//------------------------------// // The Justice League of Equestria Vol. 1: Invasion: Issue #4: The Calm Before The Storm // Story: MLDC: The Justice League of Equestria - Omnibus 1 // by littleman001 //------------------------------// Despite the protection of her mask, Twilight's ears were still ringing from all the commotion she just experienced. And as she looked at the faces of her fellow crimefighters as they were carried through the air by their unlikely savior, she could tell that they felt the same. Supermare burst through the illusionary wall that covered the mine entrance and carried the three other ponies to a safe distance from it before landing on a clearing between the trees. As her rescuees caught their breath, she used her x-ray vision to check their bodies for any injuries. Fortunately, she found nothing serious, but before she could tell them that they'll be fine, Blueblood spoke up. "What in the name Celestia's sweet mother just happened down there?!" He screamed, still not quite over the previous events. "Language, darling!" Rarity chastised him. "But regardless, I share your curiosity over our current predicament. Any idea what those... things were?" "Trouble." Was Batmare’s curt reply. "Well, at least now we know the reason behind the absurdly sudden change of personality in Princess Cadance." Upon the mention of his cousin's name, Blueblood's eyes widened. "Cady... I mean the princess!" He exclaimed, hoping he managed to fix his slip of tongue. "They still have her! We have to go back for her!" "It would be foolish of us." Batmare replied. "We're severely outnumbered by these creatures, we're exhausted from our skirmish and the big one, which I'm gonna assume is their leader was clearly out of our league." "What about her?" Blueblood asked pointing at the mare of steel. "She was able to fight him off like he was nothing! I'm sure she could rescue her!" "Slow down, archer!" Supermare told him calmingly. "We don't know what else these critters have up their figurative sleeves. They obviously weren't expecting me, but I doubt they'll be so careless the next time and contrary to popular belief, I'm not invincible. They may have a way to nullify my powers." "So what?! We're just gonna leave her down there with them?!" Blueblood demanded in outrage. "Who knows what they're doing to her?" "If they wanted to kill her, they would have already." Batmare deduced. "Obviously they need her alive. But for what ends, I don't even dare to imagine." An eerie silence descended upon the group as they let Batmare’s last sentence sank in. She did raise a good point. What could they possibly want Princess Cadance for? As an alicorn, she was a very powerful pony. Nowhere near as powerful as the princess of the sun and the moon of course, but still leagues above the most skilled unicorn. But she was the princess of love. What could such hostile creatures want her love magic for? This whole thing didn't make any sense. "Do you think we should alert Princess Celestia?" Rarity asked, finally breaking the silence. "With what?" Blueblood shrugged. "We have no proof of anything." Twilight cast her eyes beneath her mask. Her lens recorded the entire encounter and Spike no doubt saved the footage on the computer she gave him, but she had serious doubts about how much good warning her former mentor would do. That didn't exactly work out for her the last time. No, they will have to solve this issue on their own. Somehow. "Listen!" She spoke, gaining the attention of the three other heroes. "For now, the only thing we can do is keep our eyes open and observe the fake Princess Cadance to make sure she won't start any trouble. Whoever we are during the day, I assume we are all here for the wedding so it shouldn't be too difficult. Let's meet again tomorrow night at this exact same spot and discuss what other options we have for rescuing the real Cadance. We're in no shape for another fight at the moment." The others had no choice but to concede her point. They lost this battle and were lucky to escape with their lives. But if their bad feelings were any indication, the war had only just begun. And they're gonna have to retreat and reorganise if they were to have a chance at turning it around. His chest ached like never before. No opponent ever managed to lay such a devastating blow at him. He and his soldiers have heard of Supermare of course. They would have been foolish not to study the greatest champion ponykind had offer before starting this operation, but they didn't expect her to show up. Or any of Equestria’s other heroes for that matter. As the behemoth slowly got back to his hooves, he noticed his subordinates surrounding him, looking at him nervously. They didn't much take failure well in the Changeling Empire and probably all expected to be punished for letting the enemy infiltrate their hideout. But as long as they still possessed their number one priority in this conflict, there was no failure. "Where is the princess?" He asked them on a deep booming voice. The changelings quickly scattered to make way for their leader as they lead him to the pod that contained the princess of love. They managed to fix it up and the pink alicorn was once again contained inside it. Satisfied with this development, the creature walked away from the pod and went over to a huge iron