It was raining at the Changeling Hive. Unlike the Equestrians, the changelings couldn't control their weather and were thus at the mercy of mother nature. Even more so due to the fact that their wings didn't work in pouring water, they were too thin and flimsy.
That left a young drone and her two younger siblings stranded in a cave to wait out the storm. Ocellus let out a sigh of discomfort. The cave was cold, and the warmth of the hive was just there in the distance, only a couple of minutes of flight away. But she knew better, walking was much slower than flying, and in the cold rain like this? That was a death sentence for a small drone, like her. Never mind her two baby siblings. She shouldn't have let them fly so far away from the hive to play, but the two were just so eager to use their wings now that they actually knew how to fly.
"Mom and dad must be so worried right now." She said with another sigh, sitting up and moving away from the cave entrance, going deeper inside where she had set up a small firepit for her brother and sister, who were shivering while curled up together.
Ocellus took a seat next to them with a sigh, buzzing her wings slightly. "Don't worry you two, I'm sure the rain is going to stop soon, it can't keep going all night right?"
The two nymphs nodded as Ocellus took a seat at the fire next to them. Just then, her brother heard a noise, a weird one. It kind of sounded... was that humming? He sat up and looked around.
"Lumbar? Are you ok?" Ocellus said, raising an eyebrow.
"Did you two hear that?" He whimpered in a high-pitched voice. His sisters quickly looked at one another before turning back to him.
"No?" Axillia said, but Lumbar ignored her, quickly turning around and walking deeper into the cave. Ocellus and Axillia looked to one another before standing up and following after him.
The three changelings walked deeper into the cave until they came across a small horizontal crack in the wall, barely large enough for one of the nymphs to squeeze into. The three couldn't even tell how long it continued on for, only that they couldn't see to the other end, even with the light from their horns.
Of course, the size of a hole didn't mean a thing to changelings. With a flash, Lumbar transformed, reappearing the same shape, only the size of a field mouse. His sisters looked at each other before back to him. The much smaller ling looked up at them, before quickly heading into the crack.
"This seems like a bad idea." Ocellus said as Axillia transformed and followed after her brother with an excited smile. Ocellus sighed before she did the same.
The crack continued on for dozens of meters into the ground, twisting and turning until it finally opened up into a large perfectly carved cubic chamber, about the size of their bedroom back in the hive. Ocellus raised an eyebrow as they entered the room. The entire room was humming, like one of those speakers the ponies had. It was actually rather irritating like there was something buzzing inside of their skulls. The three dropped their transformations at once, grabbing their horns. Their magic flickered and sputtered but they managed to keep their horns and the light they were providing under control... for the most part.
"Ugh, what is that?" Axillia said, covering her ears while Lumbar did the same. Ocellus herself looked around the room, her eyes eventually settling on something embedded on the right-hand wall of the room. It was a vertical strip of dim, barely visible cyan light running from the top of the room to the floor.
"Ok, this room is definitely not a natural rock formation..." Ocellus mumbled aloud, furrowing her brows. "First the walls, then the humming now the light? Something magic is definitely going on here."
"What do you think that is?" Axillia said as she approached the light, running a hoof down the stone next to it.
"I dunno, but something tells me we shouldn't touch it. Come on, let's go, we can tell Pharynx when we get back to the hive about this." Ocellus said as she started to walk back towards the crack in the wall. Lumbar and Axillia both groaned before they followed after her.
"You're always soooo boring Ocellus." Lumbar said with a sigh. As he went after his sister, though, he stepped into the middle of the room, accidentally putting a hoof down directly onto a hidden pressure plate. He instantly jumped back with a cry of shock. His sisters quickly turned to him with wide eyes as the room started to shake.
The light along the wall expanded as it seemingly split into two, the sections sliding away like a massive stone gate. The three lings froze in place as the wall gave way to another, much smaller, chamber. In the center of it stood a stone... statue or something. It was cylindrical in shape, made of a cyan stone. It was large, very large. King Thorax probably wasn't even the same height as this thing.
