//------------------------------//
// CH 6: London Fog 
// Story: The Conversion Bureau: A New Age, A New Life - Part II 
// by BlueDWarrior 
//------------------------------//



=== The Conversion Bureau:
 A New Age, A New Life (Pt II) ===
=== Chapter 6: London Fog ===





(Note: If you want to read this with preferred formatting, the GDocs is at this link)





~~=-=~~

        London - a city of great history and a city of great lineages. Still the seat of the United Kingdom and recently cleaned of SPH influence, more or less, things were starting to look bright for the British, and the wider world by proxy. New Hope in the Americas had been open for a month, and was running more or less without incident. Conversions had started again a couple of weeks after New Hope officially opened; and much to everyone's surprise, traffic was actually quite robust, averaging about 100 a day (mostly people being brought in from outside by train.) All in all, most of the 'first word' that was tuned in felt, for the first time in some time, genuinely optimistic.

        Two figures sitting on the roof of a London tenement were also feeling optimistic, though for decidedly different reasons.

=== [ August 20, 2082 -- London, United Kingdom ] ===

        "Ah humanity... they do look like little ants from way up here..." said one 'person' as he looked down at the teeming masses going to and fro.

"And every anthill needs a Queen to direct traffic. Look them, so disorganized, so unfocused," started a female figure, as she walked over to a black and green beacon-stone. "We are really doing this neighborhood a huge favor. Soon they won't have to worry about their own petty desires or wants. Every waking moment of theirs will be in dedication to our Queen."

So, have you found the locations for the beacon-stones yet? Both heard through telepathic means.

Yes, our Queen. We have found one of the more densely populated neighborhoods, so it should be a prime location for testing our project, the female responded, her eyes glowing bright green.

That is very good news, we shall send Soldiers to protect the beacons. The test should commence within the next two weeks... you are free to return to the Hive now.

Yes, our Queen, the male responded.

"It is a shame we couldn't do more, but there is no sense in blowing our cover yet. We will have plenty of time for personal... adventures... once operations commence in full," the female said, green flames turning her from an unremarkable woman to a near 4 ft. tall insect-Pony hybrid creature.

"All will come in due time, all will come in due time..." the other Changeling responded, his green flames revealing a nearly 6 ft. tall bipedal beetle like creature.

Both soon disappeared into the ether, leaving only the black and green beacon-stone, now disguised as an innocuous pipe.


~-~




"Bring in the next test subject," shouted a Changeling, his alternating blue and teal stripes along his abdomen showing he was part of the Research Corps. 

"STOP! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" a middle-aged woman shouted, as red-striped Soldiers drug her with green, magical tethers kicking and screaming into one of many test rooms that honeycombed the Hive under the Mojave.

"And why should we let you go? You're one of many that will usher in a new age for our glorious hive. You should be honored that you will be on the forefront of a brand new era for the entire Changeling species!" the Researcher shouted excitedly; absolutely oblivious, at least in his words, to the fear and anger being exuded by the unfortunate test subject.

"TAKE ME BACK! TAKE ME BACK TO MY FAMILY! LET ME GO!"

The researcher merely tut-tutted the raging but still-bound woman as he sealed off the section of the room she was in. "Now now, my dear... just give us a few moments and all your worries will disappear... forever."

A quick light of his horn later, and suddenly the entire sub-section of the room filled with a thick black smoke, the woman coughing and wheezing all the while. A few moments later though, as the smoke cleared, there was no coughing or wheezing, or even so much as a sound coming from the room.

"My dear... human woman... how do you feel now," the researcher asked, as the last bits of the smoke dissipated.

"Fine..." the woman responded curtly, with a familiar monotone in her voice.

"Good, good. Now I am about to ask you a personal question. And please, be as honest as you can," the apparent lead researcher began with a wide and obvious smirk. "Who is your master?"

"Queen Chrysalis, 37th Queen of the Changelings."

"Very good, and whom do you dedicate your entire life to, and will do absolutely anything to serve, even so much as to lay down your very life?"

"Queen Chrysalis," the woman responded, as she opened her eyes; said eyes now humming with a bright green glow. The restraints were released as now the Soldiers and the Researchers did not fear her suddenly bolting to who knew where.

"Please stand up my dear, and follow the kind escorts we have provided to the temporary residence hall. We shall conduct a preliminary physical examination before long."

Without protest, either verbally or physically, the woman followed the red-and-teal striped Soldiers out of the room; toward where the rest of the enthralled humans were being housed.

"So, Manto Rigor, it appears that we are well on our way?" Chrysalis asked, as she strode into the test room, barely missing one of the live tests.

"Oh yes, yes my Queen. The test was a smashing success. There was little to no free will left in her mind; a drone in a still human body, if you will. Speaking of which, how is my good friend Corpus doing?"

"Hrm, Manto Corpus. Oh yes, he was the one I had assigned to reverse-engineer the Conversion Serum with our assimilating fluid, and I would guess on-again-off-again rival?"

"Oh come now, we have a good rapport."

"Yes, and I hope for your sakes that means you two will stop wasting our Drones on your pointless one-upping of each other. Nevertheless, he is putting the finishing touches on our little version of the serum,"

"I would assume it is as black as the deepest pitch from the depths of Tartarus itself, yes?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Rigor,” Chrysalis replied; her eyes narrowing in anticipation as the time of her ‘debut’ on Terra’s stage drew near.

=== [ August 26, 2082 -- Safe Haven ] ===

        “Things have been calm…” an Earth Pony manning one of the swift-response terminals said in an somewhat bored tone, the glove-like grips on his forehooves making it easier for him to control the Q-Machine panels, not being a Unicorn himself.

His human partner shared the sentiment, but tut-tutted him. “I guess in a relative sense it is calm. I mean the worse we have to deal with is a semi-organized protest near one of the ‘embassies’ you all have set up. By the way, when will a new New Hope go up?”

“I heard the Princesses talking with President Koenig about establishing cities like New Hope in the European Union territories. They were debating where though,” the Pony responded as stood up to stretch for a couple of minutes.

They continued on back and forth, debating the merits of building out in unoccupied territory vs. building near a city for a good fifteen minutes. That is until a warning klaxon went off on the thaumatic sensor panels in the far corner of the room.

“Hey, Michelle, what’s going on, that’s your board going off!” the first human operator asked, as he and the Earth Pony jogged over to the female over in said far corner.

“There’s some kind of spike in both Terran and Equestrian magic in the London megalopolis… the Eastern Half,” she responded, as she typed in a pair of requests to have the satellites focus in tighter on picking up after effects of such a spike, such as a sudden change in temperature or weather.

“Can you get any kind of focus, like maybe a borough or sector?” the Pony asked, having learned that London was sectioned off into sectors and boroughs much like the bigger cities in Equestria.

Michelle sighed as she couldn’t get any finer a readout than what she had already. “No, it’s strong enough to be causing some after effects: a slight increase in fog and an equally slight drop in temperature. But still, it’s too weak to pinpoint without having boots on the ground to scour the whole East end of London, and who knows how long that will take given our resources.”

“So I guess we put out a bulletin to the HEA and London Police to be on the lookout for anything particularly weird with the environment or strong outbursts of magic?” the Pony asked, scratching his head with one of his ‘gloved’ forehooves.

“That’s about the best we can do for now…” the male operator concluded as he sent out a message for a higher up to come and help evaluate the situation.

It’s only bad news if we are getting an outburst that even weather satellites can pick up…


==~~==~~==


        “So, how much longer until everything is ready to go for Operation London Blitz, Commander Coleo Blade?” Chrysalis asked, as she saw roughly 300 Soldiers and Infiltration specialists preparing themselves for the raid on their designated target.

“The Researchers and Magi are saying it will be another twenty-four hours until they can manipulate conditions for our peak effectiveness. It’s so hot this time of year in this planet’s Northern hemisphere we would all wear out within hours. Not only that, but we have to keep the mana channels open so that we can get our captives here reasonably quickly.”

“Oh dear, if we want to turn this planet into a hive-world, we will have to do quite a bit of fixing up, now won’t we,” Chrysalis mused aloud.

“As the humans say, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’,” a gold-and-teal striped Magi Corps Changeling replied as he walked into the preparation cave.

“So Archmage Lepid Wonder, can you corroborate this assessment that we only have a day to go until we start?” Chrysalis asked, staring at one of her ten highest ranking Magi Changelings.

Lepid Wonder shifted a bit on his perforated hooves for a few moments until he answered. “Oh, oh yes my Queen. We have to reduce the temperature to a consistent 75 Fahrenheit though; otherwise your average drone will wear themselves out in about four hours.”

“And we can’t have that, no telling what Celestia or her little bipedal allies would do to my poor babies if I left them out there,” Chrysalis replied, snuggling one of the Drones, who seemed to be partially glad for the affection and partially fearing for his life.

A Research Changeling soon walked up toward the small crowd around the Queen offering his take on things. “That being said, Wonder, the humans will certainly notice that a large swath of their cities is suddenly quite cool in one particular region.”

“True enough, but by the time they even come close to figuring out what is going on, our operations will be well underway,” stated a silver-and-teal striped Changeling.

“So I trust that you have pinpointed the most prime areas for ‘harvesting’, Phasmid Scanner?” Chrysalis asked of the newcomer to the growing conversation group.

“Indeed, my Queen. We should not have to stray far from the beacon stone. Our scouts have done a very admirable job in selecting point of impact for maximum exposure with minimum risk to our potential hive-mates.”

Chrysalis nodded as she looked at the Changelings Drones and Tier-3 Captains were being put through their paces.

I do hope that Celestia likes this new little trick of mine… and I wonder how those allies of hers will react…


=== ~~ === ~~ ===


        “And you are sure that weren’t any kind of rogue Pegasi in the area trying to cool things down?” Michelle asked, as she, the operator pair, and Captain Rodriguez were in the room looking at the temperature just steadily dropping over East London.

“No, none of my contacts in the London branch commissioned any Pegasi to do any operations. And if they did, they’d be working over all of London instead of just that patch,” Rodriguez noted as the blue patch showing the temperature change over London seemed to be strangely shaped, with no obvious center.

“Should we order some kind of patrol, I mean temperature just doesn’t go down for no reason; and especially in such a limited geographic area…” the Pony asked of Rodriguez.

Rodriguez thought for a few seconds, and then acceded to the request. “Decent enough idea… Operator, tell the London branch to focus on the East End until further notice, and request as much backup from the London PD and any available British military assets as possible. Something doesn’t feel right with what’s going on there.”

=== [ August 27, 2082 – Mojave Hive ] ===

        “Queen Chrysalis, all preparations have been completed. We can commence the raid whenever you give the order!” Coleo Blade stated firmly, as he saluted his Queen.

Queen Chrysalis flitted over to a raised platform near several partially active portals, as she briefly thought of all the lovely humans to be coming through the other end in a few hours’ time. “My dear Changelings, the hour is soon upon us. During the twilight hour in the human city of London, we shall launch our assault. Your goal is very simple, drag as many Humans back into our warm embrace as possible. That is all. Avoid any unnecessary engagements. Also I am giving your squad captains the new experimental Transformation Venom. However, it is in limited quantities, so do choose Humans that will be of particular worth to use it on. Do I make myself clear?!”

The Changelings all shouted in agreement, not that the Drones could have protested either way.

“To Our Great and Glorious Queen, Chrysalis the Thirty-Seventh! All Glory To Her and Her Hive!” Commander Coleo Blade shouted at the top of his voice.

