Captain Flash Sentry stood in the Statue Garden in front of the statue of a unicorn stallion holding a banner with the symbol of the Equestrian Magical Regime on it with another guard, a yellow male unicorn standing next to him. Whether the statue behind them was a captured Regime soldier serving his sentence or just a sculpture for history telling purposes, Flash did not now, but it was giving him the creeps. That symbol certainly didn't bring back pleasant memories for the former Insurgency General.
"As a reception area this place needs a lot of work." he said to himself and the unicorn guard nodded in agreement. Celestia told him that she was expecting important guests today and she wanted to greet them in the Statue Garden as she had something important to show them. And him as well. She said it was a matter of national security.
"I second that." Flash turned to see a pegasus mare approaching him from behind the bushes. It was none other than the famous adventurer, Daring Do. Daring spent the years of the war between the Regime and the Insurgency searching for powerful magical artifacts that might turn the tides in Celestia's favor. She was quite disgruntled when she learned upon her return that all of her efforts were wasted as Celestia just yanked over alternate versions of Twilight's friends to take her down.
"Daring!" Flash greeted with a smile. "I didn't know you came back!" Daring just scoffed.
"Apparently you weren't the only one." Flash saw the mare's frustration, but decided against asking about it. He didn't want to irritate her even more. Daring sat down between the two guards and they waited for Celestia to arrive. It was getting pretty awkward and Flash started silently praying that Celestia will arrive soon. He sighed in relief when his prayers were answered.
"Good day, my little ponies." Celestia greeted as she walked up to them. The guards saluted and Daring just nodded at her to acknowledge her greeting. Celestia immediately noticed her sour mood. "Is something the matter, Daring Do?" the Pegasus Mare glared up at her.
"Yes, there is a problem. I spent the last five years exploring the most dangerous parts of Equestria to find something that will help you beat Twilight and then I come back to find that you just decided to summon another Twilight from a mirror universe and thus making all of my efforts pointless! I mean, couldn't you think of that before you sent me away?"
"I understand your frustration, but getting interuniversal help was not a decision I made lightly. The Regime was closing in on me and I had to act quickly." Daring just rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Can we just get to why you dragged me up here?" Celestia nodded.
"Certainly." Celestia walked past the two pegasi and stood in front of the statue behind them. Her horn lit up and the statue moved back, revealing a secret staircase. "Shall we?"
The four ponies made their way through a dark tunnel only illuminated by a few torches. Flash looked over at Daring who still looked pretty angry. She decided to try and lighten the mood.
"So... found anything during your travels?" he asked with a friendly smile.
"A couple of things. But since Celestia obviously doesn't need them, I think I'll keep them to myself." she grumbled. Flash saw that his attempt failed so he quickly tried to change the subject.
"Uh... Where are we going anyway?" he asked the alicorn.
"The old caverns beneath Canterlot. This is where Chrysalis kept Cadance hostage during her wedding and where she set up the bomb that destroyed the city seven years ago. After we reclaimed Equestria from the Regime, I cleaned up this place in secret and set up a little something that will help us make sure that similar tragedies never happen again." Celestia explained as the group entered the cavern. Flash and Daring looked around in awe at the several screens on the walls, showing different parts of Equestria. "Welcome to the Eye of the Sun!" Celestia announced with a small hint of pride in her expression once the two pegasi got over their wonder.
"You've been peeping over all of Equestria over the past two years?" Daring asked, trying to sound casual.
"Not the most tactful way of putting it, Daring, but yes, you managed to get the point." Celestia replied in mild annoyance.
"No wonder you kept this a secret!" Flash said, his eyes still roaming over the screens. "You are violating several equine rights down here."
"A necessary evil, Captain Sentry. This surveillance system has already helped tracking down and incapacitating many who would upset order in Equestria."
"Sounds neat, but I doubt that your hidden camera show is the only reason you brought us here." Daring concluded, which got Flash thinking as well.
"Speaking of which, you told me that you were expecting multiple guests. So, where's everybody else?"
"Other than Daring, I've invited only one more. And he's already here." Celestia replied. Daring and Flash looked around, trying to locate him, but all they saw other than the princess was the yellow unicorn guard who entered with them. Celestia rolled her eyes with an amused look on her face.
"Alright, Thorax, enough games. You can show yourself now." suddenly, the yellow unicorn guard's body lit up with green flames and he turned back into what Flash instantly recognized as King Thorax of the changelings. But he looked very different. Instead of the black, hole ridden body, his chitin was now full yellow with no holes in his body whatsoever, his wings were now fully grown, glimmering and on his head next to his horn, he was wearing antlers.
