Day of the Invisible Invasion
Princess Celestia paced the room back and forth, looking out the window down to Canterlot every few cycles. Nervous beads of sweat lined her brow, and her breaths came out in shallow huffs of exasperation. A clawed talon slid onto her shoulder to comfort her, but it had the opposite effect as the princess of the day jumped in shock.
"Ahh!" Celestia screamed. "Oh… it's just you, Discord."
"I wish you'd stop being so jittery," Discord told Celestia. "Liven up a bit! It's not like it's the end of the world."
"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, the changelings are invading Equestria today! It very well could be the end of the world," Celestia huffed.
"Celestia, my father said that he wouldn't harm anypony. Don't you trust him?" Cassandra asked.
"No," came the curt reply.
Cassandra smiled. "Well, I trust him. Do you trust me, then?"
"I… don't know. About this. Even if Obsidian were to change his mind and have his army raze this country to the ground, there would be nothing I could do about it." The solar princess' expression was sullen. "I just feel so… powerless.
There was a rigid series of raps at the door. "Permission to enter?" a mare's formal voice called out.
"Permission granted," sighed Celestia. As the doors opened inward, a pony marched in, whom Celestia recognized as Riposte. "State your purpose, general."
"I've come bearing news from the east. Princess Luna and her forces have been positioned throughout the coast, keeping surveillance on any opposing forces."
"Any sign of the changelings yet?" Celestia inquired.
"None that we can see, your majesty." Riposte replied.
"Very well. Have you any additional news to report?"
"Yes, princess. Actually, there is one more thing-"
"Permission to enter?" a familiar voice called from outside the room.
Riposte froze. "She shouldn't be here…" she muttered beneath her breath.
"Permission granted," Celestia answered, as one half of the gate gently creaked open. "Now, who could that be? Riposte is here with news from Luna, and I've cancelled all appointments for-"
Celestia never finished her sentence, and her mouth hung open. Discord and Cassandra did a double take, shocked by what they were seeing. Riposte remained petrified, a cold bead of sweat running down her cheek. For at the entrance to the room, wearing the same brown saddlebags and Equestrian military uniform, stood a second Riposte.
Celestia turned to the first Riposte. "Explain yourself."
The first Riposte cleared her throat, regaining her much-needed composure. "Well, your majesty, there's nothing to explain. As you can clearly see, the pony standing over there is an impostor."
As the residents of the room turned to look at the second Riposte, they could only see her annoyed and determined expression for a fraction of a moment before she was gone. Dashing forward in a blur, she closed the distance between her doppelganger immediately. That sharp, thin blade of a rapier was pointed at the first Riposte's throat, the handle being attached to the other Riposte's forehoof with a leather strap weave.
"It seems to me that you are the imposter, here." The sword-wielding mare's eyes were steeled and ready to strike. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't drive this through your neck to the hilt."
"Hold!" Celestia shouted. The mood in her room had gone from nervous to formal to confused to death threats at such a fast pace that she couldn't keep up. "What is going on here?!"
Nervously, Riposte raised a hoof in front of her in a sign of nervous surrender. "Heh… I'm… sure that the princess wouldn't want blood to be shed in her chambers, no?"
The other Riposte's tone remained unchanged. "I will do what is necessary for Equestria."
By this time, Riposte, who was clearly not Riposte, jumped back swiftly, out of reach from the rapier. "You were told that the message had already been delivered, and you were to return to your post."
Riposte tilted her sword in a guarding position. "I take my only orders directly from the princesses themselves. If they had changed my orders, they would have sent a scroll with the royal insignia at the least. Your time is up, imposter. I hereby sentence you to death on charges of imitation of government officials and illegal espionage."
Dashing forwards again at a blinding speed, Riposte lunged forward with her blade. The fake's hooves glowed green with magic, and they swerved violently to the side just as the sword was about to connect.