The entire chamber was resounding with the screams and hollering in approval by the seeming half bug/half pony creatures.

Only a couple of hours more… I wonder what you’re going to do Humans… and can’t forget about Princess Celestia either… Chrysalis thought as she watched a magic-screen with a clock slowly tick down to zero from where it stood at roughly 1:45’.


--- === (Roughly two hours later) === ---


        It was dusk in London, as it was for the evening ritual, the streets were teeming with life. Humans of all shapes and sizes and colors were milling about back and forth. Some were going for food; a few lucky specialists were getting off work. The rest, well if they weren’t already at home on the ‘Net they would soon be. As it were, a pair of police officers were out on a street corner in their patrol car, watching the passers-by and street vendors hocking what few wares they had.

“Yeah, and I say they should open up the new Centre in the south of Glasgow. Nice and out of tha’ way but you can still get to somewhere,” one of the officers said, as he ate a processed fish sandwich.
His partner nodded a bit as his mind trailed off to a related issue. “Really, I don’t know why they opened up the one they did way out in the American Plains. I guess they want to be isolated in case there are mass protests or somethin’.”
“Yeah but what if ya got people dat wanna leave, huh? They gotta get on a Megatrain and everythin. Then the Trains are dirt cheap, I bet that Celestia can fund the entire American mid-west moving by herself. Probably loaded for bear cash-wise.” 

As they looked off into the streets, they noticed things beginning to get far more gray; and if they couldn’t see it, they could hear the passers-by and their weather reports speaking to such. 
“Look there, a fog advisory for the entire East End? You’d think it’d be too warm for fog like that?”
“Well, it has been a lot cooler than usual, the high barely got to 24°[C / 75° F]. Aren’t those Pegasi or whatever supposed to be able to change the weather?”
“Yeah but those things hadn’t been in the sky over town other than smog clearin’. Ya’d think that if they were gonna give us the cool down, they’d do it over the whole city. But nah, just East End.”
“Weird…” 

        As they continued looking at the strange fog, they heard a commotion. A bunch of onlookers had stopped in their tracks, seeing a pair of flying black figures in the sky.

“What is that in the sky?”
“Are they Pegasi?”
“Nah too black, I hadn’t seen any Pony that was straight-black colored like that. Maybe Gryphons?, there were some black feathered Gryphons during that thing in America.”
“Nah definitely too small to be a big cat and a bird mashed together… just what in the Hell are they?”

The first cop looked over at the second as they both got out of the car to look up at what the other people in the street saw.
“Hey, HQ? Yah getting any reports on this? Apparently there is some kind of commotion here in Sector 940, East edge of Tower Hamlets,” said cop asked over his headset, as he strapped his helmet on.
“Are you sure it isn’t some kind of protest? We’ve been having a few of those recently, though it’s more on the Anti-Equestrian side than anything else,” the Operator radioed back.
“Nah, more like there is something unidentified up in the air, and my partner is saying other patrols in East End are reporting tha same.”

As soon as the sentence got over to the other end, a giant Green magical circle appeared in the air, as a matching green wave rushed out from the disguised beacon stone.

“Yeah, this is definitely not like anything else,” the second cop said, as he strapped on his helmet as well.


=== ~~ === ~~ ===




        “Yeah, that’s definitely a problem!” Captain Rodriguez said, as he looked at the giant red ‘WARNING’ flashing on the main-screen of the surveillance and operations room.

“Ahh! What is that noise… and what is that going off?! I was having a nice mid-afternoon watch of 1980s Saturday Night Live! Now all of a sudden I got every news-wire going… off… oh well would you look at that…” Shift said as she floated into the main monitor.


>>> --- == --- <<<




        All that was heard in the main dining hall of the Crystal Palace was a single spoon hitting a plate, and then bounding onto the table.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Shining Armor asked worriedly, nervous because he knew that Princess Cadence was prone to random outbursts, seemingly out of the clear blue.

This one, was not out of the blue though. Cadence’s eyes had shrunken, like she was ready to rain down divine bolts of lightning on somepony’s head. “Something is wrong on Earth, something is desperately wrong!”

“But your aunts… no one has given us any…” Shining armor started before a loud voice resounded through the connecting hallway, getting closer all the while.
“PRINCESS CADENCE! PRINCE SHINING ARMOR! WE HAVE AN URGENT MESSAGE FROM PRINCESS CELESTIA!” a Crystal Messenger had said, as he handed the parchment to the two royals at the head of the table.
“… and there’s our warning.” Shining finished as he put down his soup spoon and read over the message.




“We have a situation on Earth: we fear that a Changeling Raid may be underway in London. Cadence will be better able to pinpoint a massing of Changeling-derived Magic since she has the most experience dealing directly with their spell-weaving.


Signed: Princess Celestia”






“And I thought the Changelings were being far too quiet this last year or so. Are you ready to g-“ Shining started before Cadence teleported the both of them across the New Light Bridge.

“She could have at least let him get outfitted properly…” one of the handmaidens stated as she began clearing the places where Shining and Cadence were eating.


=== ~~ === ~~ ===


        “Really dear, a bit of heads up next time…” Shining stated flatly, as he shook the cobwebs out of his head, Princess Celestia and Captain Rodriguez already standing in the hall outside of the surveillance room with a positively hyperventilating Princess Cadence.

“Where… are… THEY!” Cadence said through gritted teeth, eyes boring a hole through anything they could lock in on.

Rodriguez, though not having been around live horses at all during his life, could tell when a female was one false-step away from getting violent. He put on his best reserve, calming tone, and began to speak to the potential triarch. “Princess Cadence, we have found unusual weather patterns, and now a rapid increase in both Equestrian and Terran Magic over the East End of London, United Kingdom. Give the computer a moment, and they will give you a bearing to focus on.”

True to Rodriguez’s word, the computer soon produced an approximation of the center of the strange magic, and how far away it was. Cadence rushed into the surveillance room and read the information to double-check, and instantly began to charge her body full of mana.

“PRINCESS MI AMORE CADENZA! AS DIARCH OF EQUESTRIA AND ALL RELATED TERRITORIES AND COMMONWEALTHS, I ORDER YOU TO CEASE AND DESIST!” Princess Celestia bellowed at a quarter-strength of the Royal Canterlot Voice. Even though it was less than what Luna usually yelled at, it was enough to snap Cadence out of her rage-induced tunnel-vision.

“BUT… BUT!!!” Cadence began to whimper, as all the memories of her internment underneath the Crystal Caves and how Chrysalis nearly stole both her future-husband and her kingdom in one fell swoop had come flooding out. “Please! I have to do something… I can’t let the Changelings to do London what they tried to do to Canterlot! The losses would be unacceptable, not to mention all the chaos that would ensue from those abominable insects controlling a major Earth city!”

“I know Cadence, but we cannot act in rage. That only feeds into what Chrysalis wants. She wants everyone to panic. The more confusion she can sow, the easier it is for her to infiltrate and overwhelm her targets. Unfortunately, the best we can do is gather available forces and see exactly what they are planning before we move,” Celestia responded, hugging Cadence all the while.

Cadence’s magic began to die down to a manageable level, though she kept some magic tension in her body so she could teleport to London if need be at an instant’s notice.

“As I stated, Captain Rodriguez: order all HEA forces in London on standby, and move them to the outer rim of the East End. I’m afraid wherever this is going to start; it will be right in the middle of that section of the city. Also, I will contact President Aguillar and ask her to make a formal commitment to Prime Minister Heath for support and backup on the part of the British armed forces.”
“Yes ma’am,” Captain Rodriguez stated, as he began firing off orders to London and scrambling the Washington forces for rapid teleport in-case they needed further magi-tech assistance.

President Aguillar? Are you witnessing the reports from London?
Yes, even though I cannot prove it, that magic circle has a dark intent behind it… something about it just feels wrong.
I fear that one of the problems that have plagued us in the recent past, have decided to show themselves on this side of the Barrier.
I expect a full-explanation as soon as possible; no disrespect intended, Princess…
This is something I cannot afford to hide, President…


=== --- === --- ===

        
        As the two cops looked over at the circle, they could see something coming out… in fact, it was flying out of the sky like something shot out of cannon. And impacted the ground just as hard.

“What in the bloody hell was that? A meteor coming out of a magic circle? Some kind of live action video game mess…” the first cop said, as he got back into his car trying to pull up the security camera footage of the area.


~~~ === -- === ~~~


“All Soldiers prepare to move out on my signal!” Coleo Blade shouted, as he watched the footage of the black, porous stone in a meter deep crater in some London street.

A few moments went by, as the scouts panned back to show the entire neighborhood covered in the standard, yet usually thick white fog. With unnatural swiftness, the fog began to turn a dark black, looking more like volcanic smoke than fog, but still having a moist consistency instead of dry and sooty.

“Just a few moments more…”

The curdling screams of passers-by as the fog began to overtake them were all he needed to hear in order to quickly begin Phase II.

“Magi! Open the portals. Soldiers bring back as many Humans as you can round up! Commanders and Infiltrators, scan for any humans with high potential and assimilate them on the spot. Your heard our Queens order!”

With a last shout of “Glory to the Queen” the Soldier Drones began rushing into the green portals.

And off we go! Coleo Blade thought to himself as he went through with the other Commanders to help lead the forces in the field.


~~~ === -- === ~~~


“What in the hell? Are you serious!” the first cop shouted; plumes of black gas erupting from where the meteor supposedly landed. This was immediately followed by a stampede of humans trying to run away from the area.

“Oy, Jack, get in ‘ere, we got a major situation two kilometers from ‘ere,” the first cop shouted through his headset, as he began trying to crank the car up. Jack, for his part, stood there stunned, his brain unable to process the last 10 minutes or so worth of sights and sounds.

Not a few seconds later, as the people continued to rush past, the black fog began to roll in. The first officer cranked the engine, the soft hum showing the car was now active, and most importantly, the air filters on the climate control was working. “Ugh that stuff smells just awful, Jack, will you get in here already before more of it comes!” 

He received no response.

“Earth to Jack, will ya get in tha car already. We gotta get outta here!”

Jack still refused to respond his mind in another world seemingly.


You don’t want to run away from your Queen do you?
No…
What do you want to do…
Serve you…
And?
Bring others to serve you…
That’s a good boy…

“Jack, this is Officer, Rodney, ya partner! Come on mate, get in tha car so we can get out of here and try and figure out what in the hell is happening!” Rodney shouted, as he had turned down his radio and tuned out the messages blaring over his neural implants.

“I don’t want to come…” he heard Jack respond in a dry monotone.
“Oh no Jack… don’t start with this. Get in the car, and let’s get the fuck out of here!” Rodney responded as he tried to find a wavelength and color of light that would let him see in the black fog, which was growing thicker and higher by the second.

“I cannot leave my Queen,” Jack responded, his tone ever even, as if something had turned off all his emotions.

“Queen? The bloody hell Queen you’re talking about. We serve London in general, not the crown directly? What you think this is the army or something?!” Rodney shouted as he tried to talk some sense into his partner.

“THE QUEEN! THE QUEEN OF ALL CHANGELINGS! WE WILL SERVE HER! WE WILL LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR HER! THIS ENTIRE WORLD WILL BECOME HER NEW HIVE!” Jack responded at full throat, going from emotionless to full-blown zeal as he lunged at the driver side door trying to pry it open. Rodney got a good look at his helmeted partner, and sat agape: the absolute mindless zeal in his now green glowing eyes apparent to anyone within sight of him.

