//------------------------------//
// Unknown Allies 
// Story: Equestrian Sixth 
// by Sandstorm Inkwell 
//------------------------------//

Private Windward had woken to a glorious day in the service of the Princesses. What had started out a nice day had been slightly marred when he was sent to quell a residential disturbance in the middle class section of the city that was Canterlot. When he had gotten there, it was as simple as tell them to “stop”. Why the pony who brought it to the attention of the Royal Guard didn't do that first, he'd never know.

On the way back to the castle, however, he heard the shield dome that had covered the city shatter like so many panes of glass. The shards had luckily disappeared before they could cause damage but the green comets impacting the city did enough to make up for it. One of the comets had slammed into a wall of one of the houses, bringing the facade down on top of itself. Windward had already cleared the streets with a few shouts but he could still see the citizen looking out the windows.

Surprisingly, from the debris, crawled a Changeling. It's carapace was covered in dirt but it otherwise appeared unharmed. The tapping of hooves against cobblestone caused Windward to turn to see another Changeling advancing to him. Their eyes, those deep blue fields, seemed to be looking at him with hostility. Thinking back to his training, he tried to bring up everything he could remember of his hoof-to-hoof exercises.

That was when they attacked. At first it was green bolts, which Windward dodged with a twisting of his body and a flap of his wings. Then they came into hoof range and then began the real fight. The two Changelings laid into the Private, denting armor and bruising skin. The fight was far from one-sided as the Private dealt out damage to the Changelings. Granted, it was less so than the damage to him but it was still damage.

He saw a Changeling's horn glow and twisted his body in time to dodge it as he engaged it's partner. When the second Changeling's horn glowed, Windward jumped away, watching the bolt slam into the ground. A green light gave Windward barely enough warning to duck away from a bolt by the first Changeling. The two Changelings stood next to each other as they glared the lone Guardspony.

That was when it appeared. A bright red light smacked into the first Changeling, stunning the creature. Windward watched as he blinked once before three more red bolts smacked into it. The assaulted Changeling fell to the cobblestone street, it's green blood leaking into the cracks between the stones.

Turning, Windward felt his eyes widen and jaw drop at what he saw. There, in the same debris that the first Changeling had crawled from, was a being unlike any the Private had seen. From what he could see, it had black plates over a blue hide with a strangely styled white mane. In it's... claws-the only word Windward knew to describe them-was a strange black box that shined dully in Her sun. Flashes, like a red strobe light in one of the undercity's clubs, blocked the creature from view. He watched as red bolts flew past him before he heard the 'clunk' of carapace against stone.

That was a good twenty minutes ago. Now, fighting with everything he has, Windward couldn't help but feel a little outmatched by the bipedal creature. It had attached a blade to the end of the box, turning it into a makeshift spear before charging into the new swarm of Changelings, it's guttural and harsh words lost on Windward's ears.

He had briefly watched as the blade went through a Changeling that was then tossed at another of the insect like ponies. Then, with a punch to the muzzle, Windward himself was sucked into the lopsided melee. He didn't know why he had followed the alien when it had charged the massive swarm. Every instinct had told him to run after all. However, the young Private just couldn't shake the feeling that the black and blue bipedal would lead them to victory against the Changelings. There was something about the way he fought that hinted to a deep knowledge of the way of battle. It almost appeared as if his race was born to wage war. A chilling thought to have but, given the current situation, it was a welcomed one.

Hitting a Changeling with his forehoof, Windward watched it fall the street. Did he knock it out cold? He could hit again to make sure but that would be wrong wouldn't it? Surely excessive force wasn't required. The Princesses were bound to find a way to eject this menace from their city.

His musings were interrupted by a loud smack followed by the cracking of what a lot like bones. In front of him was a Changeling head. Was being the operative word as it had been replaced by a green-splattered blue leg, blood, and what only resembled a head. Following the leg, Windward was met with the biped's stern face. It's sunken eyes glared at the Private and he got the sudden notion that if the Changelings weren't there, his head would've been underneath that hoof.

The creature's mouth moved, eliciting grunts that appeared to be it's language. While Windward didn't understand the words, he could guess what it said by it's tone and the current situation. “No mercy” and “Don't hesitate” made it high up the list of possible phrases. With it's message spoken, Windward watched as it turned at the significantly thinned horde. Looking at the horde as well, the Private could see fear on their faces. The emotion was not directed at him but at the bipedal creature next to him.

Looking again at the creature, Windward watched as a smaller box dropped away from the bigger box in it's claws. With the smaller box clattering to the ground, the being pulled another from pockets that hung over it's armor and slid it into the bigger box. A short whine sounded.

CRA-CRA-CRA-CRA-CRA-CRA-CRA-CRACK!-hiss

Windward's ears flattened against his head as the box flashed and spat red bolts at the horde. Changelings dropped from the barrage of light, their blood seeping across the stones and splattering their comrades. The Guardspony saw a few of the Changelings turn tail and run, either on hoof or by air. The rest, however, charged their own attack and fired green bolts back at Windward and the bipedal.

“By the Sisters!” Windward cried as he fell to his stomach in an effort to avoid the bolts. Looking over, he saw that the bipedal had also gotten flat against the road, though with a scorch mark over the strange double headed eagle on it's left arm plate. When the barrage had passed overhead, Windward saw the bipedal look at the eagle. An indescribable anger overtook it's strange features as it muttered in it's brutish language.

With a roar that could have disguised a few of it's words, the creature stood and charged at the Changelings. Windward watched as it speared one before letting go of the box, picking up a Changeling and using it's horn to spear another. It then yanked out it's box and slashed at the insect ponies.

All the while, it was shouting something in it's harsh language. Windward could only guess at what it was saying.





