"I'm afraid I don't know any more than you do about the delay of the express coming from Ponyville, sir. The station staff weren't exactly being helpful..."
"You still have your squad there, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then go back and wait with them. The Element Bearers might have run into trouble, and it will be your responsibility if the escort is not executed properly. Hopefully the train is just delayed by the chaos that's been generated in recent hours, but you should be prepared for anything. Dismissed!"
"Yes, sir. I will, sir."
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The words of the briefing echo in Lieutenant Steelwing's mind as he canters down the cobbles of Canterlot's streets, heading back toward the train station from delivering his report in Canterlot's castle. At this time of day, the streets would normally be bustling with ponies going about their business, but the lockdown ordered after Discord's release had emptied the streets, the Guard Lieutenant passing only a pony here and there.
The grey-coated Lieutenant couldn't help but notice that most of the stares aimed in his direction were irritated, if not outright hostile. What was particularly alarming was the number of peeking eyes from behind windows. Steelwing wondered if it was because he was a pegasus, when public opinion about them was at a low point because of the increasingly well-documented abuses of power by other pegasi in the Guard service. Of course, there was the alternative explanation of ponies suddenly being forced from their usual routines with only rudimentary justifications due to Discord's release, but Steelwing feared the racial component would come to the surface anyways.
Upon turning toward the train station, he is mortified to find the train has not arrived yet. And what's worse, the few civilian ponies waiting at the station were giving hostile stares toward his squad members, most of which were also pegasi stallions. They seemed to consider the guards as the reason for the train being late, and the Lieutenant knew that once that attitude was established it would be very difficult to uproot it.
"Report." Lieutenant Steelwing snaps to the seniormost member of his squad as soon as arriving in the station.
"We have gotten a message into the station that the train has been delayed due to an effect from the unusual clouds. They should be along any minute, sir." the squad member answers, saluting as he does so.
"I hope so. Princess Celestia has been kept waiting long enough, and I see she's not the only one getting restless in this city..." Steelwing continues, warily looking over at the civilians with their dark stares. A "fracture surface" was opening up in Equestrian society, one that soon would be ruthlessly exploited by the Changeling invaders to come...
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MEANWHILE, IN CANTERLOT'S PEGASI DISTRICT...
"Did we really have no other choice but to knock her out?" a disguised Changeling drone wearing E.U.P. Guard armor says to his counterpart as they hustle through the cloud-paved streets of colony above Canterlot.
"I didn't have a reasonable alternative! Besides, it won't do any permanent harm; we'll just drop her off at the hospital up here and make arrangements to have her transported to Cloudsdale as soon as everything else settles down. Getting up here as quickly as possible was the most important thing!" the counterpart drone, normally disguised as "Agent Deceit" but now temporarily wearing another pony face, answers. The temporarily unconscious Cozy Glow was sprawled on his back, the drones having made sure she would never be aware of the deception beyond the need to escape Canterlot as quickly as possible.
"So then what do we do once we get her to the hospital?" the first drone speaks again, having temporarily replaced his usual "Agent Sadness" disguise while under the armor so as to throw off any investigative attempts to locate the stolen armor.
"Fly straight to Cloudsdale. Stay high, only stopping on clouds to rest." his partner answers. "Once we get to Cloudsdale, we can find the brother of 'Agent Sadness' and you can 'replace' him. That way we can lay low until we get an opportunity to infiltrate Canterlot again. Besides, I'm sure the Queen will be very interested in the information we have picked up, and it will be much easier to deliver that information out of Cloudsdale than out of Canterlot."
"I suppose you're right. But I don't know how we're going to keep the filly out of the loop for..."
"We don't need to keep her out of the loop. We just need to keep her obedient. We need to make sure she will cooperate with our deceptions, that she masters the art as well as we do. She can't change shape, but I can tell she has a way with words that will be very useful to the Queen's cause."
"Fair enough. Now hurry, I'm sure the missing set of armor has already been reported...!"
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BACK AT CANTERLOT'S TRAIN STATION...
"Sir, I see something coming down the track! Very slowly, but there's definitely something!" one of Steelwing's squad members exclaim, and everypony in the station looks down the track. Indeed the smoke of a moving train was visible on the horizon, but the slow crawling movement toward the station was very concerning, as if the train had been damaged in some way. As it inched closer, those at the station could also see some items stuck to the train slide off and fall away below the track.
Once it was close enough, Steelwing and his squad could see that the train had somehow been coated in a sticky yellow substance, decorated with large bits of something resembling chopped vegetables. Some of those oversized vegetable bits were slowly sliding down the train's sides, but more importantly the sticky substance was completely covering the train's windows, forcing the driver to run the train blind and rely on the conductor hanging out of the engine to call out any potentially vital information for the safe running of the train.
With the train inching its way into the station, Steelwing is surprised by the overwhelming smell of cheese suddenly filling the air around him, and he can barely contain his perplexity as he meets the train conductor on the platform once the train stops.
"What exactly happened to this train here?!" Steelwing asks the conductor as the civilians reluctantly filter onto the train, most of them giving the Lieutenant's squad dirty looks as they do so.
"I'm afraid it will take too long to explain everything, sir. Just know that the Element Bearers are alright and the train will need a good scrubbing once the route is finished." the conductor sighs out, very obviously aware at the unpleasant situation he was caught up in.
"And it will be hard for the public to avoid blaming us for all this..." Steelwing sighs out in return as the squad assembles behind him for the escort to the castle.
"I'm not going to keep you from your duties, sir. Those young mares are needed at the castle, and the delay has been long enough already." the conductor concludes, ducking back into the train as Steelwing's squad begins forming up around the disembarking Element Bearers.
"Thank you. It's a... small comfort considering how crazy today has been..." Steelwing trails off, warily looking around as he moves to the head of the escort line.
"Alright everypony, doubletime! We need to make sure the mares get to the castle without further haste!" the Lieutenant exclaims to his squad, starting away in the doubletime march with his squad surrounding the Element Bearers in a box-like formation...