“JESUS FUCK JACK, WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE!” Rodney shouted, as he stared through the window at Jack, the soundproof glass muffling the shouting over the air.

“There is no Jack. There is no individual. There is only another arm of the Hivemind. Soon you will understand her full glory!” Jack said as he walked back a few paces, and then ran up full speed try to kick the door open.

“Jesus Christ… I gotta get out here… Jack or no Jack.” Rodney said aloud, as he revved the engines and started the sirens trying to get Jack to back off.

Soon, other humans began to crowd up to his and other cars, as Rodney turned his scanner back up trying to get some kind of guidance from HQ.

“ALL UNITS FALL BACK! I REPEAT. ALL UNITS IN NON-AIRTIGHT FACILITIES OR VEHICLES FALL BACK TO CENTRAL LONDON!” Rodney heard being repeated at full-throat. He watched as the scanners were lit-up with hundreds, reaching into thousands of strange reports.

People looking like they’ve been hypnotized. Shouting about some bloody Change…something Queen. The bloody hell is going on?  Rodney thought as he tried to pull out slowly, making sure not to hit anyone in the dense, black fog. Which was doubly hard since every ticking second robbed Rodney and the other unaffected (to this point) humans precious sunlight to help peer through the fog.

He got no further than about 20 meters until he heard a loud thud on his back windshield. What he saw shocked him right to his core.

“WHAT IN THE BLOODY FUCK IS THAT THING!?!!” Rodney shouted, as he saw flashes of green flames in the foreground, and what looked like a giant horse-shaped bug trying to claw and grind its way through his supposedly bullet-proof back windshield.

“JOIN USSSSSS!” The Changeling hissed, his teal eyes alive with zeal and his jagged horn alight to amplify his voice enough to get through the glass.

“LIKE FUCK I WILL!” Rodney shouted as he tried to swerve to shake the Changeling off his back windshield.

He heard another crash onto the roof of his patrol car, and a more feminine voice demanding he submit himself to their Queen, as it tried to carve through his roof.

“This is fucking INSANE!” Rodney shouted, as he tried to navigate the streets; the fog somehow causing his GPS to cut in and out, which further increased the difficulty navigating the dark and foggy streets.


~~~ === -- === ~~~


        “Scramble all the Wind Mages and Pegasi you can muster, we cannot let that fog penetrate the city any further!” Celestia ordered, watching the camera feeds from helicopters well outside the range of effect of the fog, hopefully.

“Why the fog? I thought the danger were those black bug-like Ponies you all were talking about?” Rodriguez asked, as a Dragon captain entered the room.

“If it’s anything like some of the raids in the Badlands, they are using that fog as cover,” the captain added. Though Dragons were not the best of targets for Changelings, it didn’t stop them from trying for one who decided to break bread with Ponies on the border-lands with the Nomads.

“Right, Capt. Ironwing. By the way, we need to talk later, the things I heard about you. Anyway, back to the point: we are guesstimating the Black Fog is some kind of experimental raid technique. None of the previous raids have referenced of a black fog other than controlled Pegasi moving in volcanic ash or smoke,” Shining Armor stated, projecting as much calm as he could for his stressed out wife.

“Look at all of these messages I’m picking up over the social networks and blogs!” Alternate shouted, as the blue and blonde cyber-fairy drug in veritable virtual reams of paper from the East End networks.

“‘What are these black bugs?!’, ‘This fog, somethings really wrong with this fog…,’ A bunch of messages that half start and devolve into some kind of gibberish praising the Queen… Chrysalis no doubt,” Cadence said as she scrolled message after message after message.

“Ok, so we can assume that fog is some kind of, dehabilitating agent. Possibly mind control?” Rodriguez thought out loud.

“Well, a bunch of these messages start out normal, and then devolve into blind praise and fealty to this… Chrysalis-thingy… Sounds like mind control to me…” Alternate said, as she tried sorting out all the messages into categories.

Shining Armor sighed heavily. “And the talk of black bugs… yeah, Queen Chrysalis must be sending in a raid force. We have to stop the spread of that fog as fast as possible. The more of London is in her thrall, the more Changelings she will feel comfortable sending in.”

The thought of tens of thousands of 4 foot tall black bug-like creatures crawling all over London made some of the humans sick to their stomach. “Yeah, we better corral that fog ASAP” Rodriguez thought aloud as he quietly asked for some stomach medicine before his imagination caused him to vomit.


~~~ === -- === ~~~

        
        “JOIN USSS!” several enthralled humans shouted, along with their, Rodney could only assume, Changeling minders egging them on, as they threw rocks at the windows and pounded at the windows and door of the squad car that was halfway run through the side-window of an empty restaurant.

Alright Rodney, how in the fuck are you going to get out of this one… Rodney thought as he looked at the battery on his squad car. He had about fifteen minutes of charge left until the air conditioning cut off, and the fog surely seeping into the cabin.
Well… looks like I’m gonna have to ditch this ol’ girl. He then thought as he put on a gas mask. Before he left, he wrote a (hopefully not final) message to the world, not caring who read it.




“Tell my family in Glasgow, if they can’t find me in 2 day’s time, I am sorry I couldn’t make it out of this in one piece.”




He put the gas mask and visor on, noting on his pad that the filter was good for four hours.



