Magically silenced helicopter blades cut through the air as six silent ponies checked and double-checked their weapons and armor. More out of nervousness than anything. Still, now that the excitement had worn off, the six ponies began to fully realize what they had been asked to do.
Twilight stared out the window, grateful that the helicopter had been magically heated. Snowflakes floated to the ground outside, and even from this distance, Twilight could see the twinkling lights of Santa's workshop in the distance. She took a deep breath and tapped the side of her helmet to make sure her communicator was working.
"You ready, girls? We're about there," she said.
"Totally ready!" Rainbow said, her voice coming from both beside Twilight and crackling through the headset. "Let's go save Christmas!"
The helicopter began its descent, causing each of the mares to hang on to the nearest bolted down object. The co-pilot turned to look at them.
"Clear the ramp! Thirty seconds!" He nodded at each of them. "Faust be with you."
"Alright, girls, when we get out, left side stick, right side stick, move fast and clear any changelings you find!" She took another deep breath. "And when we get out there, I want to see a little space between all of us. One mare is a waste of time, six mares is the right opportunity. Don't get too far away that any of the others can't back you up." She grabbed Fluttershy's shoulder to help calm both of them down. "Keep the snow out of your weapons. Keep those actions clear. I'll see you on the ground."
The helicopter touched down, jarring the mares out of their position for a moment. Twilight heard the helicopter blades stop whirring. It was time.
The back door of the chopper opened up, and the six mares leaped out of it, pointing their guns in every direction. Rainbow began zooming around, looking for any changelings that were intent on ambushing the group. Finding nothing, she landed nest to Twilight and shouldered her weapon.
"And ideas?" she asked, looking down at the workshop. "I don't see anypony."
"Maybe they're all inside," Twilight mused. "We don't even know how many changelings are here. Princess Celestia did say that Santa's defenses were rather weak, so maybe they took the workshop with a token force."
"With Santa's powers and the number of elves here? Not likely," Pinkie said, shaking her head solemnly. "I think that we just can't see them yet, but there are a lot of them around here."
"Pinkie's right," Rarity said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I think I got the first one now."
The group rushed over to Rarity as the helicopter took to the air once more. Rarity had already laid down in the snow, looking through the scope of her gun. "I could be wrong, but I think I see a scout."
Fluttershy picked up her binoculars and looked through them. "Where?"
"At about two o' clock," Rarity muttered. "Right on top of the roof of the building that looks like a gingerbread house."
"That don't really narrow it down, Rarity," Applejack grumbled. "But..." She looked in the direction Rarity had indicated. "Yep, Ah think Ah see him, too. Got some kind of red glow around him."
"Well then what are we waiting for?!" Rainbow hissed. "Let's get him!"
"Hold on, Rainbow," Twilight said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "I'd hate to run into a trap. Rarity, can you see anything else? How much do you think we'd alert the rest if you took him out?"
"I can't see anything else as of yet," Rarity said, rubbing the trigger of her rifle. "But we're going to have to start fighting sometime, won't we? Fluttershy, can you see anything else?"
"Yeah. I see three of them right outside of the other building that looks like a gingerbread house." She paused. "No... sorry, four. I don't think that they'd notice if you took out the one you're looking at."
Rarity took a deep breath and steadied herself. "You'd better be right, Fluttershy. Apparently if we make one wrong move, Christmas will be ruined forever."
"Okay, then, girls, here's the plan." Twilight sat down next to Rarity, scanning the workshop in front of them. "Rarity's going to take the shot. Once she does, we move fast and take out the changelings in front of that building. Princess Celestia has put silencing spells on all of our guns, but that won't help if they have time to sound the alarm. We need to move fast."
Rainbow laughed confidently. "Ha! Fast is my middle name, Twilight!"
"Right, whatever," Twilight grumbled. "Just make sure you're all ready to go when Rarity gets the shot off." Twilight put her hoof on Rarity's back. "On your mark."