"Uh... what is a chengeling doing here?" Flash asked nervously. "And why does he look like... that?" Celestia gave her guard a stern look.
"Flash Sentry, behave yourself! King Thorax is an important ally of Equestria and you will show him his due respect!" Thorax just raised a hoof to calm her down.
"It's alright, Celestia. I'm not here for pleasantries after all." he said on a slightly sad tone. It was clear that he was used to this kind of welcome. Celestia looked at him in concern, but Thorax just smiled at her reassuringly. "I'll be fine." Celestia nodded and turned back to the ponies.
"King Thorax is the reason we are here today. He has brought my attention towards a very likely threat to our nation. Thorax?"
"As you know, during the time of the Regime, changelings were hunted and exterminated all over Equestria. After Twilight's defeat, I've been spending my time rallying the survivors. We are building a new, independent changeling nation that is built on the belief on sharing love rather than stealing it. My new appearance is the result of that. Turns out, sharing love will cause a metamorphosis in changelings that makes us look like this." he explained, motioning across his body with a foreleg.
"But I digress. Unfortunately, not every changeling shares our new philosophy. There are still many among us who would rather have revenge on Equestria and continue the old ways. My brother, Pharynx is among them, despite my best efforts to convert him. He's been disappearing for days recently and last time that happened, I sent scouts after him and they came back with an interesting report." Thorax then looked at Celestia who continued.
"It turns out, Thorax's scouts have discovered an organization that wishes to take advantahe of the power vacuum created by the Regime's fall." Celestia then summoned the image of a black unicorn mare with dark red mane and tail and a broken horn.
"They call themselves "The First Order" and they are lead by this pony, Tempest Shadow. With SkyWatch, I was able to locate their base of operations in the Badlands and even track one of their operations to the Everfree Forest. They are gathering several resources there that can be used for creating dangerous potions and other magical weapons. This is where you three come in. I need you to go over there, find out what they are doing and shut it down." Falsh and Daring looked uncertain about all this.
"Us three?" Flash asked. "You mean, you're not coming? I'm sure they would be intimidated into submission even by your presence." Celestia frowned grimly.
"Unfortunatley, I can't leave Canterlot without worrying the public."
"And what about the Guard?" Daring suggested. "If you know where their base is, can't you just send them there and shut it down?" Flash Sentry rubbed his foreleg nervously upon hearing this.
"Actually, Daring..." he started. "...the Guard is not strong enough yet for that. In order to completely wipe out Twilight's influence from every part of Equestrian society, we needed to rebuild everything from the ground up. Most of the guards are still just rookies. They're eager, but they lack experience. And not many Insurgency veterans continued to serve after the war." Daring then turned to Thorax.
"And what about your changelings?"
"Same deal. We're focusing on building our new country and we don't have an army yet. If we could have dealt with it, I wouldn't have even come here." Thorax explained.
"Of course, I understand if it's too much for you." Celestia said, causing Daring to frown.
"Who said it's too much? You happen to talk to the greatest adventurer in the history of Equestria! I'm more than up for it!" Celestia smiled.
"Excellent! I shall have you three escorted to Ponyville via Air Balloon, but I'm afraid you will have to proceed on hoof from there. Be on your guard! And not just because of the enemy. The Everfree is a dangerous place by itself." she turned to Thorax and placed her hoof affectionately on his shoulder. "Please be careful." The changeling king reassuringly stroke the alicorn's hoof.
"Don't worry, Tia. With the greatest adventurer in Equestria leading us, what can go wrong?" Daring and Flash raised a brow at the tender scene in front of them. The changeling and the mare left the cave, but Flash stopped and pulled Celestia aside.
"I know things have changed much in the past two years, but... are you sure we can trust a changeling?" Celestia sighed. Even though Chrysalis has been dead for years and the Changeling Resistance played a vital role in tearing down the Regime, there were still many ponies who viewed them with suspicion and prejudice or simply couldn't let go of their grudges against them for their past actions.
"Captian Sentry, Thorax is not like Chrysalis. He brought harmony and friendship to his changelings and have been one of my biggest supports during the past two years. I trust him with my life. Besides, without the Changelings, we couldn't have defeated the Regime. I think they've earned a second chance." Flash looked at Thorax's receding form and saw him changing back to his pony disguise and gulped. He didn't exactly feel reassured.