With a mighty battle-cry that’d do any Scottish ancestors he might have had proud, he flew open the passenger side door and began his mad-dash he hoped toward the west and freedom.


~~~ === -- === ~~~


        “What In in da fuck ya lookin at, eh mate” a bandana wearing hooligan said, as he tried to filter his way through the morass of enthralled humans.

“I’m sorry, you were referring to me?” the gentleman said, as he looked perfectly normal, no green eyes or anything.

“Yeah I’m talkin’ to ya, what da fuck ya lookin at?” the hooligan asked as, no matter which way he tried to go, the gentleman blocked his path. “And would ya get out of my fuckin way, will ya?”

“Sorry, the Queen would not be happy if I let one get away…” the gentleman replied, green sparks starting to fly off of his body.

“Ya mean that ol’ coont. Fat fuckin chance!” the hooligan responded as he tried to rush past the gentleman.

He was caught by the ‘gentleman’, whose body was briefly engulfed in green flames. He threw the hooligan backward a couple of meters. 

“Oy, wha in da fuck are ya mate, you don look nothin like tha horse-shaped bugs buzzing all around ‘ere! For one thing I can actually see ya damn eyes.” 
“Oh trust me, we’re one in the same. What self-respecting Changeling wouldn’t know how to shapeshift?” the black and red-orange striped bipedal beetle replied, stretching his arms and flaring out his covered wings.
“So that’s the name of ya fuckers, eh? Sorry, I don’t have any time for ya Queen or whatever da fuck…”
“Oh don’t worry. I’ll make time for you.” the Changeling said as he knelt to the ground, and then burst forward with incredible speed horn first straight for the hooligan.

The hooligan barely dodged, as he whipped off his knife, gashing the H-Changeling on his arm, the greenish blood trickling down the red-orange-striped arm.

“Excellent reflexes. With a proper re-education and attitude adjustment, you will make an excellent Soldier, possibly even a Captain!” the Changeling responded, voice full of mirth.

“Like I said, mate. I ain’t got no fuckin time for ya Queen,” the hooligan said as he turned tail and began running in the opposite direction.

“Wait! Oh… this will not do at all.” The H-Changeling stated as he whistled for some backup. Five similarly dressed humans with bright green glowing eyes ran toward the Changeling Captain as he scanned all of them for potential. “You see that human bounding the corner. He is your target. The one to catch him gets assimilated immediately and will be in line for a promotion to Tier-3 alongside myself. Do you all understand?”
“Yes, sir.” the five mind-controlled hooligans responded in monotone.
“Very good. Now, get to it!” the Changeling stated as he snapped his digited claw; the five humans running after the hooligan.
“Although, I never said what’d happen to you five if I found him anyway…” the H-Changeling remarked to himself with a smirk, as flew up to the brick-faced walls and crawled along them to get a better vantage point.


=== --- === (HEA London Headquarters, Sutton – 1.5 hours post attack/10 PM Local) === --- ===





        “You heard me... jet engines, wind machines. Hell I don’t care if you get the Chinese-descended to make giant paper fans. I just need anything that can blow back or absorb fog moved to East End on the double!” a somewhat portly man shouted, walking around with his HEA armband on, showing he was the local leader.

“Excuse me, but you requested our presence, Mr. Harrington?” Cadence stated firmly, as she, her aunt Celestia, and Shining Armor were now standing before Mr Harrington in the main lobby of the office, which was now positively swarming with media as the chaos in East End raged on.

“Good Lord, somehow we got half the government of Equestria here it seems like. Anyway, any Pegasi you can spare will be of great help to us. Plus, anyone you got that is good at fielding questions to the media will be also of great help,” Harrington stated, wiping the nervous sweat off of his brow.

“I don’t know about the latter, but we can definitely help with the former. Should I make the call or you, aunt?” Cadence replied, the severity of the situation giving her focus beyond her desire to get revenge on the Changelings in general.
“I believe that you can make that request. You know whom to speak to right?” Celestia responded.
“Rolling Mist’s Weather Team in Trottingham? Right?”
“Yes, also request Manehatten’s team to be on standby. And tell Rolling Mist that he will get paid double their going rate due to it being an emergency. That should quell his complaints.”
“This Rolling Mist bloke sounds like a stubborn type,” Harrington mused aloud.
“Like you would not believe, sir. But he is the foremost civilian fog expert we could get on such short notice,” Celestia responded with a nod, as Cadence vanished for Trottingham.

“Like I said, ALL the wind machines you can get your hands on, and if you can get your hands on anyone who knows Wind Magic, even better. This is an all-hands-on-deck situation here, people!” Harrington said over the receiver to his headset. 

“So how long have you been trying to co-ordinate the containment effort?”

“About an half-hour or so, when I first got Captain Rodriguez’s report. But this is going to be a real problem. The area that is already blanketed houses about a hundred thousand people. A small proportion may have gas masks and the like. A larger proportion could have recognized the fog won’t rise without assistance, and have gotten to the high points of the tenements. That might spare them for now,” Harrington said as he looked at the video monitor wall of all the BBC and other network reports of the dark fog over East London.

“If worse comes to worse, I can use my Solar Magic to help burn off the fog, but it won’t be effective until past Dawn, which would be a good eight hours or so from now…” Celestia mused aloud.

“And who knows how many humans they can carry off in eight hours…” Shining Armor added, as he looked around at the Ponies and Humans scrambling. Well, most were scrambling. One seemed to be quite calm and with a level head about him.

Well, he certainly looks calm and even-keeled. A bit too calm and even keeled… Shining Armor thought as he looked at the human dressed in simple gray slacks and black shirt.

My Queen, the Royal Guards-stallion you almost took as Lead Consort is conversing with me. Do you have any instructions? Phasmid Grabber asked, as he waved tepidly at the white and blue-maned stallion.
Converse with him naturally; none of them have any inkling that this is a two-front operation… they are hiding something if they got the Dragons and Gryphons working with them so closely… Chrysalis responded.

“Yes, Shining Armor, wasn’t it? Someone has to be calm around here, if we were all in hysterics, nothing would get done,” the black-shirted man responded.

“See, right-good head on his shoulders. The Seattle and New Hope Branches were damn fools for letting him get across the Atlantic. Oh well, their loss, our gain, right mate?” Harrington asked jovially as he gave a quick jab to the black-shirted man’s side.

“Right, sir,” the man responded; before he went off to his workstation.

Chrysalis is right… there is something buried in the system… something that is being hidden in plain sight… If they are offering that, it has to be somewhere… and I am going to find it!


~ === --- === ~





        Rodney continued to run, trying his best to coordinate his movements with his intermittently functioning GPS. “Goddamn bloody piece of shit. Whatever this fog is must be jamming the link, I can’t tell if I am going east or north or whatever, and I can’t see any street signs until I am standin’ right in front of it.”

“The hive will welcome you! Do not run! Do not resist! The Queen loves us all, and we all love our Queen!” shouted a group of hypnotized humans shouted, as a teal-eyed monster appeared to be coordinating their actions with this horn.
Those damn bug-eye freaks have most of those poor sods dancin like little puppets, but if I fuck aroun’ too much, I’ll be the one getting ‘is strings pulled before long…
As he continued to run from building to building, he noticed that the fog only seemed to rise to the fourth story at most. As he tried to find a ladder to climb up onto a fire escape, he ran into another with a bandana across his nose and mouth.
“Oy watch yaself, fuckin’ Bobby wanker!” the hooligan shouted as the partially armored patrol-cop and he nearly smashed heads.
“Show some repsect, fuckin’ chav!” Rodney shouted back, his reflexive response to disrespect from the street urchin types getting the better of him, temporarily.
“THERE! There you are! And you lead me to another, oh wondrous day, another two potential hive-mates!” the red-orange beetle-like creature shouted, as he closed in on the pair.
“The fuck is that thing!” Rodney shouted as he tried to get the hooligan to start climbing.
“Fucking monsters must come in teal and sunset or somethin’, fuck if I know!” the hooligan shouted in response as he started climbing up the ladder.
“I will have you know that our proper name is Changeling!” the H-Changeling responded.
“Like we fuckin’ care right now!” both Rodney and the hooligan shouted as they began running along the metal-frame catwalk up the side of the building.
“Oh now that will just not do at all!” the Changeling shouted as he hovered above them to try and cut the stairwell down; his attempt was short-lived as his arm clanged with a sickening thud off the reinforced-steel frame of the fire escape.
What kind of metal are those walkways made out of?! The Changeling thought as he dropped like a rock to the ground to tend to the cracked and bleeding limb. The hypnotized humans and the pair of P-Changeling Drones that were minding them tended to him as well.

“What do we do now, eh Bobby?”
“We keep climbing, that’s what we do; this fog can’t be that high!”


~ === --- === --- === ~





        “Everyone set, right?” the HEA Squad Captain shouted, as the Zebras put a special gel on the masks and helmets for the response crew to nullify the effects of the fog. A fleet of HEA APCs were nearing the outer edges of the affected zone, the counterattack soon to commence.

“Well this is a fine kettle of fish this city has managed to get thrown into…” a Gryphon mused as he zipped up the inner-armor over his feline body.
“Tell me about it, but, that’s why we’re here: we respond to the crazy stuff that the normal Police or Military can’t account for,” a Pony responded as he slipped on his outer-armor.
“If Mind-Control fog and bug-eye monsters don’t qualify, then nothing does…” the Squad Captain responded, as he double checked everything. He then continued to speak to the entire squad of seven in the APC. “Our orders are simple, we push back any Changelings and mind-controlled humans back from the edge of the fog, so the Weather Crews can get containment started. Once they have the fog penned-in, we start the counter-offensive.”

Shouts of approval went up from the cabin of the APC.
Well, Changelings or whatever you are… you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! The captain thought inwardly as he was a minute away from beginning the engagement.


=== --- === (HEA London Headquarters, Sutton – 2 hours post attack/10:30 PM Local) === --- ===


        “Oy, Princess Celestia! Ya dear neice here gave me the low-down. I expect payment in three days once this whole issue is sorted out, yeah,” a rather ornery pale-blue Pegasus stallion shouted as poofed into existence, with the Princess of the Crystal Empire behind him.

“You do your job, Rolling Mist, and I will personally hoof you the sack of gold for disbursement,” Celestia responded, with some levity in her voice.
“Heh, always had a way with the spoken word, didn’t ya Princess,” Rolling Mist responded, as he looked at the myriad screens and other foreign devices in the HEA office.
“You don’t keep the Canterlot Nobility in line for all these years without it,” Celestia responded with pride.
“Princess Celestia, I will be back briefly with the rest of their Weather Team, but before I do,” Cadence started before handing a printout of the affect area to Mist with a scale and conversion scale for Pony Lengths vs. Kilometers [a reminder, .5 meter = 1 length]. “Will your weather team be enough to cover this area, or will I have to go retrieve the Manehatten Team as well?”

Rolling Mist ran his hoof over the paper, inwardly musing to himself how incredibly smooth the paper was before responding. “Nah, you can leave Manehatten on reserve. My team should be enough to cover this area. From what I can tell, given the properties…”
“What, what can you tell already?” Cadence asked.
“This has ta be related to Changeling mind-venom…” Rolling Mist said, turning his gaze away from the youngest Princess. “I know what it’s like… it’s thick. That means tha fog won’t be that high. But it’s going to be very thick and laced with magic. And from what I heard, plain Human electronics aren’t set up to work well in high-magic environments.”
“Wait, but ho—,” Cadence started before she was interrupted by Celestia.
“It’s been twelve years hasn’t it, Rolling Mist?”
“Yeah… twelve years since their Raid on West Briar; I lost my youngest son to ‘em. Never wanted to be a Weather Pony, but I didn’t much care for that…”




~~ (12 Years Ago, West Briar (roughly 5k Lengths from Trottingham) ~~

“Nimbus Wake? Nimbus Wake where are you?”
“I’m right here dad…”
“Oh thank Celestia, Nimbus! Come on, we have to get out of here before they get closer…”
“Before who get closer?”
“Don’t play dumb with me boy, the Changelings. It’s a bloody raid, get ya flank in gear!”
“There is no need for that, Dad”
“Those marks… NIMBUS! NIMBUS DON’T GO ANYWHERE! I’LL GET THE GUARD! THEY HAVE THE ANTI-VENOM, PLEASE DON’T GO ANYWHERE!”
“There is nowhere for you to run… There is nowhere for any of us to run… She is coming… Her Agents are coming… She will deliver us from Celestia’s mis-rule. This land needs an Iron Queen, one who will dominate the land and direct all actions!”
“STOP IT! JUST STOP IT!”
“They are coming! Her Time is coming!”
“COME BACK HERE NIMBUS!”

~~ ----- ~~





        “I… I am truly sorry for your loss, Mr. Rolling Mist” Harrington replied after the short recounting was over.
“There is no telling what happened to him afterward…” Rolling Mist said, his wide eyes telegraphing the constant hurt he felt since that day. “So that’s why I need my team here, to prevent that tragedy from repeating as best I can.”
Cadence nodded as she teleported back to Trottingham to get the other twenty-or-so Pegasi.

After about 10 minutes of relative silence. Cadence reappeared in the Landing Room with another 22 Pegasi.
“Alright crew, we got a special fog to contain. The Zebras made masks that will nullify the mind-control agents. Mind your and ya partner’s flanks, because the area below where we’re working will be swarming with Changelings!” Rolling Mist shouted at full throat, regaining his composure after the walk down memory lane.
After some brief grumbling by the crew, they all began to resolve themselves for the work ahead, as a pair of Zebras began handing out the treated masks for the Weather Crew.
Please Princesses, watch over us… Rolling Mist mused as the Pegasi began to march to the roof of the HQ/Embassy.


~ === --- === --- === ~





        “Damn this is a pain in the ass…” one of the Dragons shouted over his com-link, as he threw Changelings off of his body and tried his best not to seriously injure the hypnotized humans.
“Ya aren’t kiddin, mate” one of his human squad-mates replied, hitting another two humans with stun-rounds. “Hey Will-O-Wisp, you all got air-control yet, the Weather Crew can’t start working until y’all do!”

About 50 meters in the air, an armored Pegasus was engaged in a dog-fight with a pair of Changelings, “Yeah we’re getting there… but there are hardly any Changelings in the air, given how many are on the ground. There’s something wrong with this.”

Moments later, large but brief plumes of green flame began to erupt all over the fogged-over cityscape.
“Guys, are you seeing this, there are these green plumes everywhere!” Will-O-Wisp shouted as the Changelings began to dive back down into the fog.
“Yeah, and I’m losing heat signatures after each plume… Oh man you don’t think...” the human said, as he and the Dragon holed up in a storefront for a few minutes to coordinate.
“The bugs are cashing out their winnings? Wouldn't surprise me at all…” the Dragon concluded as he looked around for backup or another group to meet up with.
“Goddamnit, this isn’t good then. The longer this goes on the more Humans they are gonna send to who-knows-where!”
“First we need to start securing the area, and then we can start rescuing the hostages,” the Dragon responded as he used a fireball to pick off a Changeling who was hiding under a counter.
