//------------------------------//
// Under Seige 
// Story: The Alicorn Academy 
// by kudzuhaiku 
//------------------------------//

	Luna prowled the dark depths under Canterlot, moving briskly. Her lunar guard easily matching her pace. She was scowling. She had been summoned to the hospital wing. A guard had returned home, badly injured, with news that he refused to give anypony but her. 

This was worrisome. 

Luna and her retinue trotted down the hall, their hooves making a staccato rhythm that echoed through the long hallway. 

She finally came to a door and entered. She pushed her way into the room, pushing her way through doctors and nurses and other soldiers. The room was crowded. Finally, she stood beside the bed of a young lunar guard who had been stationed in the Crystal Empire. She wanted to know why he was here, far away from his post. 

As she stood by his bed, he weakly shoved his nose into her chest, sniffing deeply. She indulged him. He was a bloody mess. He didn’t look well at all. Death was certainly a possibility, but the lunar pegasi should never be so readily dismissed. 

“Mistress.” He said weakly, looking up at her with one eye, the other a gaping bloody socket. One ear was gone. Half of his face had been burned away. Teeth were visible were his cheek used to be. 

“Mistress, the Crystal Empire has fallen.” He croaked. “Thousands and thousands and thousands of unicorns invaded the city, seemingly from nowhere.” As he spoke, blood flew from the remains of his face. “They just appeared. It was over quickly. Shining Armor cast a spell, trying to shield the city, trying to protect his ponies.” 

The lunar pegasus gasped and began to cough. 

“The Collective…” he rasped, “Not unicorns at all. Changelings. All of them changelings. I saw it after Shining’s spell. I fear they are there to feed upon the Crystal Heart.” 

The room fell completely silent, the only sounds were the laboured breathing of the injured stallion, and it was faint. 

“I came home to warn you Mistress!” The lunar pegasus said in a strangled whisper. “Forgive me for abandoning my post.” 

Luna felt her blood go as cold as the vacuum of space. 

Suddenly, a lot of things made sense. 

Luna vanished, off to warn her sister.