Rarity inhaled, held the breath for a moment, then exhaled, squeezing the trigger at the same time. Had the weapons not been silenced by magic, Twilight imagined that she'd need some time to recover from the noise. Even silenced, she could still hear a little pop when the gun went off.
"It's down, Twilight," Fluttershy said, putting her binoculars down. "I think you can go now."
Without another word, the other four ponies rushed down the hill, making mental notes about the possible locations of changelings. Rainbow flew above them, scanning the rest of the workshop from her position. Twilight merely focused on the four changelings in front of her, drawing ever closer with each passing hoofstep.
One changeling looked in Twilight's direction and its jaw dropped. Too late to do anything about what was about to happen. Twilight raised her gun and squeezed off two shots, both colliding with the skull of the unfortunate changeling. The other three looked just in time to see their fellow falling to the ground before Applejack and Pinkie were on them. Pinkie had foregone her flamethrower for the moment, instead using her secondary weapon to clear the small group.
"Targets down, targets down," Twilight said in to her communicator as the red glow around the changelings faded away. "Rarity, do you see anything?"
"I see a changeling coming your way," Rarity's voice said through the headset. "He's... down. I got him."
"Good. If you think that you can handle things out here, then the four of us are going in. Have you switched to night vision?"
"Ah, good idea, Twilight. I hadn't even thought about that. Switching to night vision."
"Me too," Fluttershy said.
"Good. Alrighty then, girls, cover me." Twilight ran up to the nearest door, pointing her weapon at it. "I'm going to open this on three. One--"
"Got another one, Twilight," Rarity said. "You might want to hurry: I think there are more changelings out here than we thought. Either that or they're starting to come out of the buildings."
"I copy, Rarity, just do what you can, but don't give away your position. If it gets to be too much, let us know and we'll do what we can."
"Understood."
"Good. Then two..." Twilight's magic wrapped around the trigger of her gun as her friends took position behind her. "Three."
Twilight pulled the door open and stuck her gun inside, looking down the sights for any signs of hostiles. Finding nothing, she slid into the building and ducked behind the nearest counter.
"I think you're all clear to come in, but watch your six," Twilight whispered. "If what Rarity's saying is true, then they'll probably start finding the bodies soon. We're going to have no margin for error once that happens."
"Twilight, there really are a lot of them coming out! I think one just spotted the first kill."
Twilight grimaced and reloaded her weapon. "Don't shoot unless you have to, Rarity! Don't let them know where you are. I think we're in the main building, but I can't be sure until we start looking. Just--"
Twilight immediately stopped talking when she heard the loud buzzing of insectoid wings outside of the building they had just gone into. The deafening noise told her that they seemed to be dealing with more than just a few changelings. There had to be dozens of them out there. She motioned her friends onward, keeping a close eye on the shadows. She suddenly felt grateful for the spells woven into their helmets. She'd be able to spot a foe much easier.
"Twilight," Rainbow whispered, following the group from behind while watching the door. "What happens if they come in here? They're gonna know that something's up!"
"Yeah," Pinkie agreed. "Didn't Princess Celestia say that they might start killing elves or something if they found out that they'd been compromised?"
"I think she said that, but we can't be sure if they really will, especially if they think we're only a small force. If I know Chrysalis, she won't hesitate to gloat if she thinks she can win. She might not kill anybody just on that alone."
"But if she finds out we're here then we could be in big trouble," Rainbow hissed. "I mean, we're armed with awesome weapons and all, but I don't think we have the firepower to take out an army that big."
Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but her reply died in her throat when she heard the creak of the door behind her. The four ponies whirled around and took what little cover they could find as a lone changeling poked his head through the open door. He began scanning the room for any signs of life, his wings buzzing. Twilight held her breath and began slowly raising her weapon. Just as the changeling was in her sights, she heard a single noise. Quiet in its own right, but in the silent room, it might as well have been a cannon going off. She'd bumped the end of her gun into a nearby box.
Her friends looked at her in horror as the changeling turned his head to look directly at Twilight.