“And… maybe find a better spot to discuss this stuff…” the Human mused aloud as they rushed back outside.


~ === --- === --- === ~


        “I should have guessed as much,” Rolling Mist thought aloud as he flew closer to the black miasma covering East End, seeing bright plumes of green in the distance.
“Wha’ boss?” one of his Pegasus crew-mates asked.
“The Changelings are starting to teleport their thralls out. If we don’t start hurrying up and securing the area for the ground-pounders, there won’t be any humans left to save!” Rolling Mist shouted as he motioned for half the group to break off and fly ahead of him.





~ === --- === --- === ~


        “Damnit, they’re like fuckin’ zombies or somethin’!” the hooligan shouted as they tried to kick the mind-controlled humans down the railings. They were all the way up on the eighth floor of the apartment building as they found themselves beside a fire-escape door.
“Who’s out there!” they heard a muffled voice from the door they were in front of.
“A pair of humans trying to get out of this damn fog, we have to be at the edge of it if we can see the sky again!” Rodney shouted through the door.
“Open up the door and dive through when we give the signal, we have to keep those bastards out as best we can, ya know?” the voice replied, as the two outside heard heavy objects being moved out of the way.
“Fine!” the two outside shouted back. After a few moments, the two were safely inside.

“So Bobby, mind explaining what in the right fuck is going on outside?” 
“There is this black fog all over East End, anyone inside it starts yammering about this monster Queen or something…” Rodney explained as he took off his mask and turned off the filter. “Yah got runnin’ water? I can wash this out with tap.”
One of the others directed him inside his apartment to his sink where he could wash out his gas mask and wipe the residue off the smooth parts of his armor.
“Well at least that stuff is more like spray instead of smoke,” one of women said, as she huddled with her children.
“Whatever, mate. I just want dis shit to be over with, quick,” the hooligan said as he walked into one of the apartments to find a couch to crash on.

“So have you been having any of those bug monsters beatin’ on your windows or anythin’?” Rodney asked, as he checked his gear to see if the reside ruined any of the components.
“Yeah, at the start they were buzzing all over, but they seem to be down in the fog itself now,” one of the kids responded.
“Hey, what is that green fire that’s popping up everywhere?”
“I dunno,” Rodney responded as he looked out of one of the still clear windows. “But somethin’ says it’s nothin’ good.”


~ === --- === --- === ~





        “It was only a matter of time…” Cadence said, as her anger began to flare up again.
“Princess Cadence, I would greatly appreciate it if you did not go and do anything rash. I would like to allow our normal forces to be able to handle this situation,” Princess Celestia said sternly to Cadence, who began to breathe heavily but managed to stay her hooves for the time being.
“It was only a matter time until what, Princess Celestia?” Harrington asked, somewhat confused as to why one of the Princesses would be showing such obvious percolating rage.
“The Changelings have begun relocating their captives to wherever their Earth-based Master Hive is, if my guess is correct,” Celestia stated matter-of-factly.
“Great, who knows how many thousands out of that affected area they could already be getting ready to move then… at least the fog isn’t spreading anymore,” Harrington said as he took a seat in his chair, rubbing his temple with his hands.
“Yes, hopefully that is a good sign that we going to be able to short-circuit this little operation of the Changeling Queen’s” Cadence said through gritted teeth, still trying to contain her urge to go out and start blasting Drones with her raw Magic.


~ === --- === --- === ~


        “Alright colts-and-fillies, the fog spread has pretty much ceased, tell the humans to set up the wind machines at these points I marked on this map. We should be able to shift into pure containment now,” Rolling Mist stated, sitting on top of a rooftop with one of his crew-mates.

“Sir, shouldn’t we try and dissipate this?” said crew-mate asked.
“Son, did ya hear what this fog is made out of? It’s pretty much a generic version of Changeling Mind-Venom. Dispersing it would be us doing their job for them!”
“Sorry, sir…”
“You’re right you’re sorry. Just get the map to that HEA truck over there so they can relay the addresses, will ya?”
“Yes, sir!”
Rolling Mist peered over the edge of the roof and looked down at the fog that appeared now to be hitting an invisible barrier of wind.

There’s no tellin’ how many of these Humans those damn bugs have carried away already… but any ones we can save… well that’s a job worth doin’…


~ === --- === --- === ~


        “Let’s see… that’s… 1050 already. We are making a good pace, aren’t we my Queen?” Manto Rigor asked as he double checked his addition.
“Considering this is only a trial run of the airborne mind-venom, I would wager so. I had a feeling that it was too thick, but this is only a trail run.”

All forces in the field, re-double your efforts to capturing Humans, we need to maximize our haul! Chrysalis ordered to the raid force through her psychic link to every living Changeling.

As she thought of her primary objective, her attention focused on her secondary objective, a certain new Infiltrator in HEA Headquarters.

Phasmid Grabber, is your search turning up anything fruitful?
Not yet my Queen, it appears that the networks are either much more cleverly designed than I imagined, or they are heavily fragmented.
Just so long as you get some leads…


~ === --- === --- === ~


“STOP IT, LEAVE HIM ALONE” a young woman shouted at a blue-and-teal-striped Research Changeling as he pinned her husband to the ground with her magic.
“Oh now don’t you fret, there is more than enough for the both of you…” the feminine-sounding Changeling said as she levitated a black injector out of a pack attached to her like a bandolier; said injector resembling a honeybee’s stinger and poison gland. With sudden jerk, she jammed said injector right into the neck of the young man.
“Just give it a few moments…”
Said few moments passed, and the young man bolted to his feet, his eyes burning green as the same as the black venom began turning his skin charcoal gray and his surface blood vessels fluorescent green.

“THE QUEEN! THE QUEEN! THE QUEEN! THE QUEEN!” the young man shouted with mindless zealotry, as his brain was being forcefully integrated into the hivemind, his skin turning rigid like chitin.

“What are you doing to him…” the woman said quietly, the scene before her sending her into psychological shock.

“I have been ordered by my Queen to choose select humans for immediate integration into our glorious Hive. He is becoming another part of our supremely powerful Whole. A fate you will share in a few moments once he is complete!”
The changeling stripped the man of his clothes, with little or no regard for anything other than easing his transformation into yet another Drone. Said young man eyes turned red-orange, and became layered with multiple lenses like and insects, as his back was covered by the hard shell to protect his newly growing wings. “THE QUEEN! I WILL SERVE MY QUEEN! I WILL OBEY MY QUEEN! I WILL LOVE MY QUEEN, AND SHE WILL LOVE ME!” he shouted with zeal, his identity subsumed into the hive mind.

His digits fused to three along his forearms, as his feet became more like long claws. His abdomen (or was it a thorax?) expanded to give himself a beetle’s round shape. A protrusion on his head having grown to now resemble a rhinoceros beetle’s horn, still jagged like the normal Pony-shaped Changelings. Though the gaps and holes in his limbs were smaller than the standard Changelings, they were far more numerous, making his exoskeleton look more like pumice than Swiss-cheese. His screaming now was morphing into shrill cries, much like the monsters that swarmed the grounds all ‘round East End.

“That’s a good little Drone. Now help me pin down this… woman… so that she may join us too. I cannot take any chances that she might actually try and escape,” the higher-ranking Researcher stated matter-of-factly to the newly-christened H-Changeling Drone.

“Yes, ma’am,” the new Drone said coldly and devoid of all emotion. The young woman was snapped out of her shock long enough to scream as loud as her lungs and throat would allow; which was followed by a crash through the nearby door.
“I heard a young wo—What in the Devil are those!” the armored HEA soldier said as he focused his gaze upon the hyperventilating woman and the two black insect-like creatures.

“I was afraid of this… You, new Drone, distract him while I call a Magi to get us out of here, no sense pointlessly sacrificing ourselves for one more human, when we can claim her whenever we want in the future…” the Researcher stated calmly as she looked for the nearest window to break and fly out of.

“Oh no you don’t you damn freak!” the human soldier shouted before he was tackled by the giant beetle-like creature. “Goddamnit get off of me!” 


~ === --- === --- === ~





        “THEY’RE WHAT?!!” Celestia shouted and half-strength Royal Canterlot voice. 
“Good Lord, they’re what Princess?” Harrington said, as he tried to shake his head loose of the sudden ringing.
“I can only pray they have limited quantities of that substance…” Celestia prayed aloud as she began to contemplate things.
“Limited quantities of what, Aunt Celestia?” Cadence asked.
Princess Celestia breathed heavily as she gathered her thoughts. “The Changelings have apparently developed a fast acting assimilation fluid. According to reports it turns a Human into a Changeling within a couple of minutes…”
“WHAT?!” Cadence shouted her eyes flared with pure rage.
“That is what I am trying to piece together now. My question is how they would have even had the time or inclination to develop such a chemical. Unless… they have been operating on Earth far longer than we have realized,” Celestia thought out loud. “In any case, that is a long-term problem… but we have to solve this immediate problem now.”

This is insane… just what in Tatarus is Chrysalis trying to do… turn this entire planet into her Hive?! Cadence thought to herself as she took respite to calm herself before she did anything rash.





~ === --- === --- === ~


“Come back here! Join us! Become one with Chrysalis and her Hive!” the neophyte Drone shouted as tried to approach the young woman who was quivering behind the armored HEA soldier, a treated mask over her face to help her not accidentally breathe in the fog during her hyperventilating. The three figures danced around a table as the two ‘soldiers’ kept their eyes locked on each other.

“You are not getting your damn claws on her, whatever you are!”

“She will belong to us. You all will belong to us. This Earth will soon be in possession of her Majesty!”
“We’re leaving, newbie. The other Researchers will want to examine you anyway!” they all heard a feminine voice shout from outside.

The black and red-orange beetle rared up to his full height, and then quietly sat on the floor. Soon green flames engulfed his form, but not before he delivered one final admonition. “Tell all your leaders: this world will soon belong to our Glorious Queen! All of your lives will soon become possession of the Great Changeling Hive!” With that said, he disappeared in a flare of green.

Just what in the hell did that mean? The HEA soldier thought to himself, as he held the sobbing woman in his arms.
“Come on now, love. Let’s get you out of here; I should be able to call a transport to get you out of this mess.
The young woman quietly nodded as they began to make their way out of the building and meet up with the soldier’s squad-mates.


=== --- === (HEA London Headquarters, Sutton – 


3.5 hours post attack/12 AM Local) === --- ===


        “Their green flares are increasing in frequency. They must be getting desperate to spirit off as many victims as they can before they leave entirely…” Harrington said, as he looked at the cameras trained on the slowly compressing fog zone.

“Tell the front-liners to focus on forcing the Changelings to retreat. They seem to not be willing to engage in firefights, judging from the lack of reported casualties on our side,” Celestia ordered.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Celestia heard a familiar stallion’s voice ask.

“I do not remember requesting the presence of you three…” Celestia said firmly, not turning to look at the three Pegasi who had just arrived in London HQ.

“But Princess, you always call us when there is a big-scale emergency like this,” Rainbow Dash protested, Fluttershy and Golden Storm next to her, Elements around their neck responding to the outburst of evil intent in the area.

“Yes, but that is for emergencies that I know normal forces cannot contain or deal with. This is a military and large-scale rescue and recovery operation. I cannot have Special Forces wasted or compromised on something such as this…” Celestia replied sternly, looking less like the Great Matriarch and more like a Commander-In-Chief of a large Military.

“But look out there, that whole area is in Chaos. We bust Chaos… that’s kinda our thing!” Rainbow Dash continued to protest verbally.

“Rainbow Dash, I… please… don’t…” Fluttershy tried to stammer out, as she could see Rainbow Dash starting to develop her famous tunnel-vision.

“What Fluttershy is trying to say is ‘Please understand where Princess Celestia is going with this.’ There is a chain of command and division of specialty. A Commander-In-Chief should not feel she should have to use Special Forces to handle every situation, even if it outwardly seems like the worst thing in the world…” Golden Storm tried to impart upon Rainbow Dash.

Unfortunately for all there, Rainbow Dash had already committed to a course of action. “Princess, please understand… I can’t sit here while Ponies are out there helping in any way they can. I have this Power for a reason, and my Will is stronger than anypony… no… anyone else’s! Even if I don’t get your direct approval or order, I’m going out there to help!!” 

The hustle and bustle of the room suddenly turned into dead silence, minus the televisions in the other room. Even the passers-by who weren’t exactly listening could tell the situation had suddenly reached a point extreme tension.

Storm… move… and do not look directly at Princess Celestia… Fluttershy told Golden Storm through their Elements.
Wait… what do you mean ‘Don’t look at Princess Celestia’… Storm asked, as both of them moved off to her left near a reception desk.
I can feel a weird vibe off her… it’s just like when I have to use it on one of my pets or patients that are misbehaving… Fluttershy said, her mental voice dripping with concern.
Ok… oh no… don’t tell me… Golden Storm replied, realizing what “it” was.

        Princess Celestia, silently giving everyone else a look that said “Everyone clear the way, NOW”, strode up to Rainbow Dash, and locked eyes with her. Rainbow Dash, suddenly overcome with extreme fear and anxiety, began to sweat profusely, as she stared into millennia old eyes. Eyes that had seen more war than any peaceful species had any right to see, let alone and individual. 

“Are you questioning my authority and decision-making, Rainbow Dash, Bearer of Loyalty?” Celestia asked, devoid of all emotion.

Rainbow Dash choked on her words, unable to say anything even remotely understandable.

“I will repeat: are you, Rainbow Dash, Bearer of the Element of Loyalty, my direct Subordinate, questioning my authority and decision making in a time of grave emergency?!” Celestia asked again, with grave force and imposition, even as her voice retained its even tone.

Suddenly… something in Rainbow Dash’s head snapped… as if a fuse had been blown. The last things that kept her in place were removed, and she promptly went careening out of the nearest glass window, easily shattering it before she even reached it with the sheer force of her Flight Magic.

Celestia sighed as she looked at Golden Storm and Fluttershy, having magicked several lengths of magically-enhanced rope in front of the pair of Pegasi.

“I should have better controlled myself. I overdid the Imposition of Will, and caused a backlash in her mind. She’s now fully stuck in her tunnel vision to help in any way she can, and given current conditions, she probably will not be able to hear anyone warn her about the effects of the fog. I need you two to catch and secure her before she hurts herself or is captured by the remaining Changeling forces,” Celestia requested, managing to corral her own anger at being questioned to not repeat the same mistake with the other two yellow Pegasi.

