had established in the aftermath of his wedding to Cadence. The guards had any number of challenge phrases and countersigns. Security crystals that worked in a manner similar to RFID cards were in use and the catacombs below the castle were heavily patrolled. Mareclellan though, citing the defence overspend of such measures in the absence of further changeling attempts, had them all scaled back and removed. I’d protested the move strongly at the time, and had fortunately kept my own challenge phrases both with the guards and the princesses themselves. I arrived at the castle about six to seven hours after the abduction of both princesses. We now know there were eight changelings working in two teams of four. One grabbed Celestia in her bedroom, the others pretending to be guards, lured Luna away from the throne room and surprised her, knocking her out. Six then transported them to the Changeling Kingdom, while the other two replaced them. It was insidious and makes me sick to my stomach to contemplate. I may not have been a traditional soldier. But at least I had the balls to show my face to the enemy, not like these skulking vermin that lurk in the shadows. Initially, the deception worked. ‘Celestia’ attended her Day Court and ‘Luna’ retired to her room. However, as I’ve said before, while changelings are excellent at mimicking a target physically, they are poor actors. Their hunger gives them a short temper and no matter what, they can’t disguise the sickly green colour of their magic. It was the former of these that tipped me off. At the time, it was just another day for me. I had one case to deal with in court, with the rest of the day catching up on paperwork. Quiet for a Friday, but I was hardly about to complain. The case wasn’t due to be heard until three that afternoon, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to drop by the quiet throne room and brief Celestia a little before things got underway. As I made my way to the throne room, I was surprised to see Luna abroad. While she is awake in the day (contrary to popular belief, she does sleep a good portion of the night to use her dream walking magic) it was still a little odd to see her about at this hour. And even more unusual, she seemed to be looking about her, almost as if she’d somehow lost her way. Of course, having lived here for several years now, Luna knows the castle like the back of her hoof. “Good morning, Luna,” I called out as we approached. “What’s got you up at such an hour?” The night princess turned to me, confusion on her face for a moment. The infiltrator was not only lost, but now trying to recall who I was so it didn’t blow its cover. “Oh...erm...good morning, Advisor Owen,” she said. I was a little surprised by that. Even in court, neither princess refereed to me by my title. To the both of them, I was just Roger. Even when Tia was cross with me, she never called me that. It should have been a red flag, but I just put it down to tiredness. She went on. “I was just touring the castle, taking a midday stroll.” “That’s not like you, Luna,” I replied perplexedly. “Usually at this time of day, you’re catching up on your sleep. How was the dream world anyway?” “Oh, it was quiet enough,” she replied non-committally. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go and speak with Lieutenant Night Song.” And with that, she set off towards the dining rooms. Night Song, the commander of the night time detachment of the guard, had his office at the other end of the castle. She really was frazzled. “You know you’re heading to the dining room, right?” I asked. “Night Song’s office is back the other way.” The alicorn awkwardly turned around, obviously embarrassed and unable to make eye contact. “Oh...yes...of course,” she said unsteadily, before trotting back past me again. Smiling to myself, I shook my head as she trotted out of sight. I turned to one of the guards stationed in the hallway. “Hey, do me a favour and run down to the kitchen to get her some strong black coffee.” The stallion nodded and headed off on his errand. I walked into the throne room, the case file for the petition that afternoon tucked under arm. As I walked in, I began to flick through my notes. The court was empty apart from Celestia who sat on her throne, and a few guards at their usual positions. I started briefing Celestia as I walked over. “Hey, Tia,” I said as I strolled in. “So, this looks like another one of those stupid patent disputes again. Do you want me to...” Celestia however, cut me off abruptly. “What did you call me?!” she barked in a demanding voice that I’d never heard her use before. This was reinforced by the way she stood up from her throne, flared out her wings and glared at me with nothing short of contempt. I stopped dead in my tracks and looked up at her in shock. In all my years of service, I’ve never known Celestia to actually shout. She’s used her version of the Royal Canterlot Voice on a mere handful of occasions, but never directed towards me. I imagine the look on my face was one of hurt and surprise. “Tia,” I repeated, with noticeably less confidence. The alicorn walked down the dais and stopped