chest nearby. He opened it and pulled out another battle axe, similar to the one Supermare just destroyed. This one had a little surprise hidden in it. The next time they meet, he will be ready. One of his soldiers approached him from behind and he turned to see him looking up at him nervously. "What is it?" He asked, with barely contained irritation. "The hive wants you to make contact with them, sir." The underling reported. The giant changeling growled in frustration before putting his axe back into the chest and marching up to the center of the chamber, passing several mechanical devices connected to the pod that contained the princess and blackboards with all sorts of equations written over them. He stopped in front of a giant, amber colored crystal before placing his hoof on it, making it glow and release a black fog that floated up into the air. The fog eventually took the shape of another, much smaller changeling wearing a hooded cloak and staring down at the giant warrior with disdain. An emotion he mirrored as he addressed his caller. "Pharynx." He growled with venom dripping from his voice, which the other changeling either didn't notice or didn't care about. "General Scutellum." Pharynx replied with equal lack of enthusiasm. "The Queen demands an update on your progress." The mention of the queen made Scutellum's angry scowl turn into a worried frown. As much as he hated being bossed around by a lesser changeling, defying the Queen's orders was not recommended to any of them who wished to live. "We are proceeding as planned. Tell the Queen that she will soon have what she seeks. I will deliver victory to her personally." It was obvious that Pharynx was less than impressed with the general's boasting. Instead, he began analysing his body when he noticed something peculiar on him. "The mighty General Scutellum presents himself to me in a dented armor?" He asked mockingly, making Scutellum look down on his armor which still bore the impact of Supermare's kick. He groaned in fury. Of course the gloating bastard would notice that. "Perhaps the operation is not proceeding as smoothly as you say?" "A minor inconvenience, nothing more." Scutellum replied, trying to contain his increasing rage at Pharynx's insolence. "We still hold the princess of love captive and a long as we have her, our victory is assured." "They have discovered you!" Pharynx roared furiously, making all the nearby changelings flinch. Scutellum was the only one who remained calm. "They could be coming down on you any minute now! Your carelessness put the entire operation at risk! The Queen will be most displeased." He finished that last part with a taunting half smirk. Scutellum let out a calming breath before answering. "There's nothing they could do to stop us." He replied as calmly as he could. "Ponies are weak. They always have been. And their heroes are few. Against our numbers, they will be helpless." "I hope so, General." Pharynx replied ominously. "For your sake." The threat was clear. Much like all changelings of authority, the Queen did not tolerate failure. But as long as Scutellum delivered her the great prize she was after, the operation was going to be successful. He had never failed before. He was the Queen's best warrior and most devoted follower. He would come through for her like he always had. "The Queen's will be done. None of Equestria’s protectors will be able to stand against us. Not the princesses. Not the heroes. They will fall. Like all the others." Pharynx clearly wasn't convinced, but he considered this conversation over on his part. His form receded back into the black fog it materialised from as he uttered one last line before disappearing. "For Chrysalis!" Scutellum just watched the fog disappear back into the crystal and waited for the glow to cease before responding. "For Chrysalis!" He repeated firmly before turning away from the crystal. As much as he hated to admit it, what Pharynx said troubled him. The heroes now knew he was there and they would no doubt launch further rescue operations to regain their princess. Despite his warmongering nature, he would have actually preferred to carry out this operation silently in the background. But it looked like that was no longer an option. There was only one thing he could do and that was taking the fight to the ponies before they took it to him. Which was now only a matter of time. He looked up to see his soldiers fluttering around the chamber with their insectoid wings, waiting for the instructions of their commander. He steeled his expression as he turned to them. He must show no weakness and uncertainty when he addressed them. Such qualities were to be eliminated in the changeling society and he showed no sign of them when he finally opened his mouth to speak. "Head out and replace as many ponies as you can!" He ordered them. "We will use the old ways." It was already past midnight by the time Twilight got back to her room at the castle. The royal guards were very easy to get past without notice which she acknowledged bitterly. No wonder the creatures were able to sneak Cadance out of the castle and replace her with a decoy without anypony noticing. She glided through her open window and closed it before beginning to quickly remove her suit. Once she was done, she buried it at the bottom of her suitcase before