Snapping out of their stupor at having seen Rainbow Dash dash away from the Princess, the two nodded and took off after her as fast as they could.

The young Element of Loyalty may not have been exaggerating when she claimed to have the strongest Will of any-pony or anyone… that backlash felt vicious... Celestia thought to herself as she prayed that Storm and Fluttershy could do the job without her direct help.


~ === --- === --- === ~


“I’m gonna help! I’m gonna help! I’ve gotta help! Gotta prove to Celestia I can do this! That I can do this!” Rainbow Dash shouted aloud, as she flew at break-neck pace toward the fog.

About a few dozen lengths behind, Fluttershy and Golden Storm were trying desperately to run her down.
“This is crazy!” Fluttershy cried as she had wrapped the rope around Golden Storm’s and her own waist to help her keep pace with the stallion.

“Not as crazy as Celestia is gonna be if the Changelings carry an Element of Harmony off with who knows how many Humans…” Storm replied as he tried to keep pace with Dash; and failing utterly to.

“At this rate she is going to fly right through the barrier they had set up and right into their proverbial spider-web,” Golden Storm outwardly cursed, as he was losing ground to Rainbow Dash.

“What are we supposed to do, then? I could just let go and you can chase her down yourself…” Fluttershy started, before she was interrupted by Golden Storm.

“We do this together, you know her as well as anypony else. If we catch up, then you are going to have to be the one to talk her down.” 

“Ok, but we still have to catch her!”

Golden Storm began to slow down some, allowing Fluttershy to catch up him naturally. “Fluttershy, I need to you grab hold of my hips, we’re about to go for a ride.” 

Fluttershy did as was asked, looking how Storm’s body was glowing the faded yellow and his Element of Wind was humming. “What do you have planned?”

“A little something I call the Wind Rocket…”

“The Wind Rooooooooooo----?!!!!!!!!!!!!” Fluttershy shouted as the two of them blasted off forward in a conic-shaped field of Wind mana; looking for all the world like a gold-colored, translucent rocket.


--- ~ ---


        “Yep, a job being well done, if I do say so myself,” Rolling Mist said as he looked at the Pegasi in a consistent drift around the top of the containment field around the black fog covering East End.

What is that noise? He thought as he turned around and saw a cyan-and-rainbow-colored blur heading straight overhead.

“Hiimheretohelpcatchyalaterbye~” the cyan-and-rainbow colored blur shouted as it whipped past.

The bloody Tartarus was that?

“Weneedtocatchthecyanpegasusinfrontofuscanttalknowseeya!!” a longer golden-colored blur shouted as it whipped past, somehow even faster than the first one.

Seriously, what in the bloody Tartarus was that?





--- ~ ---


Slow Down!! Rainbow Dash heard shouted in her head through her Element, only halfway able to recognize Golden Storm in her tunnel-vision.
Sorry, don’t know the meaning of the phrase “Slow Down”… she responded.
Seriously… Slow Down! You’re heading straight for the fog-bank… Golden Storm tried to intone, but to little avail.
What was that, I tahtlaklsndlddd…” Rainbow Dash started to respond, before the two Pegasi chasing heard nothing but psychic static through their Elements.

“That’s not good…”
“Not good at all… let’s hope she didn’t get hit full strength…”




--- ~ ---





Oh a strong-willed one wandered into my little web… this will be fun…


--- ~ ---


The two Pegasi flew right through the invisible wind-barrier, using their link to the Element to try and find Rainbow Dash in the awful visibility.

“At least the Rocket shell is keeping that mist out… and… Oh good there she is… and we just passed her…” Golden Storm remarked as he and Fluttershy flew right past the downed Rainbow Dash. He quickly threw on the retro-boosters, and began using his Wind Magic to ‘fly’ backwards. Fluttershy, to her credit, picked up on the idea and grabbed Rainbow Dash along her side as they flew backwards out of the fog-bank.

I hope we aren’t too late already…




--- ~ ---





Looks like I caught a little lightning bug in my web… a firefly… if you will… This will be really fun now~!


--- ~ ---


Fluttershy was performing chest compressions on Rainbow Dash, trying to jump-start her breathing again; which had slowed down to near-nothing.
“Could you all please clear out… I know this looks really weird, but I don’t know what she might do when she wakes up…” Golden Storm shouted at the small crowd that had begun to form around the three Pegasi.
The crowd still gathered, though now a couple of meters from the three Ponies.




--- ~ ---


“Will you walk into my Parlour…” Rainbow Dash heard a sultry feminine voice say, as she saw nothing but a black and teal haze all around her. “Tis the prettiest parlour you ever did spy…”

“Oh no no…” Rainbow Dash started to respond, still addled in her own head. “To ask me is in vain, for those who go up your winding stair, can never come down again…”

“I never knew you to be a mare for classic Earth literature…” the feminine voice mused aloud.
“Huh? Wha? Where am I…” Rainbow Dash asked, as her vision came into full focus.

        She found herself strung up on what looked like a giant spider-web, surrounded by green-flame torches, and a teal and black swirling haze. 

“OH CELESTIA! WHERE AM I!”
“Like I said, my dear little Lightning Bug… or would you prefer Firefly? No… wait… I know exactly who you are…” the feminine voice responded, before beginning her trademark laugh.

“No… NO NO NO… This… THIS ISN’T HAPPENING…”
“Oh but my dear little Rainbow Dash… IT IS!” 

Rainbow Dash craned her neck and her vision up, as far as she could; and saw the, at least to her, upside down visage of the Changeling Queen peering down at her with great interest… but the Changeling Queen was not in her normal body as a Pony-like Changeling…
No… aside from her belly, head, and forehooves, Queen Chrysalis appeared as a giant, black-and-teal-highlighted, Pony-eating Spider.

“WHAT?! WHERE AM I! WHO ARE YOU? WHAT’S GOING ON” Rainbow Dash screamed at the top of her lungs, as she continued to struggle in the giant web of Spider-Chrysalis.

“Oh you are a special one aren’t you? Such strong and delicious Will, such unbreakable Loyalty… it would be a shame to just turn you into any run-of-the-mill Drone…” Spider-Chrysalis started, as she ran her forehooves along the head and neck of Rainbow Dash. “No… I have very special plans for you and your nine friends…”

The giant Spider ran a long tongue down the side of Rainbow Dash’s neck, drinking in the whimpering of the speedster. And with large fangs, even larger than her normal Changeling self, she clamped down on the head of Rainbow Dash.

The entire scene was then filled by the screaming of a Pony in the deepest of mental anguish.


--- ~ ---





Rainbow Dash’s eyes flared open, which temporarily brought some relief to Fluttershy and Golden Storm.
“Damn girl, you scary...” Golden Storm quipped as he tried to pick Rainbow Dash up and set her right on her hooves.

This was immediately followed by Rainbow Dash screaming in absolute agony and thrashing about like a wild-mare.

“Get the rope!” Golden Storm shouted as Fluttershy dashed over to fulfill the request.
Damn I hope I remember my Eagle Scout training…


--- ~ ---





“LET ME GO! LET ME GO!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she watched her extremities begin to turn colors. But not gray like the influence of Discord some years ago; instead, her coat turned black like charcoal, just like the other Drone Changelings that terrorized Canterlot almost the same number of years ago.
“It only hurts because you resist…” Spider-Chrysalis said in between draining. “All you have to do is submit to my will, and it will be over before you know it~!”


--- ~ ---





Rainbow Dash’s screaming and carrying on began to calm down some, much to the relief of the bystanders that had gathered around her.

But it was just the calm before the storm…

“Ok, Rainbow Dash, are we going to cooperate now?” Golden Storm asked, having bound Dash’s wings together to prevent her from flying away.

When she opened her eyes to answer, the two of them were shocked by what they saw: the sclera all around Dash’s magenta eyes hummed the same sickening green as the color of Changeling Magic.

“I… must… be… with… my… Queen…” Rainbow Dash said in half-monotone, half fan-girlish zeal reserved for her ranting about the Wonderbolts.

“We’re gonna need more rope, aren’t we…” Fluttershy asked morosely.
“Eeyup…” Golden Storm said, quickly moving the half-hypnotized mare to the nearest lamppost.


--- ~ ---


The blackness had spread halfway up Rainbow Dash’s limbs, and the ends of her tail began to appear full of holes.
“Mmmm, won’t be long now until you’re all mine,” Spider-Chrysalis sung as she greedily sucked the free-will out of Rainbow Dash’s self.

I… I can’t keep this up… all that’s going to be left of me are the leftovers that Chrysalis finds amusing to keep…

Rainbow Dash… snap out of it… please… snap out it RD!
Dashie… you’re not one of the Queen’s henchmares already are you? You’re too good for that Dashie, you’re our friend!

It hurts so much… the more I try and struggle against her; the more tired I get…
Where does your Loyalty lay, Rainbow Dash?!
Thunder Falcon? Is that you… how do you even…
Where does your Loyalty lay, Rainbow Dash?!
It’s… it’s… it’s with my friends… it’s with my family… it’s with my country… it’s with both Worlds!
Do you believe the struggle for the New Age is painless? Do you believe the forging of a New Era will be without sacrifice, both within and without yourself?
No… I…
I think you did believe that, otherwise you would not be complaining about a little mental stress from some overgrown horse-fly…
I wouldn’t…
So what is it going to be Rainbow Dash: service under some two-bit Bug Queen, or being the Loyal Lightning Mare?!
Heh, Loyal Lightning Mare… I like it…
I’d hope so, Master…

“You wanna play games in my head? Fine then, Game ON!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she began to electrify her coat.
“Oh that is so YEOOOOOWWWW!!!” Spider-Chrysalis shouted as the charge passed right through her and her web.
“Not bad for some little lightning-bug, huh?”


--- ~ ---


“Earth to Rainbow Dash, I repeat Earth to Rainbow Dash! Come in Rainbow Dash” Golden Storm shouted, as Rainbow Dash was double tied now, her wings to her body, and her whole body to a lamp-post, crowd still within earshot of the three Pegasi.

The cyan mare opened her eyes and looked wearily at the two Pegasi next to her. “Rainbow Dash, over…,” she replied, her sclera a more normal white.

“Oh thanks goodness you are back with us… just what was that?” Fluttershy asked, as she tried to calm her nerves for the first time in a good 15 minutes.

“Somebug trying to play Mind Games in my… my… my…” Rainbow Dash started before nodding off.
“It wouldn’t surprise that she would fall asleep after all of that.”

“I DO NOT PLAY MIND GAMES WITH ANYONE! I WIN MIND GAMES AGAINST EVERYONE! THAT IS WHY I AM THE QUEEN OF ALL CHANGELINGS!” Rainbow Dash shouted though with a warped voice. Rainbow Dash’s eyes flared open, but now, not only were they glowing green, but they were slitted like a demon’s.

“Now that is surprising…” Golden Storm said as he began to motion the crowd to clear well away from the lamp-post.
“The Queen… YOU’RE THE QUEEN?!” Fluttershy shouted back.

“OF COURSE I AM! I AM NOT LETTING THIS PRIZE GO! AND YOU ALL ARE NEXT ON MY LIST!” the Chrysalis-possessed Rainbow Dash shouted at full throat, as she tried to free herself from her bondage on the lamppost.


--- ~ ---


“AHHHHHH!” Rainbow Dash screamed, as the periwinkle of her Lightning Magic was at war with the black-and-green of Chrysalis’ Changeling Queen magic along the coat of her body

“Those abominable friends of yours are your tether to your current self, aren’t they? FINE! I will just have to remove them from the equation until they can be brought into the fold, as well!” Spider-Chrysalis shouted, as she tried to exert control over Dash’s body through the fangs clamped on her skull.

“STOP IT, I WON’T LET YOU HURT THEM!” Rainbow Dash screamed, as she tried to wrest control of her Terran magic from the intruder.

“I’m sorry… I DON’T BELIEVE I GAVE YOU A CHOICE IN THE MATTER!” Spider-Chrysalis shouted back.


--- ~ ---


“Ehehehe… the Queen is going to win…”
“SHUT UP!”
“Quiet you, listen to your new self…”

The two Pegasi and few dozen onlookers looked at Rainbow Dash at war with herself, while electricity crackled all around them.

“Ok, this is officially beyond freak-show. We’re in Looney Tunes, now,” Golden Storm said with exasperation, at a loss for what to do anymore.

“I kinda like Porky Pig myself…” Fluttershy thought aloud.

“FOCUS girl, our friend is either in the thrall of or being possessed by one of the great enemies of Equestria.”

“I know, I’m just trying to go to my happy-place until this all blows over…” Fluttershy whimpered as the electricity began to buzz all around, causing some of her mane to stand on end.

“NOTHING WILL BLOW OVER UNTIL THE THREE OF YOU ARE LICKING MY HOOVES!” the Changeling Queen boomed through Rainbow Dash’s voice.

“WILL YOU STOP TRYING TO TALK THROUGH ME! GET YOUR OWN BODY!” the real Rainbow Dash shouted in response, the stress causing electrical sparks to fly everywhere, much to the amazement of the crowd around the lamppost.

“I HAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD ONE! AND YOU ALL WILL LOOK SO MUCH BETTER IN BLACK, AS WELL!” the Changeling Queen replied, trying to assert her dominance again over Rainbow Dash’s body.


----- ~~ -----


“Does every-pony else hear that?” Blue Vague asked, all seven of the other Conduits and Bearers gathered together trying to figure out precisely why three different Rainbow Dashes were shouting in their heads.

“Conduit of Water, We can feel that…” Princess Luna stated, while trying to remain as calm and neutral-sounding as possible. Celestia had given her a rather firm request to not allow any of the other seven to leave until London was dealt with, or further notice otherwise.


----- ~~ -----


I can’t take anymore of this!! Rainbow Dash shouted in her mind, the only patch of cyan left on her body being her chest, neck, and, head. Her hooves were already appearing perforated, and her tail looking like someone had let moths eat away at cloth tassels.

I… I think I have a solution, Dashie… Dash heard a meek, but familiar voice call out to her.

Please, anything to get this bug out of my head… Dash replied wearily.

Let her try and eat the rest of your free-will…

You have got to be kidding me ‘Shy.

Hear me out… let her fully clamp down, and send the biggest charge of Lightning Magic you can through her… don’t worry about us… we’ll manage on the outside…

You better pray this works or Changeling-me is coming after you first!

Rainbow Dash steeled her resolve, she knew she was going to have to hunker down and condense her will into the tightest package she could manage.

“I give, Queenie” Rainbow Dash said, trying her best to feign surrender.

“Oh you do, now?” Spider-Chrysalis remarked, running her hooves along the remaining ‘Pony’ parts of Rainbow Dash’s avatar in the mind-scape.

“Please, just be gentle when you eat the rest of me… and please be quick with my friends…” Dash said, voice intoning full and unconditional surrender.

“I’m sorry, Dashie… I don’t do gentle!” Spider-Chrysalis said triumphantly.

Not like I do gentle either, Queenie… as Rainbow Dash pictured herself replacing her ‘Will’ with the ‘Power’ of a super-condensed Lightning-mana double.

“Now… time to eeaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!” Spider-Chrysalis shouted as her entire spider-frame was alight with seemingly infinite volts of electricity. The haze began to burn off immediately, revealing a room that was painted in rainbow colors, with interspersed Periwinkle-outlined Red Thunderbolts: the very symbol of the modern Element of Loyalty. The web burned away, as the torches poofed into thin air. All that was left of the corrupted mind-scape was the charred figure of the Spider-Chrysalis, only specks of teal left unburnt by the outburst of Lightning Magic.

Rainbow Dash strode over to the defeated Spider-Chrysalis and looked her right in her weary, slitted eyes. “I got a name to remember Bug Queen, and you better remember it and all nine of my friends: Rainbow Dash, part-time Mare of Lightning, full-time Element of Loyalty. NOW GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HEAD!” She wheeled around and bucked the figure clean in the face, causing it to disperse into black smoke.