right in front of me. Her slightly taller stature let her loom over me; something I’m not used to here in Equestria. She spoke to me more quietly now, but still in a voice dripping with disgust. “When you address me, advisor, you are addressing your ruler. I do not expect you to refer to me by such an informal name. You call me Princess or Your Highness. Is that understood?!” What the hell? If this was anypony else, I might understand, but Celestia has let me call her by her nickname since I first started working for her It was a sign of our friendship. Why was she acting like she’d never agreed to that? She snorted and roughly shouldered her way past me, which was almost enough to knock me on my rear. Again, Celestia never got physical with anypony. “I’m going to my chambers now,” she said coldly. “And when I return I expect you to have remembered basic court etiquette!” And with that parting shot, she stormed out. I was completely and utterly stunned. For several moments, I was rooted to the spot, processing what had just happened and trying to make some sense of it. In desperation, I turned to the guards at the foot of the throne. “What the hay?” I asked the two of them crossly. “One of you piss in her tea or something?!” Both guards shrugged their shoulders. “She’s been like that all morning, sir,” the one on the left replied. “Damn near tore the last petitioners head off for ‘wasting her time’. I’ve been doing this job nearly ten years, and I’ve never seen the princess that mad. If it’s any consolation, it’s not just you. She seems to be mad at everypony.” Okay, this was odd. No, scratch that, it was beyond odd, it was seriously weird and wrong. Even when she was staring down Discord, Celestia didn’t fly off the handle. She was always composed. And I’ve never heard of her losing it on a subject. Hell, she once listened to a guy rant on and on for the better part of an hour about how some wind turbines being built near his house were beaming sonic rays in an effort to read his thoughts. Something was definitely amiss. And by Jove, I was going to get to the bottom of it. Turning around, I walked briskly out of the throne room, following Celestia’s trail. She certainly did seem to be in a fearsome temper, judging by the way ponies were scrambling to get out of her way. As I followed her, I kept racking my brains for an answer. What in Equestria could cause Celestia to not only lose her temper, but then lash out at ponies that didn’t deserve it? Up ahead, I heard the door to her chambers slam shut with an almighty thud. I soon found myself standing before the imposing double doors that marked the entrance to her private apartments. Even I’d only been in her on a handful of occasions; when matters to be discussed were too sensitive for open court. I was contemplating either knocking on the door or walking in. Both options had the potential to get my head bitten off again. Hopefully, I could talk her down from whatever ledge she was on. Whatever it was, my friend needed my help, whether she wanted to admit it or not. I was just about to turn the handle, when I picked up the sound of voices coming from inside the apartment. I strained my ears to listen, but I couldn’t make out what was being said. One voice was clearly Celestia, the other, I couldn’t place. Who the hell would she be talking to in there. Literally, the only ponies allowed in there are Luna, a handful of trusted guards and some maids. Deciding to tread carefully before making my entrance, I gently pulled on the handle and opened the door a crack. What I saw, made my blood run cold. There was Celestia. She was facing a mirror on the far wall of the main. And reflected in that mirror, clearly using it to communicate, was Chrysalis. It wasn’t Celestia! It was a fucking imposter, an infiltrator! Where the fuck was Celestia? And what about Luna? The minor incident with her also acting oddly flew into my mind. Had they both been replaced? Who else? Could I trust anypony? I found myself on the verge of panicking, but I didn’t bolt. I stayed quiet for a moment. Then it came to me. I needed to raise the alarm. And I needed to stop this imposter now, otherwise it would just muddy the waters. We had a whole system for this kind of incident; challenges and countersigns. The bugs wouldn’t know them, just like they didn’t know all sorts of little things, like how Celestia allowed me to call her Tia. At that moment, two guards, on their usual patrol route passed by. They saw what I was up to and called out to me. Luckily, by then I’d closed the door. “Mr. Owen, is everything alright?” I spun around in surprise. “Flash!” I called out sharply. That was the standard guard challenge. All three responded at once. “Thunder!” they all said back. They were guards, thank God. “Welcome,” I replied, finishing the exchange, before explaining the situation. “This is not an exercise. The princess has been replaced by a changeling. I just saw her communicating with Chrysalis. You three are to back me up and help restrain the bug. Understand?” The three of them, to their credit, didn’t miss a beat, despite the fear that flashed across their