The two ponies and the changeling were making their way through the Everfree Forest with Daring leading and clearing the way with a machete. Flash Sentry was sporting a crossbow gun with a quiver of arrows while Daring was wearing a mysterious artifact on her neck that looked like a bird shaped whistle. Thorax was just walking between them casually.
"So... what was the deal with you and the princess back in Canterlot?" Flash asked. "You two seemed awfully close."
"Of course we're close!" Thorax replied. "We practically spent the last two years together. She taught me so much about how to rule with love and friendship and when I felt her sadness over losing her husband, I just had to be there for her. She needed support and I'm happy I could be the one to give it to her."
"Weird. I was also around her the past two years and I don't recall seeing you ever."
"Shapeshifting, remember? Sadly, I couldn't risk showing myself to anypony other than Celestia. They still don't like changelings all that much." Thorax said as he looked down sadly. His look made Flash feel guilty about what he said to Celestia about Thorax.
"Well, I'm sure if Celestia helps you out as much as you say, they will all come around." Flash smiled encouragingly, putting a supporting hoof on Thorax's shoulder. Thorax smiled gratefully, but before he could respond, Daring interrupted their bonding.
"Before you fall for each other, we have arrived."
Indeed, the three heroes reached the field where Celestia's surveillance device last spotted Pharynx and his rogue changelings. Hiding behind a tree, they peeked out to see that they were still there and packing crates onto boats on the river running through the field.As they were observing the crowd, Pharynx himself suddenly walked past the tree they were hiding behind. Next to him, was an earth pony mare with a beige coat, pigment blue mane with a rose pink streak, cerulean eyes and three candies for a cutie mark. The three heroes' eyes widened in shock when they recognized as the pony Bon Bon.
They had no idea what she was doing here. During the time of the Regime, the existence and the activities of S. M. I. L. E. were all exposed by Twilight, as were Bon Bon's involvement with the agency in retaliation for refusing to join the Regime. She had every reason to hate Twilight, but she fought alongside Celestia during the war. They had no idea why would she join Tempest, though from her expression, it was clear that she wasn't happy to be here.
"Can't they work any faster?" Bon Bon complained. Pharynx just chuckled in amusement. He was well aware of the reason behind the mare's discomfort.
"Don't worry, Bon Bon. We will be ready for tomorrow's attack." he mused. Bon Bon glared at him.
"I couldn't care less about that. But if Tempest hurts Lyra again because we're late with another shipment, I'm going to hurt you." she threatened. Pharynx just maintained his smug smirk and kept walking.
"Tomorrow's attack?" Daring repeated nervously.
"Sly little mare." Thorax couldn't help but compliment. "While we're still struggling to rebuild our countries, she builds up an entire army in our backyard and plans to catch us by surprise.
"Before they could form a plan to intervene, they heard a cough coming from behind them. They turned to see a blue dragoness standing behind them with her arms folded and giving them an unwelcoming stare. Despite her look, Thorax's face lit up when he recognized her.
"Ember!" he greeted cheerfully. "Long time no see! Here to help us take down these suckers?"
"Not exactly." Ember replied before putting two fingers in her mouth and letting out a sharp whistle. The trio were suddenly yanked up into the air by dragons and dragged to the middle of the field, right in front of Pharynx. The rogue changeling had a look of smug satisfaction on his face as he saw his brother lying on the ground by his hooves as Ember walked up next to him.
"Nice catch, Ember." he mused. Ember narrowed her eyes at him.
"That's Queen Ember to you." she snapped.
"Since when does a Queen take orders from the likes of Tempest?" Pharynx chuckled. Ember growled at the changeling, but before she could incinerate him, Thorax interrupted her.
"Wait, Ember, you're with them?" he asked with a devastated look.
"Real quick on the uptake, Thorax." Daring said, rolling her eyes. Ember glared down at them.
"We don't appreciate the treatment we received from Twilight during her reign. And your new marefriend, Celestia hasn't been doing much to improve our situation. From where we stand, she's not much better than Twilight."
"Yeah, try to send diplomats to find migrating dragons who would burn you to ashes before you make your offer." Flash Sentry snarked. "And you're a few scales short of a lizard if you think your new friends care about your species, Ember." the dragoness just smirked in response.
"Tempest knows she's gonna have to keep her promises. She's swayed many dragons, changelings and griffins to her side with her silver tongue. And knows that angering them would be bad for her health."
"You're breaking my heart, Ember." Thorax said sadly. "But at least it makes what we're about to do easier." he nodded at Flesh Sentry who pulled an arrow out of his quiver and fired it in front of their captors. The arrow exploded in a blinding light making their enemies cover their eyes and giving the heroes a chance to attack.
