~ April 19th, 1020 ME ~
‘4:30pm‘
Blazing hadn't even made it to the hallway when he heard the sound of hooves beating on the castle floors. When he exited the archives, solar and lunar guards alike were all hurriedly making their way towards one of the largest rooms in the castle: the throne room. Clearly something else happened while he was swept up in reading about Winter Storm. His mind was racing through the possibilities. "Excuse me mam? What's going on?"
"That's what we're going to find out. Emergency code: infiltrated."
That could only mean one thing, changelings. Blazing began following the guard with whom he was just talking, finding many of the castle staff were going the same way as well. Based on his first and only encounter with changelings, he knew they were one of Equestria's most crafty enemies. It wouldn't make sense for them to attack with any kind of frontal assault like they did previously. This has to be a ploy of some kind. Our focus is being drawn in so many directions. Being unpredictable would mean they will inevitably catch us off guard when they strike where we least expect. When Blazing reached the great hall, he could see hundreds of ponies gathered. The scene reminded him of the ship hangar from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, when Solo ran in on thousands of clone troopers. Shining Armor was standing up front and center, flanked by his wife Cadance on one side and Twilight on the other. Once it seemed like everypony that would be present had filed in, Shining Armor spoke.
"Alright everypony listen up! Every suspicion you have is probably true. Towns all across Equestria have been reporting changelings and missing ponies for the last 15 minutes."
"We have a code infiltrated." Nearly everypony in the room reacted to the news by either gasping, flinching, or mumbling amongst themselves.
Captain Armor continued, "You all have been trained for this moment. Large scale screenings will begin immediately. Work hours will be increasing for all military. Unicorns get your detection spells ready. Border patrol and city patrol teams will be doubling numbers, and anyone posted in the castle will be moving to these positions to compensate. I want my best investigators searching for any missing ponies. I need my drill sergeants prepared to train five hundred new troops by the end of the week. Is everything clear?" A chorus of yes sirs rang out except from one of the earth pony stallions in charge of training new recruits.
"Captain Armor sir, where are we going to get five hundred new ponies?!"
"I'm glad you asked. Tonight, the Princesses will be giving a public address in Canterlot which will be sent out to the entire population. A small-scale draft has been decided upon. Now, more than ever we want ponies everywhere to be keeping a close eye on their neighbors to ensure the safety of the people. We are in a level 1 shelter warning; meaning be prepared in case fighting breaks out against the changelings to move civilians to close quarter shelters for their safety. Now if there are no further questions, I'm going to hand it over to Princess Twilight who has put together special task forces. She is hereby in command of tactics for outsmarting the opposition." As Shining finished speaking, he stepped back, and Twilight stepped forwards.
"Thanks, but before we continue any further, I'd like everypony present to give us a few seconds." The Princesses on stage, as well as Celestia and Luna, who had somehow managed to not draw much attention at the back corners of the room lit their horns and performed a large-scale detection spell which washed over the ponies present. They all nodded, giving Twilight the go ahead.
"Thanks for your patience. Since there are no changeling drones present in the crowd, we can continue. Chrysalis is no doubt involved in coordinating the attack on Equestrian citizens. We also have strong evidence to suggest her timing coincides with the attack on Ponyville last night, as well as Sombra showing himself earlier this week. We have multiple plans in the works for counteracting the enemy, but what we currently lack is intel. We are severely in the dark about what we're up against and what their plans are. Those in charge of the opposition have avoided showing themselves. We would like to keep our cards close to our chest also. That's why we have planned our own infiltration force made up of changelings that have long since denounced their allegiance to Chrysalis' hive. They will attempt to tap into the hive both physically and mentally to garner information. There is also other news which is slightly more encouraging.
Earlier today, Princess Celestia secretly reached out to the Gryphon Empire and to the neighboring nations of Prance and Saddle Arabia for their military support. They have all agreed on a deal for various goods and land in exchange for their services. They will be stationed in areas that are farther from the capital where our forces will be lacking. Manehattan, Fillydelphia, and Las Pegasus to name a few places. I also need 6 well trained ponies to accompany me in confirming the caves below Canterlot are still sealed." From the look on Shining and Cadance's face and their slight weight shifts, this entire military meeting must have been a spur of the moment thing because they clearly hadn't talked about all these details yet. Even Twilight had hints of nerves showing through her brave face.