sliding it under her bed. She wanted nothing more than to throw herself down on it and fall asleep after this crazy night, but she had one more thing to take care of before she could. "You're not just gonna call it a night without telling me what just happened down there, are you?!" Spike demanded, voice full of worry and panic. Twilight looked down at him and saw the absolutely frantic look on his face. She couldn't blame him after having to see everything she just broadcasted him live, but panicking won't solve anything. "Spike, we were in radio contact the whole time. That means you heard everything I just explained to the others. We can't go back down there right now." She explained tiredly. "And I've also seen everything! If it weren't for Supermare, you would have been a goner!" He screamed. "This is way out of the Batmare's league, Twilight! We'll have to tell Celestia!" "Would you keep it down?!" Twilight hissed, placing a hoof over Spike's lips. "Why don't you just hoof out t-shirts with 'Twilight Sparkle is Batmare!' written on them?!" Spike quickly realised his mistake as he backed away and slammed his claws over his mouth. "Sorry." He apologised meekly. "But my point still stands! Twilight we have to go to Celestia! We have no other option!" "After what happened the last time, I doubt she would be of much help, Spike." Twilight said sarcastically. "We're gonna have to come up with something else." "Something else?" Spike asked, bewildered. "What could the two of us do against those things?!" "Maybe the two of us can do nothing," Twilight admitted. "but with the help of the others, we will work something out." "The others? You mean with the three heroes you met tonight? I can't believe you have more faith in them than the princess!" Spike countered in disbelief. Twilight shrugged. "Well, I haven't lost any of my body parts when they had my back, so they have that going for them." She said angrily. Spike sighed. "Twilight, when will you finally let that go? You could bring yourself to give another chance to Shining. Why not Celestia?" "After some thorough consideration, I accepted that Shining had a good reason to act like he did." Twilight admitted sadly. "He was trying to protect me. But the princess said she will always trust my word and always have faith in my intuition. And when she didn't, I lost everything. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive her, Spike." "So what then?!" Spike asked incredulously. "You're just gonna sit around and do nothing until tomorrow night?! Who knows what could happen to Cadance during that time?! And what if they come out of their hole to ruin the wedding?!" Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? The wedding is what you're most concerned about?" She asked dryly, making the dragon blush in embarrassment. "No! Of course not! But you know what I mean! They could come out any time to do whatever they want to us and I doubt the Royal Guard could put up much resistance!" "If they wanted to invade, they would have done that already!" Twilight reasoned. "Clearly they only need Cadance so as long as we'll keep our eyes on the impostor, we'll be able to keep them in check. Which we'll start tomorrow morning. Fortunately, we are assigned next to her for the time of the wedding, so that shouldn't be a problem. And tomorrow night I'll meet with the other heroes to discuss our next move. Until then, there's nothing we can do." Spike opened his mouth to argue, but he found that he couldn't. He finally realised that her plan was indeed the best one they had at the moment. He didn't like being confined to passivity and from the look on Twilight's face, he could tell that she didn't either. But for the moment, this was their only option. "Yeah, you're right." He said with a sad sigh. "I just hate being so powerless to do anything." Twilight laid a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "I know, Spike. I feel the same way. It is how I felt when High Culture died and it was the reason I became Batmare in the first place. But even I have to accept sometimes that the best course of action is to wait for the right opportunity to present itself. No matter how much it kills me. The best course of action now is getting some sleep for our task tomorrow." Spike nodded and was about to head off to his bed, but suddenly, he stopped. "What's wrong?" Twilight asked, concerned. "Nothing." Spike replied as he slowly turned around, looking like he had trouble saying what he wanted. "It's just... when you meet the others tomorrow... could you... get me Supermare's autograph?" The next morning, Twilight woke up to the sound of excessive knocking at her door. She groggily pushed herself out of the bed and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before looking up at the clock on her wall. Her eyes widened in fright when she saw that it was fourteen minutes past ten. "SPIKE!!!" She roared at the top of her lungs as she glared daggers at the bed where her draconic assistant was supposed to be sleeping in, but found that he was not there. Instead, she heard his voice coming from outside. "I'm out here, Twi!" He called to her. Twilight angrily marched up to the door and pulled it open. Spike was standing in front of her holding a tray with freshly baked breakfast for her. The divine smell of the food almost calmed Twilight down enough to forget about screaming Spike's head down for letting her oversleep. Almost. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP?!!" She yelled at him with flames burning in her eyes. But Spike wasn't intimidated in the slightest. He was used to it. "Good morning to you too." He snarked as he entered the room and placed the tray on Twilight's bed. "Morning?!" Twilight snapped. "It's not morning anymore! And that's the problem! Do you have any idea how much work I've missed out on by oversleeping?!" "As a matter of fact, I do." Spike replied casually as he pulled out a list. "None. Because I took over your duties for the morning so you could catch sleep after last night." Twilight took the list in her hoof and read it over to see that most of the day's tasks for the wedding were already done. Her rage was quickly overtaken by guilt. Spike was only looking out for her and she repaid his kindness with hostility. "I don't deserve you, Spike." She said, looking down in shame. But Spike merely smiled response. "No, Twi, you don't." He replied, patting the side of the bed to invite the unicorn for her breakfast. Twilight said nothing for a while and just sat down to eat. Still, the most important question couldn't be ignored for long. "Did you see... Cadance today?" Spike nodded. "She's been with me the entire morning." He reassured her. "She hasn't been doing anything suspicious but she looked to be more on the edge than yesterday." "No wonder." Twilight said, swallowing a bite. "After all, their entire operation was compromised after we stumbled upon them yesterday." Before they could discuss the matter any further, they were interrupted by another series of knocks. "Yes?" Twilight called out and the door opened to reveal Jean Jeans standing outside. "Sorry to disturb your breakfast, Miss Sparkle, but you're scheduled for another meeting with Miss Shy and Miss Pie today. I know Sir Spike has agreed to oversee your duties for the day, but this meeting requires your presence exclusively." Twilight and Spike exchanged a glance before turning back to the stallion. "Thank you for notifying me, Jean. I will finish my breakfast and be right there." Jean nodded in response and left, leaving Twilight to enjoy her breakfast in peace. "So what are we gonna do now?" Spike asked nervously. It was clear he was still very afraid of the threat looming over their heads. "We keep doing what we came here to do." Twilight replied as she continued to eat. "And prepare ourselves for our next move." Following her breakfast, Twilight joined Jean and they made their way down to the throne room to meet Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. She gave Spike the rest of the day off but she had a feeling that he won't be getting much rest. He was far too worried about Cadance and the creatures that kidnapped her. She only hoped he didn't do anything too foolish. But come to think of it, she didn't feel very comfortable this morning herself. But it wasn't the same unease that she felt after last night's battle. She felt like she was being watched by individuals with hostile intentions. You won't survive for long as a costumed vigilante in the night without developing this instinct. And when she looked at the stallion in front of her, she could see the exact same apprehension on his face, which only fueled her paranoia. She kept looking around on the way, but she didn't see anypony other than a few guards patrolling the hallway. Strangely enough, she caught them staring at her as well, but they immediately turned their gazes away. She normally would have found this suspicious but given that she was Celestia's former student who always attracted attention around the castle, it wasn't all that unusual. Still, her bad feeling didn't stop bothering her until they reached the throne room and she found herself in the crushing embrace of Pinkie Pie. "Hello again, Twilight!" The cheerful party pony greeted her. "It is so good to meet you again!" Twilight couldn't for the life of her understand why this mare she never saw before acted like they've been friends their entire lives, but despite its strength, the hug made her feel nice and warm on the inside. She had to restrain herself from returning it though. The ponies she allowed to get close to her in the past always got hurt and she didn't want to endanger anypony. "Nice to see you too, Pinkie." It was a simple greeting but if still made the pink earth pony mare squeal with delight. "Yay! I'm so happy you remember me! I can tell we're gonna be the best friends forever!" She shouted, pulling Twilight even further into her embrace. Twilight was beginning to feel as if she's currently going another round with the sewer dwelling dragon back in Manehattan. She was lucky she escaped without any broken bones after the last unsuccessful hunt for him, but she might not be so fortunate this time. "Um... Pinkie, perhaps you should let go of her." Came the meek voice of Flutershy from next to them. "Remember, unicorns and pegasi aren't as physically resilient as earth ponies." Pinkie's eyes widened as she let go of Twilight, allowing her to regain her breath with a huge inhale. "Sorry. I just get so excited when I meet a new friend! Or meet them again after I met them for the first time!" The pink mare babbled as she