faces. “Understood, sir,” the lead guard replied stoicly. I found myself falling back into old habits. Back in my days with the UVF, I’d burst my way in to plenty of homes and businesses. Rapid entry was no stranger to me. The four of us stacked up by the door. The unicorn of the group would cast a stun spell, then me and the other two would go for the grab. It might look like Tia, but it didn’t have her magical ability. I counted us down from three, and with that, we put our plan into action. I opened the door just enough for the unicorn to use his spell, and the the lot of us charged in. Naturally, that woke up half the castle. It also tripped a couple alarms in the suite itself. The castle would be locked down and on high alert in thirty seconds. Charging in, I saw the disguised bug look at me in shock for a split second as I threw myself at it. Tackling it to the floor, I grabbed its horn to limit its ability to use magic, while the other two guards grabbed onto flailing limbs. Between the three of us, we were able to pin it down. That didn’t stop it from trying something though. “Guards! Guards! Help me!” it called out in Celestia’s voice, trying to cast a spell in the process. I quickly moved to cover its mouth. Before too long, we were a knot of struggling ponies, scrambling about on the floor, each side trying to get the upper hand. Each of the pegasi guards had small sharp blades on the leading edges of their wings to be used for air fighting. Grabbing one of these, I held it to the disguised changeling’s neck. “Be quiet, or I'll make you be quiet!” I warned. That got the bug to give up. A moment later, the unicorn guard was able to hit it with a stun spell, sparking it out. Taking a breath, I got up from the large body. Despite being unconscious, the disguise spell was still active. It was then that I realised that we weren’t the only ponies in the room. On the mirror, watching with cold detachment, was Chrysalis herself. Obviously, despite our entrance, the spell allowing for communication hadn’t been cut. There was but one thought it my mind at that moment; kill her. Getting up from the scrap, I walked slowly over to the mirror. She watched me, staring me dead in the face. She didn’t know me, but I knew her. I decided to let her know just who she was fucking with. I didn’t realise until later, but at this moment, my old Irish accent reasserted itself. I suppose it was fitting, considering how I was falling back on old skills and habits. “I don’t know who you are,” I said, as I slowly walked toward the mirror. That was a lie. “I don’t know what you want.” Another lie. “If you’re looking for food, I can tell you that I don’t have any love for you to take.” A third lie, now for some simple, honest truth. “But what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills that I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.” I paused as the queen continued to stare impassively at me before making my demands plain. “If you let my friends go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you. I will find you. And I will kill you.” That wasn’t a threat. That was a promise. Chrysalis remained silent for a moment. Her expression was still unreadable. But then she smiled, and said something only riled my anger up further. “Good luck.” And with that, she cut the transmission. I stood there silent for a moment before emotion got the better of me and I smashed the mirror with a punch, badly cutting up my one hand. So, SITREP. Both princesses had been captured and replaced, and taken off to the Changeling Kingdom. Worse still, it soon became clear that both Ponyville and the Crystal Empire were compromised as well. The saving grace was that we managed to get out ahead of them. Word was quietly passed, in code, to the Crystal Guard, which saw the replacement Shining and Cadence captured. We also discovered that the bastards had kidnapped Flurry Heart as well. As for Ponyville, the bugs must have realised something was up and barricaded themselves in Twilight’s castle. For the time being, they were no threat. The problem now was that we had no one in charge. Chrysalis had performed a highly effective decapitation strike. There was no one left to lead. Both Canterlot and the Empire ended up forming emergency governments, quietly of course, which would direct a military response. We were going to war against the Changelings. First things first, establish if Luna really was Luna or, much more likely, another infiltrator. If that was the case needed it lifted quickly. The fake Celestia, as I said, was knocked out. A quick dampening spell nullified her disguise, leaving us staring at an unconscious changeling drone. It was quickly hauled off to the castle dungeons. Meanwhile, after posting a guard on her apartments, I led a group of guards, who were now switching challenge phrases every thirty minutes to guard against possible infiltration attempts, off to Luna’s tower to determine her bone fides. Out of courtesy, the ponies joining me were from the night section of the guard, four threstrals and two unicorns. Each had been checked to prove their identity. One thing I should point out, was that, after