Twilight continued presenting her last-minute strategizing while simultaneously throwing in bits of encouragement to the troops but Blazing lost focus when something tapped him on the back. He was currently standing near the entrance of the room, and when he turned his head, nothing was behind him. He tried to go back to listening, but the same feeling came again when he tried to return his attention to the front. Certain somepony was messing with him, he moved a few steps towards the door to give the hallway a quick glance. It was completely empty of ponies. Shrugging, he began moving back to his original spot, but before he did, he heard a voice that sounded as though it was whispering directly into his head. For a moment, all other sounds around him became inaudible. "Be warned, tonight, when the moon is at its peak, creatures will return from the Everfree." The voice was unlike any he had heard before. The source was still unknown, but something about it made him feel compelled to share the message. When Sombra was trying to control him, Blazing was watching himself do things he didn't want to do. This was nothing like that. The voice in his head made him feel like he wanted to do something, not that he had to. Twilight still hadn't stopped talking, but now Blazing was aware of her speech again.
"-and furthermore, plans could change at any moment's notice as we try to adapt, so communication will be very important. I will be showing unicorn commanding officers how to use a messaging spell so that if anything happens capable of changing the course of this war, everypony knows what to prepare for."
As soon as Twilight said messaging spell, Blazing felt Déjà vu. He'd never heard of the spell, but he was 90% sure that's what he had just experienced. The question was, who used it, and why did it feel like he needed to act on it?
"I think that's everything I had planned on talking about. Any questions?"
Blazing wasn't sure why, but he started moving through ponies towards the front almost on autopilot. His actions didn't go unnoticed. A handful of guards glanced in his direction as he passed. Many of them had their eyes fixed on something in particular. He didn't notice the stares. His attention was on Twilight. He really wanted to tell her what the voice in his head just said. It felt like he was doing something important!
Nopony had offered any questions but before the assembly was dismissed Twilight had noticed Blazing moving through the crowd. He was half-way to the front of the great hall by this point. Twilight, very confused by his actions, figured he must have had something on his mind.
"Did you have a question, Blazing Waters?" All eyes in the room turned towards whomever Twilight was looking at. The ponies nearest to Blazing in particular were all focused on one strange thing about the stallion.
"No, but I bring an important message from Harmony! The attack that came out of the everfree last night will be happening again tonight, when the moon is at its highest." He couldn't remember knowing anypony by the name of Harmony, but strangely that part just slipped out of his mouth.
"How do you..." Twilight stopped talking when she noticed something flashing on Blazing. Nothing was on his face, mane, or horn. It was actually his backside that was starting to draw more attention. Blazings cutie mark was flashing the way her own had when they first met. The Tree of Harmony which now doubled as her residence had, according to Blazing, warned him about an impending danger. The wildest part about the claim was that with his cutie mark flashing, it was nearly impossible not to believe him. Harmony had assigned him a friendship mission? No this had to be more than that. Her look of confusion had the effect of making Blazing rethink his actions.
"I'm sorry Princess Twilight, I don't know what came over me to bring up such nonsense and-"
"Blazing, look at your cutie mark." Blazing had thought his heart was beating so intensely that he could feel it pulsing through his body, but when he turned his head at the request of Twilight to view his glorified butt tattoo, it looked different than he expected. His cutie mark was flashing in time with the pulsing feeling he felt flowing through him. Blazing didn't know how to respond. The moment felt rather overwhelming due to the amount of attention he was getting, but Luna chose to speak at this time, bringing a majority of the attention off Blazing to where she stood.
"He's right. The Nightmare was responsible for the events of last night. It appeared before me today with every intention of destroying my morale. It also taunted one of my lead officers mid-battle. The Nightmare is a powerful spirit but also very predictable, especially for me. It will almost always try to weaken its opponents physical or mental strength enough to overpower them when they are unable to fight back. A repeated attack would be precisely its plan to weaken us."
"So, we shield against the attack. Ponyville is much smaller than Canterlot. I could form a stronger barrier around it then when I shielded Canterlot from the changeling invasion. We could save significant pony strength if only a few unicorns had to accompany me to fortify the shield. That way everypony stationed here could remain to deal with the changeling threat." The captain of the royal guard wasted no time in offering a defense plan. Cadance was now looking between Twilight and Shining, visibly concerned, worrying about their dangerous spur of the moment planning. Beyond just her, it was obvious other ponies in the room also disagreed with that plan of action.