bounced up and down in excitement. Fluttershy chuckled. "Yes, I know. But try to remember to control yourself around your friends. You might hurt them if you're not careful." Pinkie gasped in horror at the concept. "I know you would never do that on purpose, but you need to remember your own strength." Pinkie's worries quickly flew away though. Fluttershy couldn't possibly know that she was talking to a mare who possessed the strength of the mighty Hoof Acres. The strongest earth pony who ever lived. Everytime she was out there as Captain MareVel, she was in constant danger of crushing the ponies she was trying to save. She quickly had to learn how to keep her strength in check. But in the form of Pinkie Pie, she didn't need to worry about that, but now that Fluttershy reminded her of how strong earth ponies were compared to the two pony kinds, she made a mental note to herself to keep her restraints on in both forms. "I didn't know you two were so close." Twilight noted as she pulled out her list. Given the opportunity to talk about how she made a new friend, Pinkie's enthusiasm instantly returned as her eyes lit up with sparkles. "Oh, yeah! We arrived on the same train and met at the station! Turns out we're both assigned to help with the wedding and Jeansy here introduced us to each other so we decided to work together!" Twilight gave the stallion a curious glance and he merely confirmed the pink mare's statement with a nod. "We've been friends ever since! We don't really know each other that well yet but we are getting there! That's what friends do after all!" She shouted as she reached to pull Fluttershy into a crushing embrace this time, but she suddenly remembered the pegasus' warning from earlier, so she settled on simply putting a hoof on her shoulder and pulling her close. Twilight smiled at the touching scene in front of her, but she wasn't here for pleasantries. She was working after all. "That's good. Now, how are you doing with your assignments?" "Pretty good." Fluttershy answered on her usual timid tone. "I must confess though, my birds have been acting far more restless than usual recently. I thought with Princess Cadance no longer coming to check on us, they would be calmer, but they've been acting aggressively towards so many other ponies today. I just don't know what's gotten into them." Twilight became worried upon hearing that. She now knew the reason of those birds' hostile behavior towards 'Cadance', but if what Fluttershy said was true, than what could be the reason for their hostility towards those other ponies? Little did Twilight and the other two know, that as they were talking, a group of ponies were gathering around them in the throne room with their eyes emitting a faint green glow. Spike ran down the halls of Canterlot Castle as fast as his short legs allowed him to. He told Twilight that he would take the rest of the day off, but he just couldn't sit back and relax while the bride of the royal wedding, Princess Cadance was replaced by an impostor and an army of pony bugs sat beneath their hooves, ready to attack at anytime. He may not have been a master martial artist or a superpowered being but there was something he could do, he was going to keep his eyes on the impostor and as soon as he saw anything threatening, he would report it immediately to Twilight. Or at least, that was the idea. But after a few moments of running around aimlessly, he was forced to admit that he had lost the princess' trail. Either his memory of these halls were foggier than he thought, or the fake Cadance knew she was being followed and shook him off on purpose. Spike eventually gave in to the demand of his aching legs and lungs and stopped to catch his breath. It was pretty obvious why Twilight was the detective and not him. He lost sight of the suspect, he had no other leads or any idea what to do next and he was already exhausted. All he could do was sit down on the ground and try to come up with something else. He's been sitting there for several minutes without any ideas when he suddenly heard a voice. "Do you need something, darling?" Spike turned to see a white mare with curly purple mane looking down at him. He quickly recognised her as Blueblood's marefriend and the seamstress who made Cadance's wedding dress. Rarity, if he recalled correctly. "Have you seen Princess Cadance by any means?" Upon the mention of the princess, Rarity visibly winced, but she quickly regained her composure. "Have I? Me and my prince have been with her all morning. I couldn't convince him to leave her side for a moment. Why he's with her as we speak. I could take you to him." Spike’s spirits were immediately lifted at the offer, but he found it strange at the same time. He's been also by Cadance's side all morning and he didn't see neither Rarity, nor Blueblood anywhere near her. Regardless, it wasn't like he had a better idea so he readily took the generous offer. As they made their way down the hallway, Spike couldn't help but notice that Rarity looked much more refreshed and chipper than she did when he first met her. No doubt finally finishing the wedding dress finally allowed her to take some time off. But at the same time, she still looked very tense and on the edge. He learned to notice these things around Twilight whenever she was in detective mode. In fact, she