the initial alarm, in order to keep any other potential spies from causing havoc, I had the situation written off as a training exercise. As far as ninety percent of the guard, along with all of Canterlot below were concerned, all was quiet in Canterlot castle. The fake Luna had been informed of this, as had all the guards in the tower. The only ponies who knew we were in a state of unparalleled emergency, and were now operating under emergency wartime conditions, were roughly twenty senior members of the guard and a handful of advisors. Now, why was I leading the guards you ask? Well, simple really. Courtesy of that idiot Mareclellan, who was currently in his office panicking, there were no challenge phrases for the guards to use for the princesses. Mareclellan had deemed them above suspicion when he’d scaled back the defence plans. I meanwhile, not so quick to let my guard down, had kept a single phrase for both Tia and Luna. Even without that, I was close friends with both princesses and could, with a much greater sense of certainty, be sure they were who they said they were. And so, I found myself leading six guards to Luna’s tower to possibly arrest the Princess of the Night, or least the creature pretending to be her. As we walked, I quietly discussed our plan with Strong Shield, who was in charge of training and unbeknownst to most, a changeling defector, who had assumed direct command of the troops after Mareclellan froze up. “Remember,” I was saying. “Once it knows its cover is blown, we’ll need to move fast. It will most likely try to run, hide and switch disguises to cause more havoc. We can’t let that happen. Ideally, we get it alive to interrogate it along with its friend. But it does not leave that room. All other concerns are secondary. Understood?” “Yes, sir,” Strong Shield replied. He looked away for a moment, and I saw the fear in his one good eye. The other had been injured by his countrymen when he switched sides during the wedding. I tried to be reassuring. “Courage, my friend,” I said warmly. “We’ll get her back.” Now Strong Shield’s expression turned to anger. “I know that, sir,” he replied, his voice now ice cold. “I just hope we can stand up to this new assault. I’ve no desire to meet up with my old queen again. If anypony had a reason to be scared, it was Strong Shield. As a traitor to the changelings, I have no doubt Chrysalis would love to have his head on a stick. “Keep a hold of your emotions, captain,” I warned. “Try to take it alive if possible.” We now came upon the door to Luna’s tower. Here there were two normal guards on post. Both moved to block our approach. “Sorry, sir,” the one on the left said. “I can’t let you in without authorisation.” “Flash,” I barked. “Thunder!” both guards said back. “Welcome,” I finished, before continuing on to what I wanted. I kept it short and sweet. “Under authority given to me by the Preservation of Equestria Act, I hereby command you to stand down and give up your post to these officers with me.” Both guards looked at each other. “Sir?” the one on the right asked. “You heard me,” I replied. “Stand down and get out of my way.” “Mr. Owen, only the princesses can authorise action under that act. Without their...” I cut him off. “The princesses are missing. Celestia has been replaced by a changeling. I need to see if the same has happened to Princess Luna. Now, will you kindly feck off?” That was more than enough for the pair, who quickly opened the double door to Luna’s tower. Leaving instructions for them to stay at their post and act as if all was well, we hurried up the stairs. I found myself wishing I was younger or fitter as I struggled to keep up with the galloping guards. Running up the spiral staircase, we eventually found ourselves at the top, in front of the door to Luna’s private chambers. I knocked on the door loudly. “Luna! Open up!” I bellowed. There was a startled yelp from within, and a moment later, Luna’s face appeared at the door. She sneered at me, clearly not too happy about this sudden intrusion into her privacy. “This had better be important, Advisor Owen,” she said with some annoyance. No way this was Luna. Still, only one way to be completely certain. “Armagh and Antrim, Londonderry and Down,” I said, using the challenge phrase known only to myself and the princesses. After all, who else could rattle off the correct response; the other two counties that made up Northern Ireland. Not a changeling it seems, since the fake Luna looked simply confused by my bizarre statement, instead of replying 'Tyrone and Fermanagh, stand true with the Crown.'; the correct countersign. “What in Equestria are you on about you stupid ape?” Luna asked in disgust. That was more than enough for me. Using the element of surprise, the seven of us rushed her at once, with me bodily tackling her to the floor. This one had a lot less fight in it, and in an effort to escape my grasp, dropped its disguise, reducing its overall size to that of a normal pony. But six ponies and a human were more than enough to restrain both its limbs and its insect like wings. Less than thirty seconds after I knocked on the door, and the