"Now let's see what this baby can do." Daring said, reaching for the artifact hanging on her neck and lifting to her mouth. She blew the end of the whistle and it released a huge sonic blast that blew away several of the creatures in front of them.
"So that's what her new toy does." Flash commented before leaning over to Thorax. "Remind me not to piss her off." Before Thorax could reply, he received a pinch from the dragon lord the sent him back several meters. Ember flew after her and tried to punch him into the ground, but Thorax rolled out of the way and kicked Ember's legs out from under her, causing her to collapse. He didn't follow it up with another attack, but it gave him time to stand up.
"Come on, Ember, be reasonable. If you help us, I'm sure we can convince Celestia to help you and your dragons. We can be a team again, like in the Insurgency." But Ember just glared at him.
"You mean before Twilight chased us away from Equestria and Celestia did nothing stop it." she yelled.
"You can't blame her for that. She had her own subjects to worry about back then." Thorax reminded her.
"So did I." Ember snarled before attacking again. She tried to punch the changeling king again, but he was just too swift and kept dodging all of her attacks. Frustrated, Ember reached for his antlers and managed to get a hold of them. She was about to unleash a fire breath on him, but Thorax interrupted her by blasting her in the face, making her stagger back.
Thorax then flew up and grabbed Ember, carrying her off and throwing her into a tree. Thorax then flew into her, ramming both of his forelegs into the Dragon Lord's stomach, before pulling back and punching her across the face several times. He pulled back for another punch, but Ember blocked it with an arm and headbutted Throax, making him back away. The changeling managed to recover fast and turned to kick Ember into the tree again. Before she could recover, Thorax used his magic to pull the tree's roots up and wrap them around the dragoness, trapping her in the process.
"Sorry, Ember. I'll put in some good words for you." he lamented before heading off to help his friends. Flesh and Daring were in the middle of their fight with the changelings and the dragons when Thorax ran up to them, but before he could help them, he was stopped by a blast landing in the ground right in front of him. It was fired by none other than his brother.
"I have been waiting for this." Pharynx snarled. "Once you're finally out of the way, every changeling will follow me. No longer will you weaken our race." Thorax looked back at him sadly.
"Even after all the times I showed you what changelings can accomplish if they share love instead of taking it, you still refuse to see the truth. I'm starting to lose hope in you, brother." Pharynx rolled his eyes.
"Are you about to give me another of your lectures, brother?" Thorax narrowed his eyes and gave his brother an angry look he rarely displayed before.
"No. You have made your choice. Now live with the consequences." If there was one thing he learned from Celestia, it was that personal feelings sometimes have to be put aside. The two changelings entered a fierce duel. Pharynx was more aggressive than his brother, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the upper hoof on him. Thorax easily countered even his strongest attacks and with every counterattack, Pharynx was getting more and more weighed down. He was utterly confused.
"How?" was all Pharynx muttered. He flew at his brother again and punched him repeatedly, but his strikes had no effects. "Why can't I hurt you?!" he asked with a punch between every word. Thorax just remained still and stoic.
"I told you. If changelins share their love, they are much more powerful." All throughout the encounter, his thoughts were centered on the alicorn who became so important to him during the past two years. "Sharing love is true power and you doomed yourself to never feel it with your narrow mindedness." Thorax gathered all of his power and sent his brother back with a powerful blast. Pharynx looked up in shock, before turning around and running off deeper into the woods. Flash Sentry just finished dispatching another wave of enemies and was about to take off after him, but Thorax held out a foreleg in front of him to hold him back.
"My brother is my problem. Go help Daring." Flash nodded and Thorax took off after Pharynx. After a few minutes of looking through the trees to no avail, Pharynx was about to give up and head back to the field to aid his allies, when he suddenly noticed movements in a bush in front of him.
"Pharynx! Show yourself! It's over!" he ordered, preparing his horn for an attack. The only response he got was a laugh, but he was certain it wasn't his brother's. The voice was female, but it was very familiar. The thought of the creature that the voice reminded him of sent shivers down his spine and when the exact same creature emerged from the bush, Thorax found himself overwhelmed with fear.
"Chry... Chrysalis?" he stepped back in shock. The former changeling queen looked down at Thorax with a look of amusement.
"Oh, Thorax. Look at you! Such a big grub. Playing king, reforming the hive into spreading love rather than taking it and trying to get between Celestia's backlegs. But you hear it, don't you?" she asked, grinning savagely.