was exactly like Twilight when she was in detective mode. He could almost swear that she was... "Ah, there you are, darling!" Rarity called out when she noticed Blueblood, interrupting Spike's train of thought. The prince was standing around a corner, peeking out and staring at something intently. When he heard Rarity calling out to him, he jumped in surprise, but quickly calmed down when he saw who was approaching him. "Not so loud, love!" He told the mare as he looked around nervously. "My 'dear cousin' is very busy at the moment and we don't want to draw her unwanted attention." His eyes quickly widened as he noticed Spike was also there and realised what he just said in front of him. "What I meant to say is, we don't want to draw her attention away from her duties. Unwantedly. Hehe." He chuckled in a forced manner. "Good morning, Spike. Nice to see you again." Spike stared up at the prince suspiciously. He and Rarity were both acting very strange. He quickly returned the prince's greeting and looked around the corner to see what he was looking at. As he suspected, it was indeed Princess Cadance, once again belittling and scolding some of the castle staff for one minor thing or another. "Well, darling. The princess is right there." Rarity told the dragon. "Didn't you have something to say to her?" Spike only had to keep her eyes on the fake princess, but of course he couldn't let the two ponies know that. And it seemed like they were doing a fine job at it themselves so he might as well leave them to it. But he didn't understand, why would these two ponies watch over the fake Cadance like a hawk. It was like they suspected something, but how could... Spike's eyes widened in realisation. No way! It couldn't be! But it made perfect sense. His wide eyes gaze darted between the prince and the fashionista who stared back at him in confusion and worry, but before they could voice their concern, Spike beat them to it. "Uh... No, I think she's good. I'll... I'll go back to Twilight and... help her with the... preparations and... stuff. See you around!" He stuttered before bolting down the hall. Blueblood and Rarity shared a confused glance before shrugging and resuming their observation of the false princess. Spike on the other hoof had a change of plans. If his theory was correct, then the ponies currently watching the impostor were far more able to handle her if she did anything suspicious than he was. He had to find Twilight. She would surely be interested in what he had to say. He ran so fast that his brain had no time process what he was seeing and as a result, he ended up bumping into the leg of one of the guards. Spike looked up to see a white unicorn staring down at him curiously. "Are you alright?" Spike rubbed his aching nose as he got up and dusted himself off. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I should have watched where I'm going." He apologised. "Can you help me? I'm looking for Twilight Sparkle. Do you know where he is?" The guard's expression turned into a friendly smile as he motioned for Spike to follow him. "Of course, young friend. Please follow me. I will help you." Spike raised an eyebrow. There was something odd about this guard's behaviour. He couldn't put his finger on it but he seemed almost too eager to help him. It was pretty creepy. Nevertheless, he followed the stallion down the hallway but since he turned away, he couldn't notice the green glint in his eye. "I will help you indeed." No matter how much Applejack tried to stay calm and keep herself focused on her current task of taking further pictures of the Wonderbolts' training session, after what happened last night, that was simply impossible. Every time somepony passed her by, she expected them to turn into one of those weird pony shaped bugs and snatch an unsuspecting citizen. She used her super senses in an attempt to detect anything unusual around her, but there were so many ponies around her that she quickly became overwhelmed. The wedding was going to be tomorrow and that meant almost every pony who was going to attend was already gathering in the city. Even the stands around her were already crowded with Wonderbolts fans who were eager to get a glimpse of even their training session. Who knows how many among them were just fakes posing as ponies? She was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a huge gust of wind hitting her in the face and she quickly looked to snap a picture of the pegasi practicing above her, but she was frustrated to see that she took the shot too late and only photographed the empty air. She tried to clear her head and readied her camera to make sure she wouldn't miss next time, but to her further frustration, she found that there wouldn't be a next time. The Wonderbolts landed and gathered in the middle of the stadium, signaling the end of the training session. The crowd applauded the team before leaving and Applejack tried to sneak off without bumping into her newfound Wonderbolt friend, but she forgot that she was talking about Rainbow Dash, the Fastest Mare Alive. Before she even reached the end of her row of seats, the blue pegasus mare appeared right in front of her with a huge smile on her face. "Well, how was it?" She asked, eager to hear her new friend's opinion. Applejack could only smile back nervously. "Oh, it was