blighter was in irons, to be taken down to join its friend in the dungeons. Further checks were completed by two that afternoon, and no other infiltrators were found. Everything was still being kept quiet, but we were now at last in a position to offer some sort of military response. The only problem was what to do. We had no idea where the royals and the elements had been taken, or what Chrysalis’ overall plan was. But now that her ruse had been exposed, it was likely that we could expect a full blown conventional attack at any time. Now, while Equestria’s princess might have been MIA, the country was far from leaderless. While my idea of creating a designated survivor hadn’t yet got off the ground (and in all truth it wouldn’t have helped much anyway, since all the royals were kidnapped from separate locations) Equestria did have an emergency plan to form an interim government in the absence of the princesses. It had been created way back when Nightmare Moon first returned. With Celestia missing, the government needed to continue functioning, at least in terms of making military decisions. And so they had formed this emergency council. The best analogue to Earth I can give is the American ‘Looking Glass’ airborne command post, or the British COBRA group. I actually had a hand in setting the body up in its more modern form, to the point where the pony version was given the same acronym designation, which is nowhere near as cool as it first sounds. COBRA simply stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A. It was in the lower levels of the castle, spartan and dark, with loads of maps and a large round table for the members to gather around; everything you’d expect from what was essentially a war room. The group was made up of both senior advisors to the princesses, like myself, and high ranking officers of the Royal Guard. In time of emergency, a situation could be passed up to COBRA and the group would be formed, temporarily taking control of the Equestrian government. Naturally, as soon as I made my report to the guard, the situation was raised at COBRA level and a meeting convened. The castle was sealed up tight, with the guards under orders to admit no one in or out until further notice. I headed down to the briefing room with Strong Shield. As a senior officer in the guard, he had a seat at the table. However, there was also another benefit. While none of the other members knew it, I knew that Strong Shield was a changeling, and as a former infiltrator, his knowledge and experience would be invaluable in getting the princesses back. “We can at least work out something close to a plan,” I was saying to him as we came to the bottom of the steps. “Realistically, our first priority is going to have to be blunting the initial conventional attack and organising a counteroffensive. Changelings rely on blitz attacks to work. If we can weather the storm, we’ll have a chance at getting the princesses free.” “I just hope everypony will be able to keep calm and actually work all this out. Situations like this are a recipe for chaos,” Strong Shield remarked. “Particularly with someone as gutless as Mareclellan at the head.” As the captain of the guard, Mareclellan would be in charge of proceedings. “C’mon,” I replied. “These aren’t those flower sisters back in Ponyville. It’s not like they’re all going to be running around like headless chickens.” And with that, I opened the door. And I was quickly confronted by a group of ponies running around like headless chickens. Everypony was trying to shout over everypony else, nopony was listening, and very little was being achieved. It was like walking into the House of Commons. I sighed and turned to Strong Shield. “I see what you mean,” I said. We stood there for a moment, unsure of where to begin. Eventually, after watching Mareclellan and Night Song almost come to blows, I put a couple fingers in my mouth and let out a sharp whistle. The sound was sudden enough to catch everypony’s attention. “That’s better,” I said, briefly enjoying being the centre of attention. “Now what in the name of Celestia is going on here? This meeting is supposed to be about organising our response to this attack.” Mareclellan, who was seated at the top of the table turned to me. “Well, Mr. Owen,” he said. “I would if Night Song here would agree to fall in line and follow orders.” “Don’t you try it, Mareclellan,” Night Song snarled back. “I always said you were too soft. We need to assemble a force now to strike before the changelings have time to mobilise.” “No, we need to organise a larger force to defend Canterlot,” Mareclellan argued. “A larger force just increases the risk of infiltration!” Night Song shot back. The various government ministers now began to join in on the argument, and things threatened to boil over again. “Alright! Alright! Enough!” I shouted over the din. The group again fell silent and Strong Shield and I took our own seats. “Now, first of all, can we come to an agreement? We are all here to protect our homeland. We’re not going to achieve that by shouting over each other and coming up with on the spot plans. What are our options?” “Word