The buzzing and humming in the room only grew more intense, preventing the changeling's from concentrating and thus using their magic. The three of them instantly covered their ears with their hooves and whimpered.
Finally, there was a loud hiss of steam. Magical energy crackled around the room as a perfectly straight crack appeared along the front of the cylinder. The three changeling's felt panic grip their hearts as, like a cocoon, the cylinder opened and... something walked out, standing on its two back legs.
It looked like Prince Pharynx, only it was wearing a suit of cyan armor, with a sunglass-like visor covering its eyes. Its antlers and pauldrons were a pure, platinum white in color, without the slightest dent or stain to be seen. The towering figure stared down at them for a second, its emotions hidden behind its helmet.
Then it suddenly collapsed forwards onto all four. There was the sound of sliding metal as its helmet retracted into the suit leaving its head completely exposed. He had a deep blue carapace, while his eyes were an amber orange. His antlers were the same color, but what made it odder was the massive... tattoo he had on his head, a pure black pattern that ran from his forehead, down the side of his temple to his left cheek in a flowing pattern, zigzagging like a snake before ending in a spiral on his chin.
Ocellus didn't even know changelings could get tattoos. Ink didn't really stick under carapaces like it did under skin.
Before the siblings could do anything else, the odd changeling lurched forwards and retched. A pure white, sparkly liquid poured from its mouth onto the ground. As soon as the liquid hit the ground, the humming in the room stopped completely. It dry-heaved for a second more before its helmet snapped back over its head.
The metallic sound of breathing washed over the room for a second as the armored changeling tried to catch its bearings. Then it looked up, staring the other lings dead in the eyes. Finally, after a moment of silence, it spoke.
"Ann veran Kes'kel?"
With the destruction of half of the castle, Celestia had deemed it a bad idea to continue the meeting with the world leaders, in case another one of those... statues showed up. A second meeting would be held in a month to figure out what to do next. All of the other leaders quickly rushed back to their kingdoms, to make sure the same thing hadn't happened to their subjects while they were away.
Cadance and Shining Armor had quickly bid Twilight goodbye before they returned to their kingdom too, they had a daughter to worry about, and the mere thought of a statue rampaging through the Crystal Empire filled them with panic. The elements themselves, alongside the two diarchs, quickly got to work looking for survivors in the rubble of the castle, alongside the town at large. The destruction was near biblical in its proportions. Fires, smoke, rubble. It was everywhere. Thankfully, there weren't many civilians in the castle when the statue arrived.
However, that didn't mean they weren't in the line of fire. When the statue had thrown the unconscious dragon, it had done so in the direction of Canterlot's downtown. While the other elements focused on the castle, and Celestia and Luna tried to move the blacked-out drake, Twilight rushed down a ruined street with Spike, Derek, and Johan trailing along behind her.
"Where are we going?" Johan asked as he trailed behind the sprinting Alicorn, pulling up the rear with Spike on his back.
"My parent's house." Twilight cried back as they turned a corner coming face to face with the blue dragon's body, lying atop an entire block worth of houses smashed flat. The dragon was in the midst of slowly being lifted into the air by a joint blue and golden aura of energy.
Twilight's face went white. This was her block, the one she had been raised on. Her eyes darted around, desperately looking up and down the street until her eyes settled upon her house. Miraculously, it was still standing! She let out a sigh of pure relief, a sound echoed by Spike, as she stopped running, slowing down.
The dragon had missed the house when it landed in town, but only barely. One of its claws had landed in the front yard, completely destroying her dad's garden - and he had worked so hard to grow his peonies too - while its head had landed in the back yard, narrowly missing their porch.
By the time they had reached the house, the dragon had been lifted completely out of their way, Celestia and Luna making their way over to the city park with the wounded drake in tow. The second the four set foot on the sidewalk in front of the house, the door slammed open and two unicorns rushed out.