"Hear what?" Thorax asked in both fear and confusion.
"The real changeling inside you. Trapped beneath the floorboard. Banging, kicking, scratching to get free!" Chrysalis walked up to Thorax and lifted a hoof to his chin. "You want Celestia's love. So go on and take it!" she turned Thorax's head to the side and he saw the mare of his affections chained to the floor struggling to get free.
"Go on, Thorax. I can feel the hunger inside you." Chrysalis whispered in his ear. "Take what you want." Thorax walked up the Celestia, who looked up at him with pleading eyes, silently asking for help. Chrysalis stood behind him, almost encouraging him to go through with it. Thorax felt the temptation inside him. It was there. He wanted to do it. But he felt something else too. Something that made the longing inside him feel completely irrelevant and gave him the strength to resist it.
"You're right." Thorax whispered, causing Chrysalis to grin wickedly. But what Thorax said next, made the grin disappear. "I do want Celestia's love. But I love her too much to take it by force. I want to earn it, to be worthy of her love." Chrysalis' face grew into a horrible, twisted glare and surprsingly, so did Celestia's on the ground.
"You pathetic, sentimental fool! Why do I even bother with you?!" Celestia morphed into a changeling and lunged at Thorax, but he just stepped aside and the attacker ended up crashing into Chrysalis who morphed back into Pharynx upon impact.
"As expected." Thorax mused as he watched the two changelings knock each other out. "No one puts a changeling in love into a corner." he declared proudly before running back to the field. When he got there, he was greeted by an unpleasant sight. Flash and Daring were becoming overwhelmed by the enemy's numerical superiority. They were hiding behind a tree which was getting bombarded by changeling blasts and dragon fire.
"Thorax!" Daring shouted when she noticed him. "There's too many of them! They're going to get away with the crates!" Thorax looked out from behind the tree and indeed, he saw Bon Bon leading the creatures loading the carts onto the boats. The three heroes' situation was not looking very good. They were pinned down by the enemy, they were about to lose the enemy shipments and they were probably about to be captured or worse.
"At this point, we're gonna need a miracle!" Flash said. Almost as if on cue, a thick fog descended on the forest, confusing everycreature on the battlefield. The changelings and the dragons who were attacking the heroes were suddenly hit by vials that seemingly came out of nowhere. They broke upon impact and their content leaked onto the bodies of the creatures, paralyzing and incapacitating them. Flash, Daring and Thorax wathced in awe.
"How's that for a miracle?" Daring asked in wonder. Before they could get over their shock, they saw the silhouette of an equine creature walking out of the fog. It was wearing a cloak, so they couldn't recognize it at first, but as the it got closer and removed it's hood, it's identity became clear.
"This forest is my domain! From it, you will take no ill gain!"
"Zecora!" the heroes yelled in surprise. The zebra fell off the radar when Twilight took over and no one has seen her ever since. Zecora heard them and turned her head to look at them. She glared upon spotting Thorax.
"Vile changeling, your presence is unwelcome! Leave now, or be undone!" she growled as she pulled out another vial. Thorax gulped, but knew that he had to find a way to deal with her.
"Get those crates! I'll handle her." he told the two ponies who ran off to do as he said. Thorax slowly started to walk towards Zecora, raising a foreleg in submission. "Zecora, you got your changelings mixed up! Colorful, holeless changelings: good, black, holey changelings: bad! I'm on your side!" he tried, but Zecora wasn't having it.
"Your silver tongued lies don't work on me! And you just wasted your escape opportunity!" Zecora threw the vial at Thorax, but he managed to dodge it. The zebra narrowed her eyes and pulled out another vial from her saddlebag.
'I need to get that saddlebag. Maybe once she's out of ammunition she will be more willing to hear me out.' Thorax thought. But first, he needed to make sure that none of it's content will land on him. It became increasingly harder to dodge the vials being thrown at him as he also had to look out for not stepping into any of it's leaked content. Getting tired of jumping around, Thorax took off into the air and flew straight at Zecora and ripped off her saddlebag.
"Zecora, listen to me, I'm not here to fight you!" the zebra ignored him and pulled out a staff, which she used to try and get back her saddlebag. She managed to reach it, but her hold on her staff slipped and instead of pulling the bag back, all she accomplished was that the remaining vials fell out of it on the ground.