Stone Wall, an earth pony serving as one of the commanding officers vocalized the shared concern many had. "Captain, what happens if you can't hold them back and they don't stop attacking the shield? The number of rare creatures that came from the everfree last night and their organization almost overpowered a quarter of our forces. That fact, along with the size of some of them is concerning to say the least. We can't afford to lose you.”
"I appreciate your concern, but what choice do we have? We don't have the resources to use offense as a form of defense if things continue to go how they did last time."
"Actually... that's not entirely true. I don't know if we could have it ready by tonight, but some of my projects are going to be given to the Canterlot Department of Magical Research, and a few of the compounds I accidentally made... are kind of... reactive? Heh. Depending on if their use is approved, I could probably arm the troops we sent to Ponyville from Cloudsdale, with something that would make for a crazy surprise to the Nightmare armies. Either that or we could give some poison joke a try?"
Shining quietly spoke to Twilight saying, "Will talk" and then he looked back out towards the assembly.
"We have wasted too much of your time already. Trust each other and we will get through this. Unless personally assigned by us to a specific mission, your officers will lead you well. You are dismissed!"
"6 ponies for a scouting mission, and sending yourself as one of them? What are you expecting to find down there?" Twilight and her brother were in the middle of an intense discussion, (definitely not an argument) and Shining was questioning Twilight's plans. They continued to go back and forth, with Twilight being next to get a word in.
"Since when have changelings ever just waltzed around disguised as ponies without taking their place, hmm? They had to get into Canterlot somehow, but all the major entrances have detection spells built into them. My reasoning makes total sense! And what about you? Putting the fate of Ponyville on your back? I can't believe you'd take that risk!"
"Somepony has to. We can't keep this up forever."
"Which is why we need to save our strength for the critical moments."
"You know as well as I do that we can't stand back and do nothing when ponies' lives are at stake. That's why you volunteered to go on your own mission."
"I guess you're right." Twilight responded dejectedly. “I just wish this wasn't so hard Shiny. I've never had to do anything like this before. Bossing ponies around when they are only with us because they desire to serve Equestria. It's just... Why do we get to decide their fate?"
"I know Twilight, it's a lot of responsibility. This won't be the last time you have to deal with this as a Princess either. Regardless, I'm here for you." Shining wrapped her sister in a big hug to support her. The two of them were currently alone in a small waiting room just to the side of the throne room. As they continued to lean into each other, three knocks lightly sounded on the entrance. They ended the embrace and Shining walked over and opened the door. Blazing was waiting outside along with the rest of the mane six.
"Sorry for interrupting, but I had several more things I needed to tell Twilight about as soon as possible and I'll try to make them fast." Blazing then looked at the ponies gathered next to him. "Also Rainbow, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack told me that they had important requests for Twilight as well, however, none of them would share the details until we were here."
Twilight was happy to see her friends' faces and was genuinely curious as to what they all had on their minds. The elements of harmony and Blazing looked back and forth between each other to see who was going to speak first, since none of them knew what the others had come to talk about. Then, as if on cue, they all spoke simultaneously.
"I want to volunteer myself to go with you." Magic really works strangely, doesn't it? Blazing couldn't believe his ears when all five other ponies he entered with said the exact same thing he had. The words were the slightest bit different, but the premise was still the same; they all volunteered to go on Twilight's mission. Not only was that an insane coincidence to Blazing, but there were also exactly six of them.
"Of course! You're in! There are no ponies I trust more!"
"I almost forgot... one more thing Twilight" Blazing started. "Today I found the elemental runic symbols for air, earth, lightning, and ice." Blazing left out any mentioning of the STAR symbol, figuring that was for the better.
"You did what?!"
"I haven't had a chance to try them yet but..."
"That's AMAZING Blazing! I want all the details. How did you learn them? What do they look like? I want to test them right away!" Twilight continued talking as excited as ever about magic, all the while her friends just smiled at her antics. Blazing didn't even have a chance to answer her questions. They were coming so fast.
"That's our favorite egghead", Rainbow Dash teased, and for a short while the war was forgotten. Friends were just being friends, and Blazing was enjoying every minute of Twilights excitement. They all laughed and shared in the moment. Kindness, laughter, loyalty, honesty, generosity, and magic were all together, and their love for one another ran deep. Blazing and Shining didn't feel left out in any way either.
They were filled with great hope, confident that they would have each other's backs all the way.