//------------------------------// // Neigh York, Neigh York. // Story: Lucky's Seven: The Changeling Hunters // by Lucky424 //------------------------------// “Okay class, before you go, we have some special guests for you today.” The colts and fillies all groaned, wanting the school day to be over. It was only the day after the villagers had returned, and the guardsponies had refused to tell any of them what had happened. Mrs Cheerilee continued to speak. “Now now, they are very important. I know you may have seen them around town, so I invited them along to introduce themselves.” A knock on the door bid her pause, and she pulled out four chairs from the store room before placing them at the front. She trotted over to the door, and upon opening moved to the side. Four armoured humans walked in, without their helmets, then sat down in the chairs provided. The colts and fillies all sat up straighter, except for three fillies in the back. Upon seeing this, one of the humans, who had gold bars on it's shoulders instead of the white stripes, stood up and walked over to the fillies. “Now then, what's got you three upset?” The unicorn and pegasus looked away, while the earth pony with the bow in her hair looked in to his eyes. “Ah don't care where y'all from or what y'all are. You ain't him, and that is who we wanna see!” “I...understand. At any rate, my name is Simon. What's yours?” The three fillies ears perked up at the next voice, and they forgot they were in school as they rushed to the doorway. “Her name is Applebloom. The others are Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell.” Again, I found myself on my back, but seeing as who it was that put me there, I just laid there laughing it off.....until a yellow hoof smacked me in the jaw.... “An' just what the hay took you so long huh? Why didn't you come back with the rest?” I just looked at the clearly upset filly on my chest, and pulled her close to me. “I said I'd come back. I'm sorry it took so long, but I'm here now. And I want to introduce you to some of my friends from back home.” I put her down and gave Sweetie Belle a hug as well, before turning to the last filly, who was refusing to look at me. “Scootaloo...” She just shrugged and went back to her seat. Simon pulled me up. “That went well. What are you going to do about Scootaloo?” “I don't know, but I'm going to need some help on that one.” The rest of the afternoon went fairly peacefully, and by evening we had all gone back to the library to hear what my squad had been up to. This should be interesting..... “....so after two months, Twilight finally let me start exercising again, and we started up our old routine. Nothing happened until we received word of ponies disappearing in Manehatten, only to come back without remembering anything. The only thing they had in common was that they last remembered being near the sewers, so that's where we started.” We got off the train and made our way to the guard station. They showed us to where the ponies last remembered being, and we noticed a strange gooey substance in the water. On closer inspection, we discovered it to be some of the Changeling structure, but that had all been destroyed last time we were there. So that meant.... “....it's fresh. Major, I want you to have guards posted at all access points to the sewers. If you need more troops, get them from Canterlot in my authorisation.” “Yes sir!” With that, the Manehatten guard galloped off, issuing orders to his subordinates. “So then, we are dealing with more Changelings. How many do you think there are?” “I don't know Sergeant Fusion, but we are going to find out. No talking from here on in. Understood?” The squad nodded at me and we mad our way down the tunnels. The Changeling materials started to become more apparent, and after an hour of walking, we found a colony of them. We weren't sure how many were there, but we weren't going to let any leave. I turned to Nova and nodded, waiting as he charged his attack. Suddenly, there were blast of green magic that hit him on the horn. We watched in horror as he fell to the floor, unconscious. “Wait, aren't the runes supposed to stop something like that happening?” “Yes sir, but our magic comes from our horn, and the runes work on harmful magic both ways, the helmet needs to be clear or our magic won't work.” “I see. Carry on.” “Yes sir. As we looked on....” There was a loud droning coming from the centre, and we turned to see a couple of hundred Changelings heading our way. Starfyre, Bolt, and Streak sprang in to action right away, taking down Changelings in the air. Myself, Strike and Hammer concentrated on the ones on the ground. We were doing a good job. Barely fifty Changelings survived, and we were about to continue when a voice shouted out. “STOP!!!” The Changelings all turned and flew away, leaving a massive one in the centre. “Please stop. We mean you no harm.” This confused us, as we had never been addressed by a Changeling before. “If you mean us no harm, then why are you abducting ponies from the city?” “We need love to survive. If we meant to harm them, we would not have returned them. We only take what we need to survive, and even then barely.” “And why should we believe you?” “We were on our way to make a truce with Chrysalis. We saw what you did to her hive.” “Why were you going to make a truce with her?” “She said she had a way to get all the love we would ever need, and that her plans would not fail.” “And just what plan was that?” “She was going to remove the Alicorn of love, take over this city, and then invade Equestria. We were on our way to join her, but once we reached here, there was no Changeling left. We went to the badlands just as you were leaving. It was then we knew the her plans had failed.” “Yes, they failed. But not because of us. Because of another. Now, if you don't want to leave, it present us with a problem.” “And what kind of problem do we have?” “Well, perhaps you have heard of us. We are Lucky's Seven. Also known as the Changeling Hunters. And, well, there are some Changelings under a pony city....” “Um....sir?” “What is it Streak?” “Maybe....we don't have to fight. You remember Pokey? He lives in a city where ponies and Changelings live together. Why can't we offer them the same?” “Because they chose to live like that. These ones chose to steal love. They are different.” The lone Changeling walked towards me, and bowed to the ground. “This is the life we have always known. But if you know of another way.....then please tell us.” “Will you come quietly, and not fight us?” “To survive, we will do whatever you ask.” “.......for now, you will accompany us to the Manehatten jail, and I'll contact my superiors. I can't make a decision like that without consulting them.” “We understand.” The Changeling turned to the other survivors from our assault. “Stand down, and do as they say.” One Changeling seemed not to like this and charged at us. The obvious leader stepped in.....and crushed it's neck. “I said stand down! Do any of you want to disagree?” All the others folded their wings and lined up behind him. “We are ready to follow you.” “Thank you. If you need to speak with us, my name is Colonel White Feather.” “Thank you, Colonel. And my name is Shimmering Image. King Shimmering Image.” “You came across a king and you let him live?” “Yes sir, we did. And he has proven to be a valuable source of information. He even joined us on a few missions, helping us track down more rouge Changelings, and offering them the same deal. If they went for it, good. If they didn't we.....” He trailed off, and I turned round to catch a red bow disappearing in to the kitchen. “....removed them from the country.” “I see. Wait here.” I got up and walked over to the kitchen, and didn't see anything at first. I tried the back door, but it was locked and the windows were too high for the fillies. I tried to work out where they went when I heard a bang from one of the cupboards. I smiled when I saw the magenta hair poking out of it. “Watch it Applebloom! You'll give us away!” “No Ah won't! You jus' did by shoutin at me!!” I walked over and opened the door, causing all three of them to turn around. “Actually, if you hadn't made any noise, Scootaloo's mane would have given you away. Now, what are you three still doing up, and why are you here?” Scootaloo finally looked at me, but I couldn't tell what she was thinking. She had a perfect mask on. “We were trying to work out if it's really you. We have no way to be sure.” I leaned in to the cupboard, and came away with Scootaloo close to my chest. “You want proof? Fine. The first time I met you, I ended up carrying you from one side of the Everfree Forest to the hospital in town. I made sure you got help before I left.” “Anypony could have known that.” “Yes, but not anypony could know that I threw up on Celestia after you shouted at me, could they?” Slowly, her mouth started to tug in to a smile, and she wrapped her forelegs around my neck. Looking at the others, I picked them up with my other arm and started back in to the main room. When I got there, all eyes were on me as I went to sit on a couch, but a sudden noise made me stop. “Um....Lady Sparkle, do you have three filly sized beds handy?”