//------------------------------// // Wildcard // Story: The Definition of Harmony // by Gladi Writes //------------------------------// “Wait for my return, if I’m not back in an hour- raise hell.” Eta-Eta boomed his order to the changelings in the barracks and then turned to the guard that would escort him to the throne room. The guard trotted up and, hoof on his spear, looked at Eta-Eta angrily. “You realize I heard you, right? Order them to stand down.” The guard unholstered his spear and gestured at the doorway. Eta-Eta responded by kicking the door shut. “No,” he responded simply, turning to face the guard. The guard leveled his spear against Eta-Eta and scowled at him. “If they do as you said, and ‘raise hell’, then we’ll just round them up again!” “There’s a hundred of us in there, and we can change form into whatever form we please. The only reason you’ve had it so easy thus far is because they’ve had no orders.” Eta-Eta paused for effect. “That’s changed.” For a second the guard seemed to consider this, and then a look of fear flashed across his face before his soldiers training could keep up. Eta-Eta smirked at him, he had a hoof now- it was time to play it. “We’re not afraid of you.” The guard said, holstering his spear. "Follow me." He ordered, gesturing Eta-Eta forth. As they trotted through the courtyard towards the fortress they picked up a tail of guards. Eta-Eta was pleased to smell the tell-tale pheromone signals- a few changelings had apparently managed to go disguised in lieu of other orders. Eta-Eta held his head high, from now on they were fighting on their terms. Looking up as they walked, Eta-Eta noticed a blue blur leading the air patrols of the guard. He knew exactly who this was, and any attempt to escape the hive for whatever reason would have to contend with the sharp eyes and speed of her. Still, it had to be tried. Eta-Eta would figure out some way to distract this pegasus when the time came, but it would only work once. He was thankful they hadn’t brought the Wonderbolts with them. That would have caused problems- Mostly because the amount of hubris in one location was liable to create some sort of singularity of inflated self worth. The fact that changelings had never been able to infiltrate the Wonderbolts had nothing to do with it. The changelings weren't even certain if it was a military or civilian organization. Everything about them was hazy. Arriving at the fortress doors two guards opened it for the group, closing it behind. Inside captain pike was giving orders to a few guards off to one side. They sat behind a table with their helmets on it. “Just keep the peace everybody, we haven’t been given carte-blanche for anything more than that. Keep a sharp eye out, as you well know these beings can shapeshift. Use your birth dates as a code phrase, or come up with something within your squads. We’ll be using the buddy system to ensure we don’t get infiltrated, if you spot anyone alone be suspicious.” Pike ordered, pointing out a series of names on a board behind him. Eta-Eta thought the plan was quite good, but still couldn’t contend with the sheer numbers of changelings they would have to deal with. In their own home no less. If they wanted to retain order the ponies would have to resort to draconian measures. He knew they didn’t have the stomach for that, it was a large part of his plan. “Now, Claymore…” He pointed at one of the guards who stood at attention, Eta-Eta passed into a hallway before he hear out the rest of that conversation. Soon enough the group arrived at the hallway to the throne room. Looking back with a quick nod the following changelings stood outside in the hallway. Eta-Eta figured out who they were- the same two that had guarded the doorway so intently earlier. The changelings craved order, these two must have been waiting for a chance to resume their duty. As Eta-Eta and the guard leading him entered the room they took positions on either side of the door. Twilight had brought up a table and a set of chairs, in the centre of the room it stood covered in assorted papers and plates with half-eaten lunches. A cup of steaming tea was held in her hoof as she looked outside at the courtyard. Hearing the pair enter she turned to face them. “This changeling requested an audience- he seems to be their leader.” The guard said, bowing slightly and allowing Eta-Eta to come forward. “Good afternoon. Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Eta-Eta said, giving an exaggerated bow. Twilight put her tea on the table and looked at him inquisitively. “Why the emphasis on my title?” She asked. “Who voted for you?” Eta-Eta asked. Twilight considered this for a second and then glared at him. “I see what you’re doing. I earned my place by doing good for all of Equestria, and no small part of that was defeating the ‘queen’!” she ranted. “In Equestria you may have earned the right to call yourself a ‘princess’, But this is not Equestria. We are not ponies.” Eta-Eta approached the table, and put his forelegs on it to stand over Twilight “This is our home, and you are unwanted invaders. You occupy us and it will end.” Twilight did the same, the two staring each other down across the table. “We are not occupying you!” She argued. “Not an occupation, despite your 'guards' patrolling the courtyard, keeping us contained in our barracks." "Occupation." Eta-Eta concluded “This is a liberation!” Twilight shouted, and then gestured to the guard. “Inform the changelings they are free to move as they please.” She ordered, and then looked back to Eta-Eta. "Satisfied?" “Now what?” Eta-Eta asked. “Are we to ‘have a vote’”? he mocked. “Well...” Twilight shuffled some of the papers, levitating one upwards. “Yes.” Floating it over to Eta-Eta he picked it up, it was a list of what Twilight considered to be worthy leaders of the hive. At the top was his own name hastily scribbled, below it was two 'names'- "Door Guard" and "Other Door Guard." There was a blank spot beside this for their names. "Alpha-Alpha and Alpha-Beta, they're twinned." Twilight nodded. Eta-Eta continued reading the mess of a document, and nearly did a double take when he reached the end. “Celestia?” Eta-Eta asked. “Really?” “Why not? You could join us as part of Equestria. Live in harmony.” Twilight said, almost in a pleading tone. Eta-Eta crumpled the paper up and tossed it aside. “We’ll never go along with this.” Twilight caught it in a magenta field. “You will, you’ll learn to love your freedom just as we do.” Eta-Eta sighed, this pony was as stubborn as she was naive. Time for another tactic. “Where have the others gone?” he asked. “My friends? Well, since the elements did nothing I sent them home, Applejack has her f-” Twilight stopped, and stood up straight. “Hey! What makes you think that’s any of your business?” She demanded. Ignoring that, Eta-Eta continued to pry. “The blue one, Rainbow Dash, she's staying?" Twilight squinted at him, and seemed to consider her answer for a second. “Yes.” She said. “You seem oddly adamant that none of us leave, how many soldiers did you take with you?” Twilight stomped the table, spilling her tea all over it. “I told you! This isn’t an occupation, and those aren’t soldiers!” She yelled. Pointing a hoof toward the door she shouted again. “Guards! Remove him!” One of the door guard changelings poked his head in, unsure what to do. Eta-Eta came down from the table and nodded. The guard came in to “escort him out.”. Allowing himself to be lead out Eta-Eta looked back as a frustrated pony wiggled some papers in the air to dry them. “What if.” Eta-Eta looked back momentarily. “It's not just the Queen.?” "What if we're all evil?" He said, and then turned to leave as a horrified looking Twilight watched him. Outside Eta-Eta passed by Captain Pike as he was ‘led out’. He shared a glance with the Captain, who didn’t seem to know that Eta-Eta wasn’t the only changeling watching him. Inside the Captain found Twilight sitting at the table; staring into space, a dripping piece of paper levitating in a magenta field before her. “Your Highness?” He addressed. She seemed lost in thought staring at the paper. “What if he’s right?” She asked, putting a hoof to her forehead as she sat. “Right about what?” Pike asked, walking over to the other side of the table and taking a seat of his own. “What if they are all evil? What if it’s not just Chrysalis?” She wondered. “On the other hoof…” Pike had a thought of his own. “... what if none of them are?” Twilight looked at him confused. “What do you mean?” “What if the attack on Canterlot was just a sidestep, a mistake, we never tried actually negotiating.” Twilight seemed to take the remark personally. “Of course we didn’t- she’s evil! Evil people get turned to stone, that’s how it works! I had to remove her to protect Equestria.” Twilight argued. “Well, you did that,” Pike said “So why are we still here? “I can’t just leave them without a leader, we have to help them find their way in the world without the tyranny of