When Flash arrived at the scenery it seemed calm enough. He had landed in the middle of Appleloosa, guards where running towards the apple orchard passing him on the way.
A reddish unicorn guard with a cutiemark of a sword and a shield stopped when he saw Flash “Flash Sentry?” he asked. The unicorn´s voice was a deep but clear voice.
“Yes and who might you be?” Flash asked, it was not a unicorn he had seen before.
“Sergeant Thunder Shield sir, I´ve heard you would come. Good to have a Captain here in this situation”
“So how is the situation Sergeant? Doesn’t seem like the Changelings have gotten into the town”
“they haven’t they started out on the orchard, attacking the farmers who was unlucky to be out there. Good thing we still had guards from the last attack. We called you out here due to that it seems like they are growing in numbers”
“I see and what about Captain Shining Armor? Will he be joining us here?”
“Captain Shining Armor will stay in The Crystal Empire in case the Changelings will attack there too”
“Thank you Sergeant, now let´s get out there and drive those Changelings away.”
With that Flash and the sergeant began to run towards the orchard, hoping that the guards could hold the Changelings until they got there. Sure enough the guards had managed to defend against the Changelings.
When Flash arrived at the scene he looked around, trying to figure out how much damage the Changelings had done. A couple of the apple trees had fallen over, and some guards were in the middle of opening a cocoon the changelings had sealed a farmer in, luckily enough it didn’t seem like there where a lot of casualties If any at all.
A green earth pony with a red and black mane came up to Flash, Flash new this pony. It was one of the guards that were assigned to twilight, who had stayed in appleloosa after the first attack two weeks ago.
“Hello Private, how is the situation” Flash asked the green pony.”
“Good to see you Captain Flash, we thought the Changelings had given up after the first defeat. But apparently they just gathered more troops for something bigger. And something tells me they aren’t done yet.” The green pony looked at shining with a worried expression.
“What makes you think that Private?”
“We saw the Changeling run off into a cave nearby, kind of strange if you have been defeated if you ask me. We have kept an eye out for them since and they still haven’t left the cave. It’s up to you what we shall do next”
Flash mind raced, if it were true the Changelings were just waiting to strike again, it could be a good idea to attack them first and end all of the attacks, at least for a while.
But of course there where the possibility that it could be a trap, should he risk it?
Flash´s mind raced with all the possibilities and he knew he had to make a decision and it had to be soon. After a couple of minutes he sighed, looking at the green pony with a determined look on his face.
“Gather as many troops as possible, we will make an attack on the Changelings and drive them away from here. You stay back with six other ponies to defend Appleloosa if anything happens”
“Yes sir anything else before I head off?”
Flash thought for a moment, thought about Twilight and what she told him. She had told him to be careful, but in this situation he couldn’t just stand back.
“There is one last thing, if anything happens to me. I want you to bring the news to Twilight. Understood?” Flash looked at the green pony with a serious expression on his face.
“Don’t think like that sir. But of course an order is an order”
With that the green pony ran to gather the troops needed. All the while Flash walked to the edge of the orchard, looking over at the cave where the Changelings waited.
It seemed like a hour had passed when the troops where gathered, still nothing from the cave. This could be a good or a bad sign.
Flash hovered in front of the troop’s o they could all see and hear him.
“Let’s end these Changeling attacks. They are hiding in the cave right over there. It’s not going to be easy or without any danger. But this is what we do we protect Equestria from creatures like this who only wants to destroy and kill. So let´s show them we won’t have any more of it”
The other guards cheered raising their hoofs in the air. They were only around fifteen guards, but due to the Changeling thread. Other cities needed protection too.
With that speech Flash led the guards to the cave.
It would only take them around ten minutes of walking to get there. The real trouble would be inside the cave itself, they didn’t know much about it other than that there were a couple of paths once inside.
When they arrived at the entrance, a unicorn used his magic to spark a light, to look for Changelings around the opening. Nothing, it was safe to enter.
Once inside the path split into 3 different directions.
Flash once again spoke up. “Okay we will have to split up to cover more ground, remember if you see any Changeling take it out. We will split into groups of five each. I’ll be joining the second group making us six in that. We will take the middle path while the other two groups take the side paths.”
With that Flash gave the order to move, he himself leading the way down the middle path. Thanks to the magic from the unicorns in the group they could see where they were going. It was clear the Changelings had been here before. The walls glanced with slime from what could have been old hives or cocoons.
The group got around halfway when they heard something above them, it was like a hissing noise followed by the sound of tiny wings buzzing away. The group looked up to see big holes in the cave. this was something that worried Flash. Now they didn’t just have to look out behind and in front of them, but also from above.
The group continues down the path, if they got attacked they would be in big trouble. The tunnels where only big enough for two ponies to stand next to each other, but they would be really close together then and wouldn’t be able to react. So the group had to walk in a line so they at least could react if any Changelings wanted to attack them.
Flash´s thoughts were all over the place, he tried to keep it cool and focus. But the sense that something terrible were to happen and that he wouldn’t see Twilight again, wouldn’t let his minds go. He even tried to think of Twilight and the good times they had together, but that just helped to make the terrible thoughts about not getting out of the cave again stronger.
Flash´s thoughts were shattered though, when he heard one of the guards in the back yell.
“They are coming from the ceiling and behind us sir”
Flash quickly turned to look, he saw how the guards were doing the best they could to fight them off, even getting a few Changelings down on the ground and finishing them. The unicorns in the group fired magic towards the ceiling to take a couple of the Changelings down.
Flash was just about to react and run towards the group to help them when he felt something grabbing his back hooves. He couldn’t react before he got dragged away from the group. He tried to kick the Changelings dragging him. Unfortunately they knocked him on the head, making him disorientated and unable to fight at the moment. When he got to his senses again Flash was surrounded by hovering Changelings, it was like they wanted him to fight back. Flash stood up looked around at the hovering Changelings, there must have been around twenty with him, and probably some in the tunnels stopping the other guards in their tracks.
A tear formed in Flash´s eyes as he thought about Twilight. He thought about never being able to look at her cute smile again, never being able to hug or kiss her again and never being able just to hear her voice.
“I’m sorry Twilight, but I can’t keep my promise of coming back to you.”
with these words Flash charged the Changeling swarm, putting up as much a fight he could, before going down to the swarm.
In the tunnels the sound of hoof steps was heard in an alarming speed. The remaining guards who was with Flash had won against the Changelings occupying them, now they only had one thing in mind and that was to find Flash and where he was taken to.
When they reached the end of the tunnel they ran into the other guards. Now there was only one tunnel in front of them. The guards who were with Flash explained what had happened to the other guards while they ran down the path.
On their way they got attacked by more Changelings, however they took them down with ease, the guards where so determined to reach Flash before anything happened to him.
However when they finally reached the big room they were stopped again by even more Changelings. A struggle broke out where three of the guards went down, but in the end the guards had won against the remaining Changelings.
In the middle of the room however they saw what they didn’t want to see. The remains of Flash was lying on the ground he looked drained, like he had gotten sucked every liquid out of him, and his normal yellow color was turned into a greyish color. The guards walked over to his corpse, near him were three dead Changelings. It sure looked like he gave them a fight to the end.
Bringing the remains of Flash outside the cave, they laid him on the ground. Ordering that a casket was made to him, and that princess Twilight where informed immediately.