--- ~ ---





“Just keep calm Fluttershy… it’s just Lightning mana… you’ve handled Lightning mana before…” Fluttershy chanted to herself as she and Storm acted as lightning-rods for the periwinkle mana flowing off Rainbow Dash’s body. After a short while, the two Pegasi began to absorb the mana and cycle it into their system. The only after-effect: causing both their manes and tails to go rigid as their bodies normalized the static charge.

“Hah, you look like you’re getting ready for Halloween and Nightmare-Night at the same time!” Golden Storm joked, as he slapped Fluttershy on the shoulder, only to get a static shock for his trouble.

“Ha-ha, very funny Storm. Anyway, you think she’s finally herself now?” Fluttershy asked, trying in vain to get her mane down to something resembling ‘normal’.

“Well, here’s one way to find out,” Golden Storm mused as he touched hoof against Rainbow Dash’s cheek.

“Yeow! Can’t you find a better way to wake a mare up?!” Rainbow Dash shouted as angrily as she could manage in her exhaustion. Her eyes had finally returned to their normal color and shape, and her voice sounded like there was only one mind speaking through it, her own.

“I’m just going to assume that we have you back for good now, RD,” Fluttershy mused aloud, still trying to tamp her mane down.

“Yeah, Bug-Queen won’t be screwing around in this head anymore,” she said as she tried to raise a hoof to tap her head, only to find she had been triple-tied to the lamp-post in the last 20 or so minutes.

“So who is going to GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!” Rainbow Dash shouted.

“I can take care of that, Miss Dash,” an HEA Soldier said, as he had heard through the crowd what was going on and began cutting the mare down from the pole. “Seems like you had a run in with the Queen Bee of those bug monsters we’ve been trying to beat back for the last two hours.”

“Yeah, I’ll write a book about it when I’m old and gray…” Rainbow Dash snarked; the second she got to her hooves though, she immediately stumbled to the ground in pure physical and mental exhaustion.

“You couldn’t call for a car or something to bring us back to HQ? I’m pretty sure Princess Celestia is going to want to tan my hide for this incident,” Dash asked of the soldier.

“Yeah, I can get them to call a civvie vehicle to come pick you three up… though what’s up with them, I’ve never seen Pony hair stand perfectly on end like that before…” the soldier asked in return.

“Have you ever wondered what it’d be like being a living Static ball?” Golden Storm asked half-jokingly.

“I see…” the soldier replied quietly. Just then he got an APB through his headset, and it was very fortunate news. “Well, whatever you did to chase the Queen off, it got all those bugs running, though I think with all the green flares they are reporting, they want to take a consolation prize home with them.”

“I’m sorry… I… we couldn’t do more to help…” Rainbow Dash said as she laid on her belly, suddenly feeling very small and helpless.

“Unfortunately, some things come out of the clear blue and you can’t deal with it the way you want to. We will just have to pick up the pieces tomorrow and start rebuilding and hardening ourselves against this happening again. I am not looking forward to having to deal with the families of the missing, captured, or deceased, though.”

“Yeah, this Changeling Queen is definitely not messing around…” Golden Storm said; glad his and Fluttershy’s manes were starting to return to their normal flexibility.



--- ~ ---


“Please, be more jubilant, my Queen. We’ve captured at least six thousand humans. They will all make fine Drones, I am sure,” one of the Queen’s personal Valet asked of her suddenly very depressed and singed matriarch.

“But I had one of Celestia’s linchpins in my little web. A few more minutes and she would have been good as ours. Those damn friends of hers… UGH! I JUST CAN’T STAND IT!” Chrysalis shouted as she made to throw a piece of pottery by one of the Environmental workers, but decided not to. “Just… let me sulk for a while…”

“As you wish, my Queen…” the Valet replied, as he walked gingerly out of the throne room.

Graaabber~ Please tell me you had better luck on your end~ Chrysalis whined telepathically to her stoic Infiltrator.
I… I am sorry my Queen. I am afraid their networks are far more segmented than I initially anticipated. I will have to work my way into the New Hope facilities before we can make any more significant progress… Grabber stated, fully awaiting the blowback from Chrysalis.
Blowback that never came though, as Chrysalis was more in the mood to continue sulk. Fine, Grabber, just… go ahead and return when you next able to.
As you wish, my Queen…

“Stupid Friendship, Stupid Love… If I got to beat those damn Ponies into submission with my bare, perforated hooves, I WILL!” Chrysalis shouted, before returning to lazing on her throne/sofa. “But first, can some Changeling please bring me a gallon of Rocky Road, I have sad movies to watch…”


=== --- === (HEA London Headquarters, Sutton – 


5 hours post attack/1:30 AM Local) === --- ===


“Good, that’s really good news,” Harrington said aloud as he concluded another phone call. “The soldiers on Patrol are only reporting hypnotized stragglers being left. They are currently being evacuated and having antidote administered to them. Some are struggling more than others, but it seems like their so-called Queen is having a major spat of depression.”

“Once we have most of the victims secure, we can begin condensing that miasma and neutralizing it. The Zebras have already found a good counter-agent that can be quickly mass produced. We should have the fog and venom cleared by Sunrise,” an HEA soldier reported over the public com-link.

“Ugh, finally some good news,” Cadence sighed aloud, finally feeling the anger leave her as she heard how Rainbow Dash apparently did something to make the Changeling Queen back-off, at least for the immediate future.

Celestia merely rose from her resting cushion to head into one of the bedrooms of the HQ to talk personally to Rainbow Dash. “I believe I have to have a nice little chat with our Element of Loyalty.”

“Please, Aunt Celestia. Don’t berate her too hard.”
“Don’t worry, I will only say what needs to be said to ensure she remains on the correct path forward…”


== - ==


         Rainbow Dash was resting in one of the bedrooms of the London HQ, trying to gather up her mental strength before the coming dressing-down by her Princess and Superior Officer (technically).

“Boy you are really glad that we are not part of the formal military, otherwise…” Golden Storm said, as sat on a cushion across from the bed that Dash was laying in.

“Yeah I would be up the creek even further than I am already…” Rainbow Dash replied, having some idea of how insubordination worked in the technical sense for the Royal Guard.

“Indeed you would be up the proverbial creek without a paddle, young filly,” Celestia stated firmly, as she walked into the room. Golden Storm and Fluttershy made to leave, before they were stopped by the Princess.

“Wait, you two are relevant to this conversation, so I would kindly request that you stay, but do close the door, this needs to remain between the four of us for the time being.”
With that the door was closed, and Celestia began in earnest.

“Rainbow Dash, Bearer of the Element of Loyalty. As I overheard the former military officer, if you all and the Conduits of Terra under orders of Princess Luna were actual formal military units: you would be court martialed for not only insubordination, but also reckless endangerment of civilians, reckless endangerment of military contractors, as well as possibly being marked as an enemy combatant by being assimilated into a force we have declared enemies of the Crown. Do you understand the severity of those potential charges?”

“You would probably have to build a prison to bury me under…” Rainbow Dash stated flatly.

“In a sense, yes. Those charges put together would carry a combined sentence of at least 10 years hard labor, at the very least,” Celestia continued. “Not only that, but your rank and title would be stripped, and you would be lucky if the Wonderbolts let you be their road show help, let alone a performer under their banner.”
Rainbow Dash definitely winced at the last statement.

“But the greater point is, Rainbow Dash, that you directly defied one of my orders. I cannot, nor will I not, stand idly by while someone defies something I told them directly to do,” Celestia stated, as she stood over Rainbow Dash. “However, even I am not blameless in this situation. I tried to force my own ideas upon you with the Imposition Of Will, a skill gifted to all those that Bear the Element of Kindness.”

“So that’s the technical term for ‘the Stare’?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, current Bearer of Kindness. The Imposition of Will is meant to short circuit the target from performing a potentially self-destructive act. However, it is something that must be constantly practiced and adjusted for different targets. During the initial conversation, I attempted to short-circuit Rainbow Dash’s desire to help the Trottingham Weather Crew without any prior knowledge of the situation at hand aside from media reports. However, due to my, admittedly overbearing nature, I caused Rainbow Dash to enter a state a tunnel vision where her lone thought was to do the exact thing I told her not to do. For this Rainbow Dash, I truly and deeply apologize.”

Rainbow Dash merely nodded in acceptance.

“Know this though, Bearer of Kindness, Bearer of Loyalty, and Conduit of Wind. My reasoning for not allowing you to enter the theatre of action was due to your lack of experience in that type of situation. Rainbow Dash was correct when she stated that I have thrown the Bearers of Harmony into similar, if not worse positions. That however, was due to the nature of the threat. The Return of Nightmare Moon and Discord’s Escape could only be resolved through the Elements of Harmony. This however, needed to be resolved through careful military planning and leveraging of all available assets. I cannot use my special forces to solve every little trouble that befalls Equestria or her allies. That would not be fair to you all, nor the Ponies that have been trained to deal with such conventional threats.”

Celestia began to pace a bit as she thought about her next statement.

“However, Rainbow Dash was also correct in her assessment that the skill-set of the ten of you continue to grow and expand by the day. I could feel the improvisation that Storm had to devise in order to catch Rainbow Dash that was moving at near-full-speed, which is a feat that few normal Ponies can lay claim to. For that reason, I believe the ten of you will need to undergo special training and education as a civilian special operations force.”

The three of them all looked at each other in a confused state.

“Do not worry, I do not intend to mold you purely into soldiers. But you all must be taught how to handle yourselves in both a formal military and informal emergency situation. There are channels of command that you must understand, and also be prepared to leverage should the case arise.”

“Wait, leverage ourselves?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“As my Sister and I’s direct subordinates, you all will be slowly granted more and more political power. You all must be taught to wield that power, as well as the Magic that courses through your veins. Due to your age though, you will have to worry more about the latter vs. the former, though.” Celestia answered with a wink.

Of course she wouldn’t give a bunch of twenty-somethings diplomatic immunity or the like… Golden Storm thought to himself.

“In any case: Rainbow Dash, since your disobedience was in some part exacerbated by my haste to constrain you, I will not formally punish you for this transgression. However…” Celestia started, as the room suddenly went dark except for her, whom was shining brighter than the brightest star, her eyes completely white, and her mane aflame with blue. “I WILL NOT TOLERATE DIRECT INSUBORDINATION DURING AN EMERGENCY!”
As she allowed herself the small outburst of rage, she quickly collected her calm to conclude her thought. “If you feel so strongly that you have to do something, at the very least allow me to call for a minder until you all can be properly trained for such action. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am, Princess Celestia!” the three of them all said with a crisp snap that would make any military stallion proud.

“That is good to hear, now I will allow another hour for Rainbow Dash to collect herself before we leave for Safe Haven. Or would you like to stay until tomorrow, for I will have something the Element of Magic will need to take care of before we conclude this sad little chapter in London’s history.” Celestia asked, as she opened the door.

“If you don’t mind Princess, I’d kinda like to go back as soon as I can, if that’s alright with you two,” Rainbow Dash replied, looking at Storm and Fluttershy. Both agreed that they have had enough of London for one evening.

=== [ August 28, 2082 – London (East End) ] ===

“And so finally ends one of the longest nights here in quite a long time…” a local reporter said, as he steered clear of some of the black goop left along a still uncleaned street. The morning sun, with Celestia’s assistance, vaporized all the water content out of the venom-fog, leaving a syrup like residue over the ground level floors of the areas nearest the Black Stone, as it was now called.

“Really, fog came pouring out of this rock. While I’d love to study it, turning all my loved ones and co-workers into Changeling fodder is way too high a price for it…” Twilight Sparkle stated, as she wore an anti-venom gas-mask just in case of some excess that was left over.

“So whatcha gonna do there, lil’ miss?” one of local Policeman asked of the violet mare.

“Oh just watch, but I’m gonna need everyone to stand back a good… 5 meters or so…” Twilight said, as her horn began to glow.

“Alright yah sods, ya heard the mare, everyone back up. If ya hadn’t gotten a picture yet, get a copy from someone that already did,” the Policeman said, as he cleared the radius Twilight requested.

        Twilight’s body was glowing with the dark violet runes of Shadow Magic, as loose pavement, debris and the Black Stone itself was all picked up in shadowy tendrils. With several loud crunches, the debris and the Stone were all compressed violently. From a meter across, down to half, then a quarter, then an eighth; all the way down until it was the size of a baseball.

“Tha spells like a giant trash compactor, yeah? We could use one of those around the city landfills…” a bystander remarked.

“Maybe so… maybe so…”

Twilight placed the compressed Black Stone in several redundant containers, and teleported away with it back to a safe room in Safe Haven.


--- ~ ---


“And that’s all that’s left of the thing that almost turned East London into Changeling Central?” Red Blaze asked, as she looked at the perfectly spherical black rock through the containers.

“Yeah, that’s all that left… the only magic I felt that was remaining was residue from the mind-venom. Thankfully it’s all been cleaned up and neutralized now. Most of the humans the Changelings couldn’t run off with have also been cured, though they suspect there may be stragglers around.”

“Well, thankfully we managed to stop them, right?” Pinkie Pie asked, looking at Princess Luna.

“This time, yes. But this incident will only fuel paranoia amongst the already paranoid. They may blame us for dragging our problems onto their backyard. Which may be warranted in some sense,” Princess Luna responded.

“Ah guess we’ll just gonna have to face facts. The Changelings wanna fight on two fronts. Raids on our home turf and the Human’s too,” Applejack stated, dreading what this meant for the future.

“I’m sure we will find a way to slog our way through it. Though this does beg the question, if they really could turn Humans into Changelings almost instantly… how would they have been able to? Everything I’ve ever heard of the beasts said it took at least two days for a Pony to be assimilated,” Rarity asked, doing her best Twilight impression.

“Maybe… the Changelings are more related to things here on Earth than we realize…” Midori Hana replied, not sure if the thought was a valid one.

“Given how little we know of Changeling history… that hypothesis may have merit, Conduit of Earth,” Princess Luna stated as a pair Dragons took the containers to be sealed in the Badlands of the Dragon Nomads.