Falling to split ends, her disheveled hair revealed a black, damaged horn, and her tattered moth wings fluttered to her side. Limbs shining with enchantment once more, the not-Riposte speedily slid herself around the curve of the room and behind the real Riposte. Her sword hoof was pressed to the floor, and the fake held Riposte down.
"Now, before we do anything rash, I'd just like to say, Please don't fry me on the spot, here. I come in peace." The not-Riposte held her prisoner between her and Celestia and company, to act as a shield in case they… did something rash.
Without warning, Riposte acted. Still in her impostor's hold, she jerked her entire body inwards. Not expecting the sudden movement, the not-riposte loosened her grip momentarily. Riposte took the window of opportunity to slip her sword leg out of the clutch, and used the flat end of the blade to push her double back on her rump. The situation had reversed, in Riposte's favor.
"Magic doesn't make you special in the world of swordplay," Riposte said, jumping on her fake. Her sword was pressed to her victim's neck and her hoof to the horn, pinning her down effectively and cutting the magic off. "If you say you come in peace, explain the reasoning behind your actions. You have five minutes."
The not-Riposte just lay still for a moment, utterly stupefied that her magic had been bested by an earth pony. Then, as reality finally connected once more, she burst out into a large, masculine laugh. When she spoke again, it was in the voice of a stallion. "Brilliant! Absolutely marvelous! I haven't had that happen to me in decades! Oh, we simply must spar again some other time."
Even with Riposte's hoof insulating the flow of magic to the horn, her prisoner wrapped themselves in a bubble of light and sank through the floor. Riposte fell flat on the floor, and the thing rose up from the ground a few feet back.
"You shouldn't have been able to do that!" Riposte growled, obviously irritated by the impostor's escape from her clutches. "I cut off the flow to your magic. No magic user, unicorn or otherwise, could have magicked themselves out of that!"
"Unless, of course, I am aware of my weaknesses and have trained myself against them," came the simple reply. The room fell silent.
The silence broke. From the back of the room, a draconequus burst out into laughter. "Ahahah! Oh, oh, oh, I love this guy! Isn't he great?" he hollered, pointing at the intruder with a silly, wide-mouthed smile.
"Great?" Riposte shouted. "This pony, or whatever it is, is a criminal!"
"A criminal? I do say, that's a bit of an exaggeration. After all, he hasn't really done anything. We've seen what he can do, and I'm sure he could have done some damage to us or the soldiers below if he wanted to," Discord countered.
"But… but…" Riposte stammered.
"I'm glad someone in this room understands my brilliance," said the anomaly with a smug grin. "I daresay, we are quite alike in our sense of humor."
"Oh great, there are two of them now," Celestia muttered. "Wait, how do you know it's a 'he'?"
Discord raised an eyebrow. "Are you serious? Just listen to his voice!"
"Listen to the voice?... Hold on," Cassandra murmured, who had also been standing quietly in the background. "I recognize that voice… Legion?"
A streak of flashing green spiraled around the not-Riposte's body, revealing the changeling underneath. "Indeed," replied the captain.
"My gosh, It's so good to see you again!" Cassandra remarked, surprised and happy, yet confused. "But, what are you doing here?"
"Um, yes, that's something I'd like to know, too," added Celestia. "Also, who exactly are you?"
Legion gave the mares a formal smile. "Captain Legion of the changeling forces, commander of the Equestrian invasion, at your service."
"You're spearheading the invasion? What about father?" asked Cassandra.
"The king hasn't been feeling too well lately. He's been stricken with some sort of ailment. He must have caught it overnight. He's very pale at the moment, but he's been recovering. They say he'll be back up on his feet in a few days, but he still needs some rest. That leaves me in charge of things at the moment."
"So, then, let's get back on topic. What are you doing here? I doubt it's solely for the sake of saying hello to your favourite little changeling princess, hmm?" Discord pointed out, saying out loud what everyone else in the room was thinking.
"Changeling princess? Where?!" Riposte's neck whipped around, scanning the room.