just as great as yesterday, Dash! You and the others are gonna be fantastic tomorrow! But now, I gotta go." She said quickly, eager to get out of there, but Rainbow wasn't about to let her go. "Show me your pictures!" She yelled, eagerly snatching Applejack's camera. "The ones you took yesterday were fantastic! Not to brag or anything, but it's difficult to get a good picture of me but you managed to to do it!" She flipped through the pictures but her smile quickly faded as she saw that Applejack barely managed to capture any images of her or any of her teammates. "But... But these are..." She cast a heartbroken look at Applejack who only sighed. "Yeah, I know. They're not my best work. I'm sorry, Rainbow. I guess I'm just..." She frowned, trying to come up with a good explanation. "I'm just burned out from all the work we did yesterday." It was a flimsy excuse at best, but she was too stressed out to think up a better one. Fortunately, Rainbow seemed to buy it. "Hey, it's okay! You took enough cool shots of me yesterday and I wouldn't want to wear you down for the wedding tomorrow." The pegasus replied reassuringly, handing Applejack back her camera. She could tell Rainbow was disappointed and it hurt her to be the cause of it, but right now she had bigger things to worry about. Still, she wanted to comfort the pegasus, but before she could, she was interrupted. "Hey, Rainbow!" The two mares looked up to see Captain Spitfire and a few other Wonderbolts hovering over them. "Team meeting in the dressing room! Pronto!" She told her before flying off with the rest of the team. Rainbow looked back at Applejack. "I better go. The captain gets really cranky if I'm late." She chuckled. "Trust me, I speak from experience." Applejack smiled in understanding. "I can imagine." She replied teasingly. Rainbow stopped mid-air when she heard that, but when she turned back to the other mare to question her about her last remark, she found that she was gone. No matter how hard she scanned the crowd, she couldn't find her. Rainbow narrowed her eyes. This wasn't the first time that journalist made some hidden implication that she knew more about her than she let on. Only the first time, she was in her Flash suit during her fight with Metallo. Could it be that she... "Dash! Move your flank!" Rainbow winced when she heard Spitfire calling out to her and urging her to join them. The possibility of facing her captain's anger scared her so much that she completely forgot about the nosy journalist and sped into the dressing room as fast as she could. Despite her impatient calling earlier, Spitfire was in fairly good mood when the Wonderbolts finally gathered in the dressing room. Though she probably shouldn't be surprised. Their training sessions have been going better and better since they arrived to the city and today's was perhaps the best one yet. Still, with Soarin's betrayal and the Maretropolis incident still a sore topic among them, it was a rare occasion to see her smile. "Alright, everypony! I know I've been pushing you far beyond your limits lately, but given the weight of the event we're performing at, I think you all understand. And seeing as how good we have been during our last sessions, it's safe to say our training paid off!" She announced happily, making her teammates cheer and share hoofbumps with each other. "I am perfectly reassured that we are going to do great tomorrow after the wedding. And to reward you for your straining efforts, I am giving you the next twenty-four hours off!" This announcement earned another, even louder wave of cheers from the group. "But if you are late from tomorrow's show even by a minute, you'll be doing laps until your wings drop off!" She added ominously, making her subordinates gulp. They all knew that she will make good on that threat. "Dismissed!" Rainbow began to take off her uniform and gather her belongings. Ironically, all of her teammates finished up and left before her. Only two more pegasi, Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser were left in the dressing room by the time she was finished. They finished packing up by the time Rainbow headed to the edit and came up to her. "So what will you be doing during your day off, Dash?" Cloud Chaser asked as they walked down the hallways. "Me?" Rainbow asked, not quite sure about that yet herself. But before she could answer, Thunderlane beat her to it. "Knowing her, she's probably gonna stuff herself full of junk food again and pass out until the show tomorrow." He teased. Rainbow turned to glare at him. "Even with all that food, I'm still faster than you, Thunderlane." She retorted, but the stallion didn't look offended. "I wonder where it goes." He said. "With how much you eat, you should be fatter than my granny." "Maybe it's because I'm actually practicing in my free time and moving more than just my mouth!" Cloud Chaser sighed. She forgot that these two always bickered and she really didn't feel like putting up with it on her day off. She was almost thankful when a stadium staff member came up to them and interrupted their banter. "Excuse me. That exit is locked down due to construction work." A brown unicorn stallion with blond mane told them. Rainbow found this curious. "It is? There wasn't any construction work done in the stadium yesterday." The unicorn shrugged. "It