Zecora's eyes widened in horror as the leaked potions were flowing towards her. She had no means to escape as the puddles of potion she threw at Thorax prevented her from running away. Thorax saw the zebra's distress and he quickly flew down to scoop her up and carry her off to safety, which was easier said than done.
"Man, you should consider a diet." Thorax panted, putting the zebra down before landing in front of her. It was clear on Zecora's expression that she was shocked that she was saved by a changeling. "Now are you ready to listen? It's my brother and his black changelings you want! They and Ember's dragons have been smuggling your magical herbs out of the forest right under your nose! We came to stop them." Zecora looked over at the river and saw Daring Do and Flash Sentry struggling to get through the waves of enemies and the changelings trying to launch their boats. Ashamed, she was forced to realize that Thorax was speaking the truth.
"Perhaps I was too hasty in my act. A mistake I will now correct." Zecora said as she picked up her staff and dipping it into the leaked potion on the ground and running over to the two pegasi. Once she was in range of the boats, she threw her staff towards on of the crates, knocking it into the river. None of the battling creatures knew what this meant, but Zecora knew exactly the effect her potion would have on those herbs mixed with water. Before anycreature knew it, huge plants came bursting out of the river and wrecked all of the boats and crates on them. When the recently freed and recovered Ember and Pharynx came back to the field, they saw what was happening and knew that their operation was ruined.
"I believe it's time for a retreat." Pharynx said.
"Tempest won't be happy about this." Ember reminded him, but Pharynx just shrugged.
"Scared of the boss? Some queen you are!" he replied before flying off and signaling to his changelings. They all followed him into the air with Ember and her dragons following suit. Ember took a detour to save Bon Bon out of the river and soon, all of the First Order's forces have left the field.
"Shall they return, I will be ready. No longer will they raid the Everfree." Zecora said with determination once the dust has settled and the heroes recovered.
"Oh, Zecora, you are amazing!" Thorax yelled jovially, wrapping a hoof around her. Zecora gave his hoof an unamused look, before redirecting it at the changeling, who quickly took the hint and removed it. Zecora then turned to leave, but Thorax called out to him. "Uh, hey, Zecora! You know, we finally took out Twilight and Celestia is back in charge."
"Well, unofficially." Flash quickly added. "Technically, there's no elected or crowned ruler yet and everyone is just following Celestia's advices."
"My point is, the Regime is gone and we're trying to put Equestria back together. If you would like to help, we'd love to have you!" Zecora thought for a few moments before turning back to them.
"I can tell you mean your offer. I promise you. I will consider. But now, I must ask you to leave. The Everfree needs peace and relief." she said before walking away and disappearing into the dark of the woods.
"That mare always gave me the creeps." Flash said once she was gone.
"Hey, she saved our flanks, didn't she? Lay off of her!" Daring scolded the stallion.
"We should probably inform Celestia." Thorax said, pulling out a comm crystal and summoning the image of the alicorn.
"Thorax! I am glad to see you're alright! How are things on your end?" Celestia asked. Thorax smiled proudly.
"Mission accomplished! Pharynx and his goons flew away empty hoofed." he informed her. "But I'm afraid it doesn't end here. We've overheard them talking about an attack tomorrow. Whatever they're planning, it's about to come into action." Celestia frowned when she heard this.
"Then we have no choice, we're going to have to launch a preemptive strike. I need you three to head to the Badlands and capture Tempest Shadow." Flash's eyes widened when he heard that.
"Hold on! You want us three to barge into the Badlands and extract Tempest from in front of her entire army?!"
"An organization like hers won't run efficiently without their leader." Celestia replied. "If we capture her, the First Order will be thrown into disarray. But of course, I understand if the task is too much for you. I'm sure I can find another team to handle it."
"I can't back out of this!" Thorax said. "The First Order is a threat not only to Equestria but my changelings as well. It is my duty to stop them."
"Hey, I wasn't going to back out!" Flash joined in. "Just wandering if that was the most logical approach. Of course I'm going too!"
"Same with me!" said Daring. "I wasn't here to finish the fight against Twilight! I'm definitely finishing this one!" Celestia smiled upon seeing their determination.
"Thank you all. Me and all my little ponies are counting on you. Good luck." she said before ending the transmission. The three creatures looked at each other. None of them wanted to say it, but they weren't as certain about their next assignment as they showed.
"Well then, I guess it's another balloon ride for us." Flash said in resignation before they headed back to their vehicle on the edge of the forest. They were all hoping to swiftly apprehend Tempest Shadow and end this threat quickly, but they couldn't help but feel like there was something else in the background. Something that even Celestia couldn't see.