One was a mare, with a white coat and purple and white hair. Aside from the color differences and lack of wings, she was the spitting image of Twilight. The other was a stallion blue in color, with blue hair. Johan instantly raised an eyebrow and eyed Derek.
"Why are they both Unicorns? Shouldn't one of them be a pegasus, what with the wings?" He asked nervously. Derek rolled his eyes.
"I don't think that's how that works dude." He said with a chuckle.
Twilight herself through quickly rushed to her parents, alongside Spike. Instantly, the four joined in a hug.
"Mom, dad! I was so worried!" Twilight cried.
"So were we!" Her mother pulled her closer, "We knew you were in the palace, and then there was an explosion and that thing showed up!"
"Is everyone ok back at the castle?" Her father said, staring down at Spike with raised brows.
Spike nodded. "Yep, we managed to take down the statue, with some help from those guys." He said, pointing over his shoulder to Derek and Johan, who were both awkwardly standing on the sidewalk. The family quickly separated and cleared their throats before the two approached.
Twilight's mother was the first to rush forwards, taking Derek's hoof into both of hers. "My name is Twilight Velvet, and let me just thank you so much for helping my babies." Both Spike and Twilight blushed. "If there is anything I can do for you just let me know."
"Oh it's really nothing." Derek replied with a smile, subconsciously spreading his wings. "My name's Derek, it's so nice to meet you!"
Instantly Twilight Velvet's - and her so far unnamed husband's - eyes widened before she suddenly smiled. "Well Twilight, you are just like your older brother." She suddenly said, turning back to her daughter with a wink. "Not only did you keep us in the dark that you met a handsome new stallion until the last minute, but you also bagged an alicorn."
Derek and Twilight both went white. Spike merely fell onto his back and pointed at the princess, laughing wildly. Johan felt a force crush his very soul, as the bags under his eyes suddenly got bigger.
"What!?! Mom no it's not like that!" Twilight suddenly stammered all while Derek himself could only facehoof.
Meanwhile, Twilight's dad approached the deer and nudged him with his elbow. "I'm Night Light. And what's your name, Sir?" He asked with a smile.
Johan blinked twice and turned to him. "Oh uhhh... Johan."
"Something the matter?" Night asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, sorry, I am just not used to people actually noticing me," Johan said, rubbing the back of his head.
"My wife's a famous author, I'm a stay-at-home dad. Trust me, I know how you feel." He chuckled, nudging the deer with his elbow, letting out a chuckle before he started to walk away. "I hope everyone's hungry, I'm cooking tonight."
Johan blinked twice before he quickly followed him inside, ignoring the laughing dragon, arguing mares, and extremely embarrassed stallion. After almost getting stomped on by a blue whale-sized statue, dinner sounded nice.
Celestia and Luna let out a huff as they set the unconscious dragon down in Canterlot's central park. It was the only place on the mountainside large enough to hold him until he woke up without crushing anything or preventing rescue operations.
As the Alicorn sisters collectively wiped the sweat from their brows, a pegasus guard came up to them. The guard quickly came to a stop in the air just below them, giving a salute.
"My Princesses, I have the damage report... alongside something worse." He said slowly lowering his hoof.
Luna and Celestia eyed one another.
"Worse?" Luna said with a frown. "How much worse."
"The Alicorn Amulet. It's gone."
The Manhattan was easily the largest city on the planet, atleast in terms of building size. Towering skyscrapers dominated the skyline, visable from miles in all directions. One particular skyscraper stood taller than the rest, dark grey in color. It more so resembled a bunker than the art deco style of it's neighbors, lacking windows on all levels except for the top floor, and several elevators along the sides which had a glass wall that faced outwards. All along the side of the building were walkways and balconies, which were regularly patrolled by Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies, who all wore the exact same uniform. Black suits, neon yellow undershirts, black ties, and neon yellow sunglasses.