"Oh, I may have forgotten to mention, Cassandra over here is the changeling princess of Obsidian's hive." Discord mused casually.
"What?!"
"Former princess. I left the hive, remember?" Cassandra objected. "I've gotten permission to stay here from Celestia, so please calm down."
Celestia nodded at Riposte, who finally sheathed her sword with a sigh. "I will never understand how government works."
Celestia cleared her throat. "So, captain Legion, have you come to tell me that the invasion has begun?" She tensed her body, prepared for the worst.
The response was something she hadn't been expecting. "On the contrary, I'm here to tell you that it's over."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Mmmhmm, it's come and past. The changeling army came into Equestria, feasted until our hunger was sated, and promptly left to head back to our own territories."
Celestia was at a loss for words. "How… what about the casualties? Riposte, how many ponies have died today?" she asked, frantically turning to her general.
"I, I haven't received any reports of fatalities… I haven't received any news about the invasion at all! What exactly did you do?" Riposte inquired.
"Well, we sure didn't hurt anypony, if that's what you're wondering," he replied, calming Princess Celestia down a bit. "I believe that King Obsidian told you about an alternative energy source we could use more efficiently than ponies' lives? It could only be obtained through not harming anyone."
"And this source would be what, exactly?" Cassandra asked. "I appear to have lived off it almost my entire life, but I'm still not sure of exactly what it is."
Legion clapped his front hooves together in a sappy pose. "It was love," he declared passionately. "We disguised ourselves as ponies, as I did with Riposte, and had the ponies show feelings of affection towards us. We can use our magic to convert it into nourishment, it seems. Isn't that just beautiful? Changelings, vicious killers of the land. The fall of dozens of civilizations. And all we ever really needed was a little bit of love." He finished off, clutching at his heart with his hooves.
The room fell silent, except for a horrified and annoyed looking Cassandra. "That… was the cheesiest, most horrid thing I've ever heard." The rest of the girls nodded their heads in silent agreement, with the same disgusted faces.
Discord, on the other hand, wrapped his arm around Legion's shoulder and started to laugh hysterically. Legion joined in, his position as the captain of changelings virtually invisible as he fell back on the floor and into a fit of laughter.
Celestia, Riposte, and Cassandra all looked at the two idiots rolling on the floor, looked at each other, and covered their faces with their hooves as they sighed. "Ugh… Boys."
Inside the near empty changeling castle, Obsidian sat on his bed. Rather, 'sat' wasn't the right word to describe the changeling king's posture, as he was splayed forwards, doubled over his hip and hind legs. His mane was a tattered mess; his glazed eyes were dull and bloodshot. There was no strength in any of his limp limbs, and his ragged breaths came out in short, fevered pants.
Worse of all, the changeling's entire body was pale. A sickly shade of faded gray, the king's carapace had lost its black luster and proud sheen. With each passing hour, his body would fade paler and paler still, the colour draining from his body through a gash across his hind legs. And no matter what medicines or magics were used to try and treat the wound, there was no effect on the patch of carapace that so strangely resembled a wound.
From outside the locked door to his chamber, a nurse changeling who remained behind to care for the king pounded at the door. "My liege, please! Open this door! You haven't eaten in days! Us changelings may feed on energy, but we still must consume food on a regular basis, especially if we are to recover from being ill! I fear for your health, sir. Please, just open this door!"
Obsidian opened his sluggish eyes, which had been turned almost completely red by how far they were bloodshot. Yet even through the tiny slits, his fear could be seen. The delusional state of mind let him see things that others could not. Things that scared him. The nurse couldn't see them. Or, maybe she could. Maybe she was part of it, the deceptive monster that was coming to get him. With his feeble magic glowing faintly around his horn, he placed another lock on the door and clicked it shut. He raised one of his front legs, and watched it flop back on the bed when he could no longer keep it suspended in the air. Parting his lips to speak trembling words, he hissed a short, weak message:
"…Chaos… is coming."