Chrysalis. There will be a vote.” “And what if this vote simply puts us back where we are now, with them demanding the return of their queen?” Pike asked. “I don’t want to think about it.” Twilight replied, looking to the side. “We might have to drive them out.” Pike said. “I don’t want to think about it!” Twilight exclaimed. “They will learn to enjoy their freedom, there will be peace, and I am doing what’s right!” She yelled at nobody in particular. She wasn’t so sure. Outside Eta-Eta entered the courtyard again. He dismissed the changeling guard that had escorted him and trotted for the leader barracks. Outside the same guard that had led him to the fortress earlier was arguing with one of them. “I’m telling you, you can go now!” “We stay!” The changeling yelled back. “Your leader talked to the Princess, You can go to your ‘units’, whatever that means.” “No, we stay. Orders.” The same changeling replied. The guard took a deep breath and was about to scream something at them when Eta-Eta came on the scene and spoke. “You can leave.” he said. The changeling at the door nodded, and almost immediately an orderly convoy of changelings left the barracks with the guard pushed to the side, speechless. “So we won’t have to worry about you ‘raising hell’?” The guard asked. “For now,” Eta-Eta replied, and left the guard outside to enter the barracks. Inside one sole changeling remained. Eta-Gamma; with his telltale ear hole and scruffy appearance. stood at the front of the room, awaiting his orders. He seemed to tense up as Eta-Eta walked in. “Your orders are simple, but difficult. Are you ready to venture from the hive?” Eta-Eta asked. “Yes,” Eta-Gamma replied. “Good. Normally I would pick another spy, but you’re the only one that has been briefed on Equestria and time is short. Your mission is to escape here, return there, and find out if Princess Celestia knows about this invasion.” Eta-Eta ordered. “Then what?” Eta-Gamma asked. “If she doesn’t know, inform her. I have a feeling she would not approve. If she does, then we may well be lost. ,” Eta-Eta added. “I understand.” Eta-Gamma said, giving a sharp salute. Eta-Eta responded in kind and led him outside, where the same guard stood as always. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” Eta-Eta asked. The guard considered this for a moment. “I guess, I'm not sure if we're supposed to coral you or what anymore." The momentary diversion was enough for Eta-Gamma to assume the form of a guard and sneak off. Eta-Eta had placed the hopes of himself, and the Hive, on that changeling. He also realized the irony in that the Hives one hope might lie in its greatest rival. The princess’s of Equestria were ostensibly equal, but if Eta-Eta remembered right it was Celestia that chose them, and she had even once exiled her own sister. Her word was law. Standing outside the leaders barracks Eta-Eta wondered what to do next. Taking a look over the courtyard there was a scattered mix of Equestrian Royal Guard troops with positions overwatching the area, and the workers went back to their regular work. A few of them could be seen using their secretions to clean up scorch marks made during the quick battle in the early morning, the rest did whatever it was they did on a regular basis. He didn’t concern himself too much with the workers. The warriors started to take up their positions at the guard posts along the edges of the stone hive. This provided for an odd sight where a few Equestrian Ponies stood awkwardly beside the steely gaze of warriors alert for any threat from the outside, just as they always had. Eta-Eta was amused by how many of the Equestrian Guards he walked past on his inspection of the courtyard were actually changelings. A quick guess would put their numbers at a third, and it was a testament to the poorly thought out plan of the ponies that they hadn’t noticed their numbers balloon by a full thirty percent. They had expected to come and be greeted as liberators, they had no idea how to deal with an occupation- mostly because they refused to admit this was an occupation. If they can't accept that, then they have already lost. Who defines an occupation, the occupier, or the occupied? Eta-Eta shook his head, that wasn’t it at all. It was the victor that defined history. On his walk along the courtyard he had come to the small series of tents the guards had hastily erected when the realized they would be staying a while. Soon they would need supplies from outside, and then they would really fall right