It's near uniform dark grey color was only broken by a yellow stripes that ran from the the top of the building to the bottom on all four of the building's corners, and a sign near the top that read 'Corlina Industries' in yellow neon lights. The building was brand new, having only finished construction the month before. Almost thirty different construction companies were hired to build it, each one working on a different part of the building and each were kept totally in the dark from the others, so none knew what the others were doing, and as soon as the work was done, the enigmatic Corlina Industries ordered all documents and blueprints shredded.
Already the building had built an ominious reputation, no one besides the suited ponies ever left or entered. No one in the city had any relatives that worked for the company, and no one actually knew who the CEO of the company was, but city officals let the company do their own thing. They always paid their property taxes on time, not to mention Corlina Industries was one of the main producers of medicines and chemicals for the entire western coast of Equestria and beyond.
The top floor of the building was a single room, an office. Staring out the window, sitting on his haunches while drinking from a martini glass was an earth pony. He was wearing the same styled suit as his employees, barring two notable differences. In place of a tie, he was wearing a yellow victorian cravat. On his head was where the real difference came into play.
He was wearing a black helmet, that resembled a fully closed barbute without mouth or eyeholes. In their place was a single glowing verticle line that ran from the top of the helmets forehead down to the chin. The helmeted stallion paused before taking another 'sip' of his drink. The alchohol merely poured from the glass onto the line in his helmet, instantly evaporating when it touched the light.
"I do trust you have a good reason to be in here." He suddenly said in a distorted mechanical voice, his accent posh and refined. Behind him, on the otherside of a large desk, stood three agents, an earth pony, a pegasus and a unicorn. Like the ones on the train, they all looked physically identical, as if they were all twins. The only difference were the colors of their coats and their manes.
"Epoxy, Sir." The lead agent, - the pegasus - stepped forwards with a salute. "The three agents sent to Canterlot failed to report back in. We believe they have failed to claim the Alicorn Amulet as was planned."
All three of them flinched as Epoxy turned around and started walking to his desk, taking a seat in the swivel chair, setting his Martini down on on a coaster. He sat there quietly staring at the three with a cocked head before raising a hoof. A beam shot from a crystal on his wrist, striking the pegasus directly in the forehead. The pegasus collapsed to the ground dead as Epoxy slammed his hoof on his desk.
Epoxy inhaled and stood back up. The other two agents looked down at their dead comrade outwardly impassive as Epoxy walked around his desk. The earth pony started to pace infront of them.
"Tell me? Would you two say I am incompetent?" Epoxy asked as he paced.
"No sir." They responded instantly.
"Really? Than would you mind telling me why all of my clones turn out that way?" He asked, stopping in front of the Unicorn leaning forwards until his mask almost touched the agent's face.
"Sir, if you would allow us to expl-" The unicorn started, before Epoxy slapped him across the face, shutting him up instantly.
"No excuses," He hissed, turning around. "And if I can't take my frustrations out on those three failures, that corpse next to you will have to suffice."
Epoxy snarled, stomping around his desk back to the window. "But you know what? I'll humor you." He said, staring down to the streets below. "Why, pray tell, did my agents fail me?"
"Sir, some of our assets in Canterlot told us about an attack carried out on the palace while we attempted to retrieve the artifact." The Earth Pony said stepping away from the pegasus corpse.
Instantly that gave Epoxy pause. He slowly turned around cocking his head to the side. "Attack?"
"Yes sir, reports claim it was a statue in the shape of a Changeling, of the antlered variety. Dragon sized."
"And the Changeling 'Empire' had nothing to do with it?" Epoxy asked, slowly turning around.
"Yes sir, apparently their king was almost killed during the attack several times." The unicorn finished with a nod.
"Hmmm. You two are excused." Epoxy said, turning back to the window. He raised his hoof. The crystal on his wrist glowed and his drink lifted off the table in a yellow aura floating to his hoof.
The earth pony took a sip as the agents dragged their compatriot towards the elevator out of the room. Epoxy's eyes narrowed under his helmet as he watched the sun start to set.
"It appears there are some... complications in our future."