hasn’t yet got out that anything is amiss,” Local Rag, the group’s media liaison said. “As far as anypony in Equestria or the Crystal Empire is concerned, it’s just another day. But ponies are starting to ask questions. Eventually, if we don’t control the spread of information, we’re going to have a panic on our hooves.” “So what, we shut down the presses and cut the telegraph wires?” Golden Coins, the finance minister, asked. “Sooner or later, ponies will find out. We need this mess contained before then.” “Contained how?” Night Song asked. “The princesses are missing as are the bearers of the Elements. We have no defence against a powerful enemy like the changelings.” “What about the Crystal Heart?” I suggested. “It took out Sombra without trouble, and he’s way more dangerous than the changelings.” “But how can we get that down here, never mind the Changeling Kingdom? A few minutes without the Crystal Heart and our friends in the north would be buried under snow drifts.” “Even if you could, it wouldn’t help,” Strong Shield replied. “Chrysalis’ throne blocks all magic that isn’t her own kind. That means unicorns can't use their magic. Hay, I’d be surprised if even Discord could do anything in that stuff.” “Hey, how do you know that?” Mareclellan asked. Strong Shield hesitated, realising his misstep. Luckily, he was able to recover quickly and do what changelings do best. “I read the intelligence reports we got from that recon mission several months back. You should try it sometime.” “I still believe it may be possible to contact Princess Luna,” Night Song suggested. “While she may be imprisoned, even in a cocoon, she can achieve sleep and use her dream walking to contact ponies. She might even be able to help us come up with a plan.” “So, your plan is to talk to the princesses?” Mareclellan said incredulously. “I have faith in my princess,” Night Song retorted. As a member of the lunar detachment, his devotion to Luna was unrivalled. Many of the guards even continued to practice the old religion built around worship of the moon. Mareclellan didn’t much care for it. “Spare me your religious mumbo jumbo, Night Song,” he sneered, causing Night song to scowl and his horn to begin to glow. He continued. “Your sad devotion to that nonsensical cult didn’t help you foresee this mess, or give you clairvoyance enough to help us find...” That was as far as he got before Night Song ran out of patience. I was looking down at some notes I was making when I heard Mareclellan let out a strangled gasp. A thin ring of magic was surrounding his neck. I almost laughed when Night Song next spoke. “I find your lack of faith disturbing,” he remarked coldly. “Enough of this!” I snapped irritably. “Night Song! Release him!” A moment later, Mareclellan was struggling to get his breath back. “For goodness sake, this bickering is pointless!” I said in dismay. “We need a solid plan to get the princesses back and blunt any changeling attack. Otherwise we’re all going to be in cocoons by the end of the week!” That, as it turned out, was enough of an impetus to get them all to stop arguing. I ended up taking the lead somewhat after that point. Mareclellan, as I’ve said before, doesn’t really have the chops for leadership. So, for the next seven hours, we planned, plotted, and prepared for the attack that was sure to come. Strong Shield, under the guise of intelligence gathered from captured changelings after the wedding, advised us of how the attack would most likely involve a second wave of infiltration, followed by a general assault. The idea being to disrupt any command and control. Most of the important government personnel had already dispersed to their assigned safe houses. Again, the idea was that by scattering, it would be harder for the changelings to completely paralyse the government. In a sense, it hearkened back to the nature of ponies and horses. At the same time though, I pushed for a daring counterstrike. After all, as far as the bugs knew, we were none the wiser. There was certainly a good chance that we might be able to attack first while the changelings were still mobilising. After all, let’s not forget, during the wedding ,the guard was disorganised and caught off balance. Against six mares, the changelings had struggled to hold the line. A concerted attack by a well disciplined force could prove decisive. While they might be a conventional force, changelings were not suited to a stand up fight on equal terms. That was when ponies would have the advantage. It was as we were discussing our two options; weather the storm, then retaliate, or launch a raid into enemy country to stall any potential attack, that there was a knock at the door. We all started. Two guards were posted outside the locked and magically sealed doors, with orders to admit no one under any circumstances. Getting to my feet, I prepared to possibly fight. This may well be the next wave of infiltrators come to grab and replace us. I remembered the advice I was given by my training officer back when I first joined the UVF. ‘Our biggest fear is kidnapping. If someone tries to lift you; run, shoot your way out, or shoot yourself. I don’t plan on spending six months negotiating anyone’s release with the Provos.’ We all stayed stock still for a moment. Then we heard the sound of the lock, sealed by unicorn magic, being opened. It would take someone with a considerable amount of magical power to do that. Just as we prepared for a confrontation, I was met by a familiar face. It was Celestia. Or at least, it looked like her. What better ploy was there? The crisis was over and we could drop our guard, right? I wasn’t buying it just yet, and nor were Strong Shield or Night Song. Mareclellan just looked relieved that the waiting was over. Celestia was accompanied by a group of guards, all of whom looked very relieved. The two groups stared at each other across the threshold. “Armagh and Antrim, Londonderry and Down,” I said to her warily. I can’t tell you how glad I was when she replied. “Tyrone and Fermanagh, stand true with the Crown.” The correct countersign. It was Celestia! And so, with much relief all around, COBRA was stood down and authority returned to the two sisters. I remember in my excitement, I ended up hugging Celestia, which actually made her smile. As a rule, I’m not big on human contact. Everypony was just glad to know that the danger was over. But more than that, there’d been quite the paradigm shift in the last hour or so. As of today, there was peace between Equestria and the Changeling Kingdom. Didn’t see that one coming. When Celestia told me how Starlight and the others had managed to get into the hive and face Chrysalis, ultimately defeating her, I was more than a little surprised. Firstly, that Starlight of all ponies was the one mainly responsible for Celestia standing before me. But in addition to that, the changelings had a new ruler. Chrysalis, while not dead, was soundly beaten. According to Celestia, the little unicorn and her friends, including Discord, had made their way through the hive and reached the throne room. There they had faced Chrysalis. Or rather, she and Thorax did, as the others were captured by the bugs after they got separated in the maze that was the hive. Chrysalis had made Thorax pretty quickly and forcibly deactivated his disguise. Then, as punishment for his betrayal, she’d begun to drain the love he’d gained out of him, to the point where it would most likely be fatal. But at the last moment, Starlight told him to give his love freely, sharing it instead of keeping it for himself. What happens next was explained by Twilight, who had also come up to Canterlot before heading back to Ponyville. Apparently, Thorax giving his love freely overloaded Chrysalis with energy. This in turn caused an overflow of her energy reserves, which caused the love to manifest as an extremely potent magical blast. When this emotional charged energy wave hit the changelings assembled in the room, it created a self sustaining energy matrix, charged with positive and love based energy. In the King’s English, it turned all the changelings from their usual frightening selves into pretty, multicoloured creatures, with all the holes filled in. But more importantly, they now no longer needed to feed on love to survive. They were able to share it all, with plenty to go around. Thorax had told me before that changelings lived in a perpetual state of hunger. That now, thanks to whatever Thorax and Starlight had done, was at an end. They would never need to feed on anypony again. The blast had been powerful enough to blow the lid clean off of the hive and free everypony. The newly altered changelings quickly turned on Chrysalis, rallying around Thorax, who was now almost as large as Luna with stag like antlers coming out of his head. And with four alicorns, the Elements of Harmony and Discord (who was furious beyond measure with Chrysalis for ponynapping Fluttershy) angrily staring her down, she fled. Starlight had tried to reason with her, and offered her a hoof in friendship. And from what I heard, for a moment, she almost accepted it. But only for a moment. It seemed that, like Tirek and Sombra, Chrysalis was beyond redemption. Nopony knew exactly where she had fled, but she was a lot less dangerous now without an army at her beck and call. And so, with everypony safe, the crisis came to an end. There was some trouble flushing out the changelings that had replaced the elements, who had dug themselves in at Twilight’s castle, but the Royal Guard was able to regain some lost honour and launch a brief raid that resulted in their capture. The rest of my week was spent dealing with the fallout. A brief batch of trials were held for the captured changelings before repatriating them back. For once, the Nuremberg defence was accepted as valid, considering how Chrysalis dealt with any dissent. But it was another month before the first official peace treaty was signed, along with a non-aggression pact. But there was one thing that stood out to everypony. COBRA was ineffective. Equestria couldn’t be run by committee. In time of emergency, we needed a single leader who could rally everypony around the flag and get things done. All of a sudden, my designated survivor idea was suddenly at the top of the docket.