“-DARE SCORCH THE HOLY AQUILLA? I WILL SEND YOU BACK TO THE WARP IN A THOUSAND PIECES YOU FO-”





At any rate, Windward was glad that it's anger was focused on the Changelings and not on him. Thankful for the brief respite, Windward looked into the sky to see his pegasi brethren of the Royal Guard dueling with airborne Changelings. He briefly thought of taking off to join them. That thought was squashed when he remembered the bipedal being. As scary as it was, he had to help it. So, with a sigh, the Private charged into the fray, hoof slamming into a Changeling's face sending a bolt flying into the road next to the bipedal.





Corporal Gravitational Lift twisted the hilt of his sword to release suction before pulling it from the dead Changeling. Unlike the Private far below him, he had no qualms with killing these creatures. They had invaded their capital, had threatened innocent ponies, and, lastly, it was his duty to protect Equestria from things like these Changelings by any means necessary. If that meant sending a few to Tartarus by his hoof, than so be it. The Sisters would undoubtedly forgive him.

Following the corpse as it dropped, his eyes settled on something moving swiftly across the rooftops. He saw black but it didn't look like a Changeling, especially with the white on it's head. He thought he could catch a glimpse of a dark blue beneath the black and it appeared to be running on two legs. While this was strange, his attention quickly shifted to the Changeling that appeared to be trying to sneak up on the unknown creature.

“Not on my watch,” Lift murmured as he dove down at the Changeling, sword first. While he didn't know what the two-legged creature was, the attacking Changeling indicated it as an enemy of the hive. To the pegasus, that was enough for him to consider it a friend that was worth defending.

He felt the wind buffet him as he dived. He caught a glimpse of another fight as a Changeling, followed closely by a pegasus Guard, flew in front of him. He used his wings as ailerons and his trail as a rudder to guide him on target. This was his duty, nothing else mattered.

His sword hit first, impaling the flying Changeling but doing little to slow Lift's momentum. Flaring his wings, Lift swung his rear hooves underneath him as he flapped with all his might to slow himself down. He slowed himself enough where he wouldn't break anything but when he landed, he still felt a sharp jolt of pain run up his hind legs, up his spine, and be registered in his brain. A loud clank had also sounded when his sword hit and buried itself about a inch into the tiling of the roof. Between the hoof guard and the roof was the dead Changeling, blood leaking past the metal of the sword.

Hearing hooves on tile, he turned to see the bipedal aiming the end of a strange box at him. He saw it's eyes, which looked to be too small, dart between him and the Changeling impaled on his sword. It then opened it's mouth and... spoke. At least, Lift assumed it did. The words sounded harsh but the voice sounded soft. The contradiction left Lift slightly confused. Though, while he couldn't understand what it said, he could take a guess.

“You're welcome,” he said, yanking his sword free of both roof and flesh. Now it was the alien's turn to look confused as it tilted it's head at Lift. He noticed then that the white was not it's mane but was actually some sort of headwear. It's mane, a brown in color, was instead pulled back into a tight ponytail.

The confusion left the bipedal, however, as the sound of combat rang from the street below. Lift watched it give him a cautious glance before it moved to the edge of the roof. The pegasus followed it, both interested about it and eager to leap back into battle. Looking down, he could see a mixture of civilian and Guardsponies fighting a group of Changelings. For once, it appeared as if the numbers were equal on both sides. The lack of training in the civilians, though, tipped it to the Changelings.

As Lift readied to jump into the fight, a bright red flash made him falter. He watched in shock as a Changeling blew apart, spraying it's sickly colored blood over everything that was nearby. Turning, he saw the bipedal shift a bit in it's crouch, the box against it's shoulder. A metal rod that he hadn't seen before stuck from the front of the box with a large cylinder at the end.

Without warning, the end of the cylinder flashed red, temporarily blinding Lift. Turning to look at the fight, he blinked away the spots in time to see a Changeling fall to the street, a large hole in it's side. Eyes blinking in shock, he looked to at the bipedal... to see that it was gone. Spinning around, he saw it darting across the rooftops again. He wondered why it left, the fight in the street was far from over. However, a quick glance did confirm that it turned the tides enough to give the ponies a chance. Maybe that was all it was doing, turning the tides.

With no specific orders and the wanting to keep this unknown ally alive, Lift took off after it. He may not know what it was, or be able to understand it, but he'd be damned if a being with such a powerful weapon would be left to die. As he flew alongside it, he saw it glance at him with unsureness and suspicion. That was fine by him, so long as it continued to attack the Changelings.





“Should we, uh- should we help it?” asked Crescent Shot, rubbing a hoof unconsciously against his burnt patch of skin.

“No. No, I-I think we just let it be,” answered Crimson Shield, shaking her head slowly, her eyes never leaving the sigh in front of her. In front of them was a large bipedal being of unknown origin with a... something on it's back that fed a... other something in it's claws that seemed to spit fire at the Changeling mass that had been recently attacking the trio of Guards.

“Do either of you know what it is?” asked the third of their group, Barricade.

“It's an unknown being with a weapon that spits fire,” replied Crescent. A series of harsh sounds met their ears as the being swept it's weapon side to side, “and appears to be laughing.”

“So... dangerous?” Barricade finished.

“Highly,” Crimson stated.

“We gonna stop it?” Barricade asked.

“Doubt it,” Crescent answered as he sat on his haunches.

“What are you doing? Crimson asked, looking at Crescent in confusion.

“Enjoying the show.”

“Good idea,” Barricade said as he also sat down.

“You two are unbelievable,” Crimson sighed as she too sat down, looking at the brutish bipedal. She watched as it smacked aside a Changeling with it's weapon before dousing it in a spear of flame.

“Sooo, anypony bring popcorn?” Crescent asked.





“HEHE! BURN! HEHE!”