into Eta-Eta’s hooves. As he looked on it he noticed one of the guards glance at him and sneak off with a satchel. Eta-Eta paid this no mind. Another watched him intently with his hoof on his spear, Eta-Eta figured he had worn out his welcome and departed. Eta-Eta walked past the tents and towards the fortress, soon enough Twilight would probably call her fraud of a vote. Eta-Eta knew exactly what to do, and he found one of the disguised changeling guards to relay the order. “Vote for me. Tell the rest” He said bluntly. The changeling obviously didn’t understand as he cocked his head, but nodded. He would pass the information along. If he was the democratic leader of the changelings, he could use Twilight’s own plans against her. He would simply order them, as the legal ruler, to release Chrysalis and leave. He realized that it probably wouldn’t be that easy but it was worth a shot before resorting to more violent measures. Trotting to the fortress he noticed the door guards missing and creaked the door open slightly to take a look inside. “No, that’s not the plan at all! I don’t understand why you don’t get this!” Captain Pike stood where he had before, rubbing his forehead. “Look, just… wait a second.” The captain stood quickly. “Nopony can be that stupid, you’re a changeling!” He exclaimed. Eta-Eta opened the door a tad more to see who the Captain was talking to, but was bowled over by that figure as they galloped out of the room, coming out of disguise into changeling form as they darted around a corner. Captain Pike followed, looking down the courtyard. After a moment he gave up, and sighed as he closed the door behind him. Eta-Eta almost burst out into laughter. The guard was already close to boiling over with frustration, these ponies had no idea what they were dealing with. Eta-Eta would have to commend that changeling for taking the initiative. He wondered what other shenanigans his men were getting up to, and trotted down the courtyard with a smile on his face. A changeling flew over him at incredible speed so close that he could smell the pheromones, and barely a moment after he heard yelling behind. “It’s getting away!” Rainbow Dash barely flew over Eta-Eta’s head, close enough that his ears blew back and the wind whistled through the holes in his body. Eta-Gamma was trying to escape, Eta-Eta knew he had to distract this pony to ensure that Eta-Gamma made it out, his mission was important. Quickly changing into the form of the guard he had seen guarding the leaders barracks he flew upwards, barely able to keep pace with the pegasus. “Rainbow Dash!” Eta-Eta shouted, frantically fluttering behind. She was fast. “What is it, I’m kinda busy here!” She shouted back. “Twilights hurt!” Eta-Eta shouted, and barely managed to avoid colliding with the lead pegasus as she halted in the air. With nary a word she flew off in the other direction, even faster than before. Eta-Eta almost felt guilty for abusing such loyalty. Shedding his form he landing softly on the ground. She was almost like a warrior, almost. A warrior wouldn’t have given up on their orders. Eta-Eta knew this inherently. Eta-Eta knew this action would have consequences. Finding another of the disguised guards- who was currently engaged in stealing and hiding the guards rations- he passed along an important order. “Keep away from Rainbow Dash,” Eta-Eta ordered. The Changeling nodded, and got back to work hiding a satchel full of carrots in a crevice. When Rainbow Dash realized what had happened she would undoubtedly be out for blood, but it had to be done. Trotting to the central fountain Eta-Eta took a seat and waited. Soon enough there was a rainbow flash from the balcony as she took flight, giving a war cry that echoed through the courtyard as she did. The air patrol would be certain not to let anyone more slip through, hopefully Eta-Gamma was up to the task. Soon after Eta-Eta heard a trumpet sound from the palace balcony and looked to see Twilight standing on the overlook. Below a dozen guards, none seemingly changelings, fanned out. “Your attention please!” Twilight boomed over the courtyard. Eta-Eta was surprised at how well her voice carried. “Would all changelings please assemble in the courtyard!” She ordered. A nearby disguised guard cocked his head at Eta-Eta, wondering if they would honor this request. He nodded and the changeling came out of disguise and trotted off. They would have their vote, and Eta-Eta was the most confident politician in the history of the world.