came up suddenly. Just a few hours ago in fact. Here, I'll show you to another exit." He offered as he motioned for the pegasi to follow him. They did so but oddly enough, the unicorn lead them down a hallway that seemed to recall deeper into the stadium's basement. As they made their way down the corridor, they each suddenly felt a pair of hooves grab them from behind and drag them into the boiler room. The three ponies didn't even have time to recover from the shock before the unicorn who's been escorting them locked the door. When the pegasi looked up, they saw more ponies from the stadium staff standing over them, glaring down maliciously. As they looked around in confusion, they saw three bug shaped ponies come out from behind the boiler. Their confusion and shock only grew when they saw the bodies of bug creatures glow with green light as they changed their appearance into the three pegasi on the ground. "What's going on?!" Cloud Chaser asked in fright. Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the attackers. "Isn't it obvious? We're being abducted by evil shape-shifting bug creatures!" She growled. The doppelgangers moved towards the ponies on the ground to seize them. Thunderlane and Cloud Chaser shut their eyes and cowered on the ground as they awaited the inevitable, but Rainbow had other plans. As her lookalike reached for her, she began to vibrate her body and before the creature could touch her, she bolted away in the blink of an eye. The impostors jumped in surprise but didn't have the chance to look for the disappeared mare as a red lighting bolt burst into the room through the door and knocked them out before they even realised what was happening. Once all of them have been incapacitated, Rainbow Dash appeared in the middle of the room, standing tall and proud in her Flash suit. She went to check on her friends and was relieved to see that they were completely unharmed. They slowly opened their eyes when they felt nothing happening to them and finally felt the commotion around them come to an end. The sudden appearance of the Flash surprised them just as much as the ambush of the creatures. "Fla... Flash?" Thunderlane stuttered. "Where did you come from?" Rainbow could only hope that her friends would be too frightened to notice her sudden disappearance and connect it to the Flash showing up. "There's no time to explain! You need to get out of here! Now!" Fortunately, her hope seemed to be fulfilled as the two pegasi just fled the room without asking any questions. Rainbow was about to do the same, but then she heard one of the creatures groaning on the ground as it came to. Anger suddenly rose inside her as she marched over to it and pressed her front hooves into its chest, shoving it against the ground. "Who are you?!" She demanded. "What do you want?!" The creature only glared up at her in response and unbeknownst to Rainbow, its horn began to glow with the same green energy as before. By the time Rainbow noticed it, it was too late. "For Chrysalis." The creature snarled before blasting Rainbow off of itself and slamming her against the wall outside the boiler room. By the time the hero got up, the creature was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow growled in frustration. If these things managed to infiltrate the stadium, then no doubt there were more of them in the city. And she just allowed one of them to get away and it would certainly warn the others that they were discovered. She couldn't waste any time. She activated her super speed and sped off towards the castle. She had to warn the princesses. "YOU ALLOWED YOURSELF TO BE DISCOVERED?!" General Scutellum roared at the cowering changeling soldier in front of him. "Si... Sir... I had no way of knowing the Flash would show up." The drone defended himself, but Scutellum would have none of it. "You imbecile!" He screamed in fury as he slammed his axe into the ground, making his subordinate quake. "Didn't we conduct thorough research on all of Equestria’s so-called heroes?! Didn't we prepare you for all eventualities?!" He panted angrily before placing one of his holey hooves on his forehead. "Get out of my sight!" He snarled, waving dismissively. His underling didn't need to be told twice. Scutellum began to circle around the room, groaning in frustration as he tried to think of what would be the best course of action. Thanks to a few careless minions, their entire operation was thrown in peril. There was only one thing they could do now. He only hoped enough of his drones managed to infiltrate the city to pull this off. He exited the mines his soldiers were residing in - which was not an easy task given his remarkable size - and flew up to the top of the mountain. He then ignited his horn and infused his axe with green magical energy before raising it over his head and slamming it into the mountain, creating enormous cracks in it and making huge chunks of rock fly up. The strike sent out an enormous green shockwave around the surrounding area. A special signal that was only detectable by changelings. His soldiers would receive the call and then they would strike. By the time he got to Canterlot, its gate would be torn open in front of him. He grinned savagely as he relished in his moment of triumph which was at hoof at last. The queen will be satisfied with him.