~~~ - = (Same day, Mojave Desert) = - ~~~





“Excuse me, um, Queen, you have a… visitor?”
“A visitor, since when did I start entertaining guests?”
“She kinda says it’s important; and she kinda beat up a bunch of Commanders that were trying to deny her entry…”
“I was wondering what those squeals of pain were… fine, send her in…”

        Chrysalis was lazily nibbling away at a bowl of popcorn as she watched some more movies, her mood slightly better than the night previous, but still sour overall.

“Oh to think, this is what Queen Ellistrianna has been reduced to after all these millennia?” said a young looking woman clothed in black and skin as red as blood. Her hair: similarly black with red highlights; and all of her measurements would have given Chrysalis’ preferred human form a run for her money.

“And… hrm… your body has far too high a mana concentration to be an ordinary human. And Ellistrianna is a name I have not heard anyone speak of outside of the record-keepers, though,”

“Though what?”

“That was my many-times-great-grandmother’s birth name -- Queen Illusion the First, First Queen of the Changelings. Her given birth name was Ellistrianna, before the Great Cleaving, according to our records.”

“So you… I see… I should have guessed as much. You escape to a world full of Magical Ponies to prey upon, and you start looking like Magical Ponies yourselves. You are what you eat, I guess…”

“Oh come now, we haven’t eaten Pony flesh as a species in millennia. It’s much more efficient for us to harvest their emotions. You can only eat something once. You can drain emotional energy many times over.”

“So you are trying to horn in on our territory, YOU DAMN UPSTART!” the young woman shouted, as suddenly horns, bat-wings, and a long, pointed ‘devil’s tail appeared. Her eyes also changed, from maroon to a bright blood-red like her skin, and slitted just like Chrysalis’s.

“Let’s see… let’s see… the old genetic memory... Oh my, a Succubus, our kind have not seen yours beyond the Astral Plane in eons.”

“You’re damn right. Your ancestors left for that damn Pony world during the Cataclysm, while we all were stuck on a Earth where that interminable bitch dried up all the Mana. So what her precious Humans would have been wasted in the Armageddon. There would have plenty of monsters and demons to roam the Earth in the aftermath. Hell she could have created a new Humanity if she got off her lazy ass and did something proactive!” The succubus fumed, her skin glowing a healthy orange due to her visible anger.

“Anyway, what does this have to do with me? It seems your problem has to do with whatever controls Magic in this world,” Chrysalis thought aloud, as she flipped channels to another movie.

“I want to know how YOUR kind managed to continue to exist on the Physical Plane and avoid that little, unpleasantness, over 100 millennia ago!”

“Queen Illusion had the presence of mind to leave for what they want to call Equus now, before this species’ progenitors blew this world to kingdom come through their overuse of magic. It was really cut and dry.”

“Hmph, likely story. Anyway, I was giving you a heads up to my Tribe and other's imminent return. Despite appearances, the Mimics and Succubi/Incubi tribes got along very well in the Old World. Perhaps, we may forge an alliance in the coming future?”

“I will take it under consideration… wait... now you didn’t even have the courtesy to give me your name…”

“Lilia, Lilia deVersad, Leader of the Unified Succubi Clans.”

“Alright then, Leader Lilia, let’s talk when I’m in a better mood. Some recent events don’t have me in the best frame of mind,”

“Oh don’t worry, when you live in a place beyond time, what’s a couple of weeks here or there.”

“Right… anyway, care for some popcorn and a movie?”

“Oooh, what’s playing?”


=== -- ===